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U.S. To Restrict Travel From South Africa, Seven Other Countries Monday; U.K. Tightens Travel Rules Amid New COVID Variant Concerns; "Smash-And-Grab" Robberies Plague United States Retailers; Roger Stone, Alex Jones Among Latest Jan. 6th Committee Subpoena Targets; Interview With Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA); Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplice On Trial For Sex Trafficking. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired November 27, 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: I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. And we start with breaking news.

Fears of another pandemic setback as Dr. Anthony Fauci says a COVID variant that could easily spread more easily and potentially evade vaccines already could be here in the U.S.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: Would not be surprised if it is. We have not detected it yet. When you have a virus like this, it almost invariably is ultimately going to go essentially all over.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: The Omicron variant has already been detected in South Africa, Botswana, Belgium, Israel, and Hong Kong. Within the last few hours, Italy, Germany, and the U.K. announced confirmed cases. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson seemingly confirming what so many have feared would happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It does appear that Omicron spreads very rapidly and can be spread between people who are double vaccinated.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Moderna says Omicron represents a significant potential risk to its vaccine while Pfizer says it could take 100 days to tweak its vaccine if needed. So the U.S. is hoping to buy time by restricting travel from South Africa and several of its neighbors starting Monday.

CNN's Arlette Saenz joins me now from Nantucket, Massachusetts, where Biden is spending the weekend.

Arlette, does the president have any plans to address the nation or ramp up restrictions like what we're seeing out in the U.K.? What's the latest?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, the last we saw and heard from President Biden was yesterday as he spoke to reporters here in Nantucket. It's unclear if we will be seeing him today before he returns to Washington tomorrow. But the president said that they are trying to take a cautious approach when it comes to this new coronavirus variant. And that is why they made that decision to extend restrictions -- travel restrictions from South Africa and seven other nations in the region.

Now Vice President Kamala Harris was asked a bit earlier today whether there might be additional restrictions coming and she said that they're taking things one step at a time. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have been briefed and as the president has said, we're going to take every precaution and so that's why we've taken the measures we have.

SAENZ: Do you think there will be any additional travel restrictions?

HARRIS: We'll take it one step at a time. But as of now, we've done what we believe is necessary.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: President Biden was briefed on the latest developments a bit earlier today and senior U.S. health officials are in contact with health officials from other countries as well. That's according to a White House official. Right now, officials are hoping that by issuing this restriction that will offer more time to really fully understand this state of this new variant.

Officials say it may be several days or possibly even several weeks before the full impact is known such as how severe of an illness this variant might cause and whether it could possibly evade vaccines. Now one thing that this administration is really pushing for the time being is vaccinations and booster shots.

They say that is the way for Americans to protect themselves. But of course, there will be many questions about whether the administration will decide to take additional steps similar to what we heard from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today as people are looking to curb the spread of this virus.

For the time being, there's no detected cases reported here in the United States. But Dr. Anthony Fauci said it could be possible it's either here or on its way.

ACOSTA: All right, Arlette Saenz. I think that's a safe bet. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

Dutch health authorities say, by the way, that 61 travelers from South Africa tested positive for COVID Friday after they landed in Amsterdam. Tests are under way to see if any of them have the Omicron variant. And in the U.S. today flights from South Africa arrived in Atlanta, and in Newark, New Jersey, the Newark flight arriving just after 7:00 this morning, Atlanta, just after 8:00.

And let's bring in CNN's Nick Valencia.

Nick, what are we hearing from the airlines here in the U.S.? They obviously have to be very concerned as well.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you would think two of these airlines would be even more concerned, Jim. But they tell us that they're going to continue their flights to South Africa, continue business as usual despite the emergence of this news of the new variant Omicron and despite what Arlette was just talking about, those travel restrictions going into effect on Monday, affecting eight African nations.

Those two carriers, United and Delta, say that they are not going to change any of their scheduling and we mentioned those travel restrictions go into effect on Monday. We have a partial list of those who are exempt from those travel restrictions, including U.S. citizens as well as lawful permanent residents and spouses of those groups. Noncitizen nationals of the United States, including those who are currently in the Armed Forces as well as spouses of those groups.

A full list of those who are exempt can be found at the White House Web site. But speaking to those in the health community, Jim, there's a large amount of skepticism as to what these travel restrictions will really do and how effective they'll be in stopping the spread. Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday said that there's no indication that Omicron, that strain, is here in the United States, but this morning on NBC he was saying a more cautionary tone, saying that he wouldn't be surprised if the strain is here.

[16:05:15]

The CDC is adding to that caution and those concerns talking about being able to detect this and here's a statement in part I want to read from the CDC saying, "It is continuously monitoring variants and the U.S. variant surveillance system has reliably detected new variants in this country. We expect Omicron to be identified quickly if it emerges in the United States."

Arlette mentioned this as well. Federal U.S. health officials are working closely with health officials abroad, particularly those in South Africa. But there is a lot of concern and a lot of fear if only because we don't really know that much about this strain. There's not a lot of epidemiological data. But the data that is available, Jim, is just downright scary.

ACOSTA: So far it is. We need more information. Nick Valencia, thanks so much.

VALENCIA: You bet.

ACOSTA: Let's take a closer look at how Europe is dealing with the new variant. As we mentioned earlier, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom all have confirmed cases as of today and the European CDC says there's a high to very high risk of Omicron spreading.

CNN's Nada Bashir joins us now from London.

Nada, tell us more about how the government there is trying to get ahead of this variant. I suppose at this point, the prime minister is just as frustrated as everybody else is right now.

NADA BASHIR, CNN PRODUCER: Well, absolutely. The prime minister and the government in general is taking an urgent approach to this. Two cases confirmed in the U.K. so far. So there is a sense that this virus, this new variant could spread rapidly as we've seen in the past with the Alpha variant and the Delta variant here in the U.K. But the prime minister did say that he will take a targeted and proportionate approach.

There are some new more stringent measures coming into force. There was a focus on those national measures. Perhaps not as strict or stricter that we've seen in previous waves but the mandatory wearing face coverings, for example, on public transport and in shops, for example, and, of course, a bit more emphasis on that track and trace protocol that the U.K. has brought into force.

But there is, of course, that focus on travel restrictions. The U.K. government had previously restricted travel from six Southern African nations over concerns over this new variant. And today the government has announced that a further four African countries will be added to that red list, and that means travelers coming into the U.K. will be required to quarantine for at least 10 days at a government-approved hotel at their own expense.

But there was a greater focus on those controls at the border. And actually the prime minister announced some new tougher restrictions for travelers. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNSON: We're not going to stop people traveling. But we will require anyone who enters the U.K. to take a PCR test by the end of the second day after their arrival and to self-isolate until they have a negative result. We will require all contacts of those who test positive with a suspected case of Omicron to self-isolate for 10 days regardless of your vaccination status.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: And the vaccine question is also another key area of concern. The prime minister said, of course, that there are concerns that the new variant will have a negative impact on vaccine efficacy, although he did caution that there are some evidence to suggest that those who have been double vaccinated will have some good measure of protection. But they are encouraging people to go out and get those jabs and they are also encouraging people where eligible to get the booster jab, that third jab.

Now the government is looking into shortening the gap between the second and third dose and widening the pool of people currently eligible to get that third dose. And that's all part of efforts to really gain control over this variant before it spirals out of control as we have seen in the past. Of course, the Alpha variant last winter really put immense pressure on the health care sector. And that is the key concern here.

The prime minister said that they are looking to buy time here for the health care sector. So that will be a big focus for the prime minister and, of course, for European leaders dealing with this new variant -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Nadia Bashir, thank you very much.

Let's bring in Vanderbilt infectious diseases professor, Dr. William Schaffner.

Dr. Schaffner, my goodness. I thought we're just about out of the woods. Now we're talking about travel restrictions. My goodness. Travel restrictions in the U.S. don't begin until Monday and even then, there are so many people it doesn't apply to as Nick Valencia was just talking about a few minutes ago.

Is a travel ban really the best way to contain or slow down this virus? Is it time to start thinking about, you know, vaccine mandates for travelers flying around the world? I mean, I suppose the horse is out of the barn at this point.

[16:10:03]

DR. WILLIAM SCHAFFNER, INFECTIOUS DISEASES PROFESSOR, VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY: Well, Jim, these are sobering times, right? We were all optimistic that we were nearing the end of at least the pandemic phase and now COVID has thrown us another big curve ball. We don't have all the information yet about this Omicron strain but it certainly looks very contagious and the early data, as you're reporting has shown, suggests that it can at least in part evade some of the protection from our current vaccines.

Travel restrictions are something you do as was said to buy some time. They're, by their nature, very porous. There are lots of people who have exceptions to the travel restrictions. U.S. citizens could bring the virus back. Sure, that could happen. And in any event, this is a highly contagious respiratory virus. It's very hard, in fact it's impossible, to really curtail for any prolonged period of time the spread of such a highly contagious respiratory virus.

It's going to make its way around the world. It looks like that way. So, yes, I think we may indeed be in for a phase of many more masks, much more social distancing, and more restrictions and obligations for vaccination going forward.

ACOSTA: And what are the chances that Omicron is already here in the U.S.? Dr. Anthony Fauci said it's probably here. I mean, I think that's probably a safe bet at this point, don't you think?

SCHAFFNER: Well, I think the CDC is right, we're looking hard and we haven't detected it yet. Could it be here? Obviously because we can't test every single person who develops COVID infection. So, yes, it could be well circulating already. If it isn't already, I'm sure it will be here soon, I'm afraid.

ACOSTA: And how long until we have a picture of how the vaccines stack up against it? And I'm wondering about that COVID treatment pill that we've been hearing about from Pfizer, you know, what -- do they have to go back to the drawing board on that? What are your thoughts on that?

SCHAFFNER: Well, diagnostic tests, do they work as well? The antiviral drugs or monoclonal antibodies, all of that is currently being tested. As I like to say, the lights are on in the laboratories at night. I think we'll get a better idea this coming week about how well our vaccines work. I would hope we get at least partial protection against this strain and then of course the vaccine scientists are already working, their laboratories are illuminated at night, too, trying to update their vaccines to keep up with COVID and Omicron.

ACOSTA: Yes. And our David McKenzie, our correspondent in South Africa, he said that hospitals there are not strained yet, at least not yet. And, I mean, the question I guess that is raised by that is, is it too early to read that as potentially a positive in all of this, that it may be more transmissible, but might not make people so sick that they need to be hospitalized?

SCHAFFNER: Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed. It is too early.

ACOSTA: Yes.

SCHAFFNER: The early spread came mostly among relatively -- big surprise -- unvaccinated people in South Africa, younger adults. And so there's a lesson here for us. We have lots of people still under vaccinated or unvaccinated in the United States. Delta is still the main threat here right now. We need to get everybody as vaccinated quickly as possible.

ACOSTA: And, Dr. Schaffner, I mean, you just brought this up, I mean, the Delta surge, we're still in the midst of it. 1,000 people are dying every day on average. That's extraordinary in and of itself and then, I mean, what happens if Omicron ends up being a menace and is just placed on top of that problem that we're dealing with right now? I mean, that is not -- that's not a good scenario.

SCHAFFNER: I'm not being facetious, we've seen this movie before, right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

SCHAFFNER: And so I think we need to just get our mind set that the virus is still in control. I don't care about your COVID fatigue. We're going to have to deal with this in an ongoing way very, very seriously. And masks, social distancing, and those sorts of constrains are in our immediate future, I'm afraid, and you know me, I'm an optimist, but tighten your seatbelts.

ACOSTA: All right. We will strap in and prepare for the worst. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Dr. Schaffner, thanks as always. We appreciate it.

SCHAFFNER: My pleasure.

[16:15:02]

ACOSTA: Coming up, flash mobs ransacking high-end stores across the country. What's behind this sudden surge of smash-and-grab robberies?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: This holiday shopping season is off to a violent start. Stores across the country are seeing an uptick in coordinated smash-and-grab robberies. In Tacoma, Washington, a mall was cleared out when someone opened fire, injuring at least one person. And in Los Angeles, a group stormed a Home Depot and stole hammers and crowbars before taking off.

These are just the latest examples on a rash of brazen crimes and retail workers are scared their store could be next.

CNN's Polo Sandoval is in New York for us.

Polo, this stuff is just getting out of control. Is the crime and this uptick in crime keeping shoppers away? What are you hearing?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim. You know, I did actually take a peek inside one of the department stores here on Fifth Avenue in New York. I can tell you there's no shortage of watchful eyes, not only monitoring the crowds, but also of course on the merchandise as well.

[16:20:05]

That is certainly a concern. But let me tell you, though, it is certainly not stopping people from heading out and making their purchases, not just here in New York City, but really throughout the country. When you look at the numbers from some of those retail experts and the forecasts that they have issued that is indicating that by the time this weekend alone wraps up, they're expecting about 150 million Americans to actually make some of those holiday purchases.

More than half of them are expected to make those purchases in person. Now one of the many reasons is because of those lingering concerns about supply shortages, about the inventory shortages at some of these stores here. So you get a sense that a lot of Americans are basically hoping to simply go out to these retailers and purchase those items themselves.

Now yesterday we heard from the National Retail Federation which is basically this trade group of retailers and they are very confident, at least that group is very confident that a lot of the big box retailers have prepared for this holiday shopping rush and stocked up on their inventory. In fact when you hear from other experts, Jim, they say that's acting as a sort of magnet for many of these individuals that are carrying out with these smash-and-grabs that we've seen across the country.

But back to the retail numbers, though, those independent mom-and-pop stores and retailers, those are really the biggest concern right now because experts say they are the ones that have been hit particularly hard over the pandemic and that's why it is Small Business Saturday and of course they are encouraging a lot of folks to actually spread a little bit of the love there, the retail love with them.

But really whether you're going to your local mom and pop or hitting Fifth Avenue here, hitting Saks, according to experts they are expecting for Americans to spend at least $843 billion in holiday spending. The average American spending a little over $900 here.

So, again, Jim, those are some positive and impressive numbers that experts are expecting and hoping will come true. And remember, this is happening as Americans across the country are still dealing with inflation. Yet many are still spending on those holiday purchases.

ACOSTA: All right, Polo, thank you very much.

Let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Anthony Barksdale. He was the acting police commissioner over in Baltimore.

Anthony, great to have you with us. We appreciate it. There have been dozens of these flash robberies in recent weeks. Why is this happening do you think?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It's a crime of opportunity they think they can get away with and in so far they have. So the opportunity is there and we're seeing criminals take advantage of these locations.

ACOSTA: And some law enforcement experts are blaming a lack of real legal consequences for these smash-and-grab incidents. I was speaking with Charles Ramsey yesterday and he was talking about some of this -- some of these law enforcement expert and is analysts say the decriminalization of low-level offenses in some states such as California's Prop 47 were sought to alleviate prison overcrowding by reducing penalties for some crimes, as it means for criminals are now manipulating the system.

What do you think? Does it have something to do with criminal justice reform maybe going too far, or is there more to it than that?

BARKSDALE: I would agree 100 percent with what Chief Ramsey has to say. It has gone too far. We can look across the United States in many cities where crime is just at unacceptable levels. And it's not only property. It's not only these types of smash-and-grab robberies, but look at homicides, look at Philly. Look at D.C. look at Baltimore. I could keep going. But I agree, it's gone too far.

We have to start prosecuting criminals and the police officers have to believe if they make an arrest, that the arrest will be prosecuted. And right now, they don't have that faith in the system.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean Philadelphia hit 500 homicides. Washington, D.C., just hit 200 homicides. We haven't seen levels of crime, violent crime, like that in our major cities, I mean, since the '90s. It's just unbelievable. And in these smash-and-grab cases, the cases are pretty similar, the thieves are wearing masks or hoods, making it impossible to identify them on security cameras. They're in and out in seconds.

They're carried out by large groups of people in what appears to be a planned maneuver. When you look at these security videos, what pops out to you and what would you tell, you know, some of these retailers about what they can do about it?

BARKSDALE: Well, I can speak from personal experience. We were getting hit in locations in Baltimore, so what I did I put plainclothes detectives in the stores, talked to the managers, said let me help you out, let us help you out. Put detectives in as workers inside the store, but had arrest teams outside of the stores, outside of the building. So if they did come in, when the thieves did come in and grab merchandise and went to run out, they only get but so far.

[16:25:07]

The problem is, is when you're just watching them on video and you have them on -- you know, you have them on cameras, that's not sending a message. Pretend that law enforcement were showing video of the smash-and-grab robberies where police are popping out and locking them up right then and there. Take them down right then and there. Then play that on social media and send a message that we're not tolerating this. Then back that up with prosecutors that take the case to trial and get convictions. We have to get serious about this.

ACOSTA: All right, Anthony Barksdale, we appreciate it. Thanks so much.

BARKSDALE: Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. And we're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:17]

ACOSTA: It's been a busy week for the January 6th committee, even factoring in the Thanksgiving holiday.

The panel sent out a new wave of subpoenas targeting those believed to be key organizers of the Stop the Steal movement, including Trump ally, Roger Stone, and conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones.

Listen to their conversation from a year ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX JONES, HOST, "INFO WARS": Roger Stone is a smart political operator. He says Trump still has a chance, we still have a chance to stop this steal. ROGER STONE, REPUBLICAN POLITICAL CONSULTANT: The theft is provable in

a number of different methods. In all of these swing states, you can go to Stop the Steal -- and we'll be posting that -- but there's insurmountable, compelling, overcoming evidence of fraud.

JONES: How do we trump this fraud? How do we override the scam?

STONE: First of all, the backdrop. We have to have mass public protests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar, of California, is on the January 6th committee and he joins us now.

Congressman, thanks for being with us.

I guess listening to those two talk about this more than a year ago, I guess it just brings back memories of, you know, they were trying to pull every fast one in the book to overturn the election results at the time.

What do you want to ask Roger Stone and Alex Jones if you can somehow get them to talk to you?

REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): Well, the committee has been very focused on finding out everything we can and specifically all of the activity that led up to January 5th and January 6th, the rally, the evening of the fifth and the morning of the 6th.

Clearly, these are two individuals who had expensive contacts with folks inside and out of government who played a role in continuing to pursue the Big Lie.

And this is something that the committee has mandated and charged with getting to the bottom of.

We're going to continue focusing on those efforts. But we need to have more of those conversations in order to connect the dots to gain better clarity on what happened.

ACOSTA: And do you think we're ever going to see any of these guys speak at a televised hearing, any of the -- you know, people that you're trying to subpoena to bring in?

I mean, there are a lot of Americans out there who want to see that, them in front of the cameras being grilled by folks like yourself.

AGUILAR: Well, I think it says a lot that they continue to stonewall, some of these individuals continue to stonewall.

These are lawful subpoenas. And the committee will continue to use every means necessary to compel witnesses to testify.

It's our belief, and we think that the American public also feels that we need to gain more clarity on what happened to ensure that we prevent this from ever happening again.

This was an assault on a peaceful transfer of power. And we do need to hear from these individuals. And we're going to use every means necessary to compel them to speak to the committee.

Whether it's a prime-time event or whether it's something that is behind closed doors, we just want to get to the truth. That's our focus. That's the mandate that the House resolution 503 that created the committee.

And keeping in mind again, Jim -- and I know you've reported on this extensively -- we wanted a nonpartisan committee. That's what the House voted on. Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump allies successfully beat that down in the Senate.

And so now it's on the committee in order to get the work done.

ACOSTA: And Trump's former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, is risking potential criminal charges for defying the subpoena under orders of the former president, the president's legal maneuvers.

This is what Meadows told FOX News. "He's exerted his executive privilege. It's not up to me to waive it. It's got me between a rock and a hard space."

Will you be referring Meadows for criminal contempt charges like you did with Steve Bannon? Is he headed in that direction?

AQUILAR: Well, there's still a small window in which he can still comply here. And so we're keeping an eye on the calendar ahead this week. And if Mr. Meadows does comply with the subpoena that he has been given, then we can prevent some of those steps.

But if he doesn't comply, the committee has made very clear, just as we did with Steve Bannon, that we're willing to use whatever means necessary.

And so I think that that's something that will have better clarity on here in the next week.

ACOSTA: Does that mean he has about a week?

AGUILAR: There are some dates on the subpoenas and so we expect him -- we're hopeful that he complies. That's our hope, that anyone complies with a lawfully subpoena.

[16:35:00]

If he doesn't, then the committee is going to have to think through next steps and I would imagine that would be within the next week here.

ACOSTA: And is there any talk of trying to get testimony from Trump or Rudy Giuliani, for example, his name hasn't popped up on these subpoenas yet. AGUILAR: We've said that there's no one who is off the list. But we

are performing our work, doing our investigate steps. Right now, this is the focus that we're on, these are the steps that we're taking.

If there are other steps that the committee wants to take, we'll have those conversations and I'm sure the chairman will have comments and break that.

But at this point, this is just the next investigate step, these subpoenas for groups and organizations and individuals who continued to have work in and around the January 5th and January 6th rallies.

ACOSTA: Trump's legal team is arguing that your committee and its legal fight for Trump's White House records could cause lasting damage to the presidency.

What is your response to that?

AGUILAR: Well, the courts have ruled that executive privilege is not absolute. And clearly, the former president wants to invoke a privilege that he does not hold.

The current occupant of the White House holds the keys to privilege.

And so, you know, this is just continued stall tactics. This is something all of us expected from the former occupant of the White House.

That's something he's built a career on is not paying legal bills and stall tactics within the court system. And so it's something that we are aware of.

And we're going to be successful with this court case. We're keeping a close eye on the calendar.

And we want this to move as quickly possible because we want to ensure that we have all of the documents in order to perform our investigate work to continue.

ACOSTA: Very quickly, to follow up on that, speaking of the stall tactics, do you think you're getting close to exhausting the potential recipients of subpoenas at this point? Are you getting near to the bottom of that list?

Because obviously, if you're continuing to send out subpoenas once a week well into the new year, we're starting to run into the midterm cycle and so on.

Are you getting close to exhausting that list of potential subpoena recipients?

AGUILAR: I think it's important to just say that we've heard from a number of people. Not just the subpoenas that have been made public, but 250 witnesses that we've interviewed, 25,000 documents that we've poured over. So we continue to maintain a robust amount of work product to go

through. And should that work product give us more leads, then we're happy to chase those down and pursue the truth.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Pete Aguilar, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

AGUILAR: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: Coming up, the longtime confident of convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, prepares to face a jury. Why my next guest is saying that high society is bracing for Ghislaine Maxwell's trial.

And a program note. Join Fareed Zacharia for an in-depth look at China's leader, Xi Jinping. "CHINA'S IRON FIST, XI JINPING AND THE STAKES FOR AMERICA" begins tomorrow night at 9:00.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:42:55]

ACOSTA: On Monday, opening statements begin in the blockbuster trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the alleged accomplice of convicted pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.

Maxwell is accused of sex trafficking and grooming minors as part of a sex ring that allegedly catered to Epstein and a powerful network of men worldwide.

Epstein died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting his own trial on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty.

In a new docuseries, "Chasing Ghislaine," journalist, Vicky Ward, tries to shed light on Maxwell's longtime partnership with Epstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICKY WARD, CNN HOST & REPORTER: When did Jeffrey really meet Ghislaine Maxwell? That is a topic of peculiar confusion. There are many different stories.

But we have four people who say they know that they met in the 1980s through her father, Robert Maxwell, who very much wanted them to become a couple.

(on camera): When, as far as you know, did Ghislaine and Jeffrey become romantically involved?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the '80s.

WARD: Long before her father died?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.

WARD: Why did Robert Maxwell introduce Ghislaine to Jeffrey?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that Robert wanted to have this guy as a son-in-law. Funny enough, he really -- that's what I think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And "Chasing Ghislaine" is streaming on Discovery Plus.

And Vicky Ward joins me now.

Vicky, great see you, as always. Thanks so much for doing this.

Maxwell is something of a mystery to people. There was a long stretch after Epstein's death where nobody knew where she was. What is the public going to learn during this trial?

WARD: Well, I think we don't know. I think there's sort of -- there's an element of Jekyll and Hyde clearly about Ghislaine Maxwell.

[16:44:58]

One of the reasons there's so much interest in this trial, Jim, is because her name is Ghislaine Maxwell and not sort of James Smith. She is the daughter of the late Robert Maxwell, who was an extraordinarily powerful and famous global media tycoon.

Ghislaine Maxwell, outwardly, what most -- she presented to most people as a very well-educated woman. She had gone to Oxford. She spoke numerous languages.

She spent most of her time traveling around the world with people like Bill Clinton.

She name dropped names like Henry Kissinger, the Gaddafi family. She was a woman who had an extraordinary global rolodex. She was great friends with Prince Andrew.

ACOSTA: Right.

WARD: So the question is, are we going to learn in this trial, how did somebody with all those benefits get to be where she is now, charged with these unspeakable allegations?

How would somebody like her be in a position that she's now charged with helping Jeffrey Epstein groom and sexually abuse underage women?

You know, I think it's the image of a very accomplished, privileged woman doing this to other women, it's something that is very difficult to comprehend. And we all want answers.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. And in a recent "Rolling Stone" article, you note that high society types are bracing for this trial. You mentioned some pretty powerful names a few moments ago.

What's driving that? Fear that they'll be implicated if Epstein's little black book is introduced as evidence? What do you think?

WARD: Well, I know from my reporting -- and we all know it from the last two years, right, Jim, that since Jeffrey Epstein died, all sorts of names have been reported as being associated with him that we had no idea about.

Bill Gates being one of them. Leon Black, the financier, who was the head of Apollo, who has had to step down because of his association with Jeffrey Epstein.

A couple of weeks ago, the CEO of Barclays had to step down because of all of the email correspondence between him and Jeffrey Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein is still very much an enigma. We know he was a sex offender, but there's a great deal we don't know.

We know he was a con artist, a criminal, a embezzler, possibly a spy, maybe an arms dealer, and he was a math teacher.

We know he was able to lure not just young girls but powerful men into his mansions where there was some sort of powerful kind of concierge club happening. What they were doing, we still don't know.

And so, therefore, I think a lot of people have reason to be nervous for Ghislaine Maxwell's trial.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

And let's play another clip from your special. This one focuses on Epstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was a Mr. Fix-It. He was a sensitive in a certain manner. He was careful, eloquent. He's very intelligent.

He knows if he's going to be trapped. So he traps you more than he's trapped. That's his talent. He traps you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: There's this idea, with Epstein out of the picture, that Maxwell has to be the so-called fall guy in all of this. Do you buy that?

WARD: Well, it doesn't matter what I think, Jim. It's what she -- whether or not she can convince the jury.

I think you're going to see here that she's going to put up the same kind of defense that her brothers put up in the early 1990s when they were charged for helping their father, who is now dead, steal hundreds of millions of dollars from their employees' pension funds.

And I think what you're going to see here, and we can see from the pretrial motions, that Ghislaine Maxwell is going to say she, too, was a victim of Epstein. And like her brothers did, she's going to poke holes at the credibility of the government witnesses.

And bear in mind, these charges are from a very, very long time ago. So the government is going to use that.

ACOSTA: It's fascinating stuff.

Vicky Ward, thanks so much for being with us.

The three-part special, "Chasing Ghislaine," streaming now on Discovery Plus.

Vicky Ward, great to see you again. Thanks for stopping by.

WARD: Thank you.

[16:49:54]

And coming up, he spent decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit. Now he's beginning a new chapter of his life as a millionaire. His story next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: This holiday season is extra special for a Missouri man who spent four decades behind bars for a crime he did not commit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Three, two, one!

(CHEERING)

(CROSSTALK)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Wow. What a turnaround for Kevin Strickland. He was Kansas City mayor's special guest at this year's Christmas tree lighting.

Stickland's conviction in the 1978 triple homicide was dismissed Tuesday after he served 43 years in prison.

[16:54:59]

A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the 62-year-old start a new life. More than $1 million has been raised so far.

Kevin Strickland has always maintained his innocence. And that is quite a story. I wish him the best.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:01]

ACOSTA: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta live in Washington.