Transcripts For FOXNEWS America Reports 20240905

Fox News Alert as we top of about the new hour here. A suspect is in custody as we now know and word of casualties is still coming in after reports of gunfire at a High School there in georgia. Hello and welcome everyone. Im Sandra Smith in New York. John, good to be with you. A horrific news to top the hour. John welcome back sandra but Bad News to go back to. Im John Roberts in Washington And Mrs. B5. The incident happening at apalachee High School in Winder Georgia. Emergency responders treating people. One victim was airlifted to treat a gunshot wound. Sandra Live In Atlanta we have the very latest of what we know right now. Jonathan. Sandor and john, at this time all schools in the district are on lockdown however this particular school building, the buildings associated with apalachee high School And Barrow High School a suspect is in custody so students are being ro their parents and for those students who need a ride home, Bus Service will be provided this afternoon. Gunfire was first reported around 10 23 a. M. This morning. Officers from multiple Law Enforcement agencies and Ems Departments were dispatched to reports of an active shooter incident. Two victims were seen carrieD Into helicopters taken to area hospitals. Grady hospital which is in Downtown Atlanta, again, 40 miles away from the shooting scene, confirms that one Gunshot Victim was taken to their very well regarded one Trauma Center. This is a multijurisdictional response that is affecting not only the entire region of North Georgia but also the nation. The White House haD Issued a statement saying President Biden has been briefed by his Homeland Security Advisor and they will be offering whatever resources are necessary as they coordinate with federal, state, and local officials. They are gathering additional information as is everyone else and then in a statement from atlanta Mayor Andre dickens, if you look at the middle of the state, he says the Atlanta Police Department has been working with the atlantic public schools Police Department to bolster patrols around The Schools for the rest of the day out of an abundance of caution. Apd has also been on standby in case Law Enforcement agencies need assistance with this incident. It just gives you an idea that even though this is a Shooting Incident that took place in this small community of Barrow County just outside the town of Winder Georgia, it is affecting the entire state of georgia and you have atlanta, this big urban Center Offering Assistance but also responding, bolstering patrols around their own public, of course, is worried about Copy Caps and parents all over this nation are worried whenever anything horrible like this happens. Back to you guys. John its john here. Just a quick couple of things. School has been back since august 1st. They go back very early in the state of georgia. School has been marinating and whatever brompton whatever happened today for a while now. The grady memorial hospital confirmed 40 minutes ago that they received one Gunshot Victim from The School. Its a level 1 Trauma Center. Im also told by sources and georgia government that the Barrow County sheriff along with the department of public safety, homeland security, the Georgia Bureau of investigation, all onsite. Apparently they are going to hold a Press Conference sometime this afternoon. Jonathan, at the moment we have very few details of what happened there. Weve seen Stuff Lotion rounded social Media None of it is good for them but we dont know who this person is or who was injured and who may be dead. Who may have survived this, whether anybody was killed or there were just some injuries. We dont know much at all at this point. It is frustrating, john. We just know that there are injuries but we have yet to confirm whether any of them were fatal. We also dont know about the suspect. Was this a student at The School, was this an outsider coming in but certainly, information that we hope will be revealed at a Press Conference later this afternoon, john. John john with the latest in atlanta. We will let you get back working your sources and get us information. Sandra thank you for jonathan. We will bring in Fox News contributor nicole parker. She joins us now. Nicole was part of the Response Team to the 2018 Parkland School Shooting and here we are now with updates coming out of georgia. Your thoughts on this ongoing situation. First of all my condolences to anyone that may have lost their lives in this awful tragedy. Its the beginning of the School Year. I understand school is been in session since august 1st. We are at the beginning of the School Year and this is probably the very first School Shooting for the School Year anD Its happening all too often. It is too frequent. We all remember columbine High School back in the day, back in 1999. That was unheard of. And now it is happening so frequently we cant even keep up with it. Even when parkland happened, it was much less prevalent. As a Lawenforcement Officer and an Fbi Agent to respond at parkland, i can tell you kudos to the Law Enforcement forgetting a suspect. Ive hearD It on your programming. All afternoon. That is quite rare. Frequently the shooter shoots themselves or Law Enforcement takes them out but this will give Law Enforcement and opportunity to confront this individual, to question this individual, to understand why they did this. What was the motive. What was the pathway to violence. What was the grievance . I guarantee this individual did not wake up this morning and decide im going to go shoot up The School. It was likely months, weeks, or days leading up to this event and the strategy. Im sure there was a lot of planning. We want to be careful to not make assumptions in advance of State Investigation being completed but as someone has responded to a scene, you have The School. Thats a Crime Scene. Thats the incident and where the crime occurred peered the first priority of Law Enforcement is always to stop the killing which we understand the suspect is in custody unless there was anyone else involved and hopefully there is not and they are safe. The next thing is to stop the death. To provide services to those who are injured and like dr. Siegel saiD In the previous segment, that is so important to stop the bleeding. That could save multiple lives. And Law Enforcement, we came across advanced Law Enforcement advanced rapid Response Training and we are highly trained to respond to the shooter, to go toward the gunfire and once the threat has been neutralized, we have been trade to give medical care until there can be an emt that responds and they can get hospital care. Again, thank you so much to the Health Care workers, those of the hospitals, and mostly the Law Enforcement. You have the agents, the Police Officers local, state, and federal at the Crime Scene and at The School and they are assessing the Crime Scene. Making sure that there is no additional threats, no additional Ied Or Anything of that nature. And those that have been brought out of the School Need to be brought to safety children have been dismissed and they were permitted to meet with their parents. When i have worked active shooters, we dont typically let the witnesses leave immediately because eyes and ears of those that witnesseD It are the most powerful pieces of conducting an investigation. Those that saw it and the information they can give is so important. Law enforcement is questioning those that were there that witnesseD It anD I have to tell you the worst part of any tragedy that Law Enforcement ever takes and whether it is Law Enforcement or military is the death notifications. That will be done very meticulously. You cant expect it to be done soon. It takes a lot of time to identify who these individuals were and what Law Enforcement does to positively identify the individual whether they had positive identification or they not. That is the one thing in Law Enforcement that you have to get correct. That is the most difficult job and Law Enforcement. When Law Enforcement is ready, they will come. But its important for the families to be notified by Law Enforcement before anything is leaked to the media. No one wants to learn of their Loved One being killed to the media. John you mentioned this happens far too often. It has happened 22 times to 1 degree or another. So far in 20247 people have dieD In School Shootings, 29 people have been injured. At this school we see a School Population of approximately 1900 people. It looks like most of the students were told to go out to the Athletic Field and await further instruction. The school still on a Hard Lock down. Again i am told that there will be a News Conference by the authorities. The Georgia Bureau of investigation, they are all heading this up. At some point this afternoon we will get some information from them but right now, we know so little about what happened and we are going on three hours in this incident. I understand and respect that people want to know and frankly the parents want to know. They deserve to know what is the condition of their child and where are they anD I understand and respect that anD It is on Law Enforcement to it as quickly as they can give information they need to communicate that. As soon as you report to a massive Crime Scene, theres a massive post anD I could tell you theres multiple agencies involved. One person needs to take charge. The Georgia Bureau of investigations would make sense. They are in Charge And Everyone you get in line and you do what you are asked to do and provide assistance when necessary. The american people need answers as quickly as they possibly can and thats important. Sandra theres an update coming from the police on the ground there in Winder Georgia. Looks like they will start shortly. Casualties have been reported. The number of casualties and we still do not know the condition of the injured. Was that 2 minutes . Theyve announced a Twominute Warning there to addressing the media. Hopefully we get that. In a statement from atlanta fbi, they are aware of the Situation And Apalachee High School in Barrow County. Agents are on scene supporting local Law Enforcement which will result in the update we are about to see. Of course if you are tuning in right now, shooting has occurred at a georgia High School. At happened earlier this morning. It caused an unknown number of injuries and a suspect has been obviously arrested there appeared a Chaotic Scene was describeD In which officers swarmed the campus, students rushed for shelter in the football stadium. A horrific scene as you can imagine in these early days of school starting we will get an update here shortly. But your thoughts ahead of this. I appreciate that Law Enforcement is getting out here and giving us as much information as they possibly can. Do not be discourageD If you dont get the full details yet. It takes a lot of time. It takes time but they will give you as much as they possibly can. John it looks like it will be local authorities, the Barrow County sheriff who will lead off this News Conference this afternoon. The earliest indication of what happened there. Georgia bureau of investigation is there as well. Homeland security we are tolD Is there as well. Here we go. Good afternoon. My name is sheriff Judd Smith. Im the sheriff of Barrow County Sheriffs Office appeared we are standing on the campus of apalachee High School for Barrow County schools. First and foremost i want to lift up our community. I want to give our sympathies to our community, our school system, our kids, our parents. That had to witness this today. Obviously what you see behind us is an evil thing today. At about 9 30 this morning we receive the first call that there was an active shooter on this campus. We are not releasing any information as far as injuries but we have multiple injuries. This is a very, very fluiD Investigation. It is very early. I have asked the assistance of the gbi and the agencies here behind me today and the multiple agencies that responded this morning to help us and help the Sheriffs Office. We do have a suspect in custody and we are asking for your patience as the media to please let us get the facts that we need to make sure that we get this right. Again, i have asked of the gbi to help us, the Sheriffs Office to help us along with this. I know this is not what you want to hear but im not going to answer questions after this is over with. But i wanted to give you the respect and our community the respect to let them know what was going on initially. We are in the process of reunifying our students with their parents. Obviously that is chaotic but we want to be respectful of them and their privacy as well. I want to thank the state and the federal agencies and the local agencies that showed up today. As you can see, the multiple ems and fire from other agencies that responded today. Again, i ask that you lift up Barrow County schools, lift up apalachee High School, lift up our agencies. This will take multiple days for us to get answers as to what happened and why this happened but i wanted to give you a statement. It is our hope in conjunction with these people behind us that we can give you another statement around 4 00 because i know you have to go back on the air. That is my hope. But i wanted to be fluent with you all understanding that its fluiD Is well with this investigation. I appreciate you being patient with us. Again, it is very active. It is ever developing. Every minute it is developing on what we are finding. So we will have releases from other schools. Again, we ask that you be patient with us. Please be patient with us. And hopefully i can give you more information and better information, if you will, this afternoon. Thank you all for coming out here and we will be Back Sho shortly. Sheriff, its been reported that people are dead. Is that true . Im not repeating information. We have multiple injuries. Im not releasing information appeareD Im not answering questions at this time. Thank you. John that is sheriff Judd Smith of the Barrow County Sheriffs Department saying he was not going to answer any questions but lets listen here for a second. We will be holding a News Conference here at 4 00. If you are not already following us on twitter, x, make sure you are following us. We will be providing updates. I know there are a lot of details, anD Investigative details and you want more information. That is what the investigators are actively working on right now. The idea is to be back here at 4 00 but keep an eye on our Social Media. If that changes, you will know it, we will be able to address and hopefully answer more questions for you. Or be in a position to answer more. Tell us how many people and what you know about that. We are not in any position for the sheriff made his comments. We will leave it at that. At 4 00 we hope to have a better picture, so you we can better comprehend whats going on. We really appreciate it. Thank you. John there you have representatives from the Georgia Bureau of investigation again saying there will be another News Conference with a bigger update at 4 00. What we know so far. Multiple injuries. He didnt say whether or not there had been any fatalities though he said all i was at the moment is injuries. There could potentially be fatalities but all we know at this point is that one person was airlifted to the level 1 Trauma Center in grady memorial hospital down in Downtown Atlanta but other than that we have nothing. Sandra i was wondering what you thought of that. Is that because the families, if there are any casualties, have not been notified yet . Unfortunately the death notifications, they dont come until later on because they need to get into The School if there were deaths, they need to identify who these individuals were. I noted the same thing that he did. He said the sheriff said multiple injuries. I did not hear multiple fatalities but again, that might be because they do not want to give false information until they absolutely know anD If the notifications have not been completed, maybe that is why. I cant say if there were fatalities are not fatalities, but it is a very Fluid Situation anD If you are responding as an officer, a lot of that chaos is coordinating who is doing what and what agency is doing what. But the number one priority is always those that have been injured and those that have been killed. And they know if there are fatalities whether they are sharing it right now is a different thing. There may be people that have been, like you said someone was sent to a Trauma Center. Maybe they are alive now and they wont make it but we dont know. Its good to be patient with Law Enforcement. Its better to give factual information then not but part of advanced lawenforcement rapid Response Training that we do for active shooting includes a media element. It includes a Command Post Element and that is what we are doing now. They are establishing. I say pray for Law Enforcement, pray for those that are injured. And those that may be receiving Bad News today, pray for them. The worst part of this is when you are at the scene and you are a parent and youre going to pick up your child and your chilD Is not coming and everyone else has been reunited with their child and you continue to wait and you wait and you hear there is only one person that was sent to a hospital but you dont have your child with you. That is why Law Enforcement will be very, very careful. The number one priority now is a victim centered approach. Fluid situation for sure as he described a very active situation. This is developing and they are learning more. Sheriff smith saying they will be back soon with more details and an update. They are promising news around 4 00 so we will certainly be listening to that. If you could stand by with us as we continue to cover this. John lisping and former Secret Service agent. A wealth of information. With the president ial protective division of the Secret Service. We did get a little bit of news they are from Judd Smith. The clarification of when this all happened because the first alert went out over reports of an active shooter. The sheriff said that they got the first active Shooter Report at 9 30 in the morning. I dont know if you had a chance to hear everything that the sheriff had to say but the fact that he said multiple injuries and did not confirm any fatalities initially was seem to be good news. We saw one person injured being taken out on a stretcher and put into an ambulance. The person seem to be alert from what we could see from the helicopter shot. Your thoughts. This is a very Fluid Situation as nicole said. I did hear what the sheriff had to say. I thought he did an excellent job. That is the type of thing that the public needs to hear. They need to be reassured that the situation is under control. It is developing and police and first responders are involved and are Taking Care Of Business here. The sheriff has to be very careful with what he says as the situation is unfolding. Whether or not he chose his words very specifically when he said people were injured as opposed to killed, i Cant Comment on that yet but you dont want to say the wrong thing and escalate a situation and make it worse than what it is. I thought his comments were excellent and he said he would be back in a couple of hours and we will have more information. Up until this point the response has been exactly what it should be. That is what i want to see. Particularly in a School Shooting. I want to see everyone in the world responding to that school. I want to see everyone in uniform and Law Enforcement an entity i could possibly have showing up. I want to see every ems asset. I want to see helicopters landing. I want the entire world responding to that situation until we can get it brought under control. So far that is exactly what we have seen. Very well done. Sandra you need to think that there are people right now dealing with injuries. Obviously first responders seeing to them. Multiple injuries reported by the Sheriff Moment to go. No confirmed fatalities but they are not releasing any information on that. They made it very clear at this moment a very Fluid Situation. Multiple agencies involved right now. Suspect in custody. They are, to your point, asking for patients because this is a huge process and obviously one of the biggest tasks at hand right now is reuniting students with their parents and families describing it as a chaotic situation but one would assume that would always be the case with something like this so we hope that reuniting process is getting completed as we speak. Undoubtedly. I think everything you saiD Is exactly on point and this is a huge, huge undertaking going on here. You have what appears to be a couple thousand students, it looks like it covers many acres. You have a lot of buildings. At this point with the shooter subdued anD In custody, there is no reason to rush this thing. As much as you would like to reunite everyone immediately. A process has to unfold here anD It has to be done in as organized a manner as possible. Sometimes when we hear about the School Shootings we expect the worst at the beginning and often we are relieved that the worst has not happened. Other times as we have seen with parkland and other shootings like that that nicole is all too familiar with, what we hope will be the outcome at the first turns out to not be the outcome anD It turns out to be much worse than we could ever imagine. At this point, with so little information coming out, we are just not in a position to be able to report one way or another. What is happening. We dont know if this happeneD Inside The School, we dont know if it happened outside The School. We have not heard anything from any students yet. Typically we will hear from students as they are on their way back out but the Hard Lockdown has prevented that from happening anD It is a very labored process having the students reunited with their families. I imagine it will be sometime before we get more detail on what exactly transpired at The School. Thats exactly right. Because you dont want to be premature with any of your statements. Sometimes giving out baD Information can be a bad thing to do and lead to unintended consequences. Unfortunately, anD I understand why people want as much information as possible, but unfortunately this process has to play out in a slow, methodical, or as methodical as possible manner to get the best, most accurate information out there as quickly as possible and you simply Cant Rush that. Sandra thank you for joining us in the Breaking News. We will have more details and more Breaking News from that scene there in Winder Georgia and the next couple minutes in the next couple of hours we will have more. A live look at the Justice Department. 24 minutes past the hour, we expect that at half past, there will be an update from the doj on the u. S. Accusing russia of all election. We are expecting that announcement at any moment now. We will take a quick break and we will be right back. John the Justice Department where the biden administration in the next few minutes is expected to accuse russia of influencing the 2024 election. The scheme relies on Social Media to spreaD It dense information. Joining us with more and this is Fox News legal editor Kerri Urbahn. This narrows in or zooms in and focuses in on two russian entities. One is Rt Which used to be called Russia Today. Its a Television Network that ceased operations a couple years ago here in the united states and something called the social Design Agency. What do we know . We dont know much. It struck me when i saw this earlier. We dont of the information yet so im curious to what they will say. What about iran . After the last month, i made a list of this before i came on today. There have been credible threats originating in iran it would be assassin of potentially trump. Some of these antiisrael protests that we have been covering on u. S. College campuses, those have also been funded by iran and this is most interesting. Do you anD I have been trying to effectively help Biden And Harris when the u. S. Election by spreading this information on all kinds of social Media Platform theyre going to bring accusations against russia. Thats fine but will they do the same with respect for iran . Sandra do you think they will lay out detail . Im anxious to hear what they have. In addition to iran being such a clear election interfere her at this point given everything that i have listed out, also what i was thinking about is what about those 51 socalleD Intel experts who wrote that letter right before the 2021 election saying that hunter Bidens Laptop was a russian disinformation which we know is completely false. That letter at the time was organized by merrick garlands now colleague, now Secretary Of State antony blinken. There was no accusations against them. Election interference although that is exactly what they were doing in providing the letter so then candidate Joe Biden could wave it around on stage when he debated Donald Trump knowing that it was false. John we are supposedly within a Twominute Warning here but these things can be delayed from time to time. Its an interesting point that you make. They are zeroing in on russia here and a couple of specific russian entities while at the same time letting iran skate on this. And of course we heard from the ayatollah that he would be interested to getting back into negotiations with the Bidenharris Administration on some sort of nuclear deal. Maybe not a reentry to the Jcpoa But Something else that i would as soon if thats going on knowing that the Bidenharris Administration is treateD Iran with kid gloves, the last thing they would want to do is indict various iranian entities for Election Interference even though its pretty obvious that they are trying to do th that. Assassinating a president ial candidate is interference. Our own intel agencies it said that iran is actively spreading disinformation just like they diD In 2020 opposing Donald Trump. Also what i was thinking about is how about Mark Zuckerberg just revealing to congress a month ago that the fact that they shut down or censoring and suppressing Hunter Biden Laptop information story. As it related to it was truth versus russian disinformation that he regrets that. That was not correct. Im listing all of these as examples. Very obvious Election Interference anD I am hoping that we are going to hear the same or the same level of magnitude from the Attorney General on russia because we certainly have not heard much on the things that i just stated. Sandra also noting per our own David Spud Director Wray And Ag garland have each or both been briefed on the School Shooting there in georgia. Our reporters David Spud is suggesting that they may talk about that during this 1 30 what will be a pool spray. We are a few minutes past that now. This is obviously on Election Interference but they could possibly briefed the public on what they have learned about that School Shooting. Im sure they will anD Im sure they will express their dismay over what has happened. Something that we are all feeling right now as we are waiting for more information and seeing what is coming through the airwaves. I woulD Imagine they will talk about how they will be devoting federal resources to the scene there. I think we already know that but that is something that is typically done almost immediately. When i was in the Department Of Justice i would talk to the Attorney General barr along with his senior staff. He would be talking to Director Wray who is the director of the fbi at the time and they were immediately on top of things like this devoting all federal resources that they can to support all the local Law Enforcement happening. John its a wave from the Atlanta Field Office but apparently it was all Hands On Deck when the call went out paired the fbi is involved along with the Georgia Bureau of investigation appeared we are supposed to learn at 4 00 this afternoon much more. We were only told that there were multiple injuries but we were not told of fatalities although there some word spreading out there that there were indeed fatalities. We just dont really know at this point. We dont and thats what makes it difficult sitting here watching and waiting. Of course it does not compare to what parents of students are feeling as we think through all of this. As you said john, this is always an allhandsondeck situation, local Law Enforcement partners working with the federal government to get to the bottom of this as quickly and methodically as possible because of course as frustrating as it is for all of us to not have the information yet, there is always the worry on the part of Law Enforcement that they would be providing inaccurate information and that would be even worse. Providing something that what people may want to hear but might not be true. Sandra if you could standby with us we expect to hear from Ag Garland shortly as he convenes this meeting of the Justice Department Election Thrust Task force. His announcement is expected at the top there. So when it begins we will go straight to it. Lets bring in former Fbi Investigator Bill daley on the ongoing situation on the grounD In georgia. Do please give us your thoughts on the details and what we have learned so far about it. As we have been speaking, its trying to read the tea leaves. You dont have a lot of information of what has happened. We know the immediacy and the incident has gone by. Theyve taken someone into custody. They are trying to treat the people who have been affected anD Injured. However i would say the key thing going on right now on scene is the evidence gathering. It is making sure that the Crime Scene itself which i woulD Imagine encompasses the entire school is being gone over with a fine tooth cone. Any evidence or any information that may be supportive to the ongoing investigation, perhaps there is cameras that we have a visual outside or inside The School. We dont know whether there was a School Resource or a School Security there who interdicted and helped to bring this person into custody. Again, we dont know those details. We also dont know whether this was a student, whether it was someone from outside from the community, we have seen that at play. Whether it was a student in the parkland tragic incident in florida, whether it was someone from the Community Up in Sandy Hook or Down In Tennessee last year we saw it was a former student who had since come back many years later to commit a horrific act. Theres a lot of information we dont know about but what i cant tell you is that police as well as all is our supportive Law Enforcement agencies are trying to scour that school and gather as much information as they can. In addition i would suggest that someone is going to a magistrate, going to a court to get a subpoena if they have identified the individual who is responsible to go to the residence to perhaps confiscate any information they may have on the computer or elsewhere to give them an idea of what was behind this incident. John we need to jump out here because the Attorney General has entered the room. He is sitting down here this is the doj talking about charges of russian interference in the 2024 election. Lets listen in. To respond to a dangerous increase in violent threats against the public servants that witnessed our elections. We did so because countless americans were enduring terrible threats simply for doing their civic duty. And we did so because threats to Election Workers constitute a threat our democracy itself. In just a few minutes the Task Force here will meet to discuss its continuing work in advance of the upcoming election. But before we begin i want to address the tragic shooting that occurred this morning at a High School in Winder Georgia appeared we are still gathering information but the Fbi And Atf are on the scene working with state, local, and federal partners. I am devastated for the families who have been affected by this terrible tragedy. The Justice Department stands ready to provide any resources or support that the Winder Community needs in the days ahead. Before i get to the work of the Task Force, i also want to announce two major Law Enforcement actions that the Justice Department is taking that are separate from the important work of this Task Force but are part of our broader effort to protect our elections from unlawful interference of any kind. First, this morning we unsealed an indictment in the southern district of New York of Constantine Kalashnikov and alayna, two russian based employees of rt. A russian statecontrolled media outlet. They are charged with conspiring to commit Money Laundering and to violate the foreign agents registration act. That law enacted nearly a century ago was enacted to ensure that the american people were informed when a foreign power engages in political activities or seeks to influence public discourse. The american people are entitled to know when a foreign power is attempting to exploit our countrys free exchange of ideas in order to send arounD Its own propaganda. The company never discloseD Im sorry. And that is what we alleged happeneD In this case. In the wake of brushes brutal invasion of ukraine in 2022, Rt Which was then known as Russia Today was dropped by its american distributors. The company ceaseD Its formal operations in the united states and the european union, the u. K. , and canada banned rts broadcasting. But as rt itself has boasted, the government of russia continued to use rt to directed this information and propaganda. In the wake of russias brutal invasion of ukraine, rts Editor In Chief said the company had built an entire empire of covert projects designed to shape public opinion in western audiences. We allege that as a part of that effort, rt anD Its employees including the defendants implemented a nearly 10 Million scheme to fund and erect a tennessee based company to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the russian government. To implement this scheme, the defendants directed the company to contract with u. S. Based Social Media influencers to share this content on their platforms. The subject Matter And Content of many of the videos published by the company are often consistent with russians implant in u. S. Domestic divisions in order to weaken u. S. Oppositionn interests particularly in the ongoing war in ukraine. The company never disclosed to the millions of followers its ties to rt and the russian government. Instead the defendants of the company claims that the company was sponsored by a private investor. But that privates in fact there was a fictitious persona. The charges unsealed this morning do not represent the end of the investigation. It remains active and ongoing. The Justice Department is seizing 32 internet demands that the russian government and the russian sponsored actors have used to engage in a covert campaign to interfere anD Influence the outcome of our countrys elections. As allegeD In our court filings, president vladimir putins Inner Circle including Surgery Chronic of, Directed Public Companies to direct statesponsored narratives as part of a program to influence the 2024 u. S. Presidential election. Internal Planning Document created by the kremlin states that as a goal of the campaign is securing russias preferred outcome in the election. The online infrastructure used by the russian public Relations Company known as the social Design Agency or sta and related actors included what has been referred to as Cyber Squatting domains. These websites were designed to appear to american readers as if they were a major u. S. News sites like the Washington Post or Fox News. But in fact they were fake sites. They were filled with the russian Government Propaganda that had been created by the kremlin to reduce international support for ukraine, posterior prorussian policies anD Interests, anD Influence voters in the united states anD In other countries. Internal documents of the kremlin describe the content as bogus stories disguised as newsworthy events. This malign Influence Campaign has been referred to as doppelgaenger. The russian public Relations Company drove viewers to these websites by deploying influencers and paid Social Media advertisements. They also created face Social Media profiles, posing as u. S. Citizens, posting comments on social Media Platforms with links to the sites. According to the records, and actively sought to eliminate the possibility of detection of the russian footprint. Both of the schemes i have just discussed make clear to the ends with which the russian government including at its highest levels is willing to go to undermine our democratic process. But the Enforcement Action i have discussed also make clear that the Justice Department will aggressively counter such efforts. In the same is true of the entire united states government. Today our colleagues at the State And Treasury departments are announcing parallel actions in both of these matters. Unfortunately, we know that russia is not the only foreign power seeking to interfere in our elections. As u. S. Intelligence community noted two weeks ago, we have observeD Increasingly aggressive iranian activity during this election cycle. That includes recently reported activities by iran to compromise former President Trump Campaign and to avoid an Election Outcome that it regards as against its interests. Those recently reporteD Iranian activities also include efforts to obtain access to individuals who themselves have access to the president ial campaigns of both political parties. The Justice Departments message is clear. We have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic system of government. We will be relentlessly aggressive encountering and disrupting attempts by Russia And Iran as well as china or any other foreign Malign Actor to interfere in our elections and undermine our democracy. Now i will turn back to the topic of todays meeting. Just as we are dedicated to combating foreign threats to our elections, we are equally dedicated to confront domestic threats against the public servants who administer our elections. Since the 2020 election we have seen an unprecedented spike in threats against public servants who do administer our elections. Election officials, workers, and volunteers in communities across the country have been targeted with heinous acts and threats of violence. The following are a few examples of successful Enforcement Actions the Justice Department has taken over the past year. In new mexico, County Commissioners and other elected officials were targeted with a series of shootings that the department has allegeD In Court Papers were organized by an unsuccessful candidate for the State Legislature who claimed that the election had been rigged against him. At least three of the shootings occurred while the intended victims or their children or their Family Members at home. In february, two shooters who we alleged were recruited by the candidate pled guilty to carrying out the attacks. In march, the candidate himself was chargeD In a 13 count superseding indictment. In arizona, a man sent a State Election Official a Bomb Threat Warning that if she did not resign within two days, the explosive device impacteD In her Personal Space would be detonated. In march the man was sentenced to three and half years in prison for making that threat. In Maricopa County, arizona, and Elections Official, a County Attorney, and their families were threatened by a defendant who called for a Mass Shooting of Poll Workers and Election Officials. In precincts that he believed had suspect results. The revolting comments included dead children burneD Into the memories of people. The County Attorney who had been targeted later reported that he, his wife, and four children had been assigned Roundtheclock Protection anD Issued Body Armor in response to the threat. And Elections Official who was targeted saiD In a Victim Impact Statement that while i am the person directly threatened by this case, the impact of such threats is felt by a much larger community. The thousands of committed Election Workers who operate our democratic processes. When threats are made against any Election Worker, the impact reverberates throughout the entire community. That defendant was sentenced to three and a years in prison. In recent months, we secured the guilty plea of an Alabama Man who repeatedly threatened to kill Maricopa County Election Workers and officials. In one particularly chilling message she said you better not come in my church, my business, or send your kids to my school. You are stupiD If you think you are safe. His sentencing is scheduled for next month. Also in july the Justice Department secured a 14 Month Sentence for a man who sent a Death Threat to a michigan Election Worker. In a Voice Mail he said 10 Million plus patriots will surround you when you least expect it. And he added, we will kill you. Less than two weeks ago we charged and arrested a Colorado Man for allegedly threatening the lives of Election Officials, judges, and Law Enforcement officials in both colorado and arizona. As i have said before, anD I will reiterate today, these cases are a warning. If you threaten to harm or kill an Election Worker or an official or volunteer, the Justice Department will find you. And we will hold you accou accountable. In a democracy, people vote and argue and debate. Often loudly in order to achieve the Policy Outcomes they desire. And the Justice Department will continue to pursue the rights of all americans to peacefully express their opinions, beliefs, anD Ideas. But the promise of our democracy is that people will not employ violence to achieve the preferred outcomes. The public servants who administer our elections must be able to do their jobs without fearing for their lives. That is why this Task Force has been marshaling a full resources of the Justice Department to aggressively investigate and prosecute threats targeting Election Workers, officials, and volunteers. And we will continue to do so in the months ahead when the Task Force will build on the partnerships with state and local Election Officials and Law Enforcement. Officials tasked with protecting them. Since march, the Task Force has participateD In more than 25 convenings, engagements, trainings, tabletop exercises. Including both with the Law Enforcement partners and with our partners in the Election Community nationwide. Over the next several weeks, Task Force representatives will be on the Ground Meeting with Election Workers. In early november, both in advance of and after Election Day the fbi will be hosting federal partners at that Headquarters Command Center to it for a Dress Advance and potential crimes related to the elections in realtime. Election officials and administrators do not need to navigate this Threat Environment alone. We are here to support them and to make sure they can safely carry out their critical work. Protecting our democracy and protecting our elections was a Founding Purpose when the Justice Department was establisheD In 1870. The department answered the charge then and we will answer that Charge Today as we confront those who would use violence or threats of violence to attack those who administer our elections. I would like to ask the deputy Attorney General to make some remarks. Speak out thank you very much mr. Attorney general and good afternoon everyone. I also want to start by expressing my sympathies to the families who have been impacted by yet another horrific act of gun violence. This time in Winder Georgia. I want to extend the departments support for and solidarity with the members of Law Enforcement and Community Members who are responding to this tragedy. We are fewer than 65 days out from the election and this convening reflects the diverse and aggressive Threat Landscape that we face and the breath of the departments work that we are doing to combat those threats. In our increasing polarized environment, we are seeing continued threats toward Election Workers, those who ensure that we all can exercise our most fundamental of rights, the right to vote. And we are identifying actors who are spawning discord, decision, and disinformation particularly across socia Social Media. Threats of violence to public officials including Election Workers represents a Clear And Present Danger to our democratic process. That is why we established the Election Threat Task Force to investigate and prosecute the growing number of threats directed at the public servants who make our elections possible. Dedicated Career Prosecutors and Fbi Agents carry out this work across the country every single day working hanD In glove with state and local Law Enforcement. In recent months as was just detailed, the Task Force has continued to prosecute threats toward public servants. We will continue to work tirelessly with our Law Enforcement partners to ensure threat Actors Answer for their actions. Because a threat to any election official, worker or volunteer, is a threat to our democracy. The Election Threat Task Force convened today fitting into a larger effort to safeguard our elections. A critical element of the work includes combating for a Malign Activity as illustrated by the actions we have announced today. Our foreign adversaries primary goal is to undermine the democratic institutions and values including working covertly to influence and manipulate our elections. Todays actions as laid out by the Attorney General reaffirmed that russia remains a predominant foreign threat to our elections. And as the Intelligence Community has publicly reported and as i have previously warned, iran also is accelerating its efforts to influence our elections including the president ial election. Todays actions reaffirmed the departments ongoing commitment to detect, investigate, expose, and hold accountable all those who perpetrate foreign malign influence schemes. John there is the deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco calling out russia, calling out iran as well though there is no official action being taken against iran in talking about the Election Interference Task Force anD Its commitment to make sure that anybody working with a u. S. Election has the full backing of the federal government in terms of protection. Sandra lets bring in Fox News legal editor Kerri Urbahn whos been standing by with us. A lot to take in there. And we also heard the Attorney General weighing in on the ongoing situation that we are right now monitoring out of georgia. Says he has devastated for the families affected by the shooting. Maybe christopher wrays will be speaking here in a moment but what did you make of what Ag Garland just laid out about the unprecedented, his words, spike and threats against Election Officials and the timing of all of it. I certainly thought his listing of the threats against Election Officials was helpful to know but also concerning. I have to tell you sandra and john, i was less i wasnt exactly blown away by his announcement regarding this russian operation appeared he essentially described a 10 Million scheme that the russian government has paid agencies and russia to put out prorussian messaging in america but not just the u. S. Im not sure that people caught this. To influence voters here and other countries. Its not just the u. S. Being targeted on this. I did think it was interesting that he only talked about, again, the poor russian messaging obviously antior something that would be against what they have done in ukraine but he only mentioned one specific candidate anD It wasnt russia. It was with respect to iran peered he talked about how they have observed these threats reld to Donald Trump anD Iran and as we just discussed right before he did his Press Conference, they are trying to influence our election. Helping Biden And Harris. It is not for Donald Trump and yet nothing has been brought against anyone to my knowledge yet in the iranian government were certainly actors at their behest. Interesting. John it would seem its back to russia, russia, russia and again anD It would see that russia is a convenient foil for the Department Of Justice when it is the malign influences of iran anD Its attempts to interfere with the u. S. Election that should be a big target of the Justice Department. Yet for reasons that i think are pretty obvious to most political observers, this government, the Bidenharris Administration from top to bottom is treating iran with kid gloves. They are. I also thought it was reflective of the Technology Shift that we are seeing across the country. Im sorry, across the world with respect to ai. The fact that these russian p. R. Agencies are using ai to create fake influencer profiles both here in the u. S. AnD In other countries to disseminate prorussian messaging. It is a new era as far as Social Media is concerned and what you can believe and what you cant. But no specific candidate was mentioneD In his russian announcement appeared we did not have a sense of whether this russian campaign here anD In other countries was specifically to help or hurt Donald Trump or Kamala Harris but we did hear from him that iran is trying to actively undermine Donald Trumps Donald Trump himself as a human both from Death Threats to the disinformation that we learned about from D I recently trying to hurt trump in the upcoming election anD I wonder if the Department Of Justice is going to bring anything against iran but to your point this administration has been surprisingly soft on that country overall. I dont know that we should hold our breath. Sandra to the timing of this. Waiting until now, unless this hasnt been super public, have there been