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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

New Video of WHCD Suspect Accused Trying to Kill Trump; TRUMP: Iran Wants to "Make a Deal Badly"; Hegseth Again Calls DEMS the "Biggest Adversary" in Iran War. Senators Confront Hegseth About Iran War's Unpopularity; Hegseth: "Defeatist" Lawmakers Are "Biggest Adversary" In Iran War; NY Times: Jeffrey Epstein's Possible Suicide Note Hidden From Public View; Trump Addresses Report Of Possible "Apprentice" Reboot For Amazon. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired April 30, 2026 - 20:00   ET

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

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's the economy, that's what really is the most concerning for folks. And just today, Delcy Rodriguez, who's the acting President here, made a huge announcement of increasing the minimum wage.

Now, get this, before this announcement, the minimum wage roughly averaged to about $150.00 to $300.00 a month. She stabilized it at $250.00 a month. That's with a bunch of bonuses added in. But, Erin, the average month cost folks here, you know, more than $600.00, so it still doesn't needs as -- they're having to work, you know, doctors multiple jobs, drive and ride share, doing what they can to make ends meet.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: All right. David Culver, thank you very much. This is stunning chasm. Thanks for joining us. AC360 starts now.

[20:00:47]

COOPER: Good evening, we have breaking news in the attack at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. New security video I want to show you. It's just been released. Take a look on the top left of your screen. You'll see circled the alleged attacker. Walk into a doorway with something that appears to be slung over his shoulder. He's actually followed by law enforcement officer with a K-9.

Then about 15 seconds goes by. Authorities are in the process of taking down one of the magnetometers used to screen guests going to the dinner for weapons.

From that same door, you're going to see the alleged attacker suddenly emerge running at full speed through the standing magnetometer right there. Fires at law enforcement. He goes out of frame but clearly many of the officers now start to pursue him. But I want to play it again, slowed down.

Here it is again. Now, I should note the slowing down in the video. The circles are all done by the U.S. Attorney for D.C.'s office who released this. We haven't done it. Each circle represents a gunshot they say we know one secret service agent was shot once in the chest, survived because he was wearing a ballistic vest. That same officer fired five times at the suspect. You see those circles there? And I just want to watch that play out.

This video of the suspect, identified by authorities as Cole Allen on Friday night at the hotel. Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for D.C., released all of these videos on social media. She says this shows Allen casing the area in the Hilton Hotel the day before the attack.

Also, I want to show you a video of him at the hotel gym. He walks in there smiling, appearing to chat at some point with the hotel employee. Then there's another video in the hallway. This one appears to be him heading back down the same hallway, the timestamp is 9:02. In less than 24 hours, he would allegedly attempt to get into that ballroom to assassinate the President of the United States or other high officials.

The Department of Justice also released this photo of the suspect. They say it was taken at 8:03 P.M. on Saturday night, 33 minutes before he allegedly began his attack. They enhanced the photo on the right, they say, and circled a number of items. I'm quoting now from the Department of Justice release.

Item one, appearing to be wearing a small leather bag consistent in appearance with the ammunition filled bag, later recovered from his person. Item two a shoulder holster. Item three a sheathed knife consistent in appearance with one of the knives later recovered from his person.

For more on all this, I want to bring in CNN senior justice correspondent, Evan Perez. The new video, Evan, gives a much clearer look at what happened in the moments leading up to the shooting. I'm wondering what stands out to you as the suspect runs through that security checkpoint. As we watch it again?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Anderson, this is a much clearer view. And one of the things that I first looked at was this seeming what appears to be an interesting an interest by the K-9 officer in the top left side of that video.

This is where the alleged shooter is coming from a lobby area that's sort of like a red-carpet area before. Before you enter this, this, this, this larger lobby. And the K-9 officer stops. The dog appears to be interested in whatever is happening out there. We don't know whether there's an interaction. We don't know whether there is something that catches the attention of the officer. But that appears to linger for about five or six seconds before the shooter -- the alleged shooter runs in, and that is, I think, a very interesting part of this, because we don't know what happened there.

Presumably if there was some interaction, prosecutors by now would have told us. But I think that is something that were going to have to learn more about.

Now, as you pointed out, the circles that the Justice Department has highlighted on here indicate, according to them, where shots are being fired. So, the first one you see, the large circle is what they say is the shot fired by Cole Allen. And then you see four of the shots that they say were fired by the officer, who they say was shot by Allen.

Now, one of the things we don't know is, is how far down the hallway he gets to in the lobby area, because that is out of this shot. But what we know is he appears to fall. He perhaps trips on his own as he's making his way, and then the officers all get on top of him and, and detain him and arrest him. But that really shows you, you know, a couple of things too.

What we had heard from the day that this happened, Anderson, we heard that, you know, one of the things you notice is the body language of the officers there. They appear to be very relaxed. Obviously, the dinner is well underway. The President is in the ballroom. They're taking down one of the magnetometers. And so, the attacker has all of the element of surprise. He takes them completely by surprise. And with the speed that he runs through, he's able to get very far.

COOPER: Now, what else are you learning about the suspect's movements around the hotel? I mean, we've seen some of these videos as well, now, the hallway and the gym.

[20:05:45]

PEREZ: Right, and we know that according to prosecutors, he began planning this about a month earlier. He checks into the hotel the day before. and clearly, according to the video that they've now released, he makes a walk around to try to familiarize himself with it.

Now, the hotel also has an entire video presentation of that lower lobby area for the ballroom, because obviously it is one of the marketing videos that they have for the event space, right? It's a very popular event space.

And so, what we know is that he cases, according to prosecutors, the entire area, he goes into the gym and you see him walking up and down the hallway, and then we see him walking down about 20 minutes before the attack is carried out down the hallway in the other direction.

One of the other things, Anderson, that I think may explain why maybe he didn't attract initial attention. He's wearing a black coat. He's wearing a black shirt with a red tie. So, he would have looked perhaps like one of the wait staff. All of what prosecutors say went into his planning for this event for more than a month.

COOPER: Evan, stay with me. I want to bring in retired FBI special agent, Richard Kolko and former Boston Police Commissioner, Ed Davis.

So, Richard appears in the videos of some of the agents working security, taking down the magnetometers standing near their posts. Would that be typical for a Presidential security operation? The event already started at that point. Clearly, you know, they seem relaxed until at least one of them there spots him running in.

RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI AGENT: Well, they certainly do seem relaxed, Anderson, and I understand that can be a little bit complacency, but I still think at the end they did the right thing here. The issue is thousands of people went through magnetometers to get to the dinner. They're already downstairs. I think the Secret Service is anticipating the departure later. And it makes it easier for when the people, when they're leaving, they don't need the magnetometers in the way.

Just you can see that no guests come through in the whole time that were here. So, I don't have a problem with them starting to downsize that area.

COOPER: Ed, you obviously analyzed your share of security footage during the manhunt for the Boston marathon bombers. What stands out to you in this new video, and what else do you think investigators are going to be looking for?

ED DAVIS, FORMER BOSTON POLICE COMMISSIONER: They'll examine every moment of it. As Evan said, the initial contact or closeness of the officer with the K-9 is a matter that is going to be a matter of discussion.

The one officer, if you look at the video carefully, that one officer actually saw the threat before he entered into the magnetometer. And by the time he was in the magnetometer, that officer had already drawn his firearm and acquired a sight, very quickly reacted fired shots and apparently took a round, although you can't see the flash from the shotgun, it sounds like that's when it happened.

But the bottom line is, you have to pay close attention. It's probably not a good idea to spend time, you know, taking down the magnetometer. I understand why they did it. They didn't have the crush of people anymore. One was sufficient, but there were two officers there that were completely distracted by that.

So, I'm sure there'll be a lot of review of this and changes into procedures.

But all in all, that outer perimeter worked. You know, sometimes these things aren't pretty, but they went the way they were supposed to go.

COOPER: Richard, what do you make of the agents' responses as the attacker rushes past them? Also on the K-9, I know K-9s are trained in different ways on different things. Would a K-9 pickup scent of somebody who had a gun or bullets, or would it only be an explosive device?

KOLKO: I don't think so, because every other person there is armed. There's a lot of guns around, are there? So, there's just so many people. And I was impressed with the one officer who, as I say, checked six. He stayed focused on the entrance after, to make sure nobody else was coming.

But the thing is, you've got to think of this more like an airport. I'm not sure, Ed agrees with me, but, you know, the security at an airport is not at the ticket counter or the parking lot. It's at the magnetometer. And then after that, and that's where law enforcement engaged this person. He never got past, significantly past and never got down the stairs. And if he had gone down the stairs, he would have run into, gosh knows how many dozens, if not hundreds of armed people.

COOPER: Evan, the suspect was in court again today. What happened there?

PEREZ: Well, that was an interesting thing. When we got to court today, we believed that this was going to be a detention hearing. We expected that the defense was going to contest the detention. And then the hearing begins. And the defense says, no, were not contesting detention. And it appears that that the government wanted to present a whole bunch of this, of what we're now seeing, Anderson.

And so, the judge ended up calling everyone to the front of the courtroom or Katelyn Polantz was there. And she described the very spirited conversation with the judge. What's interesting is that the government appears to have been intent on trying to get this out. They were denied by the judge a chance to put all this presentation on the record in court today.

[20:10:49]

And so, it's rather interesting that the U.S. attorney for the district of Columbia decided to go on Twitter, on X tonight to surface some of this information. Again, all of this normally would have been presented today in court when there would have been a contested detention hearing. But then that never really happened. There was no contesting of the detention.

So, it appears that the government really wanted to get this out. And I think one reason might be, Anderson, is because online you can see people have been speculating that perhaps there was friendly fire that the officer may have shot himself. All of those things were circulating and I think, I think that might be why they want, they were so intent on getting this out there.

COOPER: Ed, you know, the DOJ released these photos of the attacker taking a selfie before he stormed the bedroom or the ballroom. Excuse me. This was probably up in his bedroom, the hotel room. Does it seem odd to you that he was taking selfies of himself with weapons on him?

I don't know if he thought he would die in this. I don't know what was, obviously, we don't know what was going on in this person's head. And maybe this is just the age we live in. But do you see a lot of, you know, potential people about to commit a potential act of violence, taking selfies of themselves?

KOLKO: We do, across a range of different offenses. Trophy photos are very, very common, in sexual assault cases. People who think that they want to document what they've been able to do because they think of themselves, you know, as some special person that's doing something special. They want to get it all down on sometimes on paper, but clearly this guy was documenting himself and wanting to, to use these things or have them used by the media in the future to show what he did and how smart he was in dressing like he did and things like that.

COOPER: Ed Davis, I really appreciate it. Richard Kolko as well, Evan Perez as well, thanks. Coming up, the President says Iran wants to make a deal badly while Iran's new Supreme Leader has a much different message.

And later, a new report today on a suicide note purportedly written by Jeffrey Epstein that's been kept secret. The details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:27]

COOPER: And our CNN global war coverage tonight, President Trump claims that Iran wants to "make a deal badly" as a defiant message is released from Iran's Supreme Leader. And the Pentagon is expected to brief the President on updated military plans.

President Trump was asked about negotiations in the war today at an event in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER DOOCY, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Iran is proving to be very stubborn. The talks seem like they are stalled. Are you getting antsy to break the ceasefire?

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I mean, I don't know what stubbornness because really, nobody knows what the talks are except myself and a couple of other people. They want to make a deal badly. We have a problem because nobody knows for sure who the leaders are. It's a little bit of a problem, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Earlier in the day, Iran's Supreme Leader released a rare statement. He's yet to be seen or heard since the airstrikes that killed his father reportedly injured him, his statement read in part, "... after two months since the largest military mobilization in aggression by global powers in the region and the humiliating, humiliating failure of the United States' plans, a new chapter is unfolding for the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz."

He asserted Iran's control over the Strait and went on to say"... foreign actors who come from thousands of kilometers away with greedy intentions have no place here except in the depths of its waters."

The continued near paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz helped send the price of a barrel of oil up to a four-year high earlier today, before easing somewhat ahead of the markets close. The President was asked about the war and its effect on gas prices here at home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: The average price of a gallon of gas is now $4.30 in this country.

TRUMP: And, you know, what, we're not going to have a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran. The gas will go down as soon as the war is over. It will drop like a rock. There is so much of it. It's all over the place, sitting all over the oceans of the world. The gasoline, the oil will go down rapidly as soon as the war is over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That Presidential assessment might not align with military reality. Whenever the war does end, it could take up to six months to fully clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines. That was part of an intelligence assessment presented to lawmakers by Pentagon officials last week, according to a source.

Meantime, Defense Secretary Hegseth was on Capitol Hill for a second day in a row, this time sparring with Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee and once again said the biggest adversary was not Iran, but lawmakers, mostly Democrats, who questioned the war itself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I'll say it again today. The biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans, defeatists from the cheap seats who, two months in, seek to undermine the incredible efforts that have been undertaken and the historic nature of taking on a 47-year threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Secretary Hegseth also gave his interpretation of the War Powers Resolution that states a Presidential administration has 60 days after notifying Congress that the use of military force to either cease a military campaign or seek permission to keep fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): The War Powers Resolution specifies that a war initiated by a President without congressional approval must be concluded within 60 days. We're right at the 60-day deadline.

Is the President intending to either seek congressional authorization for the war in Iran or send us the legally required certification that he needs an additional 30 days to remove U.S. forces from the war?

HEGSETH: Ultimately, I would I would defer to the White House counsel on that. However, we are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: The deadline is tomorrow. Joined now by former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, he served as National Security Adviser to President Trump during his first term.

Ambassador, the President again today insisted Iran badly wants to make a deal, saying the U.S. Blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is working as planned. Do you believe that's true? JOHN BOLTON, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, right after saying Iran badly wants to make a deal, he said there's a small problem because we don't know who the leaders are and who's authorized to say that. So, I don't know who he thinks he's talking to.

In fact, I do think that the Iranian leadership is badly fractured at the top. And I think that's a consequence, obviously, of the six weeks of bombing and the number of leaders that have been eliminated. That, to me, is a sign that the collapse of the regime is making progress and that we should go back at it, not talk to them, but continue the job, end the ceasefire and keep the pressure on. The ceasefire, essentially, only benefits the regime.

COOPER: We heard the President say today that the power of the blockade is incredible. Is, in your view, does the blockade a military action? Because Secretary Hegseth said today that because there's a ceasefire, the President isn't bound by the 60-day deadline to get a congressional approval as required by law, that the 60-day clock, which they are right up against, is paused. Is that is that your understanding?

BOLTON: No, I don't think so. Look, I think one of the reasons in the Cuban missile crisis that the Kennedy administration was so anxious to call what they did to Cuba a quarantine because a blockade would have been an act of war.

So maybe what Hegseth means is we have a quarantine on Iran, which is fine. Of course, Iran is also committing an act of war by closing the Strait of Hormuz. I think it's interesting for people who really care about international law when a littoral power tries to close a navigable waterway like that and disrupt freedom of the seas, that's a violation of international law. I'd like to know who's protesting what Iran is doing here.

COOPER: The Defense Secretary said more than once this week, said that the greatest adversary the U.S. is facing during this war are lawmakers. Democrats, largely a small number of Republicans as well. Do you do you agree with that? I mean, is that is that --

BOLTON: I think that's embarrassing, actually, no, I think it's embarrassing. I mean, it undercuts Hegseth's whole case. It undercuts the administration's case. I think many of the criticisms from the Democratic side are wrong, including even some criticisms of Hegseth are wrong. But this is not civil discourse really, on either side of these two hearings today, yesterday and today.

COOPER: What is the greatest adversary?

BOLTON: Well, the Iranian regime, they're the ones seeking nuclear weapons. They're the ones who are the largest state sponsor of international terrorism. They're the ones who are closing the Strait of Hormuz. I think that's pretty clear.

COOPER: I also heard the President also said in an interview to Greta Van Susteren that the war is essentially over and which is something he has said before, he just wants little bit better terms. That doesn't seem to be reality, is it?

BOLTON: Well, I think it's market manipulation. Everything's fine. They're going to have a deal any time now. Blockade is working great, everything's fine -- get that price of oil down.

COOPER: That's what it's about?

BOLTON: I think so. I think this is happy talk to calm the markets down. There was a big spike in oil prices today. And I think he's reacting to it.

COOPER: If the government is as fractured, if the regime in Iran is as fractured, and certainly there would be understandable why it would be given the blow that they have taken. Do you believe that this is the time to continue military action, not diplomatic action? Is that correct?

BOLTON: Of course, yes, when they're down, keep pressuring them. Now, there are many other things that need to be done that I don't think the administration did before the attack began and don't seem to be doing now to help the Iranian opposition, because that's how without boots on the ground, and I don't think we're going to see any in any substantial numbers, it is helping the people of Iran, helping the opponents of the regime with resources, weapons, communications, money to help them make the point inside the country that the regimes days are numbered. As I say, I don't think we're doing any of that. I hope the Israelis are.

COOPER: The President has continued to say he talking about the importance of Iran not having nuclear weapons. It seemed like for a while the priority was simply get the Strait back open. Do you -- what do you think is the number one priority for the administration right now?

BOLTON: I really have no idea. I mean, it has shifted several times. And I think that helps obscure the finding of what the right answer is.

I do think it's important to open the Strait of Hormuz. I think it's important to open it militarily, because I think the Iranians need to see that we can reestablish deterrence. They have to understand they can't open and close the Strait as they will otherwise, if we -- if we allow this to go back and be resolved diplomatically, the regime is going to think it can turn the Strait of Hormuz on and off like a light switch and that's unacceptable.

COOPER: Ambassador Bolton, thanks for your time tonight, appreciate it.

Up next, the politics of all this, and Secretary Hegseth claim that they don't need congressional war powers right now.

Also later, a new report says that a reboot of "The Apprentice" could be in the works, possibly starting by the President's eldest son, Don, Jr. More on that ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I've been hearing it, look, we had a great success 14 seasons, and "The Apprentice" was a tremendous success.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:31:17]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: More in our breaking news coverage tonight. We mentioned earlier the Defense Secretary Hegseth was back on Capitol Hill today testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee. Here's Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand confronting Hegseth over the war's growing unpopularity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND (D), NEW YORK: I would just like to know why you have not sought the support of the American people. And three out of five Americans are against this war today.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: I believe we do have the support of the American people and we have briefed regularly what this mission looks like and why it's critically important that we undertake it. And I would remind you and this group that we're two months in to an effort.

And many congressional Democrats, as I pointed out, want to declare defeat two months in. Iraq took how many years? Afghanistan took how many years? And they were nebulous missions that people went along with. This is different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Perspective now from two CNN Senior Political Commentators, former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings, and former Republican Congressman and Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Adam Kinzinger. Scott, so according to a recent NBC poll, the war's not popular, showed 54 percent of Americans strongly disapprove of President Trump's handling of the war. Do you think Hegseth's right that it's defeatist to -- for Gillibrand to point that out?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think he's defending the military. I mean, I think the military's performed brilliantly. And, you know, you do watch some Democrats and get the idea that they're sort of rooting for or wish-casting bad outcomes because they want bad things politically to happen to Donald Trump.

I think the military has done great. They've apparently blown up all the military targets that we started with. I would also remind that we haven't really been in military operations now for several days. We're in a blockade now, but we've not been dropping bombs.

I don't know if we're ever going to do that again because it sounds like the President believes that the naval blockade has actually been more important or more successful in getting what we want out of Iran than the military campaign was. So we may not even go back to military operations.

COOPER: You think it's going well?

JENNINGS: Yes. I think the goal was to try to get the Iranian regime into a place where we could take away their ability to have nuclear weapons. We're crippling their economy. We've crippled their currency. We've destroyed their military. We've sunk their navy. I mean, they're in a rough spot right now, and a little patience here with this blockade, we might just get what we want.

COOPER: Adam, how do you see it?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I mean, look, I think, have we destroyed a significant part of their military? Yes, but the whole point of having military assets. So for the U.S., we have military assets to help us to project power, defend ourselves, defend our allies. Iran's whole purpose in having military assets is to keep the regime in power. That's their utmost goal.

The regime is in power. The nuclear material still sits under rubble. Yes, I think we were right to hit them in June, but it still sits there under rubble, and I think part of the issue with the PR side of this, look, I think there was a case to be made for striking Iran.

The problem is the President, he gave a State of the Union a couple days prior to starting, barely talked about, you know, what the goal was here, what we were going to do in Iran, has made no effort. Iran puts out these memes, you know, like the Lego things, and instead of the White House responding, that's the information war, the White House puts out stuff against Democrats.

So it's just -- it's been like a self-goal here in terms of the PR side and the support. The administration just doesn't seem to be making the case that they need to do honestly every day.

COOPER: I want to play something that Hegseth has said now twice in the last two days in front of Congress. This is about who he says the biggest adversary is. Let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: Unfortunately, as I said yesterday, and I'll say it again today, the biggest adversary we face at this point are the reckless naysayers and defeatist words of congressional Democrats and some Republicans. Defeatists from the cheap seats who two months in seek to undermine the incredible efforts that have been undertaken and the historic nature of taking on a 47-year threat with the courage no other president has had.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:35:26]

COOPER: Obviously, he's also speaking to President Trump and wants to stay in President Trump's good graces. Is that the biggest adversary the United States faces right now, Democratic lawmakers and some Republican lawmakers?

JENNINGS: Well, the biggest adversary is the adversary, the people that we're fighting, and that would be Iran. But here at home --

COOPER: But that's not what he's saying.

JENNINGS: But you do get the idea, and you do hear some Democrats say things like, well, Iran has been strengthened or --

COOPER: But -- no, I understand that you've said that, but is it weird that the Secretary of Defense, whose job is to talk about military matters, that this is his shtick, that this is his line? I get it plays with Donald Trump and the base --

JENNINGS: Well --

COOPER: -- but does -- is that really his job?

JENNINGS: Well, I mean, it's his point of view, and I don't think it's good for Democrats to go on TV and say, after a several-week campaign of the U.S. military, somehow Iran's military or their position is strengthened or in better shape. And honestly, too, Hegseth here, he gets banged on a lot.

I saw Seth Moulton, a Democrat member of Congress, on our air last night suggesting that he needed to be executed for war crimes. And so there is a lot of rhetorical volleying going on here. And so I give him a little latitude on that because he's taken a fair amount of incoming.

But he's there also to defend the military. He runs the military. He's there to defend the military. And I don't think you could argue with a straight face anything other than they have performed brilliantly, but some of the Democrats have suggested otherwise, and I think that's what he's getting at.

COOPER: I didn't hear Moulton last night, but I don't think he said he was.

JENNINGS: He did. He said it to Erin Burnett. I mean --

COOPER: All right. Congressman, I mean, this argument that the Democrats lawmakers and some Republican lawmakers, because they're critical, they're the adversaries, the biggest adversary.

KINZINGER: Yes, it's crazy. I mean, it is. And I think we all know this, but, I mean, the reality of it is this is -- is the adversary, obviously, is Iran, and the Secretary of Defense needs to be spending his time selling this case to the American people. And instead, in his opening statement, in front of the oversight that the American people have, he goes after, in theory, half of the country, or how half the country votes.

And then they wonder why they're losing the PR war. Then they wonder why people are opposed to this war. Again, a strong case could be made. Nobody has argued. I don't even think I've heard a single Democrat say that the military has done anything but, you know, spectacular.

The problem is there is a dime model, the diplomatic, information, military, and economic model to win a foreign policy fight. The military's a part of that. That part's gone well. They bombed what they needed to bomb. The information, we're doing a self-goal here. The diplomatic, we have no idea what's going on.

And economic, OK, great. We started a blockade after we attacked them. We were letting all these Iranian ships through and, in fact, lifted sanctions against Iranian ships. So it seems like I think the consternation is not what the military's doing, per se. It's the fact that the administration has to have a full grip on all of this and clearly doesn't.

Donald Trump debates with himself on Truth Social every day. That's why people are opposed, I think. Of course there'll be people that'll be opposed no matter what. I'm not -- you can't get to 100 percent here. But I think you could certainly have a much better case and much better poll numbers if you made that effort and if people thought that you knew what you were doing in the broad picture.

COOPER: Adam Kinzinger, appreciate it. Scott Jennings, as well. Thanks very much.

Coming up, why the New York Times says Jeffrey Epstein's possible suicide note is hidden from public view in a courthouse. Also, could a reboot of the reality TV show, "The Apprentice," starring the President's son, Don Jr., be in the works from Amazon? The new report ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:43:11]

COOPER: New York Times is reporting that a possible suicide note written by Jeffrey Epstein has been hidden from public view. Epstein's former cellmate said he discovered the note after Epstein was found injured just weeks before his death in 2019. Now, according to the cellmate, Epstein wrote, it was, quote, "time to say goodbye." The note was eventually sealed by a federal judge as part of that cellmate's own criminal case.

The Justice Department says the agency hasn't seen the note and it wasn't included in the Epstein file's release, but a two-page chronology included in that release refers to the note and says the cellmate's lawyers authenticated it, though it doesn't explain how they might have done that.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, who serves on the House Oversight Committee. Does it make sense to you that this purported suicide note has apparently been under seal for seven years because it has to do with the case of a cellmate? REP. RO KHANNA (D), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: It's very surprising and it's odd. We should get that note to the Oversight Committee as soon as possible and it should be released under the Epstein Transparency Act. Look, Anderson, I don't know what happened with Jeffrey Epstein, but what I do know is a lot of survivors have questions, a lot of the American public has questions. And the more we can release and be transparent, the more those questions can be answered.

COOPER: According to The Times, the cellmate who had this alleged note was convicted of quadruple murder. Obviously, I guess there's -- would you be skeptical about anything he claims to have found?

KHANNA: I mean, he's not the most credible. I guess maybe this note is relevant in terms of his own, the allegations against him. But what's not clear is why this would mean that the note should be sealed. I mean, as you know, there are people who raise question --

COOPER: Had you heard about it before?

KHANNA: I'm sorry? No.

COOPER: Had you heard about it before today?

KHANNA: I had heard about it being in the chronology, but I had not known what was the content about it.

[20:45:06]

COOPER: To get it, do you need a judicial order, or how -- I mean, how would it get released?

KHANNA: This is the big question, because they still have 3 million documents that they haven't released. Now you have the DOJ inspector general doing a report, you have the GAO doing a report about what documents they should be releasing to comply with the law, and as you know, Anderson, there's a lawsuit saying they've violated the Administrative Procedures Act that has been brought. So we're going to continue to push from Congress to get it, but they haven't been very compliant, and one of these agencies or the lawsuit may force the release.

COOPER: The Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has made clear he intends to move on from the Epstein files. If he doesn't want to engage anymore in this issue, where does that leave you, where does that leave Congress?

KHANNA: Anderson, the people who don't want to move on are the survivors. We just had a roundtable. They are just so angry and frustrated that people who raped them, abused them, aren't being investigated, aren't being prosecuted. They're angry that the Justice Department hasn't complied with the law.

So we're going to continue. We have Pam Bondi coming in the Oversight Committee. We have Lutnick coming before the committee, Bill Gates, and we're going to continue until the remaining files are released and until there are investigations and prosecutions. You can't have a group of rich and powerful people who treat young girls as dispensable and get away with it.

COOPER: The GAO, the Government Accountability Office, which is an arm of Congress, they've said they're going to look into the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files and whether they comply with the Transparency Act, which was passed by Congress. Do you expect them to try to get hold of this purported suicide note?

KHANNA: I expect them to at least find that the suicide note should be released and how to do that, and you not only have them, you have the DOJ's own Inspector General doing the same thing. So now you're going to have two independent agencies looking for the information.

But, you know, just for the matter of restoring public trust, I would try to get as much information out about the context of Epstein's suicide or killing or death. I mean, it's just there's so many unanswered questions.

COOPER: Congressman Ro Khanna, appreciate your time. Thank you, sir.

KHANNA: Thank you, Anderson.

COOPER: Scott Jennings was earlier just on the program. He said that the Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton on Erin Burnett's show last night suggested that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth should be executed for war crimes. We just found the sound. I just want to play it for you so you know the context.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Do you believe that the Secretary of Defense is guilty of war crimes?

REP. SETH MOULTON (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Absolutely. I mean, he's clearly behind the operation to shoot all these boats in the Caribbean when it's very unclear that we actually have any confirmation that these so-called narco-terrorists, a term the administration invented to justify this action, are even on the boats.

I mean, in fact, there's a lot of evidence that these are just fishermen, you know, getting jobs, piloting these boats, trying to feed their families. There's been press reporting on some of these individuals who have been killed who are clearly not war criminals. And on top of that, we then have the strike where they came back and hit it again, a double tap, just purely to kill these survivors who were clinging to wreckage.

You know, it's interesting, Erin, another historical analogy. Back in World War II, the Allies tried Nazi submarine captains for doing this exact same thing. And guess what the conclusion was? They got executed.

Listen to that, Mr. Secretary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So that was Congressman Seth Moulton last night. Now, elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon is discussing reviving the reality show "The Apprentice" for its streaming platform. You may remember the original version aired on NBC in the 2000s and propelled then-citizen Donald Trump from real estate mogul to TV personality.

The new version might involve Donald Trump Jr. as its host. His father was asked about that earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've been hearing it. Look, we had a great success, 14 seasons, and "The Apprentice" was a tremendous success. So I've been hearing that, you know, a little bit. So we'll see what happens.

He's a good guy. He'd be probably good. He's got a little charisma going. You need a little charisma for this sucker. So we'll see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: For more, I'm joined by CNN Media Analyst and Senior Media Reporter at Axios, Sara Fischer. Sara, it's great to have you back on the program. Do you buy this? First of all, is this something -- like, every time I read, like, some salacious headline, like -- and then it's usually, like, Radar Online reports, which is -- just means it's just not true because they generally just seem to make stuff up, and they've made stuff up about me, so I speak from experience. Do you -- is this just something like catnip for clicks, or is this real, do you think?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: No, I think that this is something that internally Amazon has discussed, and it makes sense because they acquired MGM in 2022. MGM acquired Mark Burnett's production firm, so they already had the rights to the back catalog of "The Apprentice."

COOPER: Oh, that's interesting. So they already have the rights, so they already own the rights.

FISCHER: Yes.

COOPER: OK.

[20:50:08]

FISCHER: And they have seen a lot of success. There was a lot of pressure to resurface some of the back catalog after Donald Trump won in 2024. The viewership did rather well. Outside of streaming, reality TV is struggling, but within streaming, reality TV is doing just fine. You think about "Love on the Spectrum" --

COOPER: Right.

FISCHER: -- "Love Island." So it makes a lot of sense that Amazon would consider this. COOPER: It is interesting how streaming has now kind of embraced reality TV. I mean, you check -- you look at Netflix now, you look at any of these, suddenly they're -- I mean, I find it kind of dilute, to me, it dilutes the brand of it, but clearly the viewers don't think that.

FISCHER: It's a cost thing too, because when you have a fight for the streaming audience, you want to have as much original programming as you possibly can. Reality TV is way cheaper than paying professional actors for original programming and content.

We saw that in the beginning of the streaming wars. I think reality is where we're going to continue to head there, but it's worth noting that on linear TV, reality is really, really struggling. So the fact that Amazon's considering this means that they must think there's value either for audience, for political purposes, et cetera.

COOPER: Well, that's -- the political purposes, that gets to the next question. I mean, obviously they -- Amazon bankrolled the Melania documentary earlier this year, reportedly cost the company $75 million -- I'm not sure how accurate that is -- between the rights and the marketing for it, which is incredible.

FISCHER: Yes.

COOPER: How has it done? And would this be to perhaps to, you know, curry favor with the Trump family?

FISCHER: I mean, of course, that's what one's going to assume, especially given the track record of Amazon. They donated a million dollars to Trump's inauguration. Jeff Bezos has shown up at White House events, et cetera. When it comes to --

COOPER: He's also got Blue Origin, which obviously won space contracts.

FISCHER: A lot of billions of dollars worth of defense contracts. A lot of the Melania duck fever and hype was kind of warranted. It did better in theaters than I would have thought. But I mean, this is still a tiny, tiny, tiny piece of film, considering what Amazon has previously invested in.

To your point, though, they did overpay. I mean, the next highest bidder for that doc was three times less than what Amazon paid for it. I do think that a lot of these streaming companies are trying to figure out ways to curry favor with the administration, because they are part of bigger firms that need to do M&A.

And as we've seen with the FCC and the DOJ, these agencies have become politicized. They're going to intervene in deals unless you find a way to make the President happy.

COOPER: It's interesting that Donald Trump Jr. would be the host of it. I mean, again, I don't know how real that is. It was also interesting to see the President's reaction to it, which --

FISCHER: He's a nice guy.

COOPER: Yes. Right, yes. He's got some personality.

FISCHER: He's got a little charisma.

COOPER: Right.

FISCHER: I mean, you could endorse your son more a little bit, live and publicly.

COOPER: But he also did -- you know, he started by, of course, talking about how good his ratings were and how popular his show was.

FISCHER: But, of course, Anderson. But, of course, 14 seasons of them. Something we reported in Axios is that Donald Trump Jr. learned about this today from that --

COOPER: It's all right.

FISCHER: -- great Jessica Toonkel Wall Street Journal report.

COOPER: Wait, he didn't know he was being -- that wasn't --

FISCHER: He learned about it for the first time today. So that shows you how preliminary these discussions are.

COOPER: I wondered if -- is that the kind of thing somebody floats? You know, sometimes you see an item come out and you realize, oh, wait, is this person floating it? Like, oh, people are talking about this person starring in this movie when, in fact, no one's talking about it but that person. But --

FISCHER: You know what's funny?

COOPER: -- that's interesting that he learned about it from this.

FISCHER: Sometimes I look for answers to that at who reported the story. And the woman who reported this is one of the most well- respected Hollywood and entertainment reporters. But she's not a D.C. person. So I don't think that came from a D.C. plan.

COOPER: Right. Sara Fischer, thanks very much.

Up next, Cameron Crowe, the writer and director behind films like "Almost Famous," "Vanilla Sky," "Say Anything," he's a guest on my Greek podcast, "All There Is." We're going to show you a clip in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:57]

COOPER: New episode of my podcast, "All There Is" about loss and grief is out just now tonight. My guest on the new episode is legendary writer and director Cameron Crowe. He started at 15 as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine, but he also knew loss early on. He was 10 when his 19-year-old sister Cathy died by suicide. We talk about it on the podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: What was Cathy like?

CAMERON CROWE, LEGENDARY WRITER AND DIRECTOR: Cathy was a deep-feeling romantic. And so am I. And so much of what I learned about her underlined the things that made me kind of who I am and the choices that I made. I loved her little cat's eye glasses, and I just thought, oh, she's so pretty, especially when she takes the glasses off.

I remember thinking, when I get a little older, I'm going to figure out a way to tell her how beautiful she looks without the glasses. That was my dream of where our relationship was going to go.

COOPER: I said this in my brother's eulogy. I imagined he and I would become friends one day as adults --

CROWE: Yes.

COOPER: -- and that we'd kind of meet on the other side of our childhood, which I think we both --

CROWE: Yes.

COOPER: -- felt like we needed to just get through. I felt like we had a secret pact, like we would be friends as adults. I think I imagined that.

CROWE: Wow. The adult-to-adult thing is a little bit of a trap because you think down the line it's all going to be equal, we're going to be kicking back, we're going to talk about all this stuff. And sometimes the time to do all that is right in the moment. Don't waste the moments that arrive where you have that little voice that says, forget adult-to-adult, you're here now.

Talk to them now. Tell them you love them now. I wish every time that little voice inside had said, this could be the last time you ever see this person. Tell them you love them. I mostly listened to it. But with my dad, the last time I talked to him, I didn't listen to it.

So it was the one time I never told him I loved him in a million conversations. And of course, it was the last time. So say it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Say it. The podcast is out now wherever you get your podcasts. It's a great conversation. He's a wonderful guy. You can also find it at CNN.com/AllThereIs, that's our grief community page. You can also talk to other people who are also living with grief.

That's it for us. The news continues. I'll see you tomorrow. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.