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CNN International: Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico Shot In Handlova; Slovakian PM Office: Fico Was Shot Multiple Times In Assassination Attempt, Condition Life-Threatening; Blinken Announces $2 Billion In Military Financing For Ukraine. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired May 15, 2024 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:33]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York. This is CNN Newsroom.

And we begin with breaking news, an assassination attempt in Eastern Europe. Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot multiple times. That's according to his official Facebook page. The Prime Minister was rushed to a nearby hospital, and his social media account confirms that he is in life-threatening condition. Now, the shooting happened at a government meeting in Handlova, which is about two hours away from the capital of Bratislava. Now, these images on your screen, these images are from right after that shooting. You see here security officers rushing to try to move the Prime Minister to safety.

I want to now bring in Nic Robertson, who has been tracking this story, and he joins us live from London. Nic, as I understand it, this happened within the last few hours. What more can you share with us about the details surrounding this shooting as far as we know?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We know that the assailant was manhandled to the ground pretty quickly after the shooting. And at the same time, in the same images, you can see the Prime Minister literally being physically carried by his security detail. His legs are dragging and is bundled into that waiting black limousine there, taken off to the local hospital. All this has happened very, very quickly. The assailant appears to be really on the wrong side, if you will. He has gotten around the security barriers and has been able, it appears, to get close to the Prime Minister.

Now, the images we're looking at there of the medical team around what appears to be the Prime Minister on that stretch there. We know that the first hospital he was in Handlova when he arrived there, he was conscious when he arrived. They say that they gave him life- stabilizing treatment, tried to stabilize his injuries. But, they said that he needed a higher level of care and was flown about 30 kilometers, 20 or so miles by helicopter to another hospital, which is where he is currently being treated. And the prognosis at the moment, according to government officials, they say that the coming few hours will be decisive. It is an assassination attempt, they say, that he was hit by multiple gunshots, and that he is in a life-threatening condition.

Now, we know that the police have caught the assailant. We understand it. At the moment, it just was one assailant, but we don't have a full readout from the police yet. We don't know who the assailant was. We don't know what the motivation of the assailant was. But, we do know that Robert Fico was a divisive politician, loved as much as he was hated, if you will, a populist politician who was very strong anti- immigration, anti-Muslim, had been pro-Putin, in other words, tone that down a little since he got reelected Prime Minister in October last year. But, this is a figure who has courted controversy in the past, and there will be any number of enemies with any number of reasons who may want to take him down. We just don't have that information yet.

SOLOMON: And Nic, as you just pointed out, he had won a third term in October. But, these terms weren't necessarily consecutively. Talk to us a little bit about some of the controversy. Talk to us a little bit about some of his background in Slovakia.

ROBERTSON: Yeah. So, Prime Minister 2006-2010, Prime Minister 2012- 2018. But, it was really a comeback for him, a massive political comeback when he won the election. His party got 79 of 150 seats in the Parliament in the elections in September, became Prime Minister again in October. But, his brand of politics is part of what's the controversy about him. But, there was controversy surrounding the fact that he was being charged with corruption. There were corruption allegations against him. There were questions about the murder of an investigative journalist, not the suggestion that he was involved in the murder.

But, all of these kinds of led, these allegations, these issues led to him sort of stepping away from the political limelight. So, when he came back, won the election, that was a real election comeback. But, those views of not wanting to support the European Union, not wanting to support NATO and others in helping arm Ukraine to defend itself against Russia's attacks, make him a political, a relative political outlier in the European spectrum.

[11:05:00]

But, at home, I think he is known for that divisiveness, very clearly anti-immigration, very clearly anti-Muslim.

SOLOMON: Yeah. Nic, standby for just a moment. We're hearing that Fico, authorities now confirming, was the only person who was injured in the shooting, as those who were on site have said that they heard multiple gunshots. So, the fact that authorities are now saying that Fico was the only person that was hurt is certainly something to consider.

I want to show you now some video from the scene and it appears to show the Slovakian Prime Minister being essentially bundled into a car after he was shot. Now, we can't be sure that the person in this video is Robert Fico. But, again, it is one of the few images we have of the moments just after what authorities believe is an assassination attempt on the Slovakian Prime Minister.

Let me bring Nic Robertson back. Nic, just give me a sense of your first reaction to hearing that news that despite the fact that this was a government meeting, despite the fact that -- I mean, presumably there were other people around besides Fico, he was the only person who was injured.

ROBERTSON: I think this tells us a number of things. He was the target. The assailant knew who he was, and will have had a reason for being there. This was a government business. But, it was an offsite meeting that was being held, and the Prime Minister had a press conference shortly afterwards. So, the location would have been known about. The timing probably would have been known about locally, at least. The fact that this wasn't happening, this government business wasn't happening in the capital Bratislava, perhaps also will give in the mind of an assailant, at least, the thought that perhaps security around the Prime Minister might be less tight, away from his sort of normal protective security bubble that he would be used to having, and would be around him in the capital.

So, it's potential. We don't know the assailant planned to attack him here. I think we have a high level of confidence, those dragging legs that you see being taken and bundled into that -- into the into the waiting limousine, is the Prime Minister. And you can see in the same images there, the assailant being wrestled to the ground. The police by now, because they will have a name of the assailant, they'll have spoken to him. They will very likely have searched his apartment. They will very likely have looked at his social media feed. They're very likely have tried to talk to close friends by now. It's been a couple of hours.

So, they will be building a picture of this assailant, and through questioning, may very well likely already know the motivation. The fact that it's not being made public will speak to a number of issues, will speak to the discretion of the police, the need to continue to work and make sure that he is not working in conjunction with others, which could lead to further arrests. But, there is also the possibility that the motives of this assailant could inflame tensions. As we've been saying, Fico is a divisive politician, loved as much as he is hated. And the people that support him, if they feel aggrieved about what's happened to him, particularly if his condition worsens and life-threatening status turns worse, this could escalate the tensions that might exist and develop around it.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And as you say, I mean, we should learn more about his condition. Authorities saying that the next few hours will be decisive. Nic Robertson live for us in London. Don't go far. But, thank you so much.

For now, I want to welcome into the conversation Matthew Karnitschnig. He is the Chief Europe Correspondent for POLITICO. Matthew, good to have you on this day. Just give us a sense, Nic sort of was talking about the politics a bit about Fico, what more can you share with us about his politics there?

MATTHEW KARNITSCHNIG, CHIEF EUROPE CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: As we heard, he was and is a very divisive figure. He came up in the old Communist system. He was actually a Communist before the wall came down. And he was one of the few prominent politicians in Central and Eastern Europe who managed to parlay that into a very successful political career after communism died.

And he joined the new social democratic movement in Slovakia after the wall came down and became Prime Minister and won reelection and then ran into real trouble in 2018 with the shooting of this investigative journalist Jan Kuciak, which sparked massive protests and demonstrations across Slovakia at that time, and that forced him resign because it was thought that people around him, associates of his, were somehow involved in the killing of the investigative journalist, because he had been looking into corruption involving Fico and his government and his wider circle.

[11:10:00]

So, his return really was something else. It was unexpected, to be honest. And he proved to be very, very popular outside of the main city Bratislava, which is in the west of the country, which is more of a cosmopolitan city. Fico's appeal is really to the more rural voters in Slovakia, which is obviously a fairly small country of just five million people. But, those are sort of his people, if you will. That was his base. That's where he comes from. He is kind of a blue collar populist, if you will.

And yet, there was a lot of frustration in the more cosmopolitan circles when he won reelection, and more recently, he succeeded in pushing through his candidates to be President of the country just a few weeks ago. So, there was a sense that Fico and his regime is sort of taking full control of the country. That said, at the end of the day, his bark turned out, I think, in many respects to be worse than his bite when it came to Ukraine. There were fears that he was going to try and block Ukraine aid at the European Union level after he was reelected. He didn't do that.

He is a bit like Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, with whom he has warm relations, even though they come from different political backgrounds, with Orban being more of a conservative and Fico coming, as I said, from the social democratic side, but they're both sort of dyed in the wool populace, if you will.

SOLOMON: Yeah. He is an ally of Orban, as you say. Matthew, tell me a little bit about -- I think you've laid out really well there sort of some of the politics domestically there for the more rural residents of Slovakia versus the more cosmopolitan residents of Slovakia. Has that created tension thus far in terms of the demographics and the politics of the region with a more populist President that clearly appeals to some in the country and obviously not others?

KARNITSCHNIG: Absolutely. And another important factor here, and this is really the dividing line in Slovakian society, is that the younger generation looks to the EU. They want to be Western. They are very, very modern in every way, whereas much of the rest of the population has been bombarded with Russian propaganda in Slovakian but with outlets like RT and Sputnik and so forth, and those people have been sort of turned against the EU. They've been turned against the West, NATO, the United States. They blame the United States, in particular, and NATO for provoking Russia. They have much more sort of sympathy with Putin and Russia on the whole than they do with Ukraine. And Fico used that to win reelection. And if you if you talk to Slovakians, this is really the main subject of conversation of the political debate in the country and has been for a couple of years now.

SOLOMON: I wonder, just more practically speaking, what happens in terms of the government in Slovakia? Are there emergency sort of measures that now kick in? I mean, who sort of runs the natural order of business while the Prime Minister is in critical condition? And as we said with our previous correspondent, Nic Robertson, that authorities are, at least for this moment, saying that the next few hours will be decisive. So, what happens now?

KARNITSCHNIG: Well, absolutely. At the moment, the country has something of a lame duck President, Ms. Caputova, who is a -- very much a liberal figure who is soon going to stand down to make way for the incoming President Pellegrini, who is this Fico ally. That hasn't happened yet. So, it will fall to Caputova, I think, to manage things if Fico remains incapacitated for some time, and she, I assume, will have to appoint a caretaker Prime Minister in the meantime. But, it obviously puts the country in a very delicate position because the presidency is in this lame duck period as well.

[11:15:00]

SOLOMON: Matthew Karnitschnig joining us from Austria. He is the Chief Europe Correspondent for POLITICO. Thank you so much.

I want to now provide a quick recap of the latest breaking news out of Slovakia. The Prime Minister Robert Fico has been shot several times in an assassination attempt. This is according to his official Facebook page. He is in the hospital, and the social media account stated that he is in life-threatening condition and that the next few hours will be quote, "decisive". The Prime Minister had been attending a government meeting about two hours outside the capital Bratislava. The suspected gunman was detained at the scene by law enforcement officers, according to Slovakia state news agency. We're going to continue to follow this breaking news, of course. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. We want to get back to the latest on our breaking news out of Slovakia. The Prime Minister there, Robert Fico, was shot several times in an assassination attempt, according to his official Facebook page. He has been hospitalized. And the social media account stated that he is in life-threatening condition, and that the next few hours will be quote "decisive". The Prime Minister had been attending a government meeting about two hours outside the capital of Bratislava. The suspected gunman was detained at the scene by law enforcement officers. That's according to the state news agency in Slovakia.

And I want to bring back in my colleague Nic Robertson, who has been tracking this story. He is live for us from London. Nic, I'm not sure if we've gotten any additional details since the last time I've seen you, but we are getting reaction in from European leaders and Hungarian leaders.

ROBERTSON: We are, from the leader of the Czech Republic, neighboring Slovakia, of course, to the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, to Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission President, many, many leaders, all talking about their concern, talking about their shock, and talking about -- they hope Robert Fico pulls through. This is an incredibly shocking moment, I think, across the whole of Europe. This is gun crime of this nature, an assassination attempt on a Prime Minister. I mean, these things happen so rarely. It's hard, I think, for people to take on board and comprehend at the moment.

Now, we know that this was an event that the Prime Minister was attending outside of the capital, about two hours north of -- northeast of Bratislava, the capital. The security around him at that event, there appears to have been security barriers set up. There appear to be a number of security officials on the scene there. But, the gunman was able, by all accounts, to get very close to the Prime Minister, an assassination attempt. It was an intention to try to kill the Prime Minister, the reason of which we don't know.

[11:20:00]

But, the reason that this strikes concern among all the European capitals is it's a worry to see political violence of this nature. It's a worry to see a fellow leader gunned down in this way. I think at the moment, the focus is going to -- is really on two things, one, the attacker and his motivation. And secondly, of course, perhaps, and actually primarily, the welfare of the Prime Minister, as he is now in this life-threatening condition at a higher level medical facility. It's perhaps a span of time it took to get him from where he was initially shot to the local hospital, was a matter of minutes, and it appears from the sort of timeline that we've watched unfold here, within perhaps an hour and a half, he was at the higher level medical facility.

SOLOMON: Nic, what are authorities saying about when they might update us? I mean, you always have this tension between authorities and the press, sort of right after events like this, because the press, of course, wants to get information out as quickly as possible. But, authorities, of course, have their investigation and they have sort of the business at hand. What are authorities saying about when we might expect to hear from them and get any more details?

ROBERTSON: We're not getting a timeline from them as yet, or at least not that I'm aware of. But, you're absolutely right. Those competing needs, the desire for more information to know why all this took place, why this happened, why we're talking about it, why the Prime Minister is in a life-threatening situation, why all of that, people want to know that. But, what the police want to know is, has he got accomplices who was helping him? Who else could be shot next? What could be the next move? Is this an individual or is it a group at work? And if it's a group at work, then you can expect the police to really hold their information close to their chest, because they're going to want to try to round up any other individuals associated with this person.

They're going to be looking at his social media. They're going to be looking at who he made phone calls to. They're going to be looking at who his neighbors were? What conversations he had? What sort of person was he? Was he known to the authorities already? How was he able to get so close to the Prime Minister? All of these questions are going to be the immediate questions. And as yet, there is no indication. And I think the longer the hold goes on or the inflammation, then you can understand that the search may for potential accomplices, potentially other people involved, even peripherally, that will be going on in an information vacuum because that benefits the police. People aren't tipped off that they should run away.

SOLOMON: Nic, talk to us a little bit more about what we know about this politician, what we know about his politics, what we know about his allies. I should point out that the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban did post that he was deeply shocked by the heinous attack against my friend, certainly allies there. He says, we pray for his health and quick recovery. God bless him and his country. What more can you share with us, Nic?

ROBERTSON: Yeah. He certainly had a lot politically akin to Viktor Orban, a populace pro-Putin, anti-immigration, anti-support for Ukraine. He was very divisive, Robert Fico, a very divisive person. He'd had a real career political comeback in the elections last year, been Prime Minister 2006-2010, 2012-2018, 2023 and the elections in September. This was a comeback because he'd been under a cloud, an investigative journalist had been killed. Now, it wasn't being attributed to him. But, it placed people in his circle under a cloud of suspicion.

There were criminal charges of corruption that were alleged against him and he kind of stepped out of the political limelight and he stepped back in and he was successful because of his appeal, particularly in his appeal to the rural voters, those who want to sort of hark back to the -- what they might see as the good old days of communism or the certainties. They had not the uncertainties that this older, more rural part of the population would have about the direction of travel of Slovakia and so many of its neighbors which have been towards an included and part of the European Union. So, he was a politician who was corrosive, who was divisive. He was a politician who was quite simply perhaps loved as much as he was hated.

When you hear the issues about murder, alleged against a journalist -- an investigative journalist, and the cloud of suspicion thrown on his circle, the corruption charges, then his political stance on immigration, on Muslims, on Ukraine, on Russia, these are all things that engender deep passions for some people.

[11:25:00]

Again, we don't know what motivated the attacker. But, these are all the things that are going to be -- that are necessarily going to be talked about right now, and these are things that obviously the police will be looking at. SOLOMON: Yeah. Nic Robertson, we know that this shooting just happened within the last few hours. Details are limited. We so appreciate you hopping on and helping us understand and put some context around it. Don't go far. Thank you.

For now, though, we want to quickly turn to Ukraine, that's where U.S. assistance for weapons and money is flowing again for its war effort against Russia. And the aid comes at a critical point for the frontlines. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with his Ukrainian counterpart earlier. Blinken announced additional foreign military financing for Kyiv. Listen.

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ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We have, of course, the supplemental and the assistance from the supplemental is on its way. In fact, some of it has already been delivered. But today, I want to add to that by announcing that we will provide an additional $2 billion in foreign military financing for Ukraine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Meanwhile, Moscow's troops are making major advances in northeastern Ukraine. Tuesday, a Russian glide bomb attack injured almost two dozen civilians. Officials in Kharkiv said more than 7,500 people have been evacuated from the region. The Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is canceling his trips abroad for the time being, as he deals with the situation in Kharkiv.

And breaking news in politics today as well, President Biden is throwing down the gauntlet, challenging Donald Trump to debate him and make his day, his words, not mine. A short time ago, the President posted on social media that he has accepted CNN's invitation to debate on June 27th. Biden is proposing two debates with Trump, the one in June and another in September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Donald Trump lost two debates to me in 2020, and since then, he hasn't shown up for a debate. Now he is acting like he wants to debate me again. Well, make my day, pal. I'll even do it twice. So, let's pick the days, Donald. I hear you are free on Wednesdays.

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SOLOMON: Well, minutes ago, Trump agreed to debate Biden on CNN on June 27th. Trump also says that he would quote "strongly recommend more than two debates." The Biden camp is suggesting these dates with TV networks, shutting the more traditional full-debate schedule, which it says is out of step with voters.

Let's bring in today's political panel, CNN Political Analyst Maria Cardona. She is also a Democratic Strategist. Good to see you, Maria. And Republican Strategist Rina Shah. Good to see you, Rina.

All right. So, Maria, let me start with you. Do you see a debate one as likely, and who has more to gain from a debate?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, I think President Biden has a ton to gain from a debate. Like he said in his video, he won decisively the two debates that he had against Donald Trump in 2020. And I think this time around, he will have even more of an advantage, because going into the selection, there is going to be a clear contrast, especially when both men are on the stage about who has the positive vision of continuing to bring this economy and grow it for everyone, with the massive accomplishments that Joe Biden has already had under his belt, and continuing to solve for the issues that we know are critical and that American families are still struggling for, versus a MAGA extremist agenda that is focused on chaos, on confusion, on violence, on retribution, on vengeance.

We all know Donald Trump is only in this to stay out of jail. And he has focused his agenda for the next four years on mass deportations of the 12 million undocumented immigrants. We already saw news about what's going on in Ukraine. Donald Trump would essentially hand Ukraine to Putin on a silver platter. That is not something that we need for our democracy. And speaking of democracy, he is someone who does not believe in our Constitution, who already tried to essentially have a coup here in the United States. And so, our democracy is on the line as well. So, that huge contrast, I think, will be tremendous advantage for President Biden going into the fall elections.

SOLOMON: Rina, what do you think? I mean, we know that Trump did not want to debate or chose not to debate his GOP challengers in the primary. But, do you think that he steps up to the plate and debates, and is that a potentially good thing for him, or are there pitfalls for Trump?

RINA SHAH, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think the Trump team saw how it would not help Trump to back out from debating Biden. It certainly helped him in the fall in backing out from debating his GOP opponents. I mean, that was a very different thing, not being in the room, that he never had to answer questions on their faith. And also, it also kind of put in with the GOP electorate in a stronger footing, kind of giving people that nostalgia, again, of when Trump appeared strong, sounded strong, and it felt like things like the economy were also strong.

[11:30:00]

So, it was a different set of circumstances in the fall. Now, when he is going up against Biden, there is no doubt we're going to hear aspirational positive talk from, and we're going to hear negative doom and gloom from Trump, because that is where he has to put himself, talking about how the Biden administration has not served the average American in four years. Trump knows he is up to the task. But, I don't know that we'll hear that much substance from him. He knows he will win out when he brings forth a particular style. He knows he can put out as much misinformation as he wants. And it will be a bit hard for anyone, not just the current President to fight back in real time.

I think the economy will be one of the places in which Trump could be quite strong, because he can hit back with simple data points. And I think the team around him right now is out actually up to that task, for example, fighting back and telling Biden that you lied to the American public that inflation was not at nine percent when I was in office. It was at nine percent when you took office. So, again, simple messaging like that is where Trump can have strong points and could possibly win, excuse me, against Biden. But, for Trump, it's about message discipline. I don't know that he is up to that task.

SOLOMON: Yeah. Just to put it in context, we saw that peak of inflation of nine percent in June of 2022, when in fact Biden was in office.

But, Maria, let me ask you, because we got some inflation data this morning, and there was some good news and there was some not so good news. So, the good news is, is that after months of inflation picking up, we saw it actually move in the opposite direction, it started to cool. That is obviously good news, one, for consumers, but perhaps even for Biden. The bad news is, is that consumers are really pulling back on their spending, and we still may not see rate cuts until the fall.

And so, my question, Maria is, as you know, there is not a lot in the President's toolbox to fight inflation. That is the job of the Federal Reserve. So, what can he do? I mean, what differently can he do when he is talking especially to young voters who really feel the pinch of inflation? What does he say differently? Well, how does he reach them?

CARDONA: So, I think what he does, Rahel, is that he will underscore the proposals and the policy solutions that he has put forward. You talked about young voters. How many young voters have been strapped with student debt? And this President has canceled millions and millions of dollars in student debt, mostly for black and brown students. As you know, that is transformational for a family who has maybe one or two huge debts because their kids are the first ones to go to college. That is going to be huge for young voters, and they will applaud him for that, and they will support him for that.

The other issue is housing, rent and mortgages. President Biden and his administration just put forward a proposal to help voters who are struggling with rising rents and with difficult mortgages because of what you just mentioned. Because of inflation, the mortgage rates are high. So, these proposals will help those voters who are struggling, and again, they will look to that as transformational for them. And they will support President Biden and they will applaud him for that.

The other issue for young voters, as you know, Rahel, is the climate. Climate change is a huge issue for these young voters because they know that it is an existential threat for them, their families, and for the future of our country, and frankly, the world. And President Biden is the only President that up until now has put together proposals and has passed laws that will actually make climate change better. So, I think President Biden has a ton to run on for young voters. And once he lays that out or continues to lay that out, they will support him in massive amounts, and say no to the dark MAGA extremism that Donald Trump represents.

SOLOMON: Rina, last word here, who will the Nikki Haley supporters, who will they support? Because one thing that I continue to find fascinating is months after she suspended her campaign, she is still pulling in or above the 20 percent range in a lot of primaries, deep- red Nebraska, Maryland, Indiana. I mean, one, how do you explain that, and two, who picks up these voters?

SHAH: Now, even in (inaudible), West Virginia, which is where I was born and raised, she was able to not so much make a dent but to register on the Richter scale. And I said that after she dropped out of the race back in February, that there would be jet fumes, and we see those. We see that there is still an appetite of GOP voters who want something else other than Donald Trump. They believe that the chaos that surrounds him is no good. They don't like the words that come out of his mouth. They see that he is self-consumed, and really only for himself.

But, the contrast with Biden is stark. Yes. I do agree. But, the real question does become, do those Haley voters become for Biden immediately? I think they're going to give it a lot of time. I don't disagree with my fellow panelist Maria here, who is hopeful about younger Americans like me, millennials and Gen Z, giving Biden a more honest shake as we get closer to November.

[11:35:00]

But, I think this is an election in which Haley was able to clearly message this past fall on the economy, what her plan would be. She was also able to talk about the geopolitical tension in a different way than Trump. Do these voters then trust Trump to ride the ship? I don't think so. We still have massive problems that don't just impact younger Americans. We've got gas prices looking still pretty high. Groceries are more expensive than ever before. Rent is higher than ever. Percentage of mortgage is underwater on the rise, and reaching new levels is also there. And then, forget it all, putting it where we -- when we zoom out, look at it all, the dollar is worth 75 percent of what it was four years ago.

These are the simple arguments that Haley was able to make. And I think people liked that. They missed that. If Biden is able to pick up the baton and say come to me for these reasons. I will address these things. Give me more time. Trust my administration. Trust my leadership to tackle these problems together. Then, again, you will see Haley voters go to Biden because they certainly are not going to go to RFK Jr. and anybody else in the race, heck. It's Trump or Biden. It's a binary choice. Biden becomes the one in which Haley voters could trust more than Trump.

SOLOMON: Well, there was certainly a lot there, Rina. I mean, one thing I can say at least in terms of grocery prices is today's inflation report confirmed that grocery prices are actually falling, which I'm sure that the Biden administration is happy about and so are American consumers.

Rina Shah and Maria Cardona, thank you both for being here. Thanks a lot.

CARDONA: Thanks, Rahel. SOLOMON: It's a busy news day.

SHAH: Thanks.

SOLOMON: We have a lot of developing and breaking news this hour. We will bring you the latest on the condition of the Prime Minister of Slovakia, and American consumers, as we just talked about, locked in a struggle with stubborn high prices. We're going to have the latest numbers from two key economic reports, after a short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOLOMON: Welcome back. Here is the latest on our breaking news in what's being called an assassination attempt on Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico. The 59-year-old politician is in the hospital with what his official Facebook account calls a life-threatening condition, and they say that the next few hours will be quote, "decisive". The Prime Minister had been attending a government meeting about two hours outside the capital of Bratislava when the shooting occurred. A Slovak minister said that Fico was the only person injured in the attack. An eyewitness told the Reuters news agency that it felt like quote, "a nightmare after hearing three shots in this shooting". The suspected gunman, who has not been identified, was detained at the scene by law enforcement officers, according to Slovakia's state news agency.

On the phone with us now is journalist Juraj Bury, who was nearby when the attack happened inside the building, covering the government meeting that Fico was actually there for.

[11:40:00]

Juraj, we appreciate you being here. My apologies if I misinterpreted or mispronounced your name. Can you explain for us what you saw and what you heard at the time of this shooting?

VOICE OF JURAJ BURY, SLOVAK JOURNALIST: Of course. I'm sorry for my bad English. I was heard something like some kind of shoot. But, I was thinking it was catering because it's the end of the conference, the end of the day, and I'm working at my article, and next to me catering cleaning up the room and I was thinking some light drop or something. I was focused on article. Then somebody screamed they shooting Robert Fico and I grabbed my phone and ran outside the coverage, and I saw like policemen take care of the one of the shooters.

SOLOMON: Oh, I see. So, you actually saw what you thought was the shooter. Can you give us a sense of what you saw and what was happening? I mean, did the shooter say anything, any sense of what might have been --

VOCIE OF BURY: No, no. He don't say anything. It was like -- it was a smart group of people, around 20 or 30 people who were supporters of Roberts Fico, and he stand between them, and when I run out, the police has -- have him on the ground in the cuffs already, because they stood next to the supporters and he starts shooting. (Inaudible) pacified him. Don't say anything. He might come with to take him to the police station. And I was horrified and confused what's happening because Fico was in the -- his car and they throwing away and people was screaming and cursing. It was quite a mess.

SOLOMON: Can you share with us -- I mean, was it a normal meeting? Were tensions high? I know you said that there were 20 or 30 of his supporters outside. I mean, did it seem like a pretty typical meeting?

VOICE OF BURY: Yes. It was a typical meeting. It was about local region transforming business from coal mining to something else. Our government was regularly visit regions. This is one of the regular visit. And -- but, in the country, it is a little bit tense between citizens and when Fico somewhere arrives, there was (inaudible) protesters. This is totally normal situation in these regards. It was normal meeting, nothing too special.

SOLOMON: But, it certainly became anything but normal after the meeting. Juraj, while I still have you, can you give us a sense, because you are a journalist, what is his popularity like in the country? I mean, we know that he is a populist. We have a sense of what his politics are. Is he generally considered pretty popular, pretty well regarded?

VOICE OF BURY: It is more like 50 to 60, big part of the country like him, big part of all country don't like him. Some parts of country don't mind him. He is more popular between seniors, but less popular between young people, more popular in regions and rural areas, and less popular in cities. We are really divided as a country on this.

SOLOMON: Journalist Juraj Bury, we appreciate your time. We can appreciate that it's obviously been a horrifying day for you and very frightening, no less, and we appreciate you hopping on to help us understand a bit more of what happened there. Thank you.

VOICE OF BURY: No problem. Good bye.

SOLOMON: And I want to now -- bye bye. I want to now bring a Dominic Thomas, who is a CNN European Affairs Commentator, who joins us now from Los Angeles. Dominic, also good to have you. Can you just give us sort of your top line reaction to this news?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that the situation we have on the ground here in Slovakia reflects in many ways a kind of global political environment in which there is deep polarization in which tensions politically are playing out in the public space with demonstrations, with protests, and in some cases, violent actions. Now, we don't know the motivation of the shooter and his attempted assassination today, but certainly, that tells us a lot about the sort of the levels of tension in EU states at the moment, especially with the EU elections coming up in just a few weeks' time.

SOLOMON: And then, just for our viewers, if you're looking at your screen, what we're looking at his obviously video shortly after the shooting of the Prime Minister.

[11:45:00] This is who we suspect. I mean, he is in handcuffs. This is someone who has been detained. Authorities have not identified this gentleman as a suspect that he is, at this point, a suspected shooter. Of course, we will work to identify exactly who we're looking at and get more information from the authorities as it becomes available.

But, Dominic, let me bring you back into this conversation here, and tell us a bit more, if you might, about the politics of Fico. As we have said earlier this hour, he was an ally of Viktor Orban. He is a friend of Putin. And so, talk to us a little bit about his allies and his politics.

THOMAS: Yeah. So, I think he has been around for a long time. He was first elected before Slovakia even became an independent nation state. He was elected when it was still Czechoslovakia, all the way back when he was in his late 20s. He is now almost 60-years-old. This is really Fico 3.0. He was previously Prime Minister in 2006, then in 2012. But, this new brand of Fico is one who, yes, his party is officially a kind of left wing nationalist populace. Lots of small parties in his country, like in many other European nation states. It's a parliamentary system. And in order to come to power, you have to form a coalition with the ultra-right nationalists. And essentially, the election played out around Ukraine and Russian support.

So, there is on the one hand kind of fatigue with some member countries of the European Union for funding the Ukraine conflict, the war with Russia. And on the other hand, you have certain nation states that have this long-standing affiliation and loyalty to Russia. And this is what has played out in this context. The thing about Slovakia that's also interesting is it's a landlocked country surrounded by, in many ways, a group of countries around which EU politics are playing today. So, his most loyal neighbor, of course, you'd mentioned, would be Hungary, and Prime Minister Orban with whom he has the greatest kind of ties around Ukraine, around Russia, around the question of immigration. But, it also borders Ukraine and Poland and Austria, countries around which these politics and these tensions have been playing out in the last few years, if not decade or so.

SOLOMON: Yeah. It's a very interesting point when you lay it out like that. You think about Poland, of course, a NATO member. You think about what's happening in Ukraine. You think about Hungary. You think about Ukraine, obviously, and Russia, really, really fascinating politics at the moment. Of course, we don't know this situation or the scenario that may have motivated this person. That is a detail that we are still waiting for. But, we'll leave it here for now. CNN European Affairs Commentator Dominic Thomas, thank you so much.

THOMAS: Thank you.

SOLOMON: We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back after this.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back. We will continue to cover the developments out of Slovakia. But first, we want to turn our attention to a couple of economic reports in the U.S., showing the inflation picture and the effect it's having.

[11:50:00]

Inflation is a bit in April for American consumers. The Consumer Price Index rose less than expected, up 3.4 percent on an annual basis, and up three tenths of a percent from March. That was better than expected, also better than the month prior. Although months of inflation, high interest rates are taking a toll on consumers. U.S. retail sales were unchanged in April compared to March, but up three percent from last year.

And the spending that American consumers are doing, well, it appears to be going on people's credit cards. A report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York says that household debt levels rose more than one percent in the first quarter.

OK. To help us make sense of all of this, let me bring in Mark Zandi. He is the Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics. Mark, always good to have you on a CPI day. So, how do you read this report? Is it a good report, or is it a not bad report?

MARK ZANDI, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MOODY'S ANALYTICS: Good report. I'll take it. We've been getting some tough CPI numbers and inflation numbers over the past several months since the beginning of the year, kind of on the hot side, hold too strong, making everyone, including me, feel uncomfortable, but the today's numbers felt pretty good. If you look into the bowels of the report and look at all the details, some things to be happy about. So, I think nothing -- it's never one way or the other. There is a lot of gray in between. But, taking it all together, I feel pretty good about it.

SOLOMON: Mark, how do you explain shelter prices? So, shelter prices is an area that economists have been hoping for months, for months, what helped in terms of this report, and it hasn't happened. How do you explain what's going on there?

ZANDI: Hard to explain. The cost of housing is tied back to rents. That's the way the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the keeper of the data, calculates the cost of housing. But, if you look at rents (inaudible), it rose a lot in the wake of the pandemic. When the economy reopened, a lot of households formed, and when they increased, rents jumped. But, over the past year, year and a half, almost two years, now rents have gone flat to down in most parts of the country, and that still hasn't made its way through.

Now, the growth in the cost of housing services as measured by the BLS is slowing. It's just not selling as fast as it has historically. Now, when usually things don't stick to script like this, when they don't fit historically, they'll change. So, I would be surprised if we don't start to see further improvement in the growth of the cost of housing in the next few months going forward.

And here is the other positive thing on this front, Rahel. We are getting a lot of new multifamily units constructed. The construction is very strong. And vacancy rates, which have been very low, are starting to rise, and that means that we'll see continued downward pressure on rents and I think that'll translate through. But, you're right. That's been the most frustrating part about the way we're measuring inflation and how inflation is going.

SOLOMON: Yeah. It certainly has been. One thing that was a little bit more comforting, I think, for a lot of people to see is that food prices, grocery prices. They've been flat and trending lower, and they trended lower again in this last report. So, Mark, if you are at the Federal Reserve and you are looking at a report like this, and it's just one, it's just one report, and obviously we got a different report yesterday, that's something very different, that wholesale inflation report, what do you do with this? Well, when is the right time to start cutting rates?

ZANDI: Well, if I run Federal Reserve, Rahel, in a kind of promotion, I would be cutting rates now. It feels like the Fed has accomplished what it needs to do. We're at full employment. The unemployment rate is below four percent, done that now for more than two years. In inflation, except for that persnickety growth in the cost of housing services, is already back to the Fed's inflation target. So, I'd be an outlier here on the consensus on the Fed would be to wait and get more evidence that inflation is actually coming in. But, I think they've got enough evidence.

And the other thing I'd say is, look, rates are very high. Interest rates are very high. It's putting a lot of pressure on households. You mentioned all that credit card debt that is putting a lot of pressure on particularly lower income households. The longer they wait, the greater the chance that they break something, somewhere, and I don't see the reason why given, again, that they've achieved their goals of full employment and low and stable inflation.

SOLOMON: Yeah. It's interesting, Mark, and it was interesting to hear you say you're an outlier, because the conversation that I hear more of is that, look, they need to stay where they are because of concerns of inflation picking back up, and so maybe they need to do more, in fact. So, that's really interesting.

I do want to point out really quickly that the markets apparently love what they see in this report. I mean, all of them are higher. The Dow is off. That was up, I should say, six tenth of one percent, inching closer and closer to that 40,000 mark. So, Mark, so, let me ask, I know what you would do if you were at the Fed. What do you think the Fed will do? What's a good sort of guess of when they may start cutting rates?

ZANDI: They are going to wait until they get more evidence that we get more reports like today. In another month, two or three, I think they'll feel more confident and comfortable that Zandi's forecast of inflation is correct, that we are going to get back down to target here in the next few months.

[11:55:00]

So, my sense of it is, probably September-ish. But, Rahel, one thing I'm thrown into the mix is we got an election in November, and that might complicate things, because would you cut interest rates in the teeth of a presidential election process, Fed officials will tell you, yeah, that's what they should do. But, that's -- that makes -- that it is pretty difficult to do. It is quite complicated. So, I suspect September, but it could be after the election.

SOLOMON: It's quite complicated and quite controversial, because, well, for reasons we don't need to get into. But --

ZANDI: Yeah.

SOLOMON: -- Economist Mark Zandi live for us there. Mark, thank you so much.

All right.

ZANDI: Take care.

SOLOMON: I'm Solomon in breaking -- in New York, rather. We continue to follow our breaking news coverage of the situation in Slovakia. That continues. Don't go anywhere. One World is coming up next.

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