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China Spent Millions at Trump Properties During Presidency; Iowa School Shooting; ISIS Claims Responsibility For Iran Terror Attacks. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 04, 2024 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:01:13]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We continue to follow this developing story out of Iowa, where police say that multiple people were wounded during a high school shooting. We're following the latest there.

And we're also tracking this breaking news out of the Middle East, ISIS claiming responsibility for those deadly explosions at a memorial for an Iranian commander, all while an official tells CNN that the U.S. targeted a member of an Iranian proxy group during a drone strike in Baghdad. We will have much more on the widening tensions in the region.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And we're only 11 days until Iowa. And, tonight, voters in that state will pose some tough questions to two candidates in back-to-back CNN town halls. We will have a live preview for you.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Right now, we are watching major developments in the Middle East, as fears of an all-out war in the region continue to grow. The terror group ISIS has now claimed responsibility for two deadly blasts in Iran. These happen Wednesday at a memorial for military commander Qasem Soleimani on the fourth anniversary of his death, the explosions killing more than 80 people, injuring nearly 300.

And also today Israel's defense minister telling U.S. officials that time is running out for a diplomatic deal with Hezbollah on its northern border with Lebanon.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a senior Hamas leader was buried today in Lebanon. He was killed Tuesday in a suspected Israeli strike in Beirut.

Meantime, in Iraq, a drone strike today killing the commander of an Iran-backed militia in Baghdad. A defense official tells CNN that a member of an Iranian proxy group with -- quote -- "U.S. blood on his hands" was the target.

We're covering all these developments the way only CNN can.

Let's start with Nic Robertson on ISIS claiming responsibility for those twin blasts in Iran.

Nic, what can you tell us?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes.

ISIS is saying that they killed 300 people they describe as polytheists, Shias. Iran is a majority Shia country. ISIS is a Sunni organization, an ultra-extreme Sunni organization that targets Shias.

ISIS has a track record of targeting Iranians. Why would ISIS want to target the memorial for Soleimani? Because they saw Soleimani as one of the architects of Iran's efforts to go after -- to be part of a coalition going after ISIS. So there's a rationale behind ISIS' claims.

They have also -- this also fits their M.O. of targeting large gatherings of civilians and killing and maiming lots of innocent civilians. So this fits their M.O. Absolutely doesn't fit the M.O. of Israel's operations, where they have very specific and clear -- clearly identified targets killed with a minimum of collateral damage that we have seen in the region.

But where ISIS' claim differentiates from what Iran is saying, obviously, the number is different. Iran is saying the death toll is now at 84. It's not unusual for ISIS to overestimate and overstate their death claim of 300. But ISIS is also saying that this was perpetrated by two suicide bombers, often the way ISIS perpetrates their attacks.

But just yesterday, Iranian authorities were saying that the first of those two bombs was in a suitcase and that it was remotely detonated. And so far, ISIS hasn't put forward concrete evidence to support their claim. But the M.O., the rationale, the style of attack all fits ISIS, and it also fits their propaganda style to overstate their claims.

[13:05:03]

KEILAR: All right, Nic Robertson, thank you for that report.

I want to bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond now. He is live for us from Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, what more can you tell us about this warning from the Israeli defense minister that time is running out on diplomacy with Hezbollah on its border with Lebanon?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, an intense round of American diplomacy is currently under way.

Amos Hochstein, a special envoy for President Biden, meeting today with Israel's defense minister, as well as Israel's prime minister. Just yesterday, the Lebanese foreign minister meeting with National Security Council officials at the White House.

And so the effort here is to try and prevent this situation at the Israel-Lebanon border, where we have seen exchanges of fire between the Israeli military and Hezbollah forces over the last couple of months, to try and prevent that from escalating into a wider conflict.

But there is also, beyond that, an effort under way to try and establish a longer-term solution to this problem. And that was really the focus of what we heard from the Israeli defense minister as he sat down with President Biden's envoy, saying that Israel needs a new security reality at its northern border, where about 80,000 Israelis have been displaced from their homes.

And the Israeli government is very much under pressure from those civilians to allow them to return back to that area at the Lebanese border. And today, Yoav Gallant, the defense minister, making very clear that, while Israel prefers a diplomatic solution to this problem, it ultimately cannot tolerate these threats from Hezbollah, pointing at the possibility of a military escalation if there isn't a diplomatic resolution to this.

And he ultimately said that the window is closing for that diplomatic solution to indeed appear and materialize. But, certainly, there is this question of, right now, will there be an escalation in the wake of the death of al-Arouri, that top Hamas official, in a suburb of Beirut?

For now, at least, it appears that the situation is status quo, as Israel and Hezbollah have continued to trade fire, but so far no signs of a broader escalation, but still that need for a broader diplomatic solution for this longer-term problem on both sides of the border.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Jeremy, a lot to read into in that message from the Israeli defense minister.

Jeremy Diamond from Tel Aviv, thank you so much.

Let's go to CNN's Oren Liebermann, who's live for us at the Pentagon.

Oren, talk to us about that drone strike in Iraq that killed an Iran- backed commander.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: First, it's worth pointing out, Boris, that the fact that we're talking about all of this together, what's happening in Iran, what's happening in Israel and Lebanon, and what's happening in Iraq, shows you how interconnected the region is, even as the U.S. and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin have tried to separate all of these regions and, frankly, all of these conflicts.

In light of all this and how interconnected we're seeing everything, the U.S. carried out a strike here, and you can see the results of that, in Baghdad, targeting a member of Harakat al-Nujaba, an Iranian proxy that operates in Iraq, but also in Syria.

The U.S. has not put out the name of who was targeted yet. They're waiting for a complete and final battle damage assessment, also to see if there was anybody else killed in the attack. But the Popular Mobilization Front, an Iranian-backed group that effectively speaks for a number of these organizations, said that the commander of one of these organizations was killed, that Harakat al-Nujaba, which is who the U.S. was targeting, the Popular Mobilization Front says, Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, one of their commanders, was killed in the strike, as was his assistant.

Now, what's interesting here is that this is the second time in just over a week the U.S. has struck inside of Iraq. The U.S. carried out strikes in Iraq on December 25, on Christmas Day, and that very much angered the Iraqi government, who in the days following said they would work to remove U.S. and coalition forces from the country.

There's tremendous political pressure on the Iraqi government to do that. That's significant because the U.S. is part of -- Iraq is part of where the U.S. has its anti-ISIS efforts, and they operate there only at the invitation of the Iraqi government.

Still, the U.S. warned that if attacks on forces in Iraq and Syria continued, they would take action, and that's what we saw them do with this strike in Baghdad. Noteworthy, of course, that it's in the Iraqi capital. We haven't seen a response from Iraq yet, but I think there's little doubt that the Iraqi government will be very angry about this, what they called or have called in the past a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, as the U.S. has continued to say they're trying not to conflict here, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Oren Liebermann, live from the Pentagon, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Now, on top of this, U.S. Navy says that, early this morning, Iran-backed Houthi rebels launched an unmanned surface drone against commercial shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

Let's talk more about all of this with retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.

And, today, of course, the U.S. killing the leader of a pro-Iranian militia, Cedric, in Baghdad. What is the importance of this particular strike?

[13:10:00]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So, Brianna, this is really important, because Harakat al-Nujaba, this really pro- Iranian proxy group, was one of the major Iranian groups that was actually fighting ISIS on the one hand, but also is postured to go after the U.S.

And they are also controlling a large element of the Iraqi government or they're helping to control it through political as well, as military means. And so all of these militias are exercising a great deal of control over Iraq. And this was a message from the U.S. not to attack U.S. forces that are in that country.

KEILAR: Which, of course, is where so many of the attacks are.

I mean, you have seen so many on these shipping lanes, on these commercial ships that the U.S. is fending off, hitting off U.S. -- hitting forces as well, responding to that. But so many of these strikes are really, as we take a look, centered in Iraq here.

LEIGHTON: Yes, they are.

In fact, we have about three major bases in Iraq right now and dozens of smaller bases, some of them forward operating bases, or FOBS. We also have a similar setup in Syria. And the big idea there was to go after ISIS and to keep ISIS under control. So, the Biden administration has continued that policy of trying to keep ISIS under wraps, in essence.

But there's a lot of risk there, because our presence then draws in these pro-Iranian militia groups to go after U.S. forces while they're stationed in these two countries.

KEILAR: Yes.

And then according to U.S. officials, as we take a look at this strike in Beirut, Israel killed the senior Hamas leader there in Beirut, in Lebanon, of course, this week. You see the aftermath of the targeted strike here. And it was rather targeted, we should say.

So you have the U.S. and Israel both killing militant leaders in capital cities of sovereign nations in the region. What's the impact of this on regional tensions?

LEIGHTON: So, this is a really big deal, because, normally, you try to avoid attacking people in capital cities.

But if those people are conducting operations or are planning operations against either U.S. or Israeli forces, then they become fair games. So, when you look at the broader Middle East right here, this, of course, is Iraq right in the center of things, Baghdad, and you have Beirut in Lebanon.

Plus, you have the attack that Israel carried out near Damascus earlier. So, you have all of these things going on in these areas because these governments aren't controlling these different militia groups. And, as a result of that, both the Israelis and the Americans feel that they have to go after these groups in these areas, whether or not we're violating the sovereignty of any of these countries.

KEILAR: We see the strike in Iran right over there, ISIS now at this point in time claiming responsibility for the attack there, these bombings yesterday in Iran.

It was near the grave site of Qasem Soleimani. This was happening on the fourth anniversary of the Trump administration, killing that Iranian military leader.

So we have ISIS, right, a Sunni group rival of mostly Shia Iranian proxies bombing Iran. It's not directly connected to this Israel-Hamas war. Or is that how you see it?

LEIGHTON: Well, yes, it's basically true. It's not directly connected. However, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And they are going to go after these people.

In an odd way, the U.S. and Iran are aligned with each other against ISIS. However, the Iranians are also against us because we support Israel, and they want Israel to basically disappear from the face of the Earth. So the Iranians have a multifaceted effort going on here.

And what they're trying to do is, they're trying to really project their power throughout the Arabian Peninsula. And forces like ISIS are going to go after that because they -- first of all, there's the religious aspect to it. ISIS is predominantly Sunni. The Iranians are predominantly Shiite.

And that religious schism between these groups is also affecting the geopolitics of everything that we have in all of these areas right across the broader Middle East.

KEILAR: It has a different feel to it, right, as we're ticking through this attack, this attack, this attack in different places, keeping track. Even as we go through of who's doing what, it has a feel of an expansion.

LEIGHTON: Absolutely.

You know, it's kind of like, over 100 years ago, everybody was worried about the Balkans, and that ended up being the tinderbox that set off World War I. This can be basically the same kind of thing. The Middle East has done this before. And the big issue for the various powers, regional powers, as well as the great global powers, is, do you really want to fight a major conflict in these areas?

You have a Russian presence in Iran. You have a Russian presence in Syria. You have American presence throughout these areas. Plus, of course, you have localized presence from Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Iraqis themselves. You have all these different forces and the different alignments that are happening here can be very fleeting at times.

[13:15:05]

We support a lot of regimes in these areas, but some of those regimes are really on thin ice when it comes to popular support and their ability to control their populations, as well as their ability to handle the diplomatic efforts that need to go on in order to stop things like the war in Gaza.

KEILAR: Yes, it's alarming to look at this map. I will tell you that.

Colonel, thank you so much for being with us and taking us through this. We appreciate it.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Brianna.

KEILAR: Boris.

SANCHEZ: On the day that students were set to get back into the classroom, it's been a terrifying return to school for one Midwest community, a shooting at Perry High School in Iowa involving multiple gunshot victims. That's according to a local sheriff. At this hour, though, he's not saying if any of them has died or

detailing the extent of anyone's injuries. This school is 40 miles from Des Moines. The sheriff of Dallas County did confirm the threat is now over, saying that authorities also have identified the gunman. A law enforcement source tells CNN that the shooter is in fact dead.

One mother talked about how she learned of the danger. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JODY KURTH, MOTHER OF SHOOTING VICTIM: It was a text message this morning from my daughter. And it was absolutely horrifying, Like, this -- one of the worst moments of my entire life, but the best phone call I got was saying that they were OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN's Aaron Pellish is live force in Perry, Iowa.

Now, Aaron, what do we know so far about what happened during the shooting? It started before classes had even started, right?

AARON PELLISH, CNN PRODUCER: That's right, Boris.

Before classes started today, at 7:37 a.m. local time, law enforcement officers received word that a shooting incident was going on at Perry High School just behind me. It was repeated to report to the scene, multiple law enforcement agencies from all around the state from Des Moines, Polk County, Greene County, Dallas County reporting to the state, as you mentioned, multiple gunshot victims here at the high school.

The shooter has been told -- we have -- CNN has reported that the shooter has been killed, is dead. We spoke -- our affiliate KCCI spoke with the stepmother of a student at Perry High School here, who said that her stepson was grazed by a bullet during the shooting today.

Take a listen to that sound.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: What happened here?

KURTH: I just know you got grazed by a bullet. That's all I know. I just found out. I didn't know.

QUESTION: Is this your son?

KURTH: No, it's my stepson, basically.

QUESTION: Your stepson. OK. Did he show you the wound?

KURTH: He did. He just showed it to me. I just saw it. And it started bleeding again and we just want to get him checked out.

QUESTION: OK. And -- but this is a nightmare, right? KURTH: It is absolutely a nightmare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PELLISH: Now, as for the scene here, it's pretty calm right now, a lot of law enforcement on the ground here. The scene is well under control.

Law enforcement are expecting to brief media later today on any details that we may learn about what went inside this morning, but there's still many, many questions to be asked about the perpetrator of this act, about the victims, the state of those victims, and we will bring those reports to you as we learn them -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we hope to get some answers from law enforcement later this afternoon.

Aaron Pellish live for us in Perry, Iowa, thank you so much.

Still to come on NEWS CENTRAL: a new report that China spent millions of dollars at Trump properties while he was in office. That's raising some serious questions about possible efforts to influence the former president.

KEILAR: And it is just hours before back-to-back CNN town halls with Governor Ron DeSantis and former Governor Nikki Haley, and the gloves are coming off here.

Plus: The Jeffrey Epstein docs are dropping and so are the names. What these unsealed papers are revealing so far, as the next batch of documents could be coming out here at any time.

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[13:22:56]

KEILAR: We have some new information showing the Trump Organization raked in millions of dollars from the Chinese government when Donald Trump was president.

The Beijing government and several entities that it controlled spent more than $5.5 million at Trump properties while he was in office. That is the largest sum paid to Trump's businesses by any single foreign country known to date.

SANCHEZ: This is all according to financial documents obtained by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. We do also have to point out that Trump had a Chinese bank account during his first year in the White House, an account which we didn't know existed until late into the 2020 campaign.

CNN's Zach Cohen joins us now on this.

So, Zach, walk us through what's in these documents.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Boris, these are documents from Trump's former accounting firm, right?

And they do show new details about who was paying Trump's various properties for things like apartments, things like hotel rooms, like room service, while Trump was in the White House. And, normally, a president divests themselves when they go -- once they're elected and once they're in their office.

But Trump refused to do that for very -- but for this reason is why people divest themselves. And one of the biggest payments that we saw in these documents, there's 20 countries where they came from. The biggest total came from China, where $5.5 million was paid to various Trump properties in Las Vegas, in Washington, D.C., and in New York.

Within that China group, the biggest contributor of payments there was a state-owned bank that was a tenant of Trump's for several years in Trump Tower in New York. So, look, the reason this is concerning and the reason this is written in the Constitution as something that presidents shouldn't do is because you're worried about influence campaigns and people, foreign countries, trying to influence foreign policy in the U.S. by buttering up presidents essentially with gifts and with money.

House Democrats are raising that concern in this report. The Trump administration -- the Trump Organization says, look, the former president didn't do anything wrong, and that he actually donated profits that were made from foreign countries while he was in office, but a lot of uncertainty there. It's only a snapshot of apparently the payments that were made to Trump while he was president.

[13:25:01]

KEILAR: So what happens next? Where does this go?

COHEN: That's a great question, and because we have been talking about this issue since Trump was running for president, right, and he could -- when he made clear that he wasn't going to divest himself.

Congress has tried to get the courts to enforce the Emoluments Clause, right, of the Constitution, trying to figure out a way that they can hold presidents accountable and try to enforce these mechanisms, where a president can't just take money from a foreign country either through his businesses or directly.

Democrats are probably going to try to pass some legislation, but that's failed pretty consistently here in the past. So it's kind of an open question. Can they enforce it? Can they address the issue? And, obviously, Donald Trump is the front-runner for the Republican nomination now.

And Republicans are accusing Joe Biden of something very similar, without providing nearly the amount of documentation that Democrats have related to Trump. So...

SANCHEZ: Yes, the distinction is that what House Republicans have provided about Joe Biden came when he wasn't in office. This is while Donald Trump is president, that he's apparently profiting off of Chinese companies.

Zach Cohen, thanks so much for the reporting.

So, meantime, the former president's legal team is asking the federal judge in the elections subversion case to sanction the special counsel, Jack Smith. Now, they argue that Smith violated the judge's stay order by continuing to submit filings.

KEILAR: We have CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid with us here on this.

Paula, what more are you learning about the filing?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Trump team is not happy that Jack Smith had his staff working through the holiday making filings in this case, because this is the federal election subversion case. It's officially on hold.

The judge, Judge Tanya Chutkan, she has paused -- quote -- "all substantive proceedings." Now, the Trump team has responded to this by filing their own motion asking for the prosecutors to be -- quote -- "substantially sanctioned here."

Now, Jack Smith fully aware of what he's doing. He's even said in his filings, look, I know this is on hold, but I want to bring this case to trial before the 2024 election. Right now, it's on pause while these larger constitutional questions about possible immunity are being litigated, but he hopes that will eventually be resolved in his favor and then, if he has all his ducks in a row, maybe they can push forward with the trial sooner.

That is not the way the Trump team sees it, though. They're arguing that he's -- quote -- "trying to score cheap political points" with these continued filings. They argue that he is turning the docket, so basically the place all the filings wind up while they wait for a judge into an arm of the Biden campaign.

Now it's up to Judge Tanya Chutkan to figure out what to do here. Does she tell the special counsel, hey, knock it off? Does she let them continue filing? I mean, she's not making any decisions. They're just sort of stacking up. She had previously expressed a desire not to delay this case. She said something you rarely hear federal judges say, which is this case is going to trial in March.

Now, that didn't happen. It's currently on pause. But I'm really curious to see what she does here. Obviously, there's no love lost between the Trump lawyers and the special counsel's team. But filing a motion to argue about filing motions, that's where we're at right now, guys. And I don't know how it's going to resolve.

KEILAR: It's like arguing about how you argue, right?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

REID: I know but arguing that there -- it's all political, right, that is at the crux of the Trump, like, actual legitimate legal defense here, is that he is the target of political persecutions.

So, saying that the other side is being political, look, it's par for the course for these two.

KEILAR: Paula, thank you for that.

So, before they take CNN's stage tonight, they're taking some serious swings.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: It is under way here, Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley lobbing attacks at each other 11 days before the first big GOP test in Iowa.

SANCHEZ: And a violent scene inside a Nevada courtroom. You have to see this video, a defendant leaping to attack a judge after she denies him parole.

The latest on this case -- when we come back.

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