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What We Know with Max Foster

Officials Provide Update On San Diego Mosque Shooting; Vance: Restarting Military Campaign "Option B" If No Iran Deal; IRS Barred From Investigating Trump For Past Tax Issues. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 19, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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[15:00:28]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: New details on the San Diego mosque shooting.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

Any moment now, we are expecting an update from police in San Diego on that deadly mass shooting at the city's largest mosque. I will bring you the

news conference to you as soon as it begins. Three people were killed in what investigators believe may have been a hate crime. They say two teens

opened fire.

Amongst the victims was a security guard, Amin Abdullah. The father of eight, is being hailed as a hero for helping protect children at a school

inside the mosque.

With us, Juliette Kayyem, CNN senior national security analyst, former assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Also, CNN's Josh Campbell, a former supervisory special agent with the FBI.

Josh, we're expecting to hear from them at any moment. What are you hoping to hear from this?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's a big question about motive. And we know based on our law enforcement sources, that

authorities found a suicide note at the home of one of the suspects, in which they reportedly described racial pride on the firearm itself. Similar

markings about racial in nature. And so, it appears that was likely the motive here in targeting this Islamic house of faith.

One thing I'll be looking to figure out, and Juliette knows this as well as someone in the risk management business, does the parents -- do the parents

of the 17-year-old face any culpability? It appears they took a firearm from the home that was used in this attack. We'll all be waiting to see

whether -- you know, a focus on the parents comes and possible charges.

FOSTER: Presumably. Juliette, you're looking at motive here, some more detail on that, but we seem to have quite a lot of information already.

Okay. We're going to go to the press conference. We'll come back to you after. Let's go to the press conference.

CHIEF SCOTT WAHL, SAN DIEGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: Okay. Good morning, everybody.

Let me start by saying we're going to try to cover many of the developments that we've learned over the last 24 hours. We're going to identify the

names of the victims from yesterday's horrific event. But what I want to really start with explaining to everybody, particularly in our Muslim

community.

I know it may not feel this way, but we are one community. You're going to see a visible presence at places of worship throughout our county. Law

enforcement is banding together to make sure that there is a feeling of being safe at every place of worship.

I talked yesterday about the heroic actions of a security guard as at the Islamic center. I had no idea how heroic those actions were. The

individuals that did this heinous act ran past the security guard, most likely not knowing he was there, he immediately observed the threat to

everybody at the mosque. He began to engage them with gunfire, both suspects returned fire. You can see the security guard reach for his radio

and put out the lockdown protocol.

The security guard then continued to engage in a gun battle with these two suspects his actions, without a doubt, delayed, distracted and ultimately

deterred these two individuals from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet of these suspects.

[15:05:06]

Tragically, he died in that gun battle. The other two victims, as best we can tell with this video surveillance at the mosque, drew the attention of

both of these suspects. Back out into the parking lot area where they were unfortunately unable to flee. And both suspects were able to successfully

corner them, and kill both of them.

While both suspects were outside, the massive response that was seconds away undoubtedly pushed both of the suspects to run back to their vehicle

and flee the parking lot. And I want to be very clear, all three of our victims did not die in vain without distracting the attention, without

delaying the actions of these two individuals, without question, there would have been many more fatalities yesterday.

Here with me to tell you a little bit about these three victims is Imam Taha. What you will not hear from us today is the names of these two

suspects. Today is about our victims in our community coming back together again.

And I have to say the courage, the strength that Imam Taha has shown in the last 24 hours is beyond inspiring.

And so, with that, let me bring up Imam Taha to talk about our three victims.

IMAM TAHA HASSANE, ISLAMIC CENTER OF SAN DIEGO: Thank you. Thank you, Chief Wahl.

Excuse me if I get a little bit emotional.

We call them our brothers in the community. We call them our martyrs and our heroes. Our security guard Amin Abdullah, he goes by Amin Abdullah,

Brian Climax, such a lovely person. He never, never stopped smiling to anyone. Our community members as well as our visitors.

If it was not for him as chief mentioned, the carnage would be much worse. He's the one who stopped them, who slowed them down. If he didn't do what

he did and he sacrificed his life the two suspects would have easily access to every single classroom. We're so proud of him. I envy him when I see

messages about him literally from all over the world, talking about his heroism. This is our brother.

The second one, Mansour Kaziha, our elder. He goes by Abdulaziz (ph). He is the pillar of the Islamic center of San Diego. He has been since 1986, when

the community started breaking the ground to build the Islamic Center. He was there. He has been at the Islamic center for the last 40 years, working

nonstop.

In the last 22 years, being the imam and director of the Islamic center of San Diego, I have never done anything without him. He is on the top of my

list for people to call, every single thing going wrong, even the light, you know, is not working. Brother Abdulaziz, can you come and fix it?

Anything that goes wrong. He was the handyman. He was the cook. He was the caretaker. He was the storekeeper. He was everything.

[15:10:00]

I don't know what I'm going to do at the Islamic center without his assistance, his daily assistance.

We miss him. The entire community miss him.

Our third brother, Nader Awad, our neighbor, he lives across the street from the Islamic center. His wife is a teacher at the Islamic school. He is

every single day at the Islamic center, joining the prayers every single day.

When he heard the shooting, he rushed to do something to protect. And he joined Mansour Kaziha. They died together. Mansour Kaziha was the first one

who called 911 right before he was killed.

And both of them, they tried to do something. They were hiding in the parking lot next to the kitchen. They tried to do something to protect, but

unfortunately, they sacrificed their lives to protect the entire community inside the Islamic center of San Diego. I was there, I was upstairs and I

heard everything. I was hiding until the law enforcement came and escorted us outside the building.

We have never, ever expected such a thing to happen at the Islamic center of San Diego. I mean, we are used to receiving hate mails, hate messages,

people driving by and cursing and all that stuff, but such horrible crime. We have never expected this, even though we tried throughout the years,

everything we could do, applying for Homeland Security grants, we have a fence, security armed guards, security cameras covering every single spot

inside and outside the Islamic center. What could we do more than this?

So, this is what my community is going through at this time. My community is mourning. My community is keeping our three heroes in their prayers. My

community is around the three families trying to show support and sympathy.

So, this is what happened at the Islamic center. And these are our three heroes. Please keep them in your prayers. Thank you.

WAHL: Let me say that the collaborative response and approach to yesterday's event has been overwhelming. I know that we've had support from

the U.S. attorney's office, from the federal bureau of investigation, from the San Diego County district attorneys office, from every law enforcement

agency here in San Diego County.

Investigators have been working through the night and here to talk about some of the details and things that we've developed over the last 24 hours

is the special agent in charge of the FBI here in San Diego, Mark Remily.

MARK REMILY, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: Thank you.

Thank you all for coming.

My name is Mark Remily. I am the special agent in charge of the FBI's San Diego field office.

First, I want to reiterate our deepest condolences to the victims and their families for the horrific incident they suffered yesterday. Violence for

any reason will never be the answer the victims who lost their lives yesterday were there to help others be part of a community that came

together in peace instead, they were confronted by teenagers who appear to have been radicalized online to believe that they didn't belong because of

how they looked or where they worshiped. They couldn't be more wrong.

The FBI takes very seriously any violence, and we refuse to give these subjects a platform to try to inflict their hateful beliefs onto others. We

will not stand idly by and give their hate any credibility. We are thoroughly investigating this case to learn everything we can and will not

stop until we get to the bottom of what happened and why.

But we also want to learn how this happened and what we can do to stop future acts of violence. FBI personnel are working diligently on this case

to uncover everything we can about the subjects. I want to thank all the employees of the FBI San Diego field office and the U.S. attorney's office

who work tirelessly throughout the night.

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Our SWAT Team, our evidence response team, special agents, intelligence analysts, professional staff work side by side with our San Diego police

department to collect every piece of evidence and review every piece of information we have so far.

Here's what I can share with you that we know at this time about the case. In coordination with the San Diego police department, were currently

conducting extensive interviews with the subjects' family and friends. We've executed three search warrants at residences associated with the

subjects.

During those searches, we found and seized numerous firearms from two of those locations, including numerous pistols, rifles, shotguns, ammunition,

tactical gear, as well as electronics. So far in this investigation, we've seized over 30 guns and a crossbow were continuing to process the

information from all the locations, and we will provide more information when were able to do so.

We've also executed search warrants on the electronic devices the subjects had with them at the time of the incident, and we're in the process of

obtaining additional search warrants for additional devices. And the vehicle they use, we also identified writings and various ideologies

outlining religious and racial beliefs of how the world they envision should look. These subjects did not discriminate on who they hated.

And let me be very clear to anyone that thinks that they can end the world through violence. They are sorely mistaken. The FBI, our law enforcement

partners in our community are much stronger than you think, and we will always serve on the right of good.

I want to thank all of our law enforcement partners who responded to yesterday's shooting without hesitation. Truly, the quick work of the San

Diego police department and tracking down the subjects vehicle and their instincts in intercepting the subjects, helped keep a horrific situation

from being far worse. We are grateful to all of our partners. We couldn't do it without them. We'll continue to work closely with all of our partners

through this investigation until we get all the answers we all deserve.

Again, we also want to thank the public for their patience, and we ask you to continue submitting information by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI or submitting

any photos, digital evidence or images you may have to FBI.gov/IslamicCenterofSanDiegoShooting.

Lastly, our victim specialists are available and we're getting reinforcements from headquarters today to assist anyone in this community

who was impacted by the shooting. This is in addition to the resources the San Diego police department and the district attorney's office are already

making available for that.

I'll turn it over to the chief.

WAHL: At the forefront of today's message. And, you know, our collective direction moving forward is to bring this community back together again,

and here as the mayor, and as a person that deeply cares about what is happening here in this city. Mayor Todd Gloria.

TODD GLORIA, SAN DIEGO MAYOR: Thank you, Chief, and thank you all for being here. Imam Taha, thank you so much for sharing your testimony and

your witness and letting your fellow Sn Diegans know more about these three extraordinary men who, as you just heard, sacrificed their own lives in

order to protect the children that were at that school and many others who could have otherwise been harmed by these two shooters.

I want to be very clear that those two young men do not represent our city. These three Muslim men do. Their heroism, their selflessness represents the

very best of this city.

Imam, you said that your community is mourning, and I'm here to say very specifically, our entire city is mourning. We will mourn these three heroes

as what for what they are, heroes, and we will remember their sacrifice, always.

I want to express my appreciation to our public safety professionals. Chief Wahl, you and your department have done an exceptional job. I want the

people of this city to know that we are protected by the very best. We fund them, we train them, and we equip them to do their jobs. And you saw

yesterday they did their jobs and they did it exceptionally well.

Under Chief Wahl's leadership, with the partnership of Sheriff Martinez and our district attorney, Stephan, as well as our partners at the state and

federal level. What you see is a level of collaboration that you don't see anywhere else in this country. And that collaboration is what makes us one

of the safest big cities in America.

My hats off to every officer who responded to that incident yesterday. I thank you for what you do. I have the most -- utmost respect for what you

do, and I thank you on behalf of all the residents of our city.

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Lastly, I would like to say to my fellow San Diegans, this is a time for us to come together. This pain is unimaginable, and for many of our community,

specifically our Muslim brothers and sisters. They need our care, our comfort, our concern, and our support. And I for one, I'm here to make sure

that they receive it.

Charitable funds have been established through the Islamic center of San Diego to help support the families of these three men. There'll be other

ways to support them and to show your support in the coming days. And I ask folks to take advantage of those opportunities to show what we are, which

is America's finest city, a place on the U.S.-Mexican border along the pacific rim, a place of extreme diversity. And all of us know that we are

made better because of that diversity.

Now is the time not to divide ourselves as the two murderers yesterday are attempting to do, but instead to come together as one San Diego and now

more than ever, to express our solidarity with our Muslim brothers and sisters in this time of great need.

I know that we will do this because we've done it before. We will do it again. And lastly, again, in memory of the three men that were lost

yesterday. They represent the very best of the city. Let them always be remembered as the heroes that they are. Thank you.

WAHL: Okay, I'll go ahead and open up to some questions.

REPORTER: Just to be clear on the timeline, you talked about it in great detail. All the heroic actions of all three of these men. We know that the

shooters didn't make it in the front entrance of the center, but they didn't go further than that. Did they leave the center because the guard

had slowed them down and got the building on lockdown, and so they couldn't get any further from it.

WAHL: Thank you, Trevor.

So, the question for everybody is what depth into the facility, into the mosque? Did the shooters actually go? What we've learned after reviewing

extensive video from yesterday's events, when they engaged the security guard outside, they began to make entry into the front lobby. While they

were engaging in a gun battle with the security guard -- ultimately, the security guard was wounded and then -- and then killed outside of the

mosque.

They went back inside again. Understand that the security guard had put out a lockdown protocol. The sound of the gunfire, all of the delay in that gun

battle allowed everybody to get out of the main common areas of the mosque and into areas of hiding. So, when they began to go through areas of the

mosque, they were not running into more victims. As they began to move from room to room, some of the video surveillance shows that they're going into

areas where, thankfully, nobody was at.

Ultimately, you can see them look out a window. It's unclear as to whether they could see clearly through that window or not, but it's you can see one

of them point to the window and then they run out of the door right next to that window. And immediately engage the two remaining victims outside in

the parking lot. And I think that is a significant point for everybody to understand, is when they drew -- obviously inadvertently drew the attention

of those gunmen out of the door and out into the parking lot, where they subsequently died.

What was coming seconds away was hundreds of police officers that everybody that was there yesterday could see. They immediately ran to their vehicle

and fled the scene, at that point. And I -- I truly believe that that's what saved the 140 kids that were just inside.

(CROSSTALK)

WAHL: Yes, ma'am.

REPORTER: How did these teenagers get access to so many different types of weapons? And do you have any details to share about the weapons that they

used in yesterday's crimes?

WAHL: I can tell you at this point that the guns were not registered to these individuals and belong to the parents of one of the individuals. And

exactly how they came into -- what they were able to obtain them still under investigation.

Yes, ma'am.

REPORTER: Given the fact that the weapons did come from one of the parents, will you be recommending charges against the parent in this case,

or can you share an update on where you're at in that determination?

WAHL: Still -- still looking into it. Still over 24 hours out. We're still looking into it completely.

REPORTER: Can I ask you, I know you've read the writings. I know you're limited in what you can tell us. We were told before it was hatred towards

everyone. Can you give us an idea of maybe a bit more of what the writings contained?

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And also, do you believe that the students in these two schools were the specific targets? Is that who these gunmen wanted to kill?

WAHL: Repeat the last part of that question.

REPORTER: They ended up at this Islamic center, which has the two schools were the students. Their main target, you feel, did they -- did they want

to kill students?

WAHL: So, we're still trying to gather a bigger picture as to exactly what the intended target location was. I'm going to bring Mark back up here to

talk a little bit more about maybe what some of that rhetoric was. But we're still -- we're still looking into exactly what -- what that scope of

threats, that threat picture was.

REMILY: Yeah. Thank you for your question.

So, I can confirm there has been a manifesto that's been recovered. I would reiterate its early on in the investigation. We are dedicating every

resource the FBI has to conduct a thorough analysis of that manifesto to try to learn what led to this. But I think also, more importantly, how can

we stop future attacks?

So, I know there's a lot of questions related to this on the community. What I would just continue to reiterate is they didn't -- they didn't

discriminate on who they hated. It covered a wide aspect of races and religions.

REPORTER: More than just the Islamic people in that church.

REMILY: Correct. Correct.

REPORTER: They nevertheless, in a city that's majority white specifically picked out a site where they knew there would be immigrants, where they

knew there would be Muslims. That doesn't seem to suggest, respectfully, that they hated everybody equally.

REMILY: I would say were still too early in the investigation to say that the Islamic center of San Diego was the specific target. We are assessing

and analyzing all the evidence against very early. We're still looking through electronics to give us the answers. But again, what I can say is

they definitely had a broad hatred towards a lot of folks.

REPORTER: Did you learn from -- are you aware of the suspects live streaming the attack or their own deaths?

REMILY: I'm aware of that information. And again, not a lot I can share at this point because we're actively going through those electronics. We just

recently got search warrants in place. So, we are -- we are digging into that as aggressively and as quickly as we can.

REPORTER: To the extent that you're able -- can you characterize their deaths?

REMILY: I can't really -- I apologize. Yeah.

REPORTER: You mentioned that they were radicalized online. Can you talk more about that? Is that going through their computers or laptops, their

phones? What can you tell us about that?

REMILY: We're still going through again all that information. But what we do believe is that they met online. And through the course of that online

communication, they discovered that they were both residing in the San Diego area, and they became acquaintances or associates in person -- had

in-person contact at that point. But in terms of how the radicalization occurred, we're still digging into all that.

REPORTER: I know that you got a call yesterday from one of the suspects' mothers. Have you been in touch? How much have you been in touch with the

other suspect's family?

REMILY: You know, I want to be sensitive with what I share at this point. We are getting a lot of information from a lot of people. And so, it's --

again, it's an ongoing. I know the community has a lot of questions, and we want to share and be as transparent as we can, but understanding. We also

have to be sensitive to the investigation and the victims and the witnesses we're talking with. So, when the time is right, we'll absolutely share as

much as we can.

REPORTER: Are you able to confirm which mother called the 17-year-old or the 18-year-olds?

WAHL: Yeah, we can. So, the younger suspect's mom is the one that called.

REPORTER: Could I ask the imam the question?

WAHL: Yes, please.

REPORTER: You talked about how the Islamic center became far too familiar with receiving hate. Have you taken all of these steps to protect the

building, including hiring Amin? And first question would be, how many years ago had you hired him?

HASSANE: Amin, I believe, if I'm not mistaken, was hired sometime in 2019, 2020.

REPORTER: For quite some time.

HASSANE: Yeah.

REPORTER: It's also very clear by the actions that he took immediately getting things on lockdown, that this was something that he and the center

had planned for. Is this something that you had talked to him about?

HASSANE; Yeah, yeah, we do drill. You know, test every time, especially with the school, multiple times every school year. So he knew about the

system of notifying the teachers in their classrooms in case of an active shooter. And he just implemented what, what he knows about -- about the

system. So, yeah.

REPORTER: Certainly, when you're going through all those drills, though, you're not necessarily thinking that it could be real.

HASSANE: Of course. I mean, as I talked to some of the teachers yesterday, they told me, you know, our experience today, which means yesterday was

totally different than the drills that we have done before.

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So, it's -- obviously, it's different.

REPORTER: It sounds like immediate --

HASSANE: But it worked. You know, I mean, the lives of the kids were saved. The lives of everyone in the -- in the school were saved. And we are

so grateful for that.

REPORTER: And how are the victims' families doing today?

HASSANE: They are at shock. You know, this morning they started showing up to pick up some stuff of their kids and even also the teachers, some of the

teachers showed up to pick up some stuff from their classrooms. So they canceled -- the Islamic school canceled school the rest of this week. And

next week, because next week is great Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, the day of sacrifice.

So, for these, let's say, two weeks, there is no school. So many families came to pick up their stuff that they left in the classroom. Yeah. But they

are devastated. I mean, everyone stepped in, in tears.

REPORTER: Question for the chief, please, You were contacted by, I understand, at least two hours before the shooting, right. And you knew who

the suspects were, and you knew that they were carrying phones. I guess I'm trying to understand, with all the technology, all the cameras, cell phone

technology, how -- why weren't they found and stopped before this happened?

WAHL: Well, let me clarify just a little bit of that. So, we did not have a complete understanding of any type of connection between suspect one and

suspect two. We had the parent of suspect one calling. And as she's beginning to understand the circumstances surrounding her son's situation

and as she's beginning to provide that information to us, the details and information began to broaden our threat assessment and our understanding of

what we were dealing with.

And it went from a runaway, suicidal individual to homicidal, potentially homicidal, two suspects. Yes, we were utilizing technology to try to get

out in front of them, but this is all happening in real time. And we did utilize technology to try to try and do that, but you have to have certain

cell phone information to be able to get the things we need to be able to go up on those cell phones. And some of that takes a little bit of time.

But technology was utilized from the very beginning to try to get out in front of these guys. Yes, sir.

REPORTER: So, I've been to the center and that usually doesn't open until about noon for the noon prayers. It seems like the suspect, one of them,

lives in the neighborhood, so it seems like they actually knew what's going on. So, it seems like they were -- the center was targeted at noon because

of that.

And second question is, for something like this magnitude, usually the search warrant didn't take as long as it did. So why did -- why was the

search warrant took so long? I mean, we knew that the search warrant was executed until late last night.

WAHL: So, the first part of your question, we're still completely under investigation. We're 24 hours outside of the onset of this incident. And

searching through all of their social media, their phones, their computers to try to figure out what their plans were in totality is, is happening in

real time as well. So, more information will come in the days ahead.

I think when, you know, we watch TV shows on how this stuff transpires, it's not that simple. A lot of information, very few facts. What goes into

a search warrant has to be credible, verified information, making sure that we're filtering through rumors or assumptions or unknowns and getting to

facts in the search warrant, so what we're presenting in front of a judge is going to be enough to get that approved. It takes time.

And there was a lot of information, a lot of things coming together in real time in yesterday's event. And so I'm going to say, once we realize that we

had no active threat, we can slow things down and do it right moving forward.

Yes, ma'am.

REPORTER: Much specifically about the live stream, but did you learn anything specific in any social media posts that gave you an indication

about their ideologies?

WAHL: All of that's going to be continuing to develop as we further this investigation.

Yes, sir?

REPORTER: Can you comment on how unique this situation is? Muslim and Muslim crime? Have you ever had any suspicions of something like this

happening or I haven't heard of it. And we've covered --

WAHL: Explain, explain. Tell me more. What? I don't understand your question.

REPORTER: Yeah. I mean, its two young kids who are Muslim. Yes.

WAHL: I have no understanding of what the religious beliefs are. No, I don't -- I'm not sure.

REPORTER: You know who these kids -- religious (INAUDIBLE) kids?

WAHL: At this point, it is unclear.

REPORTER: So, the mother that called is not Muslim either?

WAHL: I have no information as to the faith or belief pattern of our suspects in this case or their family members. But again, that part of the

investigation is still underway.

Yes, ma'am.

REPORTER: We heard from several community members that they have longstanding concerns about threats to the security at the mosque, and I

want to know if there were any threats or incidents in recent weeks and what you can tell us about that part of the investigation.

WAHL: Specifically, none that I'm aware of. Obviously in today's world, we take, the protection of all of our religious facilities, all of our mass

gathering locations, all of the vulnerabilities that come with a free society very seriously, uh, we have to, you know, navigate a very narrow

path of following our Constitution. I think one of the important takeaways from this moment is this didn't just happen overnight. It is important for

people that want to feel that they can do something to reiterate the importance of if you see something, if you know something, and please come

forward and say something, we have some lead lines that can. You can remain totally anonymous.

I think there is, that can't be overstated.

FOSTER: Hearing that from the police chief in San Diego, standing there with the imam from the Islamic Center that was attacked yesterday. Also the

FBI, we heard from the mayor as well.

We're joined by Juliette and Josh again.

Juliette, I want to speak to you in a moment about the investigation.

But, Josh, first of all, this incredible story of the security guard who saw these young men go past and engaged in a firefight -- in a gunfight,

and at the same time, instigating lockdown. And it does appear that he saved all of those kids despite losing his own life.

CAMPBELL: That's right. I mean, we had heard that Amin Abdullah was a hero, according to the police chief. But now today, actually hearing those

rich details about the actual act of heroism, as you mentioned, actually engaging these two gunmen who were intent on getting into this mosque where

there were upwards of 140 children who were inside, the police chief there saying that. But for the actions of Amin Abdullah, the security guard,

putting his own life on the line, in the process, losing his own life, this could have been much more catastrophic because, as he said, there, that

actually distracted and deterred the attention of those two shooters, allowing people inside to flee, essentially to seek a run for safety.

So much so that even once the two gunmen eventually made their way inside, they couldn't find any potential victims inside because they had that time

to actually do that. Another thing I picked up on there, Max as well, is that authorities saying there they've executed the search warrants at

various places. They've uncovered about 30 firearms, which isn't that uncommon in the U.S.

Obviously, firearms are widely available, but one thing I'll be waiting to see is what happens with the parents of the 17 year old, from which at

least one of the guns was taken and used here, where we are in California, under California law, if you don't securely store a firearm and a minor

takes that firearm and uses it in the commission of a crime, you, the owner, could be held liable for very serious criminal consequences. So,

this isn't over yet.

FOSTER: Yeah, absolutely. Juliette, the manifesto as well found in the vehicle, it's interesting isn't it, because the police chief was suggesting

that it wasn't necessarily targeted at the Islamic center, because there was a wide range of hate, hatred expressed, as I understand it, amongst all

races and all religions. So, what do you make of the motivation here?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, you know, motivations aren't on an on off switch. So it's not like these, these

teenagers get radicalized and they even have a clear understanding of, of why they would hate one group over the over -- the -- over the other.

This is a hate stew. And they apparently met online, which is what we just learned, which is not uncommon. They then are writing a manifesto, which is

part of that performative nature of violence that we see in these in these young men. You know, it's not just enough to kill people because of their

religion. You have to now state why that manifesto is a stew of hatred against a variety of groups. And that is why, as the police chief

explained, you know, the mother who rightfully called probably did not know what the target was. Right. Like, because all she knows is the sons

missing. He's in camo, he's with someone else.

There's a suicide letter or she knows of suicide and he's heavily armed. And that could be unfortunately could be any place. So, it did take the

heroic efforts of the security guard. And when you heard -- when I heard that sort of detail of what he did, which is exactly right, he simply tried

to delay the ability of heavily armed men getting into that facility, giving enough time for the police to come. That, you know, that is the

story that the press conference really wanted to highlight today.

FOSTER: Yeah. And in that time, people managed to flee their rooms, didn't they, within the building. So, they were wandering through the building.

These two teenagers with their guns and the rooms were empty, which was all down to the security guard.

And then they looked out of a window and they see that -- yeah, I just but the other delay was obviously they looked out of a window and they saw

Mansour Kaziha, who's a caretaker, from what we understand. And Nader Awad, who was a regular worshiper, they see them through the window. So, they go

out and shoot them. But actually that delay helped everyone else as well, which is why they're being described as heroes too.

KAYYEM: That's exactly right. So. we -- it's a difficult -- it's the run hide fight that we're so used to in the United States for international

audiences. I know that this is a uniquely American phenomenon. We can have that debate another time. But what we're starting to see is that run, hide

fight is important, especially for young people. They should run first. But what we're also starting to see in a lot of these actors shooter cases is

that the ability to delay and distract the shooter not only makes them sort of confused about what the plan was, which we probably saw in this case,

but gives enough time for law enforcement.

We saw that in the Lunar New Year , mass shooter in San Francisco. We saw that in one of the drag queen bars that was attacked. And so it's something

that law enforcement is talking seriously about at these -- at these institutions about delay being victory. I mean, three people died. And then

when you compare it to what could have happened, that is, that is, I think the -- I think the imam would agree that that is, that is a victory.

FOSTER: Juliette, thank you. Also, Josh as well.

The drills appeared to work, didn't they? To your point, Juliette, they were talking about fences. They had their cameras, guards, the imams saying

what more can they do than that? And it does look as though the guard did all that he could in that situation. Thank you both for being with us.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:45:57]

FOSTER: The U.S. vice president says renewed military action against Iran is still an option if a deal is not reached to end the conflict. J.D. Vance

briefed reporters at the White House in the past couple of hours, saying Tehran's negotiating position is unclear and that Iran cannot have nuclear

weapons

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have an opportunity here, I think, to reset the relationship that has existed between Iran and

the United States for 47 years. That's what the president has asked us to do, and that's what we're going to keep on working at.

But it takes two to tango. We are not going to have a deal that allows the Iranians to have a nuclear weapon. So as the president just told me, we're

locked and loaded. We don't want to go down that pathway. But the president is willing and able to go down that pathway if we have to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Nuclear issue is proving critical to these negotiations between Washington and Tehran. In its latest proposal, Iran is insisting on

continued uranium enrichment.

Let's bring in senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak.

I mean, it was -- there was a point where the vice president was talking about he felt that the Iranians do want to reach a deal. But there's some

chaos within the system. So, he's giving them more time effectively.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. He says that the Iranian leadership is fractured. He says he can't necessarily tell what

precisely their negotiating position is. But at the same time seems willing to allow more time for that position to sort of materialize, solidify, and

be presented to the president for his signoff.

But I do think that there are some sort of contradictory strains here. You know, earlier today, we heard from President Trump himself who said that he

was essentially an hour away from ordering the war to begin again, saying that he was essentially at his finger on the trigger to restart the strikes

in Iran before leaders from the Gulf called him and encouraged him to allow more time for the diplomacy to proceed.

And so, while on the one hand, you hear J.D. Vance saying that, yes, the diplomacy is making progress, that he thinks there is a deal to be made

here. You also have President Trump saying that he doesn't think that the diplomacy was happening quickly enough, and that he is fully ready to start

this war and was, in fact, about to do so.

Now, the president offered a new timeline as well, saying that he was going to give Iran until early next week to come back with a negotiating position

that he would be able to accept. But in public, there's no indication that Iran is backing off any of its positions, particularly when it comes to

nuclear enrichment.

So, where all of this goes from here remains to be seen. And whether Trump blows through that deadline, just as he sort of blew through this latest

deadline, also unknown.

FOSTER: Okay, stay with us because we also want to talk about the U.S. tax authority, the Internal Revenue Service. It's now barred from ever bringing

claims against President Donald Trump, his family or his businesses for any past tax issues. This is part of the agreement that the Justice Department

reached with Mr. Trump in the settlement of a lawsuit that he brought against the IRS.

It does feel as though he's getting exceptional treatment here, doesn't it, Kevin? Because that wouldn't apply to anyone else in America.

LIPTAK: No. And this is, I think, extraordinary. You know, it's not going to quiet any of the accusations of self-dealing that you hear from

Democrats already about the settlement. Because remember, this is all part of this settlement that the IRS reached with President Trump. He had sued

them for $10 billion for the leak of his tax returns.

The settlement that we had been discussing up until now was this $1.8 billion fund that would go towards individuals who are accusing the

government of weaponizing the law system against them. This additional facet of the settlement was included in this one page, essentially a

hyperlink that sort of appeared on the Justice Department's website today. It was not publicized by officials there. And what it says is that the

agency will not be able to sort of -- to prosecute the president against claims that are currently pending.

[15:50:03]

And this could have significant impact. You know, if the agency had conducted that audit and ruled against the president, it could have cost

him, you know, tens of millions of dollars. And so even though the Justice Department has said that this weaponization fund will not benefit the

president himself, it's evident that other aspects of this settlement will very much benefit the president and his family members by the fact that

they won't be able to prosecute some of those claims.

And so, this is going to draw, I think, immediate blowback from Democrats who are already very concerned about this fund. Also, Republicans who have

a lot of questions about how all of this came about, that the Justice Department will have to answer for in the coming days.

And so very significant, I think it's notable that it came out after we heard the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, on Capitol Hill today.

So obviously, he wasn't asked about this because it occurred after he finished his testimony. But this is going to cause an extraordinary amount

of blowback, I think, here in Washington.

FOSTER: Yeah, we'll see that later on, I'm sure. Kevin, thank you.

Now it's election day in the U.S. where six states are holding primaries ahead of November's midterms. The ugliest and most expensive race is

Kentucky, where President Donald Trump is hoping Republicans will rid him of Thomas Massie. He is the coauthor of the bill that required the justice

department to make the Epstein files public. Massie is also one of the few Republicans in the house who's criticized attacks on Iran. Mr. Trump has

campaigned hard against Massie, asking voters to oust the congressman and other Republicans who have spoken out against him.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is in Beijing ahead of meeting with his Chinese counterpart. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as

cooperation across energy and trade, are expected to top the agenda.

Their meeting comes just days after China rolled out the red carpet for U.S. President Donald Trump.

We'll be back in a moment

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: There's widespread speculation that Pep Guardiola is about to walk away from Manchester City after one of the most successful spells in

English football. That's despite having a year left on his contract club and manager have remained tight lipped over the rumors. This comes as

Manchester City tried to chase down Arsenal for the Premier League title.

Sticking with football, Cristiano Ronaldo is set to make history at this year's World Cup. The striker has just been selected by Portugal for his

sixth World Cup at the age of 41.

[15:55:03]

It will make him the first player to feature in six World Cups. Argentina's Leo Messi could also reach that record, though if he's selected.

And two-time Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz is pulling out of this year's grand slam. Alcaraz injured his right wrist at the Barcelona Open

last month. He's also withdrawn from the French Open. Alcaraz won back-to- back Wimbledon titles in 2023 and 2024. He'll be much missed.

And finally tonight, an asteroid the size of a bus or two has just safely flown past earth. But at its closest it was about a quarter of the distance

between earth and the moon. This photo shows the giant space rock as it made its way past us just a few hours ago. Asteroid 2026JH2 was only

discovered last week, and it might seem alarming that it was flying so close to earth, but scientists say it never posed a danger to us.

And thanks to new sensitive asteroid detection surveys, were able to see how often these passes actually happen now. Never knew about them before.

I'm Max Foster. That's WHAT WE KNOW. Do stay with CNN.

END

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