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Harris And Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) Launch Bus Tour Of Battleground Georgia; Tomorrow, CNN Holds First Interview With Harris And Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN); Trump's Arlington Cemetery Visit Draws New Controversy; Israel Launches Large-Scale, Deadly West Bank Raid; New Clip Reveals Pelosi's Focus On Trump Hours After Insurrection. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired August 28, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

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[18:00:00]

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz take their campaign to the Deep South, launching a bus tour of battleground Georgia. The duo trying to keep the state in the Democratic column by reaching out to rural voters far from the Georgian capital of Atlanta.

And there is fresh controversy tonight over Donald Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery after NPR reported on an altercation between Trump campaign aides and cemetery staff. A cemetery official now confirms to CNN that a, quote, incident did occur.

Plus, CNN obtains exclusive behind the scenes footage of Nancy Pelosi during the January 6th insurrection. What the video reveals about her focus on Trump as a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. Wolf Blitzer is off today. I'm Alex Marquardt and you're in The Situation Room.

Let's get straight to our top story this hour, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz making a major play for for Georgia. The Democratic ticket just picked off a bus tour of the critically important state specifically focusing on rural voters.

For more on that, I want to bring in our Priscilla Alvarez, who is in Savannah, Georgia. So, Priscilla, Harris and Walz just wrapped up their first stop on this campaign bus tour.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Alex. They were at Liberty County High School in Hinesville, Georgia. This is the type of retail politicking expected with a bus tour. This time, she was talking to high school students, of course, the governor thinking back to his public school teacher days and his time as a football coach, and the vice president sending an inspirational message to the students. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KAMALA HARRIS, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT, DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Sometimes you hit the note. Sometimes you don't, right? But all that practice makes for beautiful music. And that is a metaphor. That is symbolic for everything that you all do in your lives, which is you're going to show what a winning team looks like. You're going to show what it means to put yourself out on the field, to put yourself in front of people, to have the confidence to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, they have more stops ahead, but it's notable that the two have chosen to go to battleground Georgia for their first stop after the Democratic National Convention. But what's actually significant about this trip is exactly where they're visiting. They are in South Georgia, a region that typically leans Republican. But Democrats see an opportunity here. They're trying to use a playbook from Senator Warnock in December of 2022 during his runoff where he peeled off voters from Republicans.

And the person at the center of that strategy is also now at the center of the Harris campaign strategy, Quentin Fulks, the deputy campaign manager telling me that he sees the same opportunity here, essentially trying to close margins with Republicans in South Georgia, and the bottom line here being lose by less. Win big in Metro Atlanta and, again, peel off those voters. With that, he thinks there's a pathway to victory in this critical battleground state that President Biden one by less than 12,000 votes back in 2020.

Now, of course, strategists are also pointing to the Tim Walz factor. He has roots in rural America. He is a football coach and he has a military background. All of that put together could certainly help in resonating with voters in that part of the state.

And with all of this, the swing coincides ads, the Harris campaign flooding the airwaves here in the Savannah area. Media market putting in $1.7 million just in the last three weeks alone, more expected on that hitting on the economy and also trying to draw a stark contrast with former President Donald Trump and his -- or the blueprint Project 2025, they're trying to tie to him.

But at the end of the day here, Alex, it is certainly the where here that matters, that south part of Georgia that the Harris campaign is trying to hit, they're being aggressive, hoping that they can pull off what Democrats did in 2022 by closing those margins with Republicans.

MARQUARDT: Yes, the Democrats revealing a bit more of the strategy, and it's certainly very interesting. Priscilla Alvarez in Savannah, Georgia, thanks very much.

Our political experts are joining me now. Thank you all for joining me tonight. But, David Axelrod, I want to start with you. Democrats, of course, won Georgia in 2020. Biden took the state. Democratic senators were elected in 2022.

[18:05:00] But we have a recent poll of the key Sun Belt states. And in Georgia, Trump was leading Harris by seven points. That is the largest margin among these four battleground states. And, really, it's the only one outside of the margin of error.

So, David, do you believe that this is the best use of Harris' time with just 68 days to go until the election?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Look I don't think she's seven points behind in Georgia. I think she's probably behind in Georgia, but more in the area of a couple of points, and it's within reach, and it's within reach for a few reasons. One is, you know, there was a lot of energy on the ticket in 2020 with Raphael Warnock on the ticket that energized African-American voters in a state where there's a significant African-American population. She has the ability to do the same. Biden wasn't getting the benefit of that in this election against Trump. There are also -- there's a significant Hispanic and Asian population that's growing that is, you know, not talked about much, but is a factor here.

And, you know, I do think that she's got Donald Trump on the other side, who has split his time between running against Kamala Harris in the last few weeks and running against the most popular governor in the state, Governor Kemp.

So, there are a lot of reasons to think that she can make this a competitive race and she's smart to try and open up some other avenues to that 270 electoral votes, and Georgia should be on the list.

MARQUARDT: And, Scott Jennings, for Harris, winning Georgia would be a boost, a real bonus. But for the Trump campaign, Georgia is a must- win state. So, how worried do you think Republicans should be that Harris could repeat the success of Biden in 2020 and win the state?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I agree with Axe. I think it's incredibly close. I don't think she's down seven, and I also think Trump's up a little bit. But I think if I were a campaign strategist for either, I would just consider it to be tied. And you're right, if she takes it away or keeps it, I guess, in this case, it would be very difficult for Trump. Because I assume what's happening in Georgia could also be happening in North Carolina. So, it's that Sun Belt avenue that we had previously thought was closed off to Biden, and I think it was, that now the Democrats are trying to reopen.

So, yes, look I think this map has gotten back to where we thought it was going to be. There's a couple of Sun Belt states, and then there's the northern blue wall. And for both campaigns, you know, they're not all must-wins but some of them are. For Harris, taking this one away is huge. And on the other side of it, for Trump, taking Pennsylvania away would be huge. And so you're going to see them both playing on each other's side of the field and see if they can steal a few electoral votes.

MARQUARDT: What about this tactic, Ashley Allison, of trying to peel off some Trump voters in the more rural areas? Our Priscilla Alvarez just there reporting that this bus tour is starting in more rural parts of the state, outside of the Democratic-heavy areas, like the Atlanta Metro area. What do you make of that tactic?

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think it's brilliant and it's smart and it's proven to have worked. If you go back to 2018, Stacey Abrams was the first Democratic candidate that went to every single county in the state of Georgia to begin to engage with folks.

And when we talk about rural voters, we often think immediately white rural voters. Well, Georgia is somewhat different. Rural voters that are black, that are Latino, that are Asian. And so I think going into these rural communities, shrinking the gap of how many votes that Donald Trump could get is really smart. And it's a tactic that each year has proven to be more effective.

I also think going to a high school was brilliant. Those kids are going to go home and talk about what today was like to their parents. So, then when the parents turn on a television screen, maybe they can't build a large rally, maybe they could build a rally in that area, but go into a contained environment where you can speak to the future, some of them may be able to vote this election, but they definitely can go talk to their parents about the experience, about the interaction they had with both of those candidates.

And then just to Axe's point, when we talk about the coalition, getting those rural voters to be a part of that demographic is exactly what we did in 2020. The Asian population in Georgia really showed up in ways that were determinative in the state of Georgia. And if we can do that again, we can tap into that 175 percent increase of young black women who have just registered to vote across the country and really run up our numbers in Atlanta.

This state is in play like it might have even been in a better way than it was in 2020. And we know what happened there. Joe Biden won that.

MARQUARDT: And speaking of poll numbers in the Sun Belt, we actually have new numbers from a Fox News poll just moments ago from the key battleground Sun Belt state, showing that the race is too close to call in all four of those states.

[18:10:01]

Matt Mowers, I realize that you haven't necessarily seen these numbers in front of you, but what would your reaction be to that?

MATT MOWERS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think it confirms what we already know. This is going to be a close race in about seven battleground states, you know. And if you look at where we were two months ago, you know, Trump versus Biden, these were states that were likely falling off the board, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada. You know, still Trump largely has a lead in private polling I've seen in most of these states, including Georgia, including North Carolina, Nevada and Arizona.

And so, you know, I'd expect that. So, as long as he can continue to do what he's doing in these states, you know, fortunately, he's made amends with Brian Kemp at this point, he's talking to Governor Kemp's team actually today, his turnout operation is truly being put in play to support Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican ticket. It's not just some talking point.

And so as long as that's there and Donald Trump focuses on some of the key issues to kind of, you know, improve his margins in Metro Atlanta, Buckhead, a lot of those areas outside of there, there's a lot of places in North Carolina and Arizona that are very similar. These are largely, you know, higher income, higher educated communities. You know, he's got to talk about keeping communities safe. He's got to talk about funding the police. He's got to talk about inflation. He does that. He's going to be just fine in all four of those states.

MARQUARDT: So, all four of these states the numbers are within the margin of error. So, no clear winner in those four states.

David Axelrod, back to you, it's not necessarily just about peeling off potential Trump voters, trying to get them in the Democratic column, is it? How much is this going to force the Trump campaign to spend more money, more time in Georgia than they otherwise would have?

AXELROD: Oh, my goodness. This is a completely different race than they were facing five weeks ago. And they've now had to spend, they've, they're already spending money in these states where they hadn't planned to. So, you know, anytime the battlefield expands, as it has with the entrance of Kamala Harris, that's an additional challenge for a campaign and she's raising money, you know, at extraordinary clips here.

So, one other thing I want to say, Alex, you know, we talk about -- Matt talks about what Trump needs to do, and there are things that Trump can do and should do. The question is, what will Trump do? And, you know, he keeps getting into his own way going to Georgia and attacking Governor Kemp, a few weeks ago was one of them. Frankly the flap at Arlington is another. Georgia is a state with a lot of veterans, which is one of the reasons why, you know, Walz is along with her.

But, you know, the question really is, and I think it may be for the rest of this race is can Donald Trump get out of his own way? Because that's as almost as big a part of the equation as what Kamala Harris does.

MARQUARDT: And, Ashley, to you, what would you like to see the Harris-Walz campaign do in terms of the states that they should target after this Georgia bus tour?

ALLISON: Well, I think their ground game has to be expansive. I still think that the Harris-Walz team is the underdog. And so there is nothing -- I learned this on the Obama campaign, there is nothing like going into communities and having neighbors talk to neighbors. And so when you leave there, don't just leave there and let the ads speak for themselves. Let people go in, have conversations with folks on the doors. I also think continuing to do a round robin on all these swing states, not taking one vote for granted, going to going into areas that, you know, maybe normally Democrats don't go, like in Southern Georgia, so I think full court press all the way, and then also deploying their surrogates. There's no way that the vice president or Tim Walz can be everywhere at once, but there is a roster of surrogates that can get out there and persuade this information that I would love to see happen.

MARQUARDT: Yes. With under 70 days to go, it really is going to be a sprint. Thank you all very much for your time this evening.

And to our viewers, be sure to tune in to CNN tomorrow night at 9:00 P.M. Eastern time for CNN's exclusive first interview with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

Coming up, as Kamala Harris campaigns in Georgia, I'll be speaking with a former top official from that state, the ex-Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who now serves as a senior Harris adviser.

Also ahead, the controversy over Donald Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery, after a report over an altercation between Trump campaign aides and cemetery staff.

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[18:15:00]

MARQUARDT: We are counting down to CNN's exclusive interview tomorrow night with Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. It's going to be the first time that the vice president has sat down with a journalist since rising to the top of the ticket last month and her first interview with her new running mate, the Minnesota governor.

Joining me now is a senior adviser to the Harris campaign, Keisha Lance Bottoms. Thank you so much for joining me this evening.

This CNN interview obviously very highly anticipated, the first with a journalist since she became the nominee for president. How do you respond to the criticism about Harris making this first interview a joint one with Walz? And do you expect her to get more into policy specifics about what she would do as president?

KEISHA LANCE BOTTOMS, SENIOR ADVISER TO HARRIS CAMPAIGN: I'm sorry, I can't hear anything that you said. Hopefully, you can hear me.

MARQUARDT: I can certainly hear you, Mayor Bottoms. Can you hear me?

BOTTOMS: I can't hear you, but I can tell you we are very excited that the vice president is in Georgia. So, hopefully, our audio will come back on. But I can tell you, this is a really big deal in this state. There are about 12 million people in the state of Georgia, half in the Metro Atlanta area, which means half are in other places.

[18:20:02] And the fact that she is going to Savannah, the home of Senator Warnock, means that we are touching a completely different media market. Football is a really big deal in other parts of Georgia, all over Georgia, but especially in South Georgia. And so we know that Governor Walz really is going to play well there. And we know that Georgia was very close, not just in '20, but in '21 and in '22, we know that there were less than 12,000 votes have made the difference in the presidential election. So, touching people who aren't normally touched by big name candidates will go a very long way this election season.

MARQUARDT: All right. We appear to have lost at least my audio channel with Keisha Lance Bottoms. So, we're going to try to get that back up and have our conversation about the Harris campaign. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

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[18:25:00]

MARQUARDT: I'm back now with a senior adviser to the Harris campaign, Keisha Lance Bottoms. I want to ask you about this focus on Georgia. Of course, Harris and Walz are campaigning in your home state of Georgia right now, but in a brand new Fox poll of the key Sun Belt battleground states, there is no clear leader in those four states. So, it appears that Harris may be making up ground because there was a deficit to Donald Trump until recently, if you believe this poll. What do you think Harris needs to do to pull ahead in Georgia?

BOTTOMS: Well, the great part is that she's made several trips to this state as vice president and even before. So, she has very deep connections throughout the state of Georgia. And I remember joining her in Savannah during the 2021 runoff season. So, she's no stranger to this area of the state.

But I think as long as the vice president continues to hammer in on those kitchen table issues that matter to people, not just in Georgia but across the country, then it will matter not that she just shows up, but that she's also listening. If she continues to talk about the economy, what she can do, what she has done as part of the Biden- Harris administration to make life easier for folk every day, talking about immigration.

That's a big topic in Georgia. We know there's a labor shortage in the state and then how the Biden-Harris administration has delivered for the state of Georgia. A lot of these infrastructure projects, a lot of money that's gone into communities has come from this administration.

MARQUARDT: And in less than two weeks, the candidates, Harris and Trump will be taking the debate stage. First, can you clear up the back and forth over this question of muting the mics? Will they be muted or not? And then Will Harris commit to more than just this one debate against Trump?

BOTTOMS: Well, I can't speak for the vice president and what she will commit to, but what I do know is that she's not afraid of Donald Trump. She's spent her life as a prosecutor. She's taken on people like Donald Trump in courtrooms throughout her career. So, she is ready to debate Donald Trump.

MARQUARDT: But do you know yet whether this question of the microphones, whether they're open or not, has been resolved yet?

BOTTOMS: I don't know that that issue has been resolved as of yet, but I think the Trump campaign needs to acknowledge that this is a different candidate and a different campaign. So, whatever the rules were that were agreed to while President Biden was the candidate, obviously, the vice president gets to decide what her rules are. Donald Trump likes to talk a lot, so he should not be afraid to have his mic unmuted.

MARQUARDT: Yes, it would certainly change the dynamics of that debate. Keisha Lance Bottoms, thanks so much for your time this evening.

BOTTOMS: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: Meanwhile, there is fresh controversy tonight over former President Trump's visit to Arlington Cemetery this week. Trump campaign staff reportedly had a, quote, physical altercation with a cemetery official when the campaign tried to record in a restricted part of that hallowed cemetery. That's according to NPR.

CNN's Brian Todd has been looking into this story. Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Alex, the former president and his team say they were only here to honor the American service members killed during the withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago. But this incident has only devolved into more controversy between Donald Trump and the American military.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (voice over): This was the scene at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, former President Donald Trump laying flowers at a gravesite. He was there to honor 13 U.S. military service members killed in the attack at the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, three years ago. Not seen here, a controversial incident where, in an effort to enforce cemetery rules, an individual physically blocked Trump's team from accompanying him to part of the cemetery.

NPR, which first reported on the incident, says it happened in Section 60 of the cemetery, where recent American casualties are buried. According to NPR, a cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming the former president there, that a physical and verbal altercation ensued, and that the Trump staff, quote, verbally abused and pushed the official aside, a report which the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz campaign pounced on.

MICHAEL TYLER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, HARRIS-WALZ CAMPAIGN: This is, while sad, it's not surprising coming from the Trump team. I think it's part of what the American people have come to reject when it comes to Donald Trump. TODD: The Trump campaign disputes the account of a physical altercation. Trump's campaign manager called the person who blocked Trump's team, quote, despicable.

Today, Trump shared a statement from the Gold Star families of those killed in the so called Abbey Gate attack in Kabul, saying, quote, we had given our approval for President Trump's official videographer and photographer to attend the event.

[18:30:05]

The cemetery issued a statement saying federal law prohibits political or election-related activities on its grounds.

GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It is a final resting place and therefore it is hallowed and sacred ground. People that go there reflect. They dedicate time to their loved ones.

TODD: The Trump campaign says the former president was there simply to honor those killed. But this comes after several other controversies surrounding Trump and the military. He recently said the Presidential Medal of Freedom given to civilians was, quote, much better than the Medal of Honor.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor that soldiers, they're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets, or they're dead.

TODD: Trump once said this about Republican Senator and former Vietnam POW John McCain.

TRUMP: He's not a war hero.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's a war hero.

TRUMP: He is war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured.

TODD: And the Atlantic reported that in 2018, Trump referred to American soldiers who died in World War I as, quote, losers and suckers. Trump denied making those comments, but analysts say all of this has hurt him politically.

DAVID WEIGEL, POLITICS REPORTER, SEMAFOR: It was harmful the way that he talked on and off the record about veterans. He underperformed in key areas around military bases.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): A Trump campaign spokesperson has suggested that Trump's team has video to back up its version of what happened here on Monday. Contacted by CNN, a spokesperson for the cemetery would only confirm that there was an incident and a report was filed. Alex?

MARQUARDT: We'll wait to see if we can see that video. Brian Todd, thanks very much for that report.

Let's bring in Scott Jennings and Ashley Allison once again. Ashley and Scott, this is obviously a very sensitive issue on a number of different levels and pretty troubling. We did just hear from Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance. He defended Trump's visit to Arlington National Cemetery, pointing out, that the Gold Star families of the Abbey Gate service members from that horrific incident in Afghanistan during that withdrawal, those family members did welcome Trump's presence at the cemetery. Here's J.D. Vance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: They wanted Donald Trump there, and thank God that we have a president who stands with our veterans.

It is amazing to me that you have apparently somebody at Arlington Cemetery, some staff member, had a little disagreement with somebody, and they have turned -- the media has turned this into a national news story.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: Ashley, Trump's running mate dismissing this as a little disagreement, what do you make of it?

ALLISON: Look, all eyes are on you, J.D. Vance. You're running to be the second in command. So, everything that you and the people around you do are under a microscope. And I think that will be the case and has been the case for the vice president.

The thing that I think is so unsettling about this is that there seems to be this ongoing trend with Donald Trump and his interactions with our military, with our interactions of how he views our veterans and our soldiers. I hope that we all can agree that any person who is serving our country in our military that has lost their lives is a tragedy and we're grateful for their service, and anyone who is still with us and thriving and is a veteran that we think them for their service and those that are still in our armed forces and are protecting our country every single day.

That's what J.D. Vance should be saying, not making this into a political thing. But you're a candidate and so all eyes are on you and you need to tell your staff around, someone who has been a staffer, that what they do reflects on you. And so if you don't want it to be a news story, then tell your folks to treat people who are working these grounds when you were there and when you're not with more respect.

MARQUARDT: Our Brian Todd just listed the numerous things that former President Trump has said about veterans and members of the military. Scott, if NPR's report is true that Trump campaign aides verbally pushed and abused the cemetery official pushing him aside, does that -- to what extent -- does that -- that must raise concerns for you.

JENNINGS: Yes, I don't know whether it's true or not. I wasn't there. The Trump campaign says it wasn't true. I assume we'll find out more about it. I mean, honestly, the way Biden and Harris have treated these families and ignored them and disrespected them after one of the most disastrous decisions that they made in this White House, to me, is the most despicable part of this.

And, look, there's a lot of opinions about this and everybody's got comments, but the only opinion I really care about are the families in question. And they said, as J.D. Vance reported, we had given our approval for Trump's official videographer and photographer to attend. We cherish these memories forever. We're deeply grateful for the president for taking the time to honor our children and for standing alongside us in our grief. I mean, they put out a long statement saying they could not have been happier to have Donald Trump there at Arlington with them. And he's given them more than the time of day and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can't even do that.

[18:35:01]

MARQUARDT: Scott, if they didn't get approval from the cemetery, shouldn't they have? And do you think they should now put out this video?

JENNINGS: Listen. You know what? You know what I think? Only people who are so craven about this could try to turn something positive, which is Donald Trump spending time with Gold Star families, into some political garbage attack. That's what I think. The only people who matter are Gold Star families. They invited Trump, he went, and they're happy he was there. And if that's not good enough for the Democrats, you know, I don't know what to tell you.

MARQUARDT: Yes, I do think though, we all agree.

ALLISON: I don't think it's an issue of what's good enough for the Democrats though. It's not like a Democratic operative is there trying to blow this up. I think it's a matter of just treating people with respect across the board, the families of the Gold Star -- of course, Gold Star families, as well as the people working the ground.

MARQUARDT: And, of course, there is a level of decorum expected at any cemetery, let alone arguably the most famous and hallowed in this country. I think we do all agree on that.

Scott Jennings, Ashley Allison, we have to leave it there. Thanks to you both very much.

ALLISON: Thank you.

MARQUARDT: Just ahead, we will be bringing you an update on the FBI's probe into the Trump assassination attempt, authorities revealing new photographs and new information about the search for a motive.

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[18:40:00]

MARQUARDT: Tonight, the FBI is revealing new information about its investigation of the Trump assassination attempt. Our Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst John Miller is with us for this story. So, John, what's the FBI saying?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the FBI is telling us, as the investigation continues, that there were more than 60 searches conducted by the shooter before this event into Donald Trump events, DNC events, RNC events, Joe Biden events, but they also said that once he learned Donald Trump had a rally coming to his area, not far from his home, that he became hyper focused in his attack plans right after that.

MARQUARDT: And in terms of the photos that were released by the FBI, what can we glean, what are they telling the investigators?

MILLER: Well, the photos give us real visualization about things we've talked about, speculated about. So, first, we see the gun, the actual gun used by the shooter. It's an AR-15 platform, but you can also see it has the red dot optics on the top, where you look through that sight and wherever you see the red dot is where your bullet's going to go, but also a foldable magazine, which, when you get to the next picture, which is the gun combined with the backpack, one of the real questions was, how did he walk around this area with a rifle without being spotted by all those cops and all those people? And if you break down the rifle, fold the stock, put it in the backpack, it fits in there. So, basically, he was just a guy walking around with a backpack.

So, what we learned today was also about the explosives found in the car. These were remote-controlled devices and we had reported that before, but we learned that his online research into explosives went back to 2019, which gives us a new window into how long he's been thinking about doing something. And, Alex, since they said they have an idea about his mindset, but not his motive for the Trump shooting, it appears he may have been thinking about attacking something long before he decided what, or who, or even why.

MARQUARDT: Yes, just a target of opportunity said, it appears to be, but they obviously will continue to investigate what they can learn about a potential motive.

John Miller, thanks very much.

MILLER: Thanks, Alex.

MARQUARDT: Coming up, a violent and deadly escalation in the occupied West Bank. Israel says its military raids are to root out Iran-backed terrorist infrastructure, while Palestinian officials say that Israeli troops are blocking hospitals and bulldozing roads. We'll take you to Israel next.

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[18:47:05]

MARQUARDT: A violent and deadly start to a massive Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank. According to Palestinian authorities, at least 10 Palestinians have been killed so far. The raids involved hundreds of Israeli troops, airstrikes and gunfire and bulldozed streets, all in search, they say, of Iran-backed terrorist infrastructure.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is with us from Tel Aviv.

So, Jeremy, how extensive are these Israeli operations?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alex, it's certainly seems to be one of the most extensive Israeli raids into the West Bank in years, and that's because they are targeting two key Palestinian cities in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, Jenin and Tulkarem, as well as the surrounding area and refugee camps in that area, and not only are they sending troops in their equipped with D9 bulldozers that are tearing up the streets in both of those cities. But we're also seeing airstrikes that have resulted in several deaths already.

This is, of course, not happening in a vacuum. We've seen since October 7th, the Israeli military has been carrying out in your daily raids their airstrikes, which were once rare in the West Bank have now become commonplace.

But this appears to be larger scale than what we've typically seen in the West Bank. And we've also seen Israeli troops apparently surrounding and blocking several hospitals. According to the Palestinian officials. But the Israeli military says they're doing that to prevent Palestinian militants from going into those hospitals and using them.

What is clear though, already ten people are dead and these operations are still ongoing.

MARQUARDT: And then, Jeremy, in Gaza, where the war, of course, continues to rage, you've been taking a look at the deteriorating health situation. They've seen the first case of polio there in decades. What did you find?

DIAMOND: Yeah, that's right, Alex, for months now, global health officials have been warning that this relentless war in Gaza was taking a serious toll on the health care infrastructure, the physical infrastructure of the Gaza Strip, and that that would be a breeding ground for infectious diseases. And now a worst-case scenario, first case of polio, a disease eradicated in the Gaza Strip 25 years ago, now, emerging and a 10, 11-month-old baby is the victim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIAMOND (voice-over): Eleven-month-old Abdul Rahman is no longer the energetic baby he once was. He now sleeps most of the day, gently rocked by his mother, who is still grappling with how quickly he went from feverish and vomiting to partially paralyzed.

My child started to move and crawled at an early age, Niveen says, but suddenly everything went backwards. Suddenly, he was no longer crawling or moving, or able to stand on his feet or even sit.

Doctors delivered the devastating news earlier this month. Abdul Rahman has polio, the first known case in Gaza in 25 years. It is a shock for a mother to hear such news.

[18:50:01]

Now he is lying here in the tent in these unhealthy conditions. There's no treatment, no capabilities and no supplements.

The course of Abdul Rahman's life cruelly twisted by the war that started just weeks after he was born, leaving him vulnerable to malnutrition, dirty drinking water, and missed vaccines.

The fear now that Abdul Rahman could be the first of many.

What is your plan to keep this one confirmed case from becoming an epidemic in the Gaza Strip?

SAM ROSE, UNRWA DIRECTOR OF PLANNING Absolutely. The plan is to start a vaccination campaign, a mass vaccination campaign involving all children and the teens or 640,000 children who needs to be reached. So we read need to reach about 95 percent of them.

DIAMOND: One-point-two million vaccine doses have now arrived when thousands of U.N. staffers and volunteers are ready to inoculate Gaza's children. The challenge will be getting the job done as the war rages on.

ROSE: It's a relatively easy vaccine to administer. It drops on tongues. It doesn't require needles, it doesn't require injections. It's something that's relatively simple to do. The difficult part is everything else.

DIAMOND: Gaza's health system has been devastated by nearly 11 months of war and global health officials are calling for a pause in the fighting to distribute the vaccine. Israeli authorities who launched the drive to vaccinate their troops last month haven't committed to that. They say, quote, routine humanitarian pauses will facilitate the inoculation drive.

In Central Gaza, Niveen fans the flies from her son's face. She is helpless to fight off the disease that now grips his small body.

Abdul Rahman needs treatment, she says, pleading with the world to take her son out of Gaza. She's still waiting for someone to answer her cry.

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DIAMOND: And, Alex, that vaccine campaign is set to start this weekend and it will determine whether or not a health care crisis is averted or whether it gets that much worse -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

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[18:56:39] MARQUARDT: As former President Trump's legal team grapples with a superseding indictment over the January 6 insurrection, individual rioter's cases are still going through the court system, including former Pennsylvania Police Officer Joseph Fischer. Today, a federal judge said, while he no longer faces obstruction charges due to the Supreme Court's ruling, he will face trial on other charges related to the insurrection.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty takes a look at new video of that day, nearly four years ago showing then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's never before seen reaction in the hours after the rioters stormed the Capitol.

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ALEXANDRA PELOSI, REP. PELOSI'S DAUGHTER: You're done with Donald Trump. How does it feel?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I just feel sick what he did to the Capitol and the country today. He's got to pay a price for that.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New video revealing then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's fury on January 6, as the Capitol was being attacked.

PELOSI: If they stop the proceedings, they will have succeeded in stopping the validation of the president of the United States.

SERFATY: CNN obtained nearly 50 minutes of never before seen footage during and in the days after the insurrection shot by her daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, for an HBO documentary released in 2022. HBO, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of CNN, handing over the on-aired footage this week to the Republican-led committee continuing to investigate January 6.

PELOSI: Did they call the National Guard?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's correct.

SERFATY: The footage provides a raw look at the chaos, showing all the emotion and scramble of that day.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's about 10 minutes away.

SERFATY: Pelosi been told she needed to evacuate.

PELOSI: I do not appreciate this.

SERFATY: Weaving through back hallways of the Capitol, escorted by her security detail into an SUV to take her to Fort McNair, blasting the security readiness.

PELOSI: How many times did the members ask, Are we prepared? Are we prepared? We're not prepared for the worst. We're calling the National Guard, now?

It should've been heart to start out. I just don't understand it. SERFATY: Pelosi admitting she deserves some of that blame.

PELOSI: They clearly didn't know. And I take responsibility for not having them just prepare for more. Because it's stupid that we should be in a situation like this.

SERFATY: The next morning, returning back to Capitol Hill, Pelosi interrupts her senior aide, proposing for her to call for the resignation of the capitol police chief, Steven Sund.

PELOSI: Wait a minute. Let me just say this, I think our focus has to be on the president. Let's not divert ourselves. Ive never liked Sund, I think he should've gone a long time ago.

SERFATY: A message to focus on Trump she echoed sitting near a shattered mirror in her debris ridden office one day after the deadly attack.

PELOSI: There's domestic enemy in the White House, and let's not mince words about this.

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SERFATY (on camera): And this footage was handed over to the house committee on administration.

This is now a Republican-led committee that's continuing to look into what happened on January 6 in an attempt to potentially undermine the findings of the January 6 Committee. It is just a remarkable, unfiltered look at what was happening behind the scenes that day -- Alex.

MARQUARDT: It really is. Our thanks to Sunlen Serfaty for that report.

I'm Alex Marquardt in THE SITUATION ROOM. Thank you so much for watching.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.