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Isa Soares Tonight

Man Sets Himself on Fire Outside Courthouse Where Donald Trump's Trial is Taking Place; Full Jury Panel Selected in Trump's Hush Money Trial; U.S. Official: Israel Carried Out Military Strike Inside Iran. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired April 19, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:15:00]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ISA SOARES, CNN HOST: And if you're just joining us, it's a very good evening. We have some breaking news from New York. We have been seeing at

the top in the last half an hour or so, disturbing scenes of a person who apparently set themselves on fire outside the courthouse where Donald

Trump's trial is currently underway.

Now, two law enforcement sources confirmed the news to CNN. We are still waiting to hear more details, but what we know from our team on the grounds

is that a man walked into the park across the street from the -- from the courthouse, set himself on fire, and then we found out that this man was

throwing flyers we've been told into the air.

This is according to a senior law enforcement official, we then also learnt he pulled something out of a backpack. It was not immediately clear, at

least at this moment what that item was, and then he lit himself on fire. Of course, this is outside, of course, where the courthouse -- where Trump

trial is underway.

John Miller, I think is right there for us, and she joins us now. John, what are you learning about what unfolded here?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, what unfolded was an individual who apparently has been here today, but possibly

also yesterday, according to people who say they believe they saw a man holding the same signs suddenly lit himself on fire. Before doing that --

and this happened in the park directly across the street from the courthouse where the Donald Trump jury selection is unfolding.

He threw a number of pamphlets up in the air, then ignited himself on fire, and then that caused emergency responders to run in that direction, an

ambulance was called, he's being treated and removed to what we believe will be a burn center at Midtown Hospital.

The pamphlets are a conspiracy theory about a university and its involvement allegedly with death plots and Ponzi schemes and so on. The

signs talk about Trump and then Biden being together in some deep-state plot. So, what we appear to be dealing with is an individual who has been

identified as a man in his mid-to-late 30s, who has been around here.

And the question is, why here? Why now? Why this place? And we can only try to figure out what his motive is, which is probably to do this in a place

where he knew the world media was watching, standing by just a few feet away, and to achieve maximum attention for whatever this message was he is

trying to get out.

It is not considered an act of terrorism, it is possibly an attempted suicide. It is definitely a call for attention, and right now, police are

trying to put together the background of this individual, who he's been with, who he's been talking to, what his back-story is. And then, of

course, gleaning what they can from these pamphlets, which sounds like a very involved conspiracy theory.

SOARES: And for us on this side, John, I wonder if you can just set the scene, because we've seen the barricades all around just outside the

courthouse. What we haven't seen, of course, because we don't have the scope to see it with our cameras is any protestors, all supporters of the

former president. Where did this occur? How close to the courthouse?

MILLER: So, this would be approximately 200 feet, just across the street beyond this line of media cameras that are lined up here, and a barricade

over a fence into a public park. And the public park is a place where people have gathered and so on. As far as protesters, it doesn't appear

that this individual has been a part of either the pro-Trump or the anti- Trump protesters. He seems to be someone who's been off on his own.

SOARES: And given the barricades and the security situation that we have seen around the courthouse, how quick, how fast war was -- were the police

or ambulances able to get to this individual?

MILLER: Well, this is a place that is a ring of security.

SOARES: Yes --

MILLER: And police and others were -- I mean, this was quite apparent once he burst into flames and emergency responders were there right away. But

one of the things that's a challenge in a situation like this is, how do you put out a person who is fully engulfed in flames?

[14:20:00]

But they responded immediately, ambulances came to the scene immediately, and now the question that we don't know the answer to is whether he is

succumbed to those injuries or whether he is going to live. We do know he was removed to a hospital that specializes in burn victims.

SOARES: John Miller, thank you very much, I always appreciate it. I want to bring in senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem, who has been

listening in. Juliette, just your reaction really to the news that we saw in the last half an hour. Are you with us, Juliette? We got you?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, I am.

SOARES: Fantastic!

KAYYEM: Can you hear me?

SOARES: Yes, I can hear you perfectly --

KAYYEM: OK --

SOARES: Just what are you learning about this individual --

KAYYEM: Yes --

SOARES: Who lit himself on fire outside the courthouse?

KAYYEM: Well, I want to pick up on something that John Miller stated, which I think is probably the accurate explanation for it. He was savvy is the

wrong word to use for what he did, but he certainly was sophisticated enough to know that the media would treat what he was about to do as

significant, simply because of the Trump trial.

So, he sort of took advantage of our focus of the public out there, everyone being focused on it and did it in a public place where there would

be maximum viewership. But at least, what we know right now in terms of -- of sort of political -- you know, sort of ties or whatever, it sounds like

he is someone who is just absorbed a lot of information about sort of crazy conspiracy theories and is both anti -- you know, confusing Trump and

Biden, and that this has nothing to do with the Trump trial.

So, you know, we worry, but I don't -- this is not the kind -- this is not the kind of worry that we had when the weeks started.

SOARES: Yes, I understand. But I do and we have seen the tight security John Miller was just talking about --

KAYYEM: Yes --

SOARES: That, but given this is unfolding, obviously, I know you're not, you know, expert on any sort of legal matters, do you think that this would

then -- the law enforcement would be considering here, Juliette, change of venue?

KAYYEM: Yes --

SOARES: Or it doesn't -- it doesn't go far --

KAYYEM: Oh, no --

SOARES: Enough?

KAYYEM: Yes, I know. I think -- so, one of the challenges, right, is that, this court is in the middle of a city -- we have this challenge in any sort

of security effort. And you --

SOARES: Yes --

KAYYEM: Essentially can't close the city down. And so, at any security site, there is going to be a place that, you know, sort of open after that.

And so, what -- when we think about an airport where at some stage, you're sort of in a public area, even though before you may have been in a secure

area.

They might consider moving that barricade even further out. It would cause a lot of traffic disruption in the area, and they might consider that or

you know, just maybe put up more police officers and others to roam parks and other -- and other things. But look, the second -- even if they had a

new perimeter, someone would do something right outside --

SOARES: Yes --

KAYYEM: Of it. So, it's hard to extend a perimeter. This is a challenge in New York, always has and its safety, and you know, its high-profile cases,

whether it's the mob or remember the 9/11 cases. I mean, this is, you know, the city cannot close down simply because there's high profile characters

in court, because often in New York, there are --

SOARES: Juliette, always great to have you, thank you very much, appreciate it.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

SOARES: Now, and it happened, of course, important context here, just moments after the full jury panel was selected in Trump's trial. Five jury

alternates were chosen in the last few hours. One had already been seated, if you remember, yesterday. And this has been of course, in a day of

emotional searching for alternates.

At one point, one potential juror started to cry and said this is so much more stressful that -- than I thought. She was then we found out later,

excused. Trump also expressed his emotions before heading into court, insulting the Manhattan District Attorney, the judge, his political rival,

and the trial altogether, so pretty much everyone. Marshall Cohen joins me now from Washington with more.

And Marshall, I mean, this is pretty historic moment. Jury selection is complete. We now have 12 jurors and all the alternates. What do we know at

this stage about the jurors?

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN REPORTER: Hey, Isa, yes, their work is done in the work of picking a jury. It took all week, but basically right on track with what

a lot of people were expecting, 12 jurors, six alternates. They have enough alternates, so that if something happens with one of those jurors during

the next two months, they can keep that panel complete and ready to render a verdict eventually.

Seven men, eight women on the panel of jurors. The foreman, he's originally from Ireland. He told the judge that he gets his news from the "New York

Times", the "Daily Mail" tabloid, and that he sometimes watches us on CNN here, also a little bit of "Fox News".

[14:25:00]

He will be the foreman of the jury, beyond him, there will be six other men, five women. There are lawyers on the jury. There are -- there's an

English teacher, software engineer, you know, really just cutting across all the different socioeconomic strata of New York City. Some people with

advanced degrees, some people with just a high school diploma. This is how it works.

Jury of his peers in New York City. So, that's done. Later this afternoon, there will be what's called a Sandoval hearing. That is being convened

because Donald Trump has indicated that he might want to take the stand in his own defense and testify. And of course, if he does do that, then the

prosecutors will like to use everything at their disposal to try to undermine his credibility and paint him in a negative light.

They will be asking the judge later today for permission to bring up the other cases that have gone against Donald Trump, like that defamation case

involving E. Jean Carroll and the sexual abuse of her in the 1990s, as well as the civil fraud verdict that went against Trump and his company.

That will only happen, Isa, if he does eventually take the stand, and if the judge lets them do it. So, kind of getting a little bit ahead of

ourselves, but that's what's on the schedule for later this afternoon.

SOARES: But you know, I'm going to go -- even go further than this afternoon. Let's talk Monday because now, we've got jurors, you've got

opening statements on Monday, but there's also a hearing, I believe it's on Tuesday on whether Donald Trump violated the gag order after he posted

negative comments about the jury. How are we expecting, Marshall, this to play out, you think?

COHEN: It's interesting, right. We've got opening statements on Monday, and then they'll take the jury out on Tuesday for this hearing about the gag

order, that doesn't happen in front of the jurors. That's not part of the evidence of this case. That's just a separate but related matter.

The prosecutors, the Manhattan District Attorney's office, they have told the judge that in their opinion, Donald Trump has already violated the gag

order seven times. They want Trump to be fined a $1,000 for each of those violations, which really, Isa, that's nothing, right? This guy is

incredibly wealthy.

That's not going to really have much of an impact on him, but they want to clearly set the tone from the gate, that if you violate it, we're going to

try to hold you accountable right away. We're not going to --

SOARES: Yes --

COHEN: Dilly-dally, and they're going to try to do that. That will be on Tuesday, and look, Donald Trump has toed the line carefully. He is not

allowed to talk about some things. But as you mentioned earlier, he has been bashing the judge, bashing the D.A. So, we'll see how that shakes out

with the judge.

SOARES: Marshall --

COHEN: Isa --

SOARES: I know you'll stay across it for us, thanks very much, Marshall, great to see you. And still to come tonight, we'll have much more of

course, on our breaking news story from New York where a man lit himself on fire outside the courthouse where the Trump trial is underway.

Plus, we'll dive deeper into whether things stand with the foreign aid bills on Capitol Hill. Former U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh -- Joe Walsh joins

me for that conversation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:31:53]

SOARES: And breaking news that we have been following for you in the last 45 minutes or so, a man set himself on fire outside the courthouse where

Donald Trump's criminal trial is underway. This video showing the scene right after the man was taken away there in New York.

Now, we don't know his condition. A law enforcement source tells CNN the man entered a park across the street from the courthouse, threw flyers into

the air, took something from his backpack and lit himself on fire. And, of course, this -- all of this happening just moments after the full jury

panel was seated in Trump's hush money trial.

We are waiting a press conference from the New York Police Department in about 15 or so minutes. And we'll bring you that when we get -- when it

comes to us. But investigators said that they had the man flyers, had flyers that he threw into the air. And one of the flyers, according to the

CNN team on the ground, said NYU is a mob front and had various kind of allegations of wrongdoings against the school.

But clearly, as you heard from our experts here, from our team on the ground, and as you well know, there are cameras packed along all that main

road, including our team who saw it as it was happening. Very, very hard images to look at. But, of course, as soon as we have more details on this

breaking news, and as soon, of course, as we hear from the New York Police Department chief, we will bring that to you.

Now, let's turn to the Middle East, because at this hour, it's still not clear what comes next after U.S. officials says Israel launched an attack

inside Iran. An Iranian official says its air defenses intercepted three drones near an army base in central Iran in the city of Isfahan.

Satellite images obtained by CNN do not appear to show any extensive damage at the base that was purportedly targeted by the Israelis. Iran thus far

seems to be downplaying the attack. Following Friday prayers, Iranians did gather in Tehran's Revolution Square, as you can see there, to protest

Israeli strikes on Iran and Gaza.

Excuse me. Our Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon. And, Oren, we know from Secretary Blinken, we heard him earlier today, that the U.S. was not

involved in any operations with a strike in Iran. But does the U.S. believe, Oren, that this was calibrated in such a way as to de-escalate? I

mean, does it believe this is over, basically?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: At least from what we're seeing right now, that answer appears to be yes. The White House, the State

Department, and the Pentagon are all being very quiet about this. We haven't seen any public confirmation or public statements.

In fact, it was a U.S. official who confirmed that it was Israel, indeed, behind these attacks, as was expected simply because of what we were

seeing. If Israel wanted to carry out an attack on large infrastructure and destroy that infrastructure, then this attack likely would have been much

larger in scale.

But even beforehand, the U.S. expected that Israel would limit its attack.

[14:35:02]

And make sure that it was designed to essentially calibrate, such that it wouldn't spark a regional escalation and yet would still send a message.

And from what we're seeing, that appears to be exactly what happened. Israel's goal was not to take out significant military infrastructure. It

was to send a message to Iran that if it wanted to, it could take out and strike significant military infrastructure.

Also noteworthy, Isa, is that this happened in the city of Isfahan, which has nuclear facilities of Iran. So the message there seems to be if we want

to hit these facilities, it is within Israel's capability to do so.

And, Oren, we also heard today from the Italian foreign minister, who's at the G7, Antonio Tajani, who said that the U.S. was informed at the last

minute. Those were his words, informed, obviously, by Israel of this attack. How is that being perceived within the administration? Is that the

sense you're getting?

LIEBERMANN: Effectively, yes, some level of frustration here. We know Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, when he spoke with Defense Minister Yoav

Gallant several days ago, asked to be notified or updated ahead of any Israeli response or attack following Iran's attack on Israel last weekend.

Now, from what we're understanding and from what the Italian said, that notification came within the last few seconds, essentially with the attack

already underway before the munitions, before the weapons hit their target at a point where Israel wasn't about to call them back, essentially

preventing the possibility that the U.S. could convince Israel to walk this back and not to carry this out.

So you can imagine there would be some level of frustration with that, but also the U.S. realizing that this was not an attack that would lead to a

regional escalation. It was instead designed to send a message and calibrate it in such a way that it didn't lead to that escalation. And on

that note, I'll also point out, Isa, that one of the concerns of the U.S. over the course of the past week is would Iran's proxies in Iraq and Syria

attack U.S. forces? That has not been the case. We have not seen an attack on U.S. forces over the course of the past 24, 48 hours, and we have not

seen any significant movement from the Houthis in Yemen, another Iranian proxy.

So at least at this moment, it doesn't look like we're on the road to some major escalation in the Middle East.

SOARES: Yes, everyone breathing a sigh of relief, of course. Thanks very much, Oren Liebermann.

Let's go to Nic Robertson, who joins us from Jerusalem. And Nic, just picking up on what Oren was saying there, I mean, what he said is this very

much about sending a message to Iran. I suppose the question is, what was that message, and has this restored or reestablished, Nic, deterrence here?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It's created ambiguity, which gives both sides the opportunity to step away from direct face-to-

face confrontation. Of course, the war between them still exists and through proxies.

I think what's happened is the red lines that had sort of both sides thought they could operate in have become blurred, and we don't seem to be

at a moment of escalation, but the possibility of what could have happened, you know, regional escalation, bloodshed, it did feel like it came close.

We're not close to it at the moment, it feels like, but I think everyone got a better view of what's at stake, and that was what the real concern

was. And the reason I say ambiguity, I think, you know, number one, you're not hearing any lines officially from Israeli politicians, and I think what

we heard from the Iranians as well, which was essentially playing it down, which was telling their audiences that, OK, we activated our air defenses,

there were some objects in the sky, and we shot at them.

But essentially we're going to investigate, which is Iranian speak, if you will, for nothing to see here move along. There was a protest in Tehran,

but of course a big protest like that, anti-Israel protest, wouldn't have happened without the government's say-so.

So it allows sort of a little bit of venting of anger, but in no way is a military response. I don't think anyone should be fooled that this issue

has gone away, but it does seem to be tamped down, and that's what everyone's been calling for, the Egyptians, the Emiratis today, the

Jordanians, all saying de-escalate, and that's what we've heard from Israel's allies and partners.

Even though on the eve, on the minutes before this attack took place, Iran's foreign minister was telling CNN's Erin Burnett that there would be

an immediate and devastating response, but so far all that looks like rhetoric. Ambiguity, I think, is what we're looking at right now.

SOARES: Ambiguity, you said. Given everything you just laid out there, Nic, how much does the far-right national security minister, Ben-Gvir's, I think

it was a one-word post on X, where he said, lame or weak, depending how you interpret it, how does -- how much does that comment or that one word kind

of undermine the messaging or the strategy from Israel?

[14:40:00]

How is that being received where you are?

ROBERTSON: Yes, Yair Lapid, the centrist opposition leader, a principal political figure here, immediately, or pretty quickly, took to the same

social media platform and said, you know, never before has somebody in the defense cabinet of the government spoken like this and this weakens

Israel's security. Unforgivable is what he said.

But neither Ben-Gvir or Yair Lapid actually said that Israel had struck Iran. It was all implicit. And I think as everyone here, particularly the

Iranians, are in the -- are in the, I'll use the word game, but it's not. It's a strategic position of sort of looking the other way, of not playing it up, but just trying to minimize it on domestic audiences. This will be

overlooked.

But the bigger issues remain. You know, Iran's proxies are still a major threat to Israel. Israel still faces a major conflict in Gaza, where now

more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, faces incredible international pressure to hold that back. And Iran has interpreted that as

weakness, that Israel is becoming a little bit isolated in a way that it wasn't before from its international partners.

So, this is still a very, very dangerous and tricky environment.

SOARES: Nic Robertson for us there in Jerusalem. Thanks very much, Nic.

And still to come tonight, we'll have, of course, much more breaking news, both inside and outside of the Manhattan courthouse, where Donald Trump's

criminal money trial, of course, hush money trial, has been taking place. Of course, we've now got the jurors all seated, including the alternates,

of course. We'll have the latest on this emotional day in court. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: Welcome back, everyone.

Opening statements are expected to begin on Monday in Donald Trump's historic criminal trial. A fifth alternate juror was chosen just in the

last hour. One had already been seated, if you remember, on Thursday. And this means the full jury panel has now been selected. This has been an

emotional day of searching, of course, for alternates.

At one point, one potential juror started a cry and said this is so much more stressful than I thought.

[14:45:00]

She was then excused.

Trump also expressed his emotions before court. If you're -- heading into court, I should say, he insulted Manhattan's district attorney, the judge,

his political rival, and the trial altogether. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. As you know, I've been saying for a long while, this is a rigged trial. It's coming from the

White House. They have White House DOJ people in the trial, in the DA's office, representing the DA, because he's probably not smart enough to

represent himself. He's a guy who got elected using Trump, and you're not supposed to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: And joining us live for much more to talk about the first week of this historic trial is defense attorney and trial attorney, Misty Marris.

Misty, welcome to the show.

Look, it's historic. We finally, finally have 12 jurors and the alternates. What are your thoughts, I should say, on the jurors that we have so far,

the ones that have been seated so far? I've gone down a rabbit hole looking at their professions.

I know that we've got investment bankers, we've got lawyers, teachers, speech therapists. What can we garner from them?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, absolutely. Such a -- such a diverse group of individuals, diverse by all sorts of different professions, areas

that they live in New York City.

And a lot of them, interestingly enough, there was so much focus on where news is consumed. And we've seen some interesting jurors who consume from

the New York Times and Fox News. And so it was really interesting to see these jurors get seated.

Look, the ultimate, ultimate goal for both sides is to have a jury that can sit in that room, sit in the jury box, listen to the evidence, and base any

determination on that evidence and nothing outside the courtroom. So this was a very thorough process. 42 questions, thorough social media searches.

The voir dire process was pretty, pretty tight. So hopefully these jurors will fulfill that duty of impartiality.

SOARES: And Misty, just before, in case we have an interruption of sorts, we are expecting to hear from the New York Police Department in any moment

now. So, apologies in advance if I have to interrupt you.

But look, let's talk to what some of the tensions that seems to be ratcheting up already and it hasn't even got underway. And that's the

prosecution we've heard today, Misty, won't even share, won't even share the witness list. I mean, how do you interpret that?

MARRIS: Oh, there's just -- there's so much battling between the two sides, between the prosecution and the defense. And look, all of those issues are

ultimately going to go before the judge. So the judge in this case, he has his work cut out for him because each side is really pulling out all the

stops and there -- there's a lot of advocacy.

Look, that's what we do as lawyers. We zealously advocate for our client or for New York. And so we're going to see a lot of these issues, I think,

throughout the trial. We're going to see a lot of sidebars. We're going to see a lot of out-of-court hearings relating to issues about how evidence is

going to be presented, witnesses, and how the court proceeding is actually going to go forward. I think it's really foreshadowing what we'll see

throughout this trial.

SOARES: Yes, indeed. And I mean, looking ahead to Monday, of course, where we're going to hear opening statements, what will that look like? What are

we likely to hear from the get-go?

MARRIS: So the prosecution, they provide the roadmap. Remember, they have the burden of proof. So, they are going to go through all of the entries

that were qualified as legal fees that serve as the basis for these falsified documents. And then they're going to talk about what was

happening at that time.

Donald Trump was running for president of the United States. And they're going to talk about how these payments to Stormy Daniels were in

furtherance of squashing that because of the election. That's going to be a central part of the prosecution's case. They're going to focus on that.

Donald Trump's team, on the other hand, they're going to argue that there's no evidence that there wasn't a mixed motivation for silencing Stormy

Daniels, that the agreement, the hush money, that's not illegal on its face. So they're going to say that it's the prosecution's burden. But we're

going to hear a lot in those opening statements because that's where the jury really gets the sense of both sides of the case. And it really sets

the tone for what the jurors are going to listen for as the trial unfolds.

SOARES: And also next week, and we're all going to need, particularly you, you're going to need a lot of coffee because we've got -- there's also a

hearing on whether Donald Trump violated the gag order, right? So what are we -- I mean, how are you expecting this, Misty, to play out?

MARRIS: So there's actually two big hearings. One's going to happen today at 3:15, but right next week, there's going to be a hearing regarding the

gag order.

And what could happen, the judge is going to go back through all of these instances, which are, you know --

[14:50:00]

I can't even keep track of how many there are right now because it keeps changing every single day. The prosecutors have said there's more and more

violations of the gag order. The judge is going to have to look at each one of those alleged violations and determine whether or not it rises to the

level of what would be punishable.

And if the first set of punishment, it's financial, it's a fine. If the conduct continues, it's likely that Donald Trump would be admonished. And

if the conduct continues, he could actually be held in jail. That's how severe it can get.

SOARES: Misty, get some rest. It's going to be a long week, right, for all of us. Thanks very much. Thank you very much, Misty.

MARRIS: Absolutely.

SOARES: We're going to take -- thank you. We're going to take a very short break. We are expecting to hear from the NYPD, of course, after the

breaking news that we've been following here at CNN that a man set himself on fire outside of the courthouse where Donald Trump's criminal trial is

underway. We'll bring you that when it happens. We're going to take a short break. We'll see you, of course, on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SOARES: If you're just joining us, let me bring you up to date with the breaking news we've been following for the last hour or so. A man set

himself on fire outside the courthouse where Donald Trump's criminal trial is underway. New York police say there are no public safety threats after

the incident.

This video showing the scene right after the man was taken away. You can see the smoke there still spewing. We don't know his condition, the man's

condition, at this state.

Now, a law enforcement source tells CNN the man entered a park across the street from the courthouse. You can see there. Threw flyers into the air,

took something from his backpack and then went on to light himself up, put himself on fire. And this all happened just moments after the full jury

panel was seated in Trump's hush money trial.

Now, we are waiting at this very moment to hear from a press conference from the New York Police Department. We can show you those images there

which are being set up.

We have heard in the last few minutes or so from the NYPD deputy commissioner who said on X there are no public safety threats. The police

are referring to this as an incident, but they said this time there are no public safety threats other than, of course, they say increased traffic

congestion in the area as our detectives conduct their investigation.

[14:55:04]

But as you're seeing there, camera crews getting set up to hear from the NYPD Chief of Department, Jeffrey B. Maddrey, who is expected to be

briefing the media any time soon.

Of course, when that gets underway, we want to get the very latest. We, of course, will bring that to you.

In the meantime, staying in the United States, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a procedural measure to set up a vote on aid for

Israel as well as Ukraine on Saturday.

The measure passed 316 to 94. More Democrats actually supported it than Republicans, something that may not help Republican speaker, you can see

there, Mike Johnson, save his job.

Despite resistance in his own party, Johnson says that vote is necessary. You have a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE JOHNSON, U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: It's not the legislation that we worked, we would write if Republicans were in charge of the House, the Senate and

the White House, this is the best possible product that we can get under these circumstances, to take care of these really important obligations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOARES: Of course, that does it for us for this hour. But as I promised you, we are keeping an eye out on those live images coming out for New

York. Of course, as soon as we hear from NYPD, we'll bring that to you.

Do stay right here. "NEWSROOM" with Jim Sciutto is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END