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Trump's Grip Over GOP Put To Test As Voters Head To Polls; Second "Operation Fly Formula" Flight Set To Leave Germany Tomorrow; Officials: 800 Bodies Found In Ruins Of Mariupol High-Rise; FBI Investigating Plot To Assassinate Former President George W. Bush. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 24, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST & CNN CO-ANCHOR, "STATE OF THE UNION": They talked about the future of the GOP and what it's going to stand for. And they talked about their race in the general election there in Georgia against Stacey Abrams.

And so, the way that they are positioning where they want the Republican Party to be is very telling.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Yes. A lot of the races we're watching are on the Republican side. But, Dana, I want to jump to Texas in this runoff for the Democrats so we don't run out of time for it, Cisneros and Cuellar.

And she's lost to him before. But that was not when -- I mean, that was before there was a draft opinion that would overturn Roe that had been leaked.

What are you watching here?

BASH: Just that. It's going to be interesting to see whether or not the abortion issue -- I mean, you think of it politically as a Democrat versus Republican question, in the fall.

But here, we do have a scenario, because of this runoff, where it is going to put into question whether or not the enthusiasm -- and it's not just the abortion issue. But as you said, that has become something that is a motivator in that race. Whether it's going to be a test of just how big a motivator it is.

Henry Cuellar, the incumbent Democratic Congressman, he has, for a long time, been there because he has fit the conservative state of Texas. And that's the kind of Democrat that you can elect. They've all believed. And the fact that he is an incumbent proves that they have been right.

And so whether Cisneros, who is much more progressive, actually beats him is going to, again, test that larger theory, even though the districts have changed because of redistricting.

And that's a whole -- we could do a whole segment on that, but that has changed the dynamic across the board, across the nation, in these districts.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Dana, let's look at Alabama, because Mo Brooks is running -- the Congressman Mo Brooks is running for Senate.

And of course, we all remember that he was the ardent Trump supporter who, at that Trump rally on January 6th, told the agitated crowd, "Let's go kick some ass at the capitol." Which is what they, of course, then did.

What are you watching here?

BASH: Whether or not Trumpism -- forgive me -- but trumps the man himself.

Because you're right. I mean, can you think of very many, if any, Republicans in the House who were more ardently, not just pro-Trump but pro-the big lie?

And because he wasn't as enthusiastic about it enough to the former president's liking, he rescinded the endorsement.

It hasn't stopped Mo Brooks from campaigning on that and campaigning on other Trump-like issues that they are -- that they have a mind meld over, namely immigration, illegal immigration, undocumented immigrants.

And you've seen some of the ads out of the Brooks campaign that could have been run in the Trump campaign in 2016.

So, the question is whether Trumpism is going to push Mo Brooks into victory or at least maybe close to it, because that's a runoff state as well, despite not having the former president's endorsement, specifically, anymore.

CAMEROTA: OK, Dana Bash, thank you very much for all the analysis.

BASH: Thanks, guys.

CAMEROTA: Great to see you.

Be sure to watch "ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA" tonight. Our live coverage begins at 7:00 Eastern, only here on CNN.

[14:33:35]

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:38:19]

BLACKWELL: Right now, in Germany, U.S. troops are preparing a second shipment of baby formula to bring to the U.S. Of course, this is an effort to ease the critical shortage.

CAMEROTA: The first batch from "Operation Fly Formula" arrived Sunday in Indiana.

CNN's senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is at Ramstein Air Base where the flight will depart.

Elizabeth, how large is this batch? And where will it go? Where will parents be able to get it?

DR. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Alisyn, this is a big batch. It's even bigger than the batch that was sent out on Sunday.

Let's take a look at the sizes of each of these batches. So, on Sunday, they sent out 73,000 pounds of formula. The one tomorrow is 108,000. I actually watched them weigh it.

It's going to go to hospitals, doctors offices, WIC, the Women, Infants, and Children Program. And also some of this batch tomorrow will go out to retail stores. We're not exactly sure how much of it.

This together, the stuff that was sent out over the weekend and then the formula that's being sent out tomorrow, it will make a 1.5 million, eight-ounce bottles of infant formula.

That's a lot of infant formula. Still, millions of babies in the United States. It is not going to turn things around here.

They're going to need more shipments, going to need to keep doing more things like ratcheting up manufacturing in the U.S. as much as they can, other kinds of measures.

Now we have been told that the shipment tomorrow will not be the last one. There will be another one after that.

But in the meantime, tomorrow, if you see that palette behind me, 29 of those are going out on a FedEx plane tomorrow, being loaded out, flying out of Ramstein Air Force Base -- Alisyn, Victor?

[14:40:01]

BLACKWELL: All right, some good news there.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you.

CAMEROTA: OK, another gruesome discovery in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol. And 200 bodies discovered in the ruins of a high- rise. We have a live update next.

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CAMEROTA: Let's go to Ukraine, where a local official says 200 bodies were discovered in the basement of a high-rise in Mariupol. That's, of course, the port city that has been devastated by months of Russian bombardment.

[14:45:01] BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukraine is ready for a prisoner exchange with Russia, quote, "even tomorrow." And he's calling on all of Ukraine's allies to pressure Vladimir Putin to agree to one.

CNN's Melissa Bell joins us now from Kyiv.

Melissa, so, an advisor to the mayor says that Mariupol has turned into a continuous cemetery. What do you know about these bodies found at that high-rise?

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Victor, I've just gotten off the phone with him, and the picture he paints tonight of what's happening in Mariupol is absolutely chilling.

Bear in mind, Alisyn and Victor, that it isn't just Western journalists who can't get into the city tonight. But local journalists that we've tried to speak to in those Russian-controlled cities like Mariupol and Kherson are simply too scared to speak.

Now, what that advisor to the mayor, who's now on the other side of the border, who is safely in Ukrainian territory, but who is in close contact with all of those officials still inside the city, has told me is that it is tonight a city of ghosts.

What he explains is that, according to their accounts -- and it's hard to get an accurate picture -- their lowest estimate is that some 22,000 civilians, they believe, have been killed in the three months of war.

Remember that Mariupol was targeted by heavy shelling early on, much of the city razed to the ground in a brutal siege. It fell fully to Russian forces, of course, with those evacuations of the final fighters from Azovstal.

It is only now that we're beginning to get a picture of the number of civilian dead. And he believes that the count will end up being much higher. It is very difficult for them to get an accurate count in the morgues.

He tells me relatives who come to identify bodies are made to make a video statement confirming that their loved ones were killed by Ukrainian rather than Russian forces and this is slowing down the process.

Beyond that extraordinary figure of 22,000 civilian dead, again, according to these Ukrainian officials who fled Mariupol, Mariupol city officials, there's also what he was telling me about the city tonight.

He explained that, because of basic services have been cut because of the shelling of the city, because it is now in Russian -- the hands of Russian forces, there's no running water.

People are obliged to scavenge or to queue up for what food they can get. Any food they get is being cooked on open fireplaces. He says there are no lights apart from those open fireplaces. And the

sewage means that the city is now a city that is full of the smell of the dead and the living. It was an extraordinary account to listen to.

But again, those pictures coming out of Mariupol, that picture of the city tonight, the idea of the number of people who may have died during that brutal siege is, again, something we're impossible to verify ourselves because we are able to report here on the Ukrainian side.

Those cities that where the siege, scenes of sieges, like Kharkiv, Chernihiv. And even there, the civilians toll is not fully complete.

We are unable to get to these cities because they're on the other side of the border -- Victor and Alisyn?

BLACKWELL: Melissa Bell, for us there in Kyiv, thank you.

Breaking news now. The FBI is investigating a plot to assassinate former President George W. Bush.

BLACKWELL: Let's go right to CNN's Paula Reid.

Paula, tell us about this breaking news.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The Justice Department has just issued a press release announcing these charges connected to an alleged plot to assassinate former president George W. Bush.

Now, in these allegations, they say that an Iraqi citizen living in Columbus, Ohio, has now been charged with aiding and abetting this plot.

According to the Justice Department's press release that they've just issued, Shihab Ahmed Shihab Shihab, 52 years old, was arrested this morning.

Now, according to these allegations, he allegedly wanted to smuggle four to six people from Iraq into the United States via Mexico to help carry out this plot.

Now, also, according to a search warrant, that back from March of 2022, seeking some of his phone information, he allegedly did some reconnaissance in furtherance of this alleged plot.

Including visiting the former president's neighborhood in Dallas, surveilling some of the gates and other security precautions around the former president. He also allegedly visited the George W. Bush Institute.

Now, according to this, during the time that this individual was allegedly trying to plan this attack, he was in contact with a confidential informant, someone who was working on behalf of the FBI. So, it appears that the actual threat to the former president may have been low. But this individual has just been charged by the Justice Department.

We're just getting these details now. And we'll continue to update you as we learn more.

BLACKWELL: All right, let's bring in now CNN national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem.

Your first reaction to this breaking news.

[14:50:00]

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, at least what we can report and what we know right now is this was a very complex investigation following a whole bunch of different pieces as we're reporting now.

So Shihab Shihab is not a U.S. citizen. He's here now. He starts to use WhatsApp to protect his communication, and this is when the FBI starts to notice him.

He then -- the FBI then sort of -- this is like cat and mouse. They then try to get more information because they can't get that much in terms of his signal and communications.

So they then send out and they have confidential informants who are getting two pieces of information from him.

One is President Bush being the target because of former President Bush starting the war in Iraq. And there's a reconnaissance mission. This isn't just in this guy's head. He's looking at the ranch, looking at where the former President Bush is.

The second piece is trying to get the Iraqis in through the Mexican border, which I have to say is unique for these terrorism plots. Most instances, terrorists do not want a lot of attention on them until the moment of the strike.

So to try to bring people over the Mexican border would have -- you know, maybe made them more vulnerable. So there's two pieces to this that are worth following.

It's a very complicated investigation. And the FBI seems to have at least gotten pieces of it, an early warning through both the surveillance of the WhatsApp -- and we don't know what triggered that -- as well as the confidential informant.

This is -- you know, this is real, at least from what we can tell right now. Obviously, we're going to say, you know, these are just -- in the indictment, the DOJ just announced it, and we'll find out more.

CAMEROTA: You know, Juliette, one of the interesting asides that I'm struck by is we were just a few days ago reporting on President Bush giving a speech, and he made a slip, and instead of saying invasion of Ukraine, he said invasion of Iraq, as though Iraq was top of mind for him, and maybe it always is. Or maybe he knew something about this. When would authorities -- if

this was all unveiled, and if this was disclosed in a March 23rd application filed under seal, when would they have told him about this?

KAYYEM: Oh, he would have -- sorry, to interrupt you. You're exactly right. I had the same thought. We haven't heard much from him. And now we have sort of two moments in the last week.

He would have been notified. So if this is unfolding for the FBI March 23rd, chances are they're notifying -- based on my experience, they're notifying -- the FBI is notifying the Secret Service well before then.

The Secret Service has limited but important jobs. One is to keep a former president safe. So the FBI would have notified them sometime in this period to tell them that there's a real threat or they're following a real threat, and that they need to either get extra protections.

The Secret Service, as just a process issue, obviously, you also want to tell the VIP, in this case, the former president, so he would have been notified as well.

Look, Alisyn, we don't know how many of these he gets, right? In other words, we don't know. There's lots of people who target former presidents.

But this was far enough along. And in particular, the reconnaissance aspects of it that former president Bush would have clearly known about it and known that the Secret Service was likely positioning its -- you know, its security posture in light of this intelligence.

Unfortunately, former presidents, as well as sitting presidents, get lots of threats but he would have known about this.

BLACKWELL: Reading here, Paula, there's no suggestion in the documents that the former president was ever in danger. Are we hearing from the former president or his office?

Paula, that's to you.

REID: Yes, Victor, we actually just got a statement from the former president.

It says that "President Bush has all the confidence in the world in the United States Secret Service and law enforcement and Intelligence Communities."

As you just noted, it does not appear that there was a serious threat to the former president because this individual was in constant contact with a confidential informant and appeared to be under surveillance during much of the time he was allegedly trying to plan this attack.

Now, he appeared in federal court earlier today. So he's in custody, arrested this morning. And again, we continue to get more details about who else may have been involved in this plot.

CAMEROTA: Juliette, we only have a couple of seconds left. Is this a regular prosecution or something different?

KAYYEM: This will be a regular prosecution, ISIS-inspired terrorist investigation like others we have seen before.

But once again, it reminds us, though, ISIS is exceptionally denigrated abroad, it still is alive, so to speak. It's still planning attacks.

And this is probably one of the most sophisticated ones we've seen. And shows that the terror threat here is both domestic, as we've noted, unfortunately, quite regularly in the last couple of years, but also continues to be foreign inspired.

[14:55:10]

BLACKWELL: All right, Juliette Kayyem, Paula Reid, thank you.

CAMEROTA: We have a new warning on monkeypox. The CDC says anyone can contract the disease, but one community may be more at risk. We'll give you all of the details ahead.

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[15:00:03]

CAMEROTA: It's the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

BLACKWELL: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you.