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Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Assassinated; Biden to Sign Executive Order Safeguarding Abortion Rights; Today, Ex-White House Counsel Cipollone Testifies Before Committee. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired July 08, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And President Trump, which was a sign of his considerable political skills and range.

[07:00:04]

His death is being felt around the world.

So, let's begin now with CNN's Blake Essig who is from Tokyo with the latest. Blake?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, just devastating news here in Japan. Doctors at Nara Medical University Hospital have confirmed that former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has died after being shot twice, once in the chest and once in the neck while speaking at a campaign event earlier today.

Doctors treating Abe said that he was bleeding profusely and that the bullet that killed him was deep enough to reach his heart. In the end, about 20 doctors were fighting to save Abe's life. They say they faced difficulty stopping the bleeding, and it was that loss of blood that Abe ended up dying from.

Now, the shooting happened while he was delivering a speech around 11:30 local time this morning in the western city of Nara, several hours after the shooting visibly emotional current Prime Minister Fumio Kishida really encapsulated the emotions felt across Japan. He was visibly upset, in tears almost, you know, as he talked about the current condition of former Prime Minister Abe and went on to say that -- calling the 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. Witnesses say that Abe was shot from behind, he didn't collapse after that first shot but did collapse after the second shot before receiving CPR. And the suspect, as you described, a man in his 40s was arrested on the spot in possession of what NHK is describing as a handmade gun.

Now, Abe was there in Japan's western city to deliver a stump speech for the liberal democratic candidates ahead of the upper house election set for this Sunday. And while a controversial figure here in Japan at times and around the world for his policies, Abe is an incredibly important figure and news of the shooting has absolutely shocked a nation, Brianna.

KEILAR: And the world. Blake, thank you for that report.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. I want to bring in CNN Correspondent Selina Wang who is in Beijing, and she was recently based in Tokyo for CNN.

Selina, gun violence virtually unheard of in Japan.

SELINA WANG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, it is considered one of the safest places in the world. And when I talked to my former contacts there, it's a feeling of disbelief, of shock, it is unfathomable to have an assassination of a former prime minister in modern Japan.

There is a sense that this is a moment that has forever changed the national psyche. It is incredibly difficult to get a gun in Japan. Most guns are actually illegal. And this is a done country of 12 million people where, Annually, there are less than ten gun-related deaths most years, an incredible contrast to the U.S. to look at the rates of homicide gun-related deaths per 100,000 people.

And Shinzo Abe, this death of him, shakes the world not just because of how much of a political figure he was at home, even after he stepped down as the longest serving prime minister, but also because of the ties that he cultivated abroad. He had famously cozy relationships with Trump, he was a smooth political operator, was able to sustain connections, relationships with him, with frequent phone calls, playing golf with him at a time when other global leaders could not deal with this mercurial president.

And he fostered that relationship to cope with a rising Japan. He also strengthened ties with the quad alliance in order to deal with growing anxieties about China. He also will be remembered for trying to bolster Japan's military, and that is also why he was divisive. He wanted to revise Japan's pacifist constitution. He wanted to restore Japan's economic military prowess, he wanted to restore Japan's national pride.

So, the loss of Abe sending shockwaves not just around Japan but also around the world, and it will forever change the meaning of safety, of gun violence in the people of Japan. John?

BERMAN: Waking up in the United States to this news, in Japan, they've been processing it for the last several hours. Selina Wang, thank you very much.

KEILAR: Joining us now to talk more about this is the former prime minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull. Sir, thank you for being with us this morning.

What was your reaction upon learning this news?

MALCOLM TURNBULL, FORMER AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: Shocked, shocked at this attack and just heartbroken to see Shinzo Abe killed in this way. He was such a great friend, both he and his wife to me and my wife Lucy and to Australia. He was a real force for stability in this region, in the Asia-Pacific.

[07:05:00]

You know, the two most important modern partnerships in the Asia- Pacific are the quadrilateral security dialogue between the United States, Japan, Australia and India. That would not ever have been established in the way it has if Shinzo Abe had not been prime minister of Japan.

And then, of course, the trans-pacific partnership, which was Barack Obama's great, strategic, economic agenda for the Asia-Pacific, 12 countries including the U.S. and Japan and Australia. Trump decided to pull out of that, and then everyone thought the deal was dead. Well, in Sydney, in January 2017, Shinzo Abe and I decided that we should stick with it.

Now, Japan was the biggest economy left in the -- among the 11 countries. And without his leadership and commitment, it could never have happened. So, that deal was kept alive. It's now called the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership. It's up and running. The U.K. is in the process of joining and I have no doubt in the future other countries will, including perhaps the United States.

So, you know, those are two monuments to his leadership and his ability to bring people together. He was just a staunch defender of our values, of liberal values, of freedom, of respecting the rights of all nations. And, you know, while he sought to engage very constructively with China, and I think Japan's relations with China, which, of course, are fraught with a terrible history, improved considerably under his leadership. But, nonetheless, he was prepared to stand up to pressure from China and indeed pressure, of course, from North Korea.

So, really an outstanding statesman and such a loss, such a terrible loss to Japan and to the world and, of course, to his dear wife, Akie.

KEILAR: And that trade agreement, of course, is something that is about providing a counterweight to China's rising leadership in the region, which even without the U.S.'s participation in it at this point, is of utmost interest to America and certainly to Australia.

What are your concerns moving forward without his influence in Japan?

TURNBULL: Well, he was -- he was a very strong leader and, of course, a longstanding leader. So, Japan is already -- you know, in the two years since he stepped down, Japan has already had two prime ministers. So, the challenge is getting the consistency, not just the strength and clarity of leadership, but the consistency of enduring leadership in Japan after Shinzo Abe. I mean, the reality is that he was the exception in providing those qualities.

So, we will be worse off without him, but we have to make sure that his legacy continues. And I think his values are our values, our democratic values. But he brought to politics in all of the dealings I had with him a sincerity and an authenticity that is all too rare in politics today.

Your reporters mentioned his relationship with Donald Trump. Look, Trump presented a huge challenge to Abe. I mean, the United States was the sheet anchor of Japanese security, it's the security guarantee underpinned Japanese security. And Trump's erratic nature, his threats to disrupt alliances, his demand that, you know, alliance partners pay more money for American partnership and so forth, it was rattling -- rattling everybody all the time.

And he was tough on Abe at different occasions, frankly, but Abe was always calm, always good-natured. You know, he handled Trump very, very skillfully in circumstances that were difficult. He obviously had a different type of relationship with him than I did because mine began actually with a blazing argument.

But I thought Abe was -- he defended Japan's national interest in his dealings with Donald Trump and he also defended and helped secure the Japan/U.S. relationship even when the U.S. president himself was doing his best to shake it up.

KEILAR: Sir, we appreciate your time this morning. You really do a very good job of describing the magnitude of this loss. We also know it is very personal for you and for that we are so sorry.

Former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, thank you.

TURNBULL: Thank you.

BERMAN: Joining us now, CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and former Secret Service Agent Jonathan Wackrow and Gordon Chang, Columnist for the Daily Beast and author of Nuclear Showdown, North Korea Takes on the World.

[07:10:10]

Jonathan, if I can, I want to start with you and the security aspect of this and how glaring it was to see in broad daylight in a public campaign event, and I think we have the video again here, where you see this recently retired Japanese leader gunned down in public. How did this happen? What went wrong in terms of security?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, John, I mean, this is a stark reminder that threats against political leaders around the world do not end when they leave office. They typically reduce over time. However, they are not never fully eliminated, especially if they remain within the political spotlight.

So, to your point, what we look at is this was a political rally, it was in an open air environment, close to a transportation hub, and this is a prime opportunity where we do see security around the protectee really in 360 degrees. However, the public was allowed to get close and we see this often within political rallies. And, again, the footprint of security for the former prime minister was reduced from his former position, so, allowing that attacker to get close.

And while we don't know the motivation of this attacker the brazen nature of it, coupled with the fact that, in an environment where guns are anomalous, this homemade weapon was utilized to launch the assassination attack is just shocking. And this is what we're going to have to look at, whether or not police and law enforcement within the region knew of this threat, knew of this individual and were the right security measures put into place?

I mean, I do give credit to the close protection detail that was there, they reacted very quickly, but that threat got very, very close and it really shouldn't have.

KEILAR: I think that's also the thing, Jonathan, though, as we look at this from an American perspective, and it looks quite frankly nuts that he would have gotten that close. But when you are in a nation where guns are just not an issue, it's also something that you wouldn't expect. Even as close as he got, you wouldn't expect that someone would be able to do mortal injury in Japan to a politician or a former politician, a former prime minister in this way.

WACKROW: Well, that's a great point, Brianna. But, you know, law enforcement in Japan, they look at the models around the world. And while, you know, the utilization of a firearm or an attack is a low probability of occurrence, it's still something that they plan for, and just the fact that if you look at this security posture, the way that they reacted, they're always thinking about this threat environment. Unfortunately, again, it goes to the fact that he was a former prime minister, the footprint, the security footprint for him was reduced allowing that public to get close.

Now, if this was the current prime minister, you would see those barriers pushed out, you would see a different level of security. But here, I mean, security is always thinking about that threat environment, how dynamic and unpredictable it is. They acted quickly, but, again, it was just a very tough environment to operate in when you have the public getting that close, you know, utilizing now a homemade weapon.

BERMAN: Gordon, in terms of what a unique figure Shinzo Abe was, especially in terms of U.S./Japanese relations, he was the first Japanese prime minister to host a U.S. president at Hiroshima, Barack Obama. He was the first Japanese prime minister to visit Pearl Harbor with Obama, and then his relationship with Donald Trump. What kind of a person was he? What do you see here?

GORDON CHANG, COLUMNIST, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, what I see is a towering figure. And as Nic Robertson said, he was a man of great vision. He was able to heal some of the divides between Japan and the United States. He was able to work both political parties and, as you mentioned, President Obama and Donald Trump.

The thing that's important here is the question of going forward. What is Japan going to be like? Because without Shinzo Abe, as Malcolm Turnbull said, the region would not have come together with the quad security grouping, which is really important these days. His vision from the first years of this century have really set the free world's path in Asia-Pacific region. And so the question is does Japan fall back into political chaos, as it does look like now, or does this create a reaction and Japan coming together? I would sort of think it's the first and I'm very concerned about that.

BERMAN: Gordon Chang, Jonathan Wackrow, thank you for being with us this morning.

All right, this just in, significant news out of the White House. We understand the president is about to make an announcement on abortion rights. Stand by for news.

And the January 6th committee set to hear from former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone today hoping to get insider details about what went on in the Trump White House on January 6th.

[07:15:07]

KEILAR: And, of course, we have more ahead on the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

This is CNN's special live coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. This just in, CNN has learned that President Biden is about to sign an executive order aimed at safe guarding abortion rights.

Let's go to the White House. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is there. Jeremy, what does this order do?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, John, in the two weeks since the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade in this landmark decision, President Biden is now expected to sign an executive order in a matter of hours aimed at trying to safeguard rights to reproductive health care across the country.

This executive order is going to do a few key things, and let me outline for you now. Safe guarding access to reproductive health care services, that will include protecting access to medication abortion through the Department of Health and Human Services, also look to go protect the privacy of patients at a time when people in states where abortion is now illegal are concerned about those states gathering their data in an attempt to go ahead and move forward with prosecutions, promoting the safety and security of patients.

[07:20:11]

There's not a lot of details from the White House so far on exactly what that would account for, and also creating this task force, an interagency task force led by the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the White House's gender policy counsel to coordinate interagency efforts related to policies around reproductive health care services. Now, I think it's important to note that a lot of the steps included in this executive order are already things that we've heard from President Biden or the HHS secretary, Xavier Becerra, steps that they've done to take or at least outline that they will be taking. This executive order appears to really codify a lot of those steps in this executive order and it also requires the HHS Secretary Becerra to submit a report to the president within 30 days on his efforts on all of these fronts.

But it is also worth noting, John, that these steps do not go nearly as far as many Democrats have been urging President Biden to go on this. There is nothing here, for example, about establishing clinics on federal lands. That is one idea that has gained a significant amount of traction, something that the governor of New York pressed President Biden on last week. But the White House has said that that could potentially have dangerous ramifications and made very clear it's not a step that they're going to take. John?

BERMAN: He's faced pressure to do something wrong his supporters and abortion rights proponents, this might be the first sign that he's hearing that message. Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much.

KEILAR: Today, the January 6th committee will hear from former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, who was very close literally to President Trump as the Capitol insurrection unfolded and just beforehand. It's a closed-door deposition but it will be videotaped. And his testimony could play a key role in the decision whether to recommend a criminal prosecution of former President Trump.

Joining us now to preview the testimony is CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. He's a former federal and state prosecutor. So, what are they looking for, Elie, from Pat Cipollone?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Brianna, Pat Cipollone is sort of the ultimate Trump White House insider. He served as White House counsel from 2018 until early 2021 and he's probably best recognized because he represented Donald Trump at the first impeachment trial in the Senate over Ukraine, notable the second one over January 6.

Now, Cipollone has a bit of history with the committee. Back in April, he gave them an informal interview, so they perhaps might have some sense of what he might say. Last week, not coincidentally the day after Cassidy Hutchinson testified, the committee served a formal subpoena on Pat Cipollone. And today, as you said, he will be giving testimony. It will be videotaped, we will not see it live but I think you can get safely we will see it next week, we will see clips that have testimony.

Here is how important Pat Cipollone is. In its letter last week, the committee said to him, quote, you are uniquely positioned to testify, uniquely as in the one and only. And the committee specified a few areas where they want to ask him questions about, the effort to install Jeffrey Clark at the head of DOJ, to use DOJ to promote the election fraud lie, the effort to appoint fake electors for Donald Trump in states that Joe Biden had won, the effort to pressure Mike Pence on the counting of the electoral votes in Congress and the committee wants to know what happened inside the White House on January 6.

Keep in mind, Pat Cipollone was a voice of reason. Here is how Liz Cheney put it last week. Quote, our committee is certain Donald Trump does not want Mr. Cipollone to testify here. Our evidence shows that Cipollone and his office tried to do what was right. They tried to stop a number of Trump's plans for January 6. You can see why the committee is so interested.

KEILAR: And as you said, you can see why they subpoenaed him the day after Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony. There were so many revelations about Pat Cipollone in that. How is this going to play into his testimony?

HONIG: Yes, that really changed the game here for Pat Cipollone. Two particularly memorable moments from Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, first, she testified about this remarkable exchange between Cipollone and Mark Meadows. She said, I remember Pat saying to him, Mark Meadows, something to the effect of the rioters have gotten to the Capitol, Mark, we need to go down and see the president now, and Mark looked up at him and said, he doesn't want to do anything, Pat. And Pat said something to the effect of, Mark, something needs to be done or people are going to die and the blood is going to be on your f'ing hands.

The committee is going to want to know all about that conversation and also what happened afterwards. I would want to ask Pat Cipollone, who did you at that you can to afterwards? Who else did you relay that to?

The other memorable exchange Cassidy Hutchinson testified, quote, Mr. Cipollone said something to the effect of, please make sure we don't go up to the Capitol, Cassidy, meaning send Donald Trump to the Capitol. Keep in touch with me. We're going to get charged with every crime imaginable, potentially obstructing justice or defrauding the electoral count. I think the committee is going to want to know about that conversation with Cassidy Hutchinson.

But also if you're questioning Pat Cipollone, who else did you warn this they were potentially committing every crime imaginable? Did you talk about that with Mark Meadows, with others?

[07:25:00]

So, those are going to be crucial areas of testimony.

KEILAR: It could be hugely consequential. He is also perhaps not as cooperative as a witness as Cassidy Hutchinson, which is something that we should note. Ellie, we're going to leave it there. Thank you so much for all of that.

BERMAN: So, the father of the suspected gunman in the Highland Park mass shooting speaking out as officials look into any culpability he may have for signing his son's application for a gun license. Robert Crimo Jr. told the New York Post, quote, they make me like I groomed him to do all this. I've been here my whole life and I'm going to stay here, hold my head up high, because I didn't do anything wrong.

Joining me now is the suspected shooter's uncle, Paul Crimo. Paul, thank you for being with us this morning. Can I ask you, what was your relationship with your nephew?

PAUL CRIMO, UNCLE OF HIGHLAND PARK SHOOTING SUSPECT: My relationship, we had a very distant relationship. We had -- we had a very distant relationship. He was real -- my nephew is a real lonely guy, quiet, he keeps everything to himself. He's quiet.

BERMAN: When you look back now at the last couple years, is there anything you see that jumps out to you as a possible warning sign?

CRIMO: The last couple of years, he's been living with me for about two and a half years off and on and there is no -- there is nothing that I have seen that -- he had no mental episodes or nothing, there was no police calls to our house, nothing that would lead me to -- for this to happen. There are no signs of nothing that I had seen.

BERMAN: Were you aware at all of the two incidents we now know of where police came to the house once for a suspected suicide attempt, the other because he had said he wanted to, quote, kill everyone? Was that anything you knew about?

CRIMO: When those two incidents happened, I found that out when it got aired on T.V. I never even knew about those two incidents. Nobody told me about that.

BERMAN: Did you ever have any conversations with him about guns?

CRIMO: No. Never, never, never. I never even seen him carry a gun.

BERMAN: Were you aware that he owned guns?

CRIMO: No. No.

BERMAN: Based on what you knew, again, for the last two years, you said he kept to himself, was he the --

CRIMO: Yes. Yes.

BERMAN: -- type of person who should have owned guns?

CRIMO: For me that I saw, he was a normal kid, a normal kid that -- I mean, he was a normal kid and there was no signs of -- of -- for me to see that he should not own a gun. And I didn't even know about those two incidents at that time. So, for me, I had no clue about him. I mean, he was a normal person.

BERMAN: The last few days since this all happened, how can you explain then, based on what you saw, how can you explain that he ultimately did this?

CRIMO: How can I explain? He's not the type of guy that would do something like this and I can't even believe it and it's out of his character and I -- I just -- it's unbelievable. I can't even believe this, that this had happened.

BERMAN: Yes. Because one of the things that people, I think, want to know is how do you spot something like this? If you can, if you can spot something like this in the years before, you know, what would it be? What can you see where you would say, hey, wait a minute, this looks unusual, we have got to do something about this, anything that you can think of there?

CRIMO: The last two years that -- I mean, I used to come home and he used to sit in a chair at times and I used to come home, either I would go to the kitchen, I would pass him up, I would say hi and he says hi to me, I come back out and then I go upstairs, I come back down and he just is on his phone and he's quiet and there was no -- there was no signs. I saw no signs of trouble with him, I mean, at all. If I saw signs, I would have reported it, but I didn't -- never saw any signs that I've seen that would make me to do something.

[07:30:02]

BERMAN: What did he do with his time, as far as you could tell?

CRIMO: Mostly he was on his phone.