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Inside Politics

15-Year-Old Female Shooter Kills 2, Injures 6 At Wisconsin School; Parkland Survivor David Hogg On His Run For DNC Vice Chair; Connolly Beats AOC In Race For Top Oversight Dem; Rep. Jennifer Wexton Uses AI To Say Farewell To Congress. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired December 17, 2024 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:32:14]

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And she was screaming like, "Ah, my leg! Help! Help!"

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know that teacher well?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mm-hmm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What was it like to hear that? Were you scared?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was really scared and I was really sad.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: That child witnessed something no child should ever see. She's one of more than 400 students who were inside their Christian school in Madison, Wisconsin when a 15-year-old girl opened fire yesterday. Two people were killed, six others were injured, and the shooter who attended the school died from a self-inflicted gunshot.

A source tells CNN she planned the attack in advance and used a 9 millimeter pistol, but officials say it's still unclear who owned the gun and how she ultimately got it.

Joining me now is David Hogg, he survived the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people. And David announced yesterday that he is running to be vice chair of the DNC.

Nice to see you in person. Thanks for being here. I was watching your face. I can't even imagine what it's like for you to listen to that little girl, especially considering that you had that kind of trauma. You were obviously older, but still a teenager when that occurred in Parkland.

And I want to play for our viewers what you said just weeks after 17 people were killed at your high school.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP) DAVID HOGG, PARKLAND SHOOTING SURVIVOR: When politicians send their thoughts and prayers with no action, we say no more! And to those politicians supported by the NRA that allow the continued slaughter of our children and our future, I say get your resumes ready.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: And David, since that day, another 418 school shootings have happened. 418 since you made that speech.

HOGG: It's -- I would say it's unbelievable, but it's not. Because, unfortunately, this has been going on for so long since before I was born. I was born a year after Columbine. But I think the thing that disturbs me the most is how our politicians have continued to fail us. Our parties have continued to fail us, as well.

Certainly the Democratic Party has gotten better in recent years on this issue. But part of the reason why I'm running to be vice chair is because I want a party that acts with courage to address the issue of gun violence, not in a, you know, not in a small, symbolic way, not in just, oh, this passes tiny law way, but a way that actually makes sure that there isn't, you know, half the number of school shootings, but that there are no school shootings anymore.

And I can tell you right now for a fact, if Democrats had 60 votes in the Senate, we're still not going to get major gun control passed. Because I know our party and the politics within are going to say, well, this is too controversial for us to pass because of these states that it took for us to get to 60 votes.

[12:35:11]

I want to help build a Democratic Party, not one that I'm just calling out publicly, but one that I'm actively working, trying to fix on the inside to make sure that what happened to my classmates is never happening again. And our party is one of the best ways of doing that, but we have to be bolder.

We have to go further on the issue of gun violence and not just address how does somebody get a gun like the AR-15, but address the hatred that drives so many of these school shootings. Address the poverty that drives so much gun violence and the desperation that drives gun suicide. We have to address this from the top up and the bottom down.

BASH: You know, John Miller, who's our law enforcement expert here, who's worked in law enforcement for a very long time, was making a point to my colleagues this morning about the fact that, as you said, the -- when it comes to changing laws, that has been stagnant when it comes to really big --

HOGG: Right.

BASH: -- law changes for a very long time. And in the interim, what the FBI is doing is they have something that's not gotten very widely publicized, but they have on their website some suggestions for people who are looking around and seeing, and we have it up there, to keep aware of young people especially.

"Studies have proven that before most mass attacks, someone observed concerning behaviors that were signs the person was on a path to violence. The people who noticed were often friends, family, schoolmates, coworkers, or loved ones. You may be in a unique position to observe these signs in someone you know."

And then they encourage people to talk to their trusted sources. Maybe not law enforcement, but a teacher or a coach.

HOGG: Yes, I mean, that's absolutely important. If people see the warning signs, they need to call it out. If they see something, they need to say something. But at the same time, we saw how that failed after Parkland.

There were so many signs that the shooter had the police called to his house multiple times before the shooting, was reported to the FBI, was reported to law enforcement, and was still able to legally own and obtain an AR-15, even though he couldn't own a handgun if he was to purchase it from a federally licensed dealer because he wasn't 21 yet.

And we have made progress. The law that we passed after Uvalde, it has prevented over 1,000 high-risk individuals under the age of 21 from getting weapons like the AR-15. And we're not going to hear a headline about the shooting that doesn't happen, right? Or the 19,000 times that the red flag law that we passed after Parkland has been used to disarm people that are at risk themselves or others.

But we have so much more progress to make on this. And what kills me the most is the partisan gridlock on it. We need the Democratic Party to be bolder on this, but we need Republicans to come to the table, too, and actually figure out what we can get done about this.

After Uvalde, many people said once again, like they said after Parkland, that nothing was going to change. But it did. And it's because Republicans and Democrats came together and said, all right, we understand that we can't necessarily give Democrats a huge political win or Republicans a huge political win, so we can't talk about the general talking points that they have and the policies that they support.

So they actually invented a new one. Instead of raising the age to buy a gun to 21, they expanded background checks for people under the age of 21 for purchasing weapons like the AR-15. And it has made progress, but there's so much more we need to do, because nobody -- I know Republicans don't want this to continue either.

BASH: So you obviously are talking about guns and gun violence, ending gun violence, as a big part of your platform --

HOGG: Absolutely.

BASH: -- to be a national figure in the Democratic Party. And it's obviously clear that you are very young.

HOGG: Yes. BASH: You're 24 years old. Democrats lost major ground with people your age in November, especially Gen Z males. I just want to show some of the numbers. Just even going back four years, Joe Biden, just under 30, got -- won by 24 percent. Kamala Harris won by 11 percent. That's a big drop.

And then men in particular, under 30, Donald Trump got 49 percent. So he won, just by a hair, but won young men over Harris. And, I mean, you can look at the difference. If we can change the graphics -- oh, we have the graphic up there. Forgive me. Between men and women, Harris won young women by 61 percent.

HOGG: Yes. Well, what's -- imagine how I felt when I was inside, you know, talking as one of the youngest people on the National Finance Committee, the committee of the largest, you know, bundlers and fundraisers for the campaign. And I was at -- I was in Chicago at the DNC.

And I got up in front of the entire committee as one of the youngest people there by probably at least a decade or two. And I said, what are we doing about young men? And I was -- the amount of vitriol that I got back, the amount of comments saying like, this is just not something we need to focus on or care about.

And I understand there's a taboo in the Democratic Party of talking about this, but we need to realize that empathy is not a zero sum game. What's good for caring about young men and making sure that they don't feel isolated and that we're not just forcing them, not forcing them out necessarily, but making sure that they feel heard in some ways is better for the country.

Overall, it's better for our party and it's better for women because we need to build an inclusive environment.

[12:40:11]

And with that too, when I brought up concerns publicly about young voters well over a year before the campaign, I remember getting texts from people in this town. Consultants, saying, here you go saying this dumb stuff again. You don't know what you're talking about. This is not a problem. And continued saying that over and over again.

So yes, am I young in this position? Absolutely. I am one of the youngest people ever to run for this position at the DNC. Am I the underdog? Certainly. But the reality is I'm not used -- I'm not unfamiliar with a -- with the odds being stacked against me.

After Parkland people said that we wouldn't be able to change things, but my classmates went out there and we actually did, and it saved lives. And I don't know if I'll win this race or not. I hope to, and I certainly hope to have people's votes.

But the reality is, we need to make sure that the Democratic Party is more representative of the people and less representative of the consultants.

BASH: David Hogg, thank you. I hope you come back.

HOGG: Thank you so much.

BASH: Good luck.

HOGG: Appreciate it.

BASH: Coming up, House Democrats are facing a choice. Is it time to elevate a new generation of leaders?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:45:45]

BASH: Minutes ago, Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez lost her bid to be the top Democrat on a pivotal House committee. Her colleagues instead elected 74-year-old Pelosi ally Gerry Connolly to lead the oversight committee.

My panel is back now. This was quite the matchup. It was 131 to 84, so Connolly did quite well. But she got 84 votes, which is not nothing. There's a 40-year age difference between the two. Connolly was on the show last week, who said it's not about a generation gap. It's about experience, and I am the A-team, and I'm going to be the best person. And it looks like, for many reasons, likely, he won that argument.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: He did. I think maybe some of the important words in your opening there were Pelosi ally --

BASH: Yes.

CHALIAN: -- Gerry Connolly, who no doubt, even with her fall and hip replacement surgery and recuperation now, was certainly hoping that this would be the outcome and working to that. And she still has a lot of sway within her caucus.

And the steering committee had, you know, sort of made clear before it went to the full caucus that they were with Connolly. This was an uphill battle for AOC. I mean, she was never the favorite for this. And unlike some of the other generational changes that we've seen in the Democratic caucus and the chairmanships, this was one that went all the way through to the caucus for a reason.

You know, Jerry Nadler stepped down to allow Jamie Raskin. That was not happening here. This was a fight that the old guard wanted to win, and they did so pretty decisively.

BASH: Yes. And, look, I mean, obviously she is among the most well- known members of Congress. Democrats, the people who were pushing for her, were arguing, why would we not have, you know, a great messenger, somebody who knows how to communicate, I should say, at the top? And the others were saying, well, she knows how to communicate, but she is, you know, a poster person for the right, and it's just going to give them ammunition.

Go ahead, speak to that. KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, I think that she is one of these people who will always have a target on their back in one of these kind of settings. And I think that, look, we just heard from Connolly again, who spoke to our team up on the Hill, who said that this wasn't about a generational divide, that this was about experience.

But I also think if you do look at people who are polarizing figures and in this committee, you don't want somebody who's going to take all the attention off of the work that you're doing, that perhaps Connolly would be a better fit.

BASH: And, Nia, she was, unlike other members of the squad, including two who lost their primaries, she was an early supporter of Biden and then Harris, and she pushed back against those. I mean, she made her case on lots of issues --

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

BASH: -- but she said to a lot of progressives, you've got to get up and you've got to go vote for them.

HENDERSON: Yes, and this was part of her presentation to the caucus as well, that she was a good soldier in backing the ticket. AOC is probably the most talented Democrat on the scene right now. She's incredibly charismatic, a fantastic messenger.

Whether she's in a position like this or not, she is going to be a lightning rod and a force that Republicans want to use against Democrats. You know, this was a -- it was a battle between centrists and progressives. Centrists keep losing, yet they keep blaming progressives.

I think at some point it might be time to actually give progressives who seem to do well, seem to have viral moments, seem to have a real following in a way that Gerry Connolly and centrists have not.

BASH: Yes.

HENDERSON: I mean, you look at what Kamala Harris did. I mean, she essentially ran right next to Liz Cheney, right?

BASH: Yes.

HENDERSON: She stiffed to harm progressives, and she lost --

BASH: Yes.

HENDERSON: -- across the board. And so, at some point, maybe it might be a good chance for Democrats to give --

BASH: Although I would --

CHALIAN: Well, I don't know I think -- the stitching together of the centrists and progressives is going to be the path forward for a successful Democrat. So it's finding a way to bring those factions together.

BASH: And I would argue that Jamie Raskin, who pushed to be a judiciary chair and became judiciary chair, he's pretty progressive.

HENDERSON: Yes, he is pretty progressive.

BASH: Yes.

HENDERSON: He's not as charismatic or as talented as AOC.

BASH: All right, everybody stand by, because coming up, we saw something on the floor today.

[12:50:01]

A congresswoman battling an aggressive neurological disorder, somebody we talked to on this program, she's saying goodbye to Congress. Her powerful final message on the floor is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Jennifer Wexton was a rising star in the Democratic Party. But tragically, a rare degenerative brain condition known as Parkinson's on steroids changed everything. Now the Virginia congresswoman is retiring. And thanks to a tablet and an AI generation of her own voice, she was able to say goodbye earlier today on the House floor.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

[12:55:02]

REP. JENNIFER WEXTON (D), VIRGINIA: One of the first questions I asked my doctor after my diagnosis was if I could still run for re-election. His response, why would you want to? It was a very serious and sobering moment. But in truth, I had plenty of answers for him.

Above all, I did and still very much do believe in the possibility to bring hope and make change in the lives of those we serve here. As I battled this disease which robbed me of my ability to move and speak, I wanted to make the most of my platform to bring some good out of this terrible situation.

I hope that the most impactful legacy I can leave is in the power of perseverance and persistence and in the belief that change is possible through public service and that change is coming if we are willing to work for it.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: Thank you to the Congresswoman for your service and for your strength and perseverance.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.