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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Suspect Dead After Ramming Vehicle into Michigan Synagogue; CENTCOM "Aware" of Loss of U.S. Refueling Aircraft in Iraq; Officials Give Update on Michigan Synagogue Attack. Suspect Dead After Ramming Vehicle Into Michigan Synagogue; CENTCOM "Aware" Of Loss Of U.S. Refueling Aircraft In Iraq. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired March 12, 2026 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: 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, outside Detroit, where earlier today, a suspect was killed by a security guard after ramming his car into a synagogue that also houses a school. Thankfully no one was killed other than the suspect. A security guard was injured but is expected to recover, we're told.
We know that 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. This attack in Michigan comes amid a string of attacks on innocent members of the Jewish community in the United States and around the world.
And that's not the only attack that happened in the United States today. The other was at Old Dominion University in Virginia, where one innocent person has been killed, two others hospitalized. The FBI now says that attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism inspired by ISIS. Officials say that the suspect, who also was killed, had served prison time for attempting to aid ISIS years ago.
Joining us now is CNN's senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, and CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.
John, what are the most pressing questions you have right now that you're hoping law enforcement in Michigan will answer in their news conference?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, what we're going to be looking at is, what do we know of the individual behind this? What do we know of the planning that went into it? And a key question, which is more for them and less for us, is, do we know if anyone else might have been involved in the planning or execution of this plot which was meant to be far worse than it turned out to be, mostly because of the very quick action of the in-house armed security team for that temple and that school.
TAPPER: Juliette, according to law enforcement, this attack could have been much worse. Obviously he has a gun. He's bursting his car through the synagogue. He had, according to some folks, he had explosives in the back. There's a school there, 140 students, et cetera. This is a horrifying incident, but obviously it could have been much worse.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. Much, much worse. I mean, we can't be -- we're so grateful because from all accounts this was intended to be a mass casualty fatality event. Commending the internal security and also the fast work of law enforcement. I mean, the number of cars that were there, the way that the school and the community responded, the focus on family unification and family communication because of course, that's the biggest fear.
There is reporting that just two weeks ago that -- or a couple of weeks ago that the FBI had done, and law enforcement had done an active shooter drill. This is common at places like synagogues and Jewish schools. And so we know that they were unfortunately ready. We heard earlier, in an earlier hour, the head of law enforcement for the area actually say that two weeks ago when, you know, people were worried about greater radicalization and Islamic terrorism, that he had reached out to federal law enforcement.
So people were ready. It's not a good thing given what it means that they're ready for, but it does show that preparation and planning can minimize harm even if they can't make, you know, the kind of dangers and risks we live in with today go away.
TAPPER: Yes. It's great that there were armed security guards there. Horrific that there need to be armed security guards at every synagogue in the United States.
John, law enforcement says that the suspect's body has been badly burned and that's going to make it more difficult for investigators to identify this person. So how might investigators figure out the suspects identity beyond assuming that it was his or her car?
MILLER: Well, they'll start with the car and trace back, you know, through other things. We saw in the Las Vegas New Year's Day attack from the year before last, where that car was completely burned inside and out and yet the individual who was the operator of that vehicle, a former military person, his driver's license seemed to survive the fire in his wallet which helped. Ultimately they identified him through various tattoos and things that they were able to see despite the condition of the body.
In this case the key is probably going to be DNA extracted from some part of the body where the damage is the least.
TAPPER: Juliette, we've had two terrorist attacks in less than a week. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told me a few minutes ago that we can absolutely draw a straight line between today's events and the war in Iran, also a straight line between antisemitic sentiment being espoused on the far-right and the far-left, increasingly with not enough condemnation and attacks on the synagogue.
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What do you make of it all?
KAYYEM: I think that's right. I don't know if I would go so far as to say direct line yet. The attack in New York done by two Pennsylvanians who said they were inspired by ISIS, appears to have been planned before the war started a couple of weeks ago. But I will tell you, I talk to enough local and state law enforcement that they, you know, they weren't born yesterday. They know that the threat environment is higher here in the United States by two -- sort of worried about two different types of terrorism.
One is men or anyone online being inspired by ISIS which has called for more attacks since the war started and attacking the United States, but also Jewish institutions and informs of antisemitism. And then the other one is, of course, the state sponsorship of terrorism by Iran, which has been doing this for decades. I mean, they support and fund Hezbollah. They have launched attacks in Western Europe against individuals here in the United States.
So the threat environment has increased even if the federal government isn't sort of issuing reports or notices. People on the ground know that. And that is why it's important. Once again, it's not good news that people are ready for this kind of attack. But you'd have to be living honestly in another universe to think that our threat environment is the same as it was two weeks ago.
TAPPER: Yes, let's talk about that because anytime anybody reports on an elevated threat or concerns being expressed, there seems to be a very forceful attempt by the Trump administration to downplay any threats.
National security is on the top of many Americans' minds, John. What should ordinary Americans do to increase their safety?
MILLER: Well, I think what you saw today is one example, which is from an infrastructure standpoint for schools and places that are considered higher risk, for instance, symbolic targets or Jewish locations. They've taken the steps that we saw, you know, used today. But, you know, you're talking about the average American. It boils down to, you know, you know your environment, the environment around you where you live every day or work every day, better than anybody else.
You know what is actually suspicious, what actually is abnormal. It boils down to the if you see something, say something genre. I mean, that's part A. Part B is more complicated, which is we have seen in many of these cases where people started to drop those one line hints, those indicators before they did an attack, whether it was a school shooting or a terrorist attack, basically indicating that something was coming up. The profilers called it leakage. And what they urged people is learn to recognize it and be willing to report it.
TAPPER: All right. Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much. John Miller, stand by. We're going to wait for this update from Michigan officials.
But let's talk with podcaster Jonah Platt right now. He's the host of "Being Jewish with Jonah Platt."
And Jonah, you were scheduled to speak at Temple Israel in Michigan in a few months. You have cousins, who belong there. Have you spoken to your family? How are they feeling?
JONAH PLATT, HOST, "BEING JEWISH" PODCAST: You know, thank God they're safe. Thank God everybody there is safe. But it's terrifying. This is not something any parent should have to live through, is worrying that while their child is in preschool there's somebody with a car full of explosives smashing through the door of the building, driving down the hall, trying to kill everybody. It's just horrible.
TAPPER: We don't yet know the specific motivations of this attack, but obviously if you attack a synagogue, it's inherently an act of antisemitism. This is the fifth synagogue attacked in just the last week. Three in Canada, one in Belgium. Antisemitic crimes have been drastically spiking for years, and at the same time, I don't think it's a coincidence we hear loud voices spewing antisemitism on the left and on the right.
How do you view how this landscape has changed?
PLATT: I mean, this is a time unlike any that we have seen for generations. The outward, absolute, vitriolic hate towards Jews is being normalized. It's started on the far-right and the far-left. And that's certainly is the loudest. And it's not the majority of folks in this country. But what they're saying is not being pushed back hard enough against by the silent moderate majority.
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And it's being allowed to encroach on our normal day-to-day life. And very clearly, it's putting Jewish lives in danger.
And as you said, Jake, this has been rising steadily since well before October 7th. I mean, every year after year after year for the past almost 10 years, the numbers have been skyrocketing, doubling exponentially so this is not a new problem. It's getting worse and worse. And this really has to be the time for people who have not been involved, who have not been informed, who have been on the sidelines, who haven't really taken an opinion to stand up and say, I've had it with this.
This is not the sort of country and space I want to live in. This is not the society I want to be a part of. We need to push this stuff back in the dark corners of our society where it belongs.
TAPPER: So to many Jews there seems a reluctance by political leaders to call out antisemitism on their side. They feel free to call it out on the other side, Democrats against Republicans, Republicans against Democrats, but not on their own.
Vice President J.D. Vance has been criticized by Jewish conservatives for describing those who make an effort to purge antisemitism from their party as trying to impose a purity test. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by running his supporters through endless, self-defeating purity tests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: He made that comment during a debate in the Republican Party about Tucker Carlson interviewing Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens. What do you think is going on?
PLATT: Well, I mean, I want to give some credit where credit is due. Very recently, both Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have taken strong stances. Cruz just the other day specifically against Tucker Carlson trying to root out this anti-Jew hate we're seeing from his ilk. But you're right that generally and certainly on the left, the core leadership, we're not hearing this messaging of pushing back against these extreme voices.
And, you know, again, it affects all of us. It is bad for the health check of a society when these hateful, extremist, divisive violent voices are being normalized and platformed. It just -- it doesn't -- what starts with the Jews doesn't end with the Jews. It really is a dangerous slippery slope. And we've got to put the brakes on it right now before it escalates any further.
TAPPER: I hate the fact that you even have to make that argument. What stops with the Jews doesn't end with the Jews, like who cares? I mean, it shouldn't happen to the Jews. Forget about, you know, whether or not --
PLATT: You're right.
TAPPER: You know, you don't have to quote Niemoller. Let me just also point out it's not just Vance, Mayor Mamdani of New York is facing criticism. He had over for dinner this week anti-Israel activist Mahmoud Khalil, an organizer of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest Group, which led those protests at Columbia University. And that group explicitly, explicitly, praised the Hamas attacks on October 7th.
Now, Khalil was targeted for deportation by the Trump administration and the mayor, in explaining why he had him over during Ramadan, said he was deported for, quote, "exercising his First Amendment rights in protesting the ongoing genocide in Palestine," unquote.
What did you make of all that?
PLATT: You know, this came, I don't know how quickly after hours or a day after some ISIS inspired, you know, terrorists tried to throw bombs at the mansion and instead of having a brave police officer over for dinner who, you know, helped try to protect Americans, he had this anti-Western, anti-American ally guy who's supporting Hamas, who's sowing dissent in our country, had that guy over for dinner. I mean, if he sends a very clear message that, you know, whatever he
may, whatever words may come out of his mouth his actions and what he's always stood by, and many of the words that have come out of his mouth, frankly, that his priorities and what is important to him is demonizing Israel and supporting these causes from a very extreme angle in a way that I think any Jew or any non-Jew who is suspicious and worried has every right to be of, you know, what his allegiance is. It's very disconcerting.
TAPPER: Jonah Platt, thank you, sir.
We're standing by for an update from law enforcement officials in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, after a suspect drove his or her car into a synagogue and daycare center today. We're going to bring that to you live.
We're also going to go live to the Middle East next for more on the breaking news CENTCOM saying that there was a loss of a U.S. military refueling aircraft over western Iraq. Horrible news. Stick with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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TAPPER: We're back. We're waiting for an update from officials in Michigan about today's attack on a synagogue and daycare center, where a suspect was killed by security guards after ramming a car into the building with explosives in the back of the car, we're told. We're going to bring that press conference live as soon as it happens.
We're also following breaking news out of the Middle East this evening. U.S. Central Command or CENTCOM says that they're aware of the loss of a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft in Iraq. CENTCOM says the incident occurred in friendly airspace and that the incident was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.
Let's go right to CNN's Erin Burnett who's live on the ground in Tel Aviv.
Erin, tell us what more you're learning about the incident.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. As you said, it involves a KC-135 refueling aircraft. They're saying there's the loss of one of those. They say that the incident involved two U.S. aircraft.
Important, Jake, they're emphasizing that it was in friendly airspace. It was over Iraq. They say one crashed, one of the aircraft crashed in western Iraq, and the other landed safely. So they are making it clear that this was not caused by fire of any sort, not hostile, not friendly. It appears to have been two aircraft involved in the incident, and one of them they do say crashed.
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The other landed safely. So unclear obviously, as to the pilot, what might have happened to the one that crashed, and we're waiting for more information on that. But it did involve a KC-135 refueling aircraft.
And Jake, it's obviously in the context of finding out that injured number is significantly higher than we had first thought. So far in this war with somewhere around 140, at least, U.S. service members injured, in addition to those who were killed in Kuwait. And still a lot frankly of things we don't know about the number of injured overall in this war, but we're waiting for more information on that. That's the latest we have from CENTCOM.
TAPPER: What more are you learning about what the IDF is doing tonight? We heard that there are new strikes by the IDF.
BURNETT: Yes, new strikes and some of those strikes, obviously, in Iran, also the possibility of a major offensive in Lebanon. And there were strikes there through the day.
Jake, we did hear sirens within the past few hours here. I could see an interception right in the sky, sort of right behind us in Tel Aviv, towards the east. You know, it is usually in the next few hours that we would see a pickup in intensity the nights that we have seen that. So we'll see what happens.
But Jake, important context here as we're talking about this, the Prime Minister Netanyahu just gave his first press conference of the war. He gave it on Zoom, and he said a few things, Jake, that I think are very important one. He said he and Trump are speaking almost every day, which is important because we've not heard a lot from the Israeli prime minister. He also said that they're crushing the terror regime. Obviously that word crushing one that is -- echoes what we have heard from the defense secretary in the U.S., Pete Hegseth.
But specifically, Jake, he brings up nuclear infrastructure where we hadn't heard a lot about strikes. But he says that's an area where they have been, quote-unquote, "crushing." He brings up the launchers, the missile launchers, as you know, and the regime's power centers also expressing real skepticism, Jake, on this purported statement by the new supreme leader calling the supreme leader a puppet who cannot show his face in public.
And it comes amidst a lot of speculation that we are hearing among senior Israeli government officials about what is the real status of the new supreme leader Khamenei.
TAPPER: All right, CNN's Erin Burnett live for us in Tel Aviv. Thank you so much.
And of course Erin is going to have more of her fearless reporting coming up in the next hour on her show. "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT, "live from Tel Aviv, as it has been since the war began, only here on CNN.
Let's bring in former CENTCOM commander, former CIA director, retired general David Petraeus.
General, good to see you. So your reaction to this update from CENTCOM tonight about the loss of a refueling aircraft in friendly airspace? GEN. DAVID PETRAEUS (RET.), FORMER CIA DIRECTOR: Well, it's obviously
a real tragedy, Jake. I'm almost beginning to wonder if it was during refueling because this is one of the trickiest maneuvers that airmen do. The crew of this aircraft was literally just a pilot, co-pilot, and the boom operator who is operating underneath the aircraft toward the rear and trying to maneuver the boom into the top the refueling location in the top of, say, a fighter bomber. And again, it's a very tricky maneuver because the pilots can't see it.
Actually it's the boom operator who is doing this. And things can go bumpy especially in the night.
TAPPER: Yes.
PETRAEUS: I'm sure that the combat search and rescue teams are scouring. If it is Western Iraq, presumably Anbar Province, you'll remember that was one of the more difficult provinces when the Sunni insurgency was at its height but it's a very sparsely populated area, largely the population is just along the Euphrates River, which runs to the north of that area. It's very close to Saudi Arabia. Another part is close to Jordan.
And so they'll have the all of their search and rescue package out there. This includes fighters to cover anything going on. There's a special version of the Black Hawk helicopter called a Pave Hawk Air Force helicopter. They'll have pararescue, very, very highly trained special operators who are trained for this kind of operation.
TAPPER: General --
PETRAEUS: In the middle of the night, again they use their thermals to find this, I assume.
TAPPER: General, Iran was in control of the northern part of the Strait of Hormuz even before this conflict began, and now Iran is the only country able to pass oil through the Strait of Hormuz because they're attacking anyone else who goes through. I mean, commercial ships, not American warships, just commercial oil tankers.
Do you think the U.S. could have been, should have been more prepared for Iran to use the Strait of Hormuz as leverage?
PETRAEUS: I am sure that Admiral Cooper, again, I think he may be the first admiral ever to command U.S. Central Command.
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Normally it's Army or Marine. That he was thinking this through. We're bringing the other aircraft carrier around from the Eastern Mediterranean down to outside the strait and so forth. But this is just a seriously challenging problem. If you go back to the tanker wars of the mid-1980s --
TAPPER: General, General, I'm so sorry. I have to cut you off.
(CROSSTALK) TAPPER: General, I'm so sorry I have to cut you off. The officials in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, are giving an update right now on the attack on the synagogue. Let's listen in.
SHERIFF MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: -- using my voice. A lot going on today. I kind of want to give the 20,000 foot level and then we're going to have a number of speakers both from the police department here, Chief Young, and from the FBI.
Obviously a horrific thing happened tragically here in Oakland County again. So we've been through a number of these things. And the one thing that I want to make sure the local community is aware of first and foremost is this community works together hand in glove. This community takes care of each other. And we have been communicating regularly. I have been texting the chief not just in West Bloomfield, but every place that's got significant houses of worship, Jewish facilities, synagogues, temples, you name it, over the past two weeks.
Obviously, what happens around the world sometimes affects us. So we have to think about it, be prepared for it. So we've been talking. I text actually the head of security from the temple two days ago, and communicated some information to him. So the first thing the community should know is that we not just today work together. We work together all the time. Our state, our federal and local partners, number one.
Number two, we train. In our world, preparation is important. We hope and pray it never happens. But that's not a strategy. Preparation is. So all of us have been training together for many years for active shooters or active assailants, mass casualty events, and tragically, we've had way more than our share. So that is ongoing and is in place.
The third thing it's important to note no children and no staff were hurt. So we know there's evil in the world and we know they only have to get it right once and sometimes they do. They may not come on anybody's radar and they show up. But what happens when they show up, that's where training and preparation kicks in.
The security staff did an amazing job, an amazing job, and you'll get some of the details on that. But they stopped the threat. No kids, no staff were hurt. Now there were some injuries and things that had to be taken care of. One of the head of security was taken to the hospital. He got knocked down by the car when it breached the building. And we've had 30 law enforcement officers taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation.
So a lot of our folks from my SWAT team and other agencies are still in treatment because that building became engulfed when the car -- and we'll learn all of that through the investigation, why it became engulfed in flames. What was the ignition source? And I think the ATF is taking that, or the origin of that source and origin of the fire. But in any event, what it did, it caused terrible, terrible smoke in that part of the building. And so when all of our people collectively went in that building to search out the threat, to remove innocent, a lot of them took in significant amount of smoke inhalation and they're at the hospital being treated. So I also know you're going to have a lot of questions. A lot of those
questions can't be answered at this point because it's super preliminary in the investigation. You know, all of us have thoughts of maybe why this happened, but we don't operate in a world where we can presume something. We have to determine it through investigation and specificity. And that is a work in progress as we speak.
All of us will work seamlessly together to get the answers, and then it will be called what it is. Obviously, it's a hateful terror terrible thing, right? But what drove this person into action that has to be determined by the investigation. We can presume, but we have to find those facts. And that's going to happen over the next days in time. So we won't be able to get in a lot of the evidentiary questions.
But we're available to make sure the community understands that we are still on a very heightened platform. And the most important thing that I would tell the community, don't be afraid to call us. If we're not your own local police department, call your local police department. We'd rather respond to 100 nothings than miss one real deal. The only way we prevent something like this is to get a call. Something is off with my son, my brother, my boyfriend, whatever the case, I saw something posted.
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That's the only way we interdict because people are more likely to see or hear something before us. So if you see or hear something, you have to communicate that and then we can intervene and hopefully prevent. But if we can't prevent, then we respond and mitigate. That's what happened today. And I think based on the early information, it happened flawlessly.
So with that, I'll kick it over to my friend, Chief Young from West Bloomfield Police Department.
CHIEF DALE YOUNG, WEST BLOOMFIELD POLICE: Thank you, Sheriff. My name is Dale Young. I'm the police chief of West Bloomfield. I want to share with you how we got to where we are today. So today we received a 911 call which came in around 12:19 p.m. It was about an active shooter situation at Temple Israel, where the individual drove into the building. West Bloomfield officers arrived on scene under five minutes.
Temple security officers engaged the individual and neutralize the threat. Our officers, combined with area agencies, cleared the building multiple times and safely and successfully evacuated all children and staff. This is an active crime scene and we are examining every angle related to this situation.
I will now turn this over to the FBI for further comment.
JENNIFER RUNYAN, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Hello, my name is Jennifer Runyan, last name, R-U-N-Y-A-N. I'm a special agent in charge of the FBI Detroit field office. This is a deeply disturbing and tragic incident, and our deepest sympathies are with the victims, their family and the entire Jewish community.
The FBI is here working with our state, local and federal partners to investigate this incident, and I can confirm that we are leading the investigation right now as a targeted act of violence against the Jewish community.
As my partners have said, this is an active and ongoing investigation with an active crime scene and I ask for your patience as we process this evidence and pursue every lead that has come to us and that we have developed thus far. What I can share is this. There was one subject involved in this incident who is now deceased and as my partners have said, we've had no victim fatalities.
I would not be able to provide additional information at this time on the subject or his motive, as our goal is to protect the integrity of this investigation and to ensure that we give you accurate and timely information as soon as we can.
The FBI was notified of active reports, excuse me, of active shooter at Temple Israel at approximately 12:45. We immediately activated and deployed all of our crisis response resources, which includes our SWAT team, our crisis negotiation team, our evidence response team, our special agent bomb techs, our weapons of mass destruction team, our cellular analysis, survey team, and our victim services, as well as more than 100 agents and analysts to ensure that we are actively mitigating and responding to the active threat but also pursuing diligently and methodically every lead that we have.
May I ask the public a few things? I know everyone wants information now, but I ask that you be patient as we are still processing this scene and still pursuing everything that we can and that has come to us today. Second, we have activated a digital media tip line for any witnesses who has photos or videos of the incident today, they can upload those at www.FBI.gov/WestBloomfieldAttack, all one word.
But the public can also report through our call line at 1-800-CALL-FBI if you have any information about this incident and-or any other suspicious activity that you see around in your community, your life, your places of worship, your schools. As the sheriff said, we all need to remain vigilant, and it takes the whole community to ensure that we remain safe.
I also understand that congregants may have left some personal effects at the synagogue and as soon as we have a reunification site to get those effects to the affected victims, we will be sure and release that as soon as possible.
I want to thank our partners and the first responders and the security personnel at Temple Israel, who did an excellent job at mitigating this threat, and we're very grateful for their bravery and their service.
Next, I'd like to bring up or offer up Steven Engberg, the CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit.
STEVEN INGBER, CEO, JEWISH FEDERATION OF DETROIT: As the CEO of the Jewish Federation Detroit, I'd love to say I'm shocked or I'm surprised, but I'm not. This is something that we train for. Thank you to all of the law enforcement officers who stand behind us and the many who don't. Thank you to our Jewish community security team.
This is a tough time. It is a tough time. But we will get through this. We'll get through this together. We'll get through this stronger and will continue to be loud and proud of being Jewish. This will not change us. This will not deter us and we will continue.
[18:35:01]
With that, I'd like to turn over to Rabbi Arianna Gordon of Temple Israel.
RABBI ARIANNA GORDON, TEMPLE ISRAEL: Thank you so much. As you've heard, there's so much that we don't know. We're going to be processing all of this in the days and weeks to come. But what I do want to say is a huge thank you to our law enforcement, to our Temple Israel security team, and to our Early Childhood Center teachers who were the true rock stars of the day.
They ensured that all of our children remain safe and calm throughout the entire day and got every single child safely reunited with their parents this afternoon. And for that, I can't express my gratitude enough. We are really appreciative to all of you for making sure that everyone made it home tonight. Thank you for being here.
BOUCHARD: OK. I think that's -- obviously can't get into evidentiary questions, as I said, but I think the message is clear that we all stand united, stand together. Whether it's federal, state, county or local we're committed to keeping this community safe. If you think you can target the Jewish community in this county or anywhere in this state, you're wrong. We're going to not only stand in front of them to protect them, we're coming for you. So with that thank you.
TAPPER: We have been listening to law enforcement officials in Michigan giving an update, as it were on today's synagogue attack in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Not a lot of information provided given the fact that the investigation has just begun.
CNN's Whitney Wild just arrived on the scene of the attack.
Whitney, tell us what you're seeing there right now.
WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, the situation is certainly much calmer than it was several hours ago. If you have been watching CNN all afternoon, you can see that there were aerial videos of smoke that was billowing out of this building behind me. You don't see any of that. You see no smoke anymore. Far fewer law enforcement vehicles than were here prior the scene, now completely controlled. And as I said before, far calmer than it was earlier.
What is, I think, notable about how this area is ramping up after this attack was as I was driving in, Jake, I saw two law enforcement vehicles side by side, virtually blocking one of the roadways that went into a nearby Jewish community center. When they say they're ramping up security at other possible areas of concern, other houses of worship, other, you know, important places for the Jewish community here, they are very serious.
That is on full display here in West Bloomfield. This is an area with a very large, very prominent Jewish population, and they take attacks like this quite seriously. The FBI and other law enforcement officials who spoke minutes ago offered very little details other than to say that some of those first responders and there were hundreds of them, Jake.
Some of those first responders who went right into that building as that smoke was billowing out are now being treated at a hospital for smoke inhalation. Miraculously no staff was injured. No children were injured.
And just to remind our viewers to reset, this happened at 12:19. A vehicle drove into the building, into the hallway, and first knocked into the head security guard here, who was taken to the hospital. There were multiple security officers there. Our understanding is that at least one of them opened fire. The suspect is dead in the vehicle. Law enforcement offering no details about the subject, about a motivation beyond saying -- this is according to the FBI, this was absolutely a targeted attack against the Jewish community.
Jake, again, the biggest question is why. And I think I'll just leave you with this. I think one of the small details here that I think is reflective of heightened concern among the Jewish community is that there were multiple security guards. A lot of preschools have none. A lot of houses of worship have none. Or if they do, they have one, not multiple. That is the reflection of how serious the risk is for this community -- Jake.
TAPPER: Whitney Wild, live in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan. Thank you for your report.
Joining us now, CNN's senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem and CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.
John, the FBI said there's only one suspect involved. Can they really rule out that he didn't act alone so early?
MILLER: Not really. What they probably mean is that there was one suspect involved in this attack at that place at that time, but part of the -- part of the work they're going to have to do is go back to look into this suspect's background, who was he talking to? What chat rooms was he in the computer? Who else was in that chat room? Did they discuss this plot ahead of time? Were others knowledgeable about it or involved in securing either weapons or ammunition or some of these explosives that they believe may be in the back of that car?
[18:40:08]
Why? Because if you look at the last case last October in Michigan you had a number of individuals, many of whom met online, didn't know each other. They were in the Dearborn, Michigan, area. They were plotting an attack on Halloween Eve or the night of Halloween at public places. That was supposed to be an active shooter type attack. Bought weapons, did target practice.
But they were also talking to two other individuals in New Jersey and one other in the state of Washington. So you really have to, as an investigator, be willing to dig deep, peel back those layers, because those are necessary questions. Was he talking to others? Were they talking about this plot? Or more importantly right now, were they talking about other plots? All things that they have yet to figure out.
TAPPER: Juliette, the FBI said that this was an attack on the Jewish community, but they weren't willing to comment on a specific motive. To me that's because the U.S. right now is like a Baskin-Robbins of antisemitism. There are so many different kinds. There's the Klan, there's Candace Owen adherence, there's people on the left, there's Hamas, there's geopolitics, there's just age old hatred of Jews. Is that how you interpreted that?
KAYYEM: Yes. I think they're being careful. My -- Just based on experience they likely at this stage at least are beginning to get ties to who it might be when they say it was clearly directed against the Jewish community and the temple. I mean, obviously the proof is in the pudding. You see an aggressive and violent action against a place of worship for the Jewish community. But it's also a school. It's also a community area.
So, as you say, who actually perpetrated it and based on what animus, what specific animus or what's motivating them, we don't know. I want to make it clear here because we don't know doesn't mean we aren't aware and the investigators aren't aware of the threat environment that exists right now in the United States in the last couple of weeks. We heard it directly from the sheriff a couple hours ago saying that when the war started, that they had started communications.
We also know that there's a heightened threat environment throughout the United States, just simply because war does that. Wherever the war is, you're going to be worried about it. And then we've seen a number of Islamic motivated terrorist attacks. One at the school, at a university this morning. One in front of Gracie Mansion during that rally and then, and then possibly one today,. That would suggest that the thing that we've been talking about the last couple weeks, the rise of a terror threat in the United States is real.
TAPPER: John, what are the next steps in the investigation after they identify who the perpetrator is?
MILLER: Well, they've got to look at, was he working with anybody else? Did anybody else know? But identifying him has to be kind of a front burner thing because, you know, you have an individual who's in the car who's badly burned. There's probably forensics that's going to be involved in identifying him. They know who they think it is. We know who they think it is. And, you know, we're looking at background of that individual, but a lot of that may be based on identification found on him or where the car was registered. They're going to need to get to what would be legally considered a
positive I.D. through DNA prints or whatever manner they can based on the condition of the body.
TAPPER: All right. John Miller, Juliette Kayyem, thanks again.
Much more in our breaking news in moments. A suspect killed after crashing his or her car into a synagogue with 140 preschool students. I'm going to be joined next by a leader of the Congressional Jewish Caucus for her reaction to this horrible attack. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:48:08]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: We're following breaking news in our national lead out of the Detroit area, where a suspect is dead after ramming a vehicle into Temple Israel synagogue in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, in the Detroit area.
According to Temple Israel, all 140 students that attended the preschool attached to the synagogue, all of them are safe. One security guard who was hit by the vehicle is wounded. He is expected to recover.
Joining us now to discuss, Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida.
Congresswoman, you helped form the congressional Jewish caucus in Congress last year to take on antisemitism.
What is your reaction to today's attack?
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): Jake, thanks for having me.
I'll tell you that when I heard about this attack, yet another attack on a Jewish communal institution. I was flooded with relief once we learned that the everyone was safe and that there were no casualties. But I'll tell you, all the memories over the course of my own children's childhood, who are young adults now, came rushing back when the JCC in California in the early 2000s was evacuated and attacked.
When after 9/11, I remember we had to rush down the JCC where my own children went to preschool to bring them home, which jews all across this country end up doing every time there is an attack like this, every time there is you know something going on in the Middle East, the Jewish community immediately goes on guard.
And that is the way our community has to live in and around our Jewish communal institutions and as Jews generally, because of the massive explosion of antisemitism. Our caucus came together so that we could make sure that we were as united as possible in fighting it and calling attention to it and ensuring that there are resources like the Nonprofit Security Grant Funding that provides the ability of security guards like Temple Israel had there today to be able to make sure that they can keep these institutions and our community safe, and we have to increase that funding.
[18:50:15]
And that funding comes from the Department of Homeland Security and the Trump administration should be taking something from the $150 billion in slush fund money that they got in the big ugly law last year. And make sure that they increase those funds that are available.
TAPPER: We have seen a rise of explicitly antisemitic voices on both the political left and the political right, in recent years and one of the problems as I see it is very few politicians are willing to call out by name. The people who are enabling this on their own side.
We had a state representative who represents the synagogue in the Michigan legislature on and he said -- he's a Democrat. He said he doesn't think Democratic leaders are doing enough to call out antisemitism on the left. He wasn't saying it was. It only exists on the left. But he was saying about his own party, do you think Democrats, Democratic leaders are doing enough to call out antisemitism on the left?
SCHULTZ: I watched that interview and wow, I was proud of how he articulated what the problem is, not just in West Bloomfield but for Jews all across the country. I can tell you personally and you have heard me call out when there's been antisemitism being spewed by someone in my party called out by name, voted -- voted to condemn them as well as on the right.
And as he said, as the state representative that you talked to said, it doesn't matter whether it's from the left or the right. We all need to come together and call out hate. We need to snuff it out and do everything we can to make sure that everyone in this country is safe.
You know we had two Jewish young people at attending an event in Washington, D.C.. Sarah -- Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, and they were gunned down as a result of hatred we have had as you said, five or six synagogues attacked just in the last couple of days around the world. I mean, the Jewish community is literally cowering in fear and that's the intent of those who would seek to do us harm.
Antisemitism is the oldest ism, Jake, and we know that when the Jewish community is attacked, that is the canary in the coal mine, but we should be making sure that all hate is targeted
TAPPER: Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida, thank you so much. We're going to have much more on the breaking news out of Michigan in moments, but we're also following breaking news out of the Middle East, where officials say a U.S. refueling aircraft has gone down in Iraq. That story next
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:56:39]
TAPPER: We're following breaking news out of the Middle East. U.S. Central Command says it is aware of the loss of a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft in Iraq. CENTCOM says the incident occurred in friendly airspace with another aircraft and it was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.
Earlier this afternoon before we learned about this incident, I spoke with Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina about the Iran war.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TAPPER: And joining us now is Republican Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina. He's on both the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committees.
Congressman, thanks for joining us. The Pentagon this week gave Congress an assessment that the U.S. military has used $5.6 billion -- $5.6 billion worth of munitions in the first two days of the war against Iran. We're now in day 13 of attacks.
Is there support bipartisan support to get a supplemental spending bill through the House if President Trump asks for one?
REP. JOE WILSON (R-SC): Jake, I believe there is. We see the potential and opportunity for a level of stability in the Middle East that we could never imagine with the positive efforts in Syria, with the efforts in Lebanon, stability now for Iraq, which can be provided. And so, over and over again, to me, we see progress in the Middle East that will be beneficial to the American people.
TAPPER: President Trump characterizes the spike in oil prices as short term pain for long term gain. Do your constituents agree? Are you hearing from them about gas prices? Are they worried that it's going to last a lot longer than the president is suggesting
WILSON: Well, they're concerned, except they know something. That with the influence America now has in Venezuela with their oil delivery, now, ultimately, there will be American influence on the Iranian distribution.
And ultimately, with America now producing, Jake, at a record amount with all the above energy, another Trump success indeed, they know long term, as we saw the decline in oil prices, they will decline further as the United States develops greater capability.
TAPPER: There was an active shooter incident at a Detroit area synagogue earlier today obviously, as of this hour, we don't know the motivations of the suspect. We don't know if it was terrorist related left wing antisemitism right wing antisemitism, we don't know.
But on the general subject of antisemitism, do you think the leaders of the Republican Party are doing enough to push back against the antisemitic voices within the Republican Party?
WILSON: Well, I'm really grateful. And ironically, I've seen earlier today on your network, Senator Slotkin, a good friend of mine is Debbie Dingell. We've worked together. So, it's bipartisan, actually, our efforts against antisemitism. To me, the antisemitism in the Republican Party is a very, very tiny percent. And in fact, it could be misrepresented that many of the people who appear to be antisemitic are really isolationist. They're against everything -- a much greater danger is isolationism in other segments of society.
TAPPER: South Carolina Republican Congressman Joe Wilson, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it.
WILSON: My honor. Great to be with you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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Erin Burnett is live in Tel Aviv, Israel, covering the Iraq war. She starts right now.
