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Acting Secret Service Director: I Cannot Defend Why Roof Wasn't Secured; 3 Girls Killed in Stabbing at Taylor Swift-Themed Yoga Class; Park Fire Now 5th Largest Blaze in California History; Simone Biles Wins 8th Olympic Medal. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 30, 2024 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: New details in the attempted assassination of former President Trump. The acting director of the Secret Service, Ronald Roe, and also the deputy director of the FBI, Paul Abate, gave hours-long testimony on Capitol Hill today.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Some of it was really stunning, including Roe admitting under oath that there were security failures at the Butler, Pennsylvania, Trump rally that he cannot defend and that he's ashamed of. He also explained how his agency is now working to ensure those failures will not happen again.

CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is here. And, Evan, we also learned about social media accounts that officials were able to link to the shooter from years ago in which he espoused some anti- immigrant, anti-Semitic views.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Look, there are dozens of social media accounts and other accounts that the FBI has spent now a couple weeks looking into. And one of the things we heard today was Paul Abate, the deputy director, talked about an account that they have not verified but which they suspect could be tied to this shooter. And, in particular, this one account had some violent content, had some content that is anti-Semitic, that was anti- immigration. This was an account on YouTube.

There's also another account that he was asked about during the hearing, which is another social media site called Gab.

[15:35:00]

And that site's CEO has been out there publicly talking about his interaction with the FBI. What we know is, again, not verified yet. The FBI is still working to try to figure out that these are the shooter's accounts.

That one is a little more recent. And, according to this Gab CEO, he characterized it as pro-Biden messages. What it does is it really sort of gives you a mixed picture of this gunman over the years. And it's still not clear what was his intent in terms of, you know, political motivation or any kind of ideological views more recently before he carried out this attack. We know that he's been planning it for some time. He spent a little time hiding his tracks using aliases and using encrypted accounts. So the FBI is still working to try to figure all of that out at this point.

KEILAR: So strange.

SANCHEZ: Yes, bizarre. And, Evan, what can you tell us about the actual hearing when it comes to the security angle of all of this?

PEREZ: Well, the security now is changing, right? The former president is going to have a more sort of robust number of protection. And just everything is going to change at his next rally, especially if he does another outdoor rally in Butler.

But what we heard from his secret service director is that they're doing everything from making sure that there are drones covering these sites. They make sure that they bring their own cell phone signals so that they can operate counter drone technology to protect these people.

And also, obviously, RFK Jr. has protection. There's increased protection for Kamala Harris, who's now the presumed Democratic nominee. Everything has changed as a result of what happened on July 13th.

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

Let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow. Jonathan, I think one of the things that really stood out in this hearing was that, you know, we look at these moments that could have made the difference.

One was if the perimeter had been bigger. But one was clearly the communications. Now that we've learned that they were playing telephone.

And Senator Ossoff asked the acting director, you know, why can't you have local law enforcement and Secret Service on the same frequency talking to each other? And he said that it would take months of planning for them to be able to do that. Explain that if you can.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, yes, I'm a little lost for words on exactly what the acting director meant by that. But Brianna, you're exactly correct. There were multiple points of intervention throughout the precipitating events prior to the shooting that local law enforcement could have been involved.

They could have directly engaged with this individual who is exhibiting, you know, suspicious behavior, anomalous behavior. I mean, going back hours, right? This isn't just the immediate moments. This is going back hours he raised suspicion to local law enforcement.

So the communication breakdown, the failure of communication. I mean, there is a solution there. And I think what maybe the acting director was talking about is a more formalized communication system that could be applied.

But real simply, the Secret Service can bring more radios. They can bring more equipment, more radios to hand to at least supervisory law enforcement officers that are working on the perimeter and put them on one channel and monitor. So there is a solution here. There's probably a stopgap solution until there's a permanent one.

But I was a little bit lost on where the acting director was going in his response.

SANCHEZ: Jonathan, I'm curious for you to expand on something that Evan alluded to, and that is that the shooter was apparently operating a drone hours before the rally and that the Secret Service has this anti-drone technology that it deploys. But it wasn't deployed until much later. And the reason had to do with available cell phone reception signals and local law enforcement not providing some kind of equipment.

I'm just curious what you make of that being the reason for not having this capability.

WACKROW: Yes, no, I don't buy that. Not when you have, you know, the former president who is just about to become the Republican nominee, you know, just leading up to that, knowing that there is this, you know, foreign threat, this Iranian threat that is, you know, facing the former president. I don't buy that. I think that is unacceptable.

And it actually speaks to a level of complacency in the protective model. You both have heard me talk about the proactive advance and the rigor that goes into that. And what we're seeing is that that advance process here broke down. It broke down in communications. It broke down in understanding roles and responsibilities with local law enforcement and basic rudiments of the protective methodology.

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And this really calls for wholesale changes with the Secret Service on how they move forward both, you know, in the moment of this candidacy but beyond that. You know, they have to make changes because what I'm hearing are threads of systemic problems, not a singular issue that was just present on that day. And that needs to be addressed very quickly.

KEILAR: Yes, problems that defy clearly law enforcement best practices, but also it appears just common sense. It's pretty stunning. Jonathan Wackrow, thank you so much. We appreciate it.

And next, the Park Fire is now the fifth largest in California history. And also, it's barely contained. We'll talk about who officials think started it and why next.

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SANCHEZ: We're following the latest in a deadly stabbing rampage at a children's dance school in northwest England.

Officials have now identified the three girls killed in the attack. They are 9-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 6-year-old Bebe King, and 7- year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe. The girls were attending a Taylor Swift- themed yoga class when they were targeted.

And the singer is responding, saying she is in complete shock.

KEILAR: She wrote, quote: The loss of life and innocence and horrendous trauma inflicted on everyone who was there, the families and first responders. There were just little kids in a dance class. I'm at a complete loss for how to ever convey my sympathies to these families.

And keep in mind here, aside from these three girls who were killed, there were eight others who were injured, some of them seriously, including two adults who were trying to stop the attacker. We're told that they are in critical condition. The suspect is a 17-year-old boy, and police say they do not believe that the attack is terror-related.

A wildfire burning in California is now the fifth largest fire in the state's history. Officials say the Park Fire, which is raging across four different counties, has scorched more than 600 square miles. That's about half the size of the state of Rhode Island. Right now, it's only 14 percent contained.

SANCHEZ: We want to take you live to Butte County in northern California with CNN's Lucy Kafanov, who's there for us. Lucy, what are you seeing where you are?

LUCY KAFANOV, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, Brianna, you can see the surreal landscape behind me. It is truly a testament to the voraciousness of the power of this blaze. We are in a small community called Cohasset near Chico.

The flames tore through here on Thursday, devouring, destroying almost everything in sight. Today, the air is still thick with smoke, and residents have not been able to return to this area.

This was an antique store. You can see rows of antique cars behind me. A lot of the items here just pulverized, really nothing left behind. This is just one of nearly 200 structures that's been damaged by the Park Fire so far.

Thousands of people remain under evacuation orders. We're sort of seeing vehicles and crews drive through here, but residents have not been able to return. The fire is growing. That is the bad news. The good news is that a lot of the blaze has been now contained to largely forested canyon areas. But, of course, all of this could change at a moment's notice.

We did hear from the man accused of starting the fire, 42-year-old Ronnie Stout. He appeared in court yesterday. Prosecutors say he pushed a burning car down a cliff starting the fire.

He says that it was an accident, but the Butte County District Attorney, Mike Ramsey, said that he has a previous criminal record and was denied bail. Take a listen.

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MIKE RAMSEY, BUTTE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: No bail today because of his record, the fact that he is facing life imprisonment, that this was an extraordinarily dangerous act, and he does appear to have an alcohol problem. And so we can't have such a dangerous person out there in the community, particularly in these times.

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KAFANOV: He is facing a felony arson charge, but regardless of how this fire got started, the bone-dry conditions, the record-breaking heat is a problem for this entire area, the western region. And so to have this big of a fire this early in the season is very concerning -- guys.

KEILAR: It certainly is. Lucy, thank you for that report, and we'll be right back with more.

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SANCHEZ: Simone Biles proving once again why she's the GOAT. She just won her 8th Olympic medal becoming the most decorated American gymnast of all time.

KEILAR: So let's go now to CNN's Coy Wire. He is at the Paris Games. And Coy, I know you were there at the women's gymnastics event. Give us the highlights.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and Brianna, gold has been won, but they're not done. The atmosphere, it was packed. It was electric, supercharged with fans and celebrities from around the globe.

Serena Williams was there with her daughter on her lap. All to see the U.S. women's gymnastics team. And Simone Biles capture Olympic gold in the team competition.

That leveled up the silver they won in Tokyo. Biles, Suni Lee, Jordan Chiles, Jade Carey, Hezley Rivera dominating the field. Scoring nearly 6 points ahead of Italy who took the silver and Brazil taking the bronze.

Now, with Biles, as you mentioned, winning that 8th Olympic medal. She surpassed Shannon Miller to become the most decorated American gymnast of all time. And at 27, she's now the oldest American woman ever to win gymnastics gold. Five years older than the previous record.

Now, all the focus is going to turn to the individual finals beginning Thursday. Biles and Lee, they qualified to compete for the gold for the all-around. And that's going to be the first time two Olympic all- around champs will be competing in that event for the title. Lee also qualified in beam and bars, Chiles on floor, Carey in vault. But the GOAT, Simone Biles, she qualified for vault, beam and floor.

That gives her a chance at four more medals at these Olympic Games in Paris.

I have to tell you a funny anecdote. Before they came out, coach said they were nervous. And then you see them walk out of the tunnel. They're all supposed to stand there in a line, wave to the crowd. They're individually introduced.

But Simone Biles was so excited to get out there, she just kept walking out towards the middle of the arena. And her teammates had to be like, Simone, come back, come back.

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So she comes back in the line. She's playing with the crowd. She was smiling, enjoying the moment. And the crowd was feeding off it. And you mentioned her overcoming some injuries. Now she's looked like she is primed and ready to continue her dominance in this sport. She's an incredible human being. I think she's still human.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KEILAR: I don't know about that.

SANCHEZ: It's hard to believe. But GOAT can go wherever she wants. If she wants to keep walking, let her keep walking. Coy Wire, live from Paris.

Excited to see you do some flips, Coy. Stay with CNN. We'll be right back.

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KEILAR: We're following breaking news out of the Middle East and some new details on that Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon. A spokesperson for Benjamin Netanyahu is saying that the prime minister is now at Israel's military headquarters in Tel Aviv assessing the situation after the attack.

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A senior Lebanese government official telling CNN, the top Hezbollah commander -- the top Hezbollah commander the Israeli military was targeting actually survived the strike. Israel blamed the militant group for a recent rocket attack in the occupied Golan Heights that had killed 12 kids.

SANCHEZ: This video shows the immediate aftermath of the strike. We're learning that this was a precise strike and that there was almost no damage to buildings near the targeted site. Now, the sequence of attacks marks the most significant escalation since tensions between Israel and Hezbollah flared after October 7th.

Much more on that story on "THE LEAD" with Jake Tapper, which starts right now.