Return to Transcripts main page

The Lead with Jake Tapper

Bill Cosby Released From Prison And Back Home; House Votes To Create Select Committee To Probe Capitol Riot; Trump Visits Southern Border With Texas GOP Governor; Sixteen Confirmed Dead, 147 Unaccounted For As Search Enters Day Seven; FBI: Jews Are Most- Targeted Religious Group In U.S.; Jewish Students Fear Returning To College Campuses; Source: Trump's Business Expected To Be Charged With Tax Crimes. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 30, 2021 - 17:00   ET

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

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Plus, the seventh day of desperate rescue efforts in Surfside, Florida, official saying four more bodies have been found in the rubble of the collapse condo building. And leading this hour, Bill Cosby has been released from prison just moments ago.

Cosby appeared outside his home. His team celebrating the decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court this afternoon the court overturned Cosby's 2018 convictions of sexual assault, rolling the Cosby had been denied a fair trial. This is related to something of an agreement to not prosecute the comedian that have been suggested years earlier, partly to force Cosby to testify in a civil case.

Cosby had been sentenced to 10 years in prison, but today he walked out a free man. CNN's Jason Carroll is live outside Cosby's home in Elkins Park just outside Philadelphia. And Jason, Cosby's lawyers heralded today's decision. We did not hear her however, from Bill Cosby himself.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, and that's what everyone was expecting. He came out with his attorneys, was joined by them, Jake. We were expecting to hear something after being in prison for nearly three years.

But Cosby said nothing he left to all the talking to his attorneys who basically said legally, they felt as though the rug had been pulled out from Cosby due to politics, due to the court of public opinion. But now that is all over. Cosby is home with his family.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Walking free, Bill Cosby leaving prison after Pennsylvania's highest court vacated his conviction.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just said his heart was racing. He couldn't believe it.

CARROLL: The 83-year-old former comedian now home after being released this afternoon. The court deciding that prosecutors violated his due process rights, writing the subsequent decision by successor DA to prosecute Cosby violated Cosby's due process rights. He must be discharged in any future prosecution on these particular charges must be barred.

According to the court, Cosby was originally promised immunity in exchange for testimony in a civil case. A decade later, a different prosecutor used that testimony against him in his criminal trial.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Guilty, guilty, guilty.

CARROLL: In 2018, Cosby was sentenced to three to 10 years in state prison for drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand. That conviction came after a mistrial on the same charges. Cosby, once known as America's dad has long fought for his release being denied appeal in 2019 and denied parole just last month. His conviction was the first high profile celebrity case in the MeToo era.

LISA BLOOM, LOS ANGELES, ATTORNEY FOR 3 COSBY ACCUSER: I just think it's really a slap in the face to all the victims.

CARROLL: And Cosby's released dealing a blow to the multiple women who accused him of sexual assault. A lawyer for three of the accusers tweeting he is not released because he is innocent. He is released because a prosecutor promised him years ago that he would not be brought to justice.

Lawyers for Andrea Constand the woman at the center of the criminal case saying in a statement, Andrea, Bebe and I are reviewing the decision and have decided that we will not have any comment at this time.

But Cosby does have some support and former co-star Phylicia Rashad, who tweeted finally a terrible wrong is being righted, a miscarriage of justice is corrected.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (on camera): And Jake out here at his home, Cosby was not just met by some of those who support him. He was also met by a few protesters, those, who support the MeToo movement, those who support those accusers who were very upset, vocalizing how upset they were out here at his home.

Cosby, though again for his part, not saying anything as we shouted questions at him as he walked away. He's simply held up his hand, held up the peace sign and walked back inside his home. Jake.

TAPPER: All right, Jason Carroll in Elkins Park outside Philadelphia.

Let's bring in Gloria Allred. She represented dozens of women who have accused Cosby of sexual misconduct, assault and more.

First, Gloria, your reaction to the ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court vacating the conviction, essentially, allowing him to be released from prison. And there cannot be another trial against him, for the for this matter?

GLORIA ALLRED, ATTORNEY FOR BILL COSBY ACCUSERS: That's correct. Decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court have been devastating to the many accusers of Cosby. And of course, I represent three of them. And I also represent majority of the prior (inaudible) witnesses who testified in the criminal proceedings in Pennsylvania.

TAPPER: Gloria, we're having problem with your -- with the audio right now. So I'm going to take a quick break. We're going to try to figure this out. And we're going to come back to Gloria on the other end of this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:08:50]

TAPPER: Our politics lead and two House Republicans, two siding with Democrats this afternoon to officially create a select committee responsible for investigating the deadly capital insurrection. Some Republicans who voted to impeach President Trump for his role in the inciting the riots voted against the creating the committee today.

CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is live for us on Capitol Hill. Manu, what's the timeline now for getting this committee up and running? When will we find out who's going to be on the committee?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, that's a big question. Nancy Pelosi has not said specifically when she will name her members. There's an expectation that's going to happen within a matter of days, potentially by the end of the week. And it'll also be interesting to see who she picks as a chairperson to run this committee.

One of them, his name is Bennie Thompson. He's seen as a possible contender to be lead this committee. He's currently the Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. I'd asked him just moments ago about the extent of such an investigation, and whether he would serve on it. He said he doesn't know.

He's had conversations recently, but with the speaker about serving on the committee, but he wants to serve on it. And he also made clear that conversations that Republican members of Congress had with Donald Trump in the run up to January 6, including Kevin McCarthy on the day of January 6 should be part of any investigation going forward.

[17:10:00]

Now the way that this is going to be set up, there would be eight remembers who Nancy Pelosi will pick. She's saying -- she's signaling that she's likely to pick one Republican member. It's possible that it could be either Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger, who just the only two Republicans to vote to create this Select Committee.

I just asked Liz Cheney moments ago, if she has spoken with the speaker, she said that it's all up to the speaker about whether she will serve the client to comment further. And then there are five Republican appointees and Kevin McCarthy, the Republican leader can choose those. But Nancy Pelosi does effectively have veto party power over who Kevin McCarthy picks. It remains to be seen if she will exercise that.

It also remains to be seen how Kevin McCarthy himself will deal with this. I asked McCarthy about whether or not he will, in fact, go ahead and appoint members. He would not comment for a second straight day if he does plan to select his own members to this committee and who those members could be, could it be ones who voted to overturn the election?

And could it be some who actually worked with Donald Trump and tried to deny Joe Biden, his electoral victory on January 6 are signed on to that Texas lawsuit seeking to invalidate millions of state votes across a number of battleground states. All questions for McCarthy in the days ahead but no doubt about it, Jake, this committee which was approved, and most party lie, and mostly a party line, vote 222 to 190, it is going to take effect and the investigation could go deep and it could go into next year.

TAPPER: All right, Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much.

Joining us now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas. Congressman, I understand why Speaker Pelosi wants this committee to be bipartisan. The official -- the original commission was going to be 50/50 Democrats and Republicans. But for this Select Committee, Democrats get to a point eight members, Republicans get five. Some critics say this is doomed to be a partisan investigation from the start. What do you think -- what do you say to them when they say that?

REP. HENRY CUELLAR (D-TX): Well, you know, certainly I think the opportunity was to go and make it as bipartisan as possible. But as you know, the legislation didn't go anywhere. And so now we're working with what, what we can work with, but again, I still want to see it bipartisan. Look, we're all here, we also want to happen. And the interpretations should not be very different from the folks that saw what happened here at the Capitol on January 6.

TAPPER: A Democratic aide says that Speaker Pelosi is considering picking a Republican for one of the eight democratic slots. Do you think she should? And if so, who?

CUELLAR: Well, I asked her who? I don't know. I mean, I think certainly if she can pick up Republican reserve and make this as bipartisan, because look, again, as I saw, as I said, the whole nation, the whole world know what happen on January 6, and I hope that both Democrats and Republicans can sit there and let's go ahead and try to find out what happened. I mean, we saw what happened. Be nice to see what happened behind the scenes.

TAPPER: Kevin McCarthy has not committed at in any way to appointing people on the committee, who even think that there should be a committee or even to not putting people who are putting forward crazy conspiracy theories about January 6 on the committee. Do you trust, Kevin McCarthy will appoint the kind of silver reasoned, clear-eyed, fact-based Republicans that that one would hope would be on the committee?

CUELLAR: Well, you know, again, we can't, if he does the selection, we can't, you know, look at who's going to select but again, all we want is just have the American public find out what happened in January 6. I mean, look, we had the U.S. Capitol attack.

TAPPER: Yeah.

CUELLAR: We had the United States Capitol attack. And I hope he does what he needs to do and just put folks that can just find and seek the truth.

TAPPER: So let's talk about the border because there is a crisis going on in the border. You represent a border district in Texas. Today, former President Trump is visiting the border with the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, and I think some House Republicans. I know you disagree with President Trump, former President Trump, but you have been urging both parties to pay more attention to the border. Do you think it's a good thing that this trip is happening today?

CUELLAR: If it's a political visit, which I think it is? The answer's no. Should we pay attention what's happening in a border? Yes. Is there a humanitarian crisis? Yes. Is there a security crisis? No. If you look at the latest FBI stats, you will see that the border is a lot safer than so many other cities.

The National crime rate, for example, murders, it's five murders per 100,000 at the border, it's two murders per 100,000. In fact, the most dangerous thing about the border is when I leave Laredo, Texas, and I fly to Washington D.C. because the murder rate here is about four or five times higher than Laredo, which is right at the border.

TAPPER: You spent time on the border with Vice President Kamala Harris last week. You also were critical in that you pointed out she only visited El Paso and not other parts of the border that you wanted her to visit like the Rio Grande Valley, part of what you represent. Did she miss an opportunity?

CUELLAR: Well, again, it was Congresswoman and a senator that went. I wasn't there. But I don't go visit the border. I actually live there. I visit Washington D.C. to come work over here. Yes, in my personal opinion, I think she should have gotten to the epicenter.

The epicenter is the lower Rio Grande Valley, that's where the kids are coming in. That's where Donna -- the Donna border patrol facilities at. And that's where the Donna Health and Human Services facilities are at. Yes, I think she should be in fact, I was at the border with her in the valley, but it was it was in October of 2020.

TAPPER: Is the Biden the administration doing enough to address this humanitarian crisis you talk about? And if not, what more do they need to do?

CUELLAR: Well, you know, the appropriations were in the appropriations and we are going to be adding monies in the foreign operations to make sure that we hope the countries to address some of the push factors that we have. We also have to look at the full factors also, because Democrats have a tendency of looking at just the pull factors, Republicans have a tendency of just looking at the Democrats push factors, the Republicans whole factors. In my opinion, you have to address both factors.

So in the appropriations, we are actually proposing money. And we'll see what the state board up the committee will be doing and, of course, the homeland, and Health and Human Services. So we are going to be working with the president with the administration to put the proper funding.

If it's an unaccompanied kids, we want to make sure we take care of that kid, like if it's one of our own children. If it is somebody with a criminal background, then you know what we need to do. But, you know, I want to be compassionate, I think I am. But I think at the same time, we got to follow the law. And if you have 100 people that come before an immigration judge, a judge will say that 88 percent will be rejected from the asylum claims and only 12 percent will be accepted.

So, you know, for us and live on the border, we don't just visit, we certainly see a different perspective from folks that come and visit border.

TAPPER: But just yes we know, do you think the Biden administration is doing enough?

CUELLAR: I think we will work with them, to make sure that they provide support to our men and women that secure the border. In fact, that is something that I have worked on, on adding more resources, more technology and more personnel at the border. It's not only taking care of the kids, the unaccompanied kids, but again, there are most of the people that come over are single adult and those folks are treated a little bit differently than unaccompanied kid.

TAPPER: Yeah, Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar of Texas thanks so much for your time, sir, I appreciate it.

A woman and her daughter escaped with seconds to spare what she saw as the building crumbled, that could be key to the investigation, the latest on the tragedy in Surfside, Florida, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:22:45]

TAPPER: Breaking News, we just got a statement from Andrea Constand, that's the woman who accused Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her in 2004, resulting in his 2018 conviction. As you probably know by now, Bill Cosby was released from prison this afternoon after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned that conviction, basically on a technicality.

Constand reacted to the decision to release Cosby saying, "Today's majority decision regarding Bill Cosby is not only disappointing but of concern and then it may discourage those who seek justice for sexual assault in the criminal justice system from reporting or participating in the prosecution of the assailant or may force a victim to choose between filing either a criminal or civil action." Let's bring back in Gloria Allred on the phone. She did not represent Constand but she represented dozens of other women who accused Cosby of sexual misconduct.

First of all, Gloria, your reaction to the ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court?

ALLRED: Well, Jake this decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court today to overturn the conviction of Bill Cosby is certainly devastating to many of the Bill Cosby accusers. My heart especially goes down to those who bravely testified in both of those criminal cases. And I did represent the majority of the prior bad acts, accusers who testified in these criminal cases against Mr. Cosby.

And despite the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision, this was and still is an important fight for justice. And even though the court overturned the conviction on technical grounds, as you just said, it did not indicate Bill Cosby's conduct and it should not be interpreted as a statement or a finding that he didn't engage in the act of which he's been accused.

TAPPER: Is there a possible path to prosecution of Cosby related to any of the other accusers? Or has the statute of limitations passed?

ALLRED: As far as I know the statute of limitations has expired for any additional criminal prosecution of Mr. Cosby. However, I still have a civil lawsuit pending against Mr. Cosby. In LA County Superior Court in Santa Monica on behalf of Judy Huth who alleges in her lawsuit that we are litigating that Mr. Cosby sexually abused her when she was a minor at the Playboy Mansion. That case is pending. It has -- we do not have a trial date yet, because the court and opposing counsel and myself have been awaiting this decision by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.

Now that the decision has been made, we will be returning to court for a status conference, which is scheduled for August. And at that time, we expect the court will set a trial date, we do have the right to take Mr. Cosby deposition. In that case, we took it one and then I stand still. And then we went back to seek the permission of the court to take a second deposition of Mr. Cosby.

And the court did compel him over his objection to provide that second deposition to us but then it was stayed pending the criminal case. So now that his criminal case is no longer going to proceed, we will be able to at some point, as matter of discovery, takes Mr. Cosby's deposition which we have every intention to. I'm looking forward to that.

TAPPER: The decision today by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the ruling is rooted in a decision made by Bruce Castor, who in 2004, 2005, was the district attorney for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. And he decided, according to Castor, that he could not successfully prosecute Andrea Constand's case against Cosby for any number of reasons.

The decision take goes into it in consistencies in her testimony and the like. And then he says that ultimately what he decided to do was announce that he was not going to prosecute, thus taking away Cosby's ability to invoke the Fifth Amendment, the right against self- incrimination, thus forcing him to have to participate in a deposition in a civil case.

I have a few questions about this. First of all, the first one is, do you agree with Bruce Castor's assessment that he could not have successfully prosecuted Cosby in 2004, 2005 because of in consistencies in Constand account of what happened to her and the like, do you agree with that?

ALLRED: No. I do not agree. As a matter of fact, I noticed that the -- in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision which I read rather quickly today did indicate that also one of the reasons that Mr. Castor had given for his decision to decline prosecution was that Ms. Constand did not promptly report. That's a rape myth. In fact, the expert, Barbara Ziv, Dr. Ziv testified in the Cosby criminal case, that it's a myth that somehow that if rape victim don't properly report to the police, that somehow the rape didn't occur or the sexual assault didn't occurred.

So that's just one reason that I think that he was wrong not to prosecute, having said that, his failure to prosecute now is, you know, the court has decided, Supreme Court, that when a prosecutor makes what the courts decided was an unconditional promise of non- prosecution. And when the defendant, in this case, Mr. Cosby relies on that guarantee to the detriment of his constitutional right, not to testify, in other words, not to invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination, that's my -- these are my words, they say then that his due process rights essentially have been violated.

So that's a decision on constitutional grounds. It's not a decision on the merits of whether Mr. Cosby did or did not drugged and sexually assault Ms. Constand. It's not a decision on whether or not he, you know, he could have been found guilty of three counts of aggravated indecent assault with which he was charged. You know, had, you know, had there not been the original decision not to prosecute?

TAPPER: No, in fact, quite the contrary, it was his deposition that provided ammunition for the other prosecutors to then charge him successfully. Glory Allred --

ALLRED: Yeah, and may I just say, Jake, if I may, that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said and these are their words, that Cosby made several incriminating death statements in his deposition.

TAPPER: Right.

[17:30:00]

Yes, no, exactly. Gloria, all right, thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

ALLRED: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: Coming up next, the stunning stories from survivors who were able to make it out of the deadly Florida condo collapse with seconds to spare, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Welcome back in our national lead, time and hope for survivors is running out in the deadly condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida. The search is now in day seven. And today, officials have confirmed that 16 people have been found dead, 147 remain missing. And now as CNN's Ryan Young reports, families are beginning to lose hope.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As families and friends wait for answers as to why the building collapse, more survivors who rushed out just in time are sharing their stories, including this 88- year-old woman who lived on the fifth floor.

ESTHER GARFINKEL, LIVED IN COLLARED CONDO: Who would think that something like this will happen at 1:30 in the morning in your life, in my old age, that would see something so horrible like this?

[17:35:07]

YOUNG (voice-over): She felt her apartment shaking and unaware of what happened, rushed down the stairs, wearing only pajamas and slippers. When she reached the garage, she saw her neighbors from the 11th floor who carried her out.

GARFINKEL: They pushed me out, and we got into water. And in front of me was a lot of debris, and we saw a hole. They pick me up, carry me on my -- in his back, outside, and I saw the sky. I know I will be out.

YOUNG (voice-over): Iliana Monteagudo says something woke her up the night of the collapse.

ILIANA MONTEAGUDO, LIVED IN COLLAPSED CONDO: I feel like sounds, strange sounds, strange. And I roam to my living room.

YOUNG (voice-over): That's when she spotted a crack spreading across her wall.

MONTEAGUDO: Something inside of me said, run, because this building will collapse.

YOUNG (voice-over): She ran barefoot to the stairs and rushed down.

MONTEAGUDO: And I started going down fast. And I feel crack, crack, crack.

YOUNG (voice-over): A security guard at the bottom helped her climb over walls of debris to get to safety.

MONTEAGUDO: I'm very lucky.

YOUNG (voice-over): Today we're learning more about the victims too. One of them, Hilda Noriega, the mother of a nearby police chief who responded to the collapse Thursday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He actually found this.

YOUNG (voice-over): That chief found some a Hilda's belongings in the debris. Her body found by search crews in the rubble. The family releasing a statement today thanking the hundreds of first responders who bravely and selflessly risked their lives to locate his mother and the other innocent victims found to date.

As the hope for finding survivors dwindles with each passing hour, officials say, they're not giving up.

CAPTAIN EDDY ALARCON, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE: Listen, I can tell you that none of us have lost hope. Because I know miracles happen. If somebody's going to find them, we're going to do it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

YOUNG: Jake, this has been a terrible weather day here in South Florida, rain has been non-stop. But we've seen the pace of operation seem to pick up. We've counted more dump trucks passing our location than any day so far. They've been full of debris and they're getting escorted by police officers because they're being taken off site to make sure they're safe for evidence. But you can tell this operation is going to the next part of it because of just how many emergency crews and heavy equipment we see coming and going from the site. Jake?

TAPPER: All right, Ryan, thank you so much.

Let's get right to CNN's Boris Sanchez, who's been following the investigation into how the building collapsed. And Boris, one woman who escaped the building with her daughter said she saw the garage collapse first. Assuming that's true, how our experts interpreting that?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, it underscores the need for this area to be a very intense point of focus for investigators because we've heard over and over from different accounts that this was a problem area in the building, not only from residents who live their years previously, but also in data.

Remember that 2018 report by a consulting company, an engineer inspecting that part of the building and finding that there was decay in the concrete, corroded rebar calling for extensive repairs. It also corroborates what we've heard from witnesses who say that there were issues in that area, there were problems before the partial collapse of the building in that garage area below the pool deck.

I want you to listen to Sara Nir, she actually shared her story with CNN. She was able to get out of the building. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARA NIR, ESCAPED BUILDING BEFORE COLLAPSE: It was a big boom. And I was running to see where the sound came from and I saw all the garage collapse. And we ran out of the building, and then another big boom, and then we didn't see anything. It was suddenly quiet after the big boom.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: And Jake, I've spoken to other witnesses who repeat that similar account that there was a loud noise, they ran outside, and soon after the building actually partially came down. It also coincides with a really harrowing account of that night that we're learning.

One man telling the Miami Herald that his wife lives in that building and that she called him frantically very early Thursday morning complaining of the building was shaking. She reportedly went out onto the balcony and told him that she saw a huge hole near the pool. She described it as a sinkhole. Moments later, Jake, the line went dead. That woman remains missing.

TAPPER: All right, Boris Sanchez, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Coming up next, we'll look at the alarming rise in anti-Semitism in the United States and the terror that some American Jews are facing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I noticed you're wearing a kippah.

BLAKE FLAYTON, STUDENT ACTIVIST, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: I'm terrified to wear this outside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But do you?

FLAYTON: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:44:30]

TAPPER: In our national lead, there are any number of horrific bigotries in the United States, but we have seen according to statistics, an alarming rise recently in two specifically anti-Asian and Asian American violence which the show has covered. And today we begin a series on the alarming increase of anti-Semitic words and actions here in the United States. Age-old lies and prejudices and conspiracy theories fanned by social media taking root. Sadly among a new generation, even sparking violence again, this is here and now in the United States of America.

[17:45:02]

Nick Watt from CNN now looks at how bad it's getting. And we want to warn you, his report contains some disturbing images and language.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WATT (voice-over): A man who was stopped at the door of a South Florida synagogue recently, then police say he left feces outside, spat at a menorah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We live in a world where hate is easy.

WATT (voice-over): And Jews are the most targeted religious group in America, says the FBI, and it's getting worse.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We've seen an alarming increase in hate crimes across the country, many targeting members of the Asian American Pacific Islander and Jewish communities.

WATT (on-camera): I mean, I noticed you're wearing a kippah.

FLAYTON: I'm terrified to wear this outside.

WATT (on-camera): But do you?

FLAYTON: No.

WATT (voice-over): 12 percent of Americans told pollsters that Jews in this country have too much power.

EVAN BERNSTEIN, CEO, COMMUNITY SECURITY SERVICE: You're dealing with tens of millions of people in the United States, you know, have anti- Semitic tendencies.

WATT (voice-over): And it's not an aging racist rump.

EITAN HERSH, ASSOCIATE PROF. OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, TUFTS UNIVERSITY: Anti-Semitic attitudes, including in our own data, measured in the fall of 2020, not very long ago, consistently show higher levels among young people. Now that point is worth emphasizing because most forms of prejudice that we study are higher among older people and lower among younger people.

WATT (voice-over): Jews eating sushi in Los Angeles last month, sought out by young pro-Palestinian men.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get inside.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Men in the cars got out, started running toward the cables, and asking indiscriminately who's Jewish.

WATT (voice-over): A Jew brutally beaten by young men in Times Square, New York. He was surrounded by a group that began to --

JOSEPH BORGEN, VICTIM OF ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACK: Kick me, punch me, saw (ph) me with weapons and also pepper spray or mace me. I don't even know which one for good measure at the end. I'm trying to be, you know, macho and, you know, not let it affect me. But it does affect you. I mean, when you're alone and your mind isn't -- nothing on your mind.

WATT (voice-over): So Jewish college kids, after a barrage of hate this spring during the war between Israel and Hamas, now you're scared to go back to campus.

(on-camera): Are you scared?

JULIA JASSEY, FOUNDER, JEWISH ON CAMPUS: Yes. I mean -- yes, and I try not to be.

WATT (voice-over): Julia Jassey founded an Instagram forum and gathers tales like this.

JASSEY: Somebody drove by slowly, rolled down her window, and while filming me with her phone, started yelling out about f to Jews --

WATT (on-camera): F to Jews.

JASSEY: -- about seven to eight times and that was actually someone that I know at school.

WATT (voice-over): Anti-Semitism is now spread far and wide like never before. Thanks to social media.

FLAYTON: If Adolf Hitler had an Instagram account, the Holocaust would have happened a lot quicker, because the public would have been convinced a lot sooner.

JASSEY: I saw a post yesterday saying that 40 percent of Palestinian children are sexually assaulted by Israelis, which is a crazy number that has no source. But it's all over the internet. And there are definitely ways to critique the Israeli government without being anti- Semitic, but that's not what people are doing.

WATT (voice-over): So I'm calling out posts they see as anti-Semitic.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Palestine will be free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the river to the sea.

WATT (voice-over): So where did the Jews go? That's Bella Hadid, model of Palestinian descent more than 43 million followers. She also posted this, charged language. Hadid says it's not about hate, and the history actually dates back over 2,000 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't learn history from Instagram.

WATT (voice-over): So I'm also called out members of the squad for the likes of this, and this. Last month, Representative Cori Bush of Missouri tweeted, "The Black and Palestinian struggles for liberation are interconnected". And she said this about U.S. military aid to Israel.

REP. CORI BUSH (D-MO): Instead of funding a military, that polices then kills Palestinians, I have some communities in St. Louis city and in St. Louis County that -- where that money can go where we desperately need investment where we are hurting.

WATT (voice-over): Those Congresswomen say they stand against all forms of hate that they are legitimately criticizing the Israeli government. Others see it differently that Israel and Jews are used as scapegoats. FLAYTON: You make the Jews as a collective Israel, the face of all that you don't like, of all that standing in the way between you and a brighter, more progressive future. That is how anti-Semitism and atrocities against my people have always begun.

WATT (voice-over): Synagogues are now being defaced from Alaska to Arizona.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sadly to new reality we're living and we've seen these -- this rise across America.

WATT (voice-over): Yes, incidents spiked around the war in May, but --

FLAYTON: It's never been about the conflict.

WATT (voice-over): OK. What does the data say?

HERSH: Folks across the ideological spectrum in -- of different racial groups didn't point to the Israel Palestine conflict, they point to Jews have too much power in media, Jews have too much power in finance and a classic tropes of anti-Semitism.

WATT (voice-over): American Jews are now suffering hate from many sides.

HERSH: Jewish Americans I think can feel -- how do I say this right? They can feel squeezed.

[17:50:09]

WATT (voice-over): Stones were thrown through synagogue windows in New York in April, a young black man was arrested. Some see this man is fueling anti-Semitism in the black community.

LOUIS FARRAKHAN, NATION OF ISLAM: And I'm here to separate the good Jews from the satanic Jews. Yes, yes, yes.

WATT (voice-over): But say the social scientists.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Jews will not replace us.

WATT (voice-over): One group is still the biggest issue.

HERSH: We see really high rates of anti-Semitic attitudes on the far right.

WATT (voice-over): And like on the left, it's largely the young, the man accused of shooting up a synagogue near San Diego in 2019 was just 19 at the time.

YISROEL GOLDSTEIN, FORMER RABBI, CHABAD OF POWAY: Standing there is spread apart in the aiming position right (INAUDIBLE).

WATT (voice-over): Our previous president trivialized anti-Semitism.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'm going to support me because I don't want your money, isn't crazy.

JASSEY: It makes it acceptable. You saw the President say it on the news. It's not a problem.

WATT (voice-over): He said this out loud --

TRUMP: Very fine people on both sides.

WATT (voice-over): -- after this.

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Jews will not replace us.

WATT (voice-over): They won't. Roughly 7.5 million Jews in America, roughly 175 million white Christians.

BERNSTEIN: It's education. I think education --

WATT (on-camera): Yes.

BERNSTEIN: -- is so critical.

WATT (voice-over): But for example, just 19 states require the Holocaust to be taught in secondary school. So, 31 states do not.

HERSH: There were a few generations of Americans who may have interacted with the Holocaust survivor, may have been a World War II veteran, and that's gone away.

WATT (voice-over): Security now stepped up around many Jewish institutions.

BERNSTEIN: We want to empower our Jewish community to protect themselves.

WATT (voice-over): Volunteers being trained to protect their own community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People that do such things, they're motivated by a very strong feeling of hate, of obviously ignorance as well. My question is what happens next?

BORGEN: I've never met these people in my entire life. I don't understand why they hate me so much. I wasn't wearing any Israeli flags. I didn't have any Israeli -- I'm not Israeli, I'm American.

FLAYTON: There are many Jews my age who are ready to move to Israel, because they see the writing on the wall here.

JASSEY: College into some extent seems like a small thing until those people grow up.

WATT (voice-over): Let's end where we started, Florida. Hitler was right, a sickening sentiment gaining traction in America now, in 2021.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WATT: Now, anti-Semitism has obviously been around for a couple of thousand years, it just morphs, takes different forms now. A few of the people we spoke to in the past couple of weeks said that the U.S. is beginning to feel a bit like Europe and that is not a good thing. We have seen anti-Semitic attitudes and attacks on the rise over in Europe for the past few years. And that part of the story will be brought to us by our colleague Melissa Bell tomorrow. Jake?

TAPPER: Nick Watt, thank you so much for that disturbing report.

The man said to know where the financial bodies are buried inside the Trump Organization is expected to be charged by Manhattan prosecutors tomorrow. Is the former president in any legal peril? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:57:41]

TAPPER: In our money lead, CNN has been told the charges from Manhattan prosecutors on possible tax crimes will be coming perhaps as soon as tomorrow, targeting the Trump Organization and its Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg. CNN's Paula Reid has been following the investigation for us. And Paula, the former President Donald Trump himself apparently is not being targeted at all, right?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, he is being targeted, but he's not being charged tomorrow. Tomorrow's case is expected to focus on the Trump Organization and longtime CFO Allen Weisselberg. Now the allegations are that the company was doling out perks, free apartments, free cars, even private school tuition and not properly paying taxes.

Jake, it's very unusual to charge a company criminally for these kinds of allegations. But when it comes to Mr. Weisselberg, he has been under pressure. These charges really add to that pressure for him to cooperate to essentially flip on the former president, share what he knows about any alleged criminal activity.

Now, so far, he has told prosecutors he's not going to cooperate, he will not flip. But tomorrow, if and when he is charged, he'll likely have a chance with his attorneys to look at the case, the strength of the evidence and sometimes, actually filing charges has a way of changing people's minds.

But unless they can get Weisselberg or other executives to cooperate, this investigation has been going on for years. And at this point, there is no indication the former president or any member of his family will be charged anytime soon.

TAPPER: Paula, what happens next?

REID: So this investigation, Jake, is active, and it's ongoing. We know there are other people under scrutiny. Another Trump Organization executive Matthew Calamari, one-time security officer who rose to the top of that organization. He and his son have been under scrutiny from prosecutors. He could potentially be charged at some point. Once again raising the question, will he cooperate? Again, if prosecutors can get more cooperating witnesses or gather more evidence, they may be in a position to charge other people. We know that's what they're going to be doing over the next couple of months. But again, at this point, no indication the former president will be charged, but investigators, they're still at it.

TAPPER: All right, CNN's Paula Reid, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

You can follow me on Facebook or on Instagram or on TikTok or on Twitter at JakeTapper. You can tweet the show at TheLeadCNN. Our coverage continues now with Wolf Blitzer. He's live from Surfside, Florida. I'll see you tomorrow.