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Criminal Investigation Launched After Eight Killed At Astroworld Festival; Terry Bradshaw Rips Aaron Rodgers; How Democrats Lost Virginia And Almost New Jersey; Learning To Lose; QAnon supporters; Iraqi Attack; CNN Heroes. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 07, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:15]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

We begin in Texas where a deadly concert tragedy is now a full-blown criminal investigation. Eight people were killed and dozens injured when a crowd rushed the stage at the Astroworld Festival. But police are also looking into reports that someone with a needle was injecting unsuspecting people in the crowd with drugs including a security guard who was pricked in the neck and needed to be revived with Narcan.

One fan telling CNN this was not a concert, this was a fight for survival. Another says she felt like she was going to die, and one other says kids were dropping left and right. New video obtained by CNN shows the chaos started before the concert even began as crowds of people trampled each other and bypassed security to get in. Just hours later the tragedy unfolded and we're seeing just how hard some fans tried to stop the concert.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is someone dead. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). There is someone dead.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop the show. Stop the show. Shot the show.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Just awful. CNN's Rosa Flores is in Houston for us with the very latest.

Rosa, we're also hearing from rapper Travis Scott who was performing at the time. What did he say?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, he issued a video statement, Jim. And in the statement he says that he's devastated, that he stopped the show as soon as he knew that it was severe enough. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRAVIS SCOTT, RAPPER: This is, to the ones that was lost last night, we're actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time. You know, my fans, my fans like, my fans really mean the world to me. And I always just really want to leave them with a positive experience. And any time I can make out, you know, anything that's going on, you know, I'd stop my show and, you know, help them get the help they need. You know?

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now I've talked to multiple concertgoers who say that at several times during his concert, he paused the performance and pointed to the crowd where individuals needed medical attention. Now, concertgoers say that it was very difficult to breathe there, that depending on how tall you were, that's how much oxygen you could get. So the taller individuals, i.e., the adults were able to get oxygen a little easier.

And we've seen the video of those crowds. Well, now we know, according to authorities, eight individuals have died. And now the medical examiner here in Houston is asking for the public's help in identifying one of those individuals.

Now they've issued a description. That description is a man in his early 20s over six feet tall weighing 498 pounds. Short black or dark brown hair, wearing Nike brand sneakers size 11. And the medical examiner here in Houston is the Houston County Institute of Forensic Sciences. They're asking that the public call that number.

Now as for the investigation, this situation escalated yesterday when the HPD announced that there was an account by a security officer that his neck was pricked and that the officers on scene administered Narcan, and he was revived, and that other individuals, so not just the security officer, other individuals were administered Narcan and revived at the scene.

Now, as for the timeline, Jim, they tell us according to authorities that about 9:15 was when the crowd started compressing the stage. By 9:38 this turned into a mass casualty event. That concert was stopped at about 10:10 according to authorities -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Wow. And to think, you know, that video of people climbing on to the stage trying to stop the show, I mean, it's just heartbreaking to watch, such an unbelievable situation there. Seeing the people crushing into one another and basically stampeding one another in this situation.

All right, Rosa Flores, we know you're going to stay on top of it. Thanks so much for that report. We appreciate it.

And here's what the Houston police chief said about whether a security officer at the concert was drugged by someone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF TROY FINNER, HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT: We do have a report of a security officer according to the medical staff that was out and treated him last night that he was reaching over to restrain or grab a citizen, and he felt a prick in his neck.

[16:05:05]

When he was examined, he went unconscious, they administered Narcan. He was revived, and the medical staff did notice a prick that was similar to a price that you would get if somebody's trying to inject.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: With me now to discuss this is former acting Baltimore police commissioner and CNN law enforcement analyst Anthony Barksdale.

Anthony, I mean, the video is just so disturbing to watch and then this report of a possible, you know, somebody trying to drug people there at the concert pricking people with needles and so on. Have you ever heard of anything like this? This is just unbelievable.

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I've been seeing reports of people being pricked over in the U.K., at bars, especially women have been hit with the needle and have felt ill afterwards. To have someone doing this here in a crowd-like situation is quite disturbing. And the police department has a lot of work to do to sort out if someone was in that crowd injecting individuals.

ACOSTA: And could that have led to this stampeding, to this crush of people trampling one another? Is that possible?

BARKSDALE: Jim, it's absolutely possible. We don't know if somebody saw somebody doing it and started to run or scream or whatever. We don't know. So that's -- I mean, a lot can be possible right now. But we have to be open to everything during this investigation. Did somebody come to the concert with a bad batch of drugs and distribute them to people in the crowd?

We know that drugs are prevalent in certain events. It's a possibility. Could someone have been pricking individuals in the crowd? It's a possibility. So we're early in this, but we do know per the police chief that we had a security guard hit with a needle. And Narcan had to be administered. So we do have some evidence that that's a clear possibility.

ACOSTA: Yes, that is wild. And I want to walk through some video that we are getting from the incident and one video there are people desperately trying to escape, being trapped, trying to get over barriers. From a law enforcement perspective, how did this go so wrong?

And we don't want to point fingers at this point, but I would think that the people who are running the venue there, they have to have some kind of standards in place, right, for avoiding an overcrowded situation like this.

BARKSDALE: Absolutely. I mean, when you have a huge event coming your way, you sit down, you go over it with all of your partners. The police are going over this with the EMS. They're going over this with the hospitals because what if there is a mass casualty incident like we saw? Are the hospitals prepared for this? We keep hearing reports of officers, medics doing CPR. I'm wondering where were the AED devices?

How were the police deployed? How was security deployed? How were the medics deployed to be in a crowd this large? I'm also wondering what was the position of the stands to keep that crowd back from the stage? And we have to acknowledge and I'm not trying to slam Travis Scott. He is a rapper, he is a super star, he's not a security professional. But how was that designed for this event?

Was there proper crowd control? And based on what we're all seeing, we're looking at social media, we're seeing CNN reporting. It was not well-handled.

ACOSTA: No, it just looks like chaos. And to that point, just as the scene before the concert, we can put this video up as concertgoers rushed the metal detectors and jumped over barricades. I mean, they're already running in and acting in an uncontrolled way. Some of them are piled on top of each other. They're just heading into the concert. I mean, that's out of control right there.

BARKSDALE: Absolutely.

ACOSTA: If this was how all of these started, why not call in backup? Did they have adequate security there?

BARKSDALE: Well, I saw mounted with this footage, I saw mounted police officers come in with the horses. Horses are great for crowd control. But, you know, right here we see that they weren't ready. We see it, Jim. You're right.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BARKSDALE: This is the first sign they were not ready. And Travis Scott isn't even on stage when this is happening. So, it's just so sad. It is sad.

ACOSTA: Yes, it looks like there's maybe one or two security folks there, you know, saying, hold on, you know, don't run. And nobody is listening to any of these guys. I mean, it's just --

BARKSDALE: Nobody.

ACOSTA: This is wild.

BARKSDALE: Yes. And it's a tragedy. There are the horses.

ACOSTA: Yes.

BARKSDALE: That's mounted, and mounted, nothing, in my opinion, mounted officers are an absolute necessary in a crowd control type of situation.

[16:10:11] But you saw what, maybe four horses? There was 20 if they could.

ACOSTA: Yes. They were clearly outnumbered. All right, Anthony Barksdale, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

BARKSDALE: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: We'll stay on top of that.

Coming up, one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time delivers a tough message to a modern-day legend. Hear Terry Bradshaw absolutely unload on Aaron Rodgers. If you haven't this yet, you need to stick around and watch this. Absolutely unload on Aaron Rodgers for misleading the public, which he did, about his vaccination status. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: NFL Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw is slamming Aaron Rodgers and dishing out some advice to him, don't lie. The Steelers legend is calling out the Green Bay Packers quarterback for misleading fans about his vaccination status.

[16:15:01]

Rodgers who has tested positive for COVID and is missing today's game against the Kansas City Chiefs said back in August that he was immunized.

CNN's Nick Watt joins us now from Los Angeles. Nick, some tough words from Terry Bradshaw. This is pretty striking stuff.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it sure is, Jim. And here's why. So back in August Aaron Rodgers said, I've been immunized. Then on Wednesday he tested positive for COVID. And on Friday he said, yes, I didn't actually get a vaccine, I had a homeopathic procedure that brought upon myself a defense against COVID-19. He wouldn't go into any further details. But experts are very skeptical over whether that actually works or not.

Now, Aaron Rodgers still says, though, I was not lying. Terry Bradshaw says he was. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY BRADSHAW, NFL HALL OF FAMER: I'd give Aaron Rodgers some advice. It would've been nice if he would have just come to the Naval Academy and learned how to be honest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

BRADSHAW: Learn, learn not to lie because that's what you did, Aaron, you lied to everyone. We are a divided nation politically, we're a divided nation on the COVID-19 whether or not to take the vaccine, and unfortunately we've got players that pretty much think only about themselves. And I'm extremely disappointed in the actions of Aaron Rodgers.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Yes. Quite a few people seem to be disappointed in Aaron Rodgers right now. And last night "SNL" poked a little fun at him in their cold open. And he's also lost a job. He was a spokesperson for Prevea Health, a health system based up there in Wisconsin.

They have now parted ways. I mean, Prevea Health promotes vaccination, has a vaccine mandate for all of its staff. Aaron Rodgers believes in a homeopathic barrier, so there's a clear disconnect there.

Now, the game starts in about 10 minutes between the Packers and the Chiefs. Aaron Rodgers of course not playing. So the Packers are giving a first NFL start to 23-year-old Jordan Love. Let's see how he gets on -- Jim.

ACOSTA: And talk about roughing the passer. I'm telling you, Terry Bradshaw just going for it there.

WATTS; Yes.

ACOSTA: All right, Nick Watt, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Now to the world of politics. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie had a blunt message for Republicans at an event in Las Vegas. It's time to move on from 2020. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: We can no longer talk about the past and the past elections. No matter --

(APPLAUSE)

CHRISTIE: No matter where you stand on that issue, no matter where you stand, it is over. And every minute that we spend talking about 2020, while we're wasting time doing that, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer are laying ruin to this country. We better focus on that and take our eyes off the rear-view mirror and start looking through the windshield again.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's talk about it now with former FOX News politics editor, Chris Stirewalt, and editor-at-large for the "Daily Beast," Molly Jong-Fast.

Chris, that comment from Chris Christie, I guess there was a smattering of applause there? It wasn't a roaring sort of show of approval there from the audience for what Chris Christie was saying. Maybe they're not quite ready to move on just yet?

CHRIS STIREWALT, FORMER FOX NEWS POLITICS EDITOR: Well, they're ready. And as we saw from Republicans in Virginia, they want to. They're just afraid to get caught feeling that way. Right? There is some anxiety among Republicans, especially among Republican elites as being as perceived as not bending the knee to Trump and that they're going to get in trouble.

So Christie is telling them the truth and he's telling them also what they believe, they just don't quite have the courage yet to be out there and say it themselves.

ACOSTA: Yes. He was trying to say the quiet part out loud, Molly, but I'm not sure everybody was listening. Let me talk about something that Democratic strategist James Carville said. He made a comment that got a lot of attention this week after Terry McAuliffe lost the governor's race in Virginia and Phil Murphy eked out that win in New Jersey. Let's take a listen to what James Carville had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Look, it's just stupid wokeness. All right? Don't just look at Virginia and New Jersey. Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis, even look at Seattle, Washington. I mean, this defund the police lunacy, this take Abraham Lincoln's name off the schools. I mean, that, people see that. They're expressing the language that people just don't use. And there's a backlash and a frustration at that.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Molly, is this a messaging problem? I mean, you know, the unemployment rate ticked down again. He got this massive infrastructure bill passed. Why are Democrats unhappy with this, to some extent, and why are independents just not feeling it?

Here's a picture, we should note right now, President Biden and the first lady are on the beach right now in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Maybe President Biden needs a bigger boat just when you thought it was safe to go back to Washington. I'm trying to think of the "Jaws" metaphor. It's not working.

[16:20:03]

Molly, what are your thoughts?

MOLLY JONG-FAST, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, THE DAILY BEAST: Well, with Democrats it's always a messaging problem. Right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

JONG-FAST: I mean, Democratic Party is always bad at explaining its accomplishments. Huge infrastructure bill. Right? There were no infrastructure bills during the Trump administration. There was just a tax cut for rich people. But Democrats are never good at explaining, you know, they still haven't explained the roads, the bridges, the lead, you know, they're going to fix the pipes. I mean, these are things that the country desperately needs. And it was passed with bipartisan support. I mean, that's enormous.

And Democrats are just -- you know, I think the thinking is always, well, if we do good stuff, then people will see and be happy. And Republicans are playing with a sort of much more complicated game, and then there's also a lot of disinformation. So Democrats are really finding themselves behind the eight-ball.

But I think what happened, I'm not sure what happened in New Jersey has as much to do with wokeness as it has to do with taxes, right, and, you know, the SALT deduction and a lot of other stuff that was hitting, you know, in the northeast. So I think that it was a little bit more complicated. But also, I mean, New Jersey was just a turnout problem, as much as anything.

ACOSTA: Yes. But I also think that if, you know, Trump had finally gotten an infrastructure bill signed into law after all of those infrastructure weeks, I mean, he would have been flying stealth bombers over the Lincoln Memorial, you know, he would have unfurled the Trump bridge in every, you know, every swing district in -- I mean, you know, like the Biden folks, they just don't seem to be able to sell it.

STIREWALT: Well, they didn't get it passed in time. If they wanted it, they should have -- and this is where the Congressional Progressive Caucus is going to have to sort things out with the moderate members. Waiting to pass this very popular bipartisan infrastructure bill that would score big and by the way do huge stuff for Virginia. The congested lanes of northern Virginia, the harbors, all of the stuff that Virginia would want.

Joe Biden could have gone down to Virginia and sold it and helped Terry McAuliffe win. They didn't have it. What they had was a big focus on education where the Democratic Party in power was not in a good position, and it was just an unforced error.

ACOSTA: All right, guys, let's show a little "SNL" from last night. What was so interesting in the Virginia race is that Glenn Youngkin embraced the Trump base but distanced himself from Trump as we all saw. That was spoofed on "SNL" last night. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love to win and you know what, you're going to see a lot more winning where that came from. Let me tell you, you're going to see it a lot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can take me off the split-screen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no. No, we did this together, Glenn. We did it so good, OK? I really want you to stay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really, that's OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Excuse me. Glenn, excuse me. Excuse me, Glenn. Excuse me. Everybody that comes to listen, you know what, like you just saw, Glenn, listen, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. President, you never actually campaigned with Glenn Youngkin, did you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, no, I never -- Glenn? Glenn? Don't you dare. Don't go anywhere. Don't you dare, Glenn. You need to hear this. (END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Molly, it's going to be awkward, I think, a little bit at times between Republicans who are fighting for re-election and Trump over the next year. What do you think? Is it going to be as easy as just trying to rerun the Youngkin playbook over and over? I don't think so.

JONG-FAST: I mean, I think Republicans think that they can have Trumpism without Trump. Right? That's what Youngkin proved was that you can dress up like Jeb Bush but be Trumpy and use the sort of Trump -- I mean, the Trumpy people came out for Youngkin, right? And he was able to sort of balance Trump but not really do anything with him. And he wore the vest, and he seemed a little bit more Jeb Bushy.

Now, I mean, and he got these sort of swing voters. So, I think it's sort of the dream now is that they can keep these Trumpy voters and get the swing voters. I think Trump is not going to be pleased.

ACOSTA: I think you're right about that. All right, Chris Stirewalt and Molly Jong-Fast. As a Virginia native, I was out in the Shenandoah Valley over weekend at my alma mater JMU. And I will tell you, seeing all those Youngkin signs out there, all the support for Glenn Youngkin, I'm old enough to remember when Democrats used to campaign in those parts of Virginia and across the country. Something tells me they need to get back to doing that.

All right, Chris and Molly, thanks so much. Appreciate that.

Still to come, what do the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and John F. Kennedy Jr. have in common? You got me. But they are both part of the latest QAnon theory. A former QAnon follower joins me live to discuss next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:29:18]

ACOSTA: Did you notice the peaceful transfer of power at the Capitol this past week? No, not in Washington, I'm talking about the Capitol 109 miles away in Richmond, Virginia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GLENN YOUNGKIN (R), VIRGINIA GOVERNOR-ELECT: I just so appreciate your willingness to be so helpful as we head towards this next stage in Virginia's future.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Now that's how it should be done. Republican Glenn Youngkin who beat Terry McAuliffe in the race for governor last week met with the man he's going to replace, Democrat Ralph Northam. They had lunch, they were polite, it all seemed very cordial. It makes you wonder how things would've gone in Richmond had McAuliffe

eked out a victory over Youngkin in part because of what was being said in the right-wing echo chamber just before the votes were being counted in Virginia.

The day before the gubernatorial election, Donald Trump was telling his supporters that they must get out and vote because of the, quote, "margin of fraud in Virginia."

[16:30:00]

ACOSTA: Steve Bannon, who is still thumbing his nose at a subpoena to appear at the January 6th committee, was warning his followers Democrats were going to try to steal the Virginia election.

Over on Fox, they were being totally responsible about the whole thing. Sorry, I mean totally irresponsible.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If it's a really -- first of all, if it's really tight, they'll steal it. So, you can't afford to have a really tight election. You have to win by a big enough margin that you can't steal it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Actually, former House speaker, Newt Gingrich, was wrong. Youngkin won by 2.2 points in Virginia. It was not a blowout. It was fairly close, just under 70,000 votes. By the way, that's a smaller margin of victory than Joe Biden's win over Donald Trump. And we all saw what happened in January at the Capitol in Washington.

But it wasn't just Newt sounding the stop the steal alarm bells in Virginia. Tucker Carlson, who just released a Tin Foil Hat documentary on January 6th, was also suggesting that the fix was in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, ANCHOR, FOX NEWS: There has been a hitch in the highly anticipated count in the Virginia governor's race. Fairfax County, which is the biggest and most Democratic county in the state of Virginia, will not be supplying its vote results on time. We're supposed to have early vote shortly after 7:00 Eastern.

But an hour ago, a Fairfax County official announced that there is a delay. They say they need to rescan the ballots. They're going to release a partial count, quote, "of their early vote" in person sometime this evening. Bill Hemmer will be tracking that for us. We're also going to talk to Brit Hume. Trying to figure out how many votes they need, apparently. Just kidding.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Tucker is always just kidding or asking questions. If you adjust your tinfoil hat just right, he sounds very sincere. But the usual bad-faith actors on Fox were just amplifying the far more volatile rhetoric in other corners of right-wing media in the days leading up to the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COL. JOHN MILLS (RETIRED), FORMER DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY POLICY OFFICE OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: They've got to get out of the watching mode. They've got to get into the fighting mode. And they've got to get sharp elbows. Because, otherwise, the blue machine in Virginia, it's just, once again, going to just generate enough votes to put one side over the other. I mean, this is a grave concern.

And the Republican side should be jumping up and down fighting. They should be throwing fists. They shouldn't be losing gracefully. They need to really, really work on this fighting arrangement. They're just -- they've got to get out of this passive, crouching, watching mode. So, a lot of concerns.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The host of that show John Fredericks, a popular figure in conservative talk radio, was whipping up plenty of hysteria on his own about the vote in Virginia for days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN FREDERICKS, HOST, "OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY": Everything moving in Youngkin's direction and the Republicans. But a lot of people fear this is going to get stolen. They're going to try to cheat. We've got all kinds of irregularities now going on.

Where's the -- where's the jumping up and down here? Where's the lawsuits? Why are they accepting mail-in ballots way after the deadline? I mean, why are they sending out, you know, absentee ballots to people that didn't put their social security number? A violation of law. All this has got to get fleshed out.

But you're right. The Youngkin campaign, they've got seven days. They've got to get on it, because you know they're going to try to steal it in Fairfax.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: But the Democrats didn't steal it in Virginia. They lost. And then, they conceded. Terry McAuliffe released a statement congratulating Youngkin on his victory. He didn't act like a sore loser. He didn't insight an insurrection.

Youngkin, who appealed to Trump supporters by calling for election audits in Virginia before his victory, gladly accepted McAuliffe's concession. And now, the peaceful transfer of power in Richmond is well underway. There was no riot in Richmond, thank goodness. Right? As a Virginia kid, I was pretty happy about that.

But where would we be if Youngkin had lost? It's hard to say. Maybe it would've been just fine. We'll never know. By the way, in New Jersey, the Democratic incumbent governor, Phil Murphy, won by about the same margin as Youngkin did in Virginia. Last time we checked, Murphy's challenger, a Republican, Jack Ciattarelli, has yet to concede.

Our democracy is in big trouble if only one of our two major political parties accepts the election results when they win. The pundits in Washington have been furiously slicing and dicing last week's election results in search of some larger meaning behind Youngkin's victory.

The one lesson that sticks with me is that our system of government, while far from perfect, worked pretty well last week, despite what happened back in January. Perhaps some in the MAGA Movement and on Fox can now have a little more faith in their fellow Americans and in our democracy.

There's been a lot of complaining about wokeness this past week. I've been more worried about repairing the brokenness of our republic. Enough with this stop the steal nonsense. If you win, great. If you lose, move on. Please, no more whining. No more sore losers.

[16:35:00]

ACOSTA: No more lies. Just stop the squeal.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: It's time to take a trip into the Q-Niverse, where wild conspiracy theories haven't slowed down since Trump's defeat. This week, hundreds of QAnon supporters from across the country gathered in Dallas in the hopes that John F. Kennedy Jr., yes John F. Kennedy Jr., would appear and then announce that Donald Trump would be reinstated as president. Spoiler alert, he never showed and the reinstatement did not happen.

[16:40:02]

ACOSTA: That's because, as those of us living in reality know, JFK Jr. died in a plane crash in 1999. But some QAnon supporters believe he has spent the last 22 years in hiding, if you can believe that.

I want to bring in someone who knows firsthand how people get sucked into this wild world of conspiracy theories. Former QAnon believer, Jitarth Jadeja. Jitarth, thanks so much for being with us. I don't know where to begin with all of this. That's why we have you here to help us unpack this. It's a lot to unpack. It's too much to unpack in the time that we have. But QAnon, has that all -- what's that?

JITARTH JADEJA, FORMER QANON BELIEVER: No, it is. I was just going to give you a slight correction. It wasn't JFK Jr. who was going to come out. It was actually JFK Sr. who was going to give -- who was going to reveal he was secretly the President this whole time and still alive.

ACOSTA: Wow.

JADEJA: And then, his son, JFK Jr., who was murdered by Hillary Clinton in order to get the Senate seat in New York in 1999, was going to declare himself as Trump's vice president.

By the way, Jim, did you know that the Kennedy blood line is the same as Jesus Christ's blood line? And not a single word of what I told you is wrong about their belief. That's literally what they thought.

ACOSTA: Wow. And, yes, my brain hurts after what you just said. But can you help this -- explain this obsession with JFK Jr.? Because this is a big part of the QAnon thing. I remember seeing this out on the campaign trail. You would see this from time to time. And I would think to myself, what the hell going on with JFK Jr.?

After things in Dallas didn't go as planned, some QAnon supporters were actually running with another crazy theory that none other than Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones is actually JFK Jr. in disguise. This one doesn't make any sense to me because I remember the Rolling Stones trying to stop Trump from playing "You Can't Get No Satisfaction," and "You Can't Always Get What You Want" at Trump rallies. So, none of this makes any sense.

JADEJA: No. And, actually, there's multiple JFK Juniors, in case you didn't know. And the obsession with JFK Jr., it's kind of a -- it always goes back to Hillary Clinton because it's kind of a reference to the Clinton body count idea. Where Hillary Clinton was wanting to run for the recently vacated Congressional seat in New York. And she was scared JFK Jr., who was friends with Trump, would run. So, she sabotaged his plane and he died.

And this first came about in QAnon way back in 2018 when a former journalist, a former QAnon, Liz Crokin, interviewed a psychic on YouTube. Asked her who the person behind A was. Her theory was that it was JFK Jr. It's then cycled around and around and around, to the point where Q, who specifically stated JFK Jr. is dead, doesn't matter to them. It is -- and the irony is that the people who believe in this JFK Jr. stuff, as crazy as you think of QAnon people in general, QAnon people consider people who believe in the JFK Jr. stuff just as crazy.

So, there's -- like you said, there's a lot to unpack.

ACOSTA: And one thing that is very scary is how followers of QAnon are running for political office these days. For instance, the man many people believe is Q himself, Ronald Watkins, he's running for Congress in Arizona. Let's listen to a little bit of that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What do you think happened in November 2020?

RONALD WATKINS: President Trump did win the election. And that the election was certified to President Biden. And that Biden is currently occupying the White House. But the de facto leader is still President Trump.

LAU: But President Trump didn't win the election.

WATKINS: The databases were deleted and we don't know -- LAU: They're still there.

WATKINS: Well, Ms. Lau, let me tell you, everybody has a super power. And I'm a computer programmer and my super power is abstract math. And I'm able to look and see things and patterns that most people are not looking for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: I don't -- help me, Jitarth. I mean, what's going on here?

JADEJA: OK. So, that --

ACOSTA: Is this performance art? I mean, do you think some of these folks are pulling our legs?

JADEJA: No. Ron Watkins, he -- whether he's Q or not, and there's a lot of evidence that he is. A lot of evidence but it's not definite. He just repeats verbatim stuff that he sees from the Q research boards, the original Q boards on his Web site. And people take him seriously because of that connection. To the point where Donald Trump re-tweeted an interview with him, that OAN did, talking about this very thing in dominion voting and verbatim quoting concepts from the Q research boards.

[16:45:07]

JADEJA: And, boom, election -- the election was rigged. The election was rigged is now, like, mainstreamed in the Republican Party.

And just as a side note. Ron Watkins is probably the single most unimpressive person I've ever met. He gets more unimpressive -- or not met, rather. He gets more unimpressive the more he talks. And he's -- as some -- I have a pure mathematics degree.

What he's talking about or thinks he's talking about is central limit theorem. Which, essentially, is standard deviation. Which is a concept in mathematics that everyone knows that just because something lines up 100 percent doesn't make it correct.

So, it is -- he's running in the state -- First Congressional District to Arizona. He's not the only former QAnon-linked person who -- to run. Tracy Beanz, or Tracy Diaz, who was probably one of the first people behind QAnon, --

ACOSTA: Right.

JADEJA: -- she is now a Republican member of the State Executive Committee in South Carolina.

ACOSTA: Yes. You just can't make this stuff up. But it just goes to the old saying, just because you believe in something doesn't necessarily make it so. Jitarth Jadeja, thanks so much for being with us. We knew we couldn't unpack it all but we sure as heck tried. Thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

JADEJA: But we tried. Thank you, Jim. Have a good day. Bye.

ACOSTA: Take care. We'll be right back.

[16:46:32]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: President Biden is condemning a brazen terrorist attack, targeting Iraq's prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, survived the attempt on his life by drones packed with explosives. Now the search for who's behind this is underway. CNN's Jomana Karadsheh has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was one of the most brazen attacks to ever target Iraq's leadership. A drone laden with explosives struck the residence of Prime Minister Mustafa al- Kadhimi in Baghdad's fortified green zone, according to Iraq's military. He escaped what was described as a failed assassination that injured members of his security detail.

Shortly after that, the prime minister appeared calm and composed in a televised address, reassuring the nation and calling for restraint.

MUSTAFA AL-KADHIMI, PRIME MINISTER, IRAQ (translator): The cowardly missiles and drones do not build our countries nor our future. And we are working to build our homeland by respecting the state and its institutions and establishing a better future for all Iraqis. I invite everyone to a calm and constructive dialogue, for the sake of Iraq and the future of Iraq. Long live Iraq. Long live Iraq.

KARADSHEH: No one's claimed responsibility for the attack Iraq says it's investigating. The government vowing to bring those responsible to justice, blamed, quote, "criminal armed groups," a term it's used in the past to describe Iranian-backed militias. The powerful Iranian- backed groups have threatened al-Kadhimi, a close U.S. ally in the past.

But on Sunday, various groups were fast to deny their involvement, accusing foreign powers of an attempt, they say, to implicate them. The attack comes after weeks of rising tensions following the October 10th elections. Parties representing Iranian-backed militias emerged as the biggest losers of that vote, losing many of the seats they once held in parliament. They've refused to accept the results of an election they have described as fraudulent.

And, for weeks, their supporters have staged a protest in Baghdad that turned violent on Friday, when protesters clashed with security forces as they tried to storm the green zone. Militia leaders accuse the government of targeting peaceful protesters and vowed revenge following the death of a demonstrator.

(on camera): The Iraqi government, for the most part, has failed to hold these heavily armed Iranian-backed groups accountable for crimes they've been accused of committing in the past. The government's really tried to avoid an escalation and a confrontation with these groups. But that may no longer be an option with Iraq's democracy and its constitutional process now at stake. Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Istanbul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Last week, we announced the top 10 CNN Heroes of 2021, one of whom will be named the CNN Hero of the Year by you, our viewers. So, as the voting happens, we'll be reintroducing each of our top 10. Shirley Raines started Beauty2TheStreetz to offer the homeless on skid row in Los Angeles a chance to look in the mirror and see something more in themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIRLEY RAINES, FOUNDER, BEAUTY2THESTREETZ: It is just being seen, being touched, being cared for. You want a face mask? It plants a little bit of self-esteem in them so they feel like, OK, maybe no one knows I'm homeless because I have a fresh cut.

Good to see you. Happy Saturday, king. I address them as kings and queens because that is who they are. We want to make them feel beautiful.

What do you want? Hair? Haircut? Hair? OK.

When they say they're broken, I am, too. They're, like, how did you get fixed? I'm not. I take Prozac, 20 milligrams every day. What the heck. I ain't fixed, child. I ain't fixed at all.

I'm not going to lie to you and tell you things are going to be better now. But what I am going to do is feed you while you're out here. What I am going to do is do your hair. What I am going to do is give you a hug. What I am going to do is encourage and I want to speak life into you. And that's what I can do.

[16:55:00]

RAINES: That was Mickey (ph) on the mic, you guys. Give her a hand. Give her a hand. Giver her a hand.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And go to CNNheroes.com right now to vote for her or your choice for CNN Hero of the Year or any of your top 10 favorites. That's at CNNheroes.com.

[16:55:25]

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