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Todd Gloria is Interviewed about the Mosque Shooting; Polls on Congress in November; Sandy Fire Threatens California Homes; Two Bodies Recovered in Maldives; Blanche Hearing on Capitol Hill. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired May 19, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:30]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the deadly shooting rampage at San Diego's largest mosque is being investigated as a hate crime. Three people are dead, including the security guard who police say jumped into action to save lives. He has been identified as Amin Abdullah, a father of eight. Police say two teenage suspects, 17 and 18, were found dead in a nearby car from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. Law enforcement officials tell CNN that hate speech was scrawled on one of the weapons used in the attack. They also say a suicide note was found with writings about racial pride.

With us now is the mayor of San Diego, Todd Gloria.

Mayor, thank you so much for being with us.

Writings of racial pride found in that suicide note. Can you characterize what that means?

MAYOR TODD GLORIA (D), SAN DIEGO: Yes. The -- as has been relayed to me, it has to do with white supremacy and is why we are, obviously, treating this as a hate crime. While we had no specific information that would direct us to the Islamic Center of San Diego, obviously, those writings are pretty damning.

BERMAN: No specific information targeting the Islamic Center in San Diego. Any more information about why then that was ultimately hit?

GLORIA: Well, one of the shooters lives in the community. It's not far from his home. And so what we're -- we can only speculate at this point, obviously. The investigation is still very much ongoing. But the proximity to his residence, his high school, are probably reasons why he was in that area.

BERMAN: Anything new in general in the investigation? I know it's early where you are, 6:30, and we appreciate you being awake for us. And I imagine you didn't get much sleep last night at all. But what are the latest developments in the investigation?

GLORIA: Well, we continue to work with the affected families to make sure that they have the care that they need. There's been an outpouring of support, as you might imagine, for all three of those who were killed, but in particular the security guard that you mentioned, who has been hailed by absolutely everybody, including our police officers, as being absolutely critical in providing enough time and space to get the students into the classrooms and in lockdown. We believe that he should be credited for saving all of those children's lives.

Beyond that, as you mentioned, the investigation is ongoing, both at the site of the Islamic Center, as well as the site where the two shooters were found dead. Also, you know, tracking back to their families and other associated individuals.

Right now we have no cause for immediate concern about any ongoing threats to the community. But that said, we have stepped up patrols at all of our houses of worship and try to communicate very clearly that folks in San Diego are to be kept safe, in particular our Muslim community who feels vulnerable in this moment.

BERMAN: Amin Abdullah was the name of that security guard who almost definitely saved lives there. The father of eight. And now his eight children fatherless because of his acts of heroism.

Mayor, you talked about the community there, and feelings are definitely raw. And I know you got a sense of that at your news conference yesterday as there were people actually shouting from the crowd there.

I just want to play some of that for our audience who might not have seen it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLORIA: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) direct result of your leadership. Your leadership. Our Muslim brothers and sisters have been talking to you for how long? You have to (EXPLETIVE DELETED) listen to them, Todd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's your response to that this morning, Mayor, and why do you think there are feelings in the Muslim community in San Diego that they have been targeted?

GLORIA: Well, to be clear, that individual is not Muslim. That person is a frequent visitor to city hall, to places where I'm at. And so, unfortunately, they saw this as their opportunity for a little bit of national fame, which is not the time or the place. And they've sadly, seemingly less shame in the world these days to try to exploit the tragedy of a community in order to get clicks and views.

But here's what I'll say, John. Yes, our Muslim community has felt targeted for years now. And it's at the highest levels of our government that people choose to denigrate and separate our Muslim community from the rest of us. And as mayor of this city, you know, San Diego calls itself America's finest city. We are that in part because of the contributions of Muslim San Diegans. And I will, as mayor, show up every single time that our community is hurting.

[09:35:02]

I've done it, sadly, under previous incidents of violence. I'll continue to do that and be present and take whatever comes my way because that's my job and my job is about keeping San Diegans safe.

And I'm grateful for the response of law enforcement, the swift response, that helped to limit the situation. And a reminder of the work that we must do to continue to build those relationships with our Muslim community and with all communities of faith. No San Diegan should ever have to fear for their lives because of how they worship or how they pray.

BERMAN: What's it going to look like at faith centers the next days and weeks in the San Diego area?

GLORIA: Folks will see a higher presence of San Diego police officers, not just in the city of San Diego, but across our county. We work extremely well with other local law enforcement agencies in our region. And all of us have agreed to work together to have that visible presence.

You know, there's always a concern about other sick and twisted individuals who will take inspiration from this tragedy and try and replicate. That's what we're guarding against. And all resources are being put in this direction right now. No expense will be spared in protecting the people of this city.

BERMAN: San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, we do appreciate your time. We know it's been a long, long night and the country is with you this morning. Thank you.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, John.

Ahead, the fight to contain growing wildfires, threatening thousands of homes now across southern California. And there are evacuation orders in place.

And later, the high school track team disqualified from a state championship race because of what a runner did with his hand.

Those stories and more ahead.

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[09:41:08]

BERMAN: It is Election Day across the country. Primaries in several key states. This, of course, a steppingstone to really the big dance. The midterm elections next November, where control of Congress is at stake. And the polls, really over the last few days, showing maybe a wildly different view of what might happen on that day in November.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

And we don't normally focus on sort of the variance in polls --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: But this is a time when it might really matter.

ENTEN: It might really matter. I'm going to put on my professor cap here, Professor Enten, Professor Berman in the room with you, our dear students. And I think that, you know, sometimes we sort of get lost, right? We focus in on one poll and one narrative. And sometimes there are competing narratives. And I think it's worth just taking a step back because I think some people are like, well, the polls showed one thing and another thing happened. Actually, the polls here differ quite a bit.

Democrats lead in choice and choice for Congress. Look at this, "New York Times" poll came out yesterday as ten. That matches with Marist. That was ten. But "The Washington Post" came out within the last month, that was five. Fox News came in last month, that was five. And then the CNN poll that we were discussing last week, right, that was a three-point lead. There's quite this bit of variance that is going on right here.

And you know what, this is actually a good thing. This is a normal thing. This is what happens when you have margins of error that are going out there. You'd expect an average. But then you have a range of possible results around that average. And we're not necessarily sure which one is right if the election were held today. And, of course, there's the extra variance of the fact that the election is not being held until November.

BERMAN: All right, a range of possible results. And in this case, you know --

ENTEN: You want to hit a pen, Johnny.

BERMAN: I'm going to hit a pen. I'm going to hit a pen. There we go.

ENTEN: There you go.

BERMAN: In this case, this result would be wildly different than that result.

ENTEN: Right. OK. So, you see, this is, of course, the choice. The national popular vote for the House. But what does that mean in terms of seats? What's the difference between, let's say, Democrats winning by ten versus winning by three. And this is where it gets really interesting. OK. So, even if you take redistricting into account, given a popular vote win of, let's say, three points, what would that mean for Democratic House gains? They gain probably somewhere -- an estimate is between zero and six seats, which, at the upper end of that range, would be enough to take back the House. But on the lower end of that range, that would not be. That would be Republicans holding on.

But what about that ten-point lead that you see in Marist, "The New York Times"? Well, that would be a ginormous blowout. And this is just an estimate. It could be higher, a little bit higher, a little bit lower. But we're talking about an estimate of a Democratic gain of between 20 to 30 seats or more. They could be ending up 245 seats or north of there potentially, versus being stuck, let's say 213, 214, 215, 216, maybe barely getting to a majority.

So, look, when you see this range of potential results, I want you to keep in mind, yes, Democrats are probably favored to take back the House. It's by no means a guarantee. But they could end up blowing the Republicans right out of the water. All of that is within the margin of error at this point, especially given that we're months from the election.

BERMAN: Yes, it's the difference between maybe not taking it and taking it by a lot.

ENTEN: Correct.

BERMAN: That's the variance in the polls right now.

So, Professor Enten, what does one do? What does one do at this stage of the game when you have these polls showing all these different things?

ENTEN: Well, I'm glad you asked that, Professor Berman. And what we would do is we might average the polls together. And you can see that there's been a clear shift towards the Democrats in the average poll. Choice for Congress margin. You know, you go back to election day last year, you know, in November of 2025, Democrats were ahead by four. They're now ahead by seven in the average poll at this point. And that -- if that average held, that would result very much assuredly a clear Democratic majority.

And then the last little thing that I will note here is just, you know, Kalshi prediction market, chance that Democrats in the midterms, 218 House and then, let's say, gaining in the Senate, but not necessarily taking it back. Look at this, 69 percent chance.

[09:45:00]

A very nice 69 percent chance. So, Democrats are still in the catbird seat here. They're likely to gain in the House. Likely to gain in the Senate. But it's by no means a guarantee.

BERMAN: Harold Enten, thank you very much for that. An important look at what the data is saying.

Lot of news. We'll be right back.

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SIDNER: A huge fire burning in southern California, scorching parts of Simi Valley this morning. More than 33,000 residents now are being told to evacuate. The fire has burned 1,300 acres already.

[09:50:02]

Some schools are closed there today as fire crews work to stop the flames from spreading.

CNN's Nick Watt is live in Simi Valley for us.

Give us a sense of what the conditions are now. And I see you are behind something that has already been scorched.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that is the one house confirmed lost so far, Sara, in this fire.

Now, overnight, good conditions. What happens overnight is the humidity rises, the winds drop. So overnight, the firefighters were dropping retardant and water from the air. They were also on the ground, about 750 of them, digging fire lines to try and prevent the fire spreading when the winds pick up, as they will now that the sun has risen and as the humidity drops.

So, the issue here is we're about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles. There are hundreds of thousands of people living out here in subdivisions like this, amongst scrubland and ridges. That is where we get the problems here in southern California.

So, yesterday morning, this fire picked up. We had these warm Santa Ana winds that just whipped those flames. This fire spread dangerously fast. But these fire crews around here, they have had a lot of practice fighting fires like this over the past couple of years. Fire departments, of course, not just from Ventura County, but around the whole region, swarmed in and managed to contain.

Now, the danger is not over though. As I said, Sara, the winds will rise again today. And that is what they are preparing for. We're expecting to hear an update from Ventura fire any second now about the preparations and the plans for the day. As you mentioned, schools closed, air quality is not great. We are not yet out of the woods here. There is going to be a day of firefighting ahead, but the winds are forecast to be lower than they were yesterday. And as I say, they've had a lot of time overnight in those favorable conditions to prepare and to position themselves to fight this fire when the winds pick up again over the next few hours.

Sara, back to you guys.

SIDNER: Yes, those Santa Ana winds are really, as you know, you've covered so many of these fires, a pain in the tookus for the firefighters trying to deal with this, but also for those who are not sure where the wind is going to shift the fires.

Nick Watt, thank you for being there. I really appreciate it. There live for us in Simi Valley with your crew.

Kate. KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, there is also some new video in

now of the dangerous recovery efforts that are still ongoing in the Maldives. Specialized divers say that they have now recovered two of the four remaining bodies of the group who went missing in underwater caves last week.

CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau is tracking this one for us. She's joining us now.

Barbie, what's the latest that you're picking up now of this really this ongoing, long mission now to bring these people out?

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Yes. And, you know, it really is grim to see the recovery of these bodies. It will give closure, of course, to the families, and that's important. But it has come at such great risk because, of course, a rescue diver died on Saturday trying to just locate the bodies.

We know from the foreign ministry here in Italy that the first two bodies that have been brought up were that beloved professor of ecology from the University of Genoa, Monica Montefalcone, and a marine biologist who also graduated from that university named Federico Gualtieri. And so, we understand that they used a sort of relay system with those specialized divers going very deep, and then sort of handing these bodies all the way up.

Of course, there are two remaining bodies, including the daughter of the professor, Montefalcone. And so tomorrow, if the weather is permitting, they will go down and retrieve those last two bodies. Once those bodies are brought up, repatriated to Italy, the focus will be on what went wrong. And they're really looking now to try to understand if all five of the people who died, this includes, of course, the instructor whose body was recovered last Thursday, if they had permission to dive deeper than what is the legal depth of 30 meters for recreational divers. They're looking very closely at whether or not they did or not have that. So, that's where the focus will be after this.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: My goodness.

Barbie, thank you so much for the update on this. We'll continue to follow this.

John.

BERMAN: All right, happening now, there's a hearing on the UPS plane that crashed in Kentucky last year, killing 15 people. Now, at the hearing, they released this video. We have not seen this before. All right, it's the left engine separating from the plane. As we're looking at it right now, you can see it kind of flying over the wing before it explodes. As I said, we're just getting our first look at it. There are other new data points being -- oh, there you really see it in the air right there. Other things being released just for the first time at this hearing. Pete Muntean is monitoring it. We'll get back to him with other new information.

In South Carolina, a new twist in the case or cases of Alex Murdaugh, who just had his double murder conviction thrown out. He is suing the former county clerk who served during the trial, accusing her of helping to sway the jury. Now, the state supreme court just threw out the conviction based on those conversations.

[09:55:02]

This is now a civil case, trying to prove something to the same effect. His attorneys also say the clerk profited from the case through publicity and a book deal. Hill, the clerk, pleaded not guilty -- no, I should say Murdaugh pleaded not guilty to the murder charges. He is still serving long sentences for financial crimes.

A North Carolina track team appealing a ruling that cost them a championship. The Mallard Creek High School boys track team thought they had just won their fifth state title when a senior athlete was disqualified for what they called unsportsmanlike behavior for celebrating the victory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAMUEL WILLOUGHBY, HEAD COACH, MALLARD CREEK HIGH SCHOOL TRACK TEAM: Once I saw the official threw the flag up, I just, you know, I couldn't believe it. I was in disbelief. The moment is gone. The celebration is gone. You can't get that back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, we're all trying to actually figure out exactly what the celebration was.

SIDNER: He just put his hand up.

BERMAN: Was it just putting the hand up like that. The coach said the student was not warned beforehand, and he didn't do anything to suggest that he was showing up another runner. The athletic director said there is a huge gray area in the rule and the team has filed an appeal with an independent state board. Right, just putting the arm up when he crossed the finish line.

SIDNER: I'm sorry, but during volleyball, some of the things I did, that might have gotten me thrown out of the sport. I mean, if that gesture -- I'm just saying there were things.

BOLDUAN: Oh, you mean after, anytime you get a block, you'd be like, in your face.

SIDNER: I'd be like -- like this. Like, I mean --

BOLDUAN: OK, well, let's just say that --

BERMAN: That's what you do after the show every day.

SIDNER: I do that to you all the time. BOLDUAN: I mean with the caveat of, we haven't maybe seen all the video and we're not making any statements and they will handle -- I think I've covered that.

BERMAN: That's me spiking the football at the end of the show.

BOLDUAN: Oh, wait.

BERMAN: Hang on.

BOLDUAN: We need to do something.

BERMAN: We have some news now after we tried to close the show here.

BOLDUAN: OK, you know we're going to the hearing.

BERMAN: We're going to the hearing now on Capitol Hill. Chris Van Hollen with the attorney general.

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, as it may plain, anybody is --

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Well, they -- well, just let me know if they're eligible for the fund.

BLANCHE: As was made plain yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they were a victim of weaponization.

VAN HOLLEN: Mr. Attorney General, let me ask you this, are there going to be rules that say that if you've assaulted a Capitol Hill police officer or committed a violent crime you will not be eligible? Why not make that a rule?

BLANCHE: I expect that the -- well, because I'm not one of the commissioners setting up the rules. I expect that there will be rules set up.

VAN HOLLEN: But you're appointing four of the five members, aren't you, Mr. Attorney General?

BLANCHE: Pardon me?

VAN HOLLEN: You're appointing four of the five members.

BLANCHE: I'm appointing all five members.

VAN HOLLEN: You can certainly set up the rules. I would hope you would make a rule that anyone convicted of assaulting a police officer or a violent crime is simply not eligible. They should not apply.

BLANCHE: Well --

VAN HOLLEN: Let me -- let me ask you this, because you compared it to the Keepseagle case. But I think you know full well that in that case the settlement agreement was approved by a federal judge, including the payments to people who were not originally parties to the lawsuit. No federal judge has approved this fund, have they, Mr. Attorney General?

BLANCHE: No. No federal judge did approve this.

VAN HOLLEN: No. So, that's a big difference between this case and the case that you compared it to.

BLANCHE: No, it's not.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, did a judge sign off on this case?

BLANCHE: No.

VAN HOLLEN: A judge did sign off on the other one.

BLANCHE: Yes.

VAN HOLLEN: Yes.

BLANCHE: But your question was whether it's a big difference. It's not.

VAN HOLLEN: Of course it is, because that allows for an independent person to look at it rather than the hand-picked former personal attorneys --

BLANCHE: There was no independence. There was no independence. There was a single commissioner. A judge signed off on it. A judge had nothing to do with deciding the money.

VAN HOLLEN: Mr. Attorney General, there was a judge who looked at it and signed off on it. So, to compare that case to this one is incredibly deceptive.

Let me ask you this about the Epstein case, because as we speak, many Epstein survivors are in New York. They're reading portions of the Epstein files about the abuse that they suffered. Otherwise, they might have been here with us today.

At a House hearing your predecessor refused to acknowledge the pain experienced by some of those victims when the administration improperly released their names in identifying information. So, I want to know where you stand.

I spoke to the representatives of some of the Epstein survivors yesterday. They are extremely frustrated that you keep calling for people to come forward with more evidence, but you have not met with them to hear their stories.

So, simple question, if I connect you with these survivors, will you meet with them?

BLANCHE: Absolutely. And what you just said is false. I have met with them. I've met with many, many of the lawyers for the survivors of victims, as did Attorney General Bondi. So, whoever told you that unfortunately gave you bad information.

VAN HOLLEN: OK. Well --

BLANCHE: And I would encourage them, I would encourage them to reach out to the Department of Justice, because like we do every single day, we absolutely care for victims, and we absolutely want to hear from them and their lawyers.

VAN HOLLEN: Well, I -- I've been told directly from their representatives they've not had a chance, at least this group, to meet with you. So, good. So, I'm glad to hear that.

BLANCHE: Did they represent -- did they ask -- did they represent they asked for meeting?

VAN HOLLEN: Can I -- can I -- can I ask you to commit that the Justice Department will not recommend a pardon for anyone named in the Epstein files?

[10:00:02]

BLANCHE: Can you repeat that question? I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you said.

VAN HOLLEN: Can you commit that the Justice Department, you, the acting attorney general, will not