there is not much we know

about the documents found in mar-a-lago but we know the federal government has probable cause to believe the 45th president of the united states may have violated three federal statutes including the espionage act and know when the fbi searched his florida mansion on monday they found and removed four sets of top secret documents including one marked to be secret csi for sensitive c compartmented information and that comes from the search warrant and inventory unsealed today by a florida federal court, whatever you make of it doesn't begin to capture the distance we have all traveled this week. it began with the first ex president hit with a search warrant and ends for now with this. in between we saw him and his supporters launch a campaign of intimidation against the fbi. we saw it amplify into calls for violence online and on right wing media and saw someone armed with a rifle and a nail gun wearing body armor try to storm the fbi field office in cincinnati. a man law enforcement sources

say had ties to january 6th and a far right extremist group. an account bearing his name on the former president's social media site contained a post on monday reading in part that quote, patriots are heading to palm beach. it continued saying if what he termed the feds try to break it up, these are his words, quote, kill them. today, apparently responding to a report "the washington post" some of the documents taken from mar-a-lago dealt with nuclear weapons, we saw a remarkable statement from the former president which like many others from him reads like a confession, accusing former president obama of doing the very same thing. falsely according to the national archives we begin with cnn sara murray. sara what more are we learning about the warrant and items removed? >> this is a trove of documents the fbi walked out with after more than a year of this fight

over records, it came after a subpoena and led to this search warrant where the fbi walked out with 11 sets of classified material that includes the four sets of top secret documents you were talking about including the tssci information and includes information about the president of france and includes a pardon document related to trump's one of his strategists roger stone who he's worked on and off with over the years. so it really is quite a treasure trove of documents that they left with, anderson. >> and what are the potential crimes that fbi agents said they were looking for possible evidence? >> they were looking at potential evidence for three different crimes. one is a violation of the espionage act, gathering, transmitting or losing defense information and the other has to do with obstruction, concealing, removing, mutilating documents and then the last one has to do with destroying documents, destroying, altering, falsifying records and of course, we don't know, anderson, at this point if this will lead to any criminal charges. donald trump has not been charged with any crimes as of yet but obviously, these -- it

was serious enough and the fbi concerns were serious enough to take this unprecedented step of going in and searching the former president's home at mar-a-lago. >> sara murray, appreciate it. joining us is a senior lecturer and analyst and former fbi deputy director andrew mccabe and kerry, the robert gates senior fellow at the center for a new american security. what kind of national security risk did it pose having top secret documents or ci documents, some that are only viewed in a secure government location stored at, you know, this resort in palm beach? >> anderson, the place where they were stored is like the polar opposite of where they're supposed to be, right? so sci documents, top secret documents that are sci designated can only be stored in what's called the sciff, secured

compartment informational facility and special rooms with specifications there are all sorts of locks on the doors. there's technology built into them to avoid monitoring of any sort, you can't bring a cell phone in there. they're referred to as vaults where the document haves to be stored. to keep them in a basement room with a padlock at a resort in palm beach, it boggles your mind how risky it is to put those documents of the most sensitive security national security documents in a place where they could easily be accessed by lord knows how many people, it's incredibly, incredibly dangerous for the country. >> especially for a person that campaigned on attacks against

hillary clinton's email server and i'm not defending hillary clinton or the email server issue. this is an issue he talked about endlessly and he's taken documents and stored them in this closet in mar-a-lago. how serious is it is a former president is being investigated by the fbi for espionage? >> it's extraordinary to have a former president or any former government leader who is su suspected and being investigated for severely mishandling classified information. one of the things that struck me, anderson, about the reporting and return on the search warrant made publicly available is the volume of documents. this wasn't one document that accidently got misplaced or a couple documents that accidentally made their way into a box. this was boxes of documents classified at the secret level

or top secret level or sci. top secret is categorized by the government if it were disclosed would cause exceptionally grave damage to national security. this is the type of activity other people, former intelligence community employees and contractors have been prosecuted for, convicted for and pleaded guilty for in various cases over the years. >> does it matter, kerry, if it was just look, a disorganized administration in the days of its, you know, the end of its administration just grabbing stuff and bringing it there and then being even more disorganized once they're there because of the quality of people around him now is less than it was in the white house and they didn't know what they had? does any of that matter? >> well, i do think there is a huge amount of factual information that we still have to learn, which is how is it that these documents got into the boxes and got delivered to

mar-a-lago and who ordered it and directed it and who physically transported them is highly unlikely. we know the former president didn't do that physical work himself. there are a lot of questions as to how it happened and why? why were these documents brought there and why after the justice department has been asking for a year now, over a year for them back, why weren't they returned? but that all speaks to the potential crimes that are at play here which includes the statutes under the espionage act which is how other individuals who have gathered classified information at their homes or outside of the place they're supposed to be retained have been prosecuted under. >> does the information in the warrant mean that the former president is himself under investigations for violations of the espionage act? how do you interpret that? >> well, i don't think there is any question he himself is under investigation for violations of

the espionage act. let me take -- continue the theme that you've been raising. it's not just a whoops. right? whoops would have been gathered up in the chaos of leaving and oh my god, look what i found. you're talking about boxes that have been carted away, then returned to the national archives. then two subpoenas that apparently in which they asked for this and then a visit from the fbi and then now this search. so the interesting question, the one question is why was he keeping this? it would be one thing if it felt accidental but this doesn't feel accidental. why would he have been keeping this? i mean, that's kpthe extraordiny part. >> andrew, the president claims he declassified the documents at mar-a-lago. is there a magic wand that a former president gets that allows him to do such things? >> no, there is no magic want. it is true that the president's authority to declassify pretty much whatever he wants whenever

he wants for whatever reason is fairly unlimited, however, there is a difference between having the authority to do something and executing that authority effectively. he has to somehow communicate that order to the people around him or the people he expects to treat that information as no longer classified. and there needs to be a relics of that communication somewhere. and i suspect that if he had actually gone through that process while he was still president, which would have been necessary, you can't do it while no longer president and they had a relics of that decision of some sort, they would have provided that to the department of justice presumably over the course of this one year and a half long investigation to resolve the issue but that obviously never happened. so no, there is no magic want and he certainly can't go back

and reach for a magic want d afr the fact. >> this has been going on for a year. there have been multiple opportunities for somebody to say, you know what, let's go down in that closet and see what those documents are. if it was like a surprise to somebody that they were there, it is -- in any kind of rational former president's orbit, you would have a level of organization and oversight and it seems like i don't know how to explain any of this. >> that's the question mark here. if it has been swept up in the first group of boxes, it would have been one thing. but there is an intentionally about this that's extended over this period of over a year and if it was a defense, if there was a defense which is whoops, i thought i had declassified it, that would have been said.

so, you know, the notion that after this kind of behavior, the president could claim now i'm sorry, i didn't realizebasement absolutely no sense. i'm reminded of someone i represented when i was a young lawyer that sold hashish to an agent knowing he was an agent and thinking it was his personal stash. there is a certain level of incompetence here that you can't ascribe to the former president to the united states so you have to ask why is he doing this? what was he going to use it for? that's a really interesting question. >> kerry, in one of the criminal codes cited in the warrant if someone knowingly covers up a document to impede, obstruct, influence the investigation of any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency in the united states,

is it clear what authorities may think the former president may have tried to impede, obstruct or influence? >> that piece of it speaks to the fact he hasn't cooperated with them over the time they've been conducting this invest gages so according to the reports, individuals from the justice department have been speaking to his team, have went down to mar-a-lago and met there and have requested these documents back so it could speak to that. and then there is also the espionage statutes and no former president exception to the espionage statutes, which is how individuals who mishandle classified information recklessly i would add in this particular situation for those of us who used to handle classified information on a routine basis, it really inconceivable anderson that information could be accidentally mishandled in this way. >> thank you, appreciate it. next, more on the former president's reaction and blame

shifting as well as kexcuses hi supporters are making and grim news about the medical condition of author salman rushdie who lived under a death threat from ar iran. that and the latest on the investigation.

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>> now that the basis for the mar-a-lago search warrant, what we have seen in the last several hours would seem to bear it out. for more on the reaction, we're joined by christian holmes. what is the reaction you're hearing? >> we heard reppresentatives.

the former president took to truth social and instead of showing you the post, we'll break it down because there are a lot of inaccuracies here that need to be addressed. the first thing he said is all the documents were declassified. the president has the right to declassified documents but still a protocol in place in order to do so and it's unclear if trump ever went through any of that protocol and on top of that, it's unclear whether or not that matters because at least two of the laws that are referred to in this warrant are about taking government documents regardless of their classification. the second thing he said was that the fbi didn't have to seize anything. they could have asked any time and they would have handed it over. we know that not to be true. because the fbi did ask, not only did they ask but the national archives asked and got 15 boxes and the fbi showed up with a subpoena for information and got more documents and yet, still, they had to do this search because there were more documents on the property and able to leave with 20 boxes of what they believe to be very significant items.

the last part he said, he accused his predecessor, former president barack obama of doing the same thing. saying he took millions of documents to chicago with him and the national archives responded to that today, they say that is not true. that obama turned overall classified and unclassified documents and millions of them were moved to a secure national archives facility in chicago. now, in addition to hearing from former president trump, we heard from some representatives, more blame shifting and kash patel, the person designated to deal with issues around the presidential records. he blamed the gsa general services administration a small government agency that deals with the transition. now, they have responded. saying that yes, they do move boxes but anything in the boxes that is on the president and support desk, lastly, we heard from trump spokesperson who mischaracterized what was taken and anderson, all of this is to say there is no credible

response right now. there is no seriousness addressed of what we saw in that wa warrant and what the next steps would be. >> i want to get more from cnn political commentator charlie dent and van joins and margaret i want to play what republicans said about the fbi. >> i actually don't think they went in looking for documents that was probably their excuse -- >> a roos. >> do i know the boxes of material they took from mar-a-lago, how do we know they will be honest? >> we know they doctor evidence and plant evidence. >> sure. >> we know they hide skpefd lie

and leak. >> they found an obama judge to leak and give a search warrant. they went in there looking for whatever they could find. >> this should scare the living daylights out of american citizens. they go after people. >> this is crap and will not stand. >> we have to defund and make cuts in the department of justice. >> the department of injustice needs to be cleaned pretend we're a ban thaana repu. >> hearing rick scott and lindsey graham nodding a head with some host on fox is saying they're planting evidence. do you expect the party line to change any time soon to hear from mitch mcconnell or mccarthy or anyone who may want to be responsible in the words they use? >> anderson, it has been

remarkable and shows you the durable lasting like whole sale impact that donald trump has had on the republican party. the republican party was always the party of justice and you'll remember that republicans railing against democrats, the progressives and the democratic party for talking about defending the police had some republicans talk about defunding the police. my colleague talked to a lot of republican lawmakers and sensing the beginning of a real split in the party among those who want to go hard core to continue defending former president trump and those were saying, you know, wait a minute folks saying this is total abuse and folks like brian fitzpatrick of pennsylvania a former er fbi ag saying you can't cast judgement until you know the facts and talk about taking a deep breath.

that's not the norm or majority but the release of this search warrant is going to make it perilous for some republicans to continue to wrap themselves in the mantle of president trump didn't do anything wrong. when you talk about the espionage about and the highly secure nature, the top, top secret nature of some of the documents they were looking for and apparently retrieved, it shows you that it's just you can't overlook here. >> there is a history of hoover and with civil rights movement but have you ever seen anything like what is being said about the fbi certainly coming from republicans and just elected officials who.

>> the thing that's unusual about this, the republican party has always been the party -- >> the former president presented himself as a law and order person two weeks ago in washington in his return to d.c. >> yes, so that's what makes this unusual and dangerous and we saw that yesterday in cincinnati and i fear that's the tip of the iceberg if they continue down this road but one thing i'd say, i'm not as sure that in the short run at least these republicans are going to separate themselves from trump. these revelations not with standing. remember, 70% of republicans still believe or say they believe that the last election was not legitimate and despite

the fact that there has been tons and tons and tons of evidence to the contrary and donald trump is still the dominant force in the republican party. the primaries and reaction to the events of this week and it's going to take awhile i think for republicans to assess whether they can take the risk within their party to split with him and weigh that against both what is right and right for them in a general election. >> congressman dent, it is stunning to see republicans and we've seen republicans do this already but continuing to just jump off the cliff following this person who, you know, it's won outrage after another. >> anderson, some of the statements are way out of bounds. >> lindsey graham is on the judiciary committee.

>> yeah, i mean, look, they should be following fitzpatrick and law enforcement backgrounds with proper restraint, caution. that's what they should be doing now. i think most of the members know the former president has no boundaries. the members know, too, had they walked out of a secure containment facility with classified material taking them home, they most know that a g man would show up at their door wanting them back and no negotiation about returning those documents and so for the former president, to go out there and say all americans are under attack, that's absurd because they're not under attack. most americans don't handle classified information. the president did and he clearly showed a reckless disregard and i would again caution these republican members not to get too close to this because we're going to find out more information. i can't imagine any of it will be good for the former president. he should be subject to

accountability just as any member of congress would or any other government official like david axelrod or van jones probably had access to classified material all responsible with it. this president was not. >> you know, van, it's always constructive to do what if, what if this was president obama who had taken dock 7uments and afte year of the government trying to get them, still hadn't turned them over, the rhetoric coming from former president trump from other -- from rick scott certainly wouldn't be calling the fbi. >> they would want him under guantanamo. they want barack obama held under guantanamo. if anybody walks out, you won't be able to do it but walk out with secret material and hide it and keep it, you're going to jail. i don't understand what these people are talking about.

why does it work, though? why do they rally around the flag? is key to the trump brand is this idea of defiance and this requires two things. it requires an unjust attack and requires you being strong in the face of an up just attack. even though this is the opposite of an unjust attack, he went and grabbed people and didn't go and get boxes. they grabbed people. so we were saying the g man show is up and takes the boxes back where they belong, that's not gustappo but you can present it as an unjust attack. he's being defiant. that display of strength and something that the republican party for right now is just catnip for them. they fall in love with it and take and lead with their senses. the reality is the question every american should be asking is why does he have this stuff at his house? >> yeah. >> what does he want to do with this stuff in his house because if this is beyond top secret

stuff and he's got it at his house, something really weird is happening, maybe something bad is happening we should be focused on that. >> go ahead. >> i talked to said it doesn't matter whether this was for sort of petty reasons or for that far use -- wanting to keep souvenirs, it a violation of the law if he had it and wasn't authorized. >> appreciate it. coming up, more breaking news on the mar-a-lago search warrant and i'll speak with the security advisor and ambassador to the united nations and speak with former vice president aleck gore on the significance of the house passing a landmark health and claimant bill. h his thoughts on the investigation to the former president.

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one of the main questions is agents got material labeled top secret. the question is why was it there? the intent of the former president will be a key factor in what was revealed by the search warrant, three possible federal crimes they are investigating. want to get proserspective from someone literally in the room with the former president during discussions. former trump national security advisor and former u.s. ambassador to the united nations author of the room where it happened a white house memoir. ambassador bolton, when you hear the fbi uncovered 11 sets of classified documents, sensitive compartmented information which is a high level of classification, what goes through your mind? >> well, it doesn't surprise me.

trump kept a lot of things in his files that were not in the regular system or that had been given to him in the course of intelligence briefings and i can days at the white house, since he didn't think he was going to leave until the last minute, they were just throwing things in boxes, and it included a will the of things he had accumulated over the four years. my surprise that there wasn't more taken there. >> is there any reason, though, why a former president should have any of that kind of material in his private residence, to say nothing of being resistant to turning it in? >> there are procedures for former presidents in particular, many of whom want to write memoirs and about their time in the white house to store their record so they have access to it, to store the classified information in secure

facilities, and that easily could have been worked out in a smooth transition. trump obviously had no interest in a smooth transition, including for himself. so he's brought this trouble on himself. >> the search warrant identifies three federal crimes the justice department are looking at. do you think the former president has legal exposure here even if there's an explanation for it? >> yeah. it depends on the documents. in many cases, it depends on the obstruction of justice possibility. obviously, what the interchange was between him and the government. there's a lot here we don't know and a lot of aimless speculation going on out there, but much of it will depend on what exactly the documents say. we know broad categories at the moment that were taken today,

but there's much we don't know. >> there's been more than aimless speculation. there's been a lot of people calling for the defunding of the fbi, zrouing the fbi. are you concerned about any of the rhetoric you're hearing from members of congress, republicans who are saying the fbi is planting evidence or seem to be agreeing with people who are saying that? >> well, no, i'm very concerned about it. i think this is an unnecessary mindless criticism of a very important institution, the department of justice, where i served, the fbi. based on very little information. if i had to give any advice to my fellow republicans, it would be chill out here and wait for the facts because the facts may turn out not to be what donald trump said they were at first. that has been known to happen before, and let's let this process play out. it doesn't help us long term

institutionally as law and order conservatives to trash the institutions that help guarantee law and order. >> it's interesting that you talked about your own experiences and you're saying you weren't surprised that there weren't more things kichb the chaotic nature of the latter days of the administration. the former president had a habit of mishandling materials, ripping them up, sometimes throwing them in toilets. while you worked for him, did you ever see him doing that? >> no, i didn't see that. but i'll tell you a different story, and i'm basing this for obvious reasons on press reports of this, but i think these press reports warrant careful consideration. one day in late august i think, 2019, he tweeted about a failed iranian ballistic missile launch

and said, the u.s. had nothing to do with this, good luck to iran trying to figure out what the cause was, and he attached to that tweet a picture, which they said was an intelligence picture that he had been given just a few hours before the tweet went out. that's the kind of thing to be concerned about. >> i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> coming up, breaking news on author rusty's condition and the new details on his life. r old, a few years old we want to buy your car so go to carvana enter your license plate answer a few questions and our techno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds when you're ready we'll come to you pay you on the spot and pick up your car that's it so ditch the old way of selling your car and say hello to the new way

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more breaking news tonight after author sal man rushdy was attacked. he also suffered damage to his arm and liver. this comes after he was stabbed at least twice today before giving a lecture. authorities have now identified the suspect in the attack as a 24-year-old from new jersey. we have details. >> reporter: famed author salman rushdie was expected to speak when a witness says a suspect jumped on to stage and began punching and stabbing him. one witness says she counted at least seven to ten stabbing motions before fleeing to her own safety. he suffered stab wounds to the neck and abdomen and was air lifted to an area hospital.

>> it was a state police officer who stood up and saved his life, protected him. [ applause ] as well as the moderator who was attacked as well. >> the suspect was quickly taken into custody. new york state police identified him as 24-year-old hadi natar. >> there was a lot of screaming and crying. people rushing from the audience up on the stage. >> the 75-year-old author was born in bombai and later moved to the uk. his iconic nourgt novel published in 1988 sparked public demonstrations all over the world. some muslims consider the book sacrilegious. -- a religious decree on rushdie calling for his death.

he lived under british protection before the ukrainian government announced it would no longer enforce it. he wrote a memoir about that era of his life. he has been outspoken over the years about living through that time. >> best way that i can -- what i can do to fight this is to show that, you know, in the way that a child shows a bully in the playground, i ain't scared of you, and the best thing i can do is to go on being the best writer i can be and to lead as open and professional life as i can. there's a way of saying there may be this danger and it's an ugly thing and we need to fight it or defeat it, but we don't need to hide under the bed. >> the fbi has now joined this investigation trying to sort out if this was part of some bigger plot to assassinate him. it's really concerning.

sounds like a really brutal ta a tack, brazen in the way it was done. certainly has authorities all over the world right now concerned as to what really was behind here. we still have a lot to learn. the suspect left behind a backpack. authorities are waiting for a search warrant. and we also learned the fbi as well as local police are at the suspect's home in new jersey as they really try to figure out what was behind all of this. >> thank you. coming up, i'm going to speak with former vice-president al gore about the sweeping bill that's ready to be signed by president biden, his thoughts on climate change, and the investigation related to the former president next.

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as president biden predecessor and perhaps future opponent faces future investigation to his handling of classified records, democrats in the house today passed a major bill that includes hundreds of billions for green energy and health care initiatives. the bill, which the president says he'll sign next week represents a much needed victory ahead of what's sure to be a difficult election for democrats. joining us is someone whose name is synonymous with the environment, mr. vice president, i appreciate you joining us. before the inflation reduction act was passed by the house this afternoon, speaker pelosi called it historic, transformative. senator bernie sanders, who has not been shy about arguing the bill doesn't go far enough, tweeted that it's, quote, a very small step forward. where do you stand specifically with respect to its effect on climate change? >> bernie is right that we have a lot more work to do. but there's no question that speaker pelosi is right, that we are crossing a significant

threshold here. this is, by far, the largest initiative to help solve the climate crisis that any country has ever taken. and the amount of money is one thing, $369 billion is quite significant. but the way that it's deployed is also very significant, anderson. there are things in it that i wouldn't have preferred. but they're very minor compared to the huge benefits of the bill as a whole. >> the energy and climate modelers have said it could reach its goal. the bill could reach its goal of reducing u.s. carbon emissions by 40% from 2005 levels by 2030. can you give us a sense of where you think those reductions will come from? >> well, they will come from the carbon emitted in generating electricity. they will come in the reduction of emissions from transportation. we will see a huge speeded up

shift to electric vehicles with new charging networks and tax credits for purchasing electric vehicles, including used electric vehicles. we'll see the speedy retirement of a lot of fossil fuel facilities that now burn coal and gas and their replacement with new solar and wind facilities. we'll see the rapid deployment of more and more battery storage. those are some of the most significant items. >> some environmental groups have criticized the bill because the provisions to require the federal government to auction oil and gas leases on federal land, also in the gulf of mexico. do you agree with those criticisms? >> i do. and those are some of the items i had in mind when i said there are some things in here i don't like. but if you look at the overall bill through the lens of carbon pollution reductions, there will be some minor increases.

but the huge reductions overwhelm the provisions that i wouldn't have preferred. and here we are in a representative democracy where the only way we're going to pass legislation is to come up with a compromise measure that can gain majority support. and the compromises were very minor compared to the magnitude of these fantastic achievements. i understand some of those who are critical of the things that had to be compromised. but the rest of the bill is so historic, it has to be put in perspective. and i think that this is going to unleash so much momentum. we are likely to see even larger pollution reductions from this legislation. >> as you know, you look at kentucky and missouri, they have been dealing with historic flash flooding over the past few weeks. climate scientists have been telling us for decades that climate change will make weather events like these more severe, more frequent.

you've obviously been talking about this issue for a long time. have you seen some climate denialists changing their minds, as weather disasters affect more and more people? >> yes, i definitely have. and even many of those who are not comfortable using the word "climate" or acknowledging that they have changed their mind, they're looking at their oil cards and they're seeing the destruction every night on the evening news. it's like a nature ride through the book of revelation. for goodness sake. we've had if several once in a thousand-year downpours just in the last few weeks. it's incredible. and that's only in this country. all around the world, the same thing is going on. 70% of the american west is in drought now. think about the scorching heat that people by the hundred million and more have endured over the last few weeks. and it's likely to get much worse. and the scientists who were spot

on in predicting what we've been going through should be given more attention now because they were right in the past when they warn us of what would happen if we did not take steps like the ones in this historic legislation. >> china suspended climate talks with the united states in retaliation for speaker pelosi's visit to taiwan last week. how important is cooperation between china and the u.s. when it comes to responding to what's ahead? >> well, i think it's crucial. they are the largest global warming polluter in the world. we are second to them. and obviously cooperation between our two countries is essential. i'm heartened at the news today that president biden and president xi jinping are going to meet in person. and think about the fact that they had this bad reaction to nancy pelosi's trip to taiwan, but it just ended. and i think that the suspension of climate talks is not going to

be of long duration. i hope that prediction is right. i would be willing to bet a lot that without the passage of too much more time, we will see the dialogue started again. >> i do briefly want to ask you about just what we learned today from the department of justice. they removed 11 sets of classified documents from the former president's mar-a-lago residence while executed a search warrant. what is your reaction to all we've learned? does this make sense to you why a former president would have such documents in his florida mansion? >> no, it doesn't. but i want to hasten to add, i don't know the facts. i'll tell you what i do know. i know merrick garland, and i don't know that our nation has ever had an attorney general who is more committed to doing things according to the book, according to the proper order. it's unthinkable that he would take any had kind of rash step or violate the regular order.

i have tremendous confidence in him, his probeity and everyone who knows him and has worked with him feels the same way. so, i'm sure the justice department and the fbi have acted entirely properly. and we will learn more about the facts as they come out. >> former vice president al gore, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you. >> thank you. we'll be right back.