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The Lead with Jake Tapper

NYT: N.Y. GOP Congressman Had Lover, Fiance's Daughter On Payroll; Hurricane Warnings Issued For Parts Of Florida. Aired 5-6:00p ET

Aired September 24, 2024 - 17:30   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: -- of murder despite new evidence and the fact that the office that prosecuted him says they want his conviction overturned because they think he might not be guilty. The last minute effort to spare the life of Marcellus Williams is ahead.

We start this hour with the breaking news. A federal judge is allowing Special Counsel Jack Smith to submit hundreds of pages of evidence and arguments in the case against Donald Trump related to efforts to subvert the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Let's get straight to CNN's Sara Murray and Paula Reid.

Paula, explain this latest ruling by Judge Chutkan and what it means for the average American.

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, for the average American, it means that they might see some new evidence in this case before Election Day, because here, Judge Chutkan is allowing prosecutors to submit hundreds of pages of evidence and arguments that they have gathered against former President Trump related to efforts to subvert the 2020 election. The reason she's allowing this is because she believes the Supreme Court has issued her a task, and that is to look through the allegations here and the evidence and determine which portions of this case may be immune from prosecution under their ruling granting former President Trump and other presidents partial immunity for official acts. So this could potentially be filed on Thursday. It will be filed under seal, so it's possible that she could release this at some point before the election. But of course, Jake, if Trump is reelected, both of Smith's cases will be dismissed.

TAPPER: And Paula, as you know, there are lots of other legal threats to the election. This afternoon, for example, there's a critical hearing in Mississippi where the Republican Party is arguing to block any ballots received by mail after Election Day, even if they were postmarked before Election Day. Why are they doing that? And could this case have an impact beyond Mississippi?

REID: The goal is for this case to have an impact far beyond bright red Mississippi. Now, the point of this case was to bring this issue, this question of whether ballots that are that are alive after Election Day, if those are in violation of federal law. That is an argument that the RNC has been making in this case. They lost at the trial court, but then they appealed up to the Fifth Circuit, and the panel that they drew three Trump appointed justices. This was really a dream panel for them.

But arguments earlier today, Jake, just really did not go their way. It appears that this panel may be leaning against their arguments. Now, if the RNC loses before the election, it's fully expected they'll try to appeal up to the Supreme Court, but the goal was to try to get a ruling in their favor. Because again, this isn't about Mississippi. This is about the approximately 20 other states and jurisdictions that have similar policies, including some key battleground states.

TAPPER: And Sara Murray, we know, and we should start saying this probably every day, there's a really good chance we're not going to know the winner on election night. Explain to our viewers why and how both the Democratic and Republican parties are gearing up for court fights after Election Day.

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, first of all, this is looking like an exceedingly close race, but there are also states that could have made the process of counting the ballots faster in the last four years, and the state legislatures didn't act, so they didn't do so. And two of those states are important battlegrounds, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where election workers can't even begin processing mail in ballots until 7:00 a.m. on Election Day. So that means workers there are going to be grappling with tallying the ballots that come in on Election Day and also telling all of these early ballots that came through vote by mail, and it just takes time again to count all of these ballots, to ensure it's an accurate count and to figure out who the winner is when it's a very close race. And everyone is sort of looking at what's happening around Election Day and warning people to be patient, because we may not know for a couple of days who wins the presidential race.

And even when we do have a notion of who the winner is, we are still expecting to see an avalanche of additional litigation. You know, we're expecting to see challenges to certification and how that process plays out. We could still see challenges to different buckets of ballots, as Paula was talking about. These could be ballots that come in after Election Day. These could be ballots that folks allege have been cast by people that they don't believe are citizens of the United States.

And so both sides of the aisle are really bracing to be in court, slugging this out, even after Election Day, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Sarah Murray and Paula Reid, thanks so much.

Also on our politics lead today, a new headache for Republicans on Capitol Hill. "The New York Times" is reporting that New York Republican congressman, Anthony D'Esposito, gave both his lover and his fiance's daughter part time jobs in his district office, which is located on Long Island. The House's Code of Conduct forbids members of Congress from employing close family members, and I think fiance's daughter and a lover might qualify. House Speaker Mike Johnson stood by D'Esposito when questioned about this earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), HOUSE SPEAKER: He did, I'm told, this morning come out with a statement that it's -- the allegations are untrue. It's a partisan hit piece that would not surprise anyone, and a tight election cycle in a seat that's it's -- that's hotly contested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[17:05:00]

TAPPER: CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju joins us now live from Capitol Hill.

Manu, Congressman D'Esposito, is already one of the most endangered House Republicans.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it. In fact, he -- this is a district that Joe Biden carried in 2020 by 14 and a half points. So it shows you how this is central to the Democratic effort to take back the House majority. But in this report detailing that Congressman D'Esposito either violated house ethics rules or walked right up to him, it says, according to the ethics rules, you are prohibited from employing spouses or relatives, including stepchildren. Now this is one of the people that he reportedly employed was his fiance's daughter.

Also the there's a provision in the ethics code saying that lawmakers cannot engage in a sexual relationship with an employee of the House who is supervised by that member, and this report suggests that he indeed did employ this lover as part of this effort. Now, when he was questioned about this today by both me and other reporters, D'Esposito didn't want to answer many questions about it, but he did deny the story. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Is it true that you hired both your fiance's daughter and your lover? Is that true?

REP. ANTHONY D'ESPOSITO (R-NY): Absolutely not.

RAJU: You're denying all everything in the report?

D'ESPOSITO: I am.

RAJU: You didn't hire these people to put on your payroll?

D'ESPOSITO: There was nothing done that was not ethical.

RAJU: Are you going to -- would you cooperate with an Ethics investigation?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you spoken with the speaker about this?

D'ESPOSITO: Nope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible) mistress job?

D'ESPOSITO: I did not.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything you would say to reassure voters?

RAJU: Will you continue to run in your race?

D'ESPOSITO: Absolutely and win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, it took about 24 hours for him to issue that denial, Jake. In fact, initially, he did not deny the report when it came out in "The New York Times." And then last night, when he was asked by our colleague, Haley Talbot for about a couple minutes walking down the sidewalks of the Capitol, he was on his phone the whole time, would not answer any questions about this. Ultimately, he put up a statement late last night that also did not deny this, just simply attacked "The New York Times'" reporting without an outright denial. So that was the first time he issued an outright denial.

And Jake, it's also notable because D'Esposito is one of the more accessible members, typically of Congress, clearly not wanting to talk to reporters about any of this, even some of his colleagues, including one of his close colleagues, a fellow New York Republican freshman, Nick LaLota, declined to comment about this when I asked him earlier today. So undoubtedly, putting the Republicans in a difficult spot in a race that they absolutely need to hold as part of this effort to keep New York Republicans in their House sits to keep the GOP majority, putting this congressman in a difficult spot, raising questions about ethical violations in his own office. Jake.

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

Let's bring in Dana Milbank, an opinion columnist for the Washington Post, author of the brand new book, "Fools on the Hill, the Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists and Dunces Who Burned Down the House," right before Republicans narrowly took control of the House following the 2020 midterm elections.

Dana, you decided to exclusively cover the House of Representatives for your column and this book as a result, first of all, gorgeous Barry Blitt cover.

DANA MILBANK, COLUMNIST. "WASHINGTON POST": Yes, Barry.

TAPPER: Beautiful cartoon of Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and the rest. It reads like an annotated transcript of dysfunction from a cast of very colorful characters. You didn't obviously have the lead time to get Anthony D'Esposito's latest -- the allegations against him in your book. But as an old Washington hand, I've known you now for, I don't even know, quarter century, maybe more, that -- how would you -- how would you assess his response to this scandal in terms of what he just did?

MILBANK: Sort of cheap with the phone walking. That was typically what they do in these cases. But, you know, in the earlier days when we were, you know, covering Washington, this would have been career ending. But of course, this is just another day that ends in a Y. I think the greatest irony in the D'Esposito thing is he was the main guy pushing out Santos --

TAPPER: Right.

MILBANK: -- for ethics violations. And so what did we have last night? We had Santos online issuing an obscene tweet about D'Esposito. So it's all sort of delicious, but of course, they're sticking by him for the same reason, leadership stuck by him, by Santos.

TAPPER: Right.

MILBANK: Even to the very day they were expelling him from the House leadership, stuck with him because they absolutely need the vote. You had Nancy Pelosi in here just now. She had an identical virtually majority ran it and made it look easy. These guys can't get the most basic things done. They've been the most dysfunctional, least productive Congress since 1860. Now that's even slightly earlier than when we started covering politics.

TAPPER: Around the same time. What about -- I mean, how would you react if you were -- how would you advise D'Esposito? If this is all just a partisan hitch up, none of it's true, it's completely false, how would you react to a story like this about you, or how would you advise a friend going through it? Because I don't think that would be -- that behavior would be the, you know, walking around. I mean, he looked like a -- he was acting like a guilty guy.

[17:10:18]

MILBANK: He did look a wee bit guilty there. But I think the way you respond now is, I mean, Trump has taught us this, and Santos followed the same thing, it's their fault. The media is out to get me. The party establishment, never mind that he's part of the establishment --

TAPPER: Yes.

MILBANK: -- is out to get me or the leadership is out to get me. It's all disinformation and lies. And lo and behold, the party leadership is going to have to rally behind you, as they've had to done over and over again. I mean, come on, we've had fist fights in the basement. We've had, you know, people talking about alien space lizards investigating the deep state for being involved with Mussolini and UFOs. I mean, it's all just bonkers stuff, but they have to stick with it.

TAPPER: And CNN, not even a week ago, broke a story about Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson of North Carolina, who's the governor -- Republican candidate for governor there logging onto a website called, what was it, Nude Africa, or something like that, a porn site --

MILBANK: It was nothing good/

TAPPER: -- leaving comments. If you wonder who's the kind of person who leaves comments on a porn site, now you have an answer. And anyway, we caught up with a Ted Budd, Republican Senator Ted Budd, who said that despite these allegation, that a lot of people seem to believe, he's still going to vote for Robinson for governor. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED BUDD (R-NC): I've had conversations with him. Again, they're very disturbing, but it's up to him to prove to North Carolina voters over the next 40 some days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: "I've had conversations with him. Again, they're very disturbing, but it's up to him to prove to North Carolina voters the next 40 some days." And then off camera, he said, I'm going to always vote for Republicans because we have the best platform.

MILBANK: Shame is dead, Jake. I mean, we're seeing this over and over and over again.

TAPPER: Call themselves a Black Nazi. I should (inaudible). Yes.

MILBANK: Indeed. That's quite important too. Yes. I mean, we're seeing this happen day after day, shame being dead. And on the one hand, it's funny.

On the other hand, you know, look at what's actually happening here. I mean, I've written about this House majority. Majority of them have voted to keep Confederate names on military bases to abolish the Education Department. They're on record supporting a nationwide ban on abortion. You've got all kinds of -- you know, from Speaker Johnson down supporting the racist great replacement theory.

It's all fun and games. Unless Speaker Johnson is in power with Donald Trump, and suddenly all these poison pills that we talk about become actual possibilities of being law.

TAPPER: So, he, Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, has been speaker for 11 months. During that time, he's had to repeatedly rely on Democrats to keep the government funding going. You open the book with a quote from him. He says, quote, "I spend half my day as Speaker of the House and the other half as a mental health counselor." I assume that that is a reference to some of his members who are a little out there.

MILBANK: Right, to the crazy caucus, as John Boehner used to call them. The difference now, really, you know, John Boehner, Paul Ryan, there was still -- I mean, they were rolled by the likes of the House Freedom Caucus. They were always on the defensive, but there was still some substantial core there that -- of grown-ups that could fight back against it. The problem now is the lunatics are running the asylum. There are no grown-ups.

Clearly, Mike Johnson can't keep the lunatics.

TAPPER: But you don't think he's a lunatic. You think he's just having trouble --

MILBANK: Right. No, no. I mean the actual number of lunatics, I mean, if you want to take it as a proxy for the House Freedom Caucus, OK, so maybe we're talking about 40 of them, but two thirds of the caucus voted to overturn the election, even after the January 6 insurrection. So at some point it doesn't matter whether actual lunatics or whether they're sensible people who are just afraid to contradict the lunatics and go along with it.

TAPPER: Dana Milbank, always good to see you. Thank you so much. The book is out now. It's called "Fools on the Hill, the Hooligans, Saboteurs, Conspiracy Theorists and Dunces Who Burned Down the House."

I don't get it. I don't get the chance to say saboteurs enough --

MILBANK: No.

TAPPER: -- in my daily.

MILBANK: I'm glad to provided you that opportunity.

TAPPER: It's fun to say. It's fun to say.

We just got a brand new update on tropical storm Helene, which -- Helene, which is expected to slam the United States as a major hurricane this week. We're going to go live to the CNN extreme weather center for details. Plus, I'm going to be joined by the head of FEMA to discuss how that agency is preparing to help those Americans affected by the storm. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:18:44]

TAPPER: Breaking news in our national lead now. Hurricane warnings are now up for a large section of Florida's Gulf Coast. Tropical Storm Helene is gaining strength and is expected to become a category three hurricane before making landfall in just a few days. Meteorologist Chad Myers is in the CNN extreme weather center for us right now.

Chad, why is this storm forming so fast, and when do you think it will hit the U.S. and where?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: First question is developing this fast because the water is just very warm. This is likely as warm as it gets for the rest of the year. There's no shear in the storm. A storm likes to be left alone. Don't give me any wind from anyplace else, that's what this has.

It's making its own wind, and then it's going to head on up toward the Big Bend of Florida, 50 miles per hour right now, but by the time it makes landfall, likely 10:00 or so, I mean, plus or minus depends if it goes left or right or slows down, on Thursday night, this will likely be a category three, that's the forecast, 115 mile per hour storm. And I always say that's plus or minus 10 percent you cannot really get away with that when we're talking still about 36 to 48 hours. And then it makes landfall in the Big Bend and keeps moving very quickly. So here are the new hurricane warnings right through here, the Big Bend of Texas from Mexico beach all the way down to almost Tampa. And for Tampa, you have tropical storm warnings.

[17:20:07]

But the surge is going to be another problem. There's not many cities and beaches along this part of Florida, but 10 to 15 foot of surge will get into the places that you certainly don't want it to be. Now yesterday, the American model, we call it the GFS, was significantly stronger than the European model. Today, they really have balanced themselves out. So 110 to 115 mile per hour winds, and then we're going to push that wind all the way into parts of Georgia, because this storm is going to be moving at nearly 25 to 30 miles per hour.

It's not going to lose a lot of intensity like it always does when it hits land. In fact, this thing is still going to be making a lot of wind when it hits Atlanta, Georgia, Augusta, Georgia and into the Carolinas. And this is brand new. I want you to pay attention to this, because this is just now off the new computer models, this area of purple. Everywhere that you see purple from Atlanta all the way up into the Carolinas, that's 10 inches widespread or more of rain. That's going to cause significant flooding.

And you are hundreds of miles from where this storm is going to make landfall. Keep that in mind, this could be a significant freshwater flood, rainfall flood, not just a wind event and a storm surge event for the coast of Florida. Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Chad Myers in the CNN Severe Weather Center, thank you so much. We're going to be coming back to you a lot over the next few days.

States of emergency have been declared in more than 40 Florida counties and for the entire state of Georgia. The first mandatory evacuations orders have been issued in the Tampa St. Pete area with officials warning of massive flooding from storm surges. Earlier today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged Floridians to be prepared.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS, (R) FLORIDA: I think people just should know that, hey, this is out there. We are going to see significant impacts no matter what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: I want to bring in Deanne Criswell, the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also known as FEMA. Thanks for joining us.

So this could be the strongest storm to make landfall in more than a year. How are you telling people to prepare?

DEANNE CRISWELL, ADMINISTRATOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: Jake, we are taking this storm really seriously. You know, when you look at that track and when you look how it has intensified so rapidly, we want people to know that this could have some significant impacts.

When we think back to hurricane Ian, Hurricane Ian had about 14 feet of storm surge, and we saw the destruction there. This one, they're predicting up to 15 feet. And of course, that depends on where it's going to land. But still, don't just focus on the wind of this. Focus on the water, because the water is the most significant part.

And so we've been working close, Jake, with the state of Florida, the emergency management director down there. We've been moving resources in. Yesterday, today, we'll move the rest of our resources in tomorrow to be there ahead of the storm, and then we'll be there to support the state and the governor and whatever he might need to support those initial life safety activities.

TAPPER: So it's too early right now to pinpoint exactly where Hurricane Helene will make landfall when it is a hurricane. Right now, it's likely to impact areas still recovering from Hurricane Debby, which caused serious damage last month. Are those areas prepared for yet another hit?

CRISWELL: Well, the thing that I worry about the most, Jake, is the fact that there have been so many communities along the Gulf Coast of Florida that have had repeated hurricanes year after year, and they get a little bit of hurricane fatigue, right? But they have to take the threat seriously. And if you're told to evacuate, they need to evacuate. And so, people need to take the time today and tomorrow to know exactly what they're going to do if they're in an evacuation zone, and where they're going to go. And remember that if you're asked to evacuate, you don't have to go far.

You just need to get out of the threat of that storm surge, and that's what I want to make sure people are listening to, they're listening to their local officials so they can be ready to move their family if needed.

TAPPER: You had to implement immediate needs funding last month because of a low balance in the disaster relief fund. This is the second year in a row that the Disaster Relief Fund has been depleted even before peak hurricane season. Why? And what's the solution to this?

CRISWELL: You know, we've seen an increase in the number of the severe weather events and the number of major disaster declarations that we're having to provide to communities, but we're also seeing all of the bills come in from the COVID-19 declarations, which has really been the big piece of what has been creating a drain on the Disaster Relief Fund. When we implemented immediate needs funding, what that did is it made sure that we had enough funding available to respond to a storm like this. And so the important thing is for everybody in Florida and Georgia to know that we are ready to respond. We have enough funding to respond to this storm. But I only left enough to make sure I could respond to one big storm, and so until a CR is passed, you know, we may be in jeopardy for how much money we'll have available for another storm. TAPPER: All right. FEMA Administrator, Deanne Criswell, thanks for your time. Come back soon as the storm continues to barrel through to Florida. Appreciate your time today.

[17:25:04]

CRISWELL: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: President Biden giving one of his final speeches on the world stage with a warning and a message about the future.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Returning to our world lead. At the United Nations today, Joe Biden used his final speech as President of The United States before the General Assembly of the U.N. to lay out the stark challenges to world peace, from the Middle East to Ukraine to Africa. But as CNN's Kayla Tausche reports, President Biden also sounded an optimistic note.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN. PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today is the fourth time I've had the great honor speaking for to this assembly as President of the United States. It will be my last.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: After five decades in foreign policy, a final farewell on the --



[17:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT: -- probably as President of the United States, it will be my last.

KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After five decades in foreign policy, a final farewell on the world's biggest stage, drawing on conflicts of the past to outline optimism for the future.

BIDEN: Things can get better. We should never forget that. I know many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair, but I do not. We stand behind the principles that unite us. We stand firm against aggression. We end the conflicts that are raging today.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): A new war is raging in the Middle East since Biden's last United Nations address, 18 days before Hamas launched an assault on Israel that sent the region spiraling into a wider fight with Hezbollah. Biden calling for a ceasefire deal, two-state solution and detente in the region.

BIDEN: Full scale war is not in anyone's interest. Even a situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): In discussions at the U.N., Biden and his top aides working to stabilize that and other conflicts around the world. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling for a new peace summit before another winter at war.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: They are preparing to target our nuclear power plants, three of them. We have this information. If Russia is ready to go that far, it means nothing you value matters to Moscow.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): Outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says the West will keep arming Ukraine to convince Putin he can't win.

JENS STOLTENBERG, NATIO SECRETARY GENERAL: He realizes that he will not get what he wants on the battlefield, the total control of Ukraine, then he may be willing to accept the solution which is acceptable for Ukraine.

TAUSCHE (voice-over): That outcome no guarantee but Biden crediting vice president Harris for standing up to Russia and offering this parting shot to autocrats.

BIDEN: I decided after 50 years of public service, it's time for new generation of leadership to take my nation forward. My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power. We are here to serve the people, not the other way around.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAUSCHE: As Biden works to burnish his legacy during his final months in office. Now, foreign leaders are jockeying to meet directly with Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, either of whom could be representing the United States here in New York at the General Assembly next year. So far, the only meeting that's materialized is Harris' meeting with Zelenskyy, and that's scheduled to take place at the White House on Thursday. Jake.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Kayla Tausche, thanks so much. The state of Missouri is just about 90 minutes away from executing a man convicted of murder despite prosecutors wanting his conviction to be overturned. Prosecutors say he might not be guilty. I'm going to speak to a lawyer from Marcellus Williams next as the lawyers work to spare his life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:37:02]

TAPPER: Breaking news on our law and justice lead in just a few hours, the state of Missouri is set to execute a man who has maintained his innocence for more than two decades. Even the office that prosecuted Marcellus Williams now wants his murder conviction overturned. That office says he might not be guilty.

Still last night, Missouri Supreme Court and Missouri's Governor refused to grant a stay of execution, and as CNN's Whitney Wild reports for us now, the decision on whether to spare his life is up to the U S Supreme Court.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A more than two decade long fight by his family and supporters to stop the execution of Marcellus Williams in the state of Missouri ends tonight, despite pleas from St. Louis prosecutors and his defense attorney for clemency, Missouri Governor Michael Parson has refused in the final hours to let Williams live.

GOV. MIKE PARSON (R) MISSOURI: Every process always comes back to where it all began, and he was issued a death sentence many years ago, and it's our job is to execute that when the time comes.

WILD (voice-over): Williams has been on death row since 2001 when he was convicted of the 1998 stabbing murder of Felicia Gail, prosecutors said at the time, Williams told two people he killed Gail during a burglary. But Williams has adamantly maintained his innocence.

In 2017 then-Governor Eric Greitens launched a commission to review his case, but in 2023 current Missouri Governor Michael Parson disbanded the effort. Over the weekend, St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell and Williams' attorney Jonathan Potts filed a rare joint motion asking the Missouri Supreme Court to halt Williams' execution and send the case back to a lower court.

At Monday's hearing, attorneys argued Williams' rights were violated during the trial.

JONATHAN POTTS, FORMER PROSECUTOR IN WILLIAMS' CASE: The Trial prosecutor in Marcellus Williams' case has admitted under oath that he struck a juror in part because of his race. That is the unrefuted admission.

WILD (voice-over): But an attorney from Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey's office disagreed.

MICHAEL SPILLANE, MISSOURI ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: He said, they look like brothers, and they say, ah, that is an admission that this strike is race based. No, it's not. WILD (voice-over): Attorneys for Williams also argued DNA evidence

that might have exonerated Williams was contaminated when law enforcement mishandled the murder weapon, a point the Attorney General's Office denied.

SPILLANE: On those two claims that they mentioned, there's no clear and convincing evidence. There's no evidence at all.

WILD (voice-over): Williams' family now speaking out, saying they will watch his final moments

MARCELLUS WILLIAMS, JR., SON OF MARCELLUS WILLIAMS: I'm standing firm and show my dad he's not alone. If this was it comes to I'm ready for it, my mindset, my spirit strong.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WILD: Jake, last month, the St Louis prosecuting attorney's office entered into a consent -- consent agreement with Marcellus Williams, where he agreed to maintain to stay life in prison. Basically, it's called an Alford plea. And so he agreed that he would plead guilty to this first degree murder, he would serve out a sentence of life in prison.

The State Attorney General's Office opposed that, Jake, then they appealed to the state Supreme Court. The state Supreme Court, of course, as we know, did not intervene, and as you mentioned, the last voice here will be the U.S. Supreme Court. Back to you.

[17:40:06]

TAPPER: Whitney Wild, thank you so much. Let's bring in Tricia Rojo Bushnell. She's representing Marcellus Williams, and is the executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project. Tricia, thanks for joining us today. Have you spoken to Marcellus today?

TRICIA ROJO BUSHNELL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MIDWEST INNOCENCE PROJECT: The team has spoken with him today, and actually we just spoke with him momentarily ago. We actually just got news that the U.S. Supreme Court has denied a stay.

TAPPER: The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a stay. That's horrible news. I mean that that's it.

BUSHNELL: Yes.

TAPPER: That's the end of that. There's just nothing else that can be done unless the governor has a change of heart, which seems unlikely.

BUSHNELL: That is correct. Under what we have currently from the law and the governor tonight, Missouri will execute an innocent man, and they will do it even though the prosecutor doesn't want him to be executed, the jurors who sentenced him to death don't want him executed, and the victims themselves don't want him executed. That is what will be the state of justice tonight in Missouri. TAPPER: Why do you think that the governor or the state Supreme Court?

-- why did they deny him clemency? Why have they not stayed this execution?

BUSHNELL: What we hear time and time again is this argument of finality. It's too late. Things should have been brought before. We you know, things have been heard before, but they've never been heard with this evidence. They've never been heard with what this prosecutor knows and concedes to that Mr. Williams had an unfair trial that the prosecutor admits that he struck jurors based on their race, but we have a system that values finality over fairness, and this is the result that we will get from that.

TAPPER: Tell our viewers why you believe he is not guilty of this crime that the state of Missouri is going to execute him for, especially these questions about a key piece of evidence used in the attack.

BUSHNELL: Yes, there's no reliable evidence that was used to convict Marcellus. This is a crime, a brutal crime that occurred where they had no suspects, but the forensic evidence that they did have when it was tested later, all excluded Marcellus. They were not his bloody footprints at that crime scene. They were not his hairs at that crime scene. Instead, it took months, nearly a year, before incentivized informants came forward, only after there was a reward, only after they faced their own criminal charges, that they came forward and said that they heard Marcellus Williams say he had committed this crime.

They don't even say that they saw that he committed this crime. The other piece of evidence that they use is a laptop that Mr. Williams did sell that was from the victim's home. But what the jury never heard, and what the courts continue to just ignore, is that laptop was provided to him by one of those incentivized informants who, herself should have been a suspect, but instead was allowed to testify and get deals and sentence this man to death.

This is exactly what we see in Richard Glossip's case, which will be heard by the Supreme Court October 9, but unfortunately, Mr. Williams won't be alive to see it.

TAPPER: We've been covering the Glossip case as well, and people familiar with our show know that we don't just assume because somebody has been charged, arrested, prosecuted, indicted or sentenced that they actually are guilty, because the prosecute -- the prosecutorial system in this country is a machine that churns and churns for results, not necessarily for justice.

You obviously are understandably upset with this news that the U.S. Supreme Court is going to allow this execution to take place. Who else is in the group of friends and family and supporters of Marcellus that is also hearing this news in the last few minutes.

BUSHNELL: I mean, it was quite recent he has been formed with this but everyone is just now learning this news, and he is joined tonight. He will be there with several members of his legal team, as well as his son. But it is new to all of us, and I think it should be a shame to all of us that we have a system that will let a man be executed in spite of all of this, really is not a system of justice.

TAPPER: Certainly we don't call it a justice system on the show. We call it a legal system. What kinds of reforms need to take place so this doesn't happen again?

BUSHNELL: The first thing is just hearing claims on the merits. When somebody raises something, what we hear over and over again is it's too late. It should have been raised before instead of let's actually just look at the evidence that's being presented.

This, again, all of these but procedural rules, these rules that keep people out of court. We spend months and months and how much sort of money just trying to get back into court when, if they just heard them, if they just looked at the evidence that was there we could avoid this in the first place.

[017:45:00]

TAPPER: Trisha Rojo Bushnell with the Innocence Project, thank you so much for your time, and I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry for this result. It's horrible news.

BUSHNELL: Thank you.

TAPPER: The difficult announcement today from one of the biggest NFL quarterbacks of all time, that story's next.

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TAPPER: And we're back with our health lead today. Football Hall of Famer Brett Farve revealed he was recently diagnosed with Parkinson's disease CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me now. Sanjay, could his football career have a connection with his Parkinson's?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think it's fair to say that that there's possibly a connection here. I think we're always careful, because, you know, the cause and effect sort of relationship between football and Parkinson's disease that's not been established.

I mean, there's been these ideas that blows to the head could cause inflammation in the brain, could cause certain proteins in the brain to set you up for Parkinson's disease.

[17:50:03]

But when you look at some of the best data out there, this came from last year, they found that about a 61 percent increased likelihood that people would report Parkinson's disease if they were football players. The longer you played, the higher level that you played, seemed to increase your risk as well.

So, you know, he played for a long time, Jake. He was sacked a lot of times. He says he's had a lot of concussions over his career. There could be a relationship there. I think that's still to be determined. TAPPER: Sanjay switching topics now, because this week, as part of our

on call series with you, you're looking into the growing number of Americans who are looking to drink less alcohol.

GUPTA: Right. It's fascinating, Jake. This is a huge movement driven in large part by people that are kid's age. We both have Gen Zers. They're not drinking yet. But around that age group, these are people who say they want to avoid drinking more than we've seen in generations past. About 61 percent of Gen Zers say they increasingly would like to abstain from alcohol.

Around the country, if you take all adults, it's about 41 percent of people saying they're trying to drink less alcohol, and that's translating into this no alcohol or low alcohol movement. If you look over all the numbers just over the last couple of years, you can see that it's steadily increasing about 30 percent a year non-alcoholic drink sales expected to be about a billion dollars in the next two years. So, this seems to be going and increasing as well.

Top two reasons people want to be healthy, but they still want to be social, that's really what's driving it. I'll tell you quickly, Jake, what's interesting about 68 percent of people still say that they drink even if they're not drinking as much. And 93 percent of people who go and buy drinks like this in the store, this is a non-alcoholic gin or a non-alcoholic wine, they say that they are still buying regular alcoholic drinks at the same time. They refer to that as intermittent sobriety, but it's picking up. I don't know if you've seen this Jake athletic beer.

TAPPER: No.

GUPTA: It made 800 barrels of this in 2018. Last year, they made 170,000 barrels. That gives you some idea of the growth as well.

TAPPER: A reminder to everyone at home that you can scan the QR code on your screen and submit your questions and then Sanjay will be back later in the week to answer them. So Sanjay, other than just cutting back on alcohol, are those drinks healthier for you?

GUPTA: Yes, that's a good question. I mean, first of all, I would not under understate the significance of not drinking alcohol. I mean, the World Health Organization's come out and said, Look, there's probably no amount of alcohol that's actually good for you. Certainly should not pursue drinking in the pursuit of good health.

But let me show you something with Heineken specifically here. So put up a head to head comparison. Heineken has a regular beer and they have a non-alcoholic beer, so you can take a look at the numbers, Jake. Far fewer calories in the no alcohol version of the beer, but you do get more sugar, so you are trading carbs for alcohol to some extent.

So that may dictate people's decision making in terms of how much they would actually drink the no alcohol version. I should also point out that the Heineken is 0 percent alcohol, but there are some of these that have 0.5 percent so they're not entirely alcohol free as well. So that's something to pay attention to.

TAPPER: OK. But let's be honest here. How close is it to the real thing when it comes to what it tastes like?

GUPTA: Yes. Well, you know, in preparation for this segment, I did do some taste testing. I got to say it's not bad. I mean, the beer itself, you got water, you got grain, you got hops, you got yeast. The four ingredients remain the same. The difference is they don't ferment it as longer to the same high temperatures to actually get the alcohol.

So the taste is actually pretty good. What the makers will say is that they have a harder time creating mouth feel the way that wine, for example, feels in your mouth. That's a bigger challenge. So it's more the way that you experience it versus the taste. That seems to be the biggest difference.

TAPPER: All right. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much, and don't forget, submit your questions from Sanjay. He'll be back later this week to answer some of them. Just use that QR code on your screen right now.

Just in some breaking news about the suspect in that second assassination attempt against Donald Trump, we're going to be right back after this quick break, and then bring that news to you.

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[17:58:50]

TAPPER: Breaking news just into CNN, prosecutors have brought a major new charge against the man they say, camped outside Donald Trump's West Palm Beach Golf Course on September 15, armed with a rifle and an attempted assassination attempt. Let's bring in CNN's Evan Perez. Evan, what is Mr. Routh charged with?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, he's now charged with six counts, and one of them is attempted assassination of a major political -- presidential candidate. That's something that would bring life imprisonment if he is convicted at trial.

Now, you remember, of course, the prosecutors argued before a judge just yesterday that, Routh, Ryan Routh actually stalked the former president over several days, trying to track his movements. They were trying to -- he was trying to make sure he knew when Donald Trump would try to be at that golf course, and that's one of the things that he was doing in preparation.

And also in court filings, they produced this one document, which they say was a handwritten document which described his attempted -- his intent to attempt to assassinate Donald Trump. One of the final things that we should note this case has now been assigned Judge Eileen Cannon in Fort Pierce Florida.

[18:00:03]

TAPPER: Is a capital case at all? Could he be sentenced to death? PEREZ: According to the sheet here --