Texas School Shooting; Trump Demands More Info on Alleged FBI Informant
VANIER (voice-over): This is 17-year-old Jared Black. He was supposed to have his birthday party on Saturday. That's now. Pakistani exchange student Sabika Sheikh, pictured here. And 17-year-old Christopher Jake Stone. Another picture, teacher Cynthia Tisdale. Now these are four of the 10 victims of Friday's school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas.</s>VANIER: CNN has learned that the body of the exchange student that we just mentioned, Sabika Sheikh, will be sent home to Pakistan on Monday. That's according to the Pakistan consul general in Texas, who called Sheikh, "a bridge between our people and cultures." The victims of Friday's shooting at Santa Fe High School were remembered at a Friday night vigil. One of the survivors who knew the alleged shooter says there were no clues that he would do something like this.</s>MADALYN WILLIAMS, SANTA FE HIGH SCHOOL SHOOTING SURVIVOR: I love everyone in Santa Fe's coming together and in a beautiful way. The vigil last night that we were at, so many faces that I haven't seen in years -- sorry...</s>ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You don't need to apologize.</s>WILLIAMS: -- people that I was -- that I hadn't talked to in years, people that I had gotten in huge fights with, they just came up to me and hugged me. They said even though I'm upset that it happened I'm glad you're OK.</s>HILL: I know you know some of the victims. That's a lot to process. That's something that you and your friends have been talking about?</s>WILLIAMS: It is. We were just talking about how just Thursday, we were laughing with them. We were cutting up, just being teenagers and now we don't get to do that anymore.</s>HILL: You also knew the shooter.</s>WILLIAMS: I did. I was talking to him in 7th period on Sunday -- or on Thursday. And there was no warning signs. There was no indication that he could do any of this because he was very quiet and very sweet. He was funny. He was never mean to me. He was nice. We'd make jokes. We laughed about memes on the Internet. And there was no red flags, no warning.</s>VANIER: That was Madalyn Williams, one of the survivors of the shooting, speaking to CNN's Erica Hill. The family of the suspect, the alleged shooter, who is a 17-year-old student at the school, has released a statement. And it says --</s>VANIER: -- that they are as shocked and confused as anyone by these events. They add that they are gratified by public comments by fellow students that, quote, "showed Dimitri as we know him, a smart, quiet, sweet boy." Robert Spitzer joins me now. He is chair of the political science department at New York University, author of the book, "Guns across America." Robert, this is the 22nd school shooting in the U.S. this year and just as chilling, the third time this week that a gunman has been on a school campus. Is this scenario doomed to repeat itself?</s>ROBERT SPITZER, NYU: Well, the answer I believe is yes, partly because these incidents feed off of each other and there's a lot of evidence to show that people who commit these sorts of mass shootings often go to school, so to speak. Prior mass shootings to some degree are inspired by them or get the idea from them and use that as a jumping-off point. That does not explain, of course, the underlying rage or alienation or other feelings that prompt a person to do something terrible like this. But it does suggest that there -- we will likely see similar incidents, although we are coming up on the summer months when schools will be out. And that may be a welcome break and that may help break what seems to be an accelerating cycle.</s>VANIER: -- and is sparking more conversation about gun control. But in this instance, the alleged shooter took his father's handgun and shotgun. He also had no known criminal record. So wasn't known to law enforcement. Is there a law out there or a potential law that would have prevented this from happening?</s>SPITZER: Yes, pretty simple, which is you could say by law that people who keep guns in their homes are required to lock them up when they're not using them. Now as a matter of good practice, even organizations like the National Rifle Association tell gun owners that they should lock up the weapons, that they should keep them unloaded, that the ammunition should be located in a different location and that, too, should be locked up. It's an elementary safety measure. Many gun owners follow that procedure. But one of the unfortunate facts of mass shooters such as this one and others was that they had ready access to their parents' guns with the most deadly consequences.</s>VANIER: Look, Americans see this happening again and again. And yet the laws have not changed. Is it fair to say that this country collectively prefers to protect gun rights at the expense -- at the expense of student lives?</s>SPITZER: Well, I think that it is not surprising that people come to that conclusion. I don't think the state of affairs, this kind of paralysis that we face about national gun policy is specifically because that kind of rational calculation has made. But it is the outgrowth of the kind of political stalemate, the polarization, the great political strength of the gun lobby, of the gun rights movement and related factors that essentially immobilize the national government and prevent it from doing anything on this subject. The current Congress clearly will not take any action on gun policy. There could be 100 mass shootings --</s>VANIER: And yet, Robert, and yet -- let me interrupt you for a second -- listen to the U.S. president Donald Trump about this.</s>TRUMP: My administration is determined to do everything in our power to protect our students, secure our schools and to keep weapons out of the hands of those who pose a threat to themselves and to others. Everyone must work together.</s>VANIER: Now earlier this year, another school shooting in Parkland, Florida, left 17 students dead with all the national outcry that we covered. Did Donald Trump take decisive action then, which he had promised? And do you think he will now?</s>SPITZER: He didn't then and I do not believe he will now. He speaks those words after the Parkland shooting in February. He said -- made some similar comments about possible changes in federal law that he seemed to be embracing. But then he had a meeting over the weekend after those comments with some leaders from the NRA and he backed away from those comments. I mean, leaving aside the gun issues, he simply wanted to focus on mental health, on improving school safety and on improving the physical facilities of public schools around the country. Where is the legislation? Where are the appropriations to pay for these possible changes that, even aside from implementing stronger gun laws? In terms of actual policy proposals, the Trump administration has proposed nothing and I would predict with great confidence that it will not propose anything concrete to Congress, along those lines, much less any meaningful gun laws or gun --</s>SPITZER: -- measures that could have some possible benefit.</s>VANIER: Robert, thank you for joining us here on the show.</s>SPITZER: Yes, Cyril, good to speak with you.</s>VANIER: There are new reports of countries besides Russia allegedly hoping to influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump. According to "The New York Times," Donald Trump Jr. took a meeting in August 2016 with a man called George Nader, who claimed to represent two Arab princes who wanted to help Mr. Trump get elected. Also offering help at the meeting was Joel Zamel, an Israeli social media expert. A lawyer for Trump Jr. told CNN that nothing came of the Trump Tower meeting. Still, it's illegal for foreigners to be involved in U.S. elections and both Zamel and Nader have come under scrutiny by special counsel Robert Mueller. Meanwhile, the president continues to hammer away at the notion that an FBI informant might have been inside his presidential campaign. Mr. Trump is demanding the U.S. Justice Department reveal more details about this mystery person. CNN's Ryan Nobles explains.</s>RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Trump is continuing to put pressure on the Department of Justice and the FBI to bring out more information about an informant that attempted to gain access and information to the Trump campaign during the 2016 election. The president tweeting about this topic again on Saturday, saying, quote, "If the FBI or DOJ was infiltrating a campaign for the benefit of another campaign, that is a really big deal. Only the release or review of documents by the House Intelligence Committee, also Senate Judiciary is asking for, can give conclusive answers." Then he went on to say, "Drain the swamp." Now the president has continued to say that someone had infiltrated his campaign or was embedded in his campaign and sources tell CNN that actually wasn't the case, that this is someone outside the campaign and they will only tell us that it was a U.S. citizen. But we've learned from reports by "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post" that this was someone outside the campaign who was working to build relationships with people working on the campaign as a way to get information that could be a part of this FBI investigation. Now there is a concern by the intelligence community and the Department of Justice and even some elected officials that the release of some of this information could lead to the identity of this informant going public and that that could hurt future investigations. Mark Warner, a Democrat, the vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has specifically warned against this. And Christopher Wray, the current FBI director and of course an appointee by President Trump, said, quote, "The day we cannot protect human sources is the day we become less safe." But this is clearly something that the president is not going to let go. He has now tweeted about this issue on four different occasions. And it seems as though he is attempting discredit the Mueller investigation and any information that may have been gleaned by this informant. It's important to point out, though, that this informant began his work prior to the launch of the Mueller investigation. He was attempting to make contact within officials related to the Trump campaign during the campaign and the Mueller investigation did not launch until well after the campaign. One thing is for sure, though, that the president is not letting this issue go. And this could be a big point of contention between the president, his own Justice Department and members of both the House and Senate -- Ryan Nobles, CNN, at the White House.</s>VANIER: All right. More impressive pictures coming out of Hawaii, paradise paved over by hot volcanic lava. Up next, we're checking in on Hawaii's big island, where eruptions are still opening up the ground. Stay with us.