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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Eight Injured in Colorado Attack at Event for Israel Hostages; Hamas: Ready for Indirect Talks on Gaza Truce; Leaders Meet in Lithuania Ahead of NATO Hague Summit. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 02, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

RAHEL SOLOMON, ANCHOR, EARLY START: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world, I'm Rahel Solomon, it is Monday, June 2nd. And we begin today with breaking news out of Boulder, Colorado, where eight people have been injured, in what authorities describe is a targeted attack on a group gathering in support of the Israeli hostages in Gaza.

This morning, video is emerging, we want to warn you that the images are disturbing. Smoke could be seen rising after the FBI says that the suspect, identified as Mohamed Soliman reportedly used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd. The FBI now investigating the attack as an act of terrorism.

And we've learned that the suspect has been booked on multiple felony charges including one count of explosives or incendiary devices used during a felony. Authorities say that the 45-year-old yelled free Palestine during the attack. White House deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller says that the suspect had illegally overstayed a tourist visa, though sources previously said that he had applied for asylum and was rejected for a visa in 2005.

We've been hearing from those who were at the scene in Boulder, including one man who described what he saw like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I started looking around at the victims. It looked -- I mean, from foot to buttocks, their skin looked like it was being shaved off, their bodies hanging from their legs, inch diameter cuts with blood coming out of them. And then there was another woman over on the side, she was writhing in pain and elbows, triceps, legs and knees, feet, all of it were burned.

Just kind of imagine the worst sunburn that you can think of, and just pulling a sheet of skin off of their -- off of their legs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: And there has been swift reaction to the attack from top lawmakers, including U.S. Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer, who wrote on X, "when anti-Semitism is allowed to fester, when it spreads unchecked, and when too many look the other way, history has shown us where it leads to hatred, to violence, to terror."

And this from U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, "terrorist sympathizers have made it clear they will do anything to try and silence the Jewish people and those who support Israel. We cannot and will not let them win." Rabbi Jay Sherwood from Temple Shalom in Colorado Springs, meantime, had this reaction to the violence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY SHERWOOD, RABBI, TEMPLE SHALOM, COLORADO SPRINGS: I thought about the murder in Washington D.C. recently, about other attacks that have happened against Jews here in the United States and around the world, frankly, this is on the mind of every rabbi around the world since October 7th, 2023.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: CNN's Reid Binion has more details now on the attack in Boulder.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. JARED POLIS (D-CO): Well, you know, this has really inflicted a lot of fear in the Jewish community at large. The pro-Israel community.

REID BINION, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Colorado Governor Jared Polis reacting to the terrifying scene after a man in Boulder, Colorado, set multiple people on fire at a Jewish community event. It was a weekly gathering to support Israeli hostages in Gaza.

MARK MICHALEK, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE, DENVER: Witnesses are reporting that the suspect used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd.

BINION: According to the FBI, the man yelled free Palestine during the attack.

MICHALEK: It is clear that this is a targeted act of violence, and the FBI is investigating this as an act of terrorism. The subject has been identified as. Mohamed Sabry Soliman, and he's 45 years old.

BINION: Witnesses described a chaotic scene as bystanders rushed in with water to help the victims and extinguish the flames.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was two older ladies, just like kind of rolling around a little bit, and they had like really bad burns all up on their legs.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was one woman, who was an elderly woman who had her hair charred.

BINION: The man believed to be the suspect was still on the scene when police arrived.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A suspect was pointed out to our officers on the scene. Our officers immediately encountered that suspect who was taken into custody without incident. The suspect was injured. The suspect was taken to the hospital.

BINION: I'm Reid Binion, reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: All right, joining me now is Jason Pack; a retired FBI supervisory special agent. Jason, we appreciate you being here with us this morning. As someone who has spent over two decades in the FBI. What would you say is the number one thing the investigation is focused on right now?

JASON PACK, CEO, MEDIA REP GLOBAL STRATEGIES & RETIRED FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Yes, good morning, Rahel. I think the number one thing the investigation is focusing on is making sure there's nobody else complicit in this conspiracy. So, while the public looking or public- facing portion of this investigation is just getting underway with that incident concluding yesterday.

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The FBI is going to be teaming up with the Colorado authorities there to kind of retrace what happened, where did they buy the components for the Molotov cocktails? How did the makeshift flamethrower get built and just re-reverse engineering all of this. I'm certain that they'll have their lab folks from Quantico, the Explosives Unit, come assist the evidence response team and the Colorado authorities there.

So, it's been kind of a long night for them while you've been sleeping and America has been sleeping, investigators overnight are still putting together some -- a digital footprint of social media acquaintances, and in the real world, also physical acquaintances. So, there's been a lot of work going on since this incident.

SOLOMON: And that, the suspect reportedly used this makeshift flamethrower. What does that say to you in terms of the level of premeditation here?

PACK: It seems like you have to plan that a little bit. You don't just get a flamethrower anywhere. You have to think about how to make one. It's not like it's a -- you're driving by and you decide to do it. It seems like there's a little bit of premeditation there. And that's something that while we have the forensic investigation going on at the scene, with them clearing every package down there, where at the park -- where the demonstration was happening.

There's also a group of agents and analysts looking at his life, his travels, his interactions with people. So, there's a two-pronged investigation going on right now, and I wouldn't be surprised to see federal charges in the next 2 or 3 days. The FBI out early, talking about how they're investigating this as an act of terrorism early on. So, now they're looking for the evidence to be able to prove that and

the intent of what's been said in the public reporting and also what they found through interviews with witnesses.

SOLOMON: Yes, talk to me a little bit more about that, because as you pointed out, FBI did pretty quickly label this incident as an act of terror. But local law enforcement have said -- at least at this earlier news conference, that the motive remained under investigation. Based on your experience and everything that you've heard, obviously it's still early hours here. But would you lean towards labeling this terrorism at this point, and why?

PACK: Well, I think the investigation is being conducted as an act of terrorism by the FBI's joint terrorism taskforce. And so, the JTTF is a conglomeration of federal, state and local partners that -- they have an investigative hypothesis, which appears to be terrorism based on initial witness statements. They're going to have to be able to go back, gather all this evidence, document it, and present that to the -- to a jury or to a judge through the United States Attorney's Office to be able to prove that.

So, it sounds like they have talked about their investigative hypothesis of a terrorist attack that JTTF is investigating. But now comes the hardwork of being able to go out and collect the facts to support the theory.

SOLOMON: Yes, I mean, in this environment, what can officials do? What can they come out and say to help prevent another act of anti- Semitism?

PACK: Rahel, it seems like a tinderbox out there. We've seen time and time again, people on both sides very passionate about the issue. But there's one thing that's clear, and that is, violence has no place in any of these discussions or conversations. People can think what they want, but when you step over the line and start doing violence, I don't think anybody on either side supports that.

So, I think what we can do is have conversations and law enforcement and investigators, they do have an office of private sector that works with the Jewish community there. I know the FBI's office is in close contact with our private sector partners or their private sector partners now, and they seem to pass and share Intelligence on the private sector when appropriate, through cleared individuals.

So, they are making efforts to do that through the office of private sector. But they also -- what you don't see behind the scenes are the men and women who are with the victim services teams. They're there on the ground. All of the people who are on the scene there, victims themselves, and so, the FBI will be able to provide some kind of support as best they can because these folks are victims of a federal crime.

SOLOMON: Yes, and of course, obviously, the people who were directly impacted, but you imagine all of the people who had to physically witness, you know, just really horrifying images. Jason Pack, we appreciate you being with us this morning. Thank you. We have new developments on the efforts to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza.

Hamas says that it is ready to immediately begin in direct negotiations to resolve outstanding issues to reach an agreement. But the militant group also adds that they hope the talks will achieve a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces. Qatar and Egypt say that they're continuing their efforts to help bring about a deal as recent negotiations over a U.S.-proposed ceasefire plan appear to make little progress.

A warning now that the video you're about to see is graphic. Palestinians are in mourning after Sunday's deadly shooting at an aid center in Gaza.

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The Palestinian Health Ministry saying that the death toll in the incident has gone up with at least 31 Palestinians killed and dozens injured. Let's go to CNN's Paula Hancocks, who joins us live this morning from Abu Dhabi. Paula, lets' just start there with these reports of violence at this aid distribution site in Gaza. It's become all too common, these sort of chaotic scenes at these aid distribution centers. What's the latest here?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Rahel. We have seen this last week as well at this aid distribution sites. But certainly, what happened on Sunday was particularly deadly, 31 have been confirmed to have been killed at this point. Now, eyewitnesses, multiple eyewitnesses tell CNN that this happened about 800 meters from the distribution site of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, and that they came under fire as thousands of people were trying to get close to the site in order to get some food for their families.

Now, there's a lot of confusion as to exactly what did happen. We hear from Palestinian officials, they believe the Israeli military opened fire. The Israeli military says that these are false reports, saying "we did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the aid site." An Israeli military source, though, does tell CNN, that a couple of hours before the site actually opened, about a kilometer away, they did fire upon individuals.

So, it's a fairly confused message from all sides at this point, but the end result is unfortunately, as it is often in the case in Gaza at this point. We heard from medics that many of those who were killed had shot -- gunshot wounds to the head or to the chest, and it is becoming increasingly dangerous we see to be coming anywhere near these GHF sites.

We've heard from the head of UNRWA saying aid distribution has become a death trap. Let's listen to one of those who was at the scene at the time, who lost her brother in this incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REDA ABU JAZAR, BROTHER KILLED WHILE WAITING FOR AID (through translator): Let them stop these massacres, stop this genocide. They are killing us. Kill all of us together and let us get rid of this life instead of getting hurt for this and that. Our beloved ones are dying. Enough! Who is left? Nobody is left. We cannot resist anymore at all, I swear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, the GHF is a controversial U.S.-Israeli aid distribution efforts. It was brought in as Israel said that Hamas was stealing aid from U.N. groups and from other NGOs, which has been denied. But we have seen very chaotic scenes at these distribution sites. One eyewitness telling CNN that he saw just the food and the aid being put out on wooden pallets and then the gates were opened for people to come and collect. So, effectively, survival of the fittest. Those who are the strongest are the ones who will get the aid. Rahel?

SOLOMON: All right, Paula Hancocks reporting for us there in Abu Dhabi, Paula, thanks so much. Now, despite those efforts to bring about a ceasefire hostage-release deal, Israel's Defense Minister is telling the military to keep, quote, "advancing in Gaza". In a statement, Israel Katz called on the military to, quote, "employ" all necessary means by air, land and sea, adding, quote, "either Hamas releases the hostages or it will be destroyed."

Climate activist Greta Thunberg is on her way to Gaza on an aid ship. The organizers Freedom Flotilla coalition say that Thunberg and 11 other activists set sail on Sunday aiming to, quote, "break Israel's siege of the enclave". They say that they're hoping to deliver aid and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Speaking before the ship set off, Thunberg said that no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying. All right, still ahead for us, members of NATO's eastern flank are gathering for The Bucharest Nine Summit as Russian and Ukrainian officials meet in Istanbul for a second round of peace talks. And the Governor of Colorado speaks to CNN about what happened in Boulder Sunday, an attack that he called a heinous act of terror.

And later, thousands of evacuations as wildfires burn parts of Canada. We'll have the latest on the fires that prompted an emergency declaration when we come right back.

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SOLOMON: Happening now. Leaders of Nordic countries and NATO's eastern flank, known as the Bucharest Nine, are meeting in the capital of Lithuania. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the NATO Secretary-General are both attending as guests. The purpose of the summit is to discuss regional security issues and coordinate common policies ahead of the NATO Summit in The Hague.

Meantime, Ukrainian forces launched what's being described as a bold and sophisticated counter-attack known as Operation Spiders Web. The strikes destroyed dozens of Russian aircraft at four air bases deep inside Russia. And videos from social media show thick smoke rising near Belaya Airfield on Sunday. Moscow confirming the strikes, condemning them as terrorist attacks.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials say that Kyiv strikes had a level of sophistication not seen before, and that the Defense Department was not notified before the attack. This all comes as Russian and Ukrainian officials are expected to meet in Istanbul in just a short time.

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Neither side, though, is optimistic that the summit would yield an immediate or imminent resolution to the war. Let's go to CNN chief international security correspondent Nick Paton Walsh, who joins us live this morning from London. Nick, talk to us a little bit more about who we know will be at these scheduled peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, it's very much a repeat of what we saw just over a few weeks ago, and now in Istanbul. A similar team, but this time dealing with a much more concrete set of terms for a potential ceasefire for potential peace agreement. The Ukrainians very much aligning with the statements we've heard from the Trump administration suggesting that 30-day unconditional ceasefire, not accepting limitations on their military or potential for future NATO membership.

But it seems, according to a text we've seen, suggesting that of course, NATO has to be in unanimous compliance for that to even occur. So, putting forward a position which is probably going to be very tolerable to their European and possibly American allies. The Russian position has been expounded in state media, at times feels more Maximalist, looking for causes, the root causes of the problem to be fixed, potentially some sense of demilitarization inside of Ukraine.

They'll probably have to elucidate that more clearly in this meeting. But ultimately, Rahel, no one, I think, really expected a massive development here today. The fact that both sides are actually there is something of a bit of progress, particularly given how the Ukrainians were very vociferously demanding Russian terms for their memorandum in exchange, as had been previously agreed prior to actually attending.

So, this may be another case of Moscow trying to string the process along, albeit now with concrete documents. But bear in their mind here at all, the story today really is what happened over the weekend. Deep inside Russia, this extraordinary level of planning, sophistication by Ukraine's security service, the SBU delivering these extraordinary targeted strikes at the very long-range strategic bombers that harass, kill, destroy civilian homes across Ukraine every single night.

And it's another example, I think, of Ukraine's capacity for ingenuity to deliver small, embarrassing, potentially in this case, devastating strategic blows to their enemy. Russia has always put itself in this war as the sort of larger giant here, able to constantly absorb pain and endure a lengthy conflict. Well, moments like this where you see the videos there of these, you know, they don't have many of these bombers. As suggestion potentially, they've lost about a third of them in this

-- some of them are even still propeller, fueled or travel with propellers. So, a lot here that's certainly showing how Russia's military pride is damaged. It may have an impact in the weeks and months ahead in terms of the volume of attacks they're able to do across Ukraine as well.

And just one more thing, Rahel, to -- one thing potentially overlooked during this weekend was an extraordinary number of drones, a record launched over the weekend by Russia, and then nearly all of them were taken down by Ukraine's air defenses and blocking mechanisms. That, too, was an extraordinary technical innovation.

So, we have two moments of Ukraine using its ingenuity to significantly hamper Russia's war machine, and indeed, in this case, inflict a very public blow. One of the airfields hit was in the middle of Siberia, partly because obviously they were able to deliver these mobile homes that carried the drones deep inside Russian territory.

But it really shows that the idea of Russia's impenetrability, as they head into talks like this is in question, and possibly cast a doubt as to how really long Russia can sustain this war if it will intermittently get embarrassing or potentially very damaging practically blows like this. Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yes, Nick, it's an interesting point, and I take your point that this is likely an attack that has hurt the pride of Russia and sort of raised questions about sort of the sustainability of this war. I'm curious on the flip side, how much this has the potential to sort of boost morale in Ukraine. What do you think?

WALSH: I noticed in the live pictures you showed there of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at that summit. He was beaming. I mean, often, yes, he's pleased to meet allies, but there seemed to be a slight spring in his step there. Look, after months, weeks of exceptionally bad news. It's hard to overstate how damaging that Oval Office blowout was to every Ukrainian's morale in terms of the idea of their -- the sustainability of their war effort and this strange diplomatic process in which Trump administration basically seems to want to maintain the idea, misled as some of their allies suggest that Russia actually wants the peace.

How that, along with the frontline damage, they've seen this increasingly incremental and potent gains Russia has been making along the frontline. What that's done to how ordinary Ukrainians feel about how this conflict is going. And then we have a moment like this, devastating as it was, it reminds me of the Kursk incursion we saw in August last year where, unexpectedly, Ukraine pushed into Russia, taking territory off an unprepared and ill-equipped Russian border force.

And also too, in 2022 in the late Summer there, where a series of targeted strikes against Russia's supply lines meant that their northeastern frontlines essentially collapsed and they lost a whole lot of territory back to the Ukrainians.

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So, another example, I think, of how Kyiv is able to deliver these outsized blows towards Russia, and it's probably going to play into the mind of peace negotiators, I think it's fair to say that it's not going to suddenly change their mind and make them seek a settlement overnight, but it may cast into those wondering quite how long-term a prospect this could be for Russia.

The possibility that for each year this goes on, more longer-term damage is done to Russia's military machine from attacks like this.

SOLOMON: Yes, really fascinating points. Nick Paton Walsh, appreciate you being on with us this morning, thank you. All right, still ahead for us, China is now reacting to President Trump's claims that it violated a trade deal as White House officials signaled that a call between the countries leaders will happen soon. It's coming up next on EARLY START.

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