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The Situation Room

Trump Off The Rail As Harris And Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) Barnstorm Battlegrounds; Sources Say, Israel Bracing For Hezbollah Attack Within Days; Officials Say, Three Suspects Tied To Taylor Swift Concert Plot; Pelosi Speaks Out On Her Role In Biden's Decision To Step Aside; New Video Shows Moment Local Police Officer Saw Trump Shooter Just Before Assassination Attempt. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 08, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. Donald Trump comes out swinging at Kamala Harris and Tim Walz during a Mar-a-Lago news conference as he tries to blunt the momentum of the new Democratic ticket. The former president leveling new attacks at his opponents and ranting about crowd sizes as he took questions from the news media.

Plus, new details about the alleged terror plot against Taylor Swift, the concerts in Austria. Authorities now say all three suspects are teenagers and that the mastermind of the foiled scheme planned to kill himself and a large number of people during the attack.

And here in the Middle East, anxiety is clearly building as Israel braces for potential attacks from Hezbollah. Sources tell me a strike could come within days, keyword days. This, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds an urgent meeting with his security cabinet.

Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Tel Aviv, Israel, and you're in The Situation Room.

We begin tonight with the latest in the race for the White House, Donald Trump scrambling to reclaim the spotlight as Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Tim Walz, take their battleground state tour through the Midwest and beyond.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is joining us now live from just outside the former president's Mar-a-Lago estate down in Florida. Kristen, what is Trump saying?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, he was saying quite a bit. A lot of it was attacking Kamala Harris, trying out new lines on her, saying that she was barely competent, saying that she was not smart in any way, saying at some points that she was worse than President Joe Biden when it came to policy. There was a lot of ranting, a lot of doubling down on various things, talking about immigration, talking about the economy, talking about inflation.

Now, the one big piece of news that we got out of all of this is the fact that he has agreed to three debates, including that September 10th ABC debate that he had agreed to with President Joe Biden, then reneged on, now he is back doing that. But the big focus for him, and this has been a real line coming out of the campaign now for the last several days, was that Kamala Harris has not taken a question from media, has not done a press conference.

Listen to just some of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: She hasn't done an interview. She can't do an interview. She's barely competent.

She's not doing any news conference. You know why she's not doing it? Because she can't do a news conference, she doesn't know how to do a news conference. She's not smart enough to do a news conference.

I haven't recalibrated strategy at all. It's the same policies, open borders, weak on crime. I think she's worse than Biden.

I'm very happy to run against her. I'm not complaining from that standpoint.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And, Wolf, I also asked him about his light campaign schedule, the fact that we haven't seen him since Saturday when he had this rally in Atlanta, Georgia. The next time he's doing a rally is Friday tomorrow at 10:00 P.M. at night on the East Coast, in Montana, which is a red state, he said that he didn't need to be out there campaigning because he's leading by so much.

Of course, we have seen those poll numbers. They are much closer than they were against President Joe Biden and his senior advisers, as well as campaign officials, have said that they acknowledge that the race has changed slightly, the fact that there is more enthusiasm on the Democratic side. So, this idea that he's not out there because of that, that doesn't seem to be true. Wolf?

BLITZER: And, Kristen, something about the Harris-Walz rallies out there in the key battleground state clearly seems to have gotten under Trump's skin.

HOLMES: Yes. Wolf, we know one thing that Donald Trump has focused a lot on in the past eight years is crowd size. He often embellishes the crowd size, that he also does get enormous crowd sizes. Thousands of people turn up to his events. But when he was asked about the fact that thousands of people are now also turning up to the Democratic side of things, the Harris-Walz rallies, he got a bit defensive and attacked the media.

Listen to some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They said, oh, the crowd was so big. I have 10 times, 20 times, 30 times the crowd size.

And they talk about, oh, the enthusiasm.

[18:05:01]

Let me tell you, we have the enthusiasm, the Republican Party and me as a candidate.

On crowd size in history for any country, nobody's had crowds like I have, and you know that. And when she gets a thousand people and everybody starts jumping, you know that if I had a thousand people, people would say that's the end of his campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Multiple things can be true at once, Wolf. One, we know that she had way more than 1,000 people at that event. We were told by people there it was closer to 15,000. But it can also be true that Donald Trump himself has large crowds at various rallies. But, clearly, the fact that this is a huge change from what we saw at President Joe Biden's event, that is something that Donald Trump has fixated on. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, that's an important point. Kristen Holmes reporting for us, Kristen, thank you very much.

Right now, I want to bring in CNN's Eva McKend. She's joining us from Phoenix, Arizona. That's where Vice President Harris and Governor Walz are set to continue their campaign swing. Eva, how are Harris and her campaign responding, first of all, to Trump?

EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, to be clear, Wolf, the Vice President has always maintained that she will participate in this September 10th ABC debate. The campaign, though, really relishing this episode from the former president today, describing his news conference as a public meltdown. And while Trump and his allies have gone after her for not giving news conferences, for not sitting for media interviews, they're going after him for basically being MIA on the campaign trail this week and arguing, look, they're busy. They are making their case to voters in the battleground states.

I'm going to read you a little bit of the statement that we got from the campaign. It reads he hasn't campaigned all week. He isn't going to a single swing state this week, but he sure is mad at Kamala Harris and Tim Walz that they're getting big crowds.

And let's also listen to her. She spoke about this as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Well, I'm glad that he's finally agreed to a debate on September 10th. I'm looking forward to it and hope he shows up.

REPORTER: Are you open to more debate? HARRIS: I am happy to have that conversation about an additional debate for after September 10th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCKEND: So, what the vice president is doing, she was rallying union workers today in Michigan. She'll be in Phoenix tomorrow to whip up Latino voters here in this battleground state. I spoke to organizers earlier today here in Phoenix. They're very excited and they told me, listen, we've been ready and if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. That's what I'm hearing from here. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Eva McKend in Phoenix for us, Eva, thank you very much.

I want to bring in our political experts for some more analysis right now. David Chalian, we heard Trump repeatedly boast about his crowd sizes with wildly inflated numbers. What does that reveal to you about his mindset right now?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean, he has revealed it in his own words to us. I mean, just yesterday, Wolf, he was asked on Fox it must be driving you crazy that Kamala Harris' honeymoon is continuing weeks into this, and he said it is, and that's obviously what drove him wanting to get out before reporters today take questions, yes, draw the contrast with Harris that she has not done that yet, and, no doubt, that was something they wanted to put on display, but also he wanted to grab hold of the narrative.

It is clear when you heard him today focus so much on crowd size and just sort of the broken record nature of that, like the scratch track back to the beginning of his administration, it's the kind of thing that he obsesses over and he is focused on it because he is seeing the coverage on the Democratic side of the enthusiasm that Harris is generating out on the campaign trail right now, and it's clearly getting to him. And so today was an effort to try and get a sort of toehold back in this race after he was a bit destabilized with the big events of Biden leaving the ticket and Harris becoming the nominee.

BLITZER: Important. Bryan Lanza, I think it was important that the Harris campaign quickly called this a public meltdown with Trump was doing, a public meltdown. Did Trump help himself today with this litany of falsehoods about polling, the 2020 election, crowd sizes and more?

BRYAN LANZA, FORMER DEPUTY COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, TRUMP 2016 CAMPAIGN: No. Listen, I think he stepped into the conversation in a way that he actually felt he had control over it. You know, you had the media covering, you know, a bunch of things and he probably didn't feel his narrative was pushing through. And so he's always felt that he's his best messenger and he went in to deliver that.

And so, what I heard is President Trump wanting three debates, not one. What I heard, you know, was, you know, Vice President Kamala was saying maybe we'll have a debate. Let's see how the first one goes. So, she's hedging her bets that she's going to underperform at a debate, just like her predecessor, Joe Biden, did.

You know what I didn't hear though, which, you know Trump's press conference sort of stepped on was the fact that Governor Tim Walz had edited his biography.

[18:10:00]

He sort of admitted that he lied on his biography, you know, for the past 20 years and then the Kamala Harris and their campaign had to correct it today. That is a huge backpedal, that's an embarrassment. You know, 24 hours into this, you're dissecting the guy's military record and you're finding huge discrepancies that they have to change their biography.

So, I would have liked to have heard that more because I think that has an impact.

BLITZER: David, go ahead and react to that. I'm curious to hear what you have to say.

CHALIAN: I'll let Karen go ahead. She wants to jump in there.

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, Bryan, that's just simply not true. The man served honorably for 24 years. And the comment that he made was about carrying a weapon of war in war. He was deployed. He did not say he was in a combat zone. He did not say he was in active combat.

But here's the point that I think Adam Kinzinger made so beautifully earlier today. And my dad served in the United States Army. So, I take this very personally. The measure should not be about whether or not you fought and you were in combat. The point is, did you put on the uniform of the United States of America? Tim Walz did for 24 years, and it is a way -- we know this game from Chris LaCivitas. And let me just tell you, if this is the way they want to distract from the fact that Donald Trump used his wealth and his privilege to be able to actually skirt his responsibilities to our country and not wear the uniform of our country, fine, let's have that conversation. Let's ask more questions about why Donald Trump felt that he was too good to serve in the Armed Forces in the United States of America.

BLITZER: Yes, I'm sure we're going to have a lot more on this debate that's coming up.

Karen, while I have you, I want you to listen to this comparison that Trump made today about his crowd size back on January 6th and Martin Luther King's iconic I Have a Dream speech. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The people of January 6th were treated very unfairly. And they were there to complain, not through me, they were there to complain about an election.

The biggest crowd I've ever spoken before was that day. And I'll tell you it's very hard to find a picture of that crowd. You see the picture of a small number of people relatively going to the Capitol. If you look at Martin Luther King when he did his speech, his great speech, and you look at ours, same real estate, same everything, same number of people, if not, we had more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Karen, what was your reaction to that?

FINNEY: You know what, Wolf? My mother taught me that anytime a man is trying to argue size, a crowd size, in this case, he's feeling insecure. So, clearly, he's been feeling insecure. I mean, so now he's saying his January 6th crowd is bigger than what we heard was the biggest crowd ever in the whole wide world on his inauguration day. I mean, it was just absurd.

And, you know, I think it underscores a point that we haven't focused on as much on now that Joe Biden's out of the race, perhaps we will, and that is just the absurdity and the non-sequiturs and the misinformation and the disinformation that we're hearing from Trump. Sure, he stood there for an hour and took questions. But when you're not wedded to the truth, it's pretty easy to do so. And I think so the legitimacy of what he said and sort of just the nonsensicalness of what he said is part of what's shown through for me.

BLITZER: Bryan, let me get your reaction. Go ahead.

LAZNA: Listen I don't think the January 6th crowd size was bigger than Martin Luther King's, but I do think, you know, President Trump has had huge crowd sizes. But at the end of the day, that doesn't matter. It's going to be the record of Harris, Biden that matters, that's up for stake. She's asking for a promotion. She's saying, hey, I did these four years as vice president, promote the president. But let's look at what she's done the last four years.

You know, inflation has literally bankrupted the middle class. It's bankrupted the working class. You know, you have illegal immigration, 15 million people coming across the border. You know, there's a broken system on our border. And you have two wars and a third one about to start.

That's what this election is going to be about. It's not going to be a crowd sized January 6th or Martin Luther King's. It's going to be about the issues that have impacted the middle class and the working class. And, clearly, for the last three and a half years, those issues, you know, those priorities have been failed by the Biden- Harris administration, and now Harris has to defend an even radical liberal record from San Francisco, which makes her dangerously liberal for the country.

BLITZER: And, David, on the back and forth on the presidential debates, the news that was announced today, just last week, as you remember, Trump said he would debate Kamala Harris on Fox News or not at all. So, why the change?

CHALIAN: Yes. I mean, I thought this was really revealing today because Donald Trump clearly showed, and he has talked about that he believes it's important to debate. I agree with him. I think the country deserves a debate between these two candidates. I hope there are more than just a single debate.

But, politically, the strategy here, Donald Trump completely caved to Kamala Harris' sort of debate strategy here.

[18:15:02]

Last week, he was saying he would not debate on ABC on September 10th. The debate he agreed to was with Joe Biden, and as you noted, Wolf, he would only debate on Fox. Today, he completely took the Harris position, which was, you better agree to meet me on the debate stage you've already agreed to on ABC on September 10th before I'm discussing any other debate, and that's precisely what President Trump did here.

BLITZER: We'll be watching those debates to be sure. Everyone, thank you very much.

Just ahead, there's more news we're watching, news from right here where I am, in the Middle East, what sources are now telling me about the timing of a potential Hezbollah strike against Israel.

Plus, we're getting very disturbing new information from Austrian authorities about that thwarted terror plot against Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna.

Stay with us. You're watching The Situation Room. We're live from Tel Aviv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're coming to you live from Tel Aviv, Israel, where Israeli military sources are now telling me they expect the Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah to strike Israel within days, and they could act independently from Iran. Those concerns fueling enormous fears of escalation throughout the Middle East right now.

I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. He's a key member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Congressman, I know you're being briefed on all these very disturbing developments. What are your concerns around how an attack by Hezbollah, potentially an attack on Israel, would unfold? And if Israeli civilians are caught in the crossfire, do you fear these months of escalating tensions could cross the point of no return into some sort of full scale war?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA): Yes, that's exactly my fear, Wolf. And let's be clear, Hezbollah has no intention of thousands and thousands of rockets, so many that they could easily overwhelm Israel's defense systems and result in a lot more civilian casualties and ultimately a much wider war in the Middle East.

While we're watching exactly what Hezbollah and Iran might do here and contemplating exactly how Israel might respond, I think we also have to be clear eyed about our own national security interests. One, we want to stand by our allies and stand by our troops in the region. Israel remains our staunchest democratic ally in the Middle East.

But, two, we do not want to get bogged down in another Middle Eastern war. That would take our eye off the ball, take our eye off the most serious national security threat to the United States today, which is China on the other side of the globe, and also ultimately risk American lives. So, that's why you see this American show of force, not just to stand by Israel, but ultimately to try to deter and prevent a wider war in the Middle East.

BLITZER: Yes, the U.S. does not want to get involved in that sort of wider war, to be sure. As you know, Kamala Harris just left Michigan, where she was heckled by protesters against Israel's war in Gaza against Hamas. All this happened last night. Listen to how she responded to some of that heckling. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: He intends to end the Affordable Care Act. You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that, otherwise, I'm speaking.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Do you think, Congressman, this was the right message to send in Michigan, where many Arab-Americans have lost loved ones in Gaza?

MOULTON: Yes, I do, because it was refreshing for its honesty and its clarity. Look, a lot of Americans have very serious concerns about this war and how Israel is carrying it out. And those concerns are legitimate, and we can have a debate about those concerns. But what is not debatable is that Trump would be far worse for our foreign policy all around the world, far worse for preventing a wider war in the Middle East. He would ultimately continue to politicize this war over Gaza and I think pushes further away from a political solution, from a political settlement that ultimately would end the fighting.

That's one thing we learned in Iraq and Afghanistan is you can't kill your way out of an insurgency like this. That's something that the IDF is pressuring their prime minister, Prime Minister Netanyahu, to do is come up with a political solution here. But that's not what Trump is talking about. That's not what Trump wants.

And so, if you are concerned about this war, you don't want Trump to be the next president. If you're a staunch ally of Israel and you want to see Israel win this war and defeat Hamas, then you need to have a political endgame. Trump's not about that either. So, if you care about this war, the bottom line is you don't want Trump to be president. And I'm glad Kamala Harris said that quite clearly to everybody in Michigan.

BLITZER: Vice President Harris also just defended her running mate, Governor Walz, amid attacks by some Republicans accusing him of ducking military service in Iraq. You're a veteran. You're a veteran of that war, Afghanistan. What went through your mind hearing those accusations against the governor?

MOULTON: Well, I just can't believe that Vance is just signing on to Draft Dodger Trump's continual assault on veterans. We know that Trump calls them losers and suckers. He said that about those who fight and die for our country. We know that Trump has attacked the service of one of the most famous American war heroes of all time, John McCain, saying that he would prefer someone who didn't get captured.

[18:25:00]

And now you have Vance demeaning the 24 years of service from Tim Walz, a great American patriot. So, the bottom line is that Vance is more interested in following Trump's values than the values of fellow veterans, and that's what we see on display right now from the Republican ticket.

BLITZER: Congressman Seth Moulton, thanks so much for joining us.

MOULTON: Good to see you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And coming up, Democratic strategist James Carville is standing by to join me in The Situation Room. I'll get his take on the surging Harris campaign and Donald Trump's bid to try to reclaim the spotlight

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[18:30:00]

BLITZER: Let's get back to our top story tonight, Donald Trump off the campaign trail, but on the attack as he struggles to slow down the growing momentum of the Harris campaign. Once again, the former president is leaning into some of his favorite lies about the 2020 election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You don't win Alabama and South Carolina by records and lose Georgia. It doesn't happen. And the people of Georgia understand that. There was tremendous anxiety and problems in Georgia. A lot of people say, what happened? And we have to -- all we want is honest elections. If we have honest elections in Georgia, and we have honest elections in Pennsylvania, we're going to win them by a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now, Democratic Strategist James Carville. James, thanks so much for joining us.

In addition to again questioning the results of the election, of the 2020 presidential election, he attacked the very popular governors of both Georgia and Pennsylvania, two key battleground states. What did you make of that?

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, it was pretty typical, Wolf. I mean, the old bull was pawing and snorting and he just couldn't stand being, you know, that the vice president is in the limelight now. And what I took away from it, he couldn't stop talking about crowd size. I mean, the guy is just in a -- he just can't believe his whole world is crumbling around him and he's just a scared, fat, old man. And that's the way we should treat it.

BLITZER: Well, why do you think he's so obsessed with this issue of crowd sizes?

CARVILLE: You know, I have my own ideas, but I don't think they're suitable for cable T.V. But that's his obsession. And maybe at some point, they should say, sir, you've had the biggest crowds in the world. We're going to fit you with a nice comfortable jacket and put you in a nice, you know, rubber room. I mean, I'm being -- obviously, I don't know. But he keeps coming back to it in his inauguration. He kept coming back to it. Remember, he had Sean Spicer go out and lie through his teeth. And here we are, eight years later, and it's the same thing.

There's something deep and, you know, really weird and really off about this, that this guy is still bargaining for something that's demonstratively and photographically untrue. He's now complaining that he says his was bigger than Martin Luther King. I mean, next thing you know, he's going to give the sermon on a mountain.

BLITZER: Harris and Trump have now agreed, as I'm sure you've heard by now, to a debate on September 10th. Harris says she has yet to decide on additional debates. How do you think she should approach that decision?

CARVILLE: Well, first of all, what Trump says and what Trump does is two utterly disconnected things. And, you know, they have to debate on a debate or they're debating on September 10th or whatever it is. So, that's fine. And I'm sure in due course, I don't know, better than 50- 50 he even shows up to that. He's just trying to do something to shoehorn his way into the news. And to sit here and watch everybody talking about him for a day, which they haven't done for a while, is all he's looking for. He's just trying to stay alive in the news cycle. I don't pay any attention to him saying that he's going to show up for the debate or not. I hope he does, but I don't know that.

BLITZER: We shall see. James, listen to what Trump also said about how important he thinks the issue of abortion access will be in the November election. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I think that abortion has become much less of an issue. It's a very small -- I think it's actually going to be a very small issue. I think the abortion issue has been taken down many notches. I don't think it's of -- I don't think it's a big factor anymore, really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Is it less of an issue today? What do you think, James?

CARVILLE: When's the last time a Democrat has lost an election since Dobbs? We have not. We literally have won every election.

BLITZER: I think we just lost our connection with James. Hold on. Maybe he's back. Are you there, James? Go ahead.

I think we lost it. All right, we'll fix it, James. James, thank you very much, as usual. Always love having you here in The Situation Room.

And just ahead, chilling new details from Austria about that foiled terror plot against Taylor Swift's concerts. What we're learning right now about the suspects and the alleged plan to kill concertgoers.

This is The Situation Room. We're live from Tel Aviv, Israel.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

BLITZER: Tonight, authorities in Austria are releasing very disturbing new information about an alleged terror plot that forced the cancelation of three Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna. All three suspects, teenagers, one of whom actually worked at the venue where the shows were supposed to take place.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Chilling new details are emerging about the terror plot on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. Three Austrian teenagers, aged 19, 17 and 15, now detained and facing questions. The head of Austria's domestic intelligence service telling CNN, one of the radicalized teenagers had obtained a job working at the venue he planned to attack just days prior to his arrest.

OMAR HAIJAWI-PIRCHNER, AUSTRIAN DIRECTOR OF SECURITY SERVICES: One of the suspects got an application a few days ago.

ABDELAZIZ: So, he had applied for a job?

[18:40:00]

HAIJAWI-PIRCHNER: He had it.

ABDELAZIZ: Officials now investigating what they believe could have been a three-pronged attack, targeting one of three sold out Swift concerts for an estimated 65,000 fans each night. Investigators considering the possibility that the suspects planned to run over fans gathered outside the stadium with a vehicle and had even obtained a blue light, similar to what police attach to their cars, to force their way through the crowd. Then they plan to attack innocents with knives and machetes, and in a final stage, detonate explosives at the site.

The 19-year-old suspect, who lived in this home an hour outside of Vienna, is the alleged mastermind. Authorities say he has confessed to the terror plot. Items found inside his home included chemical explosives, detonators, ISIS propaganda, 21,000 euros in counterfeit cash, machetes and knives. All three suspects were radicalized online by ISIS recruiters.

HAIJAWI-PIRCHNER: It's very worrying. We can see that in Austria we have very young guys that are radicalized due to the fact that they are using the online propaganda that is brought out from ISIS and also ISKB.

ABDELAZIZ: The prime suspect had pledged allegiance to ISIS. Neighbors say his family was always reserved.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They lived very reclusively. We did not see them in their backyard or their children outside.

ABDELAZIZ: A depraved plot that could have killed and maimed many.

The concerts are cancelled but the Swifties have filled the streets of Vienna and they are singing her songs as loud as they can.

Fans are sad, but grateful to be safe.

GABBY FORD, TAYLOR SWIFT FAN: This is what we're all about. It's like we make the best of a bad situation, in rain, in sun, like, we'll be here for hours.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABDELAZIZ (on camera): We're also learning, Wolf, that it is U.S. officials that tipped off the Austrian government, their counterparts in Vienna. And what is concerning, of course, for intelligence agencies is just how young these three suspects were, 19 years old, 17 years old, 15 years old. It's part of a worrying trend online.

Experts say, with recruiters aiming to target those younger people, especially because they seem more vulnerable to the propaganda and more likely to be motivated to attack. Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, very disturbing indeed. Salma Abdelaziz reporting for us, Salma, thank you very much.

For some analysis right now, I want to bring in the former Washington D.C. chief of homeland security and intelligence, Donell Harvin. Donell, thanks very much for joining us.

As you heard, knives, machetes, explosives recovered from the mastermind's house, another suspect working at the venue arrested just outside the stadium, what stands to you about this plot?

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER D.C. CHIEF OF HOMELAND SECURITY AND INTELLIGENCE: Well, their age doesn't really stand out. We've seen this as a trend with ISIS and other Jihadi groups over the last decade. In fact, we've lost -- you know, over 250 U.S. citizens fled to the so-called caliphacy. Many of them were teenagers. What does stand out is how operational they were. And so I think we need to applaud not only the local officials, but also the international intelligence community for tipping this off. This could have been a really horrendous attack.

BLITZER: I'm wondering what you make of this pattern that we're now seeing, and I'll refer to that Moscow concert hall attack back in March, the 2017 bombing at an Ariana Grande concert, for example. What's going on? What do you suspect?

HARVIN: Well, this is something that's concerned us for a while. I know a lot of individuals, particularly there's a group in Interpol called Project Stadia, and I've worked with these folks that looked at this. The event venue itself is pretty hardened in most of these events, but it's the pre-event stuff, or what we call the last mile, that's very difficult to secure.

It also creates what we call a gray space. And a gray space for us in the security business means it's a jurisdictional gray space where law enforcement isn't quite clear who owns it. So, the venue event security doesn't necessarily own anything that happens before they get to the venue, and so it falls on other individuals. And we've seen this time and time again, that's what we call a soft or vulnerable target that terrorists could attack.

BLITZER: Donell, take us a little bit more inside how these plots are actually uncovered and then foiled. We heard that the United States actually shared intelligence with the Austrians. What about that?

HARVIN: Well, this is unique because this is the -- you know, when we come on together, Wolf, I talk about the difficulties of detecting the lone actor. In this particular case, when you have more than one individual, they're communicating. One of these individuals has alleged to have communicated their intent or pledged allegiance to ISIS online.

[18:45:02]

When they do that they're able to be picked up by intelligence operatives and organizations that look for and sniff out this type of activity and then tip off the home jurisdiction. And that really I think was with the saving graces.

I also want to really make note of the fact that the organizers of the concert, Taylor Swift and her team, they really did a great job in shutting this down immediately, and clearly, they place the safety of their concert goers over the profit that they could potentially be making.

BLITZERT: Yeah, so sad indeed.

Donell Harvin, thank you very much for your analysis as usual.

Coming up, Nancy Pelosi speaking out on President Biden's decision to step aside and the role she may have played in his historic decision.

Stay with us. You're watching THE SITUATION ROOM live from Tel Aviv, Israel.

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[18:50:05]

BLITZER: Tonight, the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is speaking out about the wild weeks after President Biden's disastrous debate performance which ultimately forced him to step down from the Democratic ticket.

Brian Todd is on the story for us.

Brian, Pelosi won't say she played a direct role in President Biden's decision, but it's clear she still has enormous influence over her party.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, Nancy Pelosi at the age of 84 still has a seismic impact on her party, and that has really played out over the past few weeks, behind the scenes and with words spoken and unspoken.

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TODD (voice-over): Hello, North Carolina Democrats, the former house speaker, has been pressed a lot recently on what role she may have played in President Biden's decision to quit the race.

Nancy Pelosi telling CNN's Jake Tapper tonight she still hasn't spoken to the president.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): He knows I love him.

TODD: This after telling CNN's Dana Bash earlier this week this --

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Is everything OK with your relationship?

PELOSI: You'd have to ask him, but I hope so.

BASH: OK.

PELOSI: But he knows -- look, I have loved Joe Biden, respected him for over 40 years.

TODD: Pelosi also saying this to Jake Tapper about Biden's horrible debate performance on June 27.

PELOSI: I thought we were going to see Joe Biden from the State of the Union. I ever want him to debate, what's his name, because it's always -- he's a joke. It's not a funny joke, but it's a joke.

TODD: But when asked about the many phone calls she got from Democrats after the debate, voicing concerns that Biden couldn't win the election and asked if that's why Biden eventually dropped out --

BASH: As you said, that you did not put anybody up to pressuring him to -- PELOSI: I did not. I did not.

TODD: And according to "The Washington Post", Pelosi refused to acknowledge in an off-camera interview with reporters whether she ever directly told Biden that he needed to step aside her answer, quote, I wont answer that that question.

Pelosi's words come with a lot of weight.

When Biden did an interview with ABC shortly after the debate saying he wouldn't quit --

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think anybody's more qualified to be president or win this race than me.

TODD: --many analysts were surprised by her response on MSNBC, just a few days later.

PELOSI: It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision.

TODD: The former speaker, who regularly took on Trump in the White House, even ripping up his State of the Union speech in 2020 for the whole world to see, remains a giant in her party today.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: She remains at the top. She remains very effective. She remains very connected, and the fact that people trust her acumen, trust her advice, trust her vision goes a long way.

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TODD (on camera): In the end, what will Nancy Pelosi's strongest legacy be? This episode with President Biden exiting the race, hunkering down on January 6, and then working to hold Trump accountable for that or her overall record as House speaker, well, analyst Tia Mitchell says it's possible that Pelosi strongest legacy is still to come because she says if Donald Trump gets elected again, there could be a lot of Democratic fingers pointing at Nancy Pelosi -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Brian Todd, good report. Thank you very, very much.

Coming up, new body camera video from the Trump assassination attempt. We're going to share the incredible footage of one officer climbing onto the roof where the shooter was perched just moments before he opened fire.

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[18:57:52]

BLITZER: We're getting dramatic new body camera video of the moment a police officer climbed onto the roof of a building overlooking Donald Trump's Butler, Pennsylvania, rally, and spotted the former president's would-be assassin just before the shooting began.

CNN's Danny Freeman is on the story for us.

Danny, explain what this video shows.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, this is a moment that we've heard a lot about for a long time, but this is the first time that we're actually seeing this dramatic moment.

Take a look at the video right now. This is a video that we received through a public records request from the Butler Township Police Department. This is just moments before for the shooting will ring out. You can see this is a police officer who is investigating the area. He's hearing from the crowd as we've reported in the past, that there is someone potentially suspicious on the roof. You can see the officer looking toward the roof.

And then here's that moment where this officer gets a boost up to that AGR building roof. He then sees Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter in this case, falls down and starts to run to alert other people that a shooter is on the roof.

Wolf, that moment where he hoist himself up on the roof that you just saw. That's just about 40 seconds before the gunshots rang out and the other thing that we're learning, Wolf, from these videos is actually there was frustration from local law enforcement officers at Secret Service, pretty much in the immediate aftermath of this shooting. Take a listen.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) I told them they need to post the guys over here. I told them that the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) -- the Secret Service, I told them that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Tuesday. I told them to post (EXPLETIVE DELETED) guys over here.

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we're inside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Alpha one, bravo one --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) I told them to post (EXPLETIVE DELETED) guys over here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, Wolf, I'll tell you. We did get a statement from Secret Service earlier this evening saying they're reviewing this body camera footage and also noting that they appreciate local law enforcement partners who acted courageously as they worked to locate the shooter that day -- Wolf. BLITZER: Our Danny Freeman, thank you very much for that report. Very important indeed.

And before we leave you tonight, we want to take a moment to celebrate THE SITUATION ROOM's 19th anniversary today. Watch this.

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BLITZER: And you're in THE SITUATION ROOM where news and information from around the world arrive at one place simultaneously. On these screens behind me, data feeds coming in CNN.com.

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BLITZER: That was August 8, 2005, our very first broadcast in THE SITUATION ROOM. And it's been privilege to cover so many important stories over these last 19 years, and we look forward to covering so many more.

To all the incredible journalists who have put the show on the air, thank you. And, of course, thanks to all of you for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.