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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
New York A.G.: Active Criminal Investigation Into Cornell Case; Trump, GOP Leaders Rush To Keep Iowa Senate Race From Slipping Away; Trump Says His "A Plus" Presidency Has A "Public Relations" Problem; Trump Admin Unveils More Taxpayer-Funded Campaign Ads; Source: Pilot Accused Of Attacking Captain Named Haman Al-Hammami; "The Detour With David Chang" New Episode Airs Saturday 10P ET/PT. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired October 02, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[20:00:35]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening, from the Newsroom. At the end of the day the sole New York's Governor appear with the new special prosecutor in the Cornell University alleged gang rape case. The President of the United States was asked about it. He didn't express sympathy for or even say any word about the accuser now known as Jane Doe.
He did, however, say he, "Feels badly for the accused because they, won't get a fair shake." Here's the entire exchange, the question and the answer outside the White House late today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: What do you think about New York's Governor appointing a special prosecutor in the Cornell rape case, Letitia James?
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, Letitia James is a corrupt person. He's totally corrupt, and I can't imagine it. And I feel badly for whoever she's looking at because they won't get a fair shake. Letitia James is a corrupt person.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: Then he walked away to his new helipad. There was a time when
presidents, Republican and Democratic alike, would go out of their way not to comment on active criminal investigations.
In this case, though, the special prosecutor, Governor Kathy Hochul, appointed as New York Attorney General Letitia James. And obviously, the President despises her for investigating and successfully pursuing a business fraud lawsuit against him.
The Cornell case centers on what happened to a 20-year-old woman at this fraternity house two years ago, whether it constituted a crime and why an allegation from the accuser that a crime rape was committed never made it beyond university walls to the District Attorneys' Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): No institution gets to protect its reputation at the expense of a young person seeking justice. No public official gets to look the other way when the system breaks down and fails our young people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The breakdown she's referring to concerns what the accuser, who is now suing Cornell, reportedly told campus police. Quoting her now, "I can say with 100 percent confidence I was raped."
Now, that allegation was not included in the report. Just six-pages long that the female student signed and that Cornell police handed over to the local district attorney.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOCHUL: She spoke to the police. She sat for hours and told them exactly what happened to her and according to new reports, she could not have been clearer that she was 100 percent confident that she had been raped.
Yet, shockingly, those words never made it into the account that the Cornell Police sent to prosecutors.
In what world would the police learn from a victim that she'd been literally gang raped while intoxicated by five men in a fraternity house and not elevate those allegations to the district attorney?
COOPER: Well, governor Hochul also had harsh words for him. Tompkin's County D.A. Matthew Van Houten, whom the governor criticized for not investigating further based on what he learned from the Cornell police. Limited though it was.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOCHUL: In what world does the District Attorney not interview her or anyone else involved, or even request the full transcript? This woman, this young woman had already endured something that is utterly unspeakable. And then at every turn, she was failed by people and institutions with an obligation to protect her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, for her part, Attorney General James pledged a full investigation for as long as it takes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LETITIA JAMES, NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL: We will review the facts gather evidence, interview witnesses. And, if warranted, pursue prosecutions. I know that you want answers. I do too. A comprehensive investigation of this nature takes time, but my office is committed to seeing it through.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Jane Doe's attorney says his client is, in his words, not doing well. He tells us she is, "under siege" on social media with people trying to identify her. He also criticized the university police report and accused the school of a cover up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS GIUFFRA, JANE DOE'S ATTORNEY: She clearly said, I was 100 percent raped. She clearly says she was hit and there was violence utilized. All that was sanitized, out of the six-page police report.
I think there was a lot of protection of the university and its reputation. And I don't like the word cover up, but it feels like a cover up was going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:05]
COOPER: Well, Cornell's chapter of the American Association of University Professors today said it was deeply disturbed by the schools handling of the allegations, both then and now, and student groups are holding a protest on campus on Monday.
As for the accused, their account was documented in hundreds of pages of confidential files obtained by "The New York Times", documenting details given during the Cornell investigation back in 2024. Quoting from "The New York Times", now four of the men acknowledged having sexual contact with the woman, but said that their interactions had been consensual.
The others denied participating in sexual encounters. Again, from "The New York Times", one said that he, in fact, was a victim of sexual misconduct because the woman had given him oral sex when he was too incapacitated to consent.
The "Times" report goes on to say all their accounts differed, frequently contradicted each other, and generally ran counter to the statements given by the woman to the Cornell police in 2024. The majority said they did not think the woman appeared intoxicated. Now again, the big news tonight. This is all now part of an active criminal investigation. CNN's Jason Carroll is at Cornell for us tonight. Jason, how are people reacting now?
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, I think there are certainly a number of people, folks that we've spoken to, Anderson, who are in some ways relieved that the attorney general is now going to be taking over this case.
As you know, there was already a great deal of distrust, criticism pointed at the District Attorney, pointed at the Cornell Police Department for their handling of this. A number of people that we spoke to throughout the week just simply could not believe that after looking at this type of situation, that no charges in any way were filed here.
And so, I can say that there's a great deal of relief that someone with the weight of the attorney general's office is now going to be looking at this case. And I think a lot of people here just waiting to see what will happen next with her investigation.
COOPER: Jason Carroll, thanks very much appreciate it.
Joining us now, former federal prosecutor, former D.A. for Westchester County in New York, Mimi Rocah and New York criminal defense attorney, Stacey Schneider.
Mimi, you were calling for a special prosecutor in this. What do you think of Letitia James?
MIMI ROCAH, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, FORMER D.A. FOR WESTCHESTER COUNTY IN NEW YORK: I think it is absolutely essential that someone other than the D.A. who was handling the case be handling the case. So, I think this is a huge step forward. I do not think there was a way for the D.A. who clearly, I'll say, dropped the ball at a minimum. And I don't mean that he didn't bring charges sitting here right now. I don't know if charges should have been brought or not. That is not my decision to make. I don't have all the facts, but I know that he didn't do a full and fair investigation at all. Not even close to it.
And that failed, not only Jane Doe, but it failed these men who are now being tried in the social media and in the press, and it failed our country and survivors out there who feel now that they can't trust the system.
And so having someone, anyone other than this D.A., the former D.A. working on the case handle it, I think it leaves gives the possibility that people will see this as a fair process. And I'll just say, you know, when there is a void, it gets filled.
The void here was that there was no investigation done. You are always going to have people who aren't going to like the way an investigation turns out. Almost always, someone is disappointed a plaintiff, a defendant, a accuser, a non-accuser, the public. But what you want, what I want as a former prosecutor is for people to have faith in the system. And no one could look at this and have faith in the system. And so, I hope that Tish James can bring that.
COOPER: When you were a criminal defense attorney, when you look at what is out there, what do you make of the case and how it's been handled?
STACEY SCHNEIDER, NEW YORK CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: I look at it very differently because I don't know that this is a slam dunk conviction case. There are a lot of inconsistencies in the case. The civil lawsuit for damages that was filed by jane does attorney recently in 2026 does not match the statement that she gave to police three weeks after the incident and some of the statements that she made to the men she was involved with in her text messages, allegedly.
I'll give you an example of that, and I think, its people need to step back a little bit, including Governor Hochul, who has missed a lot of the nuances in the already existing investigative materials. But there is allegedly a text message exchange the day after the alleged assault between the victim and two of the fraternity brothers, who she allegedly had consensual sex with, saying she enjoyed the time together and that none of the conduct was illegal.
That allegedly came from the alleged victim. She also said, let's get together again and smoke and this time without the five billion men and the ketamine. That's an unusual statement, especially as a criminal defense attorney, to hear from someone who has allegedly been victimized in a sexual assault or a gang assault.
[20:10:30]
COOPER: Those are those are messages that were sent in the immediate aftermath?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, allegedly between the victim and the two individuals she started out with in the beginning of the night. One of them she had claimed she was friends with and went to go see him at the fraternity house that night. And she has said in her statement in 2024, allegedly that she consented to the threesome, that she had.
The night obviously turned into something different. More fraternity brothers entered the room. Whether they're culpable in any kind of criminal offense, whether they've committed that against the victim, we call them complaining witnesses in New York. That will be found out further by the attorney general's new reopening, this investigation. But there was a lot of investigation done. There was the Cornell Police investigation. And there was a Title Nine federal investigation into her rights, being on campus and not being sexually abused.
Both of those parallel investigations came out with no conclusion that a sexual assault occurred.
COOPER: I mean, what do you make of some of those inconsistencies?
SCHNEIDER: I know we disagree.
ROCAH: I know, I mean, obviously were going to disagree and look, I mean, Stacey and whoever defends these men who are now under investigation will do the job they should be doing as criminal defense attorneys. I could make lots of counterarguments here about why, you know, those statements that she made the next morning are not conclusive to a decision that there was non-consensual sexual conduct.
COOPER: Advocates or victims often say the people, you know--
ROCAH: A hundred percent, people take -- trauma has an effect on the brain. How we express things, how we remember things. The thing I have to push back on the most is the idea that an investigation was done here as to whether or not criminal charges should be brought. A Title Nine investigation is not a criminal investigation.
SCHNEIDER: That's correct.
ROCAH: And the Cornell Police are not a substitute for trained sexual assault investigators who know how to interview someone in a trauma informed way. I think it's pretty clear here that that didn't happen vis a vis the Cornell investigation. And I don't understand why, for example, there are many options here, but the New York State Police who are trained in interviewing sexual assault survivors or people, you know, who have been who are accusing others of sexual assault, why they weren't brought in by the DA's office.
That's just one example. Why weren't the cell phone messages preserved? Why weren't witnesses interviewed, by criminal investigators? I just don't think you can say that the Cornell Police who, I'm not faulting them, but they are not a disinterested party here. They work for the entity. They work for the company, essentially, that has potential civil liability.
SCHNEIDER: But I think were jumping, I think were jumping the gun on a judgment on that. They are law enforcement officers, the same as the Ithaca Police who run the city, and they serve over a jurisdiction of a 785-acre campus with over 15,000 students. That's like a small city. They're not putting kindergarten cops on duty at universities. These are people who are trained in investigations. The quality of the investigation is at question, and that's what this investigation will be about.
But there are hundreds of pages of documents, and I'm not talking about the Title Nine investigation. I'm talking about the police investigation that were submitted and looked at and --
ROCAH: They didn't submit it to the D.A. the formal investigation --
SCHNIEDER: They submitted a conclusion based on statements by the complaining witness that don't exactly match a non-consensual --
COOPER: Does it concern you that in the six-page statement that was given to the D.A. which is what the D.A. says he saw, that her statement that she believed it was rape, clearly rape was not included in that.
SCHNIEDER: Yes, it should have been included, but there are a lot of nuances around that statement, and we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of some of the statements made. There were no statements about her voluntary alleged drug use. There were statements about her voluntary participation. It's very complex and the Governor --
COOPER: It's a complex, there's a lot of complexities, there's, no doubt about it.
SCHNIEDER: Yes, I was disappointed that Governor Hochul, yes, she wants to show the community that justice and the state of New York that justice is going to be pursued, and that is important and appropriate. But to make these conclusions on a very nuanced, difficult, challenging case I don't think is appropriate.
[20:15:03]
COOPER: Well, we appreciate both of your perspectives, Mimi, Stacey Schneider, thank you, and I really appreciate it.
Joining us in Ithaca is Mayor Robert Cantelmo. He's asked Cornell to consider an agreement to loop in the City Police Department when incidents involving sexual assault are reported on campus.
Mr. Mayo, I'm wondering what is, how is the community dealing with all of this? What do you think about the appointment of Letitia James?
MAYOR ROBERT CANTELMO (D-ITHACA) NEW YORK: Well, the community is reeling, as is probably not a surprise. This is really quite disappointing. We are very happy to see that the governor has appointed, A.G. James as special prosecutor. But I want to really kind of emphasize that, you know, while this case is really heinous incident and really tragic, incidents like this are happening at places like Cornell and other university campuses all across the country on a regular basis.
And so, while I heard your conversation with your guests there, but I think the point that I would agree with miss Rocah on is the university police are no substitute for a professional law enforcement agency that does not have dual loyalties. Our police, state police, the Sheriff's Department are all accountable to the people and they are --
COOPER: What would you like to see happening -- Should the Cornell Police have brought local police in on this immediately?
CANTELMO: Unequivocally, yes. I don't see any reason why something like this crime of this magnitude, violent crime, sex crime, these things should be handled with the local agencies or state police where there is professionalism, there is experience, there is training for trauma informed care for the survivor and to ensure that we can have justice. And I think what I agree with miss Schneider, forgive me if I misremembering your name is that were now having to pick this back up two years later.
This could have been avoided if the university conducted itself appropriately and looped in outside agencies.
COOPER: When is it that a campus Police Department does reach out? I mean, I would have thought they would have on any serious crime like this, I mean, that why is campus police dealing with this as opposed to actual law enforcement?
CANTELMO: It's a good question, Anderson, they operate as -- peace officers deputized by the Sheriff's Department. But I would 100 percent agree that they should be bringing in outside agencies. it's one of the demands I've made of the university, a commitment in writing that they will turn these cases over to appropriate law enforcement agencies in the future, because I want there to be no ambiguity around who's interests are being served, and that were always in the interest of pursuing justice.
COOPER: Have you heard anything back from the university about that?
CANTELMO: We've had some conversations back and forth. I've most recently spoke with some university administration officials earlier today, made the demands quite clear, reiterated them, and were hoping to see some progress. But were not going to waver. I have the moratorium proposal on the agenda for common council to vote on this Wednesday.
COOPER: All right, we would like to follow up with you, especially, we'll see what happens Wednesday and if you hear from the university as well.
Well, Mayor, appreciate it, Mayor Cantelmo, thank you so much.
Coming up next, more on a loophole in New York that says an alleged victim cannot say they were too intoxicated to give consent if they got that way voluntarily.
And later, new troubling details about the FlyDubai copilot accused of stabbing the captain trying to take down the plane. We'll know more about who he is ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:23:01]
COOPER: We're talking tonight about what is now an active criminal investigation into the alleged gang rape of a 20-year-old student at Cornell University fraternity house almost two years ago. You'll recall that the accuser, now known as Jane Doe, told University Police that she drank heavily that night and because of a provision in New York's rape law, her admission could complicate any criminal prosecution should it come to that.
New York law says a person is guilty of rape if they engage in sexual contact with somebody who is, "Incapable of consent by reason of being mentally disabled or mentally incapacitated." However, the law does not consider a person mentally incapacitated unless the intoxicating substance was administered to them without their consent.
Today, New York's Governor called on lawmakers to close that loophole. Our next guest, State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, has been trying to do that for years.
Assemblyman, thanks for being with us. JEFFREY DINOWITZ (D), NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN: Thank you.
COOPER: So, why has your chamber of the legislature not taken up this bill? How long have you been trying to do this?
DINOWITZ: I've been working on this for seven years, and we have a lot of support. I have a huge number of Assembly members, including some people from the other party who co-sponsored the legislation. But we are not quite there yet. We need a little bit more support.
COOPER: What is the pushback you're getting?
DINOWITZ: Well, some people don't want to see more people go to jail. Some people are concerned about how the law is applied, whether things are done in a fair way. And other people are just concerned that this might open us up to some unintended consequences. I don't agree with those concerns, but a number of my colleagues do have concerns.
But the fact is, the majority of my colleagues support this legislation. Because when you think about it, I mean, obviously, you know, drinking a lot of alcohol or taking drugs, not a good thing. But whether somebody is drunk because they knew they were drinking and they were taking drugs or because somebody slipped something in their drink, it doesn't matter to me how they got drunk.
[20:25:10]
What matters is if they're so drunk that they can't make a rational decision.
COOPER: So you're saying they shouldn't be penalized if they choose -- chose to have too many drinks or whatever it was and they were incapacitated and something bad happens.
DINOWITZ: Well, I am saying that if you are really, really drunk, it shouldn't be an open invitation to be raped. It is really that simple. And while the law does have a provision, as you mentioned, in cases of involuntary intoxication, where somebody, as I said, slips something into your drink or does something else, this law was put into effect, you know, back in the days when people were being roofied. And it was necessary to do that, but not taken into account the fact that there are people who are equally incapacitated and have an equal inability to make decision or even think straight, why should those people not be able to be, you know, to get justice?
COOPER: You're saying there is just -- you need a little bit more support. Do you think this most current case will get - change some minds?
DINOWITZ: I like to think that this is the straw that broke the camel's back. And I know it might be because there were some colleagues who, you know, are now questioning whether it was good not to support the bill. So I think this is going to give the bill more support.
It is unfortunate that such a horrific incident is what might lead to passing the bill, but sometimes terrible things -- out of that comes something good.
COOPER: Yes. Well, assemblyman, I really appreciate your time tonight.
Assemblyman Dinowitz, thank you.
DINOWITZ: Okay. Thank you.
Ahead tonight, what we are learning about the copilot who says he nearly, he nearly got killed and everyone else on board.
Coming up next, just 32 days out from the midterms. Why the President is campaigning in deep red Alabama, a state he won by 30 points.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:31:13]
COOPER: The President is holding a rally tonight in Deep Red, Alabama, with 32 days until midterms. This on a day when the latest employment report showed very slow job growth, and with the President's job approval at near record lows. Just yesterday, he told reporters that he believes he's done a bad job of explaining how good the country is doing. That was a quote.
With all that as a backdrop, there are some tight midterm races we are watching. Among them, the showdown in Iowa between Republican Congresswoman Ashley Hinson and Democrat Josh Turek for the U.S. Senate, a race that could help decide which party gains control of the chamber.
Jeff Zeleny is in Iowa tonight with more on the official battle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Congresswoman, how are you?
REP. ASHLEY HINSON (R), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: Welcome to Iowa.
ZELENY: Good to see you.
HINSON: Glad to have you here.
ZELENY (voice-over): We're back in Iowa to see Ashley Hinson, who's suddenly emerging as Exhibit A for how Republicans are trying to thread a delicate needle with the President here in Trump country.
ZELENY: As you know, President Trump won just two years ago here by 13 points. It's the third time he won in Iowa. How would you assess his popularity now versus those times?
HINSON: Well, certainly in a midterm, everything narrows, and I think that's true no matter who's in the White House.
ZELENY (voice-over): It's a remarkable balancing act to watch. From loyalty in the Oval Office earlier this week.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're doing a fantastic job.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're working hard and appreciate your agenda.
ZELENY (voice-over): To creating some distance back home in Iowa.
HINSON: I've called for an immediate and successful end to the war in Iran so that families can get some relief at the pump and a checkout line.
ZELENY (voice-over): Yet she didn't vote that way like two of her fellow Iowa Republicans in Congress, who switched their votes to help pass a resolution directing the President to end the war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two, three.
ZELENY (voice-over): But even at her own campaign stop in Waterloo --
HINSON: There you go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.
ZELENY (voice-over): - she saw that speaking out against an unpopular war can be unpopular with some Republicans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just saying stop and just walking away is not the answer.
HINSON: No, successful ending.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because when you say stop, it almost sound like --
HINSON: A successful end.
ZELENY (voice-over): In the final month of the race, Republicans are on a red state rescue mission, pouring $20 million more in Hinson's ads this week, which could bring the Iowa tally to more than $100 million, with far bigger investments in Ohio and Texas.
ZELENY: Why is this race so difficult?
HINSON: I don't think it's difficult. I'm out there in all 99 counties. I run every race the same. So for me, it's always been going out and earning every vote and running like I'm 10 points behind, which I don't think I am. I think I'm going to win on November 3rd.
ZELENY: I mean, you were saying that same thing two months ago, running like you're 10 points behind. But now some Republicans actually are concerned you may be. And the Senate Leadership Fund, as you know, invested $20 million more this week.
HINSON: When I talk about issues that are affecting families, we do need to bring prices down. We need to figure out how we provide relief to working families. ZELENY (voice-over): She's locked in a tight race with Josh Turek, a Democratic state lawmaker and two-time gold medal Paralympian. We met earlier this year.
JOSH TUREK (D), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: Seat number 51, it's right here. It's Iowa, and this isn't pie in the sky.
ZELENY (voice-over): A year ago, Hinson tightly embraced Trump as she launched her Senate campaign.
HINSON: I am running to be President Trump's top ally in the United States Senate.
ZELENY (voice-over): But her tone has steadily shifted.
HINSON: I have a record of delivering that shows that I don't care about party people.
ZELENY (voice-over): Now airing TV ads stressing bipartisanship.
HINSON: Working across the aisle isn't always easy, but it's how you get results.
ZELENY: How do you square that?
HINSON: Yes, I am a bipartisan fighter, and nothing changes about who's in the White House or who has the gavel. I'm still going to operate that way. I think you can agree with somebody or you can be a thorn in their side and always do what's right for your state, and that's what I do.
ZELENY: Have you gone too MAGA?
HINSON: Huh?
ZELENY: Have you gone too MAGA?
HINSON: I think I am pro-Iowa and I'm pro-American, and that's what I will always support.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (on-camera): So, Anderson, that Red State Rescue Plan actually had a development. Just a few moments ago, the Iowa legislature approved that package that the President touted only four days ago in the Oval Office, but several Republicans rose to objection, saying that $1.4 billion in tax credits is fiscally unwise. But it is passed, will be signed by the governor.
[20:35:12]
The question over the next month, is that going to rescue Republicans in the midterm elections by creating jobs? We shall see. But the President vowing to come here to Iowa to celebrate that biggest steel plant that he says will be built along the Mississippi River.
Anderson?
COOPER: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Bring -- I want to bring in two of our CNN political commentators, Scott Jennings and Bakari Sellers. Scott, I want to get to some of the close Senate races in a second, but I want to call attention to something the President said earlier and that we can get your reaction.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The only thing we're doing badly at is public relations. In other words, we're doing a phenomenal job, but by a combination of maybe we're doing a bad job in selling it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I don't think he's ever said he's doing a bad job in anything, so that was noticeable to me. But isn't the proof in the pudding? I mean, inflation high, the job market cooling, unemployment is rising. He's calling the affordability problem in America a hoax.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I don't agree with your characterization of the economic indicators. I mean, the economy has been expanding. We have growth. The job numbers today were a little mediocre compared to the expectations.
But the continuation of this condition is the same. Government payroll is dropping and private payroll is expanding. You do have manufacturing expansion. You have businesses that are investing in their own growth.
And so I actually think the economic indicators are what he had. Scott Bessent said they would be when they launched their economic policy last year when they took office. I do think --
COOPER: It doesn't seem like people feel things are great, do they?
JENNINGS: I'm sorry?
COOPER: It doesn't seem like people feel that things are great in their lives. Affordable -- affordability, gas prices, diesel, things like that.
JENNINGS: It's his main problem, is cost of living. And most of the cost of living problems that we're dealing with this in the country, he inherited. We still have a little bit of inflation, but it's largely normalized now.
But most of the cost of living, he inherited it. And, you know, he's had two years to try to get the country back on track. I think Republicans are going to argue that he has. But certainly to a lot of Americans, you know, when prices spike the way they did during Biden, even going up, you know, 2 percent or 3 percent over the last two years feels like tagging on even more problems to their lives.
So he is certainly -- you know, heavy as the head that wears the crown, as they say, he is the President. But an honest --
COOPER: Yes.
JENNINGS: -- debate here, which certainly -- would certainly include some discovery about how we got in this cost of living situation in the first place.
COOPER: Bakari, this is the same argument that the Biden administration was making. I mean, that, you know, things are better than people feel they are.
BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.
COOPER: And that is the way -- it's the messaging is the problem.
SELLERS: Yes, I mean, I -- yes, no, I mean, Scott Jennings sounds like a Democrat from two and a half years ago, to be completely honest with you, where many times we misread the American public on things like immigration or crime. And Joe Biden and his administration misread the public on affordability.
I mean, you can talk about economic indicators. You can talk about the stock market. You can talk about GDP and these things. However, you have to realize that the average person who is sitting around a kitchen table around this time watching us pontificate on national TV.
Many of them are having to make the decision of whether or not they pay for their prescription drugs or pay their utility bills. The fact is, when they drive down the street, they see $5 a gallon at the gas station or they see the price of eggs and milk be skyrocketing.
And for Republicans to simply sit here and say that the economic indicators are X, Y, Z, the American public is looking back at them and saying, you know, I was born at night, but not last night. And so that's why you're having places like Iowa being contention, places like Kansas being contention. And that's why you see Republicans pulling out of places like North Carolina.
COOPER: Scott, the Trump administration has created at least 13 campaign style ads, part of this taxpayer funded effort to promote the President's policies. The three ads that have already aired, they've appeared on CNN, on CBS, on MS NOW, on Fox News and Fox. It's not clear if all the ads will air on television or digital platforms, but I did just want to play for our viewers a clip from one of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And on June 14th, 1946, God looked down on his plan paradise and said, I need a caretaker. So God gave us Trump. God said, I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, fix this country, work all day, fight the Marxists, eat supper, then go to the Oval Office and stay past midnight at a meeting of the heads of state. So God made Trump.
I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle the deep state and yet gentle enough to deliver. (END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:40:00]
COOPER: Should taxpayers be paying for that?
JENNINGS: Did you say we're airing them or did we take their money on this?
COOPER: Yes, I think CNN did.
JENNINGS: I mean, it's an interesting question since we're airing the ads. Look, my view on this has been the same from the beginning.
COOPER: Well, no, we're not -- I'm in the news department. I'm not in charge of ads. I don't even know where the ads are on this program.
JENNINGS: No, I'm just --
COOPER: But, I mean, should taxpayers be paying that?
JENNINGS: I've said from the beginning on this one, I have no problem with the government running PSAs. It's pretty common practice. I don't think you should take campaign ads and then slap a paid for by taxpayers on it.
I think they should have created new ads. Frankly, he's got so much going on that he could be talking about to the American people, such as the Trump accounts, the new America.gov website that they launched. I think they could have made a whole PSA campaign just around the initiatives they've got going on right now.
And he wouldn't be dealing with the attacks for running these ads, but he would be getting the political benefit of showing the American people what he's gotten done so far.
COOPER: Bakari?
SELLERS: Yes, I mean, the people who are receptive to these ads, the MAGA base, the people who idolize Donald Trump are the same people, Anderson, who go to strip clubs and believe the stripper really likes them. I mean, this is patently absurd. This is asinine. This is a weird use of taxpayer dollars.
But, you know, it's going to work for certain people in this country. The problem is that the MAGA base and Trump is not transferable. So it's not going to work in places like Iowa. It's not going to work in North Carolina, Georgia. You're going to see Democrats be decently successful in November.
COOPER: Scott Jennings, Bakari Sellers. Guys, thanks very much. Appreciate it. Have a good weekend.
Up next, breaking news, we now know the name of the pilot suspected of having attacked another pilot on that fly-to-buy flight, nearly killing everyone on board. There's also stunning reporting about his work history. Details on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:46:01]
COOPER: There is breaking news tonight in the attack aboard a Flydubai 737 bound for Tel Aviv that left the captain stabbed nearly to death, allegedly by the co-pilot, and very nearly brought down the plane. We now know who that co-pilot is and are learning troubling details about his past. According to a source familiar with the matter, his name is Hamam Al-Hammami. He's an Omani citizen.
CNN's Jeremy Diamond joins us now from Tel Aviv, also Retired FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko. Jeremy, what do we know about this attacker's work history?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Anderson, this is the first time that we are able to report the name of the suspected attacker of that Flydubai flight. According to one of the sources we spoke to, his name is Hamam Al-Hammami. He was born in the United Arab Emirates to an Omani father and a Syrian mother.
We found a LinkedIn page that has since been taken down with that name, which one of those sources confirmed as being the same co-pilot of that Flydubai flight. This LinkedIn page shows him having worked for Oman Air for seven years until February of 2025 before joining Morocco's flagship airline.
I also spoke to a source who confirmed that the co-pilot of this Flydubai flight had indeed worked for that very same Moroccan national airline. But what's most interesting, Anderson, is what is on that LinkedIn profile page.
There is a video that was posted from the cockpit of an airplane at Dubai Airport that shows El Al planes, Israel's flagship carrier. That video ends with a photo of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader who took over after Osama bin Laden's death.
Another man is also shown at the end of that video. That man was responsible for a 2009 suicide bombing in Afghanistan. Now, that video was actually posted about nine hours after Hammami allegedly tried to hijack that Flydubai flight. So it's not clear how that video got off, whether it was pre-scheduled, whether he had somebody else post it.
We've also analyzed a deleted Twitter account that shows Hammami railing against mixed-gender workplaces and expressing other misogynistic and some deeply religious views as well. So you take all that information. You also take the fact that we have multiple sources saying that he was removed from flight training at Oman Air last year over concerns about his extremist views.
And then somehow he gets hired at Flydubai. Now, we don't know whether Flydubai was aware of these radical views that he had, whether they had conducted a thorough background check. All of that is still unknown at this point. And Flydubai for now is not commenting, saying that there is an ongoing investigation. Anderson? COOPER: Richard, I mean, it's kind of striking that a pilot who's removed from Omani Air or fired from Omani Air for radical views can get hired by Flydubai for a flight to Tel Aviv.
RICHARD KOLKO, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Well, I half agree with you, Anderson. The beginning of that is there isn't a methodology to share that information from one country to another. It just doesn't exist. The bad part about it is that Dubai didn't do their own homework, their own research, and find out all these things that -- it seems like they could have been pretty easy to at least have found some of this information, and that would have put a stop to him being hired at Flydubai.
But as an investigator, I just read through this article here. There are so many leads. They're going to be a very, very busy group trying to track this down.
COOPER: Also, Richard, the -- I mean, Jeremy raised a fascinating point, which is that somebody after this attack, posted on this guy's LinkedIn, or what seems to be this guy's LinkedIn, this jihadist video.
KOLKO: Yes, or was it automatically set to be loaded? We'll have to find that out over quick time.
[20:50:03]
The big thing now, was he radicalized? Is there other people involved? Was he directed? Was he inspired? Those are all the things. Are there other people out there planning on doing similar things?
We just saw the recent arrests in the U.K. We know Iran has threatened many places that have Western assets. Israel is consistently under threat. So there is a lot of information, a lot of work that needs to be done. We'd like to see that the rules be changed, that this information be shared.
But even if it is going to be shared, that's not going to happen overnight, and it will take a long time to fix something like that. So what you really need to do is, any airline out there flying has to do the full background checks on their people.
And as we know, another thing that slipped through the cracks, Israel does not allow any pilots to fly into their country if they come from a country that does not have diplomatic status with Israel, and Oman does not. So right there, there's a problem.
COOPER: Yes. Jeremy, we only have about 20 seconds, but are Israeli officials saying anything else about motive?
DIAMOND: So far, no. I mean, we've heard the Israeli prime minister also talk about this man having been radically indoctrinated. We -- he has -- you know, they've called, Israeli officials have been calling this a terrorist attack. But again, there is that question of how he even got into the cockpit of this flight flying to Israel, a country with which Oman does not have any diplomatic relations. Also, questions internally in Israel about whether or not those security checks that should be done on pilots flying from the UAE to Israel, whether or not those were done.
COOPER: Yes. Jeremy Diamond, Richard Kolko, thanks very much. We'll, of course, bring any new developments on this throughout the night.
Next, my conversation with celebrity Chef David Chang about his new CNN series. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:55:48]
COOPER: This Saturday night, there's a new episode of the CNN original series, "The Detour with David Chang." The chef ditches Internet recommendations and algorithms. Instead, he sets out with friends on a road trip in search of his next great meal.
Here's a preview along with my conversation with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CHANG, CHEF & HOST, "THE DETOUR WITH DAVID CHANG": Think of it this way. It's because a chef like this is here for a very specific reason.
About 30 years ago, Vegas realized that in order to draw these high- stakes gamblers and keep them happy, they needed to offer a kind of dining that would suit their palates. A taste of home. Something that American-Chinese restaurants just didn't offer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the first course of the king crab. So the chef prepared it with a special golden sauce. So please enjoy.
CHANG: I've never had anything like this before. This is a perfect example. I don't know what the hell this is.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Me neither. Never had anything like it.
CHANG: It's extremely good, though.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
CHANG: Hi, chef.
COOPER: So how could you not know what that is? Like, what was so different about it?
CHANG: It was a combination of flavors. It was a little curry and a little spice.
COOPER: Yes.
CHANG: It was something that was delicious, but I could have put my finger on it. And that was at a Chinese restaurant at the Cosmopolitan in Vegas. And, yes, some of the best Chinese food is in Las Vegas.
COOPER: I mean, you say that Vegas might have the most kind of interesting dining going on right now.
CHANG: Not just on -- in the casinos, but off the strip as well, because it's been a melting pot of immigrants, and they have some delicious food.
COOPER: It's not something one expects from Las -- like you think of it as the first thing as -- like did you know that going into this?
CHANG: No, and that's the thing. Like, I literally went in cold. I told everybody, I was like, don't think that I'm being lazy. I want to not have any idea what's really happening. And I didn't know that they call it the eighth island of Hawaii lives in Las Vegas. It's like a giant Hawaiian population.
COOPER: I did not know that.
CHANG: I didn't know that Ethiopian -- there's a giant Ethiopian population --
COOPER: Wow.
CHANG: -- in Las Vegas. So, it was a real sense of discovery, this show.
COOPER: What -- you travel -- you're traveling all over the country. What surprised you besides Vegas? What else stood out to you?
CHANG: I like Pittsburgh a lot. I like San Antonio.
COOPER: OK.
CHANG: Like cities that I've never been to.
COOPER: Not a sentence --
CHANG: I know.
COOPER: -- I expect you to say.
CHANG: I know. I feel like --
COOPER: -- like we've been speaking a lot.
CHANG: The mayor is going to give me a key.
COOPER: I know, nothing wrong with Pittsburgh.
CHANG: I know. But every place was a lot of fun. Even like the -- I didn't even know Florida had a city called Florida City. You know, the whole idea, too, was just like, how do we have a sense of discovery? It was almost like I wanted the show to be like finding food before a smartphone. Right?
And I know you weren't into food, but it was like -- were you into music?
COOPER: Yes, sure.
CHANG: It was a lot like discovering a band.
COOPER: Yes, yes, yes.
CHANG: You would feel like a sense of ownership in a small little restaurant --
COOPER: Before smartphones gave you all the information about where to find food.
CHANG: Correct, correct. And that's what I was surprised by. That was sort of the glue, regardless of the city, was just going out there --
COOPER: Yes.
CHANG: -- talking to somebody at the gas station as they're filling up the pump. Like, what do you think? What do you got? And, you know, for somebody that likes to stay inside and not do these things as they get older, it was a nice reminder that just get off your butt and talk to people.
COOPER: You went to South Florida, too, with the comedian Eric Andre.
CHANG: Yes. I mean, he is a very famous comedian, but he's very, very, very famous in Florida. It was like walking around with a beetle as --
COOPER: Really?
CHANG: Yes, it was crazy. And, you know, people need to know that we were at the whim of whatever our guests wanted. So, basically a road trip, traveling with a friend. Sometimes I don't know the person like -- Eric, I had actually never met before, but we had known sort of each other's work.
And Eric was like, so I can do whatever I want? I was like, yes. He's like, we're not going to Miami. I was like, yes, we have this itinerary and we're going to do it. He's like, no, no, no, no. We're going to Miami.
So, we didn't have anything planned.
COOPER: Yes.
CHANG: So we literally -- I want people to know this was not scripted. Nothing here was scripted with Eric Andre's trip or any of the episodes. Yes.
COOPER: That's awesome.
David Chang, thanks so much. Look forward to it.
CHANG: Thanks so much for having me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: "The Detour with David Chang" air Saturday 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. You can also stream it the next day with an All Access subscription at any time on any screen or mobile device. You can stream this show live or any CNN program On Demand. Scan the QR code in your screen or go to CNN.com/Watch to learn more.
That's it for us. Hope you have a great weekend. I'll see you Monday. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
