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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Now, Update On Michigan Synagogue Attack; Sources Say, Marine Expeditionary Unit Deploying To Mideast; Judge Blocks Subpoenas In Jerome Powell Investigation; Hegseth Lashes Out At Press Over Iran War Coverage; Writer Shares His Story And Warning After A Year Of Sports Betting. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired March 13, 2026 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go to the FBI News conference in Michigan right now. Let's listen in.
JENNIFER RUNYAN, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Our team's been working around the clock to ensure that we remain focused on providing confirmed facts about this investigation rather than uncorroborated speculation.
The FBI continues to process the evidence we've collected from the temple, the vehicle, and surrounding locations. At this time, there are no new known threats to the community and the FBI has no indications that this attack was connected to the shooting at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia.
The FBI has forensically confirmed that the assailant responsible for carrying out this attack was Ayman Mohamad Ghazali, age 41 from Dearborn Heights, Michigan. He has no previous criminal history and no registered weapons. He also has never been the subject of an FBI investigation.
As for the preliminary timeline of yesterday's events, here's what I can provide. At approximately 9:58 A.M., Ghazali drove his gray Ford F150 into the parking lot of Temple Israel. From approximately 10:00 A.M. to 12:15 P.M., Ghazali remained parked in his vehicle in the parking lot. No other persons or vehicles were observed associating with him.
At approximately 12:15 P.M., Ghazali starts driving through the parking lot. At approximately 12:19 P.M., Ghazali drives his vehicle into door five on the southeast corner of the building, hitting a security guard on his way in.
At approximately 12:20, Ghazali's vehicle gets jammed between hallway walls and he begins firing through the windshield of his vehicle. Ghazali and the first security officer engage in a gunfight through the rear window of Ghazali's vehicle. And at this point, Ghazali is unable to extract himself due to the vehicle being jammed in the hallway.
At approximately 12:22 P.M., a second security officer engages Ghazali in a gunfight from the front of the vehicle. And soon thereafter, Ghazali's vehicle, his engine compartment catches on fire. And at some point during the gunfight, Ghazali suffers a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
In the bed of the truck, we found large quantities of commercial-grade fireworks, and several jugs of flammable liquid, we believe to be gasoline, some of which has been consumed in the fire.
Again, I would like to commend the teachers and the staff who successfully evacuated the children during this attack. We realize this is a traumatic event for everyone. And as a result, we have set up the Family Assistance Center to provide victim services support, and resources here at The J - Detroit for any individuals affected by this tragedy.
For those looking to recover their personal items that were left at Temple Israel during this attack, you and your family can recover your items here at the Family Assistance Center at the old fitness area of The J throughout the weekend.
For the public, I continue to ask everyone and anyone if you have any additional information about this subject or this incident to submit a digital media tip at www.fbi.gov/westbloomfieldattack, or to call our tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI. We ask that you continue to provide any information that you deem helpful no matter how small you think it is.
Additionally, if you or someone you know, a family member, a coworker, or a friend is exhibiting concerning behavior or making threats towards themselves or others, please call your local police department or the FBI once again at 1-800-CALL-FBI. We need the community's help to keep everyone safe.
I would also like to thank our state, local, and federal partners along with the Jewish Federation, the Jewish community security, and the Temple Israel security, as well as the local community for all of their collaboration as we continue to work this investigation. Our partnerships and efforts are focused on keeping these communities safe, and we cannot mitigate or fully investigate these incidents without their tireless support.
Lastly, I just want to leave you with this, the FBI will continue in our no-fail mission to defend the homeland against those who intend to create fear or harm. And I also encourage all of our places of worship to remain vigilant. I'd like to encourage our houses of worships and schools to work with their local, state, and federal partners to get active shooter training, such as the FBI's Active Shooter Attack Prevention and Preparedness training, to ensure everyone is protected while our first responders arrive to stop threats.
[18:05:05]
At this time, I'll turn it over to Sheriff Bouchard.
SHERIFF MICHAEL BOUCHARD, OAKLAND COUNTY, MICHIGAN: Thank you. First, I'd like to say thank you to everybody that did respond state, federal, all of our partners. There was a total of 605 law enforcement officers that responded to the scene from 42 different agencies. That's the way we work in this area. You know, time and time again, you see things on television, on T.V. shows where there's animosity between agencies. We don't see that here. We have a shared mission, and that's to keep the community safe. It operated seamlessly. Everybody came from wherever they could.
And the thing -- one of the things that's amazing to me, given that you had 605 law enforcement coming here with breakneck speed, there was only one accident where one detective on the way here, lights and siren had an accident and that person will be okay. So, that's a miracle in and of itself.
I'd also like to say that a total now of 63 law enforcement officers were sent to the hospital as a result of the smoke inhalation, the situation when the car caught fire. They continued to pour into the building to make sure, A, that the threat was neutralized and there was no follow-on threat, and, B, the innocent were evacuated. They accomplished that seamlessly with the great work of not only the security team, but the staff that knew how to marshal these young kids and get them moving in a way that got them out of the building quickly. I mean, we're talking kids from zero to five. This wasn't a group that knew what to do or how to do it. They relied on the staff that was there to get it done, and they did it in a great way.
So, that doesn't come by accident. And then we talked a little bit about this before, training, training, training. We have all been training together for many, many years. Sadly, we have responded to multiple similar kinds of events around the county and in Michigan where active shooters were. And it comes from that deep training and participation and a willingness to help each other, to be better prepared to respond to things that sadly we have to in today's world.
So, as you saw this play forward, again, it's not a time to make a plan at the door. That's why you have to train in advance, communicate in advance, and then execute when something like this begins to happen. Security did a great job. Staff did a great job. First responders did a great job. And it doesn't come without training.
There's been questions about, well, it's kind of coincidental that there was training at the Temple fairly recently, and is it connected or was there something suspected? The answer is no. We're training all the time as agencies with our partners, with our houses of worship, with our schools, and that was one of those such trainings. There was no credible intelligence or belief that it was about to get hit, but it's ongoing training throughout the community, and they did a great job executing that training.
Also, I'd like to thank the community at large who has really poured out their support and affection for everyone involved. The Jewish community, first and foremost, has been, I think, uplifted and hugged from our community, and that's appreciated and is encouraged. If you know someone in the Jewish community, tell them you're with them. You stand against anti-Semitism. It's not tolerable on any level, anywhere, period.
And also I'd like to thank in addition to all of our partners, the Shenandoah Country Club and the Chaldean community, which served a lot of things, an incident command post and reunification center. They jumped right in and did everything they could and did that day, and they continue to do so to this day.
And then, finally, everyone here at this facility where we moved on day two has been amazing to make the facility and capability and staff available. It's those kinds of things, when you see the worst in humanity, you see the best. And we've seen the best in humanity respond to that here in this community. So, I thank everybody for that.
CHIEF DALE YOUNG, WEST BLOOMFIELD POLICE: Good evening, Dale Young, Police chief of West Bloomfield Township. I want to start off by saying that I echo many of the sentiments that you just heard from both the FBI and our Oakland County Sheriff to my local county, state, federal, and private partners, thank you for your invaluable assistance during one of the darkest days in West Bloomfield Township's history.
To my officers, dispatchers, civilian staff, and fire partners, I'm incredibly proud of how, without hesitation, you responded to this incident.
[18:10:08]
You were pressure-tested and demonstrated your readiness and the high level of your ability to respond to heinous acts of violence.
To my West Bloomfield community, your Township Board of Trustees continues to invest in the professional development of its public safety personnel to include equipping us with some of the best equipment in the industry. Your public safety is ready and vigilant to keep you safe.
West Bloomfield, we will make it through this together.
And with that, I'm going to turn it over to the Jewish community CEO, Steve Ingber.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said this yesterday. I'll say it again, I'm not surprised, I'm not shocked, and we've got to stop this. That's point blank. And I also want to remind my Jewish brethren that we are here, we will be here, we will come out stronger. We may be down, but we will reunite.
Tonight is Shabbat, and I ask all of you to say a prayer. And I want to thank everybody behind me and the 605 people that ran towards trouble. So, when you're looking for a friend, when you're looking for who's with us, there were 605 people willing to give their life to save us. Thank God that didn't have to happen. May we all have a better day ahead.
BOUCHARD: We'll go ahead and take some questions now. Go ahead, Cory.
REPORTER: Hi, Cory (INAUDIBLE) chief and sheriff and special agent, if this guy go from Dearborn Heights, he passed an awful lot of synagogues on the way. Is there a reason why he chose Temple Israel? Did he have any kind of connection with the Temple of Congregation here?
RUNYAN: I can take it. At this time, it's still part of the ongoing investigation. I don't have any information to show an intent of why this synagogue versus another.
REPORTER: Special agent, do you have any hard numbers on the number of grounds that were fire -- or fireworks found in the trunk?
RUNYAN: I don't yet and not right now. We are still processing and assessing everything that we have and sending to the lab. Obviously, fireworks also, when they catch fire, they condense and smaller. So, we're working on getting an accurate amount of pounds and I just didn't want to put out any inaccurate information today.
REPORTER: Hi. Is it typical for somebody to sit in a vehicle for multiple hours at the parking lot? If so, I understand that, but if not, did security approach the vehicle while he was sitting there or did nobody come up there during that time while he was in the parking lot?
RUNYAN: That's part of our investigation as well. Many people -- I don't know how to opine right now and his motives, and so I don't want to speculate and give you any information. All I know is that, based upon the surveillance footage that we had, he sat in the parking lot from 10:00 A.M. to 12:15 P.M. and decided to start driving after that.
Okay.
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) for the Jewish News. Was there -- did he have a self-inflicted wound as well?
RUNYAN: Yes, ma'am. Preliminary reports from the medical examiner's office show a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
REPORTER: Okay. Do you have a written copy of your statement of what you said in the first --
RUNYAN: We can provide that. This is my media coordinator, Jordan Hall (ph). He can make sure you get us a written copy.
REPORTER: Okay.
REPORTER: Hi there, Kyla Russell with the Local 4. You all just confirmed that the suspect was, you know, in his car outside the temple there for a while. Do we know if he -- and I've heard that maybe he has been to the temple a few times and weeks leading up or in recent days. Can you speak to that at all?
RUNYAN: No, not at this time. It's still part of our building out the full timeline and a part of that investigation that I'm not going to be able to comment further on that.
REPORTER: Hi, Scott Wolchek, Fox 2. Can you confirm when the truck entered and made its way, it ended up very close to where the kids were supposed to be?
RUNYAN: Do you want to (INAUDIBLE) a response. Ask me that question again. Say that question.
REPORTER: Where did the truck end up in relation to where the children's daycare stuff was?
BOUCHARD: They were in a different part of the building.
REPORTER: Okay, different part of the building. Okay, thank you.
REPORTER: You were told by some Dearborn officials that the suspect recently had family members that were killed in an Israeli airstrike, but there's also reporting that those family members were members of Hezbollah, which has been, you know, designated as terrorist organization. Do you guys know that or have that information?
RUNYAN: So, we are aware of that information. That's definitely part of our ongoing investigation at this time. I can't provide any additional on that or speculate further.
REPORTER: Because of the suspect's family members being killed in the strikes in Lebanon, we've been learning that some of his close friends and allies, they were actually contacting local law enforcement saying that the suspect was exhibiting some type of suspicious behavior. Is this anything that you all have been made aware about?
RUNYAN: We're still pursuing every lead that comes into us. And at this point in time, I'm not going to add anything additional to that. I appreciate that question.
REPORTER: Hi. So, are you treating this as a terror-related incident now?
RUNYAN: So, as we're -- as I've said, we're just 30 hours into this and we're letting the facts and evidence lead where we're going. And it's too early to speculate on the subject's motive. For the FBI, motive and inspiration is a key part of how we characterize an incident.
At the end of the day, this is a devastating attack that was clearly targeted against one of our largest temples in the country and we're pursuing every lead and the FBI's working diligently. And when I'm able to provide that information in a confirmed way through the facts and the evidence that we have, we will provide that. But at this time, we're just referring to it as a targeted act of violence until we have further information to provide about his true motive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be the last one
REPORTER: Hi, (INAUDIBLE). Given the number of religious institutions in West Bloomfield County and Oakland County, has the (INAUDIBLE) been increased or will it be increased at religious institutions throughout the weekend?
BOUCHARD: Yes. I mean, we have increased at all across the county. But I know Chief Young has definitely done that in West Bloomfield and has been doing it for the days and weeks prior to this because we've been in communication regularly. And we actually communicated with our partners in Southeast Michigan chiefs today. And resources are all prepared and all queued up, and there'll be extra attention to houses of worship throughout the region. So, if you see police cars there, it's not because something's happening, it's because we want to make sure you feel safe to worship as you have the right to do in this community and in this country.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is going to be our last press conference for this event here. If we have new information that becomes available, you can find it either on the FBI's social media account, or if it's something that's really substantial, we will notify you for our next press conference.
We want to thank you for your cooperation. You guys have been great during this time period. Hopefully, everybody --
TAPPER: All right. You've been listening to officials giving an update on the investigation into yesterday's synagogue attack in Michigan. The FBI identified the attacker, as we reported earlier in the show as a 41-year-old man from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, who had no previous criminal history and no registered weapons.
The FBI said at some point after he drove his car into the synagogue, security guards engaged him in gunfire. And at some point during that firefight, the suspect suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Officials said that 63 law enforcement officers were sent to the hospital as a result of smoke inhalation from when the attacker's car caught fire.
I want to bring in former Department of Homeland Security Official Juliette Kayyem. Juliette, your biggest takeaway from that press conference.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, on the attack itself was that it was a self-inflicted wound, which we had not verified. And also the extent to which his attempt to bring the car in really ended up helping or assisting in stopping the carnage, which he clearly intended.
I will say that the FBI gave less, which is probably right, than at least what we're reporting about what the motive may be. She kept very, very close it to the chest because she wants to determine whether there was anyone else involved.
But I think what you saw today was a really unified effort. We sometimes see it break down. It was really good to see of local, state, and federal authorities really keeping to an important script in terms of supporting the community, supporting the Jewish community, and then continuing the investigation. In fact, at the very end, they said, we will come to you with more information. But right now, I would say we're reporting more than we got out of that press conference.
TAPPER: What do you make of the news that the attacker was in the parking lot of the synagogue for two hours before the attack?
KAYYEM: I know that seems really obvious to people, like why didn't they see him? I looked at -- as she was talking, I looked at that parking lot. That parking lot, it's like a Walmart or, you know, a Home Depot parking lot. So maybe, you know, obviously they've learned or they will learn that they need surveillance and security at the parking lot.
[18:20:04]
So, fortunately, they did have security inside. But, of course, when you look at something like that, that was an obvious gap, someone sitting in there, he's maybe casing it or doing something to prepare himself for what he hoped was a mass killing. And its motives obviously, at least as we're reporting, are related to statements or related to the death of family members in Lebanon.
TAPPER: What questions do you still have that have not been answered?
KAYYEM: So, I mean, look, he has no criminal record, no access to guns. He's go -- what we know now is he goes through a divorce about a year ago, and then now plans a massive anti-Semitic attack in light of the war. We know from the mayor in Lebanon where he is from, and I know this area, the town that he's from. He's in the Beqaa Valley. That is where anyone who knows about Hezbollah. It's a stronghold of Hezbollah. It has been bombed. His family members get killed last week, and that triggers his attempt to pure anti-Semitism to tie the actions of Israel to the Jewish community.
So, it's not only terrorism. It is animated by ascribing people who are Jewish to actions of Israel. So, they will have -- he's not alive, but this is a sort of pure terrorism case. And I think right now that is what we're reporting, that is what the mayor in Lebanon is saying, and the mayor in Dearborn where he lived.
TAPPER: Much more -- Juliette, thank you so much.
Much more on our breaking news out of Michigan. In moments, I'm going to be joined by one of the state's senators, Elissa Slotkin, who's been on the scene of the synagogue attack today. Stick with us,
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:25:00]
TAPPER: And we're back with our World Lead. Three officials tell CNN that the Pentagon is deploying a Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Middle East. That's a rapid response unit typically comprised of around 2,500 Marines and sailors. And while we do not know now what that unit will likely be used for, they have traditionally been used for missions, such as large-scale evacuations, amphibious operations, including raids and assaults.
This as we've learned that all six U.S. service members aboard that refueling aircraft that went down in Iraq yesterday, all six have tragically been confirmed dead. It remains unclear what exactly happened. The military says this was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire. There were pictures of the other aircraft involved in the incident, which landed safely in Israel. This sadly, brings the total number of U.S. service members who we know have been killed in action in this conflict to 13 U.S. service members.
A CNN estimate finds that more than 2,000 people, including civilians and military personnel, have now been killed in the Middle East since this war began two weeks ago tomorrow.
In an interview taped yesterday that aired today, President Trump gave Fox an explanation, an interesting one, of how he might decide to declare an end to the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: When it's over, and I don't think it's going to be long, when it's over, this is going to bounce right back so fast.
BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST: When are you going to know when it's over it?
TRUMP: When I feel it.
KILMEADE: Okay.
TRUMP: I feel it in my bones.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Let's discuss with Republican Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia. He sits on the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs Committee. He's a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan. Congressman, thanks for joining us.
You have lost friends in combat. What's your reaction to the news that six U.S service members were killed in this refueling crash? Have you been briefed at all on what might have happened?
REP. RICH MCCORMICK (R-GA): I haven't. It sounds like a near midair or actually a midair that caused this. And this is not unusual. The first person I ever knew that died was in a training incident with two aircraft flying in close proximity. I've never been on a Marine Expeditionary Unit where I didn't lose somebody on that, and that was just during peace time.
In the 90s we actually had, and it's very interesting to see this come full circle. No matter what we do, we're going to get second guessed when bad things happen in the Middle East. I remember we did a lot of planning on taking down ships and other targets, and I heard that one of those might have been Osama bin Laden. We could have headed off 9/11, but we'll never know now, will we? This is all a cat and mouse game that we have to play to the best of our ability and the plans we lay right now could make huge differences into the future.
TAPPER: The president today in an interview today, released today, said he's going to feel it in his bones, knowing his bones, when it's time to end the war. Today, three officials told CNN that the Pentagon is deploying a Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Middle East. Obviously, you know what that is, a rapid response unit, about 2,500 Marines and sailors. You've said this is a limited war. Does that concern you at all?
MCCORMICK: It doesn't. I've been deployed in the Persian Gulf a couple times. You know, Osama bin Laden massed his troops on the border of Kuwait. I've been all over the world on Marine Expeditionary Units. And we are a force in readiness to do what we need to do. Rarely do we go ashore. Matter of fact, I can't remember last time a Marine Expeditionary Unit actually went onshore in force, an entire Marine Corps battalion reinforced. We have a lot of power to pack. We can actually deliver all kinds of ordinance.
But I doubt we're going to do boots on the ground. That's just my feeling. Of course, that could change in a moment's notice, if we have an opportunity to take down a target or do something very strategically important, but I don't think we're going to be invading Iran anytime soon.
TAPPER: Fox just asked President Trump whether he thinks it's time for the Iranian people to take back their country. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I really think that's a big hurdle to climb for people that don't have weapons. I think that's a very big hurdle. So, that -- it'll happen but it probably will be maybe not immediately.
Who's going to do that? They literally have people in the streets with machine guns, machine gunning people down if they want to protest.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Right after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on day one of the war, February 28th, two weeks from tomorrow, President Trump posted, quote, this is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country.
[18:30:10]
Kind of contradictory messages, do you think? How do you square that?
MCCORMICK: Well, I've seen a lot of people come into my office who are basically Persian of descent who came out of Iran, either during the revolution and other times they've talked about having just the idea of support so they could rise up. But I agree, it's very difficult. When I was in Afghanistan, we used to always wonder, why do people flip-flop all the time? Why don't -- why can't they just pick a side and go with what's right? It's because they're literally just trying to survive to the next generation.
I get it. We don't live in a place that's like that. I mean, literally, you pick the wrong side, you rise up, your entire family could be decimated. You could be eliminated from history, so I get it. This is not as easy as it sounds. They've already lost tens of thousands of civilians who had no weapons, not to mention all the people that have been jailed that have death sentences now, it's not as easy as it seems.
But there are massing troops on the board of the Kurds right now. They are armed. You could have other people that could be armed that could go in there and actually do the dirty work, not necessarily United States, not necessarily Israel. Unless there's a specific target of interest, like capturing nuclear arms or something like that, that would be something that could be a choice target.
But I think otherwise, I think there's going to be about a mass uprising. Maybe a general takes over as a dictator. Who knows? It's really hard to determine right now. But anything's better than what they've had, that's for sure.
TAPPER: What are you hearing from your constituents in Georgia? Are they focused mainly on the rising gas prices? What's been their response to this war?
MCCORMICK: Well, it depends. We actually have a large person community here that very much likes what's happening. But if you're talking about the average citizen, they just want to know that they're safe. They want to know that Iran's not going to come over here and attack us through proxies, that they're not worried about lone wolves or secret cells. They're also worried about gas prices, of course, because that's going to drive inflation. But I think this is going to be very temporary.
I think when you see the oil reserves, it shows you why we should have never released our own reserves back in the Biden administration. Quite frankly, I said that during that time. You never release it just to control oil prices unless it's truly a national emergency, not just because it's going up. That's why you have to have control of your own destiny. You have to make sure that you have your own supplies, your own refineries, that you don't limit yourself in the future. That's always been strategically important. I've said this for many administrations now.
TAPPER: Republican Congressman Rich McCormick of Georgia, thank you, sir. And as always, thank you for your service. I appreciate it.
MCCORMICK: Thank you. Semper Fi.
TAPPER: We are following breaking news concerning several major airports in the D.C. area. There's currently a ground stop at Reagan National and Dulles and BWI Marshall Airports, no flights taking off or landing at any of those airports.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the FAA is working to address the source of a strong odor at an air traffic control facility in Northern Virginia, which services those three airports.
Coming up, a federal judge has thrown out the subpoenas the Justice Department had issued against Fed Chair Jerome Powell. So what happens next? Stick with us. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:35:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANINE PIRRO, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: This is a decision that is untethered to the law. It creates chaos where any defendant who wishes to evade an investigation, guilty or not, can allege I'm a victim, I'm being targeted, and therefore you cannot investigate me. And if you find the right judge, you'll buy it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: In our Law and Justice Lead, that was D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro railing against a federal judge who just hours ago blocked her subpoenas in the Department of Justice's investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid joins us. Paula, this is a pretty big legal defeat for President Trump and the administration. What can you tell us about it?
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a big loss for the president, a win for Powell. But that was a wild press conference, Jake. There, Pirro was accusing this judge of being, quote, an activist protecting Powell.
But in his opinion, the judge explicitly accuses Pirro's office of playing politics and says, look, even with the minimal standard for a subpoena, you still haven't presented enough evidence. He writes, quote, a mountain of evidence suggests the government serve these subpoenas on the board to try to pressure its chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning. The government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime.
Now, this extraordinary opinion, this press conference, these all come on the concerns about whether the president has fully weaponized his Justice Department to try to go after his adversaries. We've reported that the president has directly expressed his frustrations to prosecutors that they haven't been able to bring a sufficient number of viable cases against his perceived political enemies. So, the fact that Pirro came out swinging on this decision, highly unusual, but not surprising, right? This is exactly what the boss wants to see.
There's also rumblings inside the Justice Department about what the future holds for Pam Bondi. So, in many ways, this kind of seemed like almost an audition tape for the top job. But as far as Pirro is concerned, this is not over. They have already filed their motion to reconsider this decision a short time ago. Jake?
TAPPER: All right. Paula Reid with the breaking news, thanks so much.
Now back to the breaking news in our National Lead. Moments ago, the FBI revealed that the suspect in yesterday's attack on the Michigan synagogue died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The FBI says, the suspect, 41-year-old Ayman Mohamad Ghazali was from Dearborn Heights, Michigan. He had no previous criminal history, no registered weapons.
[18:40:00]
He drove a vehicle with explosives right into a synagogue, Temple Israel, near Detroit.
CNN's now learning the suspect had been flagged in the government database for links to suspected members of Hezbollah, a terrorist group, an Iran proxy, though he was not a member himself.
And joining us now from West Bloomfield, Michigan, is Michigan Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.
I want to ask you about the case and the suspect in a moment, but it's been just about a day since this attack. You know this community. You're part of this community. What's your reaction to everything that's happened?
SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Well, obviously, I mean, the community is just reeling. You know, it was an event that was meant to inflict terror and it inflicted terror. Sorry, it's a little windy here. And, you know, I think the entire Jewish community of Michigan is just trying to figure out what this new normal is, right?
And at this point, anti-Semitism and hate crimes like this have become normalized and I think we're all just grappling with what that means for security for our religious institutions. This was at a preschool. And, you know, when the shock -- kind of that 24 hours of shock fades, that's going to be, you know, where do we go from here? I think, certainly, from my perspective, whether people are on the right or the left in the political world, that anti-Semitism has just been normalized to the point where people are casual about it.
And until we grapple with that, until we push back on that, we're going to continue to see events like this happen and terrorize people.
TAPPER: Yes. I want to get to that in a second, but let's just talk about the investigation for one minute. What are you hearing and learning from law enforcement that you're able to share with us about the suspect, about this terrorist attack?
SLOTKIN: Well, look, I was with the police this morning and FBI. They've done a fantastic job. Our law enforcement have been phenomenal. The private security at Temple Israel was phenomenal, and it's because of them that we didn't have a massacre.
I'm not going to get into the details. The stuff that's in press, you know, is in press. We have another press conference coming out. It takes a while. You know, I know from my background, it takes a while to look at people's phones and figure out what was going on. They've gone into the suspect's home. It is -- we're going to learn lots more over the next couple of days.
But, again, at the end of the day you know, there's zero justification ever for having this kind of violence, this anti-Semitic attack against, again, mostly children in the building. So, we'll learn more, we'll get more of a backstory, but you know, it's been important to see leaders speak up today and say, no matter what the background of this person, it is never okay to perpetrate this kind of attack.
TAPPER: I want you to take a listen to what. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said on this program,
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA NESSEL (D), MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: 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 APAC or Zionist. And then as long as you do that, you're free to say virtually anything that you want. 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Do you think leaders of your party in Michigan and in Washington, D.C., do enough to condemn this? And I'm not -- obviously, I'm not talking about criticizing Israel. I'm talking about people who think that it's acceptable to support terrorist groups, Hamas, Hezbollah. I'm talking about people who think, oh, Israel did this in that war, thousands of miles away, therefore, it is a perfectly appropriate response to take it out on these Jewish Americans who have nothing to do with that? Like that's what I'm talking about. Is your party doing enough?
SLOTKIN: Well, look, I think neither party is doing enough. I think I agree with the attorney general that there are actors on both sides of this, on all sides of this who are just running rampant with anti- Semitism and others in their party are saying nothing because it's like that's my team, right?
And I think that's the thing about hate and about anti-Semitism is that if you take the position that you're against it, you have to be against it even if your own team, quote/unquote, is the one perpetrating it. And certainly on the Democratic side, there hasn't been enough of that.
[18:45:00]
There's been a sort of sitting on hands for people, you know, excusing some of that, certainly on the right. There's people with millions of followers who say whatever they want, terrible hate, and my Republican colleagues aren't calling it out.
And, and I think until we grapple with that and say that we're just going to call it out no matter who's spewing it, we're going to have more of these incidents.
TAPPER: Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin from Michigan, thanks so much for joining us today.
SLOTKIN: Thank you.
TAPPER: In our world lead, President Donald Trump today said that the U.S. would provide military escorts for oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary. The Strait of Hormuz, of course, the key shipping waterway, which remains at a standstill as Iran continues to attack and threaten any -- any commercial ships that might try to go through.
This has led to a global oil crisis, spiking gas prices and more. During a news conference this morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth seemed to be downplaying the situation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: As the world is seeing, they are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz, something we're dealing with. We have been dealing with it and don't need to worry about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Don't need to worry about it.
Then Hegseth turned to one of his favorite activities at these press conferences, attacking any news media coverage that isn't cheerleading. He offered some suggestions, for example, on how network banners could better cover the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: People look up at the TV and they see banners. They see headlines. I used to be in that business, and I know that everything is written intentionally.
For example, a banner or a headline, "Mideast war intensifies," splashing on the screen the last couple of days alongside visuals of civilian or energy targets that Iran has hit, because that's what they do. What should the banner read instead? How about Iran increasingly desperate?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: A couple things here. Okay, first, the TV world Hegseth comes from is a network that openly roots for Republicans and against Democrats. So, it's completely understandable that he doesn't get the concept of a news organization that just tries to cover a war as it happens in actual news organizations, banners or headlines are supposed to reflect what's actually happening. That's not how journalists display patriotism, patriotism, just cheering on and saying what the administration wants us to say.
Journalists display patriotism by telling the public what's actually happening and trying to hold people in power to account.
Okay, second, literally two minutes after Hegseth criticized banners and headlines that suggest that Mideast war is intensifying, Secretary Hegseth said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: Today will be yet again the highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran. The number of sorties and number of bomber pulses, the highest yet, ramping up and only up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Wow. The highest volume of strikes that America has put over the skies of Iran and Tehran. The number of sorties and the number of bombing pulses, the highest yet, ramping up and only up. It sure sounds a lot like the Mideast war is intensifying, the banner, he said, shouldn't have been put up.
Secretary Hegseth then went on to criticize the CNN report. For background, sources told CNN that the pentagon and the national security council had underestimated Iran's willingness to completely close the Strait of Hormuz, the report said that Trump's national security team failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario.
Here's how Hegseth responded.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage. CNN doesn't think we thought of that. It's a fundamentally unserious report. The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: You see, that's not what we reported. So, I'm -- it's a straw man. He's putting up a straw man so he can then attack it. It's true that the U.S. national security apparatus, for years, for decades, has long planned around the Strait of Hormuz. CNN reported that.
More important is our reporting that in this conflict, right now, the Pentagon and National Security Council, we didn't say they didn't think about it. We said they significantly underestimated Iran's willingness to close the strait, the worst case scenario.
Before the war started, Energy Secretary Chris Wright downplayed the risk to oil prices. In a February 19th interview with a Bloomberg columnist, Wright referenced the Israeli Iranian war in June that ended after the U.S. bombed nuclear facilities in Iran, and Trump's Secretary of Energy Wright said, quote, "If you look back at the 12- Day War last year, that's a pretty serious conflict with a major oil producer. Oil prices blipped up and then went back down," unquote.
[18:50:05]
Why would Wright make that comparison? Why would he suggest that this wasn't going to be that big a deal, was just going to be another blip? Is it because he, a member of the Trump administration, did not anticipate the worst-case scenario unfolding? Is that possible? Because that's what CNN reported.
This afternoon, the White House put up a page on their website that you pay for that reads, quote, "CNN is lying to undermine Operation Epic Fury's crushing success," unquote. We're not lying and we're not undermining. We're just covering the war.
CNN's CEO, Mark Thompson, responded with a statement that reads, quote, "We stand by our journalism. Politicians have an obvious motive for claiming that journalism, which raises questions about their decisions, is false. At CNN, our only interest is in telling the truth to our audiences in the U.S. and around the world, and no amount of political threats or insults is going to change that."
You know, we all remember the Iraq War. We all remember when this was happening before. Somebody reports something it and then the administration lies and attacks.
More breaking news now, President Trump has been talking about the Iran war at Joint Base Andrews. Let's take a listen
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This situation in Iran is going very well, a lot of big hits today. A lot of big wins today, as you probably have heard militarily. And I think it's going very well. And very good control.
We'll see what's happening with the straits. They continue to try and sabotage their own country in the Middle East, but it's been very, very strong militarily.
REPORTER: Mr. President, what's your message to voters who may be concerned about the potential for rising gas prices?
TRUMP: Well, I think your gas prices, as soon as that's over, are going to come tumbling down along with everything else. I think it's going to be -- you're going to see a very big decrease in the price of gasoline, gas, anything having to do with energy as soon as this has ended. But we had to end the nuclear threat in the Middle East and throughout the world, and we will have done that
REPORTER: Mr. President --
REPORTER: Mr. President, do you still expect unconditional surrender? And what does that mean?
TRUMP: Well, to me, it means very simply that we are in a position of dominance that nobody's ever seen before. And whether or not they're able to say the words or whether or not they're able to even fight, their navy is gone, their air force is gone, most of their military is gone. Their big threat is gone in every way.
But they have no radar. They have no anti-aircraft weapons. For the most part, weapons. And indefinitely, they have no way of determining what they go visibility.
So just about everything is gone. And you'll see that. But today, we've had some very, very big hits, very powerful hits. REPORTER: Mr. President, when will the navy start escorting tankers
through the straits of Hormuz?
TRUMP: It will happen soon.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) about Iran?
TRUMP: I have. And we're discussing a couple of different things. Not only that, but others.
REPORTER: Mr. President, on the on the SAVE Act, if Leader Thune cannot whip up the Republican support to either nuke the filibuster, reopen the government and pass the SAVE Act, or somehow --
TRUMP: It's not called the SAVE Act. It's called the Save America Act.
REPORTER: Save America Act. You're right sir. Do you think if Leader Thune can't accomplish that, do you think Senate needs a new leader?
TRUMP: Well, it's certainly a very popular thing. I don't think there's ever been a bill that's more popular than the Save America Act. Voter ID, it's a proof of citizenship. It's things that are so popular. No men in women's sports, no transgender utilization of our children. So many different things.
It's so good. No running around with the mail-in ballot nonsense that's gone on for so long that no other country does. No other country.
We're going to clean up our elections. I don't think I've ever been involved in anything that's had the support of the Save America Act. So we'll see what happens.
REPORTER: Regularly, are you speaking with Prime Minister Netanyahu? And are your objectives the same in terms of ending the war?
TRUMP: Well, I think they might be a little different, I guess, you know, different country than we are. But he will tell you, there's never been a power like the power of the United States. I built our military in my first term, continue to do so, but I built our military and rebuilt it. It was in bad shape, just like the wall, just like the border. Just like everything else in our country. It was all in bad shape.
But I rebuilt the military in my first term, and we're using it in this term, too, you know, brewing for the sake of good, for the sake of peace and for the sake of safety and good.
REPORTER: Do you speak with him --
TRUMP: I speak with him a lot.
REPORTER: How long now do you think the war is likely to last?
[18:55:01]
TRUMP: I can't tell you that. I mean, I have my own idea, but what good does it do? It'll be as long as it's necessary. They've been decimated. The country's -- the country is in bad shape. The whole thing is collapsing.
If you read some of the fake news, it's like, oh, they're doing wonderfully. They're not doing wonderfully. They're doing the opposite. They're doing as bad as you can have. I would say this, I won't give you time, but were way ahead of schedule.
REPORTER: And can you comment on --
TRUMP: Militarily, we're way ahead of schedule.
REPORTER: Are willing to send in troops --
TRUMP: I can't talk to you about it.
REPORTER: Sir, you made a post about --
TAPPER: All right. President Trump there with the biggest news seem to be, he said that navy vessels will start escorting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz soon. Very soon.
Before we go tonight, we've got a great story on our money lead. Football season might be over but betting season that never ends.
According to the Siena Research Institute, about one in five Americans, including half of men between 18 and 49 years old, have active sports betting accounts. Half -- half of men that age. That doesn't even take into consideration the rise of prediction markets that let you bet on everything ranging from Oscar winners to strikes in Iran.
A brand new article in "The Atlantic", it's called "Sucker: My year as a degenerate gambler" follows one writer's journey into the world of sports betting as he experiences the rush of victory and the humiliation of defeat.
Joining us now is the author of that piece, we had on the show before, McKay Coppins.
Thanks so much. It's great to have you.
So, you had a lifetime of warnings about gambling. Don't do it, the risks involved and you still fell victim to it in a way. Tell us more about it.
MCKAY COPPINS, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Yeah. You know, this started as kind of a classic magazine stunt, right? I was going to report on this industry. "The Atlantic" would give me $10,000 to gamble with over the course of the upcoming NFL season, and I thought it would be a gimmick, right? I was surprised by the degree to which it sucked me in. That these sports betting apps, Draft Kings, FanDuel are designed to be incredibly compulsive, you know addictive. I started out thinking that this would be like a fun little section in
a story. And honestly, by the end of the season, I was hiding in the bathroom to put in bets so my kids didn't see me. I was staying up until 1:00 a.m. scrolling through Draft Kings, looking for bets to put in. It really was striking how quickly it kind of bled into every corner of my life.
TAPPER: So, it's the addiction of gambling combined with the addiction of the algorithms.
COPPINS: Yes.
TAPPER: Is that right? I mean --
COPPINS: Yeah. And that's -- that's the big difference, right? Sports betting has always existed, actually throughout human history.
TAPPER: Yeah. Roman colosseum, all that.
COPPINS: Right. Yeah, the Romans bet on the on the Olympics or the gladiator matches. The difference now is that everyone can have a casino in their pocket, right? Sports betting has -- online, has been legalized in most states in America since 2018. And you can do it at all times every day. The menu of things you can bet on is endless. And technology makes it that much more addictive.
TAPPER: So you even took some betting advice from a number of people, including Nate Silver, who we've had on the show before. You asked for his help, you still ended up losing thousands of dollars.
What about for the average person who doesn't have, you know, access to Nate Silver? Is it worth it?
COPPINS: I mean the thing that you have to understand, and Nate told me this at the beginning and I didn't believe him, is that 98 percent of bettors lose. Like if you gamble on sports unless you are in a very small minority of people, you will end up losing money. Now, maybe you'll only lose a couple hundred bucks. Maybe you'll lose thousands. Some people lose, you know, enough money that it ruins their lives.
But you have to understand that this is a form of entertainment that is going to cost you money. You're not going to get rich doing it.
TAPPER: The House always wins. You spoke with the president of FanDuel about projections for users -- protections for users, and you acknowledged ignoring some of the warnings that you received.
COPPINS: Yeah, yeah. You know the sports books make a big show of what they call responsible gaming. And I do think they make some effort to limit users who are clearly exhibiting reckless behavior on the apps. They talk to me about it.
But that runs up against a basic reality of the economy here, which is that most of the profits for these sports books are generated by the 10 percent of users who gamble the most. So, they really are not incentivized to throw people off the platform if they're gambling too much.
TAPPER: And, you know, according to a common sense media report poll, 51 percent of 16-year-old boys said they gambled in the past 12 months. I mean, what can parents do?
COPPINS: I mean, parents should be aware that if you have a teenage boy, you might think that they're not gambling. You should assume that they probably are.
TAPPER: Fifty-one percent. I mean, that's most of them.
COPPINS: Yeah, exactly.
TAPPER: Holy crap.
All right. McKay Coppins, as always, amazing work. Thank you so much.
Coming up Sunday on "STATE OF THE UNION", I'm going to talk to U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Mike Waltz, about the war. Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Democratic Senator Cory Booker about politics. That's Sunday at 9:00 a.m. and noon Eastern, only on CNN.
You can follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, Bluesky, X, and on TikTok @jaketapper.
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"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. See you Sunday.
