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Interview With Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA); "Daily Show's" Jordan Klepper Takes On Iowans Who Believe Trump Won; When Did "Shock Politics" Take Precedence Over Telling The Truth?; 911 Call Reveals Chaotic Moments After Alec Baldwin Discharged Prop Firearm, One Crew Member Killed; Reports: Crew Members Quit Alex Baldwin Movie Over Safety Concerns; Waterlogged Notebook Found Near Brian Laundrie's Remains Might Answer Key Questions. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 23, 2021 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:00]
JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: Just excellent work. The director of "Four Hours at the Capitol," thank you so much. This incredible documentary is available right now on HBO and HBO Max. And really encourage everybody to watch.
Jamie, thanks so much.
JAMIE ROBERTS, DIRECTOR, "FOUR HOURS AT THE CAPITOL": Thank you so much, Jim.
ACOSTA: And you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.
The House committee investigating the January 6th attack is getting ready to hear from a key witness while the fight over another continues.
CNN has learned Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who pushed the big lie and was a central player in Trump's effort to overturn the election results in key states, is expected to testify next Friday. He would be the first Trump administration official to comply with the subpoena unlike Steve Bannon, who is now facing possible criminal prosecution for refusing to testify. Lawmakers believe the former Trump adviser has critical information pointing to a comment he made on his podcast the day before the riot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. Just understand this. All hell is going to break loose tomorrow. It's not going to happen like you think it's going to happen. OK? It's going to be quite extraordinarily different, and all I can say is strap in.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And yet only nine House Republicans would join Democrats this week in voting to hold Bannon in contempt of Congress. There was even some drama on the House floor when Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene confronted two members of the January 6th committee, Liz Cheney and Jamie Raskin, waving her hands and calling the vote on Bannon a joke.
Now I went up to the Hill to ask Marjorie Taylor Greene about that moment and here's what she told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And what about that confrontation with Congresswoman Cheney? Why did that happen?
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): She's a traitor.
ACOSTA: She's a traitor?
GREENE: Yes.
ACOSTA: How can you say that?
GREENE: Pretty easy.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: We then caught up with Greene a second time and I asked her why she would not hold Bannon in contempt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: What was the rationale behind your vote?
GREENE: The rationale behind my vote is I'm not self-absorbed like the rest of these jerks here in Congress. They're all ignoring inflation. People can hardly buy food. Gas has gone up.
ACOSTA: But why call them jerks if you don't mind --
GREENE: Because they're self-absorbed. All they care about is Congress. They don't care about the American people that pay all the taxes.
ACOSTA: There was an attack on --
GREENE: All you want to talk about is your Trump derangement syndrome and all you want to talk about is January 6th where there's a riot here.
ACOSTA: Why are you protecting Steve Bannon? Why protect Steve Bannon?
GREENE: Because I care about American people.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: The interview ended soon after when fellow Republican Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas walked into the middle of our conversation. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): So you doing OK? Let's get out of here.
GREENE: I'm doing OK.
SESSIONS: Let's get out of here.
GREENE: OK.
ACOSTA: But not Steve Bannon.
GREENE: Hey, what about all the people that are rotting in jail? Why don't you worry about them?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And that was that. Democratic Congresswoman Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania joins me now. She's the vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Congresswoman, thanks so much for being with us. What's your reaction to those remarks we just heard from Marjorie Taylor Greene?
REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA): Well, sadly, I've had to put up with Marjorie Taylor Greene a bit this week. She came in and observed while we had Merrick Garland in front of the Judiciary Committee. To me it's as though she's auditing Congress. As you know, she has no committee assignments. She's not based in the fact or the truth or any sense of the rule of law. Any sense of the institution of Congress.
Those who voted against the resolution to hold Steve Bannon in contempt are literally voting against their own interests. Against the institution of Congress. Against our subpoena power as a co-equal branch of government. So Miss Greene is sadly very misled. Does not understand literally her oath of office or what democracy is all about.
ACOSTA: And Congresswoman, I don't want to spend too much time on her, but are you concerned about being around her? About your colleagues being around her? What do you make of this? I mean, she has this confrontation with Congresswoman Liz Cheney and Congressman Jamie Raskin. This seems to happen so much.
DEAN: Yes, and she frequently comes in to committees without a mask. Has to be told to put a mask on, like she's a child. So it's disturbing. That's exactly what it is meant to be. She is seeking the hot spotlight through negative attention, and small people like that need to be ignored more. We have really important business to do in Congress. You see Democrats doing just that. Whereas the majority of Republicans are disregarding the rule of law.
They would move forward and defund our government. They would allow us to default on our obligations and they pull stunts like that as they continue the big lie. Democrats on the other hand were governing.
[16:05:02]
ACOSTA: And I also caught up with the GOP Congressman Chip Roy asking him to explain why he voted with the vast majority of Republicans to oppose the criminal contempt motion for Steve Bannon and here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Can I ask you why you decided not to vote in favor of holding him in contempt?
REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): Because the entire commission is a sham set up from the beginning.
ACOSTA: If you're back in the majority and you issue subpoenas, does that mean people can just ignore those subpoenas?
ROY: But the premise is all wrong. I have no idea any of the debates or discussions that have occurred in this committee and it's based on a committee that was structured to be a political committee from the very beginning. That's how it was set up. That's the problem. You undermine the rule of law when you don't have to foundational principle to start with.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Just to recap there, Roy says that the lawmakers investigating a domestic terror attack are undermining the rule of law, not the man ducking a subpoena in that investigation, meaning Steve Bannon. How do you make sense of that?
DEAN: You can't. You literally cannot make sense of it. That whole argument was incredibly upside down as were the words of Marjorie Taylor Greene. It's as though we're looking in some clown mirror. And so again, we are up against some very serious issues. The protection of our democracy is incredibly important. We saw how fragile our democracy became under Donald Trump as he spread disinformation and distrust over our elections and so many other things.
Not to mention spewing indecency and bigotry and hate, frankly. So those whom you just interviewed really disregard and disrespect the institution. They don't seem to even understand what we are here for. We have an obligation to get at the truth.
We have an obligation to find out what happened. Mr. Bannon, for example, I call him a bit player, but certainly he's a player. He has information as to what was going on in the days and planning before January the 6th and what was going on on January the 6th and beyond.
Because we know this threat is not over. And so we need people to come forward. What I think those two Congress people should have done was should have said, of course Mr. Bannon needs to come forward, and in fact, I'll come and testify before the January 6th committee.
I will tell you everything I know because I know this is about something much bigger than me. It is about our democracy and what we leave for the next generation and the generation after that. They should all want to come forward.
ACOSTA: Do you have any confidence that Steve Bannon will be forced, compelled to testify by the Justice Department? That it's going to get to that point? Do you think that's going to happen?
DEAN: I do. This is a very different world with a new administration. It's an administration that understands the rule of law. Understands the separation of powers. Between the executive and the Department of Justice and of course, this is a very different attorney general. Attorney General Barr was just a puppet for Trump and so this attorney general is independent, is thoughtful. I believe they will move swiftly. They understand the urgency of this.
And so Mr. Bannon will be forced to come forward and to testify. He of course has the chance to take the Fifth in limited circumstances, but he can't just flout the rule of law, can't just flout a legal congressional subpoena. As I said, he needs to come forward. I'm delighted Mr. Clark will be in front of the committee. You're going to see people come forward and be forced to tell us the truth.
Again, for the purpose of making sure we hold accountable those who were involved in the insurrection including the president of the United States, but much more importantly that we never see it happen again.
ACOSTA: All right. Congresswoman Madeleine Dean, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.
DEAN: Thank you for having me.
ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, a conspiracy callout. "The Daily Show's" Jordan Klepper takes on Trump's most ardent supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORDAN KLEPPER, CONTRIBUTOR, "THE DAILY SHOW WITH TREVOR NOAH": Wasn't Q's whole thing that Trump would be reinstated as president?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He never left. There's no doubt in my mind. A hundred fifty thousand percent.
KLEPPER: That he's still president of the United States? Really? Does he still hold the powers of the presidency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he's been flying around the world on Air Force One. That says something.
KLEPPER: I thought Joe Biden is technically on Air Force One. No?
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:13:38]
ACOSTA: Terry McAuliffe, Virginia's Democratic candidate for governor, getting star power support this afternoon from former President Barack Obama. As that state's gubernatorial race tightens, the former president absolutely slammed McAuliffe's Republican rival Glenn Youngkin claiming he failed to separate himself from his supporters who pledged allegiance to a flag allegedly flown at the insurrection. Here's that moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When you don't separate yourselves from them. When you don't think that's a problem, well, you know what? That's a problem. You can't run ads telling me you're a regular old hoops playing, dishwashing, fleece wearing guy, but quietly cultivates support from those who seek so tear down our democracy.
Either he actually believes in the same conspiracy theories that resulted in a mob or he doesn't believe it but he's willing to go along with it. To say or do anything to get elected. And maybe that's worse. Because that says something about character. And character will end up showing when you actually are in office.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
[16:15:06]
ACOSTA: While former President Obama tries to rally Democrats, Donald Trump's diehard supporters are still clinging to his every word even if most of those words are lies. So what is it like to attend a Trump rally post January 6th? I have a few thoughts, of course, but to get a real perspective on this, let's go to "The Daily Show's" Jordan Klepper. He went to Iowa to find out. Take a listen and watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KLEPPER: My last Trump rally was January 6th. Have you seen any gallows go up anywhere?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
KLEPPER: Do you think Mike Pence will show up here today or does he not want to hang?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think he would be afraid to show up here today.
KLEPPER: Yes? Why is that?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because he was a coward. He didn't do the right thing. That's why.
KLEPPER: Or because these people tried to kill him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know, people say, oh, Trump, it's a cult following. But I feel like cult is such a negative word. We are not a cult. We are a group of Americans that love our country and we want it back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're patriots.
KLEPPER: Are there any old hits or things you hope he goes back to?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, gosh. I feel like whatever he spews out of his mouth, I just love it. I just love --
KLEPPER: It doesn't matter what he says?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We'll love it. We're going to love being here. We're going to love hearing what he has to say.
KLEPPER: But this isn't a cult?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I don't think so.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Joining me now is the man who bravely travels to the MAGA- verse and back, contributor for "The Daily Show," the great Jordan Klepper.
And, Jordan, so good to have you back. Thanks so much. We just heard they don't think it's a cult, but when you were just walking around, we saw some very weird stuff. Not the least of which was a flag with Trump riding a velociraptor firing a machine gun. That seems kind of cult-like. What else were you seeing at this rally?
KLEPPER: Well, definitely there was the new merch. I've been enough to these where Donald Trump on a velociraptor with an AR is no longer that surprising. There were, though, quite a few Confederate flags which was strange in Des Moines. There was a flag that was an American flag with a hand that came down lifting it, behind it was a Confederate flag, and everybody was dressed to the nines to stand in a field for up to 12 hours to listen to the man speak.
I even saw someone selling women's pee funnels so that if people didn't want to leave their space in line to go use the restroom, they could urinate right there, which to me, when you're peeing in a field waiting for the leader to speak, you may be closer to a cult than you think.
ACOSTA: Yes. That's commitment, to say the least. And a lot of these supporters refuse to believe Trump had anything to do with the violence on January 6th. They try to blame the so-called deep state. And I've seen them go down this rabbit hole before, but I have to play this interview you got with one gentleman because the logic here makes my head spin. And I'm still struggling with it to this day. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't believe it was people like me and people like you see over there in that crowd that did it.
KLEPPER: Who was behind --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: FBI, CIA, Antifa were used. Other groups like that.
KLEPPER: It seemed like a lot of them were going into the Capitol to attack Nancy Pelosi and perhaps hang --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who? Who?
KLEPPER: What's that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which one? The one with the bull horns? He's not a Trump supporter. I don't care what his resume says. He's not a Trump supporter. In fact, do you remember the picture of the plane in Afghanistan with all the people running next to it? That was a balloon plane. If you look at the pictures of the real plane, there's pieces that are missing from the real plane to that plane.
KLEPPER: So you're saying there's a conspiracy around the Afghanistan withdrawal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I'm saying that there was one guy there who ran, the only guy who turned to the camera and waved his hands. You all remember that? Everybody remember that? He's the guy with the horns on his hat.
KLEPPER: He was in Afghanistan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Go look at the pictures.
KLEPPER: I think he's in jail right now.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that's what they tell -- who's --
KLEPPER: We've got to find pictures of like the horn guy in like the background of old civil war photos or in paintings of the revolutionary war?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm just telling you the picture looks just like him.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Wow. I mean, some of these folks have gone so far down the rabbit hole I think they're going to reach the earth's core. I mean, that is just an incredible, you know, confluence of events that this guy is putting together. Help us make sense of it.
KLEPPER: Well, I will say I was ready for some disinformation and thought the conversation was going to be mostly about whether or not Trump won the election. I think what I was surprised by that's already been decided by that group. I think it was sort of the misinformation around January 6th that was kind of shocking to me.
And there is no one clear narrative. Most of the people we talked to when we brought up January 6th, they pointed to the CIA, the FBI, some pointed to it being an important day where people stood up and did the right thing but the people who did bad things weren't the people who are on their side. Some folks didn't believe it happened at all. Like I think the one unifying theory is a lack of accountability for the words that are being said and the actions that are being taken.
[16:20:07]
So that shocked me. That the pace we're going, if Donald Trump decides to run for office, we're not going to be debating what happened on January 6th. I think we're going to be debating whether January 6th exists on the Gregorian calendar or not.
ACOSTA: Right. I mean, you know, to put that together with Afghanistan, it's just -- it's remarkable. There had been a lot of questions about what would become of the QAnon conspiracy group after Trump's loss, but you found plenty of QAnon supporters at this rally. I mean they're a fixture at Trump rallies. I remember seeing them all the way back in 2018, but let's take a look at an exchange that you had just recently.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KLEPPER: Is that a Q?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
KLEPPER: Are you a Q supporter?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Certainly.
KLEPPER: Wasn't Q's whole thing that Trump would be reinstated as president?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's never left. There's no doubt in my mind, 150,000 percent.
KLEPPER: That he's still president of the United States? Really? Does he still hold the powers of the presidency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he's been flying around the world on Air Force One. That says something.
KLEPPER: I thought Joe Biden is technically on Air Force One. No? So they're faking it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's not even a presidency.
KLEPPER: Who is running the government right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Trump.
KLEPPER: He's running the government.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the military.
KLEPPER: And he's running the military. So we should blame him for what happened in Afghanistan? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.
KLEPPER: But it's still his fault?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's way beyond my --
KLEPPER: Understanding?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't -- I'm not --
KLEPPER: Thank you for talking to me, George. Enjoy seeing President -- current President Trump.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: My head hurts. I mean, I'm speechless, Jordan. Help me out here. Do you run into people at these rallies? Because I found my experience going to the rallies, and I thought it was the best way to understand the Trump movement in this country was to go to the rallies.
And do you run into people who sort of, you know, with a wink and nod acknowledge that a lot of this stuff is just bull crap or, I mean, do you get a sense that this is even more across the board, the belief in these types of crazy conspiracy theories?
KLEPPER: I will say, I've only been back to this one now. This is the first one since January 6th. This one felt different than the ones prior to that. Like occasionally, yes, you would run into people who like are attending a rally because rallies are fun.
It's the big circus that comes into town. It's the giant fair so people show up. You run into some people who understands some of the chaos and might not be Q believers, wouldn't be caught wearing a Q hat, and might talk some of the talking points but wanted to just be there and be a part of it.
I was -- again, I was surprised at this one where I was not running into those people. It felt like -- already like the Q emblems that we saw, whether or not people were actually attempting to follow Q, and at least was a new symbol that just meant we don't believe the information you're telling us, and almost everyone we talked to was a member and all into that group. So again, this is the first time out for us.
And, you know, the election's 1,000 days away. He hasn't even announced that he's running yet, but already it's not just people who are happy to be there and cosplaying for the fun of it. People seem to already be that much further along on the information and misinformation train.
ACOSTA: And Jordan, I know you work for a comedy show. I mean, that is the point, is to make us laugh at ourselves and so on. But I mean, I do see this as important journalism, what you're doing in going out there. I wonder if you see it that way. Why do you personally want to go out and talk to these folks and hear what they're saying as bonkers as it sounds sometimes? Do you think there's a point to it?
KLEPPER: Well, I think it's always important to engage with people on the ideas that are out there. You hear a lot about it on the news but until you go and see what actually people believe face-to-face, you don't really know what is happening out in, quote-unquote, say, real America.
But for me, I'm always baffled by the logic. I think something you often saw in the Trump administration is the inability for people to follow up on Trump so that he could throw something big out there and never have the follow up question to actually walk through the logic.
And so here for me, it's important to engage in conversations with people. With an attempt to actually understand. And more often than not, what you see is people haven't thought through all of these steps. And these pieces are ripe with contradiction. But I often say that, like contradiction is revealing of the lie that you tell yourself, and that I think is often what you see in these pieces.
ACOSTA: And it has to be revealed. I mean, I think it's doing such a service to reveal these sorts of exchanges. And Jordan Klepper, as always, thank you so much for being with us. We literally could do this all day long and I know this because I've been out there and covered this stuff myself.
[16:25:02]
But thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.
KLEPPER: Thanks, Jim.
ACOSTA: Great to see you.
Coming up, turning the page here. How did actor Alec Baldwin fire a prop gun with such fatal consequences, such tragic consequences? We'll talk about some of the new details coming out of that investigation, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: It's become a campaign cliche. Politicians blowing stuff up to shock us into voting for them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELE FIORE, LAS VEGAS ASSEMBLYWOMAN: I'm Michele Fiore, and I'm running for governor. Let's start with a three-shot plan.
[16:30:00]
Ban vaccine mandates, ban critical race theory and stop voter fraud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: That's shocking in so many ways. I'm shocked.
But hold on. Nobody blows things up like Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TAYLOR GREENE: -- budget. And in 2022, I'm going to blow away the Democrat Socialist agenda.
(GUNFIRE)
(EXPLOSION)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: What does she have against good gas mileage is what I want to know.
Now, politicians have been doing this for years. To be fair, it's not just Republicans. Anybody recognize this prominent Democrat?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): I sued EPA. And I take dead aim at the cap- and-trade bill. Because it's bad for West Virginia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Yes, that's Joe Manchin back from 2010. He's been shooting holes in efforts to combat climate change for more than a decade now.
But by and large, these spots are run by Republicans.
Georgia governor, Brian Kemp, ran this ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): I'm Brian Kemp. I'm so conservative --
(EXPLOSION)
KEMP: -- I blow up government spending.
I own guns. That no one's taking away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And somehow, he is still hated by Trump.
Of course, politicians have the right to run all the crazy ads they want. But this violent political messaging doesn't have a place in American society anymore.
It just doesn't. Not after January 6th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SHOUTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Not after the supporters of the former president resorted to violence to try to overturn the results of a free and fair election.
And not with Trump still lying about what happened that day.
He released this statement this week repeating the Big Lie, saying, "The insurrection took place on November 3rd, Election Day. January 6th was the protest."
That is delusional, of course.
But Trump says he's launching a new platform to amplify these lies. He's been booted off of Twitter and Facebook so he's starting his own social media brand. He's going to call it "Truth Social."
Now there are rules on truth. For example, apparently, you can't say anything bad about Trump.
And when Trump and other users post their messages, they're going to be called truths.
Hundred bucks says Trump's first truth on truth will be a lie because he's a liar.
The other loathsome thing Trump did this week is when he attacked the late Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The former president said of Powell, "He was a classic RINO, if even that. Always being the first to attack other Republicans. He made plenty of mistakes. But anyway, may he rest in peace."
For years, Powell tried to warn Republicans about the direction of the Republican Party.
Way back in 2008, Powell called out Republicans who were falsely claiming that then-Candidate Barack Obama was a Muslim, as if that was a bad thing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I have some concerns about the direction that the party has taken in recent years. It has moved more to the right than I would like to see it. But that's a choice the party makes.
I'm also troubled by not what Senator McCain says, but members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said. Such things as, well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.
Well, the correct answer is he is not a Muslim. He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian.
But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Taking your party on and telling some tough truths, that is true leadership.
Colin Powell also repeatedly tried to sound the alarm about Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: I could not possibly vote for this individual.
The first thing that troubled me is the whole Birtherism movement. It had to do with the fact that the president of the United States or President Obama was a black man. That was part of it.
And then I was deeply troubled by the way in which he was going around insulting everybody. Insulting Gold Star voters. Insulting John McCain. Insulting immigrants. I'm the son of immigrants.
Insulting anybody who dared to speak against him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Just after January 6th of this year, Powell said the insurrection was part of what he had been warning about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, "FAREED ZAKARIA, GPS": Do they realize that, in a sense, they caused, they encouraged at least this wild wildness to grow and grow?
POWELL: They did. And that's why I can no longer call myself a fellow Republican.
We need people who will speak the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: We need people who will speak the truth.
Top Republican leaders were once willing to speak the truth about President Trump. People like Senator Ted Cruz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): This man is a pathological liar. He doesn't know the difference between truth and lies. He lies practically every word that comes out of his mouth.
[16:35:00]
And in a pattern that I think is straight out of a psychology textbook. His response is to accuse everybody else of lying.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: And Senator Lindsey Graham, who once tweeted, "If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed and we will deserve it.
If Republican politicians want to blow things up, if they want shock us, then do this before it's too late. Before there's more political violence in this country.
Tell the truth. He lost. He lost. You can practice this at home in front of a mirror. Just say the words. He lost.
You know ignoring him will not make it go away. Kissing the ring will not make it go away. Impersonating him, certainly, will not make it go away.
He will find new ways to disgust you and betray you because there's no bottom. There never has been a bottom and there never will be a bottom.
His soul is a black hole swallowing up the nearest, weakest objects around him.
Blowing up a Prius in a TV ad doesn't make you look tough. It makes you look ridiculous.
If you want to look tough, blow us away by telling the truth.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:40:57]
ACOSTA: There are new details about a tragic shooting on the set of Alec Baldwin's new film.
According to an affidavit filed to get a search warrant for the set, an assistant director handed Baldwin a prop gun and yelled, "cold gun." That is lingo for a weapon that doesn't have ammunition.
The 63-year-old actor pulled the trigger and the gun went off, firing a live round that accidently hit the movie's cinematographer in the chest, killing her. The director was also injured.
There are reports that several crew members quit the production over safety concerns just before the accident.
CNN's Nick Watt has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
911 CALLER (voice-over): We've had two people accidentally shot on a movie set by a prop gun. We need help immediately.
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the set. The director, Joel Souza, was injured, the director of photography, Halyna Hutchins, was killed. Two individuals were shot on the set of "Rust," according to the Santa
Fe, New Mexico Sheriff's Office, when a prop firearm was discharged by Alec Baldwin.
Baldwin distraught in the sheriff's parking lot after questioning.
The investigation remains open and active. No charges have been filed.
A prop firearm should shoot only blanks.
BEN SIMMONS, FIREARMS INSTRUCTOR FOR ACTORS: With a blank round, you have everything that you would normally have in a real round, but you don't have a bullet on the end of it.
So that when it fires, you do get the flash. You do get the bang. You get the recoil. You get the exposure. But you don't get the bullet flying out of the end of the gun.
And that doesn't mean that blank rounds are safe.
WATT: Hutchins posted this video the day before she died. "Horse riding on the day off," one of the perks of shooting a Western," she wrote.
Born in Ukraine, Hutchins started as a journalist, then moved to the U.S. to study and work in the movies.
Named a rising star in 2019 by "American Cinematographer" magazine. She was 42.
JIM HEMPHILL, FILMMAKER & JOURNALIST: She brought that eye that she had from documentaries and nonfiction filmmaking to, again, action movies and horror movies.
So they had this immediacy and realism, as well as this eye for beauty that she had. And it was a really unique look.
WATT: A death on set like this rare, but not unique.
(GUNFIRE)
WATT: Brandon Lee was shot and killed on the set of "The Crow" in '93. A blank was fired but dislodged part of a live round stuck in the barrel.
In '84, on the set of the show "Cover Up," actor, Jon Erik-Hexum, jokingly put a prop gun to his head and pulled the trigger. The pressure and wadding from the blank killed him.
"Rust," starring and produced by Baldwin, hinges on the accidental killing of a rancher in 1880s Kansas.
This morning Baldwin tweeted, "There are no words to convey my shock and sadness. I'm fully cooperating with the police investigation to address how this tragedy occurred. My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna." (END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Coming up, the latest on the identification of Brian Laundrie's remains. Will investigators be able to determine a cause of death?
[16:44:08]
Plus, new information from the family attorney, who says he spoke with Laundrie before he vanished.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: He was the only person of interest in the killing of Gabby Petito. And now a waterlogged notebook found near Brian Laundrie's remains might be the only thing that could answer some key questions.
Investigators say the notebook is possibly salvageable and they're letting it dry out before opening it.
At the same time, the forensic anthropologist is studying Laundrie's remains, trying to find out how he died in the swampy Florida nature reserve.
In a new interview, the family attorney is revealing what could be critical clues about the last moment Laundrie was allegedly seen alive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN BERTOLINO, LAUNDRIE FAMILY ATTORNEY: Brian had been extremely upset. Chris and Roberta were very concerned about him.
They expressed to me, when he walked out the door that evening, they wished they could have stopped him, could have prevented him from going out, but he was intent on leaving.
And Chris said to me, you know, in hindsight, I know I couldn't stop him. I just wish I could have.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS ANCHOR: Did Brian tell the Laundries anything about what happened to Gabby before he disappeared?
BERTOLINO: George, that's not something I can comment on right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Joining us now is a retired FBI profiler, Jim Clemente. He's also a former prosecutor.
[16:50:04]
Jim, thanks for coming back.
We know this notebook was found near Laundrie's remains outside a dry bag. A source says it's not clear how the notebook ended up outside of the bag.
You heard the family attorney there describing how upset Brian was before he left his parents' house.
Does any of this stand out to you?
JIM CLEMENTE, RETIRED FBI PROFILER & FORMER PROSECUTOR: I think it will be a critical part of what's called a typical death investigation.
That's to determine the manner of death in these kinds of uneasy, unknown situations where there isn't enough information available. We go and we do a psychological autopsy.
So the fact that Brian was extremely upset when he left, I think that's a key, key question that is now answered. Because now we know a little bit more about his state of mind.
And the parents, apparently, because of how this lawyer answered that question, apparently, they know more and I hope they will share it.
ACOSTA: And much of the focus has shifted to Laundrie's parents and the fact they're the ones who found his belongings.
Coming across them in less than an hour after entering the part despite investigators searching the same area for weeks with dogs and high-tech equipment.
The North Port Police Department spokesman says he doesn't think this is a conspiracy. The Laundrie's attorney described it as a happenstance.
What are your thoughts? This is mysterious.
CLEMENTE: It is. Their behavior has been mysterious.
But I'll tell you, I've been involved in a number of searches for missing children over the course of my FBI career.
And there have been times when parents and family members actually know the people the best and actually know what to look for.
And so this area had been underwater for a time. I don't know how long it was exposed. But this may be the first time any human being went by it, by this area, after the water receded.
So just knowing him and knowing where he hung out and what he liked to do probably aided them in the search.
ACOSTA: Obviously, there's a lot of second guessing going on about how law enforcement handled this. They've been criticized for losing track of Laundrie.
And this week, the Laundrie family attorney revealed he told the FBI Laundrie was missing the very day he didn't return home from the hike.
The North Port police insist they weren't told until four days later.
Why wouldn't the FBI shares with the local police?
CLEMENTE: Well, obviously, it's uncertain who's telling the truth here.
I think the FBI made a statement about when they first learned about it. And it's possible that there was some miscommunication or a lack of communication between the two law enforcement agencies.
But I don't see any reason why the FBI would withhold that information.
Brian Laundrie was not known to be a critical part of this investigation until late in the game.
I think he was already gone by the time North Port police actually were aware of how strongly he was connected to this case.
I think, again, that's a question for the parents, for his parents, their actions in not actually giving all the information they had to Gabby Petito's family so that they could make a report as quickly as possible.
I think those are the actions that deserve the most scrutiny.
ACOSTA: Yes, it's puzzling. And this case just doesn't add up yet.
All right, Jim Clemente, thanks so much, as always, for those insights. Appreciate it.
[16:53:44]
Coming up, we will go live to New Mexico where police are investigating the deadly shooting on the set of an Alec Baldwin film. What we're learning about crew members who quit right before the accident because of safety concerns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:58:38]
ACOSTA: Princess Diana's popularity reaches new heights but her public success makes her private life a lot more difficult.
Here's a preview of the original series, "DIANA."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANA, PRINCESS OF WALES: I can't do it. Too heavy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we are in 1985 and Diana has the family that she's always wanted. She's mother to 3-year-old William and 1-year-old Harry.
Diana was literally night and day to previous royal mothers. Diana ripped up that rule book and said, right, I'm going to be a very hands-on mother.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She worshipped her sons, William and Harry. She felt her number-one job was being a mum.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was very demonstrative towards them. Big kisses. Big hugs. Which we were really not used to because previous generations of royal mothers didn't display their emotions in public.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: And watch a brand-new episode tomorrow night at 9:00.
And it looked like something out of a science fiction movie. But this giant fish -- check this out -- was caught in real life off the cost of North Africa earlier this month. That's right. That's a fish.
[16:59:52]
After getting tangled in the nets of a tuna fishing boat, weighing an estimated 4,400 pounds, which is more than a car, researchers had to use a crane to pull it out of the water. I'm surprised they didn't need two cranes.
This enormous fish was more than 10 feet long, nine feet wide. Researchers think it's part of the largest bony fish species in the world.
