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Iowa Gov: "Heart Aches" For Students, Staff Impacted By Shooting; House Report: Trump Org Made $5M Plus From China When Trump Was President; ISIS Claims Responsibility For Deadly Blasts In Iran; Soon: Blinken Departs For Multi-Nation Middle East Trip. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 04, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon. I'm Boris Sanchez alongside Brianna Keilar in the nation's capital.

In less than an hour, urgent questions may be answered about a shooting with multiple gunshot victims at Perry High School in Iowa. A press conference is set for 4 PM Eastern. Earlier today, the local sheriff told reporters that his teams were still trying to figure out exactly how many people were hurt. He would not say whether any victim had been killed.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes, we're hoping to learn more because, honestly, the details are pretty scant at this point in time. A law enforcement source is telling CNN the shooter is dead. Iowa's governor, Kim Reynolds, said in a statement: "As a mother, my heart aches for the families of all students and staff impacted." And of note, she is going to be at the news conference.

We have CNN producer, Aaron Pellish, at the scene.

Aaron, the sheriff said luckily there were few students or staff at the school because classes had not started. Obviously, the indication there being that this could be much worse. But there's just so much we don't know at this point.

AARON PELLISH, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, Brianna, that's right. They did mention that the Dallas County Sheriff's Office had a press conference earlier today. What we do know is that at 7:37, as you mentioned, before classes started local time, law enforcement received a notice that there was a shooting at the school behind me, Perry High School. We know that multiple gunshot victims were sustained or occurred and those are being treated at Des Moines area hospitals about 45 minutes away from here. Law enforcement from all around Central Iowa reporting to the scene.

As you mentioned, we do know that the shooter is dead. We do not know the identity of the shooter, although law enforcement did say they've identified the shooter. And we do hope to learn more about that later this afternoon. This is obviously causing great distress, great shock in the community here.

Our affiliate in Iowa, KCCI (ph), spoke to the stepmother of a student who said that her stepson was grazed by a bullet at the high school and called it absolutely a nightmare. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened here?

JODY KURTH, STEPSON GRAZED BY BULLET: I just know he got grazed by a bullet. That's all I know. I just found out. I didn't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is this your son?

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your stepson, okay. 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay. And you must be - this is a nightmare, right?

KURTH: It is absolutely a nightmare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PELLISH: Yes. So Brianna, as you mentioned that we don't quite know all the details about what happened inside this high school. We do expect to learn more at a briefing at four o'clock this afternoon here in Perry. Gov. Kim Reynolds of Iowa will be briefing - will be attending that briefing and speaking to reporters at that time. She just tweet - put on social media earlier today, offering prayers to the community of Perry. But obviously, a lot of unanswered questions that we're hoping to bring you as we learn them. Boris and Brianna?

KEILAR: Yes. Hopefully we'll learn more here in the next hour from that press conference coming out of Perry, Iowa, where you are.

Aaron, thank you.

And of course, that shooting is rocking the state of Iowa as political candidates are blanketing the state. And no doubt they will be commenting on this. They'll be asked about it, perhaps. That would certainly be logical on the trail or at the CNN town halls tonight, just 11 days before Iowa Republicans make their pick for the 2024 presidential nominee.

Donald Trump has a huge lead there in the Hawkeye State, according to the latest polls. But his central rivals, Nikki Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis, are trying to chip away at his support. And as I mentioned here in a few hours, they will take questions from voters at dual town halls.

SANCHEZ: One other thing we're going to be watching to see if they address these new details about Trump's businesses making millions of dollars from foreign governments while he was president. Documents obtained by House Democrats show the biggest spender was China, paying over $5.5 million to Trump properties during his time at the White House.

CNN's Jessica Schneider is here now with more.

So, Jessica, what do these financial records show?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. I just got off a conversation with Congressman Jamie Raskin. He led this report. And what he's telling me is that he believes that this - what this report shows is really just a fraction, potentially, of what Trump brought in from foreign governments, because this report, it only documents two years and, of course, it was a four-year presidency and it only looks into just a handful of the Trump businesses here.

And what it's showing is that Trump and his organization brought in nearly $8 million, $5.5 million of which came from China and state-run companies. This is a problem, according to congressional Democrats, because of two things, really.

[15:04:59]

They're saying that if Trump was just worried about lining his pockets, maybe he didn't have the best public interest in mind when running the country and running his businesses simultaneously. Because remember, he did not divest his assets. He gave up the day-to-day control, but he still really was a part of these businesses.

And they say it obviously also violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution. That clause says that a sitting president cannot bring in any sort of payment from foreign governments. This report in general, it talks about these two years and it does document 20 different countries that really paid Trump businesses, not just China, which was the bulk of it, but also Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, India.

And this report points to problems. They say that in particular, there was the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a state-run bank, saying that they had a lease at one of Trump's properties, so paid numerous payments. But yet Trump didn't sanction that bank. They were listed by the DOJ. The DOJ filed a complaint saying that they helped set up an account for a company that evaded North Korean sanctions.

And then there was the fact that former president, Trump, signed an arms deal worth $100 billion with Saudi Arabia. It was a controversial arms deal. And again, his business is taking in money from Saudi Arabia, about $600,000 worth.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a big conflict of interest here.

SCHNEIDER: Yes.

KEILAR: What are you hearing from Trump? Is he saying anything?

SCHNEIDER: So Trump himself hasn't said anything. But overall, the Trump organization has said, look, the former president didn't take his yearly salary of about $400,000. And we cut a check to the U.S. Treasury for about $450,000 here.

Eric Trump has responded to this report. He's saying this - he's saying there is no president in United States history who is tougher on China than Donald Trump, a president who has introduced billions and billions of dollars worth of tariffs on their goods and services.

But congressional Democrats just saying that's not enough. The mere fact that you took in any money from a foreign government should be violation of the emoluments clause in and of itself and now they're urging congressional action to set some sort of mandatory reporting and then mandatory check by Congress, which obviously wasn't done during the Trump administration.

KEILAR: Yes. Worth noting those tariffs do get put - pushed on to U.S. consumers largely.

SCHNEIDER: Right.

SANCHEZ: Right.

KEILAR: So we have to remember that as well.

SCHNEIDER: Yes, for sure.

SANCHEZ: Jessica, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Let's dig into all the political threads now with Des Moines Bureau Chief for The Gazette, Erin Murphy. And also National Political Reporter for The Messenger, Marc Caputo.

Erin and Marc, thank you so much for being with us.

First to you, Marc, these attacks that Trump has lobbied at President Biden over his alleged ties to China, the House Republicans are pursuing this impeachment inquiry in part over this, although they've yet to show concrete evidence that Biden was profiting while in office the way that these documents seem to show that Trump was profiting while in office.

Do you think that Trump's rivals tonight, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, are going to go after him on this issue?

MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE MESSENGER: It's tough to predict because one of the consistent things that has kind of confounded political observers has been the hot and cold nature of Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley to actually directly and constantly take on Donald Trump, so it's an open question.

Now, my guess is, yes, they'll probably mention it. Why not? There is, however, in a Republican primary a risk because this is a report from congressional Democrats. And so you could see Donald Trump saying, well, of course, they're using Democratic attacks against me, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Again, open question. I certainly see it as being fair game both for his Republican primary rivals, as well as Democrats broadly, and certainly President Joe Biden.

SANCHEZ: Notably, Haley and DeSantis have gone after each other over ...

KEILAR: That's right.

SANCHEZ: ... influence by China.

KEILAR: Yes, they ...

SANCHEZ: A lot. A lot.

KEILAR: Yes. It's a huge issue here.

Erin, what do you think? That's obviously a big topic for them. It - why not talk about Donald Trump if that's such a big topic for them?

ERIN MURPHY, DES MOINES BUREAU CHIEF, THE GAZETTE: Yes, I - and I think that you guys nailed it right at the end there. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley have gone after each other on China much more than either of them have. Donald Trump, at least, in the events that - and the advertising that I'm seeing here in Iowa.

And I think it sort of just kind of is the same as all the other issues and ways that we talk about how Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, all the other candidates in this field really have had to deal with running against the former president. And that's - that they have to have had to try to walk a fine line with - between criticizing him and trying to distance themselves from him on certain issues. But while being careful to not upset Republicans, including in - maybe especially in Iowa, who still like, pardon me, some of the things that the former president did while in office, even if they may not like other things about him.

[15:10:09]

So it's been a, well, we've seen a balancing act, sort of, and only recently we really starting to see an increase in those kind of more pointed criticisms of the former president from candidates like DeSantis and Haley.

SANCHEZ: We'll get back to the dynamic between the candidates in a moment.

But Erin, I want to stay with you, because obviously the news today out of Perry, Iowa, the high school there, a shooting taking place. We don't have too many details over exactly who the shooter was and whether anyone was killed. But I imagine knowing our colleagues here at CNN that these candidates are going to be asked about the issue of gun control legislation tonight. How do you anticipate this could factor in with the caucuses only 11 days away?

MURPHY: Yes, it will be interesting. It will certainly be a story for a couple of days here. I mean - and you're right, when these candidates appear at events that that question is certain to come up. It's interesting.

Vivek Ramaswamy actually had an event in Perry this morning, a pre- scheduled event. He was there at 9 AM. And from what I understand, they kept that low key and maybe even canceled it, but held a prayer there at the event space that they were at.

But yes, that's going to bring that conversation to the forefront again. I don't - I'm making a prediction here, but I don't expect to hear anything different than what we've heard from Republican candidates and officeholders in other similar incidents in that day. It's unlikely that we'll see anything further on federal gun legislation, but it'll certainly be a question that will be put to these candidates in the next day or two.

KEILAR: I want to listen to what our Jeff Zeleny said. He spoke with some Iowa Republicans recently and here's what one of them told him.

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DOUG STOUT, IOWA REPUBLICAN: I also think it's bad that it's kind of devolved into something where they're both seem to be fighting for second. They're not fighting for second. They're fighting for president. And I think they're looking for the boost to come out of Iowa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Marc, what do you think? What do you hear from voters? Do they think that? Is it strange to Iowa caucus goers that this is sort of a bizarre caucus season with a clear front runner?

CAPUTO: It's not just limited to Iowa. You also hear that in New Hampshire and to the degree if you go to South Carolina, where a lot of folks aren't paying that much of attention to the primary, because it does seem sort of over. Donald Trump's design heading into this was to hold himself above the other candidates and force them to fight for second place. And they've obliged him in doing that.

Now, Nikki Haley perhaps stands out more than Ron DeSantis in this regard and that she barely criticizes president - or former president, Trump, when compared to Ron DeSantis. But as I've said, previously, the two of them have just not taken it to Trump to the degree that a lot of Republicans wanted to see.

And a while back when I asked a top Trump campaign advisor why do you think Ron DeSantis is not doing so well against your candidate, this Trump advisor told me in one simple phrase, DeSantis never established dominance. And what you're hearing from that voter there is they want to see someone who is going to lead and be an alpha, whether that's an alpha female or an alpha male. And right now that alpha is Donald Trump, and the other two are fighting for the beta slot.

SANCHEZ: Erin, to that point, we saw a back and forth between Haley and DeSantis today over whether New Hampshire voters were going to correct what voters in Iowa decided. I'm wondering what you make of that. Is Ron DeSantis right in saying that Haley is kind of downplaying her odds in the Hawkeye State?

MURPHY: Well, one of the best pieces of analysis or insight that I've ever been given here in Iowa about the caucuses is that it's not just about the results. It's about the results versus expectations. And so, I'm not in the mind of Nikki Haley or her campaign team, but could there have been a little bit of lowering the bar and re-adjusting expectations so whatever happens on January 15th doesn't look as bad, that's possible.

I think what remains true is one of those two candidates has to have some kind of surge in the next - what are we down to - 11, 12 days to show voters in New Hampshire, South Carolina, that they have some kind of momentum coming out of Iowa. And I think that's the key for those two to - who are trying to make the case to be that sort of alternative candidate to President Trump.

[15:15:05]

And we haven't seen that yet in polling or on the ground here. They seem very evenly matched and we're watching to see if that changes in these final days.

KEILAR: Yeah. They don't have long here, as you point out, Erin.

MURPHY: They don't.

KEILAR: Erin Murphy, thank you so much. Marc Caputo, we appreciate you being with us as well.

MURPHY: Thank you.

CAPUTO: Thanks.

KEILAR: DeSantis and Haley, they're both taking questions from Iowa voters tonight in back-to-back CNN events. Our Republican presidential town halls, moderated by Kaitlan Collins and Erin Burnett start here in just a few hours at 9 PM Eastern.

An infamous terror group claims it is responsible for two explosions in Iran that killed more than a hundred people. How the involvement of ISIS could stoke more tensions in an already volatile region.

SANCHEZ: Plus, a massive stack of documents tied to Jeffrey Epstein connecting some big names to the late sex trafficker. What we've learned from the first batch and when the next one may drop.

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[15:19:47]

SANCHEZ: Today, the terror group ISIS is claiming responsibility for twin suicide bombings in Iran that killed more than 80 people and injured nearly 300 more.

KEILAR: The deadly blast happened Wednesday at a memorial, a four-year anniversary memorial for military commander Qasem Soleimani.

[15:20:06]

CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us now.

Nic, what is ISIS saying about its reasoning for attacking Iranian civilians?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. They've actually put out quite a long discourse, ISIS does that typically, over why they've done this. And I think one of the points that jumps out to me is that they're saying, look, Iran has said itself up here to be the savior of the Palestinians to be a supporter of Hamas.

But when Hamas needed them in the fight in Gaza, they haven't entered the fight and really the -it seems that ISIS is calling Iran out and its proxies like Hezbollah out who are Shia, ISIS are Sunni, are calling them out because they haven't stood up to their word and that's interesting that ISIS would do this at this time.

But, of course, Qasem Soleimani was a bete noir, if you will, to the - to ISIS because they see him as being one of the leaders in Iran who was part of a coalition trying to eradicate ISIS so picking Qasem Soleimani's commemoration as a time and place to target people perhaps really does fit with their mo and it certainly fits with their mo that they would target and kill innocent civilians in large numbers.

They said they used suicide bombers. That doesn't quite gel with what Iran said yesterday. Iran had said yesterday that at least one of the explosives was in a suitcase and that it was detonated remotely. Even the Iranians yesterday were blaming Israel and saying that there would be a harsh response for this attack but at this stage even though ISIS hasn't put forward credible evidence most of the circumstantial evidence around this, what they've said, their rationale for it, their style of attacks in the past does seem to indicate and support the fact that this mostly seems like after all it was an ISIS attack.

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

Beth Sanner, former Deputy Director of National Intelligence joining us to discuss these developments.

SANCHEZ: Beth, thank you so much for being us.

Do these attacks signal to you a resurgence in ISIS?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So I think it might be, in fact, the idea that ISIS is worried about losing even more of the ground in the narrative that is expanding in across the Middle East, that it's the Palestinian issue and the Iranians are the sponsor of this axis of resistance. And what's probably confusing to voters is that we've got this Shia-Sunni thing and it's all mixed up because Hamas is Sunni, ISIS is Sunni, Iran and Hezbollah are Shia.

But let's kind of understand that a lot of this has to do with this whole idea of the resistance against the West, pushing the United States out of the Middle East, and who gets to run and own that mission. And so this is, to me, a bit of a competition of that and ISIS is trying to grab it back, if you will.

SANCHEZ: Fascinating.

KEILAR: I want to see what you think about something Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said because he has told the U.S. that Israel is committed to bringing fundamental change on its border with Lebanon. His goal is to obviously make that region safer for Israelis to return there, but what are the implications of this?

SANNER: So, I think what's really clear to me, especially following the head of Hezbollah, his speech yesterday reinforces to me that neither Iran nor Hezbollah wants this war with Israel. But Israel has 80,000 citizens who have been evacuated from that northern region and cannot go home, because that threat from Hezbollah on the border is continuing.

And so really across the spectrum in Israeli politics, they're saying, we have got to deal with this threat. So it's not just Netanyahu, right? And so the real risk here is that the political effort by the United States to find some political solution, which is really about going back to a UN resolution that is a decade ago and fulfilling that, if we can't figure out how to get that done, then it's going to be Israel that actually precipitates this because they feel that they need to be able to live in that area of Israel.

SANCHEZ: There have been consistent visits by U.S. officials to the region since October 7th, notably Secretary of State Antony Blinken is headed back again. He's had over a dozen meetings with officials there. But notably, the Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security is joining Blinken, what do you make of them joining this trip?

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SANNER: Yes, so Hochstein - Amos Hochstein - has been there. He's there today and he has been one of the point people for this particular negotiation with Hezbollah, with Lebanon. He knows all the players because there are energy issues related to Lebanon and Israel and kind of shared resources in the seas there. I don't really take too much from it and that there are only so many people to go around in an administration.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

SANNER: It's all hands on deck and he has experience in the region. And so he's the point person for this. Maybe other people know more than I do about this and that's fine. Send texts to me if that's the case, but that's what I know.

KEILAR: (Inaudible) don't put your phone number out there, Beth. All right.

SANNER: Yes. Yes. No, no. KEILAR: When you look at the bigger picture and sort of these moments that we're looking at here, and I have to refer to my list because there's so many --l

SANNER: Oh, yes.

KEILAR: ISIS claiming the bombing in Iran, U.S. strike on militants in Baghdad, Israeli strike on Hamas leader in Lebanon. Of course you have these attacks on these shipping vessels by Iranian-backed rebels, the Houthis. And then at the heart of it, you have the war between Israel and Gaza. That is a lot happening right now. How do you see this moment?

SANNER: I see absolutely what you're talking about and several Israeli - the Israeli defense minister talked about the seven fronts that Israel faces. Well, we face most of those fronts too. Today we struck against an - a militant leader inside Iraq, inside Baghdad, which is going to have ramifications.

So we are deeply enmeshed in this. And as this goes, it's going to be hard to keep us where we want to be. We could very easily be dragged into things by what we feel like we need to do for deterrence, to reestablish deterrence. And also if the northern front goes, and I - that's a couple of weeks maybe from now, I don't know. It could be tomorrow. It could be never.

But we are in a moment of danger. The good news is that the main actors don't want it to go there. But you know what happens.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

SANNER: I mean, so a lot of miscalculation, misunderstanding and some bad choices by some people who really want to push us out of the region, we're in a danger place.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it could explode into a much broader conflict.

Beth Sanner, appreciate your time. I'm sure more people are texting you for information than trying to give you information. We appreciate the expertise.

SANNER: Maybe.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much, Beth.

SANNER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Yes, of course.

So ahead, Florida's top doctor now calling for people to stop using certain COVID-19 vaccines. We're going to break down his reasoning and how it compares to what we've heard from federal health officials.

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