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Police: One Person Dead, Nine Injured In Michigan Church Shooting And Fire; NY Mayor Eric Adams Says He's Ending His Bid For Reelection; Tropical Storm Imelda Forms Over The Bahamas; Top Congressional Leaders To Meet Tomorrow As Shutdown Looms; Trump Sending Troops To Portland To Protect ICE Facilities; Fallout After Comey Indictment On Perjury, Obstruction Charges; Russia Launches Massive Aerial Attack On Ukraine, Killing Four. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired September 28, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:44]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us. I'm Danny Freeman in for Fredricka Whitfield.

We're beginning with this horrific breaking news. A mass shooting at a Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints about an hour north of Detroit. Police say at least one person is dead and nine others have been injured.

They say the gunman rammed his vehicle through the front doors of the church, opened fire and then appeared to set a large fire to the church.

We're now hearing audio from the first responders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I need manpower up here ASAP. I have people trapped in the building. Repeat, people trapped in the building. We have children inside, too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: For more on this, let's get right over to CNN's Julia Vargas Jones. Julia, you've been monitoring the story. What can you tell us?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A horrifying scene there, the audio, Danny. Just the description of what's going on. We saw the videos as well. The plume of smoke. All of this according to the chief of police of Grand Blanc because of that man, 40-year-old suspect who rammed his car through the doors, the front doors of the church, jumped out and started shooting.

He said hundreds of people were at the service at that point. The service had started about 25 minutes before the incident. Many of the people in there, children we're learning from a source familiar with the matter, telling CNN some of those injuries were very serious of those ten people that were taken to hospital, including the one person who lost their life.

Now authorities are now investigating something you mentioned -- how that fire was started. They said that they found a suspicious item on church property, and they are now investigating to see if that is related.

That is something that we heard from the chief of police, that that is the next step on the investigation. But they say also many more victims are expected as they continue to work their way through that scene. Very difficult scene, I'm sure from those images.

We are also hearing now from some authorities. We heard from the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer, who posted a statement earlier this morning. She said, "My heart is breaking for the Grand Blanc community. Violence anywhere, especially in a place of worship, is unacceptable. I am grateful to the first responders who took action quickly. We will continue to monitor the situation and hold the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc close.

We also heard from the president, Donald Trump taking to Truth Social. He said he has been briefed on the situation and the horrendous shooting he says that took place at the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

The FBI was immediately on scene, he said, and will be leading the federal investigation and providing full support to state and local officials. The suspect is dead, which we know, but there is still a lot to learn.

And then he goes on to say, this appears to be yet another targeted attack on Christians in the United States of America. The Trump administration will keep the public posted, he says, as we always do.

In the meantime, he's asking for people to pray for the victims and their families. This epidemic of violence in our country must end immediately, he says, Danny.

We heard -- we also heard from Attorney General Pamela Bondi, who said she was also receiving briefings about what appears to be a horrific shooting and fire at the LDS Church in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

She said also, violence in a place of worship is heartbreaking and chilling. Please join me in praying for the victims of this terrible tragedy.

FREEMAN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for that update on this truly shocking story.

Joining me now for more perspective on this is former Boston police commissioner Ed Davis. Ok Ed, let's reset here.

I want to get your perspective here. What are your initial thoughts on this attack on a church in Michigan?

[14:04:40] ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: Well, besides the horror of the -- of the fact that this was done at a church and, an attack on innocent women and children actually, obviously from what -- from our first reports.

You have some unique things here. The age of the suspect in this case, the fact that there was maybe an incendiary device, maybe an explosive device, or maybe some combination of the two.

These are sort of the police departments' worst fears come true. You have a small -- small police department, small town. Not a lot of resources to throw at something like this. You've probably got hundreds of people in that church, and they're trying to do the best that they can.

And in this particular case, they did a remarkable job of confronting this individual, engaging in a firefight with him and taking him out.

So that could very well have saved many lives. But with the fire that's raging there right now, it's hard to tell whether these initial reports of casualties is going to be accurate.

So I think we have to keep our fingers crossed and pray that it's low numbers. But I don't think we'll know until the press conference later today.

FREEMAN: I mean, hearing the police chief saying that we do believe we'll find additional victims specifically because there were, in his words -- the police chief there in Grand Blanc township -- said that there were people near the fire who, in their estimation, couldn't get out.

I mean, I echo your prayers as well that that is not the case.

But I guess what do you make of the fact that this -- we've seen mass shootings, right. But to open fire and also set fire to the church, according to police, at the same time, what do you make of that?

DAVIS: Well, it's clearly a well-planned attack. This is not something that the guy just like, got up this morning and came there. He had to take time and plan this.

And not only access the weapons necessary for the -- for the gun part of it, the firearm assault, but also put together an IED, an improvised explosive device.

That's extremely difficult. A lot of -- I've been to calls where people trying to put bombs together have blown themselves up. So that -- that is a frequent occurrence with people that aren't experts on this kind of a thing.

So this was well thought out. It was planned prior. And the question now is, did anyone else assist or have knowledge of this attack and not notify the authorities beforehand?

Our worst fear is a lone attacker, somebody who's not talking to anyone else. Because that's a very hard plot to infiltrate or to get word on.

But if this guy had assistance, that's going to be one of the first things they look at, as well as motivation.

FREEMAN: Well, Commissioner, can you talk a little bit more about that? I mean, what are -- what do you -- what do you believe law enforcement officials are doing right now to try and piece together what possibly could have led this supposed 40-year-old suspect to carry out an attack like this?

DAVIS: Well, the first responsibility of law enforcement is stopping the suspect.

The second responsibility is saving as many people as you can.

The third responsibility is to get the fire department in there. And as soon as the scene is safe and that -- that appears to be an ongoing process right now.

So, you know, those are the initial things. But at the same time that the patrol force and the uniformed officers, with as much assistance as possible, are responding to the scene, there's a group of detectives working behind the scenes to get an ID on the suspect and then start to run that suspect down, finding out first of all, what vehicles he has, where he lives, and they'll immediately dispatch detectives to any place that he might be affiliated with.

They can't just go crashing through the door unless there are exigent circumstances, but they can secure the premises to make sure no one comes in and everyone comes out and to make sure no evidence is lost.

And then they'll start to get the search warrants necessary, exploit any media that he might have. Social media, cell phones, laptops, iPads -- things like that. And they'll methodically with technical resources from the FBI that are exceptionally good, go through it.

And then in a case like this, the ATF will play an important role because of the possible IED and clearly the fire that that emanated from this attack.

There's a lot of work to be done.

FREEMAN: Yes, a lot of work to be done indeed. And again, hoping that the potential victims that are still perhaps in that church or those who are now at the hospital, hopefully they recover.

Ed Davis, thank you so much for sharing your insight. I'm sure we'll be back with you not too long from now.

DAVIS: Thank you so much.

FREEMAN: All right. We're also following breaking news out of North Carolina now, where a man is facing murder charges after allegedly opening fire at a bar in the town of Southport. Police say this suspect, identified as 40-year-old Nigel Edge.

[14:09:48]

FREEMAN: He drove a bar allegedly near, quote, "American Fishing Company", and started firing at a crowd gathered outside of that bar. Three people were killed and at least eight others were injured.

Police say they're investigating a motive.

And we have even more breaking news this hour in New York.

New York Mayor Eric Adams says he is ending his bid for reelection. And he made that announcement just a short time ago.

For more on this, we have CNN's Gloria Pazmino. Gloria, thank you for jumping on with us so quickly as this news is breaking. Tell us, what is Mayor Adams saying about this decision?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Danny. You know, the reality is that there was a bit of an expectation in the last several weeks that this might happen. We have been doing a lot of reporting over the last several days about Mayor Adams' prospects, the fact that he was far behind in all of the polling. And he'd been under pressure to drop out from the campaign in order to help coalesce the vote against the Democratic mayoral nominee, Zohran Mamdani.

And even though Mayor Adams spent the last few weeks sort of denying that he was going to drop out of the race, he did exactly that today. He made the announcement on a social video -- a social media video that posted on X just a few minutes ago talking about his record, but explaining why he did not think he would be able to put up a good campaign.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: I cannot continue my reelection campaign. The constant media speculation about my future and the campaign finance board's decision to withhold millions of dollars have undermined my ability to raise the funds needed for a serious campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now Danny, that is a line and a tone that the mayor adopted just in the last few weeks, sort of blaming the media and the press for undermining his campaign.

But the reality is that despite Mayor Adams' accomplishments, despite the fact that the violence here in New York City is at record lows, a record low number of shootings, a record low number of homicides, he was unable to really get that message out there.

And the reason for that was because there were constant corruption scandals that just really affected his administration. His inner circle inside of city hall were constantly hobbled by corruption allegations. And this was really an administration and a mayor that could not get

out of his own way. And so it's somewhat true what the mayor is saying in the video there that in the last few weeks, his ability to put up a campaign was made difficult specifically by the fact that he was denied campaign funds by the city's campaign finance board, meaning he could not put up the political apparatus that you need when you're running a race for mayor.

After all of this now, the question is, of course, what it will mean for this unprecedented mayoral campaign that we're seeing here in New York City.

Zohran Mamdani is currently the front runner, trailing behind him is the former governor, Andrew Cuomo, who lost to Mamdani in the primary, trying to mount his own political comeback.

The math behind all of this was that if Adams dropped out of the race, the vote could potentially coalesce behind Cuomo. But the polling doesn't necessarily suggest that that's exactly what is going to happen.

So the next four and a half weeks or so are going to be a sprint towards the general election, which is to be held in November.

And the question now is whether everyone that has been trying to line up opposition to Mamdani -- real estate interests, business interests, will try and coalesce behind Cuomo, Danny.

FREEMAN: This race keeps getting more and more interesting. Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for breaking it all down.

All right. Still to come on a very busy news day, there is finger pointing across the aisles of Congress as a government shutdown is looming. We have details on the attempts to bring all sides together.

Plus, we have a new tropical storm formed in the Caribbean. We're tracking tropical storm Imelda along with the massive hurricane Humberto. Stay with us.

[14:14:09]

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FREEMAN: We continue to follow the breaking news out of Michigan, where a shooting and fire happened at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, north of Detroit, just outside of Flint, Michigan. One person is dead. Nine others have been injured, including, as we understand, children.

We'll have much more on that just ahead.

But first, we're also following this breaking news on a severe weather threat facing parts of the southeast. The latest update from the National Hurricane Center says the tropical system churning in the Atlantic has now officially strengthened into a tropical storm named Imelda. Now it's threatening to bring flooding, rain and strong winds to

coastal areas of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas.

CNN meteorologist Chris Warren joins me now. Chris, what can you tell us about this strengthening storm?

CHRIS WARREN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is strengthening, that is for sure. But as of this hour it is now 100 -- or now a 40 mile per hour storm. And it is moving to the north at 7 miles an hour, not moving very fast. It's actually even going to slow down here.

[14:19:44]

WARREN: Not nearly as strong as what we're seeing out here with Humberto. And this one a Category 4 hurricane. This one 150 mile per hour winds. So this has no direct impact to land but what we've been watching with this likely to have some impact or even a big impact of why the forecast model trends have been taking Imelda out to sea.

The storm itself before, the fact that it is bigger and stronger is helping to kind of pull this one along. That being said, were not completely out of any threats. Now, this absolutely looks way better even than it did yesterday for interest in the southeast.

But as it moves across the Bahamas, still tropical storm force winds are expected. Very heavy rain, could get close enough to parts of Florida that there could be some tropical storm conditions, depending on the exact track of this.

Definitely rough surf and dangerous rip currents up and down much of the southeast coast.

So there's Humberto, Imelda, and you can kind of see Danny, they have kind of a linked-up look, this storm right here helping to kind of draw Imelda away from shore and take in more of a hard right. So a very quick turn.

That being said, it's going to take a while. Look at the time here, tomorrow now into Tuesday, still here. Wednesday -- Wednesday morning still lurking off there.

So rough surf. And if it does get closer to land, a chance for some of this very heavy rain, Danny, which could ultimately lead to some flash flooding, which is always a dangerous situation.

FREEMAN: No, certainly. And I'm glad were taking it seriously, but I'm also so glad that it does seem to be, as you were saying, trending more and more into the Atlantic. That's good news there.

All right. Chris Warren, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

New today. We are less than 60 hours away from the U.S. government potentially shutting down. That's, of course, if Congress does not pass a spending package before midnight on Tuesday.

So in the race to keep the government open, the four top leaders in Congress are now set to meet with President Trump tomorrow at the White House. Both Democrats and Republicans are dug in on their positions though. Republicans want the spending package to pass as is, while Democrats want some key changes.

Today, CNN's Jake Tapper asked Speaker Johnson if President Trump will make a deal or try to strongarm Democrats.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: He wants to do right by the people. He does not want the Democrats to hold up troops' pay. You know, the people who are serving in the military. They don't get paid during the shutdown.

He doesn't want WIC funding, you know, women, infants and children nutrition program being held up. He doesn't want telehealth and mental health and FEMA services to be stopped. That's what Chuck Schumer is holding hostage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: So the state of play now, Republicans need at least seven Democrats in the Senate to join them in the vote to get their bill passed. But Democratic leaders have continued to draw a hard line, saying those votes won't come without a deal to extend enhanced Obamacare subsidies.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Cancel the cuts, lower the cost, save health care so we can address the issues that really matter to the American people in an environment where the cost of living is too high, with the quality of life of everyday Americans has been undermined consistently since January 20th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Joining me now to discuss it all is NPR's congressional correspondent Claudia Grisales. Claudia, thank you so much for joining us on this consequential eve of a crazy week to come, I'm sure.

Let's start here. So the president's meeting with congressional leaders, it was canceled, now its back on. Is there any appetite from your perspective from Democratic rank and file to actually cut a deal with this White House?

CLAUDIA GRISALES, NPR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's what they've been talking about all along is they just want to sit down, have these bipartisan talks, look at a way to address these rising health care costs.

And that meeting has not happened. And so that's the importance of this Monday meeting where we see Trump meeting with the top four leaders in Congress. And so Democrats do want a deal out of this, but it's not clear

Republicans want the same deal.

FREEMAN: No, I mean, certainly not at this point. But again, we'll see, you know, all eyes will be on that meeting at the White House.

I'm curious though, Claudia, from your perspective, having covered this now and other shutdown threats in the past, who from your perspective has the stronger hand here? Congressional Democrats or Speaker Johnson and the White House?

GRISALES: It's really hard to say. Earlier this year, when they were facing off, Republicans had the upper hand. Democrats just did not have the will to go into a potential shutdown for negotiations. But they saw a lot of blowback.

So this time around is very different because in the Senate, Republicans need those Democrats, as you mentioned, to help them pass a continuing resolution or stopgap measure.

That is not there this time as a guarantee. Democrats are making demands or listening to their base. Their base wants to see them fight. And so they could be evenly set at this time.

It's not clear who's going to make -- who's going to make out ahead.

[14:24:44]

FREEMAN: And again, the fate of the government staying open in the middle of that.

Listen, Claudia, I know that Democrats keep saying Republicans control everything. They have the White House, both chambers of Congress. So, a shutdown from their perspective would be Republicans' and President Trump's fault.

But I guess, can they fight the bully pulpit of the president who continues to blame Democrats, even saying that they're making demands that haven't been true.

GRISALES: Well, Democrats do have a point there. Whoever is in the Oval Office, whoever has control of Congress, does traditionally get the blame for shutdowns.

So Democrats do have an advantage there. So it's possible they could negotiate something out of this moment.

And by this meeting being set, canceled and now rescheduled, I think that's a signal that Republicans are indeed worried that Democrats are serious this time. And we could be heading into a shutdown if they do not hold these bipartisan talks.

FREEMAN: Yes, that's well said. Perhaps that is the first tell that, again, people are taking this very seriously on Capitol Hill.

Claudia Grisales, thank you so much for breaking that all down. Appreciate your time today.

GRISALES: Thank you.

FREEMAN: All right. And still to come, President Trump is ordering troops to Portland, saying the city is under siege. State and local leaders though, they're pushing back hard. That story and more coming up.

[14:26:01]

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[14:30:16]

FREEMAN: We continue to follow that breaking news out of Michigan, where a shooting and fire happened at the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, north of Detroit, just outside of Flint, Michigan. One person is dead and nine others are injured, including, as we understand, children.

Now, the police chief of Grand Blanc, Michigan, where the shooting happened, said authorities will execute a search warrant at the suspect's home and will also be going through phone records in search of a motive for today's tragedy. The police chief also saying noting the suspect was killed in this shooting. Much more on that just ahead.

And to this now, President Donald Trump is once again deploying troops to U.S. cities he says are ridden with crime, this time to Portland, Oregon. Posting on Truth Social, the president authorized what he called full force in Portland if necessary, claiming the city is war ravaged and that immigration facilities are under siege by antifa and what he calls domestic terrorists.

Federal agents have been arriving in Portland since yesterday. Homeland Security is defending Trump, pointing to what it calls weeks of violent riots. State and local leaders in Oregon, meanwhile, are pushing back against these claims, saying the city is calm and that sending in troops will only stir up the conflict.

This comes after Trump deployed troops to Los Angeles in June and Washington, D.C., last month.

For more on this, let's bring in Kevin Liptak from Washington.

Kevin, tell us, what else are you hearing from the White House on this?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. And what the White House says is that this is a necessary step, citing charges of arson and assault that occurred outside of that ICE building about two miles from downtown Portland.

But I do think it's also clear that this step that the president announced on Truth Social about a day ago now did come as a surprise to many officials and many people in Oregon, not least of which was the governor of the state, who said that she learned about it first from social media and said that she had to get Trump on the phone to learn more about what his intentions were. She said that she told him that Portland is doing just fine, and that the city was a far cry from the war ravaged community that he's posting about on social media.

I also think the fact that we haven't gotten a specific timeline from officials just gives you a sense that this wasn't necessarily a -- planned very well ahead of time. The president didn't necessarily sort of have a specific timeline in mind when he put that out yesterday. We also don't have a sense yet of what types of troops the president will be activating, whether they're from the National Guard or whether they're active duty military troops.

Now, I think the best way to interpret this is potentially as kind of a test case. You know, the president has been talking for the last several weeks about going after some of these left-wing groups. And in his social media post yesterday, he linked the violence in Portland to antifa, which is the left-wing anti-fascist group that he's designated domestic terrorists.

And I think it's also kind of about what Portland represents to this administration.

Obviously, it's a city that's long been a bastion of liberal politics. It has been in the past, a hotbed of protests. And you can kind of see how the president is using this city as an example of his sort of tough on crime message. I do think the timing here, though, is interesting.

Next week on Tuesday, the president will be speaking to every general and admiral in the U.S. military. We just learned that today that the president will be heading out to that gathering that's being convened by the Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth. This meeting is essentially designed as a pep rally for these top military officials. But it does come at a moment when the president is increasingly using the military for domestic purposes, which will certainly lend that meeting an interesting dynamic.

FREEMAN: Yeah, certainly. Indeed.

All right. Kevin Liptak, thank you so much for that reporting. Appreciate it.

And still to come, the latest details ahead of the arraignment for former FBI Director James Comey. The question is, will there be more indictments to come? Stay with us.

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[14:38:55]

FREEMAN: There are new details today after former FBI Director James Comey was indicted by a grand jury on perjury and obstruction charges. Comey is set to be arraigned on October 9th in federal court. On Fox News, Vice President J.D. Vance said he rejects the notion that Comey's indictment was political retribution from President Trump. Vance added that he's certain that more indictments will be coming. Now, here's what Andrew McCabe, who served as -- rather who serves as

CNN law enforcement analyst and who was Comey's former deputy director at the time at the FBI, said to Hake Tapper on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": The indictment says that Comey lied in 2017 and then again in 2020, when he was asked about the 2017 testimony, when he denied having ever, quote, "authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports about the Trump investigation or the Clinton investigation," unquote.

Given your experience with Comey, was he honest when he said he had never authorized a leak?

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: All I can say to that, Jake, is I'm not aware of Jim Comey ever authorizing some other person to leak information.

[14:40:06]

That's not something I experienced personally. It's not something I saw in the -- all the time I spent working around Jim Comey.

So, I can't sit here and characterize his testimony, which I think is far from clear enough to be the basis of a false statement or perjury prosecution. But nevertheless, all I can say is what my own experience revealed. And that is, I didn't ever see Jim Comey authorizing other people to leak information.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Joining me now is former Miami-Dade County court judge and Cooley Law School professor, Jeff Swartz.

Jeff, thank you for being here today.

Okay. So, we're expecting Comey to surrender at some point in the near future. Also, looking ahead towards that arraignment.

Comey, for his part, is clearly saying he's innocent and ready to fight. So, what should we expect from his team this coming week?

JEFF SWARTZ, FORMER JUDGE, MIAMI-DADE COUNTY COURT: Okay, first of all, yes, he will have to surrender. He will be booked. He'll have his photograph taken. All of those things.

He will be there for the purposes of -- on the 9th of October for an arraignment in front of the judge that's going to hear this case, at which point he will then enter a plea of guilty or not guilty, obviously, not guilty, and he will ask for a trial by jury.

Now, the question now comes in is, does when he comes in there, does -- do his lawyers ask for a speedy trial? That means that from the moment that he's in front of a judge, they have 70 days to bring him to trial under the federal Speedy Trial Rule, there are times that that can be extended that the court can grant extensions. But the fact of the matter is that he sounds like he wants a rapid trial.

Now, some of the other things that are going to happen are they're going to ask -- they're going to file a motion for a Bill of Particulars. Everybody is speculating as to who person number one is and who person number three is. The speculation at this point based upon Mr. McCabe's statement is he can't possibly be, number three because he has not spoken to the prosecutor. His testimony does not comport with the indictment. Mr. Richmond is more likely than not, who is a friend of Mr. Comey's, probably number three.

The problem that we have here is that what was supposedly leaked was a memo that Mr. Comey wrote to his own file that did not have any secure or classified information in it. So that makes number one, Donald Trump.

Is the government really prepared to put Donald Trump on the stand to testify that he, in fact, is number one, and that somehow the statements that he made were classified or secret or in some way subject to being leaked as opposed to Mr. Comey just letting his version of a conversation with the president out? There's a lot here at play.

FREEMAN: Sure.

SWARTZ: So, we'll have to see what happens.

FREEMAN: Well, I appreciate something that you said in terms of, again, figuring out who is who in this particular indictment.

I want you to listen to McCabe's response when Jake Tapper asked him specifically if he'd been contacted by the FBI regarding this investigation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCABE: I've not been contacted. I haven't been interviewed. They're not asked to interview me. And of course, if my interactions with Jim Comey nine years ago, in October 2016 was going to be the basis of this entire prosecution, it's -- it's unbelievable to think that prosecutors wouldn't at least want to sit down and hear what I had to say about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: So, Judge, it's interesting, as you noted, it seems like he is not part necessarily of this investigation, but he sounds like he's eager to share his perspective, certainly from being around at the time. No?

SWARTZ: Yes. Yes. It does sound like he's eager to testify if he is person number three, and it's clear that at least from what we heard and I heard that this morning, I was watching Jake this morning and I heard it. I said to myself, we now know that McCabe is not person number three. So that means that it has to be Mr. Richman. And now the question is, what you know was in that memo, which was a

conversation that he had with the president. Now, there was nothing classified in it. And as a result of which it must be Mr. Trump trying to claim that somehow it was personal and not subject to being disclosed. But that doesn't make it a leak. And you're now going to get into interpretation. What is a leak and what is letting information out that should be public information anyway.

FREEMAN: Yeah, I think the big question is, is what does this all look like if and when it gets to trial?

Professor and former judge, Jeff Swartz --

SWARTZ: Right.

FREEMAN: -- thank you so much for your time. We have to leave it there for now.

SWARTZ: My pleasure. Have a great day, Danny.

FREEMAN: You, too.

All right. Still to come, Russia launches a massive attack on Ukraine, lighting up the skies over Kyiv. Take a look.

[14:45:04]

We'll hear from the city's mayor, who's lashing out and calling Russia's attacks genocide.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREEMAN: We continue to monitor that horrific breaking news out of Michigan, where a shooting and fire took place at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, north of Detroit, just outside of Flint, Michigan. One person confirmed dead, nine others injured, including, as we understand, children.

[14:50:02]

Now, the police chief of Grand Blanc says authorities will execute a search warrant at the suspect's home and will also be going through phone records in search of a motive for today's tragedy. We'll have much more on that just ahead.

But new today, Ukraine once again under attack. As CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau reports, it's one of the biggest assaults since the war began.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Another deadly intense aerial assault, this time with more than 600 drones and dozens of missiles sent into Ukraine by Russia early Sunday has rattled nerves across Europe.

Poland scrambled military jets as the fighting intensified just a week after incursions into their airspace by Russia, which. Russia has denied and called a provocation. Inside Ukraine, at least four people were killed, including a 12-year-old girl in Kyiv.

Civilian homes were destroyed, including this man's house.

MARK SERGEEV, PASTOR AND KYIV RESIDENT: I have three boys, so they are still alive and smiling today. I don't know, it's -- it's a miracle, really. It's a miracle for me that I -- that I'm alive. But this is our reality. Our neighbor, crazy neighbor from Russia., still fighting with us.

NADEAU: The intense attacks underscore how far both sides are from a ceasefire and how difficult it remains to envision an end to this ongoing war.

Barbie Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREEMAN: Meanwhile, as recovery operations got underway in Kyiv, the city's mayor expressed his anger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLADIMIR KLITSCHKO, MAYOR OF KYIV: It's one more example genocide of Russian federation against Ukraine, against capital of Ukraine to kill peaceful people, to destroy peaceful, peaceful districts in our hometown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Ukraine's military said they repelled most of the cruise missiles and drones that were launched by Russia.

All right. Still to come, we'll have the latest on the potential rout at the Ryder Cup. We have a live report coming up in just a moment from Bethpage Black, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:42]

FREEMAN: Well, let's call it like we see it, right? They're going to need a miracle. As the final day of play at the Ryder Cup gets underway at Bethpage Black, the Americans need to make big moves and fast. Team Europe is on the verge of a win in what has become quite the shellacking.

CNN "WORLD SPORT" anchor Don Riddell is at the course.

Don, bring us up to speed. What's happening? Is all hope lost?

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: So right now, this Sunday, single session, Danny is competitive, but the American team needed to be more than competitive. They need to absolutely dominate it. The state of play is that following the Saturday afternoon drama, the

European team are up by 12 points to five. That is the biggest lead, in the Ryder Cup of all time.

You only need 14 points to tie this, 14-1/2 to win it. So, the European players, they only need two of the 11 available today to draw this and retain the trophy. Two and a half to win it. Flip it the other way around, the Americans need nine and a half points out of the 11 that are available.

If they were to somehow pull this off, I think it would be the biggest comeback in all of sports. I can't think of anything that would compare with it. And for context, the biggest comeback we've ever seen in the Ryder Cup is four points down. As I say, they are seven points behind. It's going to take something absolutely extraordinary for the Americans to do it, but they're trying.

FREEMAN: Well, and, Don, as I understand yesterday, tempers between players, even fans, were flaring. Has today at least been a little more peaceful?

RIDDELL: Well, I would say it has been a little more peaceful until maybe about 20 minutes before I came up here to speak to you. Danny. Yesterday was pretty atrocious, to be honest. The behavior of some of the fans towards the European players was appalling. There's really no other way to put it vulgarity, some deeply personal insults were being thrown at the players, in particular in the direction of Rory McIlroy.

Towards the end, it got particularly heated between some of the players and their caddies. It really did all boil over to the surface. I hope that's behind us. The people involved, certainly the players involved, were kind of trying to play it all down. They wanted the rest of us to focus on and just remember the incredible golf.

But let's see what happens this afternoon. As I say, it's competitive. It could get heated again. I spoke to the American captain Keegan Bradley about this last night. This was his perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEEGAN BRADLEY, TEAM USA CAPTAIN: You're always going to have a few people that cross the line, and that's unfortunate. I really was happy to see our players trying to quiet down some people that were like that. But, you know, part of it is, is our fault. You know, we're not playing up to the standards that they want to see. And they're angry and they should be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: Well, that bit is certainly true. The American team, certainly of the first two days, did not play at all. Well, maybe the Europeans just absolutely blew them out of the water because they have been brilliant. It's going to be an interesting day. Let's see how this plays out.

FREEMAN: All right. Fingers crossed for the Americans. But I won't hold my breath.

Don Riddell, thank you so much. Appreciate you.

And coming up, an all-new episode of "THE WHOLE STORY" airs tonight at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN. Anderson Cooper will take an in-depth look at the controversy of the Jimmy Kimmel suspension at ABC.

Tune into "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER", "No Laughing Matter: Free Speech Under Attack" tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern.