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Former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Assassinated During Speech; Ex-White House Counsel to Testify Before Committee. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 08, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

[05:59:06]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. It's Friday, July 8. I'm Brianna Keilar alongside John Berman this morning, and we're beginning with major breaking news. The assassination of Japan's longest-serving prime minister and one of its most consequential leaders.

Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has died after being shot during a campaign speech today. The shooting captured on video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHINZO ABE, FORMER JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(GUNSHOTS)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: You can hear there two shots fired. Abe suffered a bullet wound to the right side of his neck and also to his chest. He was rushed from the scene in an ambulance and then transferred by medical helicopter to a hospital, where he underwent emergency treatment, but doctors could not stop the bleeding.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Moments after the shots were fired, you could see Abe's security detail tackling the suspect, a local resident in his 40s. The gun he used appears to have been handmade, a motive not known at this time.

As Brianna said, Abe was Japan's longest serving prime minister and was still a towering figure in Japanese and international politics. He had crucial working relationships with both President Obama and President Trump. And this assassination causing shock waves around the world this morning.

KEILAR: Let's get right to CNN's Blake Essig, who is in Tokyo with the very latest. Blake, what can you tell us?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, John, devastating news here in Japan. Doctors at Nara Medical University Hospital have confirmed that Japanese -- former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe has died after being shot twice, once in his chest and once in his neck.

Doctors treating the former prime minister said that his heart had actually stopped by the time that he reached the hospital. They said that he was bleeding profusely and that the bullet that killed Abe was deep enough to reach his heart. Doctors say that they faced a difficult time stopping that bleeding, and it was ultimately that loss of blood that Abe died from.

Doctors also said that anywhere between 10 and 20 doctors were trying to treat the former prime minister and that the bullet wound, although they were able to find the bullet wound on the front of the former prime minister's neck and a large wound around his heart, ultimately, again, they were not able to stop the blood, and he has since died as a result of those wounds.

Now, the shooting happened while delivering a speech around 11:30 this morning, local time, in the western city of Nara. Several hours after the shooting a visibly emotional Fumio Kishida, Japan's current prime minister, also, you know, addressed the media, calling this shooting an unforgivable act.

Abe's brother and current minister of defense, Nobuo Kishi, also addressed the media, calling the attack an affront to democracy and the suppression of freedom of speech.

Now, after the shooting, NHK says that the former prime minister was bleeding from his chest and in a state of cardiac arrest while being transported to the hospital.

Witnesses say that Abe was shot from behind. He didn't collapse after that first shot that you heard at the top of the segment but did after the second shot before receiving CPR.

The suspect, a man in his 40s, was arrested on the spot in possession of what NHK has described as a hand-made gun. When you look at this gun, it almost kind of looks like a hand-made, sawed-off shotgun, these two metal pipes, almost kind of held together using black tape.

Abe was there in Japan, western Japan, delivering a stump speech for the Liberal Democratic candidates ahead of the upper house election which is set for this Sunday.

Of course, while a controversial figure here in Japan and around the world for his policies, Abe is incredibly -- is a huge figure, an important figure here in Japan and around the world; and news of this shooting has absolutely shocked a nation.

Now, in the hours following the shooting, many people have taken to social media to say that they hoped that he would survive, and some calling today's shooting a barbaric act that shakes the root of democracy, saying that whether or not you agree with his political stances, that violence to suppress political stances is never acceptable.

And those emotions will only likely deepen with the news that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died -- Brianna, John.

KEILAR: Blake Essig, thank you so much for that. We'll be checking back in.

BERMAN: All right. Let's go to the White House for reaction right now. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is there this morning.

Jeremy, just shocking news.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, shocking news. And the words that the White House is using this morning are that they are shocked and saddened to hear of this news of this shooting of the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

Let me read you the statement I got from a White House spokesperson just moments ago, saying, quote, "We are shocked and saddened to hear about the violent attack against former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. We are closely monitoring reports and keeping our thoughts with his family and the people of Japan."

Now, this statement came in just as we were confirming that that assassination attempt had turned deadly against the former Japanese prime minister. So I expect that we will get another statement from the White House, perhaps from President Biden himself, as the White House confirms the news of his death.

We also heard from the secretary of state, Tony Blinken, overnight, who said that this was a, quote, "very, very sad moment for Japan." He made those comments on the sidelines of a G-20 summit in Bali.

And, listen, President Biden, while he did not overlap as a head of state with the -- with Shinzo Abe, he did serve as vice president during several years of Abe's tenure as prime minister.

[06:05:06]

Abe was elected as prime minister for a second time in December of 2012, just weeks after then-Vice President Joe Biden and then- President Barack Obama were reelected to a second term.

And President Biden at the time, as vice president, met several times with the Japanese prime minister, both in the United States and in Japan. They also held several phone conversations together.

This was, of course, at a time when the U.S.-Japanese alliance was critical, when there were steps towards improving trade and economic relations as well as security arrangements. That U.S.-Japanese alliance has been critical, and Shinzo Abe, of course, was a central figure in trying to make that relationship more critical and stable over time.

He was one of the reasons why we now have this Quad summit between the -- Japan, the United States and Australia. Abe, back in 2007, initially formalized that Quad partnership, which we now see as one of those critical regional partnerships in the Indo-Pacific -- John, Brianna. BERMAN: Jeremy Diamond for us at the White House, I know watching this

very closely. Jeremy, stand by for us, please.

KEILAR: The death of Shinzo Abe marks the end of an era in Japanese and Asian politics. Abe had hoped to revitalize the world's third largest economy during his latest eight-year run as prime minister. He was only partially successful.

Will Ripley looks back at the life and legacy of Japan's elder statesman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Japan's longest serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, had big dreams of a Japanese comeback. A comeback marred by a series of setbacks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tokyo.

RIPLEY: The Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Abe's greatest achievement. Japan spent billions, only to see the games postponed by the coronavirus pandemic.

The games were a cornerstone of Abe's plan to revive a struggling economy and transform Japan into a global destination. Abe promised a brighter future, a future looking bleak after 2011's massive earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear meltdown.

Abenomics was an ambition plan to overhaul Japan's economy with stimulus and reform. It led to record-high government debt and failed to make a lasting dent in decades of deflation. Problems made worse by Japan's aging population and shrinking workforce.

Abe also tried to strengthen Japan's military, reinterpreting the nation's pacifist constitution drafted after World War II. The move led to massive protests in the Japanese capital.

Abe's visits to a controversial war shrine angered his Asian neighbors. He was criticized for not making a new apology at the 70th anniversary of World War II, accused of trying to rewrite Japan's brutal wartime past.

Abe began fighting for more military power during his first time as prime minister in 2006. At 52, he became Japan's youngest post-war leader. Corruption scandals within his party caused Abe's popularity to plummet. He resigned a year later, blaming health problems.

Abe had ambition and roots in a powerful political dynasty: two former prime ministers in his family.

Reelected in 2012, Abe declared, Japan is back. He tried to raise Japan's profile on a global stage, developing allies in Europe, India and Southeast Asia, trying to mend frosty relations with China.

Abe made history in 2016, appearing alongside former U.S. President Barack Obama in Hiroshima and later Pearl Harbor.

Abe was one of the first world leaders to form an alliance with Donald Trump, taking the U.S. president out for a hamburger in Tokyo.

Shinzo Abe leaves behind Akie, known as a vibrant and popular first lady and his wife of more than three decades.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: Our thanks to Will Ripley for that.

Joining us now, CNN correspondent Selina Wang, who is live in Beijing this morning. Also joining us, CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger. He's a White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times."

And David, if I'm not wrong, you lived and worked in Japan for -- for quite a long time. Just give us your reaction, having spent so much time there, to wake up to this shocking news.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, it was -- it was quite a shock, John, when I first heard this last night.

And, you know, Shinzo Abe was a fascinating figure. I was "The Times" bureau chief in the late '80s and early '90s when he was first in his political rise. And we were all following him carefully, because as Will suggested before, he came out of this political family that had a huge legacy to it.

[06:10:13]

His grandfather had been considered to be a war criminal by the United States but ultimately got elected as prime minister. His father was the foreign minister for many years and the minister of international trade and industry, an enormously powerful position. And he came up as his father's aide.

What was, I think, most remarkable about him, John, was that he really had twin goals. One was the economic revival that Will discussed, but the second was that he was determined to get rewritten the Japanese constitution, which had been written by the United States, essentially, so that Japan could contribute far more to the defense of Asia. And this was supported in Washington, because they needed Japan to be more active in countering China and North Korea.

KEILAR: And Selina, just tell us more about what this is going to mean for Japan and for the Japanese people.

SELINA WANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: I cannot overstate how unfathomable this is culturally in a country that is considered to be one of the safest places in the world, to have this political giant, this towering political figure, not only at home but abroad, to have him gone. This is sending shock waves.

And it will have an impact, as well, on -- as Japan's relations with the United States, with the rest of the world, here in Japan. I want to read some very, very shocking statistics, which is that gun

violence is essentially nonexistent in Japan. This is a country of some 126 million people. It is rare to have more than ten gun-related deaths in a year. Most guns are illegal. It is incredibly difficult and complex to get a gun.

So this is really shaking people's national -- the national psyche in Japan right now. People are still digesting this information.

And I cannot overstate just how influential he still is -- he still was inside Japanese politics, even after he stepped down. He had the ear of all the major political leaders. He had lots of influence over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

And sources tell me that even more recently, he was encouraging the current prime minister to continue this more hawkish stance and more security stance, especially when it came to China, Brianna.

BERMAN: Yes, Harry Enten sent along these statistics. Per 100,000 people in the population, there are .02 gun deaths a year in Japan. In the United States that number is 4.12, so you get a sense of just the staggering difference there.

And David, I think, as you recognized as this all broke, that is what makes this all the more unfathomable this morning.

SANGER: That's right. When I was living in Japan and covering it, the few times that I ever covered anything involving a gun death was usually members of the Yakuza, the organized crime groups, shooting at each other.

For political assassination, also very rare. To get back to the last time there was a national political figure, not a local figure assassinated, I think you probably have to go back to a socialist leader who was killed in 1960, and I believe he was stabbed. So that tells you how rare this was.

But I also think you can't underestimate the degree to which this leaves the conservatives a little bit leaderless with a long-time leader.

Now, by the time Abe left, he had some popularity problems, he certainly had health problems, but he certainly had a significant role as king maker within the Liberal Democratic Party, which has dominated Japanese politics, really, since the end of World War II.

BERMAN: Again, as we're looking at file pictures right now of Shinzo Abe, the news this morning, the former prime minister has been assassinated. Shock waves truly around the world.

David Sanger, Selina Wang, thank you to both of you.

There is other news this morning. The January 6th Committee about to hear from its -- what could be most important witness to date. What do they expect from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone?

Plus, the father of the Highland Park gunman defends the decision to help his son get legal clearance to buy firearms.

KEILAR: And we have much more ahead on the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was shot and killed today in Japan. International reaction pouring in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:13:51]

BERMAN: All right. More now on the breaking news out of Japan. The former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe assassinated, gunned down during a campaign event.

The suspected gunman, who police say used a hand-made gun, was arrested shortly after the shooting.

Joining us now, a former adviser to Prime Minister Abe and current M.P., Aki Shiozaki.

Aki, thank you so much for being with us. We are so sorry for what's going on in your country. Your reaction this morning to this shocking news.

AKIHISA SHIOZAKI, JAPANESE MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Hi, John. Thank you for having me today.

Personally, it's a very troubling day. Prime Minister Abe was my first boss in the world of politics when I first joined as staffer to the prime minister's office, but the entire nation is just in shock by the sudden loss of such a giant political figure.

BERMAN: What kind of a man was he?

SHIOZAKI: Prime Minister Abe was very kind. He had a clear vision. He was decisive. He had his own challenges, but he overcame them. And he served as Japan's longest-serving prime minister, eight years and eight months.

[06:20:03]

And even after retiring from the prime minister's office, he still was one of the most influential and popular politicians in Japan. Just a few weeks ago, he was in my hometown giving a campaign rally. There were hundreds and thousands of people cheering for him.

And just unbelievable that he is gone now all of a sudden under a terrorist attack.

BERMAN: Aki, you've lived in both the United States and Japan, and you know the difference in terms of the levels of gun violence between the two countries. There is no gun violence, effectively, in Japan.

So when you hear that a figure like Shinzo Abe was killed, shot down, I just wonder your reaction to that aspect of it.

SHIOZAKI: I think that's the other troubling aspect of this incident. As you mentioned, John, gun possession is very heavily restricted in Japan. We really don't see the kind of gun violence frequency as we do in other countries.

Today, you know, there was a man that walked up, shot two bullets, and that was captured by video by so many normal civilians, and they went live on the Internet. These are shocking images, things that we don't really see in Japan.

And that kind of violence taking place in open public in front of the police and all, that's just unbelievable. I think that's the shocking -- another shocking aspect of today's event.

BERMAN: What's the atmosphere there? I can only imagine what it's been like over the last six hours as this has been developing.

SHIOZAKI: No, it's -- it's two days before the election of the upper house, so it's right in the middle of the election. But so far, there's been, you know, across the board bipartisan condemnation towards this kind of terrorist attack, especially during political campaign. So I think the nation is united in -- in the condolences and praying for Abe's sons and family.

BERMAN: and again, I think the world shares in that. And just in terms of the international profile that Prime Minister Abe had, he was a very visible figure here in the United States, a prime minister who did a number of firsts when it comes to the United States. The first prime minister to appear with a U.S. president at Hiroshima, the first prime minister to appear with a U.S. president at Pearl Harbor. He worked hard to develop a close relationship with both President Obama and also Donald Trump. I wonder what the importance of the United States was to your former boss.

SHIOZAKI: There were so many things that I think Abe-san still wanted to do as a politician: strengthening political ties, friendship between Japan and the United States was definitely one of the key agendas that Prime Minister Abe worked on long as a politician.

I think it's sad and also very troubling to lose such a politically recognized figure that, you know, could have done so much more for Japan and the world, especially in these challenging times.

BERMAN: Yes, Aki Shiozaki, again, we are so sorry to you and your country. Best to your family. Best to everyone there. Thank you.

SHIOZAKI: Thank you. Those words mean a lot to us. Thank you.

BERMAN: So other news happening today. The January 6th Committee about to hear from the person who could be their most important witness to date: former White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:12]

KEILAR: Happening today, the January 6th Committee is set to hear testimony behind closed doors from what could be its most important witness yet: former White House counsel Pat Cipollone.

The committee is hoping that he will provide insider details about what went on in the Trump White House on January 6th.

CNN's Sara Murray is live for us in Washington with the latest on this -- Sara.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Brianna.

Well, look, we know that this is a big get for the committee. This is going to be an interview that's not in a public forum as they wanted, but it will be on tape. So it's possible you will see snippets of this Pat Cipollone testimony in future hearings.

Look, he's -- he's an important witness. He's an important witness, because he was there for everything. You know, we know, for instance, that he was with former President Trump at various points. He was one of the handful of people in and out of this dining room where Donald Trump was watching the Capitol riot unfold on January 6.

But he was also there when Donald Trump was considering all these plans to try to overturn the election results, like seizing voting machines, like going to the states, like trying to orchestrate some kind of coup at the Justice Department.

So while there may be some limits on what Pat Cipollone can talk about, there's just so much he was there for that it's likely that the committee will at least be able to get some something interesting out of him.

You know, we would also expect them to try to get him to corroborate some of what we heard from Cassidy Hutchinson. Obviously, she had bombshell testimony. You know, she talked about the -- Pat Cipollone talking about the legal risks to her of the former president trying to go down to the Capitol on January 6. So we would expect that he would be asked to corroborate some of her testimony.

Look, the Justice Department does not take its cues from Congress in terms of where its investigation is going and what it's going to do, but in talking to former prosecutors turned defense lawyers after the Cassidy Hutchinson testimony, they said there were so many new revelations, so many evidence that came out about Donald Trump's conduct that it would be hard for the Justice Department to just look away from that and not consider it at all.

We'll see if more comes out after Cipollone.

KEILAR: Yes.