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Erin Burnett Outfront
Emory University Reports Shooting On Campus; Trump Confirms Putin Meeting; New Filing: DOJ Pushing To Release Epstein Grand Jury Exhibits. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 08, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:29]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, a massive police presence on the campus of Emory University in Atlanta after reports of an active shooter. At least one officer injured. A press conference is expected to start any minute. We're going to be live on the scene.
Also breaking, President Trump tonight confirms that he is about to meet with Putin here in the U.S. and talk about, quote, swapping territories. Is Trump about to give Putin everything he wants?
And, is Trump about to get duped by Jeffrey Epstein's ex-girlfriend and accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell? Hear the warning from a Trump insider.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening to you. I'm Jim Sciutto, in tonight for Erin Burnett.
A lot of breaking news to get to this evening, including a just announced meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in the United States next week.
First, though, the breaking news in Atlanta. A massive police presence there. An active shooter reported on the Emory University campus. Emory University, now continuing to urge people to avoid the area. The university sent out an alert saying, quote, run, hide, fight.
And we are just now getting new video in which you can hear repeated gunfire.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
SCIUTTO: Such a frightening and all too familiar sound.
Our Ryan Young is on the scene there.
And, Ryan, a familiarly chaotic scene in the midst of this, the last day of summer session for Emory University students were on campus. Is the situation under control now?
RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It does appear the situation is under control. In fact, during your intro, I was just reading through a text message from a source of mine saying they're actually still clearing some buildings. It looks like everything has been okay, but there's a complication in this in terms of you're talking about Emory University, but also the CDC sits just across the street. Some people do believe who are working in the law enforcement community, that may have been the target at some point.
I do know there's a CVS that's at the top of the hill. We were just standing outside as they were talking to some of the people who worked inside that CVS, and they were describing and using their arms to sort of show what it looked like when that long weapon was pointed in different directions.
You heard those 30 shots. People were terrified, could hear one woman touch her heart when she talked about each shot over and over. I know you can hear the sirens going by here when you say this is an active scene, you're talking about the FBI, the ATF, you have APD here in DeKalb County.
We do know an officer was shot. We know the suspect is down. We believe he showed up in all black with a long rifle and an open fire around 4:53. That's when the first calls came out. So, Jim, we're still trying to go through all the details on this. We know a news conference should happen in this hour, so we'll bring that to you live.
But hopefully, we'll get more information, maybe hear something about a motive. But right now, we do know a suspect is down and dead. An officer was shot. Not sure about their condition right now. And we have to figure out if there was anybody else who was hurt in this. Especially with all the running that happened.
And you got that tweet from the university, which nobody wants to read. Fight, run, hide.
SCIUTTO: Yeah.
YOUNG: Unbelievable. So that's something that we're still working through, Jim.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. The last resort, right? Run, hide, fight.
I wonder, are students now on the campus given it so close to where this took place? Have they been told they can go back to normal there, or are they still being encouraged to take shelter?
YOUNG: Yeah, they said that shelter in place has been lifted. And I can tell you as we walked up, it took us a while to get back to the scene here. We were able to actually talk to some folks through text message as well, just about the fact that once they put that lockdown in, people were stuck either on the outside or the inside. So, people have been trying to move their way through here.
We do know some students are moving freely, but also there are those parents that I discussed because this is a living community. So there's also shops and other restaurants that people were stuck in, and they're trying to get away to get back to their cars, to get out.
But that real question right now is, was anybody else hurt when those 30 shots were fired from that long weapon.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. And as so often happens in situations like this, a long rifle involved, early detail there.
Ryan Young on the scene in Atlanta, thanks so much.
And we are, of course, going to continue to monitor this story. We are expecting the police to give an update shortly, and we'll bring you those comments live, as it happens.
[19:05:06]
Our other top story tonight, Trump appearing to hand Putin a win. The president tonight announced that he plans to meet with the Russian president next Friday in Alaska. This would be the first time the Russian president has been on U.S. soil in nearly ten years. The hope, to secure a peace deal to end Putin's brutal three and a half year full scale invasion of Ukraine.
But the big question, of course, tonight, at what cost?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll be meeting very shortly with President Putin. It would have been sooner, but I guess their security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make. President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace. And Zelenskyy wants to see peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Trump says Putin wants to see peace. Of course, if Putin really did want peace, he could call off his deadly war at any moment. But he hasn't. And that's because Trump revealed what Putin wants in exchange for stopping the bloodshed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You're looking at territory that's been fought over for three and a half years with, you know, a lot of Russians have died. A lot of Ukrainians have died. So we're looking at that, but we're actually looking to get some back and some swapping.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Let's be clear here, though, that is swapping Ukrainian sovereign territory seized by Russia by force, displacing countless Ukrainians and looking cities -- leaving cities looking like that. They're killing an estimated 13,000 civilians, according to the U.N.
Now, a source tells CNN that Putin and Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, discussed an end to the fighting if Ukraine were to cede control of all of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in Eastern Ukraine, land mostly under Russian control, as well as Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed back in 2014.
As for Putin, he has never been shy when it comes to what his true intentions are. When it comes to Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: Russia isn't capturing territory. We are returning what's rightfully ours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Not acknowledging that Ukraine is a sovereign country.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT live outside the White House.
Kristen, I'm wondering how this summit came together. What was the price for President Trump of meeting face to face on U.S. soil with the Russian leader?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, I'm going to get into the back and forth in just one second. But I do want to note one part of all of this. You say the big question is at what cost? I would also say the big question is where is Volodymyr Zelenskyy in all of this?
We don't understand yet what his role is going to be in this sit down where they are going to allegedly talk about ending the war in Ukraine, but it doesn't seem apparent that Zelenskyy has signed off on this meeting that's happening in Alaska.
Now, in terms of how they landed here and how we got here. We know a couple of things. One, when the Middle Eastern envoy, Steve Witkoff was in Russia, he met with Putin and Putin presented a plan that would essentially, as you noted, cede these territories to Russia. These are Ukrainian territories.
Witkoff has gone back with that plan to the U.S. That is a plan that is now currently under discussion. Still a reminder, Ukraine has never signed off and said it would give any of its territory to Russia.
Now, there was a back and forth about Putin and Trump in the same room. They had both wanted to meet, and it's a little bit questionable who suggested the meeting first. Russia, of course, says it was Trump. Trump, of course, says that it was Russia. We'll just leave it at. They both wanted to meet.
So, there's been an intense back and forth for a number of days where President Trump has been urging his team to get this done and get this done as quickly as possible. There was a number of places that were floated everywhere, from places in the Middle East, Dubai, Doha, as well as Switzerland. And they landed on Alaska.
I'm told earlier today. Now one of the big considerations is that Alaska is in the middle of Russia and the United States. It is actually a landing point there. I'm told the other reason is that there were a lot of security concerns and concerns on both sides. We know that Russia had said that they didn't want to go to Europe because of outstanding warrants, because of the war in Ukraine that was launched.
I was told that Trump was not necessarily keen on going all the way back to the Middle East, and this is how they landed in the middle here. How it was Alaska exactly. Again, I think this was partly a location thing, but we are still looking into that.
I think the big question now is, are they going to come to the table with a deal? We know that there has been a deal knocking around.
But one of the things that I was told was that they wanted European buy in, they wanted buy in from their allies. The U.S. did on any deal. They came to the table with in terms of a deal with Putin, it's unclear that that was going to happen, Jim.
[19:10:00]
SCIUTTO: Right. Well, and presumably you want Ukrainian approval for such a deal. Not clear that we have that yet either.
Kristen Holmes at the White House, thanks so much.
OUTFRONT now, Fareed Zakaria host of, of course, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS".
Fareed, good to have you.
You know, it struck me, as President Trump was describing this meeting, that once again, he describes Ukrainian territory as if a war just happened, right? That a lot of Russian soldiers died to take that territory. Not acknowledging in those comments that, of course, it was Russia that invaded by choice. And it's the Russian leader who denies Ukraine's sovereignty.
What is your view as to whether President Trump will be a fair mediator in these talks, in attempting to reach a deal?
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS": Well, nothing in his past actions suggests he'll be a fair mediator. This is how we got here.
President Trump came into office thinking he was going to end this war, and he had a simple plan, which was he was going to force the Ukrainians to accept a very unjust peace in which they essentially gave up all the territory that that they had lost to Russia's aggression, that they agreed that they would never become a member of NATO, that they agreed that there would never be any American troops on their soil, that there would be no security guarantees for, for Ukraine. Those are all things Putin has wanted.
So he began, in a sense, by preemptively giving all the things that Putin had wanted at the start of the negotiations.
Zelenskyy initially resisted, but finally realized that he had no alternative but to, at least largely accept them. Putin still didn't agree because Putin sensed weakness. He sensed that Ukraine was now battered and crippled. Trump, even at one point stopped sending intelligence to Ukrainians.
And the Russians have tried to make advances. They have not been able to. Russia has been stuck. They're losing thousands of soldiers every week by some reports.
So now, Putin wants to make the deal clearly on his terms. And I suspect that Trump is going to be very sympathetic to Putin's case.
SCIUTTO: This is, of course, an enormous problem for the Ukrainian president, who, to our knowledge, will not be present there. It's not clear when he will be brought in on, on the outlines of the deal. He to your point, Fareed, has already swallowed some bitter pills, right, including signing away NATO membership for now.
How does the Ukrainian president view and approach these talks here?
ZAKARIA: It's a very tough question because Ukraine has been battered. I mean, this is a country one quarter the population of Russia, one tenth the economy of Russia that has been bravely resisting this, this aggression. But naturally it's the weaker party here.
What Zelenskyy, I think, is going to look for is he needs a security guarantee. Without a security guarantee, Ukraine will remain a crippled basket case. Who? What businessman is going to build a factory in Ukraine if you don't have a security guarantee? Because the Russians could take it over the next day.
So that I think is going to be core. And I think if they don't get some of those core conditions, don't expect Ukraine to simply surrender and give up its national existence. I don't think they will.
They'll fight reluctantly. And they know the cost. But for them, this is existential. This is their country.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. Ukrainian member of parliament told me a long time ago the political pressure in Ukraine for Zelenskyy is tens of thousands of mothers who lost sons and daughters in this war.
Fareed Zakaria, thanks so much for joining.
And of course, don't miss "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS" Sundays at 10:00 and 1:00.
And I want to bring in Vladimir Milov, a former deputy minister of energy in Russia who served under Vladimir Putin before resigning.
Good to have you on tonight, especially given your background with the Russian president here.
The first time Putin will be in the U.S. for years, a face-to-face meeting directly with the U.S. president. Is this a win for Vladimir Putin?
VLADIMIR MILOV, FORMER RUSSIAN DEPUTY MINISTER OF ENERGY: Great to be with you. And you and your guests have mentioned this already. It's a very bad sign that President Zelenskyy of Ukraine will not be there. And actually, I think one issue which is missing from the news coverage is a very brazen commentary that came from Moscow after Trump's envoy, Witkoff, had visited Putin earlier this week.
Moscow said that we don't want Zelenskyy to take part in negotiations at any circumstances, like they want only to talk to Trump bilaterally, which means that Putin's strategy is to agree something with Trump, which will then later be imposed on Ukraine as a condition for American support or anything.
[19:15:14]
I mean, Trump will exert all sorts of pressure on Ukraine to agree to a deal which was drafted without Ukrainian presence.
So, these are all not good signs at all.
SCIUTTO: You have been consistently skeptical of Vladimir Putin's interest in making any sort of peace in Ukraine. Do you believe Putin would have agreed to this summit if he didn't believe the ultimate outcome would benefit him in Russia?
MILOV: Well, you know, the first time I saw Vladimir Putin was 26 years ago. Exactly these days of August 1999, and so far, I mean, his habit of behaving was that he never given an inch concession, not on any matter before he was sort of cornered and pressured and forced to do so. So, if he has some options to explore getting it his way before he really has to surrender and back off after, you know, facing some fierce resistance, he would not back off.
That means the whole setup for the next week, Alaska meeting is it is announced. Is that Putin is in a stronger position. He finally know talking about do you remember ultimatum August 8th deadline. Whatever. Whatever happened to that?
I mean, so you see, like Zelenskyy is out of the conversation. So, you see that the whole setup is not good. And listen to Moscow's language very carefully. That gives you a hint with what mood Vladimir Putin comes to this negotiations.
He's very brazen, very self-assured, and like not an inch, demonstrating that he's ready to back off.
SCIUTTO: Such a good point. Not a single mention by the president today of that deadline that was meant to be today for additional sanctions.
Vladimir Milov, thanks so much for joining.
MILOV: My pleasure.
SCIUTTO: OUTFRONT next, more breaking news out of Atlanta. We are now learning that the officer shot has been killed. Our John Miller learning from the suspect's family, why they believe the CDC was the target.
Plus, Trump seeks revenge. Tonight, his DOJ is investigating one of his biggest critics. New York's attorney general, who sued Trump and won. And she's far from the only high profile Democrat that Trump is going after.
Plus, as questions about Jeffrey Epstein grow, where is Attorney General Pam Bondi? She was once a Fox News regular, but lately, she's been nowhere to be found.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:22:16]
SCIUTTO: Breaking news the CDC right now still on lockdown after an active shooter reported on the Emory University campus. Emory University right now continuing to urge people, including students, to shelter in place. The entire campus of the centers for disease control and prevention, which is nearby also on lockdown.
Our John Miller spoke to his law enforcement sources and is now learning new details about the suspect and possible motive.
CNN's Ryan Young is on the scene.
Josh Campbell also standing by with more details.
Ryan, what more are we learning about potential motive here?
YOUNG: (AUDIO GAP) here, Jim. And we know that the news conference should start in the next 10 to 15 minutes or so, but we do have that new reporting from John Miller. I'm going to read this, to make sure I get it correct.
The law enforcement official tells John Miller that after speaking with family members, police are operating under the theory that the shooter either was sick or believed that he was sick, and blamed the illness on the COVID vaccine. So, you understand why he may have been targeting the CDC. That's information that we're getting.
And we've also been told that people around that area believe they saw that gun being pointed toward that building that goes along with the reporting that we had earlier. And, of course, I told you about sources telling me we needed to be here around 4:50 because they believe someone was trying to attack the CDC.
This person, of course, according to the folks who were outside the CVS was standing there with what looked like a long rifle dressed in black, firing toward that building. We have that video that you played at the top of this show where you can hear shot after shot, people saying they heard as many as 30 shots. We believe at that point, an officer, DeKalb county police officer engaged with the shooter. That officer was shot. We know the suspect was taken down and killed.
We're hoping to get more information about how this all played out now that lockdown took place here. We saw hundreds of officers, both federal and local officers and swat teams swarming to this area. It took an hour and a half for me to make it up the hill, because the scene here is about a mile up the road. We walked up that way and it's still pretty much on lockdown. On top
of that, you could see the greater community here when it comes to students and parents and people who work in the restaurants and the businesses up there who are either trapped on one side or trying to get the loved ones who were calling them.
That tweet that you talked about really stood out to all of us in terms of from the Emory campus, talking about hide, run, fight. That was really part of this process here.
So, as we work that together, we knew from our federal and local law enforcement officials that they were taking this seriously. They had an active shooter. One of their own had been shot.
And now within the next 15 minutes or so, part of this investigation will be revealed to us when they have this news conference.
One other point I want to bring up, Jim, they did do a sweep of the buildings and they were bringing additional SWAT officers in because you have a large campus like this, a beautiful area. You want to make sure there are no other pockets of people hiding or in need of help.
We're not sure if anybody else was injured when these shots were being fired, but that's something that we're going to be trying to confirm in the next 20 minutes or so.
SCIUTTO: So many shots as we heard that audio earlier in the program. Ryan Young, thanks so much.
Josh Campbell with us too. I know you've been speaking to your FBI sources.
Given this new information from the family members of the shooter regarding the possibility that the CDC was a target, what does that do to this investigation?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So this changes it in an important way. We're talking about a U.S. federal government agency here that appears to have been the victim. The people that were inside that building.
And so, we can expect that the FBI would probably take a greater role here. Theres no rush to move to changing jurisdiction. They're obviously working already. We know based on the bureau, they're providing assistance.
But again, the big question is going to be now getting into that motive, I also want to tell you that we've learned from our colleague Francesca Hoffman, who talked to an individual who was there at the CDC. This is adjacent to the Emory University campus who said that they saw a man come up to the campus, put down a backpack, pull out a rifle. This eyewitness saying that they then heard multiple shots and then called 911.
And so, again, all of this based on bystanders that were there, as well as that reporting from our colleague John miller, it all appears that the CDC was the focus here, and it's worth pointing out that the FBI will be digging into this persons past.
But, you know, I'm not a mental health expert, but that's obviously not a rational action someone takes in this type of situation to act with violence. And so that's something that they'll be looking into with their mental health concerns that are here. We know in this country it is easy to access firearms. And so, there will be a question.
And then the final point, Jim, is you and I have covered so many of these incidents, and we know that the FBI has gone back and studied these in the past. And what they found is that these shooters, they don't just snap one day, there's this pathway to violence, as they call it. And a lot of times these shooters will exhibit warning signs.
The big question will be, did anyone in that shooters orbit actually know?
SCIUTTO: No question. It's a good point. Josh and Ryan, please stand by.
Also bringing in Juliette Kayyem, who worked at the Department of Homeland Security in the past, and, Juliette, again, this is early, but this is a new piece of information from family members about the possibility that the shooter bore some grudge against the CDC, blaming a COVID vaccine for illness.
It does show you, does it not, the danger of disinformation, right? Disinformation, combined with an ability to get firearms and then take out a gripe with violence against a government building and those around it, law enforcement. It's a dangerous, dangerous combination.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Right. And I mean, we see -- I mean, recently that another shooter believed that his injuries in New York City believed that his injuries were caused by football and then attacked the NFL. You're seeing people sort of self-identifying or self-diagnosing about what why they're feeling a certain way and then going after the institutions that they blame for it. I guess this is also true of United Health as well.
The CDC obviously has a particular place in American society right now in terms of the debates about not just COVID in the past, but obviously vaccines in the future. It is part of the world that anyone who sort of, you know, following online a world of who to blame, and whether we trust science or scientists and also just out there, government officials, that's the big -- you know, CDC is not a private entity.
And that's the kind of radicalization -- self-radicalization that someone might experience as they monitor online or determine who they can blame for what, in fact, they're feeling. This is -- I mean, this is a process that we've talked about before, which is there's no such thing as a lone wolf, someone identifies with a narrative about why they're feeling a certain way or why they hate, or why they do X, Y, or Z. And looking at this person, sort of social media consumption, what he was saying, and also what he was absorbing is important in terms of, of getting to motive. SCIUTTO: Yeah. I mean, throughline, right, of somehow blaming a
government department or government official or to your point, the NFL or with the shooting just last week for your problems, right. And then taking -- taking violent action and the path to radicalization has a lot of parallels, frankly, to terrorism. And you and I have talked about terror attacks where you see a similar self-radicalization that leads to acts of violence.
[19:30:03]
Juliette, stand by.
Our Ryan Young, as we mentioned, is on the scene there.
And, Ryan, we are waiting for an update from the police on the shooting as well, any minute now.
YOUNG: Right. And actually, the mayor of Atlanta has just arrived here. The police chief is with him as well. One thing that we should bring up, also, because you were talking about some of these other shooting situations, is the CDC is pretty much a hard site. You can't just gain access to the campus itself, so you have to go through a security gate to even get to most of the buildings there. It's up on top of a hill.
And so, anyone who's approaching would be seen from that front gate area. The CVS is sort of right across the street from that. So that may have played into why he decided to stand there. And as we arrived here and were watching, we could see those CVS employees actually explaining to the officers what was going on.
We do know there's also surveillance cameras on both sides, so there should be some sort of visual cue for what happened here. They should be able to watch it. I'm sure they were looking at that at the command center before they came here.
The gathering of folks now from different agencies and the mayor's office is happening just off camera right here. We believe they'll walk over and start filling us in on this information.
But you got to understand, we're talking about 450 on a Friday in Atlanta. This is a very busy area. Folks were driving by.
There were so many people who heard those gunshots and were terrified. When that lockdown went out. People who work for the CDC, and for Emory University. You can just imagine the terror they were being able to deal with, and then on top of that, you have an officer who was shot in this as they were able to take the suspect down.
SCIUTTO: And students on campus, right, summer session. And then, of course, got to think of their parents, how they reacted to this news.
So, Ryan, Josh, Juliette, thanks to all of you. We do continue to wait for that update from the scene there from the authorities.
OUTFRONT next, standing by for the police press conference any minute now after the deadly shooting in Atlanta that appears to have been targeting the CDC. We will bring you that press conference when it happens.
Plus, a top Trump insider tonight raising concerns that the president could be duped by Jeffrey Epstein's former associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:36:21]
SCIUTTO: Tonight, Trump's revenge. The president's Department of Justice is now opening an investigation into one of Trump's biggest adversaries, New York Attorney General Letitia James.
At issue, her investigation into the Trump Organization. James, you'll remember, sued Trump in 2022 during the campaign, she accused him of lying about his real estate empire and inflating the value of his properties. James won.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK ATTORNEY GENERAL: The scale and the scope of Donald Trump's fraud is staggering and so too is his ego and his belief that the rules do not apply to him. Today, we are holding Donald Trump accountable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Trump was fined more than $450 million. The judge in the case also took away Trump's right to do business in New York for three years. James hit Trump where it hurts the most, and Trump has had it out for her, accusing James of engaging in a political witch hunt against him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That's Letitia James. She campaigned on the fact that I will get Trump. I'm going to get Trump.
The anger -- she's got serious Trump derangement syndrome. Theres no question about Letitia James, the corrupt attorney general of New York.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: James's lawyer called this, quote, the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president's political retribution campaign. James is far from the only Democrat who Trump's Justice Department is now targeting.
OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.
Good to have you on. Thanks for taking the time this evening. When you look at these two cases, the civil fraud case trial judge
ruled Trump inflated his worth. And you look at the case against the NRA. A jury determined the NRA's CEO misspent the organization's funds.
Anything criminal in those cases that you can perceive? And do you see this as evidence that he is now weaponizing the Justice Department?
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, of course, he is. He's on a political revenge tour. Look, in America, if you disagree with a prosecution or a civil lawsuit that's been brought against you, then you mount a defense against it. Donald Trump had high priced lawyers working for a defense against the civil fraud suit, but he was found guilty and fined $450 million debt. He owes that is now worth more than a half a billion dollars, because he still hasn't paid it.
And it's the same thing with respect to the civil lawsuit against Wayne LaPierre. He lost his suit for having misspent millions of dollars that belonged to the NRA.
So, now, they're appointing Ed Martin, the one guy that they couldn't get through the U.S. Senate. I mean, we're talking about a Republican controlled Senate that was willing to approve Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to be the secretary of health and human services. But they would not approve Ed Martin, this guy who is an election denier.
He participated and helped to organize the events on January 6th. And he's been a J6 lawyer. And now he's just going after Donald Trump's enemies. And he's also somebody who has defended a neo-Nazi and called him a great guy and an extraordinary man, and so on.
SCIUTTO: Back in 2018, and you heard Trump in the introduction reference these comments. As a candidate, James vowed that as attorney general, she would go after Trump.
[19:40:00]
Let me play those comments for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES: I'm running for attorney general because I will never be afraid to challenge this illegitimate president. I believe that the president of these United States can be indicted for criminal offenses, and we would join with law enforcement and other attorneys general across this nation in removing this president from office. The days of Donald Trump are coming to an end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Apologies, Congressman. We do want to go now live to a press conference in Atlanta regarding the shooting outside Emory University. Let's listen in.
MAYOR ANDRE DICKENS, ATLANTA: This active shooter incident started this afternoon. And Chief Schierbaum will give you some of the details regarding that.
I witnessed over the last two hours a very coordinated response. A lot of training had to go into how these men and women of Emory University, Dekalb County police, the FBI, the city of Atlanta police, fire and rescue from both DeKalb and the city of Atlanta, the GBI, Georgia state patrol. I saw officers coming from all over to be able to respond to this incident.
At this time, Chief Schierbaum will give you more of the details, but at this time, the shooter is deceased and we don't have any civilians that have been shot in this active shooter incident. Thank God for that.
We do have a DeKalb County officer that was also shot. And at this very moment, the CEO of DeKalb County, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, as well as the police chief of DeKalb County, are at the hospital right now meeting and talking with individuals, the families and other officers that were involved having to respond to this emergency situation. They will shortly come to this very same spot to give a press conference and an update on that officer and that incident.
And at this time, also on the CDC's campus, there are 92 children that are in a daycare that is on this campus. They are safe and we are setting up with the CDC and all connected parties to be able to get those families reunited with those children at a local school very nearby. And we have the address of that. That chief will give you the specific address and name of that school nearby.
So, we are working to unify families, and at this time there have been no civilian casualties. But this was an active shooter incident. The shooter is now deceased. The campus is -- there are no threats on the campus currently. And -- but we still have an active investigation.
Atlanta Police Department will be the investigating party. And so, we ask that while things are safe that you don't drive in that part of campus because we need to make sure that the investigation goes through without any obstruction.
Again, to the men and women that work at the CDC, we know that you've had a tough go of it in the past. Year. And my heart goes out to you as uncertainty was around your occupation and you being citizens of Atlanta, that means something to me. And then today this occurs.
We are with you, we stand with you and we're doing everything we can to make sure that we bring resolve to this situation. And FBI, SAC Brown, he may be able to tell you more about some of the some of the windows that might have been shot on various floors of the CDC as gunfire did take place.
The other thing is to those parents of those 92 children that are at the CDC, I'm a parent as well. I know your uncertainty and your fear and your concern has been high. We wanted to come give you this message that all the children are safe, and that we will be making sure that you get reunited with them as soon as possible. I know your heart is just really, really aching, but the good news is, none of them have been injured. And we will get you connected to those, to your loved ones really soon.
I'll come back to this microphone after others have -- will be given a chance to speak. Now I turn it over to Chief Darin Schierbaum as Atlanta Police Department has been in coordination with all the other outstanding agencies as we've been working together. And this is why we train on active shooter drills, et cetera. Around this region. This has been a group project and a coordinated effort.
And Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta police chief, will now address you.
CHIEF DARIN SCHIERBAUM, ATLANTA POLICE DEPARTMENT: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
Just give you an update and some additional information on what the mayor provided. So, this afternoon at approximately 4:50, the Atlanta 911 Center became aware of a report of an active shooter that was occurring at 1600 Clifton Road. This is right at the intersection of Clifton Road and CDC Parkway, immediately in front of the CDC campus.
Officers from multiple agencies responded from the campus across the region, from our federal partners and our state partners responded to the scene. Officers arriving found a critically injured DeKalb County police officer that was down.
[19:45:03]
He was immediately extracted from the scene and taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. Officers could still hear gunfire occurring inside the CVS drugstore that is right there at the intersection. Officers moved quickly to attempt to find the shooter and to neutralize the threat to the community.
We later found the shooter on the second floor of the CVS. He had been struck by gunfire. We do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted. He was removed from the location by Atlanta fire rescue to render aid. He did pass at the scene.
We also know that the CDC campus did receive multiple rounds into their buildings. Right now, as the mayor stated, we are not aware of any injury that occurred to anyone on that location. Four other individuals did later arrive at the hospital. They were treated for stress and anxiety symptoms. They were not injured in the shooting.
And to reemphasize what the mayor stated, the children in the daycare center are unharmed. We have law enforcement and medical professionals with them, and we are coordinating the return of those children to their families. We've already put this out. We want to reemphasize it.
The CDC leadership is communicating this to all parents, but the reunification site is at the Clifton School, which is located at 1900 Starvine Way. S-t-a-r-v-i-n-e Way in Decatur, and we want to again reassure all parents and loved ones that their children are okay.
We do believe there was a single shooter, and we do believe that single shooter is deceased. Right now, the investigation is being conducted by the Atlanta police departments complex case Squad, by the GBI and the FBI in a joint investigation. Until we know more information as to what transpired.
The Atlanta police department is lifting up the DeKalb County officer, the DeKalb County Police department, in our prayers.
And I ask everyone that is watching this broadcast to do the exact same thing.
And I want to commend the men and women of law enforcement from all across this region that when this community needed them, no one shirt from the danger and every officer from multiple jurisdictions responded and immediately moved to end this threat.
Thank you.
Want to say anything.
PAUL BROWN, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, ATLANTA DIVISION: For sure.
All right. I'm Paul Brown, the special agent in charge of the FBIs Atlanta division. And like the chief and the mayor said, we immediately responded to the scene. At this time, we're not aware of any casualties on the campus of the CDC. But in conjunction with our partners, we're methodically clearing that to ensure that that is accurate. And that is the -- remain so. And then once that's done, we'll assist with processing the scene and conducting the investigation jointly with our partners.
MODERATOR: Mayor, Chief, we'll get ready for questions. Well start on this side. We may not be able to get to everyone, but we'll start with you, Rob, over to the mayor's right.
REPORTER: Good evening, Mayor. Is it believed right now that the CDC was targeted in this attack?
DICKENS: Well, I'll let Chief Schierbaum ask anything around the investigation. He'll be able to answer that. But right now, it's so preliminary. I read social media, and I get calls from a number of you that have heard things about this individual's background. He's a white male. And he has a, you know, he is a known person that may have some interest in certain things that I can't reiterate right now with any confidence until the investigation is fully conducted.
But I think that in a short order, you'll know more about this individual and about some assumptions of his motives, but can't say right now.
REPORTER: All right. Can you tell us anything more about the suspect? What kind of weapon did you use? How many rounds went into the CDC building?
DICKENS: Chief?
SCHIERBAUM: Not yet. We can tell you multiple rounds were fired. Sorry, we can tell you that multiple rounds were fired. Both we believe at law enforcement and potentially at the CDC. Purposely, we can't say definitively, but it would appear we can't rule that out right now.
REPORTER: Is -- was he -- is that CVS, a two-story store, or was he in some other kind of place above the store?
SCIUTTO: Okay, we've been listening here to an update from law enforcement as well as the mayor of Atlanta there on the shooting just outside the CDC in Atlanta, confirming that the shooter was killed on scene. Not clear yet whether that was a self-inflicted gunshot wound or the result of rounds fired by officers.
The police also confirmed there that bullets struck the CDC headquarters. And an officer -- responding officer was wounded as well. Notable that the mayor there said just in the last couple of minutes that the shooter was a known person, appearing to have had a record -- or at least known to law enforcement authorities before today's events.
Josh Campbell, Juliette Kayyem, back with me. Ryan Young at the scene.
Josh, does that stand out to you that authorities knew of this person prior? And that -- although the mayor did not confirm the details there, relates to their knowledge of a possible motive here.
[19:50:08]
CAMPBELL: Yeah. You know, and as you pointed out, we don't know exactly what that knowledge that police had of this individual, whether that was someone who was known to them in some type of criminal fashion, I will point out that our colleague John miller is reporting that a relative of the suspect here called police and said that they believe this person was suicidal.
It is unclear from the source whether or not -- or excuse me, how much time had passed between that call to law enforcement and the incident that we actually saw today. And so that is something that law enforcement will certainly be looking into.
And this is a question that you and Juliette and myself have seen so often in these cases. The first question comes up, did police know who this was? And so that will be something they will be trying to, to look into, to see what the extent of that is.
And finally, although authorities are being very conservative right now in what they're saying about the investigation, we do know from sources that it appears the CDC was a target here by this individual who believed that they were ill or, you know, and blamed the COVID-19 vaccine which just gets to some of the misinformation and how dangerous that is that you were discussing earlier. But that appears where this is headed. The CDC has a target.
SCIUTTO: Yeah misinformation, plus guns, potential for violence.
Juliette, we are getting some new video into CNN of the shooting as it was taking place. I'm going to play that now. So, you all can see it, but in the video, we can see two police officers near that CVS, which is where we saw the first aerial footage of these gunshots as they were being exchanged. Have a listen.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
SCIUTTO: Juliette, a thought occurs to me as we watch that video. I was speaking to John Monaghan, former NYPD lieutenant, earlier, who said that, you know, as this country has experienced many shootings like this, law enforcement learns and one of -- one of the changes over time has been to confront quickly, right, that those first responding officers are trained and to do something that requires courage, right? And accepting danger, to confront and attempting to take out that shooter as quickly as they can.
KAYYEM: That's right. I said, there's no dimmer in these active shooter protocols. It's either on or off. And once it's called either from the university or the CDC or local law enforcement, there's only one option for law enforcement, which is to, to -- if they're good. I mean, we've seen instances where they're not, which is to rush forward. I think this was the right approach, given that you had a university and you had a government, you had a hospital nearby.
And of course, you had a government entity, the CDC. I just want to say one thing about sort of fatalities and this was -- this was an active shooter and the trauma of it continues, even though there may not be a body count, we're starting to get a sense, you know, with the children, government workers, people who are targeted because they're scientists trying to protect people. That has an impact. Whether you have a high fatality rate. And that's something we have to address, specifically.
SCIUTTO: The police said there was a -- there was a daycare center nearby.
KAYYEM: Yeah.
SCIUTTO: Thankfully, all the children are safe. But one can imagine those kids heard gunshots.
Juliette, Josh, thanks so much to both of you.
OUTFRONT next, a surprising move tonight from Trump's Department of Justice. The Justice Department is now pressing to have the Epstein grand jury exhibits released. What will they tell us?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:10]
SCIUTTO: Tonight. breaking news, the Justice Department, in a court filing, says it is seeking now to release the grand jury exhibits and transcripts related to the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases. The question is, will the transcripts reveal anything of value? Anything new?
This is one Trump ally is openly worrying that Trump will be duped into a Ghislaine Maxwell deal. Have a listen.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEAN SPICER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I would say, he would be under the impression that he was going to be able to say that he -- they got something from her further information. I think if anyone who sells him on this is lying to him. My point and that's why you're like, what is his reaction going to be? There will be outrage like never before if she gets a deal.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: OUTFRONT now, Terry Austin, host and legal analyst with the Law and Crime Network. Also with me, Barry Levine, former editor of "The National Enquirer", author of "The Spider", about the Epstein investigation.
Barry, first to you. I've spoken to a lot of folks on this broadcast and others who just don't like the whole circumstances of Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted sex offender meeting with Trump's DOJ. Clearly, she has an interest in getting a shorter sentence, perhaps a pardon, and the argument is that perhaps Trump's DOJ wants to get something, some convenient information out of her.
I mean, do you think what Spicer is saying is possible here?
BARRY LEVINE, AUTHOR, "THE SPIDER: INSIDE THE CRIMINAL WEB OF JEFFREY EPSTEIN & GHISLAINE MAXWELL": Listen, I think it's very clear that what Spicer said may actually happen down the road. Donald Trump has a way of helping people from his past and also people that he -- that he likes. He recently pardoned the reality show star, the Chrisleys. Sean Combs is interest -- is interested in the pardon.
I'd be very, very wary of Ghislaine Maxwell's intentions. We know that the government says that she has committed perjury in the past. We have to know exactly what she said and how her information could be corroborated before she's given any more help from the government.
SCIUTTO: Terry, your thoughts? Do you have a similar concern?
TERRI AUSTIN, HOST AND LEGAL ANALYST, LAW & CRIME NETWORK: I do have a similar concern. I think that the fact that Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general, went to interview her, sat with her for two days, is very unusual and it signifies to me that, in fact, we are thinking about doing something in her favor. And she was moved. You have to think about the fact that that was done for an exchange of some information.
So, we'll see what happens. But at the end of the day, I think the administration is looking to either pardon her or commute her sentence based on the actions that the administration has taken so far. I think that's the only conclusion you can come to.
SCIUTTO: A convicted sex trafficker.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, of course, would have signed off on this. She, however, has all but disappeared from Fox News in recent weeks after she was all over the network during the first few months of the Trump administration, often promising to release brand new details from the Epstein files, as it were.
What does her sudden disappearance mean -- mean to you?
AUSTIN: Well, I don't think it means much at all. I think that she is doing exactly what Trump is telling her to do. Ultimately, it could mean that she's the scapegoat for this entire Jeffrey Epstein debacle. The fact that initially they were going to release the files, and then they're not going to release the file, and there's nothing to see here. And that July 7th memo.
So I think she's taking a backseat right now. We're seeing Todd Blanche taking a front seat. Remember, he was the defense attorney for Trump. We'll see what happens at the end of the day. But she's doing exactly what Trump wants her to do.
SCIUTTO: Barry, quickly, your thoughts, in a word?
LEVINE: Listen for the sake of the survivors, let's get the entire FBI file released. That's what we really want to see. The grand jury testimony is going to tell us extremely little.
We need to see the complete transparency. What Pam Bondi promised us initially.
SCIUTTO: We'll see if that happens.
Barry Levine, Terri Austin, thanks so much.
And thanks so much to all of you for joining us. I'm Jim Sciutto in tonight for Erin Burnett.
"AC360" starts right now.
