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The Lead with Jake Tapper
2 dead, Including Gunman, In Old Dominion University Shooting; Suspect Dead After Car Ramming At Michigan Synagogue; Iran's Supreme Leader Issues First Message Since Appointment; Iran keeping Strait of Hormuz Closed as Oil Prices Rise; Update On Terror-Related Shooting At Old Dominion Univ.; Suspect Dead After Ramming Vehicle Into Michigan Synagogue. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired March 12, 2026 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. Thanks to my panel. Really appreciate you all being here. Thanks to you at home for watching as well. We really appreciate you being here. Don't go anywhere, though. The Lead with Jake Tapper starts right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We're going to start with breaking news in our national league. Two attacks today on American soil, one at Old Dominion University in Virginia that the FBI now says is being investigated as an act of terrorism inspired by ISIS. One person has been killed, two others hospitalized. We're going to have much more on that in a moment.
The other attack, a clear act of antisemitism. A terrifying scene today at a Detroit area synagogue which houses an early child care center and school with 140 students. Here's what we know. A suspect rammed a vehicle all the way into Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, the biggest synagogue, we're told, in the Detroit area. The Oakland County sheriff says miraculously, no one was killed except for the suspect.
When the suspect rammed that vehicle inside the building, the sheriff says security guards immediately jumped into action and opened fire on the suspect. A security guard was hit by the vehicle and has been wounded, but is expected to recover.
Emergency responders found what appeared to be a large amount of explosives in the back of the vehicle, according to officials briefed on the scene. Law enforcement is working to clear the vehicle of explosives and something inside the vehicle did catch fire.
Aerial images of the synagogue show dark smoke billowing out moments ago. President Trump addressed this attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Before we begin, I want to send our love to the Michigan Jewish community and all of the people in Detroit area following the attack on the Jewish synagogue early today. And I've been briefed, fully briefed, and it's a terrible thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: It is, of course, a massive relief that this attack did not end in the way that so many others have, with horrific injuries and deaths of innocent people. But there will, of course, be invisible scars, psychological scars for those who lived through it, people including young children who had to flee for their lives, as well as their parents and their families who were anguished, attacked at a place of worship and learning merely because of their faith.
And, of course, none of this happened in a vacuum. It happened at a time of rising antisemitic sentiment and antisemitic action in the United States. We're seeing the real life consequences to the elevation in platforming and legitimizing of antisemitic voices. To be crystal clear, we do not know the motivations of the attacker. This would be mass murderer of Jews. We don't know their political views.
But the Overton Window, the measure of acceptable discourse, has opened to some of the most hateful antisemitic voices out there on the left and the right. And again, to be crystal clear here, I'm not talking about critics of Prime Minister Netanyahu or the Israeli government. I'm talking about bigotry against Jewish people.
We've heard it from people on the right, including Candace Owens, who feeds her millions of followers with vile racist tropes rooted in Nazi propaganda, literally. And we've heard it from a number of radicals on the left who have gone from criticizing the Israeli government to calling for or condoning violence and murder of Jewish civilians, not to mention denying crimes that have been committed against Jewish civilians.
A poll taken by the American Jewish Committee in October asked people whether they think antisemitism in the U.S. has increased since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023 and the subsequent Israeli attack on Gaza. 62 percent of those polled said yes. A poll was taken months ago and just in the last week, a synagogue in Belgium was attacked. An explosion caused damage, but no injuries.
Also in the last week, three synagogues in the Greater Toronto area were attacked in Canada by gunfire. No one was injured. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
In January in this country, a Mississippi synagogue was burned down hours before the 19-year-old suspect posted antisemitic meme on Instagram. That same month, members of a Jewish temple gathered to remember the wildfire that burned down the temple, only to find anti- Zionist graffiti scrawled on an exterior wall.
In February, there was a pro Hamas protest outside a New York synagogue. Pro Hamas. Hamas is a group that the U.S. government and E.U. label a terrorist group, a group that purposefully targets civilians, often Jewish civilians.
Now, in the aftermath of this attack in Detroit, police departments in Michigan and across the country are ramping up efforts to protect religious institutions, including especially of course, synagogues.
[17:05:03]
Joining us now, CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller. John, what are your sources telling you about what exactly happened at this synagogue in the Detroit area?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENC ANALYST: Well, what we've been told by the sheriff, Mike Burchard up there is that this individual came driving up and then drove down a walkway towards a set of doorways that would lead into the school attached to this synagogue, broke through the doorways and continued to drive down the hallway, at which point he was confronted by the armed security people from the school, one of whom he ran into with the vehicle and was knocked unconscious.
It's not clear whether that is the person who was firing at the vehicle as it was driving down the hallway. It appears from the security video that the individual driving in the vehicle may have also been firing because people who have seen that video say it looks like shell casings are being ejected out the window and a number of shell casings were found there in the hallway.
The vehicle catches fire. The person who was the attacker is killed by the security officer's gunfire. But with the fire going on, firefighters look in the back and they see what appears to be a number of mortars or mortar rounds. Those are things that could either be military explosives or could be the things used to fire off fireworks.
Either way, possibly what caught on fire, possibly what was supposed to catch on fire, which seemed to be a combination, Jake, of a ramming attack, an active shooter attack and perhaps a large vehicle bomb attack which was thwarted very quickly. But terrifying.
TAPPER: Speaking of terrifying, there was also a shooting today at Old Dominion University which is near Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk police say one victim dead, innocent victim dead, two others hospitalized. The gunman is also dead.
FBI Director Cash Patel says the shooting is being investigated as a terror related attack. What more can you tell us about this case?
MILLER: Well, everything we don't know right now about the shooter in Michigan. We now do know about the shooter at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, where this individual walked into the class, asked if it was the ROTC class, then opened fire, we believe killing the instructor, wounding another person seriously before a third individual in the room took the shooter down.
But the shooter has been identified as Mohamed Baylor Jalloh, who was arrested in 2016 by the FBI for material support for ISIS. He was attempting to buy guns which he allegedly believed were going to be used in an ISIS attack on U.S. soil and also allegedly attempting to travel to join ISIS. At the time, he was a member of the U.S. National Guard.
He was sentenced to 11 years but got out early in 2025 and has been off the radar until he showed up today in that classroom committing this attack, which we have to, as you said, look at what are the odds as to what the motive for a former materiel support suspect, convicted ISIS supporter would be doing trying to kill a class of U.S. military people in a college.
TAPPER: Horrible. John Miller, thanks so much. Joining us now to discuss Michigan state representative and member of Temple Israel, Noah Arbit. Representative Arbit, thanks for joining us. You have a very personal connection to Temple Israel. Just moments ago, you described this attack as your worst nightmare. Tell us more.
NOAH ARBIT (D) MICHIGAN STATE HOUSE: Yes, it's where my parents got married. It's where I was bar mitzvahed. It's where last year I just had a big town hall on my legislation on hate crimes that I passed in my first term. You know, this is something that is so personal to me. I campaigned on taking on rising hate crimes when I was running to represent this amazing community in my hometown of West Bloomfield.
And growing up at Temple Israel shaped me and it made me who I am and made me a humanist and someone who believes in, you know, building bridges between communities in between faiths and combating hate and extremism. And I wouldn't have run for office if it wasn't for growing up at Temple Israel.
And to now see that this horror has come home to roost at my synagogue and in my hometown, in my community, in my district, is my worst nightmare.
TAPPER: So my understanding is that it's a reformed temple, it's a progressive temple. It's the biggest temple in the Detroit area. Tell us about the people who --
ARBIT: In North America.
TAPPER: In North America, Is that right? So tell us about the people who attend Temple Israel.
ARBIT: IT'S amazing. Like I said, it's the largest synagogue of any denomination in North America. We have antiracism task force. We are just such an open, dynamic, welcoming community.
[17:10:03]
You know, Temple Israel, you know, really has pioneered a new way of Jewish worship for a long time. Long, since long before I was born for, you know, 100 years. And it's where so many Detroit area Jews call our home for a reason.
And I just want to thank, you know, the rabbis, the leadership, the administrative leadership, the security, our West Bloomfield PD, Fire Department, everyone for being on the scene today because they save lives. It's not by accident that no lives were lost today. It is because of the amazing response from our law enforcement and our fire and our emergency services.
But I think, you know, Jake, you were talking about the rise of antisemitism. And I just, I want to -- I want to say I don't think it's any longer appropriate to talk about a rise of antisemitism. It is nothing short of a crisis of antisemitism that we have.
And, you know, it's really important for me to share with your viewers that, you know, antisemitism isn't something that, you know, is a relic of the 1930s, just something that's a real live threat to your Jewish neighbors all across this country and all across the world.
This is the fifth attack on a synagogue this week. Two in Toronto, one in Baltimore, one in Belgium, and the latest in my hometown of West Bloomfield. And it's really important to understand that the relationship between hate speech and hate violence is cause and effect.
And so when we see the mainstreaming and proliferation of anti-Jewish rhetoric, when we see people blaming Jews for the war in Iran, and let me be clear, the only person that is to blame for taking us to war with Iran is Donald J. Trump. And the result is that Jews and Jewish institutions have become legitimate targets of violence for people.
TAPPER: So let me ask you, because I said this earlier in the show, there's been a rise in antisemitism on the left and the right. You're a Democrat.
ARBIT: Yes.
TAPPER: Do you think leaders of the Democratic Party are doing enough to call out antisemitism in your party? I understand, I'm sure you have lots of issues with antisemitism in the Republican Party. But for you, my question is about in the Democratic Party.
ARBIT: Well, the way I see this, and I will answer your question directly, the answer is no. I don't believe that leaders in the Democratic Party are doing enough to call out antisemitism within the Democratic Party.
But I think us framing this as a left versus right, far right, far left. Where is it worse? Is it worse among Democrats? Is it worse among Republicans? Actually, misses the point --
TAPPER: I agree.
ARBIT: -- and makes us less safe as Jews --
TAPPER: I agree.
ARBIT: -- because it's not actually -- yeah. It's not a partisan issue. It's actually a generational issue. And this is something I read this article and shout out to Yair Rosenberg at the Atlantic for writing an article that really reframed how I thought about antisemitism, which is it's not so much partisan or ideological thing so much as it is a generational thing.
Antisemitism is exploding among the young generations for a lot of different reasons, you know, versus like left versus right. But that is the issue that we have to address is the young generations that are being radicalized that are being fed, you know, this slop on, you know, TikTok and the algorithms that are designed, you know, really, to platform extremist content.
TAPPER: Yes.
ARBIT: So I've been working and I want to shout out Dr. Cynthia Miller-Idriss at Peril, the Polarization Extremism Research and Innovation Lab, American University, they are developing public health approach to how do we combat radicalization before it turns into violence.
And so there are solutions that we can bring to bear to this solution. I don't want to hear anyone say that, you know, antisemitism is an unsolvable problem. Hey, sure, will always be with us. But we can attack this problem --
TAPPER: Yes.
ARBIT: -- before it manifests in horrific scenes like we have seen in West Bloomfield.
TAPPER: Yes. The only reason I ask you about Democrats is because I'm in D.C. right now, Noah, and this is the hometown of people only seeing antisemitism on the other side. So that's the only --
ARBIT: Sure.
TAPPER: -- reason I asked the question. Noah Arbit --
ARBIT: Yes.
TAPPER: -- state Representative, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.
ARBIT: It's bad here in the Michigan Democratic Party.
TAPPER: Yes.
ARBIT: I believe it is my responsibility as a Democratic state representative, as the representative, as one of three Jewish legislators here in Michigan to continue to stand up, speak out and fight back against --
TAPPER: Yes.
ARBIT: -- antisemitism in the Democratic Party and wherever it exists. And it's my job to hold the line for Jews in the Democratic Party. And that's why I will continue to do.
TAPPER: Representative Arbit, thank you so much. Much more in our breaking news out of Michigan and head I'm going to be joined live by the state's attorney general for an update on what she knows about the suspect and the investigation so far.
Plus, today we got the first message purportedly from the brand new supreme leader of Iran. He's warning the United States. That's next.
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TAPPER: In our World Lead, it is day 13 of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, and both the U.S. and Iran are indicating that they're preparing for this war to continue. Today we got the very first public message that's attributed, at least to Iran's newly named supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. He released a written statement, no video or audio, amid reports of him being severely injured in the strike that killed his father.
He is warning in the written statement that U.S. bases in the region need to be shut down or they will be attacked. The written statement also warns that the key shipping route, the Strait of Hormuz, will remain closed as a tool of pressure against the West.
Iran has effectively turned the Strait of Hormuz into a battleground by striking commercial vessels, innocent civilians, oil tankers.
Last night, Iran struck two foreign oil tankers in Iraqi waters, killing at least one person, with dozens of crew members needing to be rescued. Because of this chaos and this gridlock in the Strait of Hormuz, gas prices in the U.S. inched up again today, this time by 2 cents a gallon, taking the average price to $3.60 a gallon, according to AAA.
President Trump somehow is trying to spin this as a good thing. He said, quote, the United States is the largest oil producer in the world by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money. Unquote.
What do you mean we? Kimasabe. Unclear. Also, his energy secretary, Chris Wright, issued a mea culpa over his social media post earlier this week that falsely claimed that the U.S. Navy had escorted an oil ship, a tanker, through the Strait of Hormuz
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: That is a miscommunication in our department. I take full ownership of that as the person in charge of the department. Very unfortunate. It will not happen again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's get to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, who is live for us in Amman, Jordan. Nick, your new analysis, your new reporting says that Iran has within 12 days turned this into an endurance test that they are succeeding at. Explain more what you mean. NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT:
Ultimately, I think President Trump's rhetoric over the past days has turned towards the end of this, either by saying that the United States has won or demanding unconditional surrender.
However you cut it, his rhetoric is about how this comes to a close. And that's an interesting signal for Iran because it perhaps suggests that his appetite is decreasing for this conflict to go on. And clearly there are multiple economic signals that suggest that would be a wise thing.
At the same time, though, the Iranians obviously, because this is an existential fight for the regime, have a stronger appetite for it, have more tricks potentially at their disposal, have already pointed out the Strait of Hormuz as being a tool of leverage where they can force the price of oil up.
And so ultimately, Trump seems to be trying to declare some kind of victory here without having the kind of concomitant recognition of defeat from the Iranians. You would normally expect, or indeed the Iranians stopping their missile and drone attacks. That's a potential problem for him. He wouldn't be the first president promised a quick military victory would have enduring political consequences. But he's in a bind here, certainly.
And, you know, unless the U.S. is going to constantly be going back to try and diminish Iran again and again, something has to change in that equation.
The announcement we heard today or the statement we heard from the Iranian regime, purportedly from Mojtaba Khamenei, doesn't help because the doubts that it raised. Ultimately, there was little new there in policy. Some slightly far-fetched demands for reparations from the U.S. and Israel and the suggestion they might hit surprise or soft targets to get at the United States, along with the demand to keep using the Strait of Hormuz as leverage.
The real takeaway was we didn't see Mojtaba Khamenei. We didn't hear from him. He apparently delivered this in a handwritten note. A bizarre desire by the Iranian regime to not meet the moment and give the proof of life and health of Mojtaba Khamenei that so many, frankly, in Iran demand, let alone the White House. And without knowing who's fully in charge.
There's a real danger here that Iranian Revolutionary Guard hardliners are essentially pushing to the fore this policy of a longer endurance war to see when they can actually get exhaustion point to be reached by the United States where their munitions deplete or the economic pain is just too much and take that element of survival and not giving up as a kind of victory.
And frankly, regionally, it would be something of a win for Iran to endure all this damage, this enormous wave of U.S. air power and still ultimately be able to irritate the U.S. and damage its oil economy. Jake. TAPPER: All right, Nick Paton Walsh in Amman, Jordan, for us. Thank
you. Stay safe. Let's go to CNN's Tom Foreman now. Tom, let's talk about the Strait of Hormuz. It's really become the center of this war right now. And maybe more than anything else, this seems to be bringing the battle home for the American people. Do you agree?
TOME FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And a lot of people may be puzzled by it. They say, look, it's a conflict way over there. The United States does produce a lot of oil and gas. So why is the cost going up at my corner gas station?
First of all, because that is also a big oil and gas region. A lot of petroleum products there from the UAE to Saudi Arabia, huge producer, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran itself. And almost all of it has to come through this thin ribbon of water down here and pass through the very tight Strait of Hormuz, about 3,000 ships a month, about 20 million barrels of oil a day.
And Iran, as you noted above, Jake, is really putting a lot of military pressure on those ships and in effect, slamming the gates shut there at the strait and letting almost nothing through.
TAPPER: We've heard about the effort to mine the strait sea mines by the Iranians. What do we know about Iran's ability, their capability to do that?
FOREMAN: We know that they have a lot of mines and they're not the old mines that you see in World War II movies. For example, they have this type of mine which is called an influence mine. This is just one type, but this sort of mine is much more modern. It sits underwater and it basically takes readings on what's passing above so that if a small boat or ship goes by, it may ignore it.
But if a big tanker goes by and that's what it's been tuned to, that's when it may detonate. Will be enough to destroy it? We don't know. How many are out there? We don't know. But that uncertainty alone is also contributing to the notion that none of these ships that ought to be going out are doing so. Jake.
TAPPER: Tom, most of the oil from the Strait goes to Asia, notably to China.
FOREMAN: Yes.
TAPPER: So why is it impacting the U.S. this way?
FOREMAN: Almost none of it comes to the United States. But the problem is oil is traded on a world market.
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Once it gets out there, it's basically being all mixed together and traded. So if I were to put barrels in the back of our warehouse here and make them represent all the oil being traded in the world, 20 percent of it is now not passing through the Strait of Hormuz. You simply cannot remove that much from the market without affecting shipping and trade and manufacturing and yes, absolutely. What all of you are likely to pay this weekend when you go to gas up your car. Jake.
TAPPER: All right, Tom Foreman, thanks so much. Back to our breaking news out of Michigan where a suspect is dead after ramming his or her vehicle into a synagogue outside Detroit. What we're learning about the suspect and the investigation, that's next.
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TAPPER: Let's go to some live news now in Norfolk, Virginia, an update on the shooting at Old Dominion University by a suspected terrorist. Let's listen in.
DOMINIQUE EVANS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Containing the shooter and stopping further loss of life. The FBI is now the lead investigative agency investigating this as an act of terrorism. The shooter has been identified as Mohamed Bailor Jalloh. In 2016, Jalloh was arrested and pled guilty for attempting to provide material support to ISIL, now known as ISIS. Jalloh was sentenced to prison in October of 2017 and was released from prison in 2024.
FBI, Norfolk's Joint Terrorism Task Force, and our evidence response team responded to the scene and will continue to have a physical presence here at the scene as we process the evidence. Additionally, we are conducting other investigative steps into Jalloh and the specifics of the shooting. We have dedicated analytical and tactical support.
We are aiding in this investigation throughout the entire time. We will continue to work alongside of our partners and those in the community to find answers. The FBI continues to ask for the public's help in providing any information that could lead us in resolving this investigation and we remind the public that any detail, no matter how small, could be useful.
A collection of those small details may help paint a complete picture. We ask that the public submit their tips to www.fbi.gov/odushooting. Do you have any questions for me or for my partners here? Yes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With very little details that we know about the shooting so far. How are we able to confirm that this or it was an act of terrorism?
EVANS: How it was an act of terrorism? I can tell you that we have confirmed reports that prior to him conducting this act of terrorism, he shouted or stated allahu akbar and he was formally a subject of a FBI investigation in material supporting terrorism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Agent, were there explosives in his car?
EVANS: We have no information about any explosives in his car or anywhere else at this time. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he have one weapon?
EVANS: As far as I know, we only know of one weapon that he had on his person at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What kind of aid was he giving to ISIL 10 years ago?
EVANS: He wanted to conduct a terrorist attack similar to that in Fort Hood, Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any mention of the war in Iran with that?
EVANS: None whatsoever.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How was he deceased?
EVANS: He -- there were students that were in that room that subdued him and rendered him no longer alive. I don't know how else to say it, but they basically were able to terminate the threat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he was not shot?
EVANS: He was not shot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He shot three people?
EVANS: Correct. We have information that he shot three people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The one that went to Virginia Beach for treatment, was that person just winged or grazed?
EVANS: So I don't have any information at this time about the specific, you know, life-threatening or not otherwise to the two that are still alive, but at this time we're respecting the victims of the shooting. That includes not only the ones that were shot, but all of the people here at ODU I consider are victims. This is a tragic event, and I do ask that you look at that.
You're all part of our community too, and so I just want to throw that out there to give the respect and the time needed to provide that additional information about the victims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you say he was released in 2024?
EVANS: Correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the Bureau's intelligence level on him since then?
EVANS: So I don't have any of that information right now. That's because this is an ongoing investigation. After we learned of his name, we confirmed that he was formerly a subject of a material support to terrorism investigation and obviously was sentenced for that. But I don't have any information indicating that he was known or an ongoing problem. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll take one more question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any more specifics on how he was subdued?
EVANS: Yes, the brave ROTC members in that room subdued him. And if not for them, I'm not sure, you know, what else he may have done. But that's exactly -- they confronted him and they subdued him, and he was no longer able to conduct any further attack.
[17:35:03]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you very much. Travis Blossom? Go ahead. OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Asking for ROTC students involved, is there any reason to believe that they were targeted?
EVANS: Well, I believe that at this time we have to take all the information that we will receive from the victims. So I don't want to make any preemptive judgments or anything at this time, exactly.
Keep in mind we're going to look at forensic information, you know, anything that he may have had interest specifically for any targets. And because I don't have that yet, I can't confirm that at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you know how many people are in the classroom?
EVANS: I don't know the exact number of the people in the classroom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long do you suspect this investigation will last?
EVANS: It's a fair question. It really completely depends. So we obviously are going to dig in, and this is why we need the public support, to where he may have been before this, who he may have been in contact with, if he had any other supporters, anybody providing him information.
So we have to track every single lead down, and that is exactly what the FBI will do. Every single lead we are going to track down the veracity of the information and make sure that we have a full investigation with as much information, again, to ensure that there isn't anyone else that he may have been receiving support from as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any evidence that he was self-harming?
EVANS: No, I don't have anything at this time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, everyone.
EVANS: Thank you.
TAPPER: All right, that's the FBI briefing after the shooting and apparent terrorist attack at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. Let's bring in CNN's John Miller. So, John, the FBI just revealed that the gunman wanted to carry out a terrorist attack similar to the one in Fort Hood, Texas. Your reaction?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, this is part of what we've been seeing. When you consider we had a terrorist attack in Austin, Texas, two weeks ago on the weekend, in New York City last weekend, two individuals threw bombs at a protest outside of the mayor's residence.
If you look at the events today in Michigan, clearly a story that is developing and will likely be labeled a terrorist attack and become an FBI investigation. And now this one this morning, it tells us that there is a stirring out there, likely in the Internet circles where people are recruited and urged to action that we are seeing this pace from.
TAPPER: The FBI was not able to give an answer when asked if this specific ROTC room had been targeted. How will they ultimately figure that out? The suspect obviously has been killed.
MILLER: Well, they'll be going back through the suspect's phones, computers, messages, notes, search warrants have been occurring at the suspect's residence and on the suspect's vehicle. They'll gather all of that and maybe learn the answer to that or maybe not.
But I think if you take it in the context, and we've been talking about that on this show tonight, here's a former Army National Guard member who came to this room and asked people, is this the ROTC class where you would find prospective military candidates in a college environment, opened fire first on the instructor and then on others before he was subdued by one of them.
One of them, I am told by sources, had a knife and that helped to subdue him and may or may not have been a factor in how or why he was killed. But I think it looks very targeted from a guy who, from his own military experience, knew his way around there.
TAPPER: Yes. All right, John Miller, thank you so much.
Lots going on today with these attacks. Let's turn to the other attack that unfolded earlier today, this one at a synagogue near Detroit that also housed a daycare center. The synagogue did send out an alert saying that all 140 students at the school were safe and accounted for. A suspect is dead after the suspect rammed a vehicle into the synagogue building.
Police found the suspect's burned body inside the vehicle. Emergency responders found what appeared to be a large amount of explosives in the back of the vehicle. The attorney general of the state of Michigan, Dana Nessel, joins us now.
General Nessel, thanks for joining us. So I have questions about the investigation for you in a sec. But I want to start with your reaction to today's attack as I think the highest ranking Jewish state official in the state of Michigan. DANA NESSEL (D-MI), ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, well, Jake, honestly, I'm very shaken up. I'm from West Bloomfield Township. My family lives just down the street from Temple, Israel. And I have multiple members of my family that are members of that congregation, which is the biggest reform Judaism congregation, I believe, in the United States.
[17:40:16]
This is the place that I went to in 2018, where we memorialized those who were lost in the massacre in the Tree of Life Temple in Pittsburgh. And I was just there last year doing a presentation on hate crimes and domestic terrorism and trying to warn people there about how to report hate crimes or how to report suspected acts that could lead to domestic terrorism.
And here we are today in a totally predictable fashion, having an act of domestic terrorism right here at that same spot.
TAPPER: It's horrifying and it's horrifying that Jews in America have to have armed guards just for their. OK, let's put your law enforcement hat on, general. Does law enforcement, as of right now, believe that the person the dead suspect is the only person involved in this attack?
NESSEL: Well, last I looked, you know, they were investigating out of an abundance of caution to make sure that there wasn't anyone else involved. So I don't know if they have clearly at this point between local law enforcement and the FBI who are leading this investigation made that determination. It doesn't appear that way at this point, though. It does look like right now that just the individual who died inside the synagogue is the person responsible.
TAPPER: CNN has reported that there were explosives in the back of the car. Have you been briefed about that? Is that accurate?
NESSEL: You know, I haven't got an official briefing, but I have heard a little bit about the explosives. And clearly, you know, you had this engulf the vehicle after it was driven into the temple. You know, I would say this I -- this is one of those synagogues where you had incredibly well trained guards. And I know they had just had an active shooting drill not too long ago. So they were very well prepared.
And I'd also not only, you know, commend them for their quick action, but also law enforcement from all over the metropolitan Detroit area that convened in this area in order to assist. But obviously, you know, I'm very grateful that we didn't have a loss of life.
TAPPER: Do you know why the suspect chose today to carry out the attack? I mean, often these kinds of attacks happen on a Jewish holiday or something like that. Today is not a Jewish holiday.
NESSEL: Well, I think we can absolutely draw a nexus between the war in Iran and the events of today. I mean, I don't think it's a coincidence that out of all the synagogues or temples that this individual could have picked, he picked the one that is named Temple Israel. NESSEL: Today's attack is the most recent in a series of nationwide attacks targeting synagogues. There was the one in Mississippi that was burned down in January. There was a group of protesters, not just critical of the Israeli government, but actually pro Hamas, which is a group that the E.U. and the United States label a terrorist group that targets civilians protesting outside a synagogue in Manhattan. It's so difficult to draw a direct line from speech to action.
But obviously, we are all noticing the rising presence of voices in American politics feeling free to excuse, justify, call for killing Jewish civilians. We've covered it in your home state of Michigan. Do you think that that is likely having an impact on this rise of not just anti-Semitic views, but anti-Semitic actions?
NESSEL: Oh, absolutely. I think that you can draw a direct line from that speech to the actions that you saw today in West Bloomfield. But I think really, you know, it's time for people to speak up about what we see happening in American politics right now, both in the Democratic Party as well as the Republican Party. And that is people with extremist, anti-Semitic viewpoints being embraced by these parties, right? So whether you're talking about Republicans and Candace Owen or Tucker Carlson or Nick Fuentes, whether you're talking about people on the left who openly have just sort of replaced the word Jew with the -- with AIPAC or Zionist.
And then as long as you do that, you're free to say virtually anything that you want. We've seen it over and over again. And I think it's time that leaders of both parties stand up and strongly condemn anti- Semitism and say it will not be accepted in either major political party in the United States because Jews feel like they have no place to go. They feel like they have no home.
[17:45:25]
And for many of us who have gone, you know, decades and decades really never feeling that there was anti-Semitism that was affecting our daily lives, you know, that is certainly not the case anymore. And the rise of anti-Semitism in America has been, I don't want to say unparalleled, but certainly it's shocking.
And, you know, it is creating a circumstance where I think people are going to be afraid to go to synagogue. People are going to be afraid to go to a Jewish center because they think that they're going to see something similar to what we saw today in Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township.
TAPPER: Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, thank you so much for your time. Appreciate it.
We're going to get an update from law enforcement officials on the ground in West Bloomfield, Michigan, just outside Detroit in moments. We're going to bring that to you live. Stick with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:50:42] TAPPER: And we're back in our World Lead. The new Iranian Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, warns that the Strait of Hormuz will stay closed as a tool of pressure against the West amid this ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel. The world is hearing from the new Ayatollah for the first time today in a written statement since the start of the strikes that killed his father, who was his predecessor. The statement from the Ayatollah, the new one, is not in person.
A written message attributed to him read out on Iranian state T.V. I want to bring in Shervin Pishevar, an advisor to Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. Shervin, what strikes you the most about this purported message from the new Supreme Leader, whether in the contents or how it was delivered?
SHERVIN PISHEVAR, ADVISER TO CROWN PRINCE REZA PAHLAVI: Well, the glaring evidence is that it's a written message. There's no video of him alive. There's a lot of signals that Mojtaba Khamenei, who is known to be even more evil than his father, who is head of assassinations and executions and torture, has been mortally wounded or in a coma.
So the fact that he -- they have no evidence of him actually showing proof of life is probably a signal that they're trying to cover this up and buy more time.
TAPPER: President Trump, on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli strikes, called for the Iranian people to take to the streets and reclaim their government. Sources now tell CNN that there are no signs that the Iranian regime itself, which is hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, is collapsing. What does the installation of this new Ayatollah as the new Supreme Leader, what does it do for the objective of the Iranian people actually getting a country that has democracy and human rights?
PISHEVAR: Millions of Iranians came in the streets on January 8th and 9th, and they were calling for freedom and a new government, and they were calling out for Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi. And they were responding to President Trump's message that we're going to have your backs. They were responding to Netanyahu's message of the same. This created a moral contract between the people who came in the streets, and they were massacred.
The numbers that we're hearing is over 43,000 Iranians were mowed down. And I put out an image of what these bullets that were used are anti-material bullets, Jake. These are used for tanks, infrastructure, airplanes. They're bigger than the size of a Coca-Cola can, and they use this on human bodies. They ran out of body bags. So this was an absolute massacre that happened.
And now the Iranians are bravely shouting from their balconies, and they're shooting at the balconies with those same bullets to make people scared of doing the one thing that they can do is they're sheltering in place, as President Trump has said and the Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has said, to shelter in place, until the job is done, until the infrastructure of terror and the ability to use these weapons against the people is basically decapitated. And at that point, to call out to the people to come out in the streets, these people have shown a level of courage that is almost biblical. Many of them put out videos saying they think that this is their last message, and they still came in the streets. They sacrificed their lives for freedom that they wouldn't even taste.
TAPPER: Yes. It doesn't seem as though President Trump sees as a goal of the war, democracy and human rights for the Iranian people. I mean, he keeps spelling out directly what his goals are, and they have to do with destroying the Iranian military force, whether missiles or the nuclear weapons program or the Navy. He doesn't say that the Iranian people need to have freedom and human rights.
PISHEVAR: Well, 43,000 people didn't lay down their lives for a nuclear deal. They laid their lives down for freedom, and that's what they want. And so when the job is done and this regime is defanged, there will be millions of Iranians coming in the streets asking for the crown prince to return and lead a transitional government.
[17:55:05]
There is the Iran Prosperity Project, which I'm an adviser on. It's a 175-page report that has week-by-week plans for what comes next in having a referendum and voting on what form of a democracy Iranians want. Do they want a constitutional monarchy like in Europe in many democracies? Do they want a republic with a president and a congress like in the U.S.? It's up to the Iranians to choose what form of government they want.
And I've gotten to know the crown prince, and he's shown unbelievable courage and has lived a high-integrity life, a clean life, and has raised an amazing family. And he's laid down, you know, unbelievable courage and put it all on the line for the Iranian people.
TAPPER: All right. Shervin Pishevar, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
PISHEVAR: Thank you, Jake.
TAPPER: We are following lots of breaking news this afternoon. Central Command, U.S. Central Command, CENTCOM, just posted on its social media account that they're aware of the loss of a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft. The post goes on to say that there was an incident. It occurred in friendly airspace. Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq. The second landed safely.
CENTCOM says this was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire. We're joined now by Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Chrissy Houlihan. She served in the U.S. Air Force and is a member of the Armed Services and Intelligence Committees in the House.
This just happened, so I know what we know about it, what you know about it might be very limited. But can you give us any idea of what happened or what this sounds like to you, an Air Force veteran?
REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN (D-PA), INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Sure. So this is a really large refueling aircraft. There are hundreds of them in service, mostly in times like this, doing exactly what they're designed for, which is to refuel both bombers and also smaller jets, as an example. And they fly with a boom that is able to attach to a smaller or larger plane and deliver fuel. So that extends the range of each of these planes very considerably.
It's sort of a leapfrog effect from one place to another. And so it is, without any more information than you have, entirely possible that there was some sort of an accident in the process of refueling that would have involved both aircraft and that one might have gone to safety, as the tweet seems to indicate, and one may have gone possibly to ground. And there seem to be some sort of efforts on recovery of the aircraft and also of rescue.
And so that's effectively what we know. And what we also know is that this is the cost of war. It's enormously complex. The logistics of getting all of this stuff, people and product, across oceans is an enormously hazardous effort and one that requires everything to go exactly right. And so we won't know probably for a while what actually happened, but that's effectively what's likely to have happened.
TAPPER: Obviously, the greatest cost of war has to do with our fallen service members and our wounded service members. We know of seven who have been killed, more than 140 wounded, and that was from a few days ago. We don't know what this will result in in this accident, hopefully nothing, but it's tough to say.
Let's talk about the financial cost, because the Pentagon this week gave Congress an assessment that the U.S. military used $5.6 billion worth of munitions in just the first two days of the war in Iran. We're now on day 13. In a social media post earlier today, you worried that our adversaries are watching as we spend billions and deplete our resources without a strategy or end goal in sight. Tell us more about your concerns.
HOULAHAN: Enormous concerns. I mean, think about this. At this clip, we're going at about a billion dollars a day. We're a couple, what, 10, 14 days into this. We're billions and billions of dollars into this at the expense of the war that Secretary Hegseth himself has repeatedly said isn't really costing us anything because we would be doing this anyhow. Well, we wouldn't be depleting the weaponry that we have at all.
And that costs money. Each one of those things cost significant money. But it also creates a vulnerability. We have to replace whatever it is that we use at this particular conflict. And our enemies of various forms around the world are watching as we deplete those resources. And those things will take in many cases years for us to get back up to speed on.
And so this is also the price of war that we need to be aware of. And the idea that we're, you know, this is business as usual and we'd be using these airplanes and people, anyhow, is absolutely a red herring in this conversation. This is absolutely costing the American people blood and treasure.
TAPPER: Democratic Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, thank you so much and thank you for your service as always.
HOULAHAN: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
[18:00:02]
TAPPER: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. The Lead tonight, we're following breaking news and standing by for an update from police in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan.
