Return to Transcripts main page
One World with Zain Asher
Eight Injured In Attack At Event For Israeli Hostages In Colorado; Ukraine Launches Massive Drone Strike Against Russia; Photojournalist Documents The Civil War's Brutal Effects; Schools Scrambling Due To Trump's Foreign Student Moves; Curtis Yarvin's Ideas Influence Right-Wing Power Elites; Boulder Attack Has Intensified In Jewish Community; Canadian Wildfires Bring Poor Air Quality To The U.S.; Swift Music Soars Up The Charts Now She Owns Entire Catalog; Aired 12-1p ET
Aired June 02, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:00:30]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: Brazen attack. The Jewish community rallies around the victims of yet another tragic act of violence.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: The second hour of "ONE WORLD" starts now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're working hand in hand to ensure that we secure all the evidence, all the information, and all the witness statements we
need to hold the attacker fully accountable. That is my promise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: The suspect in Colorado has been charged and will appear in court in the coming hours.
ASHER: And audacious aerial assault. Ukrainian forces caused billions of dollars in damage to Russia made for T.V. details on how they did it and
what comes next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: So, I don't know if you've heard but a little known artist, an up and comer name Taylor Swift.
ASHER: I've never heard of her. I don't know what you're talking about.
GOLODRYGA: Well, she's one to watch and she got our master's back. How her success just got even sweeter.
ASHER: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You're watching the second hour of "ONE WORLD."
In the coming hours, the suspect in Sunday's horrific attack in Boulder, Colorado makes his first court appearance.
ASHER: According to police, he was shouting "Free Palestine" while using a homemade flame thrower and Molotov cocktails to set people on fire. It
happened at an event for Israeli hostages in Gaza.
Holocaust survivor is among the eight people injured in the attack. A witness spoke about what she saw at the scene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BROOKE COFFMAN, WITNESS: I jumped over this like tiny little fence over to these two ladies on the grass and it was two older ladies just like kind of
rolling around a little bit. They were in their underwear because they have like stripped their pants obviously. And, yes, I was just like, how can I
help? And they have like really bad burns all upon their legs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: The Department of Homeland Security says Mohamed Soliman is the U.S. -- is in the U.S. illegally after his work authorization expired in
March.
Let's get some perspective on the attack. We're joined by John Miller, CNN's chief law enforcement analyst. We're expecting to hear more from
authorities in the coming hours as we've noted, John.
But in terms of what we do know, we knew that Mohamed Soliman used a flamethrower to attack that group in Boulder and was obviously attacking
people who were advocating peacefully for the release of hostages in Israel in Gaza.
I'm wondering how you respond to the charge of first-degree murder, because I believe the latest that we have, thus far, is that all eight of these
victims, some of them in serious condition, though none as we -- as far as we know, have died from their wounds yet.
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, that could be just a legal particularity from the state of Colorado. I'm not an expert in
Colorado law, but what they do in other states, including New York is they will cite the statute that charges murder.
And then there are sub counts of murder, including, you know, attempted murder and others. So I can't -- I can't fully explain that one. Although
we were assured by the Boulder Police, not long ago, that no one has passed away.
ASHER: And, John, just in terms of interviewing the suspect, I mean, obviously he was rested. They are going to be talking to him and to find
out exactly what his motive was. Just walk us through what sort of questions authority is going to be posing to him.
MILLER: Well, we are told by law enforcement sources that he made a spontaneous statement upon being arrested, which is, I did this to avenge
my people. That would be in context with things that were shouted at the scene, which you can hear on the videotape, including not until Palestine
is free, we must end the Zionists. So the -- the motive is pretty much embedded in what he was yelling as people were asking him what he did and
why he did it before police arrived at the scene.
We've learned a little bit more about what he did and how he did it, allegedly, from investigators today. I'm told by a multiple law enforcement
sources that what they have pieced together is he arrives in the Boulder area around one o'clock. He stops at multiple gas stations. He takes weed
killer bottles, which he's emptied out, fills them with gasoline.
[12:05:18]
And then -- and I believe we have a picture of this, a weed killer sprayer. It's a -- you can see it right there. It's the white thing leaning against
the tree. This is the kind of thing you would wear on your back and then hold the sprayer out. That was also, we are told, filled with gasoline and
that he sprayed it while holding some ignition source, perhaps a lighter, creating this flamethrower effect. Then he threw two Molotov cocktails
filled with the gasoline.
And police at the scene, we are told, recovered a large number of additional Molotov cocktails that he had.
Apparently, he had disguised himself to appear as a landscaper with the weed killer spraying device and one of those orange vests, which you can
see right behind the device on the ground. He took the vest and the shirt off, we are told, because the blowback from what he was spraying actually
caused his shirt to ignite, which is why he appears the way he does in those moments.
GOLODRYGA: Just horrifying. And as we noted, he is an Egyptian citizen who has been in the U.S. now on a tourist visa that has expired. And the
concern, obviously, is of additional attacks, copycat type of attacks. Something so unsophisticated could yet prove to be so lethal.
I got alerts here in New York City, John, from the NYPD saying that they've also increased security around, especially Jewish places of worship and
synagogue.
You will be staying on top of this for us. Thank you so much.
MILLER: Thanks, Bianna.
ASHER: All right. The second round of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia wrapped up in Istanbul earlier today.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. The delegation spoke to each other for a little more than an hour. And the spokesman for Turkey's foreign ministry says that it
didn't end, quote, negatively.
The head of Moscow's delegation said Russia offered Ukraine a brief ceasefire in specific frontline areas. Kyiv, meanwhile is criticizing
Russia for not providing a memorandum ahead of time and outlined three demands of its own.
The country's defense minister also said there need to be higher-level talks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSTEM UMEROV, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER: The third point in our agenda is a meeting of leaders. We firmly believe that all key issues can only be
solved at a level of leaders. And the leaders meeting could be with possible involvement of other leaders such as President of United States.
We propose to Russian side to hold a meeting by the end of this month, from 20th to 30th of June. This is crucial for making progress in negotiations
process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: One day earlier, Ukraine launched a stunning and daring surprise attack on its neighbor. The assault is now being described as Russia's
Pearl Harbor, the massive drone bombardment targeted dozens of warplanes to air bases thousands of miles away from the frontline. Some closer to Japan
than Ukraine.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Source said the mission dubbed Operation Spiderweb took over a year and a half to execute and involve drones being smuggled across
the border and then hidden in wooden mobile sheds loaded onto trucks.
One source says 40 Russian warplanes were destroyed, and Ukraine's domestic intelligence agency estimates that Russia suffered $7 billion in damage. It
remains to be seen what, if any, long-range impact this will have. But what is clear is Kyiv's ability to raise the cost of the war for the Kremlin.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said loss is the only language that Moscow understands.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: Europe, together with America, has better weapons than Russia. We also have stronger tactical solutions.
Our Operation Spiderweb yesterday proved that Russia must feel what its losses mean.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Pasi Paroinen is an open source analyst at Blackbird Group, and he joins us live now from Finland.
Pasi, obviously, this is a huge setback for Russia's war machine. You know, people have described it as the kind of attack that will be studied for
decades by military historians, even going as far as to say that this is essentially Russia's Pearl Harbor. Give us your take on the significance of
-- of this attack.
PASI PAROINEN, OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE ANALYST, BLACK BIRD GROUP: Yes. This attack was certainly impressive and destructive. I have to note that
the -- the exact number of the destroyed aircraft is likely going to be much lower than the first thrown figure of 40 aircrafts, but still anything
like 10 to 15 aircrafts is still a significant portion of the Russia's quite limited strategic bomber fleet that is operational. And these
aircraft are very difficult for the Russians to replace some of them impossible.
[12:10:21]
And these sort of attacks are very difficult to defend the attack against. And -- and also, I will have to note that this attack was only partially
successful. But there were also some -- some hiccups along the way.
GOLODRYGA: We're talking specifically about Tupolev bombers that were Soviet-era bombers that Russia maintained. I think they have about an
arsenal of 100. And even if that number is lower than the 40 claimed to have been taken out by Ukraine, this does still a significant blow for
Russia.
Because -- and if you can give us more detail as to why, this really impacts their ability to launch longer-range ballistic missiles into
Ukraine, which is why they were targeted.
Where does that put Russian -- Russia's air force right now in terms of their capability? How far back does this set them?
PAROINEN: Overall, they will still be able to continue their long-range strike campaign. Of course, as -- as the number of operational aircraft
decreases, the operational strain, the attrition from simply using these aircrafts will -- will increase and will be focused on fewer and fewer
chassis. And, of course, they cannot launch as big concentrated attacks using every aircraft available.
This is also very -- very important for -- for the Ukrainian home front that has been feeling the -- the impact from these attacks.
The overall impact on the war will be much more limited. The ground domain is still the key area for this war and will decide how it will end. But it
is still the what -- very much a welcome news for the Ukrainian home front to -- to be able to strike back at these -- these weapons.
ASHER: And just in terms of the level of planning, I mean, we've talked about the fact that it took about 18 months of -- of planning, but just
give us a sense of the type of planning that Ukraine would have had to have engaged in order to pull off something like this.
PAROINEN: Yes. The first -- first of is the difficulty of getting explosive materials in large quantities into -- into Russia. Like the drones probably
were not that much difficult because there is constantly traffic of commercial drones being delivered across the border.
But -- but it takes a determined national actor to deliver these much explosives for this specialized purpose, but not impossible.
I suspect that these were transported from Central Asia, like places from like Kazakhstan. It's a long difficult -- difficult to secure border with
Russia, probably quite a lot of crossing points.
So overall, it is -- it is a type of attack that is difficult to defend against from national security point of view. And from -- apparently from
the Siberians (ph) in -- in like central Russian Siberia, the -- these strike packages were delivered across Russia using Russian truck drivers
who had been hired to do the transportation, like, they were unwitting helpers in -- in this attack.
ASHER: All right. Pasi Paroinen, thank you so much. Appreciate your perspective.
GOLODRYGA: New violence in the war in Gaza.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: You've just seen the moment captured on video when an airstrike hit a building in Gaza City. Officials there say the Israeli military was
targeting a residential area on Sunday.
ASHER: We're also getting more details now about Sunday's deadly chaos at an aid distribution site, not far from Gaza City. A warning, the video you
are about to see is graphic.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Officials in Gaza say at least 31 Palestinians were fatally shot in Rafah as they attempted to receive food aid from the Gaza
Humanitarian Foundation. The Palestinian Health Ministry blames the Israeli military for the shooting. The IDF denies firing on civilians near or
within that site.
ASHER: All of this coming amid a grim new milestone for the shattered enclave. More than 50,000 children in Gaza have been killed or injured
since the Hamas terror attack on Israel in October 2023. That's according to UNICEF. And experts are warning that Gaza is at risk of famine if more
aid isn't brought in, especially in light of recent U.S. aid cuts.
[12:15:11]
CINDY MCCAIN, DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: I'm not going to -- going to even pretend to understand what's going on with inside the -- the U.S.
government at this particular point. I know what I see on the ground, not just in Gaza, but around the world. There's places like Sudan, DRC, Congo,
other places, South Sudan, et cetera, that are -- that re in just as much trouble as this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: The brutal civil war in Sudan has plunged the country into what the U.N. is calling the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Tens of
thousands of people have been killed. Millions have been displaced all while disease and famine continue to spread there.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Photojournalists takes us inside the capital of Khartoum. We must warn you, the images you're about to see may be disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GILES CLARKE, PHOTOJOURNALIST: These are the streets of Khartoum today. After two years of brutal war, this once bustling and thriving capital city
has now been reduced to a lifeless, charred ruin.
My name is Giles Clarke. I am a photojournalist currently covering the crisis in Sudan. I have just returned from Khartoum, which the Sudanese
army reclaimed in March after two years of Rapid Support Forces' occupation. Millions had fled the burning capital in the months after April
2023.
In the two years since, the entire inner city, about 10 miles square, has been looted to the bone by the RSF militants.
Today, homes and businesses where people once lived and worked lie bare and stripped of all contents. No doors, window frames, or even electrical
wiring.
Hospitals in the center of Khartoum were ransacked and destroyed. Wards and operating rooms plundered. Now, the stench of bodies still rotting in the
basement floors below fill the air.
In the malnutrition wards at Al-Buluk Hospital, Khartoum's only functioning pediatric hospital during the war, gravely sick children writhe in pain,
often three or four on each bed, as doctors desperately attempt to save them. More and more are being admitted as access in and around the city
gradually improves.
At Khartoum International Airport, the mangled remains of 20 or so jetliners attacked in the first few hours of the conflict on April 15th,
2023, lie burnt out on the tarmac. The continued RSF attacks on the city make it impossible to know when this airport will open again.
Although it will take years to rebuild the center of Khartoum, life is beginning to return to the streets of Omdurman in the city's northern area.
People displaced to other regions of the country over the past 24 months are starting to return.
Now that the ground fighting has eased, many will come back to empty homes and shattered businesses. The long and painful road to recovery has just
begun.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Giles Clark reporting there.
GOLODRYGA: And still to come on "ONE WORLD."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to bring it from 25 percent to 50 percent the tariffs on steel into the United States of
America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: As Donald Trump turns up the trade rhetoric, his advisors say there's a path to calm things down and all it will take is one phone call.
ASHER: And Harvard University returns to court. What we could learn how much damage Donald Trump has already done to the prestigious school.
GOLODRYGA: And he's a household name in some MAGA circles, a few of them extremely powerful, but he wants to replace American democracy with the
form of monarchy. CNN with a deeper dive on Curtis Yarvin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CURTIS YARVIN, AMERICAN COMPUTER SCIENTIST: Are there people in the administration who are on sigma groups with me? Yes, there are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:20:59]
GOLODRYGA: There is tough talk on trade coming from both Washington and Beijing today.
ASHER: Yes. U.S. officials are vowing not to let the courts stop them from putting their tariff plans into place, while Chinese officials say that all
the rhetoric coming from the U.S. is provoking what they call new frictions.
U.S. officials say a phone call between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping needs to happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: Well, we will see what the consequences are. I'm confident that when President Trump and party
Chairman Xi have a call that this will be ironed out.
HOWARD LUTNICK, U.S. COMMERCE SECRETARY: Donald Trump and President Xi, you know, our president understands what to do. He's going to go work it out.
KEVIN HASSETT, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR: By President Trump, we expect is going to have a wonderful conversation about the -- the trade
negotiations this week with President Xi.
But the bottom line is that we've got to be ready in case things don't happen the way we want, because if -- if we have cannons without
cannonballs, then we can't fight a war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Well, we could get a better sense of how much Donald Trump has hurt Harvard University today.
ASHER: Yes, that's expected to be included in court documents. Harvard is submitting that outline its case to restore more than $2 billion in federal
grants that have been frozen by the Trump administration.
It's worth noting that this case is completely separate from Trump's efforts to bar Harvard from admitting international students.
And while the administration remains at war with Harvard, the school continues to win praise from people who see it as the strongest resistance
to Trump right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREEM ABDUL -JABBAR, FORMER BASKETBALL STAR: After seeing so many cowering billionaires, media moguls, law firms, politicians, and other universities
bend their knee to an administration that is systematically strip mining the U.S. Constitution, it is inspiring to me to see Harvard University take
a stand for freedom.
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: I want to dig a little bit deeper into the way that Trump is on his ongoing disputes of several universities and colleges are impacting foreign
students who want to study in the United States.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has been looking to all of this. Sunlen, I've actually spoken to a number of foreign students in the U.S. over the past week or
so, who are essentially really worried about their futures. They're not really sure how to plan, they don't know if they can leave the country and
go on vacation to see their families. They have no idea what the future holds for them.
What are schools and colleges telling you?
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They're really, and you're right, your tap into lot of the anxiety that students are certainly
feeling and that's something that the schools that we spoke to are feeling as well. Because when those students are coming to them and asking them
what this policy directive from the Trump administration means, they don't have answers to give their international students.
Now, myself and a team here, we reached out to 50 colleges and universities across the U.S. and asking them about this moment, how they're scrambling
behind the scenes to try to help their incoming class for the next academic year, those international students who would likely be spending this summer
going to their visa interviews, going to their visa appointments and -- and likely securing a visa.
[12:25:11]
And we heard widespread anxiety and fear over this moment. One of the colleges we spoke to, Mount Holyoke in Massachusetts, they said that their
incoming class was 140 international students. That's for the incoming academic year.
Of that 140 students, only 50 of those students have secured their visa so far. And so the rest of those students right now are in a state of limbo
and the school has no answers to their questions.
And beyond that, beyond the short-term focus on the next school year, a lot of the schools told us that they're real worried about the long-term
implications if this potentially sticks.
I'm saying that they have concerns over their recruitment, their ability to remain competitive against other colleges and universities across the
world. And also a big concern over finances and the impact that it may have on the schools themselves.
Now, the Trump administration, the State Department, they've defended this move saying that every visa adjudication is a, quote, national security
decision. And more guidance, they say, will be expected soon as to how long this pause will be.
And that's something I heard from many of the school administrators I've talked to is the big question is, will this be a couple months, a couple
weeks or potentially longer? That has a real implication. It's not only for students coming this fall in the school year and whether they will actually
be able to be here and studying the United States or potentially even longer.
ASHER: Sunlen Serfaty, live for us there in Washington. Thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: Well, a computer engineer and entrepreneur turned political theorist is advocating to replace American democracy with a monarchy.
And some of the most powerful right-wing conservatives in Washington, D.C. and Silicon Valley are listening to Curtis Yarvin.
ASHER: And CNN's Hadas Gold takes a closer look at Yarvin's ideas, which are alarming both scholars and experts in democracy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Hi.
YARVIN: Hi.
GOLD: Hadas.
YARVIN: (INAUDIBLE) to meet you.
GOLD: Nice to meet you. Thanks so much for doing this.
GOLD (voice-over): Meet the man inspiring the next generation of MAGA, Curtis Yarvin, who thinks America should no longer be a democracy. Even
before Trump's reelection, he envisioned a fantasy world where Trump was president again, and with chilling accuracy described how he would take aim
at public and private institutions without any interference from Congress or the courts.
YARVIN: Obviously, I'm not the secret mastermind of the Trump-Vance administration.
GOLD: You're not? I thought there was a hot line?
GOLD (voice-over): The software engineer and blogger has been called the Father Of Dark Enlightenment Political Theory. That means he thinks
democracy is overrated, and what the U.S. needs is a king.
YARVIN: A monarch, a single focus of authority is, you know, absolutely necessary to run any integrated system efficiently. You could probably put
any of the Fortune 500 CEOs in and say, OK, you're in charge of the executive branch, fix this. They would probably do fine. They wouldn't be
Hitler or Stalin.
GOLD: And he's got some powerful people listening.
TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I think you're pretty far out in a way that is worth thinking about.
JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's this guy Curtis Yarvin, who's written about some of these things.
GOLD (voice-over): Years before Elon Musk and DOGE, Yarvin coined the phrase RAGE, Retire All Government Employees. Next, he sees a world where
the power is not with the people.
GOLD: Should there be, though, elections in your world of a sovereign CEO?
YARVIN: There needs to be a way of basically holding the sovereign CEO accountable.
GOLD: But not every single person should have a vote?
YARVIN: Well, I mean, I have four beautiful children. None of them have to vote.
GOLD (voice-over): Experts in democracy, like Harvard Professor Danielle Allen, who publicly debated Yarvin, say his ideas are dangerous.
DANIELLE ALLEN, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: It is not the case that autocracies over the course of history have delivered good for human beings. They have
consistently violated freedom.
GOLD: Not surprisingly, Yarvin is no stranger to controversy. He's been accused of using racist tropes and whitewashing history.
YARVIN: Certain races are better at certain things than others.
GOLD: Do you not necessarily believe then that certain races would be better at governing a country than others?
YARVIN: Oh, I mean, again, you know, governing a country is just a skill. And, you know, it's like the -- the British in India would basically say,
oh, this race is a governing race, this race is not a governing race based on culture, based on tradition, based on biology.
GOLD: So you're saying, yes, certain races would be better at running governments than others?
YARVIN: Would be better at doing anything. But those are only averages.
GOLD (voice-over): As for Trump, Yarvin says the administration is still not going far enough in harnessing executive power.
GOLD: You laid out how you thought things could be done in a way that were fast, that may be a little bit dirty. And some of the things, they do seem
to be doing there in the White House. Are you -- are you not pleased with how they're doing it?
YARVIN: No. Because I think that if you basically take anything complicated and you try to do 10 percent of it, you're not -- or 5 percent or maybe 1
percent, you're probably not going to result in anything good.
[12:30:07]
GOLD (voice-over): Instead, Yarvin is looking to younger generations.
YARVIN: I think most of my influence on sort of the Trump administration is -- is less through the leadership and more through like kids in the
administration who read my kind of stuff, because my audience is very young. And...
GOLD: Are you in touch with staffers at the White House on a regular basis?
YARVIN: I don't really know what a regular basis is, but...
GOLD: Are you e-mailing, on the phone with them?
YARVIN: Do I have -- do I have -- are there people in the administration who are on Signal groups with me? Yes, there are. I'm just out there in the
marketplace of ideas, you know. And I think the marketplace of ideas has definitely expanded in the last 10 years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GOLODRYGA: Welcome back to "ONE WORLD." I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher.
More now in our top story. U.S. officials say that a 45-year-old man who illegally overstayed his visa has been charged in what's been called a
targeted act of terrorism that injured eight people in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday. He will appear in court in the coming hours. Images from the
scene are extremely disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no. (INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Officials say 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman used a makeshift flamethrower and threw an incendiary device into the crowd. This, as a
police mugshot of the suspect, who authorities say, was also heard yelling, "Free Palestine" during the attack.
[12:35:10]
ASHER: As CNN's Brian Stelter reports, this violent incident has many Jewish people on edge and extremely scared.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes. All across Facebook and other online organizing platforms, you can see and read the fear, the outrage,
and also the resolve. The Boulder attack has intensified the fears of many Jews in America, especially those who are active in their communities with
pro-Israel causes.
The suspect in the Boulder attack targeted a weekly event, a weekly demonstration that was well known in the city, known as the Run for Their
Lives walk. This is a worldwide effort to call for the immediate release of the hostages still held in Gaza by Hamas.
Local residents were reminded about Sunday's gathering on Facebook and other platforms. It was easy to know when and where this event was taking
place in Boulder.
One of the posts in events read, quote, until they're all home, we will keep walking and calling attention to the plight of the hostages.
In the aftermath of the firebombing attack, you can see images and videos on social media showing the chaos. I was struck by one image showing a
discarded Israeli flag that must have been held or brought by one of the participants, suddenly laying there on the ground as everyone scattered
when this attack took place. Some people grabbed t-shirts, others went to look for buckets of water to try to help the victims.
There was a statement issued by a number of rabbis and other Jewish community leaders in the media aftermath that said in part, we are shaken,
we are saddened and heartbroken by what happened.
Our hearts go out to those who witnessed this horrible attack and prayers for a speedy recovery to those who were injured. Quote, when events like
this enter our own community, we are shaken. Our hope is that we come together for one another. The message ended with the words, strength to you
all.
For the time being, those Run For Their Lives events in Boulder have been called off. But I suspect organizers want to come back in an even more
intensive effort in the weeks ahead.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: Time now for "The Exchange." Joining us is Ted Deutch, CEO of the American Jewish Committee, a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy
group. He joined AJC after serving more than 12 years as a U.S. House representative from Florida.
Ted, I don't even know if I can honestly say it's good to see you again. We just had you on after that horrific shooting in Washington, D.C., where
Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky were killed outside of the Jewish Museum in Washington. And here we are again.
You know, you think you know how to talk to your children about these things, especially when it comes to your own Jewish children. We've covered
anti-Semitism a lot. I have a teenager who was extremely well read.
And, you know, when this happened last time, the first thing I was thinking was I really hope he's not looking at his phone. I really hope that he's
not going to see this headline because it yet sparks another conversation about why does this constantly happen to Jewish people.
How are you talking to communities? What is your message to the American Jewish community today?
TED DEUTCH, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, AMERICAN JEWISH COMMITTEE: Well, I -- I appreciate the opportunity to be with you. I shouldn't be. It's crazy
that you and I are having almost exactly the same conversation that we had barely 10 days ago when -- when Sarah and Yaron were gunned down in
Washington by terrorists who -- who effectively took the war in Gaza, took their support for Hamas, turned it into some sort of vile upside down
social justice movement and -- and took all those lies and -- and incitement to heart.
Globalized the intifada, the -- the language that's been used to rile people up leads them to violence. That's what happened here.
What do I tell people? There's -- there's nothing you can tell the community that it doesn't already know. The Jewish people have experienced
anti-Semitism for millennia.
And right now, we're standing with the people in Boulder, the community in Boulder, the broader Jewish community and the broader community, just like
everyone around the country should be standing with them.
But this isn't just a conversation that you should be having with your Jewish children. This is a conversation that the entire country should be
having with all of their kids, with their neighbors, with the people that they work with.
We talked about this 10 days ago. What happened -- think about what we've seen on October 7th of 2023. We had the worst attack against Jews since the
Holocaust when these terrorists went into Israel and slaughtered 1,200 people, killing them and burning them alive.
Now, that same tactic has been brought to America by the people who've been using the same slogans as these terrorists. It shouldn't be surprising and
we need to make clear that we're just not going to tolerate it anymore, not just the Jewish community, but everyone in America and around the world.
[12:40:12]
ASHER: Ted, I was speaking to Oren Segal from the Anti-Defamation League earlier. He was essentially saying that we're in this really dangerous
territory when people continue to sort of conflate the policies of Israel with the views of Jewish people around the world. And then they use that,
he was saying to me, to justify attacks.
How do we get that to stop?
DEUTCH: Well, it start -- there -- there are a few things that -- that need to happen. First of all, you need to be clear. We need to be clear that
this isn't about Israeli policy. This is about an effort to demonize the entire existence of the state of Israel, to seek the destruction of the
state of Israel, just like those Hamas terrorists and Hezbollah terrorists, and Palestinian Islamic jihad terrorists, and all of the others, the
Houthis who have continued to attack Israel throughout the decades.
That's -- that's what this is ultimately about. And the language that's being used, the language that says what -- what the terrorists are
screaming in Gaza, when they talk about intifada, calls for terrorism, when they talk about Palestine from the river to the sea, where the message is
there can no longer be a state of Israel.
And when they bring that to the United States and say, as some too many in America have now widely adopted, that if you support Israel, then all of
the lies about Israel, Israel being baby killers, Israel committing genocide, utter baseless disgusting lies, those get applied to you as a
supporter of Israel, to you as a Jew.
And when that happens, this is the result. That's what's happening here. And that's what we all, all of us, every part of society, everyone needs to
speak out. We would never tolerate this, never, ever, ever, about any other group in America. And we cannot tolerate it here.
When the goal -- the goal of -- of this -- this guy in Boulder and the goal -- the goal of the person in Washington and probably so many other people
marching in the streets calling for intifada is not to change policy in Israel. It's to ultimately destroy Israel and anyone who supports Israel.
And that's the overwhelming majority of Jews included and first informed us.
GOLODRYGA: And so Ted, you know, we talk about anti-Semitism being around for millennia and it's a form of cancer that morphs to what -- whatever the
headline and news cycle is of the day. Remember in 2018, the Tree of Life shooting, the worst mass shooting of American Jews here in our history and
that related to immigration policies.
You know, I grew up, Jews grew up and in our non-Jewish friends just become accustomed to seeing armed police around Jewish places of worship, Jewish
education centers.
Is there something about the normalization of the need for security exclusively to one particular minority group that also perhaps can be
addressed, that this is just not normal? I never went --
DEUTCH: Yes.
GOLODRYGA: -- to synagogue without a number of police officers outside and this was decades ago.
DEUTCH: Yes. And it's a fundamentally important question. We talk a lot about how we can't normalize anti-Semitism. We can't normalize Jew hatred.
We can't normalize the kind of calls to violence like we've seen that led to what happened in Boulder.
But likewise, you're so right, we can't normalize this idea that somehow, well, for the Jewish community, if they gather together to pray, they
should have metal detectors and armed guards and people walking around the premises, looking for suspicious intruders and checkpoints coming into the
parking lot.
And -- and for the Jewish community at their -- at their community centers, they may be putting on plays or having a film festival. But you know what,
when you go -- when they go to those festivals, you know that they're going to have to have their cars checked when they go, and that's not normal. And
you're right, it's become normalized.
We all -- because after this, that -- I've -- I've spoken with elected officials who have the first thing they tell me is that they intend to do
everything they can to get more security for the Jewish community. And I'm -- I'm grateful.
But that's -- the fact that that's the go-to that somebody went to a -- went to a -- went to a -- an event where they were marching to call for the
release of hostages held by terrorists for more than 600 days, and they were set on fire.
And the first reaction is, wow, that's really terrible. We're going to get you some more armed guards out in front of your institutions, that's --
that can't be normal anymore.
[12:45:02]
If there's one thing that's going to come from what's happened over the past two weeks, it's this conversation and making sure that everyone in --
in power, everyone with a position to influence others, stands up and say, you know what? I -- I'm not going to just accept the fact that my Jewish
friends and neighbors should -- should have to have armed guards everywhere they go. I don't.
That -- and they'll say, and they shouldn't have to either. That's what we need them to say. And then it's only natural for them to go on and take the
next step of saying, these calls to violence, they aren't social justice, they're incitement, and we're not going to tolerate that either.
GOLODRYGA: Ted Deutch, thank you once again for everything that you're doing.
ASHER: Thank you, Ted.
All right. U.S. President Donald Trump has just responded to the attack on his Truth Social platform, calling the act horrific.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. He writes that the suspect came in through Biden's quote, ridiculous open border policy. Then he adds, he must go out under Trump
policy. The president says his heart goes out to the victims of the tragedy and the people of Boulder, Colorado.
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: Firefighters are in a very tough battle against nearly 200 wildfires that continue to burn across Canada.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. A smoke from those blazes is now affecting air quality further south here in the United States.
Senior meteorologist Derek Van Dam has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Zain and Bianna, is this going to be yet another summer of smoke? Well, it certainly appears that way. We've
certainly had our fair share of red and orange sunrises and sunsets across much of North America. And we have the wildfire smoke in Canada to -- to
really explain that.
Look a bit on this latest satellite imagery that milky kind of look to the clouds. That's actually not cloud, that's smoke from the fires in Manitoba,
Saskatchewan. Some of the provinces just north of the United States. And some of that has filtered as far south as Atlanta, Georgia.
So it has been a smoke filled start to the meteorological spring and it's all because of these fires that are burning out of control. We're looking
at 182 individual fire spots, hot spots or so across Canada as we speak.
This is a visible satellite loop from the weekend. And I want you to see this counterclockwise motion across Quebec. This is a low pressure system
that's drawing the smoke further and further south.
This is the setup that has degraded the quality of the air across the state of Minnesota, the upper peninsula of Michigan. Remember, smoke has very
small particulate matter and that has allowed to be ingested deep within your chest cavity. So that can be very difficult for people with upper
respiratory problems.
[12:50:18]
This is the current quality of the air. You can see lots of yellows, oranges, even a few reds on there.
And check this out. We expand a little further to the south. As far as the Atlantic seaboard, here across the Carolinas, just incredible as the winds
from the upper levels of the atmosphere drive this further and further south.
There is more smoke on tap this week across much of the central parts of the U.S. and the eastern parts of the United States. So we'll be monitoring
this for the days, if not weeks, if not summer, to come.
Zain, Bianna, back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: Many thanks to Derek Van Dam for that.
We'll be right back with more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(MUSIC)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Taylor Swift's entire catalog of music does indeed now belong to her for the first time. That's catapulting her songs to the top of iTunes
charts.
ASHER: Forbes reported that her 2017 album, "Reputation" shot straight to number one with herself titled, debut record at number two.
The colossal music star says it is a dream come true in achievement that was years in the making as soon as Rand Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TAYLOR SWIFT, 14-TIME GRAMMY WINNER: I've always wanted to own my own music.
RANDI KAYE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): And now she does. Taylor Swift announced the news on her website, writing, "All of the music
I've ever made now belongs to me."
Back in 2019, Swift said she'd been, quote, "blindsided" when the master recordings of her first six albums were part of the deal when her former
label was sold to producer Scooter Braun.
TAYLOR: I made it very clear that I wanted to be able to buy my music. That opportunity was not given to me, and it was sold to somebody else.
KAYE (voice-over): Braun insisted Swift's team was aware of the pending deal. Swift wrote on Tumblr then that the $300 million deal "stripped me of
my life's work."
She moved on and signed with Universal Music Group's Republic Records, which allowed her to own her future masters. She also found a way to
reclaim ownership of most of her earlier music by re-recording her first five albums.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's the plan?
TAYLOR: Yes, absolutely.
I just figured I was the one who made this music first. I can just make it again.
[12:55:03]
SETH MEYERS, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS": Yes.
TAYLOR: So that's what we're doing.
(APPLAUSE)
MEYERS: You have to say it.
(APPLAUSE)
TAYLOR: So that's what we're doing. So, when something says in parentheses, "Taylor's version" next to it, that means I own it, which is exciting.
KAYE (voice-over): And when Swift announced her new album "Lover" on Good Morning America in 2019 --
TAYLOR: One thing about this album that's really special to me is that it's the first one that I will own.
I think that artists deserve to own their work. I just feel very passionately about that.
My contract says that starting November 2020, so next year, I can record albums one through five all over again.
KAYE (voice-over): And now, Swift also owns all her music videos, concert films, album art and photography, along with unreleased songs purchased,
she wrote, "with no strings attached" from a private equity company that had bought her master recordings. Swift told her fans, "This is my greatest
dream come true."
Randi Kaye, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: That's really inspiring. A little unreadable. I don't know 300 million know this, but --
GOLODRYGA: Quite the business chops, right?
ASHER: Quite the business chops. But, of course, I'm proud of you --
GOLODRYGA: Loyal fans.
ASHER: -- Taylor, if you're watching.
GOLODRYGA: Loyal fans. Just like our loyal viewers, who sadly will have to say goodbye to us.
ASHER: Until tomorrow.
GOLODRYGA: Until tomorrow. Thanks so much for watching.
ASHER: Well, 24 hours to wait.
GOLODRYGA: I'm Bianna Golodryga with Zain Asher. I will be right back with "AMANPOUR."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
