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160,000 Actors Strike Outside Major Studios, Networks; Actors Join Writers On Strike, Shutting Down Hollywood; Trump's Lawyers Ask Court To Throw Out Evidence, Disqualify DA In Georgia Probe Into 2020 Election Misconduct; Suspect Charged In Deaths Of Three Women In NY Case Involving Remains Of At Least 10 People; GOP Brings Culture War Fight To Defense Spending Bill. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 14, 2023 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:25]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: Actors on strike: Members of the Screen Actors Guild are walking the picket lines today after talks with the major studios fell through. So what's at stake? Billions of dollars.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And as Republican presidential candidates converge on Iowa, the state's governor is about to sign a six-week abortion ban. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SOLOMON: Hollywood pressing pause, 160,000 actors taking part in a history making strike that will effectively freeze all film and television production in the U.S. And some fear that the shutdowns could stretch through the summer or even the end of the year. The studios in the unions are feuding over two major issues, protections from artificial intelligence and also how to adequately compensate in the era of streaming.

Let's bring in CNN's Natasha Chen. She is outside Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles.

Natasha, we've been hearing from union members. What are those union members there telling you?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a lot of concern here while there also is a lot of high energy, because people are excited and motivated on day one of this strike, yet they're also seeing that their colleagues who are writers have been on this very same picket line on Sunset Boulevard for more than 70 days.

So there's also that feeling of apprehension of how long is this going to go on for? We've talked a lot about better compensation, about AI and a lot about streaming residuals. I want to show you something that actor Brittany Garms told me.

She said her brother is also an actor who's retired now, but he was in a show 30 years ago as a child. Here's what she said about the two residual checks that she and her brother get. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITTANY GARMS, SAG-AFTRA MEMBER: My brother was an actor. He's since retired, but in the '90s worked a lot and we sometimes get residuals. And he'll get checks from broadcast television shows that he did in 1995 that are worth more than residual checks from big corporations for films I did in 2020. And that is, I think, a big part of the reason why people are out here today.

I understand that streaming is such an uncharted territory, but there has to be some sort of cap because they're making money. All these millionaires are making money, but nobody else is seeing any of that money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHEN: Now, the president of SAG-AFTRA, Fran Drescher, yesterday addressed the media. She also spoke to me in a one-on-one interview talking about these incremental changes that they're being presented with. She compared it to moving furniture on the Titanic.

But at the same time, the studios have said in a statement that they offered a historic pay raise and groundbreaking protections regarding AI and that they're disappointed that SAG-AFTRA is the one who walked away.

SOLOMON: We'll wait to see what happens.

Natasha Chen, thank you, live for us in Los Angeles.

Let's head to the other side of the coast - the other coast. CNN's Chloe Melas live outside of NBC Universal Studios in New York.

So, Chloe, what are you seeing and, also, who are you seeing?

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: Well, first of all, Jason Sudeikis, who starts in Te Lasso, he's out here on the frontlines picketing, holding a sign here in solidarity. But what I am feeling is apprehension. I'm feeling anxiety. People are worried about how they're going to pay their bills. They believe that this really could be something that lasts for several months.

And I spoke to actors today who told me that they should not be the victims of the studios deciding to move forward with streaming. And even though, like, the head of Disney, Bob Iger, coming out and saying that maybe they overshot how lucrative streaming could be.

These actors are saying, well, it's not their fault, and that they need to be paid more. And AI is a real threat to them. I spoke to the Vice President of the SAG-AFTRA New York local chapter who had this to say about how streaming can affect actors' pay, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA POWELL, VICE PRESIDENT OF SAG-AFTRA'S NEW YORK: It's affected how we get paid residuals, which are what keeps us going from job to job. There's no tail to streaming. Once they own it, they own it and we stopped making money. And that's changed our lives completely, especially the rank and file working class actor.

So getting a piece - a bigger piece of the streaming pie, getting a success metric, they don't want to share their numbers of how well a show is doing, so that we don't share in the success if a show is a hit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:05]

MELAS: These actors and some writers who are out here today picketing, they are telling me that they're worried about losing their homes. They're worried about being able to pay their bills, not to mention that they do have - understand how the - it's not just actors and writers who are being affected right now, it's craft services, it's security, it's the crews who are putting this - put these shows and movies together that are all being affected right now. And they hope that they can come to terms on something soon, but they are prepared to see this last for several months, Rahel?

SOLOMON: Well, it's the entire industries that Hollywood serves.

Chloe Melas live for us there in New York. Thank you, Chloe. Brianna,

KEILAR: A CNN exclusive, two more top state election officials have been interviewed by federal prosecutors investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Pennsylvania Secretary of State, Al Schmidt, and New Mexico Secretary of State, Maggie Toulouse Oliver. That makes four secretaries of state who have now been interviewed. The others being in Michigan and Georgia.

So speaking of Georgia here, a charging decision in the election interference probe there, that could come as soon as next month and we're just learning that lawyers for former President Trump are seeking a new court order. They're asking for evidence collected last year by special grand jury to be thrown out and for the district attorney, Fani Willis, to be disqualified.

CNN Senior Justice Correspondent, Evan Perez, is here for us. All right. Let's start with the latest on the secretaries of state being interviewed by the Special Counsel.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, you'll remember Al Schmidt, he's a Republican in Philadelphia. He was at the center of a lot of the pressure of former President Trump and his allies, trying to claim that there was fraud in Center City, Philadelphia, in the election results.

So he's now been interviewed by the Special Counsel, as part of this investigation. Margaret (ph) Toulouse Oliver, she's Secretary of State in New Mexico. She's also been interviewed. And in the case of - certainly of Schmidt, he's been very vocal about what he says with some of the pressures that were being put on them during that period. And what we know is that the Special Counsel has certainly focused on

the seven states that were the - that were certainly at the center of what the former president was trying to do, which was to set aside the legal votes of citizens across this country and try to substitute his own, claiming that he had won those states when he had not.

So we know, Brianna, that this is an investigation that has intensified. We expect that sometime soon, we'll see some charging decisions. We don't know who will be at the center of that. But that's certainly coming down the pike.

KEILAR: Yes, we'll be watching for that. And then in this other case, in Georgia, where we are learning that lawyers are seeking a new court order asking for evidence collected by a special grand jury to be thrown out. Didn't they try that before?

PEREZ: Sure.

KEILAR: No? Yes?

PEREZ: Yes. You got to keep trying, right? I mean ...

KEILAR: They can do that. They just keep trying.

PEREZ: You can try different courts and certainly the judge that was overseeing the special grand jury - the special purpose grand jury in Fulton County has already rejected these claims. And now he - the former president's legal team is going to the Fulton County Superior Court and the Georgia Supreme Court trying to try his luck there. These are Hail Mary passes, so to speak, and so we'll see.

But the former president's legal team, in their filing says this, they say that this is a violation of his fundamental constitutional rights, pointing out the fact that he is running for president. And so that's one reason why the work of the special purpose grand jury should be set aside to be tossed out and saying that it's not a legitimate, has no authority.

Now, of course, you as you pointed out, this - the special grand - the real grand jury, the one that could bring an indictment, that has already begun sitting in Fulton County, and we expect Fani Willis, the district attorney there, a Democrat, says that the decision on bringing charges could come in the next few weeks - which is why I think ...

KEILAR: Again, we'll be waiting, that's very soon.

PEREZ: Yes, which is why I think you see the former president making this last gasp.

KEILAR: Last ditch effort.

PEREZ: Yes.

KEILAR: All right. Evan Perez, thank you. Rahel? SOLOMON: Well, right now Iowa is the center of the political universe

when it comes to Republican politics. First, half a dozen Republicans who were running for president in Des Moines are trying to court evangelicals at The Family Leadership Summit.

And second, in minutes Iowa's governor, Kim Reynolds, will sign the state's new abortion land outlaw - ban outlawing nearly all abortions as soon as six weeks of pregnancy, before most women even know that they're pregnant. Former Vice President Mike Pence praise the governor at the summit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're standing here on a historic day in Iowa. Within just a few short hours, Gov. Kim Reynolds would take to this stage and sign into law historic protections for the unborn.

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And I think all the members of the family leader here in Iowa prayed and worked and fought to bring us to this day and it's an honor to be with you all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Gov. Reynolds set up a special session to get this bill passed which the legislature did three days ago. Iowa abortion providers have already submitted a legal challenge to it.

Joining me now is State senator, Cherielynn Westrich, who voted for the law.

Senator, thanks for being on the program.

So you say that you supported this ban because your constituents wanted it. But how do you square that with polling that suggests that most Iowans actually believe that abortion should be legal?

SEN. CHERIELYNN WESTRICH (D-IA): Hi, thanks for having me on.

I would say that the polling questions were very unclear and I don't think that that polling really reflected the views of Iowans given that we have literally a supermajority ...

SOLOMON: Senator, I think we lost you. We'll trying to get your shot back up and get you back on, because it's an important issue and it's an important day in Iowa for sure, so we'll try to get that brought back up and then we'll speak to the senator hopefully. Brianna.

KEILAR: We'll try to reestablish this.

In the meantime, this just in to CNN, the suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders, pleading not guilty over the death of three women. We have details on his first court appearance just ahead, so stay with us for the very latest on that. Plus, the Pentagon and politics, the bill that authorizes how the

Pentagon spends money. We have much more information on the path of that through Congress right now.

And later, record heat gripping the U.S. We're going to explain how a new type of paint, yes paint, could fight global warming and help you stay cool.

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KEILAR: Major new developments in a cold case involving a string of Long Island killings near a very popular beach. The suspect is a New York City architect and he has just pleaded not guilty in his first court appearance. He is charged with six counts of murder in connection with the deaths of three women and police say he is the prime suspect in the death of a fourth. The women dubbed the "Gilgo Four."

Let's go now to Brynn Gingras. She is in New York following all of these developments.

And these are developing as we speak here, Brynn. We're learning how police were able to link him to these crimes. I understand it involves a fake email and a burner phone. What can you tell us?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, Brianna, last time I saw he was going through that bail application. I tell you it reads like a crime novel. There are so much detail in this, but let's first talk about that suspect.

His name is Rex Heuermann. He did just appear before a judge. He pled not guilty on those charges that you just mentioned. This is a man who is a family man, married, two kids, owns an architecture firm in New York City but has a home on Long Island where these murders happened and he was actually arrested last night by authorities.

Let's go back to 2010, that's when these murders were uncovered during a missing person's investigation. Police then found the body of one woman who he's charged with the killing of, first-degree and second- degree murder. And then subsequently days later, three more bodies were found that police are tying three murders to Heuermann. And they believe, like you said, he's the prime suspect in one of the four - in the fourth death. Like you said, the Gilgo Four.

Let me read their names quickly to you: Melissa Barthelemy; Amber Costello; Megan Waterman and Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

Now, this was a case that has haunted police, but it really picked up again in an investigation just a couple of years ago when there was new leadership within Suffolk County and that commissioner who was there who used to be formerly NYPD started a task force and they collected just a slew of evidence against Heuermann, including burner phones that they say in this court paperwork he used to contact sex workers. These victims were believed to be sex workers advertising on

Craigslist. It's also believed he use these burner phones to contact the victim's family members and taunt them and ask them questions after the murders happened.

It's believed according to the paperwork that these murders happen while his wife was out of the country. Some of the other information that they - that we've uncovered in these documents is that he had email addresses where he was researching the crimes, about serial killers, the victims' names, looking up pornography sites, sadistic sites.

This is some of the evidence that authorities say they have collected against Heuermann and how they eventually nabbed him according to sources and the court paperwork is not only the burner phones but also a physical description of a witness who identified this person and also a pickup truck that was related to Heuermann's brother. But then they actually nabbed them according to the paperwork by DNA.

They were able to connect a hair that was found with a - in a burlap sack which one of the victims was buried in and they connected it to a pizza crust that was eaten by Heuermann. The DNA matched about more than 99 percent according to have the paperwork.

So again, this reads like a crime novel, so much detail in this court paperwork of why they say Heuermann is their prime suspect, again, in four murderers, but he is charged in three with first and second- degree murder of three of these women.

And again, I can't express enough on Long Island in New York. This is a case that has just haunted law enforcement as they try ...

KEILAR: Yes.

GINGRAS: ... to uncover who did these killings. And it's very obvious, there was a lot of investigative work from many police departments, not just Suffolk County, but Nassau County. The FBI, this task force that really energized this case and - now has a suspect in custody.

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KEILAR: I think that's what really is striking about this, Brynn, is just that they worked hard. They got creative just thinking about ...

GINGRAS: Yes.

KEILAR: ... cell towers, the information they knew what they didn't know, how could they connect the dots and they just kind of put one foot in front of the other and did a whole lot of work to figure this out. How are the families of some of these victims?

I mean, you mentioned that they believe that he taunted some of them and they had been living, waiting for years and years trying to get answers, how are they responding to this news?

GINGRAS: Yes, we're still trying to get reaction from the family - the victims, family members of those four women. But there are other murders that were uncovered in those areas and there's been huge speculation who did those as well. Are they all connected, are they two separate murders that are - murderers, rather, that are acting and burying bodies in the same place. It's just been such a mystery for people who live on Long Island.

So we are hearing from some of those family victim members and they are just saying there's relief. And maybe he's not tied yet to my family member, but at least we know police are working on it, because that's been a big thing.

These murders happened. These are women who were sex workers. There was a lot of speculation that police were just not working hard enough, because these women's occupations. And so this has just come as a big sigh of relief that there may be someone that could be tied to their loved ones.

But again, we're still working on getting reaction from those family members who he has now been charged with murder for.

KEILAR: All right. Brynn, thank you so much for updating us on that. We appreciate it.

GINGRAS: Yes.

KEILAR: Rahel?

SOLOMON: Well, coming up for us, as record heat batters much of the country, there's a new tool in the fight against global warming, it's paint. Yes, paint. We have that story coming up next.

And the White House has a new plan to help millions of people with student loans and it could save people thousands of dollars a year. I'll tell you what it is, next.

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SOLOMON: Welcome back, a critical military spending bill is in the balance. The National Defense Authorization Act just narrowly passed the GOP-led House, 219 to 210, but it could be doomed in the Democratic-majority Senate and that's because hard-line conservatives added some amendments that would gut certain Pentagon social policies, including the abortion travel reimbursement policy, that's become a flashpoint in Washington.

Let's go to CNN's Melanie Zanona on the Hill. So Melanie, where does the bill go from here?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, Rahel, I can tell you, there is a lot of concern on Capitol Hill right now, about how the House and Senate are going to come to an agreement on a final product. This has been a bill that has been traditionally bipartisan, but it has been thrust into the center of the Republican-led culture wars. And that is because Speaker Kevin McCarthy made the strategic decision to cater to his right flank and allow amendment votes on a number of controversial issues and some of those amendments were adopted.

That includes an amendment that would ban the Pentagon from covering travel costs for out of state abortions, banned the Pentagon from displaying the pride flag, banned the Pentagon from being able to do diversity, equity and inclusion training. And also ban certain medical care or transgendered troops.

Now, we should point out here that none of these amendments are going to survive in the Democratic-controlled Senate. So it all sets up a huge clash between the House and the Senate, especially because Speaker Kevin McCarthy appointed Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a firebrand to that negotiating team for later this year. And already hard-line conservatives are warning McCarthy to hold the line, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): We've established our position, right. We are establishing our position on what the Defense Department ought to look like. Now, we ought to hold that line, right. That's how these things work.

REP. DAN BISHOP (R-NC): We don't have to go pass legislation with more Democrat votes and Republican votes and it's a betrayal of Republican voters when we do, so I think we've - this is a very important step in the right direction.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): When you have a man in a dress that's recruiting or promoting the military, that doesn't fly in East Tennessee. It doesn't fly anywhere - in most places in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZANONA: Kevin McCarthy has really defended his decision to include these amendments in the defense bill saying really it's on Democrats for trying to force their social agenda on the Pentagon. And the Republicans are just trying to rein that in and end this so-called wokeism in the military.

But I pressed Kevin McCarthy on the Freedom Caucus, the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, taking credit for shaping this bill and asked him, are they the ones really running the House here. His response was he laughed and said, I don't think so. But no doubt they have had a tremendous influence not only on the GOP legislative agenda, but also on Kevin McCarthy's speakership, Rahel?

SOLOMON: Well, Melanie, to that point, I mean, talk to me a bit about this state of U.S. politics right now, because as you pointed out, this previously would have been - this defense bill previously would have been seen as must pass and yet this time around, it is quite contentious.

ZANONA: Yes, it is gotten extremely contentious, again, because of all these amendments that were included. And you have Democrats, including Adam Smith. He is the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee who helped craft this initial bill.

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He voted for it in committee.