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White House Fires CDC Director, Four Top Officials Quit; Investigators Comb Through Shooter's Hate-filled Manifesto, No Clear Motive Determined Yet; Minneapolis is Mourning After Two Children Killed in School Shooting; 15 Children and Three Adults Injured When Killer Shot Through Windows During Mass; Fed's Lisa Cook Sues to Try to Stop Trump From Firing Her. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired August 28, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- concerns do you have about the ouster of the CDC Director? How does the medical community view this?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, the medical community views now CDC as in complete chaos. And I think what we are seeing now is a group of dedicated public health officials health officials, the CDC Director Dr. Monarez and four of her colleagues who now are gone because they refused to buckle to political pressure and they refused to rubber stamp as one of Dr. Monarez's lawyers stated, recommendations from the HHS Secretary that do not correlate with science.

They left because the recent vaccine recommendations and the FDA -- recent FDA announcement about who will be eligible for the COVID vaccine are not based on science.

SANCHEZ: To that point, our reporting indicates that Dr. Monarez clashed with Kennedy and his team over specifically an impending announcement that could draw links between immunizations and autism despite zero robust evidence that shows a link between the two. What would that announcement mean for public health?

REINER: In the last three decades, RFK Jr. really has been devoted to eroding confidence in vaccines in the United States and around -- and around the world and that -- and that's been corrosive. We've seen the effect of that this year, in fact, on the -- in the largest measles outbreak in this country in three -- in three decades. And it's been clear all along that Mr. Kennedy's primary agenda is to remove vaccines from use in the United States. He's been asked in the past, whether or not he believes any vaccine is safe and effective, and he's never mentioned one. And his agenda now is to slowly and methodically remove vaccines from the -- from the United States.

And my expectation is that in September, he's going to announce that his team magically in the last few months has accomplished something that the world scientific community over the last 30 years has not been able to do, which is to find a link between vaccines or components of vaccines and autism. If I had to guess, I'm going to guess that he's going to propose that some of the aluminum-containing adjuvants, which are the components of some vaccines that increase its immunogenicity, may be linked to autism and propose to ban those vaccines, which is a significant -- significant group.

He has a single agenda; it's not based in science. And the four members of CDC leadership who resigned, resigned in protest because they refused to sign off on scientific recommendations that do not correlate with actual science.

SANCHEZ: As we see them on our screen, they hold some significant titles. The Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, the Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, the Chief Medical Officer as well. How is their absence from CDC going to be felt?

REINER: Well, in a big way. So look, CDC is part of our national defense. They are dedicated, their mission is to protect the American public from disease threats, both domestic and foreign. So, think what would happen if next week, for instance, the newspapers, cable news reports that there's a series of unexplained infections resulting in pneumonia somewhere in a remote part of Asia and that scientists don't understand how the virus, or whatever the contagion is, is spreading. People are pretty sick.

We've had an example of this now five years ago, and it led to millions of deaths around the world. What needs to happen after that is this robust all-of-government response to identify the pathogen, understand where it's coming from, how it's transmitted, how to test for it, and then devise treatments for it. What has happened over the last several months is that all of the comp -- not all the competent, many people who are tasked with performing those duties, people who have dedicated their lives to public health in this country, many of those people are now gone from government.

One of those -- one of those, CDC leaders, Dr. Daskalakis, who was the Head of CDC Center for Respiratory Diseases, wrote a scathing, exit note, basically stating that HHS leadership was intentionally eroding trust in vaccines and he wanted to play no part of that.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thanks so much for the perspective.

REINER: My pleasure.

[13:35:00]

SANCHEZ: Up next, we head back to Minneapolis as investigators search for a motive in the school shooting that killed two children and injured 18 other people. Stay with CNN.

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LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: We're sitting here in Minneapolis, just a few feet really away from the Annunciation School, the Catholic school in Minneapolis, that was the target of a horrific shooting. We now know that the number of victims impacted is actually 18. We were told through a press conference earlier today that there is one who is still in critical condition, several who are still in serious and others in satisfactory condition. And the law enforcement operation is in full swing in spite of the fact that the shooter is dead.

[13:40:00]

I want to go right now to the former Minneapolis Police Chief. We all know him well, Chief Arradondo, thank you for being here. Talk to me through what happens now with this investigation, because some would think, well, the book is closed once that shooter is dead. That is really the beginning of the story for law enforcement though, right?

MEDARIA ARRADONDO, FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CHIEF: Yeah, Laura. It's going to be the beginning of law enforcement because even though the shooter is deceased, there's still a lot to be gained from an investigative standpoint for law enforcement to try to again, determine the means, the methods that this particular shooter activated on, but also, if there's a chance and an opportunity to prevent another occurrence like this here. So, everything from the four search warrants that are still ongoing, one for the shooter's vehicle, and certainly three for local residences where the shooter had some association with, the forensic evidence, going through laptops, computers, cell phones, obviously the shooter had some level of a social media footprint. That's going to be very important.

While we may not -- while we may not, it's still get to be determined if there's a motive to this, they need to understand what really prompted and activated this. So this investigation is clearly still in its early stages. It's underway. Chief O'Hara's teams are working. We were here out here last night, Laura. They were still in the church. They're still collecting evidence and information. And so, that's going to be very critical as we move forward, as well as other law enforcement agencies across the country will hopefully be able to learn from this. So --

COATES: You know, on that point, and you -- sadly, for so many schools across the country, Labor Day, the day after is when school starts and you've gotten all around the country --

ARRADONDO: Yeah.

COATES: -- police chiefs working in coordination with superintendents and beyond about what police presence, if any, may need to be at schools as students are returning back. And the law enforcement here are being lauded as heroes as they should be, one at least heard they were shooting, ran towards it, couldn't even prevent it from happening. Talk to me about the response here, because that response and the timeliness of it prevented greater carnage.

ARRADONDO: Yeah, Laura, we talked about this a little bit last night. Law enforcement across America has learned quite a bit from the Columbine massacre at that school many years ago. One of the first rules of thumb for law enforcement after that incident was you rush. You don't wait. You don't wait for tactical teams to get there. First officers on the scenes, you get there. Whether you're in full uniform with Kevlar vests and helmets, or whether you're literally working in plain clothes, you go towards that.

I was just talking to a Minneapolis official, literally just a little while ago, and they had told me about this officer in plain clothes, rushed into that church, ran up to one of the witnesses and who's very frightened, obviously, said where's the shooter? Where are the sounds coming from, and headed towards there.

COATES: Wow.

ARRADONDO: The response from law enforcement, Minneapolis Police Officers along with our Hennepin County Sheriff's Deputies, State Patrol Officers, everyone that responded did it -- did it well. And I was also told by -- I was also informed by, HCMC Emergency --

COATES: Hennepin County Medical Center, the trauma center.

ARRADONDO: -- had it -- had it not been for those officers' quick response, we would probably be dealing with more -- more fatalities of our young people.

COATES: Yeah.

ARRADONDO: -- of our children. So -- so --

COATES: They spoke about there's no golden hour. There's a golden minute really. And the amount of time they can minimize people before they get to the hospital in trauma, the better chances there are. And we know there are many are -- in -- are in varying conditions here at the hospital.

ARRADONDO: Yeah.

COATES: That's a known trauma center. And I don't want to take this lightly as well. The law enforcement who go in, they see so much every single day. There is a trauma that they are also processing right now. We're going to talk more about this.

ARRADONDO: Yes.

COATES: -- and what happened here. Thank you so much. We'll go to a quick break. We have so much more on the Breaking News.

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[13:47:55]

SANCHEZ: So, a hearing has just been scheduled for tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. on Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook's lawsuit to stop the president from firing her. Her 24-page complaint accuses Trump of using an unsubstantiated allegation to get around a law meant to protect Fed members from interference from the president. This week, Trump said he had cause to remove Cook, alleging that she lied on a mortgage application. CNN has confirmed those documents, though it's not clear if Cook did so intentionally. The lawsuit argues that if the president is allowed to fire Cook, he could fire almost any Fed member "based on chalked up allegations." Moments ago, how White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about Cook and the questions surrounding her case, here was her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I believe she is challenging it. I believe she just filed a lawsuit today. And Mr. Pulte has deferred those allegations over to the Department of Justice to investigate them. What I will say is that you had these mortgage receipts very clearly shown to the president and he has the cause that he needs to fire this individual. He laid it out in the letter that he provided to her and to the public as well. And so, we'll continue to fight this battle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Important to point out a criminal referral does not equal criminal charges. And right now, Cook, the first black woman on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors is not actually facing any criminal charges, though the Justice Department says it plans to investigate her financial dealings. If she is terminated, it would be the first time a president fired a Central Bank Governor in the Fed's 111-year history.

Still ahead this afternoon, a top Florida official says the Immigration Detention Center in Florida's Everglades may be empty within days. So, could the facility the Trump Administration has marketed as Alligator Alcatraz soon be closing. We'll discuss in just moments.

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[13:54:02]

SANCHEZ: Breaking News to CNN, the White House says it will fight a judge's order to shut the Florida Immigration Detention Center dubbed Alligator Alcatraz by the Trump Administration. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here. Priscilla, what are the details?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what they're fighting here is what a federal judge said last week, which they have to shutter this facility. This is a facility that was brought up very quickly in the Everglades in Florida. There were multiple lawsuits against it. And in the lawsuit that this judge ruled on was about the environmental concern, so basically dismantling the additional infrastructure, and not accepting any new detainees. And I've been told that those detainees who are there are being moved to other immigration detention centers.

But this has been a priority for the administration, not just expanding detention centers, but working with Republican-led states to get these facilities up and running and do so quickly. In fact, the president himself visited Alligator Alcatraz earlier this summer, so it certainly has been one that they have elevated multiple times. And so now, the White House is saying that they plan to fight this and continue to fight this in court.

[13:55:00]

SANCHEZ: You also have some new numbers from DHS on deportation since President Trump took office. Tell us about those.

ALVAREZ: Yeah, they are on track currently to reach the highest level in at least a decade. So, we're looking at perhaps more than 300,000 deportations by the end of the fiscal year, which should be the end of September. Under Trump alone, I'm told that there have been nearly 200,000 deportations. Now, this has been a number that has been going up over time. In the Obama era in 2014 was the last time that we saw deportations surpass 300,000. The administration, however, is not just recording ICE deportations. They're also recording others done by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Coast Guard which also does repatriations at sea, as well as self-deportations which has been an initiative the administration has been pushing and pushing often.

So when you look at the total, they're saying that it's around 350,000 deportations. All the same, Boris, their goal is a million deportations a year. So even as they are meeting a high level in at least a decade, it's still short of where they want to be.

SANCHEZ: And Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for the reporting.

Still to come, we have some Breaking News into CNN. We've learned that about an hour from now, at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, police in Minneapolis will be holding a briefing with the latest on their investigation. We plan to bring that to you live. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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