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Pelosi Appoints GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger To January 6th Committee; NFL: Outbreaks Among Unvaccinated Players Could Mean Forfeits; Fauci: Mask Guidelines For Fully Vaccinated Under Discussion; Interview With Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS); McCarthy Says GOP Will Begin Its Own Investigation into January 6th; Trump Supporters Echo False Election Claims At Arizona Event. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 25, 2021 - 14:00:00   ET

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


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[14:00:29]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right. New today. A bipartisan boost for the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing that Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has accepted a position on the panel.

He'll join Congresswoman Liz Cheney as another Republican on the committee, this after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all of his GOP picks because Pelosi rejected two of them.

In the meantime, the man whose big lie inspired the Capitol riot is still spreading his bogus election fraud claims.

Former president Donald Trump rallying a crowd last night in Arizona, the very state where a sham audit of the 2020 election has dragged on for months. Trump delivering less of a speech and more of a nonstop list of grievances while sending these marching orders to Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Then they say, well sir, we have to get on to the future. Let me tell you, you're not going to have a future. First of all, our nation is being destroyed, but you're not going to have a future in '22 o '24 if you don't find out how they cheated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: The big lie will be front and center on Capitol Hill this week when the January 6th Select Committee holds is first hearing.

I want to go live now to Capitol Hill reporter Melanie Zanona. Melanie, good to see you. So what more do we know about the addition of Kinzinger to this committee?

MELANIE ZANONA, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: Well, this was a big move by Speaker Nancy Pelosi adding Kinzinger to the select panel and making him now the second Republican to join the investigation.

We at CNN reported first that Pelosi was considering this idea as a way to bring even more legitimacy to an already bipartisan investigation. She made it official today, however.

Kevin McCarthy, the GOP leader, wasting no time weighing in. He is saying that Pelosi's structuring the committee around her own political needs. He said in a statement, quote, "Speaker Pelosi's rejection of the Republican nominees to serve on the committee and self-appointment of members who share her preconceived narrative will not yield a serious investigation.

Of course, Kinzinger is likely to face a lot of blowback from his own party, just like Cheney did. But he's brushing those concerns aside and making clear that he is ready to embrace this assignment head on.

He said in a statement saying that he agreed to serve on the committee that "While this was not a position I expected to be in or sought out, when duty calls, I will always answer."

Now, this of course, comes two days before the committee is scheduled to hold its first hearing featuring testimony from police officers who responded to the attack on January 6th, some of whom were beaten, tazed, and maced by the pro-Trump mob.

We are also expecting the committee to play video clips of the attack that day and body-worn camera footage from some of these officers. So it's going to be incredibly moving and powerful. But look, more broadly, the members that I spoke to said the mission here is to establish what happened that day.

Eventually, they're going to get into the facts of why this happened, but for now they are very much focused on countering the whitewash that's going on in the Republican Party and really just putting a set of facts on the table about what happened that day, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Melanie, thank you so much for that.

ZANONA: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Joining me right now, the chairman of the U.S. House select Committee on the insurrection, Democrat Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi. I hope we really didn't lose your signal right there, Congressman.

Are you with us.

All right. We're going to try and re-establish that because we certainly want to talk to him and have a lot of questions about how the committee is building and now with the add of a second Republican. And of course Tuesday's hearings begin this week. And at CNN we'll have special live coverage of the hearing beginning at 9:00 a.m. with our Wolf Blitzer. We're going to get back to that in a moment.

All right. Meantime, growing fallout now from the NFL's vaccine push. An assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings is now out of a job after refusing the vaccine. It's not mandatory for players, but players who do get COVID could face hefty fines, and their teams may have to forfeit games.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta has this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With the first pre-season game less than two weeks away, the National Football League is sending a warning to unvaccinated players.

[14:04:57]

DR. GUPTA: CNN obtaining this memo sent leaguewide on Thursday saying, "If a game cannot be rescheduled within the current 18-week schedule and is canceled due to a COVID outbreak among nonvaccinated players, the club with the outbreak will forfeit the contest."

The threat comes with financial consequences, too.

According to the memo, "If a postponed game can't be rescheduled, players from neither team will receive their scheduled salary and the team with the outbreak will be responsible for all additional expenses incurred by the opposing team."

RICH EISEN, REPORTER, NFL NETWORK: Last year when we did not have a vaccine to help out, the NFL held a game on every day of the week. If the NFL does not want to do that again, nor should they do that again if there is science that can be relied on to make things potentially easier and safer.

DR. GUPTA: Some current players like DeAndre Hopkins turning to twitter to complain about the new rule. The Arizona Cardinals wide receiver tweeting and deleting, "Never thought I would say this, but being put in a position to hurt my team because I don't want to partake in the vaccine is making me question my future in the NFL."

And Buffalo Bills' wide receiver Cole Beasley who tweeted in June, "I may die of COVID, but I'd rather die actually living."

But according to the NFL, most players are choosing to get the vaccine, saying at least 78 percent have received at least one dose, and 14 of the 32 teams have reached above the 85 percent vaccination threshold. In 2020 the league experienced several postponed games due to coronavirus outbreaks.

DR. ALLEN SILLS, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, NFL: We had an outbreak in Tennessee, and when we went in and really dug into that and tried to understand how did transmission occur despite our protocols, that's when we began to realize it wasn't just six feet in 15 minutes.

DR. GUPTA: I spoke to the NFL's chief medical officer throughout the season about navigating the sport during the pandemic.

(on camera): How hard would it be to replicate what you were able to do at the NFL?

DR. SILLS: What prevented transmission was mask usage, avoiding in- person meetings, staying in the open air environments, not eating together, prompt symptom reporting, isolation of anybody that's exposed.

DR. GUPTA (voice over): Now while the nation faces a summer surge fueled by the Delta variant, Dr. Anthony Fauci says he thinks the NFL's move could encourage others to enforce similar vaccine protocols to help slow the spread of the virus.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: I think the NFL is sending a very strong signal that it's very important to get vaccinated if you want to play football and you want to do it in a way that you feel unrestricted and not worrying about any penalties, you just get vaccinated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much for that reporting.

All right. Coming up, with coronavirus cases surging and vaccine rates falling, a federal mask mandate is back on the table. Will you need to wear one even if you are fully vaccinated?

Also ahead, Los Angeles County is reporting its highest number of COVID cases since February. Find out what has doctors there are worried most.

[14:08:01]

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Do you think masks should be brought back for vaccinated Americans?

DR. FAUCI: You know, Jake, this is under active consideration. If you're asking am I part of the discussion, yes, I am.

Part of the discussion, the CDC still says and recommends that if you are vaccinated fully that you do not need to wear a mask indoors. However, if you look at what's going on locally in the trenches in places like L.A. County, the local officials have the discretion, and the CDC agrees with that ability and discretion capability to say, you know, you're in a situation where we're having a lot of dynamics of infection so even if you are vaccinated, you should wear a mask.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: All right. That was Dr. Anthony Fauci this morning making it clear that mask guidelines even for those vaccinated against the coronavirus are not off the table. And the reason is obvious.

Officials are growing exceedingly frustrated by the choice many Americans are taking not to get the free and widely available vaccine. Less than 50 percent of the country is fully vaccinated.

And at this pace, a new model projects a worst-case scenario of 4,000 deaths daily in the U.S. The U.S. is going in the wrong direction as the Delta variant sweeps across the country. Nearly every state is now reporting more COVID-19 cases than the week prior.

CNN's Paul Vercammen is in Los Angeles for us, one of the cities that has already reinstituted a mask mandate.

So Paul, even the new rules, hospitalizations have more than doubled in the last few weeks. What more are you learning?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and that's exactly right, Fred. The hospitalizations are a very important number.

Let's look at the overall L.A. County numbers. They at last count, dipped below 2,600 or to 2,600 I should say, cases. But those hospitalizations, 688. They are climbing rapidly and 10 deaths at last report.

So let's talk about those hospitalizations. I'm at the County USC Medical Center. In June we saw the cases drop. We saw COVID-19 cases here as the epidemiologists were telling us, one or two a day.

Now they have 10 to 15 a day, almost every one of them are people who refused to get their vaccine, their shots.

WHITFIELD: The numbers are extraordinary.

[14:14:42]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. PAUL HOLTOM, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, LAC/USC MEDICAL CENTER: As of right now this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. It's just extraordinarily important. That is, people who are vaccinated now seem to have a high level of protection. The people who are seeing the numbers that are increasing are all among people who have not gotten the vaccine.

And moreover, it's changed. We can't say any more well, it's the old people who are going to die. It's young people now who are coming in very sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: So, I asked the doctor, well, who are these people, what are they telling you, how do they get COVID-19? And he built a profile for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. HOLTOM: Everyone has a lot of reasons why they didn't get vaccinated. Either they have vaccine hesitancy. They say they want to wait until the FDA gives full approval. But many of them just say it wasn't important to them right now. They didn't have time. They're younger. They didn't think they were at risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And as we talk about the hospitalizations, again almost 700 in Los Angeles County. Don't forget we've seen this happen time and time again in the pandemic. There's a lag time where we will see the deaths in about three weeks start to spike as well.

Back to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Paul Vercammen, thank you so much in Los Angeles -- all very worrisome.

Joining us right now Dr. William Schaffner. He's a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University's Medical Center. Dr. Schaffner, so good to see you.

So we just heard Dr. Anthony Fauci say mask guidelines for vaccinated Americans are under active discussion. In your opinion, do you think it's time for the fully vaccinated to mask up again indoors and for it to be more than encouraged but mandated?

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER: Well Fredricka, it's a very important question, and it is under discussion. And as Dr. Fauci said, local health jurisdictions have the option of implementing them locally when they see cases go up.

You know, we are a very broad country. And I think mandates, new mandates would be acceptable in many parts of the country. In my own state, maybe in the metropolitan area such as Nashville, but not in our rural areas, I don't think. They never had a mask requirement, and I think it would be resisted.

So I think the locals have the best fingers on the pulse and they will do what's best locally to try to curtail the spread of this virus.

WHITFIELD: But is this less an issue of what people want and more an issue of what people need?

DR. SCHAFFNER: Well, isn't that the issue, of course? And as I have been speaking to some of my neighbors and friends who say it's their personal decision, I say they're half right.

Of course, it is their personal decision. But this is a contagious infection. Their decision influences what people do around them. They put them at danger.

This is a little like driving on the red light. Yes, that's your decision, puts you in danger, but endangers others also. WHITFIELD: Right. Dr. Jerome Adams, the former U.S. Surgeon General

says it would be easier to mandate vaccines once the vaccines themselves are fully approved. Do you think that's what's going to make a big difference?

DR. SCHAFFNER: It would help. Full approval would help. There are more colleges then I think would require it of incoming students. Our health system here is already mandating the vaccine for its leadership. We're going to do that for the rank and file also.

And I think other medical centers would do things similar and move ahead more rapidly if we had full approval. It would just get that issue off the table.

WHITFIELD: An Associated Press poll finding that 35 percent of those surveyed probably will not get the shot, 45 percent said they definitely won't. So that tells you how dug in some people are. And just like the Alabama governor said, I don't know what else to say or what to do.

What would you say or do to encourage people who are so dug in against the vaccine?

DR. SCHAFFNER: Well, there's encouragement, and then there is obligation. And on the encouragement side, I would like to see many local people who are trusted, religious leaders come forth and say unequivocally I want everyone in my congregation, whatever the religion is, to be vaccinated.

The business community has been silent on this issue. I want them to come forward.

And as to the governor, if she made it obligatory, mandatory that every state employee be vaccinated, the line would form to the right and people would be rolling up their sleeves.

WHITFIELD: So you do feel like there's at least one more thing that she might be able to do.

All right. So, President Biden, he addressed the issue of vaccine resistance, particularly targeting, you know, conservatives this week. And this is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: What we have now is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. And, by the way, you know that little expression, you noticed a lot of our very conservative friends have finally had an altar call. They've seen the lord, whether it's on fox news or whether it's the most conservative commentators.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:20:01]

WHITFIELD: Do you think on the horizon, more who have been resistant will have an about face?

DR. SCHAFFNER: It will take local leadership, people who are trusted and known to make that call. Because I haven't seen a great movement yet toward the proverbial altar as the President has said.

This has got to be done locally by people who are trusted in that community and let them know it's important that every individual get vaccinated to protect themselves, but also to protect their families and everyone around them to make the entire community more secure.

WHITFIELD: Dr. William Schaffner, thank you so much. Continue to be well. And thank you so much for trying to help keep the rest of us well.

All right. Coming up, after posting a hefty bail of $250 million, the man who helped raise $100 million for Trump's inauguration heads to court on charges of illegal foreign lobbying. Why prosecutors had feared he was a flight risk.

[14:21:05]

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WHITFIELD: All right. Back to our top story.

A short time ago House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announcing that Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has accepted a position on the January 6th special committee. Now two Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger on this committee.

Joining me right now is the chairman of the U.S. House Select Committee on the insurrection, Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi.

Congressman, hopefully our signal lasts here. Thanks so much for hanging in there. Appreciate it.

So, we just learned that Republican Adam Kinzinger has in fact accepted. The House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has already responded saying that this is not going to be a serious investigation and that in his view this is now in step with what he calls the House Speaker's plan as a preconceived narrative, the selection of these two.

What's your response to that?

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Well obviously, minority leader McCarthy had an opportunity to do another way. As you know, I negotiated a 5-5 no member of congress committee with subpoena power and everything. He turned it down.

Today is 200 days from January 6th. Congress has to do something. Speaker Pelosi is absolutely correct in doing what she's doing. If Republicans want to fix what occurred on January 6th, they'll join the Select Committee.

Congressman Kinzinger is a good person. He comes with excellent credentials. I look forward to working with him.

WHITFIELD: And McCarthy had selected five. House Speaker Pelosi, you know, cited two of them, Jordan and Banks, not being appropriate on the committee, particularly because they did not want to certify the election.

McCarthy baulked at that, saying that, you know, Pelosi wants to hand- pick people who are all trying to meet the same objective. What do you say to him in terms of what the objective is, is fairness about trying to find the truth, or is fairness about finding allegiance to the former president?

THOMPSON: Well, the charge for the Select Committee is to look at the scope and circumstances which January 6th occurred, plain and simple. That's what we plan to do this coming Tuesday by talking to the rank and file members of law enforcement who put their life on the line defending the United States Capitol and the people in it.

So we plan to start from there, go forward, wherever the facts lead us after that.

But first we want to make sure that we say "thank you" to the heroes who kept this government of ours where it is today. Had they failed, democracy in America as we know it would've also failed.

So we want to hear from them. We want to hear what it's like to go home to talk to their families, what kind of issues from a health, mental health standpoint they are having. Members of Congress and the public need to know what these men and women had to endure on January 6th.

WHITFIELD: And we're going to hear from at least four of them, right. Four who are to testify on Tuesday.

I wonder if you could recall for us, how fresh in your memory what that day was like for you.

THOMPSON: Well, Fredricka, to be honest with you, every day I'm involved. Every day I get a chance to see a new clear -- it concerns me greatly how close we came to losing everything we had as a country, our standing in the world, everything. This riot was absolutely devastating to the perception of democracy in this United States.

So for me and my family, we are concerned about it, concerned about it to the point that we are committed on this Select Committee to make sure that we get to the facts wherever they lead us and ultimately frame (ph) up solutions that will guarantee to the public that this will never happen again, those horrendous days.

[14:30:00]

THOMPSON: If you had told me before January 6th something like this would have occurred, I'd say, you'd have to be out of your mind. We're the greatest democracy in the world. People want to be like us. But now, when they see what occurred on January 6th, there's question in their mind as to whether or not we are still that beacon of democracy that we used to be.

WHITFIELD: Is it your plan to call the former president to testify or even his former chief of staff?

THOMPSON: Well, let me say nothing's off limits. We'll follow the facts. On the meetings we've had with the members of this committee, they have all said wherever the facts in our investigation lead us, that's where we'll go. So, nothing is sacred.

Again, this is our democracy at stake. Countries around the world pattern those democracies around the world, pattern themselves after the United States. Can you imagine after every election we'd have a riot? Then we're no better than third-world countries.

America is a better country, and that's why this Select Committee has an awesome responsibility to make sure that we can guarantee that acts that occurred on January 6th never happen again, not just in Congress or the capital but nowhere in this country.

So, all these other things that you hear, nothing is more at risk than the very fabric of our government if we don't get this Select Committee up and going and come back with actionable items for Congress to take up.

WHITFIELD: So, while you said you will go wherever the investigation takes you and while you will invite people to testify, will it boil down to having to subpoena people including the former president?

THOMPSON: Well, Fredricka, looking at our committee and its composition, we don't have any shrieking violets shrieking violets on there. Everybody is committed. They are great patriots. They love their country.

And if the issuance of a subpoena by me as chairman is what we have to do to get individuals to come and testify, we will do that. If we have to subpoena records, be they telephone logs or whatever, we have absolutely no problem in pursuing the truth.

WHITFIELD: The big lie clearly has been very pervasive. And we see a consequence of that as January 6th insurrection. And we also know the former president was still speaking in these tones last night in Arizona. But take a listen to how influential that messaging has been. We talked to some of the people at that rally. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think about how the vote went down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was stolen. It was completely stolen. Trump won in a landslide.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do you think happened in 2020?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was broad. Broad is a good word.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What brings you here today? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The election was stolen from us. So, we're here to support President Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do all of you agree you don't -- you're not certain about the election results?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Do you worry that this commission, that testimony that the findings from this investigation still will not win over people who are expressing sentiments like that?

THOMPSON: Well, let me say any recommendation or finding we come up with, we'll be able to prove Former President Trump is repeating a lie after lie after lie. And, you know, if you repeat that lie enough times, there's somebody out there who will begin to believe it. Obviously, there are people who believe it. But, as you know, there is no facts that goes with the lie up to this point.

The difference is our committee is tasked with coming up with the facts to prove whatever positions we take. And that's the commitment that I give the public as well as the other members of this committee will give also that nothing we present will be anything other than the truth.

WHITFIELD: Congressman Bennie Thompson, thank you so much for being with us, and thanks for working through the computer gremlins to get you on the air and back with us. Appreciate it. And of course, CNN will be having special live coverage of Tuesday's hearings beginning at 9:00 a.m. with Wolf Blitzer leading. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. Lots going on this week. Tomorrow, the chair of Former President Trump's inaugural committee is due in court on charges of illegal foreign lobbying. Tom Barrack has been out of jail since Friday on a $250 million bail deal. And one of the conditions that 74-year-old wear a GPS monitoring bracelet. He is accused of secretly working as an agent for the United Arab Emirates to influence Trump's foreign policy.

Joining me right now is Watergate prosecutor and former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York, Nick Akerman. Also, with us, CNN legal analyst, Carrie Cordero.

Good to see both of you.

All right. Nick, you first. You know, just days ago, prosecutors said Tom Barrack was a serious flight risk because of his wealth and his ties to the Middle East. But then, they agreed to release him on bail. What does that signal to you that perhaps prosecutors think he might cooperate with them?

[14:40:00]

NICK AKERMAN, FORMER WATERGATE PROSECUTOR, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: I don't think so at this point. That would be pretty premature. I think what it signals is that they wanted to work on a deal to make sure that Tom Barrack shows up in court in the Eastern District of New York on Monday where they will reargue the bail position.

I mean, the giveaway is the fact that one of the other conditions of his bail is that he be accompanied at all times between now and his appearance in the Eastern District of New York by one of his attorneys. That is basically something I have never seen in all my years of practice. They have an ankle bracelet on, as you said. I'm sure they're going to have agents surveilling him right up to the point that he comes into the courthouse in New York.

I can tell you this from my own personal experience, and I've represented high net worth individuals on bail applications like this. The courts, the federal courts of New York are not sympathetic to individuals who think they can stay out of jail just because they have a lot of money. The standard is whether or not there is a flight risk and the seriousness of the crime, and both of those are here in spades.

WHITFIELD: All right. So, Carrie, CNN has also reported that prosecutors believe that they had enough evidence to actually indict Barrack last year, while Trump was still president, that obviously didn't happen. So, House Democrats are now questioning whether the case was inappropriately suppressed under Trump's DOJ. What do you think either held things up, if indeed they had all the goods there?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, there's a variety of reasons why that could have happened, Fredricka. One is that if their investigation was nearing its conclusion around the time of the election, then the normal way the Justice Department would want to work would be to wait until the new administration came in or at least until after the election. So, that could have been one factor.

Alternatively, it could've been that either prosecutors or the former political leadership of the department just thought that because of the high-profile nature of the case and because of the seriousness of the charges, Tom Barrack was charged actually under the espionage statutes.

That range of statutes which involves acting on behalf of a foreign government. And so, it may have been that they just thought it was more appropriate to wait until the new administration came back. And all of those would be legitimate reasons for the next administration, the current administration to be able to make that ultimately prosecutorial decision.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let's shift gears a little bit and talk about on the reported goings on during a U.S. Supreme Court, you know, nominee hearings. We got this revelation this week that the FBI had received more than 4,500 tips on a phone line as part of its 2018 background investigation into then Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. And at his confirmation hearing, Kavanaugh faced withering questions about what happened at that high school party where he was accused of sexually assaulting Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you consume alcohol during your high school years?

BRETT KAVANAUGH, THEN SUPREME COURT NOMINEE: Yes. We drank beer, my friends and I, boys and girls, yes, we drank beer. I liked beer, still like beer, we drank beer, the drinking age, as I noted, was 18. So, the seniors were legal, senior year in high school people were legal to drink. And yes, , we drank beer. And I said sometimes, sometimes probably had too many beers, and sometimes other people had too many beers. We drank beer, we liked beer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: OK. We know it was about more than that. We know the FBI, however, did turn over relevant tips about Kavanaugh to the White House. But what do you think happened with this in terms of the revelations that there was a lot more information, a lot more needed follow-up on tips that didn't happen?

AKERMAN: I think this was an absolute cover-up by the White House. I mean, even Trump admitted to a book author that Kavanaugh was disgraced by virtue of this revelation and that he alone, Donald Trump alone, saved him to be on the Supreme Court.

The idea that the FBI turned over relevant information from this tip hotline that was suppressed by Don McGahn, the White House counsel, I think is absolutely outrageous. And what the Senate ought to do is they ought to demand to get those tips that were deemed relevant.

They ought to look at all of the evidence that's there, and they ought to decide whether or not it is worth going forward with a further investigation to determine, one, whether the FBI was manipulated by the Trump White House in terms of this investigation and, two, whether a now sitting Supreme Court justice committed perjury at his confirmation hearing.

[14:45:00]

WHITFIELD: Wow. That's very serious.

AKERMAN: If so -- that's very serious. And, obviously, if that kind of evidence was suppressed, it ought to be turned over to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

WHITFIELD: And at a minimum, Carrie, do you feel like this dark cloud will forever be hovering over Justice Kavanaugh?

CORDERO: You know, Fred, this is in a piece of reporting that I've been following that closely. But, you know, the Supreme Court justice is there for life, and while it's legitimate for Congress to conduct oversight of the FBI and the judiciary committees can do that, the fact is is that he does have a lifetime term. And whether or not a cloud hangs over him is more of a political judgment.

WHITFIELD: All right. Carrie Cordero and Nick Akerman, good to see both of you. Thank you so much. Have a great week.

AKERMAN: You too.

CORDERO: Thanks, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Back in the day, theme songs helped separate the great shows from the good shows. So, where have all the theme songs gone? We're going to ask Don Lemon next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:50:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. You know the songs, I'll be there for you, and, moving on up. I could go and on. They were anthems to classic shows that we love. But that begs the question, where have all the theme songs gone? Well, we sent Don Lemon to find out. And one thing he learned is that writing songs is pretty hard, but writing TV theme songs, well, it's even harder.

Don?

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. These past few months I have scoured America trying to answer this question, where have all the theme songs gone? You ever wonder? And one thing I learned is writing songs is hard, but writing TV theme songs, even harder.

You know I spoke with Gary Portnoy, co-creator of the hit TV show "Cheers" theme song. Don't start singing already. But he didn't get it exactly right the first time. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Making your way in the world today takes everything you've got.

GARY PORTNOY, "CHEERS" THEME SONG CO-CREATOR AND PERFORMER: When "Cheers" started, nobody was watching it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- all your worries, sure would help a lot. Wouldn't you like to --

PORTNOY: But fortunately, there was a lot of interest in the song.

LEMON: What happened?

PORTNOY: Judy Hart-Angelo was a friend of mine for a number of years. We wrote this song called "My Kind of People."

LEMON: Let's hear it. PORTNOY: My kind of people root for the home team. Making a living out in the mainstream. We sit with our friends, the old and the true ones, before the night ends, we're bound to make new ones. Here's the really bad part. You never know who's going to show at cheers and here's to --

So?

LEMON: Wait, I liked it.

PORTNOY: You liked it? OK. Well, we sent it and they turned it down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: When you watch this, Fredricka, I'm really going to need you to sing along, too, OK?

WHITFIELD: OK. All right. Join Don Lemon for a fun-filled hour to answer to the question, where have all the theme songs gone? It all gets started tonight at 8:00 right here on CNN. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. Large crowds are checking out Maine's Acadia National Park this summer, but there's still plenty of ways to find your space at your own space. Here's today "Off the Beaten Path."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE ANATASIA, PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST, ACADIA NATIONAL PARK: Welcome to Acadia National Park. This is a really extraordinary place to visit. When you come to the park, you're in for a treat. We have an amazing system of carriage roads where there are no cars. And you can have a slow-paced recreational experience.

JOE MINUTOLO, CO-OWNER, BAR HARBOR BICYCLES: It really puts you in touch with nature. Not only getting just away from automobiles and traffic and things like that, it's the beautiful views of the lakes and the mountains and you get some views of the ocean. There are so many bridges to see, and there are sights to behold. So, it really makes for quite an experience.

BRAD JORDAN, OWNER, MAIN STATE SEA KAYAK: So, we're on the west side, it's the quiet side. The remote side of Acadia National Park that not everyone gets to see. This is what it would feel like if we're the first people discovering the island. And we're paddling here to get awesome wildlife opportunities.

We're getting up to some seals (INAUDIBLE), some breeding grounds. And we've got pine trees that we're looking for some more eagle nets, bald eagles, all kinds of awesome wildlife habitat.

Well, you see them breaching out of the water. They're coming out.

And we have harbor porpoise, jellyfish and all kinds of things.

Well, this one coming out of the water towards the buoy.

It's totally different being in a kayak down low to the water. Not everyone gets a chance to see the park from that perspective.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And then, in a few hours from now, a concert will get underway to honor the victims of the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida. The recovery mission has ended at the site where the building crumbled to the ground just over a month ago now.

The Miami-Dade Police Department will now take over the search and recovery efforts there. So far, officials have identified 97 victims who died in the collapse. Officials believe one victim has yet to be identified.

[15:00:00]

All right. Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.