Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Convicted Pedophile And Accused Sex-Trafficker Jeffrey Epstein Is Dead; El Paso Marches for Unity While Police Say Gunman Confessed to Targeting Mexicans; ICE Raids Net 680 Undocumented Immigrants in Mississippi; New U.N. Report: World Food Supply Threatened; Gunman Opens Fire in Oslo Mosque, 1 Injured. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 10, 2019 - 16:00   ET

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


[16:00:06] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are Live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you for being here.

Our breaking news, convicted pedophile and accused sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein is dead. The 66-year-old was discovered in his jail cell this morning. Officials believe he hanged himself. A federal official says foul play is not suspected. CNN has learned that Epstein was placed on suicide watch last month when he was found with marks around his neck and by the end of the month he was cleared to return to his cell and was taken off the suicide watch list. Epstein was awaiting trial facing multiple federal charges to which he had pleaded not guilty.

The indictment accused him in part from soliciting sex from girls as young as 14 years old. He was facing up to 45 years behind bars if convicted. And yesterday hundreds of pages of additional court documents were unsealed in a New York federal court. They contain disturbing new details of alleged sexual abuse committed by Epstein and several of his associates. Names were named including prominent U.S. politicians and a British prince. They all call the claims untrue.

Now attorney general Bill Barr says he is appalled to learn that Epstein had died by suicide. He said it raises serious questions that must be answered.

CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz is following all of this for us.

Shimon, what are authorities saying this hour?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, certainly they are mystified, I can tell you that much. Authorities in New York who have been investigating him for quite some time now just don't understand how something like this could happen. And that's why we are seeing this response from the attorney general and the department of justice launching this investigation because something like this in a facility like the one he was housed in lower Manhattan at the MCC district simply should not have happened.

And what we know, as you said, Ana, is that he was on suicide watch after that July 23rd incident. We don't know a lot about what happened there because the bureau of prisons for confidential reasons hasn't released any information from that incident. It was after that incident that he was placed on suicide watch. And just a week or so after that, at the end of the month we are told that prison officials and psychologists there who had been assessing him on a daily basis, they were interviewing him, they were talking to him on a daily basis and then after that for whatever reason, they decided to take him off suicide watch and then they placed him back in his jail cell where he was found just about 6:30 this morning. He was unconscious. And we are told that an ambulance was called. He was taken to the hospital and that is ultimately where he died.

And obviously all sort of investigations now under way. You have the FBI. You have the department of justice inspector general was going to look at were there any failures at the jail? What happened? What were the guards doing? Questions like that that now must be answered. And then you have the southern district of New York which has been investigating Jeffrey Epstein. Keep in mind, this is a conspiracy case, so there was still a lot more to come.

Their investigation was in no way complete. And now they are saying this is going to keep going. This doesn't end. This investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, into that conduct is going to continue. And obviously now all sorts of new investigations into what happened here with Jeffrey Epstein.

CABRERA: Now the attorney general says the inspector general of the DOJ is opening up his investigation separate from the FBI's. Obviously, it would be separate from whatever congressional investigation may come as you are talking about all these new calls for answers. What more do we know about how this will unfold?

PROKUPECZ: Right. So what will happen is the inspector general is the internal watchdog and what they will do is they will go to the jail. They will start interviewing guards. They will start interviewing the warden. They will interview probably the psychologist who made the ultimate decision.

There is an epic failure here. This jail, think about it, El Chapo was being housed there. They thought prison officials, the U.S. government thought it was safe enough to bring El Chapo and keep him there. Other high-profile inmates, defendants have been housed there, Bernie Madoff. Paul Manafort was there recently.

There had been a whole host of people who are high profile. And when you are high profile such as the case with Jeffrey Epstein or was with Jeffrey Epstein, there's supposed to be special attention paid on these inmates, not only to prevent them from being harmed by someone, but also to make sure they're safe, right? They need to be safe. That's why in some cases they are segregated. They are not kept in the general population. And that's what happened with Jeffrey Epstein.

So the inspector general will come in and find out is there something going on at this jail? Did they do something wrong? And they are going to interview the staff, people they may interview other inmates and he did have a cellmate at some point. It's not clear if in this incident he had a cellmate that was there with him. It doesn't appear. It appears that he was alone right now. There may be video. You know, we have heard from people who are familiar with this area of the jail and they say there should be video. So they will be able to review the video.

And the big question is when exactly did this happen? Did it happen overnight? Did it happen early this morning? Because there are indications that he may have already been found in a state where the medical team and the medical staff at the jail could not revive him. So when did this happen? When was the last time jail guards checked on him? How was he when they checked on him last?

So all of that -- this is a significant, obvious investigation now for the jail. And really just when you think about who Jeffrey Epstein was and the type of investigation and the southern district of New York was conducting and the people involved in that, this just should not happen and that's what the inspector general will look at now.

[16:06:05] CABRERA: And Shimon Prokupecz, really quick, do we have any kind of response, statement from the metropolitan correctional center where he was being held?

PROKUPECZ: They refer us to the bureau of prisons. The bureau of prisons oversees the jail. Obviously, they have put out information saying that -- confirming the incident and the time that this happened, but outside of that they have not answered any questions. They haven't even answered questions about suicide watch. When was he on suicide watch? When was he taken off? Obviously, we have had to talk to sources to get this kind of information and so we will see. They're going to have to answer a lot of questions at some point. They will probably now be deferring us to the department of justice and saying, well, there is an investigation now so we can't answer these questions. But nonetheless, you know, would be the right thing for us is to get answers sooner rather than later.

CABRERA: Shimon Prokupecz, as always, thank you. We know you are continuing to work your sources.

And Epstein was in federal custody awaiting trial. He was accused of new federal sex trafficking charges involving dozens of girls. There are a lot of questions swirling this hour about how Epstein's death happened inside the metropolitan correctional center here in New York. Again, Epstein was found unresponsive in a housing unit that separated him from the general inmate population.

Let's talk it over with 2020 candidate senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.

Thank you, first of all, for being here. How could this happen with one of the highest profile inmates in the country?

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Sorry. Say it again. I'm sorry.

CABRERA: Senator Gillibrand, I think the biggest question on everybody's mind -- Let me let you fix your earpiece there. Can you hear me now OK?

GILLIBRAND: I can. Sorry about that.

CABRERA: No. That's OK. We know how this goes.

Again, because you're from New York, the big question a lot of people have on their mind right now regarding the apparent suicide of Jeffrey Epstein is how could this happen with one of the highest profile inmates in the country?

GILLIBRAND: I really don't know because the MCC is known to be one of the most high security prisons. It's where you put terrorists before a terror trial. And so for this to happen raises very significant concerns in my mind. So I do think there needs to be a full investigation about how it happened. I would have preferred him to have gone through our justice system where those victims from child trafficking to pedophilia to sexual assault, I feel that it's such a shame because justice system should have worked and those survivors should have had a chance at justice.

CABRERA: Your 2020 rival Amy Klobuchar sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and she said today she supports an investigation into Jeffrey Epstein's death. She is calling for a hearing. Should the Senate investigate?

GILLIBRAND: Yes, they should and so should the department of justice.

CABRERA: What questions would you ask?

GILLIBRAND: How did this happen? Why was he taken off of suicide watch if he was on suicide watch. He's already attempted suicide once. Whether there was a decision made by someone qualified to say he didn't need to be on suicide watch. And then what type of protections were put in place? What was in his cell to a him to commit suicide? I would ask all those questions.

CABRERA: Today you are there in Iowa. You have spoken out on gun safety in the wake of two mass shootings that rattled the nation one week ago. And you currently have an f rating from the NRA.

But that wasn't always the case. You once had an A+ rating. I know you have talked about this. In 2008 you helped Dick Cheney overturn Washington D.C. handgun ban by cosigning (INAUDIBLE) that went to the Supreme Court and it emerged victorious.

So let me ask you, senator, why should America's voters trust you now when it comes to gun control issues.

[16:10:00] GILLIBRAND: Because I have been leading on common sense gun reform for ten years. And in fact, I wrote the bill, the anti-gun trafficking bill that earned 58 votes just two shy of the 60 votes needed to pass. My common sense gun reform got more votes than anybody else's. I know how to bring Congress together to get stuff done. As president, I will pass universal background checks. I will find

and pass a federal anti-trust -- anti-trafficking law. And I will ban the military-style weapons and assault rifles as well as the large magazines because the truth is we need common sense gun reform. I'm a mother. And for my son when they had a shooting just a mile from his school he had to shelter in place, and it's every mother's fear. It's back to school time. Why should our children be learning shelter in place drills as opposed to math drills? It's absurd. And we need a president who actually cares. We need a president who will stand up to the NRA and have that proud f rating for a decade. That's what we need. We need somebody who knows what's at the root of corruption and greed in Washington which is the money and Washington.

CABRERA: But why wait until you potentially are president? I mean, you are in the Senate right now. You talk about you are able to bring people together to pass bipartisan legislation. Why can't you do it as a senator?

GILLIBRAND: Well, right now Mitch McConnell is in charge and he doesn't have the courage to stand up to the NRA. We are begging him to bring us back into session so we can at least vote on the bill that already passed the house, a universal background checks bill. I believe if I voted on my anti-gun trafficking bill today, it would also pass. So that's two out of three common sense reforms.

I think the nation is ready to have Congress ban assault weapons. It has been banned before. It actually works. And for the president to say this is a mental health issue just shows he is insincere. Every country in the world have mental health issues but only our country has such readily accessible guns particularly weapons of war and make no mistake of what's happening today.

We have people fueled by hate, racism, division who are shooting and hunting down other people with weapons of war. That has to stop. If Mitch McConnell would bring us back to the Senate we would do something about it. And as president I would definitely do something about it.

I would also make sure that my department of justice begins to investigate white supremacy as the domestic terrorists that they are. White supremacists are literally planning mass attacks around this country and being emboldened by one another and posting their words and deeds on internet channels like 8chan.

This has to stop and we need to shut down these channels that become a breeding ground for hate-filled groups and help hate-filled crimes. And we need to make sure that we investigate these groups for the domestic terrorism they are actually committing.

CABRERA: Now you talk a lot about being a mother on the campaign trail, so I want to end on a lighter note. You and your 11-year-old son Henry shared a nice moment while campaigning this week. Let's take a look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GILLIBRAND: What is the responsibility of the director of fun on the RV tour?

HENRY, SEN. GILLIBRAND'S SON: It is to make sure everyone's positive, everyone's happy. Everyone's having fun and it's to just make everything nicer for everyone. I made this shirt myself. I designed it myself. Say bye. Fun on the front, business on the back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: CABRERA: You have to cherish those moment, I bet.

GILLIBRAND: Yes.

You've got to meet -- blueberry, he just won this enormous blue sloth and named him blueberry. Can I have that sloth over here, please? It's crazy. The fair is fun. It is -- this is an amazing state fair and we're having a blast.

CABRERA: I'm sure. Glad to hear it.

How are the kids holding up to the demands of a campaign?

GILLIBRAND: They are loving it. And director of fun, come here. Here's your chance. You can say hi to viewers everywhere. Introduce your sloth.

HENRY: My name is Henry. I'm the director of fun.

GILLIBRAND: And this is blueberry.

HENRY: And this is blueberry, my sloth that I just won.

GILLIBRAND: He's very blue.

CABRERA: Congratulations. That's so fun.

Clearly, he's very shy, right?

GILLIBRAND: Yes. He's very shy.

CABRERA: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, thank you. Good to see you.

GILLIBRAND: Thank you. You are welcome. Bye.

CABRERA: Ok, back to our breaking news this hour. Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein found dead in his jail cell this morning. And an attorney representing his accusers will join us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:20] CABRERA: More now on our breaking news about the death of convicted pedophile and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Sources tell us Epstein took his own life. And many people including attorney general Bill Barr are calling for a full investigation. You may remember just a few weeks ago Epstein offered to post bail in the extraordinary amount of $100 million. He agreed to be under house arrest in his New York city mansion, but the judge declined that offer after prosecutors said they had found a safe in Epstein's home filled with cash, dozens of loose diamonds and a fake passport.

CNN legal analyst Areva Martin joins us now along with civil trial attorney Spencer Kuvin.

And Spencer, you represented several of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers in that 2008 case. What is your reaction to this news?

SPENCER KUVIN, REPRESENTED EPSTEIN'S ACCUSERS IN 2008: This is an epic failure on the part of bureau of prisons. It is really unbelievable that this was allowed to occur on their watch. It has stolen the amount of justice that my clients really wanted to see happen in a court of law at the end of the day. So ultimately, we are hoping that there will be a full investigation into what occurred, how it happened and how it was allowed to occur.

Also my clients want to see further investigations continue as to all of the other co-conspirators that were involved in these actions. There were a number of people in his circle that were allowing this to happen and consciously looking the other way as well as intentionally getting other women involved in this entire torrid affair.

CABRERA: So you have been able to speak to some of your clients who accused Epstein after this news broke?

KUVIN: I did. I spoke with one of them this morning. She was definitely shocked. There is a certain amount of closure when something like this occurs and she is certainly thankful that a pedophile like this can never do this to another victim again. But it is -- it does rob them of some amount of justice in being able to speak their voice in a court of law to allow others to hear what he did and all of the victims to be able to come forward and speak to a court of law.

[16:20:22] CABRERA: Areva, we have learned a cording to a source that Epstein was taken off suicide watch in late July. The question is why especially given the document dump yesterday with new, lurid allegations against him.

AREVA MARTIN, ATTORNEY/LEGAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes. Not just the documents, Ana, that were released yesterday that gave us more disgusting details about this sex trafficking ring and the other individuals involved, but we also know that pedophiles like Epstein are at a higher risk of committing suicide in jail. So the thought that he would not have been watched, that he would not have been under constant surveillance by personnel at that jail is very disturbing.

And I agree with Spencer, I have been watching this story as it has unfold this morning and watching social media and so many women coming forward, talking about how they feel, as if, they won't have the opportunity to face Epstein in a federal criminal trial, to face him and to tell their stories of victimization, how they have been robbed of that opportunity because the prison personnel did not do their jobs and did not protect him from harming himself as we have been told that he committed suicide.

But I think the silver lining to the extent there may be in this story is that the southern district is continuing its investigation. And if those documents reveal anything they reveal that other people knew about these activities, were involved in this activity and hopefully those individuals will be brought to justice. They will be not just investigated, but hopefully indicted as this whole investigation continues.

CABRERA: Does Epstein's death have any impact on those other potential cases, Spencer?

KUVIN: Ana, I think that his death will put to bed essentially his prosecution, but I don't think that it will put to bed or I don't think it will quiet the investigation as to the others. There were numerous individuals that were co-conspirators. And in fact, given immunity originally in Mr. Acosta's deal that he struck back in 2006. There were failures from the get go by the U.S. attorney's office back in 2006 and 2007. And it's just sad that this has now repeated itself this many years later by the bureau of prisons. But yes, we are hopeful the continue with that investigation.

CABRERA: And Areva, I would like to take your take on that as well. Do you see Epstein's death complicating those additional cases in open investigations or does it make them maybe easier in some fashion?

MARTIN: Well, we won't have an opportunity to hear from him. And the investigators that have been talking with him and to the extent he has been cooperating. We don't know to what extent he may or may not have been cooperating so we won't have any testimony from him. But what will happen from a civil standpoint is that the women, the girls, the women -- the girls who are now women who were victimized by him, we know that those lawsuits, those civil lawsuits will go forward. They will go forward against the estate. And I would expect that the estate would be anxious and you know act very quickly to try to resolve those cases. That won't give those victims complete closure. The closure I think that they were hoping to see by having him convicted in the criminal trial, but they will get some monetary compensation which is so important for victims in terms of mental health, you know, treatment, psychological and emotional treatment that they may need as a result of being abused by him. So we should expect not only the existing lawsuits, but other women to come forward and to make claims against the estate.

CABRERA: And Spencer, Epstein had previously settled civil suits. Most of the time there are non-disclosure agreements are involved, would those NDAs still be valid?

KUVIN: I don't believe that they are. I know my three clients were allowed to speak at any time they wanted as part of the negotiated deal in 2007. We did not allow him to silence my clients and they were allowed to speak to whomever they wanted. They have tried to put this behind them obviously with the most recent arrest. It has brought awful memories back. But I believe that they should be able to speak the truth and talk to whomever they want at this point.

CABRERA: What about, Areva, the other people who maybe under an NDA that are involved in Epstein's business interacts. We spoke to a private investigator who has been involved in some of these cases that involved with Epstein in the past and contacted lawyers in the past and he talked about those who may have been potential witnesses who had, you know, been in some kind of an NDA agreement.

[16:25:00] MARTIN: Well, one thing to note, Ana, is an NDA is a contract all agreement between two parties and one of the parties that entered into those NDAs is now dead, so who is going to try to enforce the NDA? Maybe the estate steps up and try us to do so, but not likely. So I would think that we are going to start hearing from witnesses and other individuals. And hopefully this investigation that's taking place in the southern district will lead to the arrest and indictment. Because when you look at some of those pages, some of those allegations that were made in that 2015 defamation lawsuit talk about women who were recruiting young girls, who were bringing young girls to Epstein's, you know, his mansions, to his different locations and they were encouraging those young girls to have sex, in some cases, even having sex with Epstein and the young girls.

So those people that are involved in that way, they should not go free. This should not be, you know, get a get out of jail free card for them because Epstein has committed suicide. So I would hope that those individuals who aided and abetted and who knew about his activity that those individuals are brought to justice and that they face, you know, the most stringent, you know, consequences for the actions involving the young girls.

CABRERA: OK. Areva Martin and Spencer Kubin, I really appreciate both of your expertise. Thank you for joining us.

KUVIN: Thank you, Ana.

MARTIN: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: We have new details on the El Paso attack. Police say the suspected gunman is telling them he was targeting Mexicans. What else the arrest affidavit reveals.

Plus, the heavily armed man you see here caused panic at a Missouri Walmart. He is now telling police it was all part of a social experiment. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:22] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Amid chants of "El Paso strong" --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

CABRERA: -- this march for unity made its way through El Paso. The call for a united American coming one week after one of the worst attacks on Latinos in this country's modern history.

This is a community still coming to grips with the fact that the suspected gunman told police his goal was to kill Mexicans when he opened fire in that crowded Walmart one week ago.

CNN's Natasha Chen joins us from El Paso.

And, Natasha, what are you seeing there today as this community struggles with what happened?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's been a week and there's still a lot of tension, a lot of pain and fear. Behind us, you can see this memorial stretching from this side to this side. It has definitely grown.

And a couple of days ago people saw this green fencing come up around the Walmart parking lot where authorities are still doing their work. So there's still a very open wound here metaphorically and physically for many people who are still recovering in the hospitals.

We do know from the affidavit, too, about this suspect that he drove from the Dallas area, police say, to El Paso, specifically, he told police to target Mexican, as you said.

So that in itself is something that many people including those who marched today are responding to. They feel targeted. They feel that fear and are also determined to stand up against it.

Here are a couple of people we spoke to this morning about why they felt it was so necessary to make a statement today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can we allow -- this is not 1963. This is 2019.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We thought this was over. We thought, you know, at some point this is going to be very rare, but if anything, I'm having to sit here in front of a camera and talk to you about racism because somebody came it my city and killed 22 people because of the color of their skin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: And many people at that rally, speakers, including Congresswoman Barbara Lee and presidential candidate, Beto O'Rourke, called on leaders at the very top to take account for the type of rhetoric and words that they use.

They also talked about needing Congress to come together to form some sort of gun reform legislation to take some sort of action because, as they say, enough is enough -- Ana?

CABRERA: All right. Natasha Chen, in El Paso, Texas, thank you.

Just days after that mass shooting in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, a heavily armed man caused a panic when he walked into a Missouri Walmart. The 20-year-old man was equipped with body armor, a loaded handgun, a rifle and a loaded magazine.

He told police in Springfield, Missouri, he didn't intend to scare anyone. He was conducting a social experiment and he, quote, "wanted to know if that Walmart honored the Second Amendment." He was apprehended by an off-duty firefighter until officers arrives. He has now been charged with making a terroristic threat.

Truly heartbreaking video from Mississippi. A young girl sobbing and begging for her father after he was swept up in an immigration raid. Details about the uncertain future ahead for her and her father.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:37:10] CABRERA: Pictures are tough to see. Crying children begging for their parents after some 680 undocumented immigrants in Mississippi were detained during raids this week. President Trump says crackdowns like these are a very good deterrent for those trying to reach the U.S. illegally and we are told more raids could happen soon.

CNN's Nick Valencia has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six-hundred and eighty undocumented immigrants detained on the outskirts of Jackson, Mississippi, all workers from food processing plants in what the U.S. attorney called the largest single-state operation in ICE history.

MIKE HURST, U.S. ATTORNEY: Now while we are a nation of immigrant, more than that, we are, first and foremost, a nation of laws.

VALENCIA: An ICE spokesman told CNN the raids were part of a broader federal criminal investigation into these companies.

And probable cause affidavits obtained by CNN showed the U.S. Department of Justice looking for things like identity fraud and whether owners of the raided plants followed protocol to ensure they were not hiring undocumented labor.

(CRYING)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: My dad didn't do nothing. He's not a criminal.

VALENCIA: Caught in the middle, hundreds of children separated from their parents.

Some of the adults were taken first to a National Guard hangar, others sent to ICE facilities in neighboring states.

(on camera): The administration tells CNN that all children have either been reunited with their parents or family members.

One family we spoke to here says a 3-year-old who is currently with family members has not been able to be in touch with her mother. They believe she's currently being held at an ICE detention center in Louisiana.

(voice-over): It's unclear just how many of the immigrants were parents. Locals estimate up to half. But ICE could not corroborate. An ICE official did say that almost half of those detained were released, most with pending court dates.

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Government, please put your hearts and let my parents go with everybody else. Don't leave the childs crying with everything.

VALENCIA: Towns like Morton, Mississippi, in one of the raids, are now ghost towns. Residents tell CNN local Latino-owned businesses are closing early while others are afraid to go outside altogether. Some residents saying it feels like a funeral.

(on camera): What's it like to feel that someone that you love, your aunt was caught in these raids?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't want to say it's hate, but it's really --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no way to understand it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. There's not a way to understand it. I feel like you have to experience it to know.

VALENCIA (voice-over): The anxiety is so pervasive that more than a quarter of the Latino students in the local district didn't show up for school on Thursday, the day after the raids. And on Friday, the entire school district went on lockdown after it received what it described as suspicious phone calls causing more fear in a community that's already shaken.

[16:40:06] (on camera): And that fear may soon become a reality if the White House gets its way. According to a senior immigration official, the Trump administration has directed more of this workplace-type enforcement this year, asking local ICE field offices to identify potential targets in the region.

Nick Valencia, CNN, Jackson, Mississippi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Now to the climate crisis. Top climate change experts say cutting down on greenhouse gasses isn't enough in the fight against rising temperatures. We'll have to change how we grow food, too. Why scientists say farmers could play a major row in helping the world avoid a climate crisis. We'll have a special report just ahead live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A new United Nations report just released this week says our food is getting harder to grow. Grocery prices are shooting up and crops are losing their nutritional value. And it's all blamed on the climate changing for the worse every year.

American farmers who are making a living growing our food are doing everything they can to stay a step ahead of a disaster that scientists say is coming fast if action is not taken.

Our chief climate correspondent, Bill Weir, is in Iowa.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[16:45:09] JUSTIN JORDAN, FARMER: We have a very, very wet spring, and --

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Too much rain to plant.

JORDAN: Too much rain to plant.

WEIR (voice-over): Justin Jordan is among the millions of American farmers living on an emotional roller coaster that only seems to go down.

JORDAN: So this corn is almost two feet shorter than it normally is.

WEIR: Thanks to a bizarro spring, he's looking at a 30 percent drop in yield.

JORDAN: This is between helplessness and stress is what it kind of feels like, so --

WEIR (on camera): Yes.

JORDAN: But you just do what you can with what you have to work with.

WEIR (voice-over): At least he has a crop. Too many farmers lost everything to epic floods. And even the lucky ones are losing sleep over fear of an early frost, and trade wars and the highest farm debt in a generation.

And on top of it all comes the latest alarming report from the IPCC, which finds that growing food from India to Iowa will only get harder as the climate gets harsher.

DR. EUGENE TAKLE, PROFESSOR EMERITUS, IOWA STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY: We're going to see by mid-century, by current projections that our number of days above 90 degrees is going to rise from about 17 days per year above 90 degrees in Des Moines. That will be up mora like 50 to 70.

WEIR: The report finds that about three-quarters of the earth's ice- free surface has been paved, plowed or deforested. Great for economies, horrible for nature's cycles.

With all of the diesel and fertilizer used to grow the modern meal, they say agriculture is to blame for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions.

(on camera): Here's the good news. Right now, every corn plant in the field is pulling carbon out of the sky and putting it into the ground. And with the right amount of innovation and financial motivation, a smart farmer can leave it there and still feed the world.

Iowa could be one giant carbon sink and, unlike miners, drillers and frackers, they don't have to change careers in order to help save life as we know it.

JORDON: Just listen to all of the birds, too. Something you don't hear when you walk out in the cornfield. I mean, there's so much more, like I said, not only the plant biodiversity, but the wildlife.

WEIR (on camera): Life.

JORDON: Exactly.

WEIR: It's life.

JORDON: Exactly.

WEIR (voice-over): Justin takes advantage of a federal program that pays him to let part of his field goes wild, which brings higher yields in the long term.

Over in Nebraska, Brandon Honeycutt is trying out cutting-edge science funded by Bill Gates that uses bacteria instead of synthetic fertilizer, the stuff that creates ocean dead zones and red tides.

ERNIE SANDERS, VICE PRESIDENT OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT, PIVOT: It's all of the petroleum-based products industry that we live in. And the more we can move it a more natural bacterial based I think that's better for all of us.

WEIR: And even some conservatives like Ray Gessler (ph) are joining this green revolution, even though the Republican refuses to blame a warming planet entirely on human habits.

(on camera): So how do you feel about big members of your party and even the president casting doubt and skepticism intent skepticism into whether or not humans can stop this.

RAY GESSLER (ph), FARMER: I think it's not about having severe regulation, you know. I think a one size fits all regulation really does not fit agriculture anywhere.

WEIR (voice-over): Like many Republican neighbors he still embraces wind energy, cover crops and soil conservation.

GESSLER (ph): As we farm a little bit differently, as we sequester nutrients and carbon, we're doing the right thing. You know, and that's what it's about is trying to do the right thing. And we all want to do that.

WEIR (on camera): Absolutely.

GESSLER (ph): And it shouldn't be political.

WEIR: Amen, brother.

(LAUGHTER)

WEIR (voice-over): Bill Weir, Corning, Iowa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: We have a breaking story out of Norway. A gunman in Norway has opened fire at a mosque in the capital. We'll have the latest details when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:52:23] CABRERA: Tomorrow night, an all-new episode of the CNN original series "THE MOVIES" explores American cinema of the 1960s.

Our Tom Foreman takes a look at how the political turmoil of the decade and technological advances from TV to the atom bomb changed the way Hollywood was making movies in the '60s.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SCREAMING)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Movies about psychotic killers, lurking assassin, zombie, demons --

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: What have you done to it?

FOREMAN: -- the annihilation of everything.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: You're a maniac.

FOREMAN: In the 1960s, with the Cold War raging and society in turmoil, the film business embraced fear, even in dark comedies like "Dr. Strangelove".

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I came out of that movie fearing nuclear war with the Russians more than I ever had before. It really takes you to Armageddon.

FOREMAN: Hollywood itself was scared and facing its doomsday device, television.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the '60s, the studios were staggering from people not going to the theaters. It's hard to compete with free stuff in your living room.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: No prisoners!

FOREMAN: The answer, at least for a while was to turn to big pictures, too big for tiny screens and fans loved them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But also those movies were just too big and too difficult to make.

You look at what something like "Cleopatra" cost, it very nearly not only crippled one studio but the business.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Are you Harry?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: Harry was the other guy. I'm Sid. FOREMAN: So the business kept changing.

SIDNER POITIER, ACTOR: They call me Mr. Tibbs.

FOREMAN: With fresh directors, stars and stories.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: I'm the best you've ever seen. I'm the best there's.

FOREMAN: Taking on the same topics the nation was engaging.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD ACTOR: If you shouldn't be defending him, then why are you doing it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gregory Peck's Atticus Finch really does help America sort of come into the discourse of the civil rights trouble.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we think of classic Hollywood, we think of romance and glamour. That begins to break down in the '60s and we start to get a more complex view of human psychology.

DUSTIN HOFFMAN, ACTOR: Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me.

FOREMAN: Where was it all heading? Hollywood didn't know, but as America rode out of the '60s, who did?

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Be sure to tune in an all-new episode of the CNN original series, "THE MOVIES." It airs tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.

[16:55:02] We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: In Norway, police scramble to the scene of a shooting at a mosque in Oslo. One person at that mosque was injured in the attack.

Let's bring in CNN's Salma Abdelaziz. She joins us from London.

Salma, what are you learn?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN FIELD PRODUCER: At about 4:00 p.m. local time, a young man, a white man, according to Norwegian authorities, entered into this mosque and he was wearing body armor and a helmet and he was, of course, armed. And an altercation ensued between him and worshippers. And a 75-year-old man was injured.

But the worshippers were able to overpower the gunman and stop him before the police arrived. Police do now have that man in custody.

Multiple weapons were recovered to the scene. They are believed to be linked to the gunman and an investigation is under way. This mosque recently had increased its own security measures after the

Christchurch attack. That was the attack on two mosques earlier this year that killed 50 people.

All of this taking place on the eve of the most important Muslim holiday of the year, Eid. The mosque was supposed to be hosting a festival on Sunday. Dozens of families were expected to gather and celebrate. But all of that now thrown into question, of course -- Ana?

[17:00:02] CABRERA: Salma Abdelaziz, thank you for that reporting.