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Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA )Discusses White House In Talks To Possibly Host Some Pardoned Jan. 6 Convicts; Nashville Officials: Student Killed In Shooting At Antioch High School. Aired 2:30-3p ET
Aired January 22, 2025 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:30:00]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Do you believe that you are safer today with these folks being pardoned and being out on the street? Folks, that, as you noted, we're convicted of seditious conspiracy, who are now talking about how emboldened they are by being released?
Do you think folks up on Capitol Hill are safer today after this?
REP. DAN MEUSER (R-PA): Boris, I don't have any sense of fear whatsoever. First of all, they're under high scrutiny. I think they're very grateful. Many of them have admitted what they did was wrong --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Not just them, sir. Not just them. But --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But anyone, anyone of any political stripe who may be inclined to political violence, believing that someone, a president, now or in the future, might just pardon them.
MEUSER: You know, but, Boris, I wish you had this discussion about all of those other on the terrorist watch list that have crossed over into our country during the Biden administration, and all of those --
(CROSSTALK)
MEUSER: -- that we're not prosecuted --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: I'm trying to talk to you about these pardons. You can -- you can equivocate as much as you want, but it's just a way to avoid answering the question.
MAUSER: I don't want to equivocate, but you -- you never talk about anything negative about the Biden administration, or he lack --
SANCHEZ: You haven't seen the interviews that I've done --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: -- with Democrats, have you, Congressman?
MEUSER: I've seen some. Well, I've seen some.
SANCHEZ: Oh, OK.
MEUSER: I'm not -- I'm not -- I'm not --
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Congressman Dan Meuser, let's leave the conversation there.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for the time. I appreciate you sharing your time with us and your perspective.
MEUSER: OK. Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Still ahead, we're following breaking news out of Tennessee, where there's been a deadly shooting at a Nashville high school. We've just received an update from police. We're going to share it with you in just a few minutes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:35:48]
SANCHEZ: We're tracking some breaking news out of Tennessee. Nashville police say at least one student is dead, another injured after a shooting at Antioch High School. We're told the shooter died after turning the gun on himself.
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: CNN's Brynn Gingras is following all of these developments for us.
So, Brynn, bring us up to speed.
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Erica, we're getting those updates from metro police who just gave us a little bit of detail of what happened inside that high school at about 11:00 this morning, local time.
They say a 17-year-old student, a male, walked into the cafeteria of Antioch High School and fired several gunshots with a pistol. Two students we're hit, one killed.
As you guys mentioned, another student right now at the hospital in stable condition. We were told by authorities that that student has a graze wound to her arm.
We also know another student has some sort of facial injury, but not a gunshot wound, but also someone who is being treated after this incident.
This happened, again, inside the cafeteria of this school. Complete chaos at that time. This is a school of about 2,000 students. It's a high school.
And, guys, I can tell you that this community, it's a pretty traumatic experience no matter what. But especially for this community, because, if you remember, it was just in March of 2023 when six students at Covenant Elementary School, the Christian school, were killed by a former student.
If you remember, that school, if you do a quick search, about 30 minutes' drive from this high school. So this is a community that is still sort of trying to recover from the trauma of that incident.
And that was very clear from family members as they were waiting to just get reunited, you can see, with the buses here bringing students to their family members from that high school.
But I want you to listen to one interview from a grandmother who was waiting just to see their family member come back to them from that high school after this incident today.
Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIFFANY BROOKS, GRANDMOTHER OF STUDENT: Tonight, when it's all over with, I lay in the bed and I cry because I can't -- you know, I can't -- right now, I got to make sure everybody's good.
So --
GINGRAS: You're going to hope that she -- she is going to get off the bus pretty soon. And you're going to be able to hug her?
BROOKS: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what's that going to be like?
BROOKS: It's going to feel good. Because those other parents, they're not going to be able to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRAS; You can hear the crack in her voice talking about that family member still waiting to be reunited with their loved ones.
That gunman, again, as I mentioned, the 17 year old, he turned the gun on himself. According to authorities, no longer a threat there for the high school.
So that reunification process is happening right now, as that school is no longer in lockdown. And we know the Homicide Unit is the lead investigation -- investigators on this case -- guys?
HILL: All right, Brynn, appreciate the update. Thank you.
[14:38:41] Still to come here, President Trump ending the Secret Service detail for his former national security adviser, John Bolton, who has received death threats from Iran. Bolton is going to join us, live, next.
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[14:43:12]
HILL: President Trump is defending his decision to end Secret Service protection for his former national security adviser, John Bolton.
Bolton, of course, left the Trump White House in 2019 but has received protection for several years because of death threats made against him.
In 2022, the Justice Department charged an Iranian national, a member of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, accusing them of attempting to arrange Bolton's murder.
Here's President Trump on his decision to revoke that security protection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that was enough time. It's -- we take a job -- you take a job, you want to do a job, we're not going to have security on people for the rest of their lives. Why should we?
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: I thought he was -- I thought he was a very dumb person. But I used him well. Because every time people saw me come into a meeting with John Bolton standing behind me, they thought that he'd attack them because he was a warmonger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Ambassador John Bolton joins me now.
Ambassador, good to see you this afternoon.
So I'm curious, now that it's known you no longer have this protection, do you feel you are more of a target?
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I think, almost by definition -- I mean, I'm putting measures in place. As you can understand, I'm not going to get into specifics. But I will do what's necessary.
I think -- I think it's important to understand that the protection is not a perquisite. It's not a question of anybody wanting it for life.
Neither I nor any of the other former government officials, who are receiving protection, not -- not from the Secret Service, but from their own former departments, want it for life. We'd like nothing better than to hear that the Iranian threat had disappeared.
But if a foreign adversary threatens American officials, basically, just for doing their jobs and can get away with it, you can only imagine that would have -- the effect that would have on the conduct of American national security policy.
[14:45:02]
HILL: I can understand you don't want to get into specifics, but just to follow up on one thing you said, does this mean you have hired or are planning to hire some form of private security?
BOLTON: I'm not going to get into specifics. And I think that's important. And I think it's important for their -- American citizens, ordinary American citizens, not former government officials who are also under threat from the Iranian regime.
But this is a group of -- of barbarians, basically. They are a state sponsor of terrorism, but they're terrorists themselves.
And these Iranian immigrants, now American citizens who are at risk, and American citizens who have simply spoken out against the government of Iran.
So it's a -- it's a widespread problem, and different people are dealing with it in different ways.
HILL: I mentioned these charges from the DOJ in 2022 for an Iranian national and IRGC official for trying to organize a plot to kill you. Are you aware of any other threats on your life since then?
BOLTON: Well, the -- the information that was in the criminal charges filed then, a lot of which I didn't know at the time. So the -- what -- what I have been told as recently as at the end of last week was that the threat level remained the same as it has been these three years.
And I believe that's true for the others who are covered as well. It's not something that the -- that those who have this information relay, at least to me, in specific detail. And frankly, I haven't asked.
But the conclusion, which is the threat level remained very high, was unanimous across the government, as I understand it, which underlines why the decision to terminate Secret Service protection, I think, was motivated by political reasons.
HILL: I want to get your take on something from earlier. A senior Iranian official who spoke at Davos this morning said he hopes that Trump realizes his 2018 withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal was "imposed" on Donald Trump, that his advisers misled him.
You, of course, served as Donald Trump's national security adviser at that time. You we're later fired after you disagreed with Trump's suggestion to lift sanctions against Iran.
Based on what you have heard now from President Trump moving into his second term, do you think his approach to Iran will be any different this time around, especially given the assassination plot from Iran?
BOLTON: Well, it shouldn't be. And whoever this Iranian official was, if it was Javad Zarif, their former foreign minister, I wouldn't take his word for very much.
Donald Trump campaigned in 2016, before I was an adviser or anything else, to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. And he didn't do it for the first year in office because some of his advisers said that he shouldn't do it.
But I came in and I said, I do believe you should withdraw. And we did it in 30 days. It's one of my proudest achievements to have helped him out do that.
HILL: Before I let you go, you, of course, did serve in Donald Trump's first administration. Do you believe we are more or less safe with Donald Trump back in the White House?
BOLTON: No, I don't believe we're more safe. I think it's a more dangerous world. But I still don't think he's fit to be president. I'm very worried about potential decisions he will make.
I think the thing to do now, since he's obviously in office, is to argue the policy, try and pursue the correct national security policy for the United States, and hope that whatever arguments I and others can make, persuade his advisers and ultimately persuade him.
It's a dangerous time. It's a time for clear thinking, for strategic thinking, not for kind of ad-hoc, off-the-top-of-your-head decisions.
HILL: John Bolton, appreciate your time. Thank you.
BOLTON: Thank you.
HILL: Still to come here, a sneak peek at CNN's new series on the life and legacy of Kobe Bryant.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:53:02]
SANCHEZ: A new CNN original series takes you inside the life and legacy of Kobe Bryant. "KOBE: THE MAKING OF A LEGEND" follows his rise to NBA superstardom.
And CNN's Bill Weir has a sneak peek.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(CHEERING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, the next man I'm going to introduce has it all, youthfulness, talent, and got lots of money, about to get married.
Come on up, Kobe! BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Long before the five NBA
title parades, the four league MVP awards and Olympic gold --
KOBE BRYANT, FORMER NBA BASKETBALL LEGEND: The USA is back on top. This is what it's all about.
WEIR: Los Angeles fell in love with this kid at first sight. His dad, Jellybean Bryant, was an NBA first rounder and journeyman pro who played and coached around the world.
So, on courts from Italy to Philly, the prodigy dribbled and dreamed of being better than dad and everyone else.
BRYANT: You know, I was in the airport on my way up here, and people would come up to me and say, hey, do you play basketball? And I said, yes, you know, I play basketball.
And they say, well, what team do you play for? I'm used to saying, Lower Merion High School. So, I'm there --
(LAUGHTER)
BRYANT: -- I'm like, well, I play for Lower Merion High. No, you know what, I'm a Los Angeles Laker.
WEIR (on camera): And this sports-crazed town embraced that kid like a member of the family. Like few other athletes ever.
I was a sports anchor in L.A. the night Kobe proposed to Vanessa. And every station in town sent traffic helicopters over their house with live coverage to mark the momentous occasion.
We had no idea how he would evolve as a family man, as a player, and how Vanessa would end up as a fierce defender of his legacy.
(voice-over): In 2003, when he was charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year-old desk clerk at a Colorado resort, he insisted it was consensual. And his wife's very public support helped keep the public very much on his side.
[14:54:57]
BRYANT: I'm innocent. I didn't force her to do anything against her will. Disgusted at myself for making a mistake of adultery.
WEIR: His defense team and the media tore into his accuser's personal life. There were multiple death threats. And when she was no longer willing to testify, the case was dropped and Kobe would apologize to her in writing.
But he would also harness his pent-up anger, drive, into a new alter ego he called Black Mamba, a snake so deadly it strikes fear at first sight.
SCOOP JACKSON, SPORTS JOURNALIST: The next month he did 81. He came back with that. He won his first championship without Shaq once he became the Mamba. He won a second championship without Shaq once he became the Mamba. He finally won an MVP once he became the Mamba.
WEIR: But off the court, Kobe would shed Black Mamba and transform into a girl dad, doting over his four daughters with obvious, infectious love, right to the end.
JACKIE MACMULLAN, SPORTSWRITER & NBA COLUMNIST: Kobe Bryant did not invent girl dad. He just perfected it. And it just felt like the future was limitless for him.
ANNOUNCER: -- CNN breaking news.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And then, in a heartbeat, it all stops in the most horrific way imaginable.
WEIR: It's been five years since a helicopter accident took him, his daughter, Gianna, and seven others. We remember the lives lost, and the legacy of Kobe, a name forever in the debate over all-time greats.
Bill Weir CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: Our thanks to Bill for that preview.
The new CNN original series, "KOBE: THE MAKING OF A LEGEND," airs Saturday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN.
Still ahead, four Chilean men indicted in a high-profile burglary scheme, possibly including the break in at Cincinnati Bengals Star Quarterback Joe Burrow's home. Details when we come back.
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