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New U.S. Travel Rules Begin Monday To Slow Spread Of Omicron Variant; Trump Mocks General Milley At Mar-a-Lago Speech; Explosive Testimony In Trial Of Jeffrey Epstein's Longtime Companion; Return To Charlottesville Four Years After Deadly Rally; WWII Hero And Giant Of The Senate Bob Dole Dies At The Age Of 98. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 05, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:13]

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

In just a few hours from now brand-new COVID testing requirements will go into effect for anyone coming into the United States. It's part of an effort to curb the spread of the new and possibly more transmissible Omicron variant. These new rules mean that starting at midnight tonight, all inbound international travelers to the U.S. must have a negative COVID-19 test within one day of travel regardless of nationality or vaccination status. Non-U.S. citizens must also be vaccinated.

Let's get right to CNN's Nadia Romero in Atlanta.

Nadia, what else do we know about these new travel restrictions? I'm guessing some travelers might be confused, but they better get with the program.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They need to get with the program if they want to come into the U.S. successfully. So let's break it down, Jim. Travel restrictions versus travel bans. So you mentioned the travel restrictions that will begin tomorrow. We've seen them off and on with various countries throughout this pandemic. So just last month, we had a travel restriction that still in place that international travelers coming to the U.S. have to be vaccinated.

Now we're adding another requirement, a negative COVID-19 test the day before they travel. Other places you saw more of a window, 72 hours. Now we're stripping that down to just the day before they travel. But if we talk about the travel ban, well, it's really of people who are coming from eight Southern African countries including South Africa where scientists there were the first to identify the Omicron variant.

And so many people have called -- have criticized the U.S. government for that move, facing a lot of international backlash, saying that this was a travel apartheid. That's what we heard from one U.N. official. So here's Dr. Anthony Fauci as he pushed back on that and his response to the U.S. ban. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, PRESIDENT BIDEN'S CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER: Now, as you mentioned, as we're getting more and more information about cases in our own country and worldwide, we're looking at that very carefully on daily basis. Hopefully we'll be able to lift that ban within a quite reasonable period of time. I mean, we all feel very badly about the hardship that that might have put upon not only South Africa but the other African countries. And for that reason in real time literally on a daily basis we're re-evaluating that policy.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And we heard that from other White House members and COVID staff briefings saying that they are re-evaluating all of their travel restrictions and policies on a day-to-day basis. But, Jim, you mentioned that tomorrow starts that new travel policy for international travelers. As of yet we're not seeing any restrictions for domestic travelers -- Jim.

ACOSTA: And, Nadia, can you give us the latest on the spread of this variant right now?

ROMERO: Yes, Jim. We really have to use what we learned from the Delta variant and the spread of the original COVID-19 from back when all of this pandemic first began. We know that we have that variant that came in this country long before we knew about it. Right? So now we know that the variant is in 16 or so states. And scientists say you could assume that it's in your state and that it's in other places in the U.S.

And we have to use that data and compare it to what we're seeing with hospitalizations, new cases. But Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC director says, listen, it is just too early to know the full impact of this new variant -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Nadia Romero, important information. Thanks so much.

And with me now is Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He's a CNN medical analyst and professor of surgery and medicine at George Washington.

Dr. Reiner, Omicron has been detected now in 16 states as Nadia was just mentioning. Why not screen travelers on domestic flights?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Good question.

ACOSTA: Yes.

REINER: There are very few places in the world that have as many coronavirus cases every day as the United States, maybe no place on the planet. So we're screening people who fly into the United States but we're not screening people who fly around the United States.

Look, I love the idea of screening people who get on a plane to come to the U.S. but we should be able to incorporate that into our travel system here in the United States to prevent folks who are infected from going from, let's say, parts of this country that have high viral threat to places maybe where there's lower viral threat. One way to contain the virus is to test people the day of departure. And we have rapid tests that can do this. We just need the systems and the will to do it.

ACOSTA: And you've long advocated for a vaccine mandate to get on a plane. Why do you think the Biden administration has held off on that?

REINER: Well, I think it's a mistake, first of all. Look, it's a talking point for the Republican opposition. But vaccines are very popular in this country. 83 percent of adults have gotten at least one shot. So by refusing to institute a travel vaccine mandate, basically the Biden administration is bowing to the 17 percent minority so as I've been saying it's basically the tail wagging the dog.

[16:05:11]

We should have a travel vaccine requirement in the United States like our cousins in Canada have. It makes sense not only to prevent transmission around this country, but another incentive for folks to get vaccinated. And this last 17 percent are really the recalcitrant group. And it's going to take a strong measure to get these folks across the finish line. And maybe if they're told they can't fly without a vaccine, that will get some of them there. So I strongly favor that.

ACOSTA: Yes. And let's turn the page to some very appalling comments from Republican Senator Ron Johnson who, like others on the far-right, have been spreading these kooky things about Dr. Anthony Fauci. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Fauci did the exact same thing with AIDS. He overhyped it. He created all kinds of fears, saying it could affect the entire population when it couldn't. And he's using the exact same playbook for COVID.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And here's Dr. Fauci's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAUCI: How do you respond to something as preposterous as that? Overhyping AIDS? It's killed over 750,000 Americans and 36 million people worldwide. How do you overhype that? Overhyping COVID? It's already killed 780,000 Americans and over five million people worldwide. So I don't have any clue of what he's talking about.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: How depressing is it that Dr. Fauci has to respond to this nutty stuff? And it's just unrelenting.

REINER: It's offensive. I was a resident in New York in the late 1980s when AIDS burned through this country, in that city, and our hospitals had wards packed with dying young people where we had basically nothing to do, no way to really help them. So, to hear this really ignorant, maliciously ignorant senator spout this nonsense in the context of this enormous public health threat now is distressing, but it's more than distressing, it's harmful.

One of the two big lies in the last couple of years, one was obviously the election, but the other one was the former president downplaying the threat of this pandemic, telling folks it's was a hoax, telling people it would just go away, saying it was the flu, it was the kung flu, downplaying this. And once you downplay the risks to people, how do you get them to do the hard things, to social distance, to lock down, to get vaccinated?

It's very hard to do. So now almost two years into the pandemic we see this senator going back to that playbook. It's incredibly destructive. How do you get those 17 percent of folks largely Republicans to get vaccinated when you have United States senators saying this is not really a threat?

ACOSTA: Yes. And I wonder, Dr. Reiner, if this is really just a strategy and it is to drive Dr. Fauci out of his job.

REINER: Well --

ACOSTA: They want to scout.

REINER: They want to scout. You know, they've tried to blame the virus itself on Dr. Fauci through the funding of NIH. They've tried to doubt, you know, his voracity. They're looking for a scapegoat when what is clear to anyone who has looked at this objectively is that the initial 12 months of the management of this pandemic was so catastrophic that set in cycle the hundreds of thousands of folks who died needlessly in this country. So you hear, you know, Republican, you know, senators like Mr. Johnson taking these ignorant swipes.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right, Dr. Reiner, thanks so much. Dr. Fauci doing great work. You're doing great work as well. We appreciate it. Thank you very much.

REINER: Thank you, sir.

ACOSTA: It's a key part of Trump's playbook. Childish name-calling. Up next, the unpresidential language he used to describe the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. General Mark Milley, a four- star general who has served more than 30 years in the military.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:13:25]

ACOSTA: Former president Trump soaking up a supportive crowd at his Florida resort last night and taking aim at General Mark Milley and the decision to leave military equipment in Afghanistan amid the U.S. withdrawal. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You've got a $50 million airplane, you've got a $29 million gorgeous helicopter, we have every type of helicopter. Many of them brand new, literally out of the box. $28 million, $29 million.

We have $60 million, $70 million planes. You mean you think it's cheaper to leave it there so they can have it than it is to fill it up with a half a tank of gas to fly into Pakistan or fly it back to our country? Yes, sir, we think it's cheaper, sir. That's when I realized he was a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) idiot.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Of course, this is the same man who got a deferment for bone spurs to avoid the Vietnam War draft. Oh, and he incited an insurrection. On the very same night that Trump questioned the top general's intelligence, he released a statement that revealed his own intelligence failures, you might say, thanks to a glaring grammatical error. It reads, "Anybody that doesn't think there wasn't massive election fraud in the 2020 presidential election is either very stupid or very corrupt."

Double negatives. There never not a problem. I'm joined now by former Homeland Security Counterterrorism and COVID Task Force member to -- adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, Olivia Troye.

Olivia, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. Has it really come to this? I mean, we've seen, you know, we've seen Trump's sort of sad Elvis act before, but to, you know, to juxtapose that with this sloppily written statement, I suppose it might bring back some memories for you at the White House.

[16:15:10]

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY COUNTERTERRORISM AND COVID TASK FORCE ADVISER TO VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: Yes, it's pathetic. It's Donald Trump in keeping with who he truly is. If he's not attacking military generals even though he proclaims to be a big supporter of the military or undermining them or putting out ridiculous statements that usually don't actually even make sense, it's part of the insanity of who this man is, unfortunately.

ACOSTA: And let's talk about the former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. We learned from this so-called memoir of his that Trump and his inner circle kept Trump's positive COVID test a secret in the days before that first 2020 debate against Joe Biden.

You tweeted about it and you wrote this. "Still waiting for an apology from Mark Meadows, Mike Pence, Keith Kellogg and other former colleagues from the Trump White House who called me a liar, disgruntled employee for telling Americans the truth about Trump's recklessness on COVID when it mattered and not saving it for a book."

What are your thoughts beyond that tweet? It sounds like you got a lot.

TROYE: Yes. Like I found it infuriating because all of these people know and lived what I did. They know firsthand how reckless Trump was, especially during the onset of the COVID pandemic. And thinking back to that moment of the fact that here we have the leader of the country at the time putting these families' lives at risk.

These are the families that had a family member pay the ultimate sacrifice for our country, and the plain disregard and disrespect shown. And yet you have a whole group of people surrounding this man who are enabling him. None of these people came forward to tell the truth about what was happening. And coming forward could've saved lives at the time. And I think it's just -- it just goes to show that a lot of this is done in self-interest.

Mark Meadows decided that this was a story that he would finally tell the truth about what this man was capable of, his behavior. But he saves it because it's for profit in a book. And, you know, he thinks it's, you know, self-aggrandizing, I guess. But think about the moment and think about the lives that were potentially impacted that day. I keep thinking about who got infected that day from COVID possibly.

And I just think about how deplorable it was to put other staff consistently at risk. And I know the extent that they're capable of going, you know, the extent they'll go to, to cover up when things like this happened.

ACOSTA: Yes. And what does it say about these claims of executive privilege, that Meadows can write a book and put some of these details in a book but he won't go in front of the January 6th Committee?

TROYE: Yes, it must be nice to cherry-pick when you decide to tell the truth for profit or else decide that you're going to double down and continue a lie for someone who you continue to be loyal to. But the fact of the matter is I think Mark Meadows has a, he's at a crossroads right now, I would say. He needs to decide which path to go on. Is he going to continue to be loyal to a man that is, quite frankly, waning in his power, especially in the Republican Party?

Now that's not to say that Trumpism is fading, it certainly isn't. We're seeing that across the country. But what I'm saying is, will he remain committed to a man, or is he going to actually start to cooperate, to tell the truth of what really matters, in a moment that really matters, especially when it's come the events of January 6th?

ACOSTA: And your former boss Mike Pence is in the news this week. Here's what he said about Trump -- this is what he said about defying Trump and certifying the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know in my heart of hearts that on that day we did our duty under the Constitution. I don't know if President Trump and I will ever see eye on eye on that day, or that many of our most ardent supporters will agree with my decision that day. But I know I did the right thing. (END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Olivia, you worked with him. Why can't he just condemn Trump for these lies and for inciting this insurrection? Why can't he go there?

TROYE: Well, I think he did do the right thing that day. But I think the problem is that he knows that Trumpism is a base of the Republican Party right now, and these extreme movements within that Trump has enabled and encouraged are it. And he cannot potentially make a run for 2024, which I know that he has desire to. I know that he plans to run without this population.

So he's trying not to alienate them too much, but even though I don't think they'll ever change their minds of him being a traitor just for doing his job that day and doing the right thing for our country.

ACOSTA: And before we go, I have to ask you about this piece of folklore that you've been asked about. You talked about, I guess, it involves Taylor Swift. You said one time you were blasting her music in your office and you were warned that could get you fired because, I guess, Taylor Swift has criticized Donald Trump? What? Is that true?

[16:20:04]

TROYE: It is. You know, I was playing "You Need to Calm Down" because I was thinking about the people in the room in a meeting that I just left, and I was thinking also for myself that I need to calm down. And believe it or not, Jim, it was a meeting about masks and sending them out to households across the country to help Americans during the COVID pandemic, and I had lost.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Oh, interesting. This was about that whole debate that went on inside the White House about whether to send masks to every household in the country. Is that what you're saying?

TROYE: That's exactly it. And I can't tell you how upset I was that night in my office. I remember playing that. I do remember my colleague coming in and asking me if I was trying to get fired. At the time I was, quite frankly, confused on whether it was a fact that I had raised a mask presentation during a task force meeting or whether it was the fact that I was playing Taylor Swift in my office.

But that goes to show that every move that you did in the Trump administration was monitored and watched. And, you know, and so there you go. I mean, you know, I can't help it. I'm a Swifty, and I was upset about what was happening at the time.

ACOSTA: That is so disturbing that there would be an administration I guess approved list of musicians that you can play around the White House.

Olivia Troye, thanks as always for your candor. We appreciate it. Good talking to you. TROYE: Thanks for having me.

ACOSTA: Thanks. Coming up, disturbing details in the sex trafficking trial of Jeffrey Epstein's longtime companion. What a witness told the court about underaged girls, plus the alleged code of silence.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:26:12]

ACOSTA: Disturbing revelations in week one of the criminal sex trafficking trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime companion and alleged accomplice of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. On Friday defense lawyers grilled Epstein's former house manager about his damning testimony the day prior, when he told jurors that many women visited the home including some of the underage accusers.

He read from an employee manual that instructed you see nothing, hear nothing, say nothing. And he said Maxwell told him personally that she was the lady of the house. Prosecutors also brought in a green collapsible massage table that was recovered from Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach villa, among other adult items.

And joining me now is journalist Vicky Ward. She's the executive producer of "Chasing Ghislaine," streaming now on Discovery Plus.

Vicky, what do you make of this testimony on the atmosphere at Epstein's home and the manual detailing instructions for staff to remain, you know, very discreet about all this to maintain extreme discretion? What can you tell us?

VICKY WARD, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "CHASING GHISLAINE": Well, so, Jim, when Juan Alessi testified about that manual on Thursday, he described it as very degrading. And certainly, you know, it went on for pages and pages and pages. And you could see how visibly affronted he was to have been given a book like that. And I think that, you know, it's quite possible that the jury found a set of snobbery that was implicit in it kind of repellant.

However, when Juan Alessi was cross-examined by Maxwell's defense team, they really poked holes at his credibility, pointing out that what he had said in court last week under oath about his own history with Jeffrey Epstein, about the fact he said he had stolen money from him once in fact was not true. Under oath in previous testimony, he had said that he had stolen twice from Jeffrey Epstein.

And that, you know, I could see jurors nodding, you know, shaking their heads at this. You know, that seemed to be a successful strategy for the defense to really strike at his credibility.

ACOSTA: And this week we also heard from Epstein's personal pilot. He listed some of the high rollers who flew on Epstein's private jets including Prince Andrew, former President Clinton, former President Trump, as well as a pair of former senators. These men aren't accused of wrongdoing, at least not in this circumstance. But is this why, according to your reporting, people in high society are bracing for the fallout from this trial?

WARD: So I think people are bracing possibly for being named in this trial. We've already heard some names of powerful men that, you know, I certainly didn't know had known Jeffrey Epstein before. Fidel Castro being one. But I think the other point of all of this is, you know, the defense will argue that all these famous people show how Jeffrey Epstein was able to camouflage himself, and I suspect they will argue that, in part, you know, Ghislaine Maxwell was compartmentalized from Jeffrey Epstein's life. That's certainly what they said in their opening arguments.

ACOSTA: And let's play a clip from your special that gets into the dynamic between Maxwell and Epstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WARD: Sources who knew them during this time told me that he insisted she lose weight. And that she did.

[16:30:03]

That he could be incredibly abusive to her in public, and she put up with it in silence.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Is Maxwell also a victim of Epstein's abuse and manipulation, do you think? I mean, what do you make of that question, and do you expect the defense to play up that angle?

WARD: So it's complicated, Jim. We did hear from Juan Alessi under cross-examination by Ghislaine Maxwell's defense lawyer how Jeffrey Epstein would ask the house manager to remove all photographs of Ghislaine Maxwell on weekends or periods of time when he wanted to invite other women to come and stay. And the defense suggested that this was a secret between the house manager and Epstein.

So, you know, clearly this was an attempt to show how manipulative Epstein was and that Maxwell was someone who was a victim, if you want to use that word, of those manipulations. Having said all of that, so far I don't think you've seen the defense try necessarily to play up the fact that she was manipulated by Jeffrey Epstein. I think what they're trying to do is separate her from Jeffrey Epstein's sort of rather clear criminality.

ACOSTA: All right, very good. Vicky Ward, thanks so much once again for talking to us about this special. And you can watch "Chasing Ghislaine" right now on Discovery Plus.

Vicky, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

Coming up, the disturbing scene involving masked men with shields marching on the National Mall.

You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:36:40]

ACOSTA: A disturbing scene in downtown D.C. last night. About 100 members of Patriot Front, a group widely considered to be comprised of white supremacists, marched across the Washington Mall and past the Lincoln Memorial to the beat of a snare drum wearing white masks, matching clothes and arm patches. Members of the group also carrying plastic shields and at least one banner read "Reclaim America."

The U.S. Park Police says they did not have a permit for the march. No violence was reported. But the imagery brought to mind memories of the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017. And now four years later CNN is returning to Charlottesville for a special report taking you inside what happened that day, including interviews with the defendants in a federal civil suit like white supremacist Richard Spencer. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD SPENCER, FORMER LEADER OF ALT-RIGHT: All of that juvenile, ironic Nazi humor, it's just so over. And I cringe when I even think about it now.

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think I've said this a couple of times, but you have said you have regrets.

SPENCER: Yes.

REEVE: But every time I ask you to explain those regrets --

SPENCER: I have explained them.

REEVE: It's framed in terms of, I was hanging out.

SPENCER: I made those decisions, Elie.

REEVE: With losers.

SPENCER: I made those decisions.

REEVE: You're, like, I let myself get dragged down by this filth. But those were your people. Those are your guys. Why don't you take responsibility for them?

SPENCER: I have.

REEVE: If they wanted to be you and they went into the street and beat people up, what does that say to you?

SPENCER: Well, you seem to just want to -- your entire point here is just to prove that I am, like, a piece of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) and why don't you just accept it? I mean, look, Elie, I don't -- I'm not here to be insulted. Maybe when someone's actually honest and expresses a regret, you should probably allow them to do that as opposed to jumping on their (EXPLETIVE DELETED) back. You know? REEVE: Do you regret injecting such explicit, intense racism into the

American politics?

SPENCER: I did not inject that in there. If anything, I injected a kind of ideology that could, you know, articulate something that's already there.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And joining me now is CNN correspondent Elle Reeve who won a Peabody Award for her coverage of the 2017 rally including the viral video of the demonstrators walking with tiki torches while chanting, "Jews will not replace us" and "Blood and soil."

Elle, thanks for talking to us about this. It's hard to believe it's been four years now. And just watching that clip there, I can't imagine what it was like talking to Richard Spencer, who, I mean, you know, he's just a slimy, filthy person. But these organizers during the trial -- I mean, you spoke with a number of them. They were ultimately found liable for millions of dollars in damages.

Are you picking up on any remorse? I mean, it sounds like Spencer there, for example, is still very defensive about what he did and what he has said.

REEVE: Yes. I'd say the main message from most of them is it wasn't my fault, maybe it was someone else's but not mine. Chris Cantwell, for example, played an excruciatingly slow-motion videos of him punching someone over and over again from behind and tried to tell the jury he was acting in self-defense.

[16:40:10]

But others in more private moments will say, maybe I shouldn't have trusted these people on the internet, maybe I should've said something when they were talking about violence.

ACOSTA: And as we mentioned, you were there in 2017 documenting everything that happened. Was there anything that you learned four years later about the events that day that you didn't know before?

REEVE: Yes. For one thing, organizer Jason Kessler in his very earliest moments planning the rally wanted violence. He always framed it as self-defense, but he was talking about provoking anti-fascists into attacking them going as far as telling people don't open carry guns because then counter-protesters will be scared and they won't attack us.

Further, he reached out to Matthew Heimbach who is associated with the more working-class part of the white power movement and asked him to bring groups that were associated with street fights. He wanted, like, skinhead gangs from the '90s because they had the reputation for being capable of violence.

ACOSTA: And another thing you address in the special is the current state of the so-called alt-right movement and a now infamous comment from Donald Trump about very fine people on both sides. Let's play that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EMILIE GORCENSKI, COUNTER-PROTESTER, ASSAULTED BY CHRISTOPHER CANTWELL: The alt-right movement was always a patsy. I think that the alt-right was used to set a new standard for what was acceptable in America. And as soon as Donald Trump said both sides, that anchored the new standard. Now, this is just business as usual. So I think that the alt-right, you know, they've stopped their activism. But I think really they've worn out their usefulness because now their visions -- their views are mainstream.

SPENCER: Now, the alt-right, not only is it kind of irrelevant in splintering into infighting, or something. It doesn't, in a way, need to exist or make sense. There is just a Trump Republican conservative movement. You're not -- there is no alts that's necessary.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Elie, I remember being at that press conference and getting into it with Trump when he talked about very fine people on both sides, and that comment has always stayed with me. Are you saying in this special, and are they saying in those comments to you that essentially when Trump made those remarks and what we've seen from Trumpism since is that those people on the alt-right have been brought into the base of the Republican Party, the Trump Republican Party? Is that what's going on there?

REEVE: In a way. So Jason Kessler is viewed with a lot of contempt by other people in the White Power Movement but he was the sign of things to come. In private messages Kessler says he doesn't want to see Neo- Nazis, he doesn't want to see swastikas, but he was very interested in political violence and very comfortable with the idea of that.

And that's what we've seen since the collapse of the alt-right, militias, Proud Boys, the people who stormed the Capitol. None of those people are walking around with swastikas, but they are very comfortable with political violence. So, yes, in a way, this was a sign of things to come.

ACOSTA: All right. It's just all so disturbing. Elle Reeve, great work as always. Thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

And her special report "WHITE POWER ON TRIAL: RETURN ON CHARLOTTESVILLE" airs tonight at 9:00 right here on CNN. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:48:26]

ACOSTA: And now a moment to remember a political icon and member of the greatest generation, Bob Dole. The World War II hero and legend of the Senate who became the Republican Party's nominee for president in 1996 has died. He was 98 years old. His passing is a reminder of a very different era in American

politics. President Biden released a statement earlier today saying, in part, "In the Senate, though we often disagreed, he never hesitated to work with me or other Democrats when it mattered most. Bob was an American statesman like few in our history, a war hero and among the greatest of the greatest generation.

And, to me, he was also a friend whom I could look to for trusted guidance or a humorous line at just the right moment to settle frayed nerves." The White House says both the president and the first lady spoke on the phone with Bob Dole's wife, former U.S. Senator Elizabeth Dole, to express their sincere condolences.

Dole was also honored by former president George W. Bush who remembered this emotional moment at his own father's funeral when Dole got up from his wheelchair. "I will always remember Bob's salute to my late dad at the Capitol," the former president writes. "And now we Bushes salute Bob and give thanks for his life of principled service."

And CNN's Wolf Blitzer has more on Dole's life and legacy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Bob Dole was the kind of politician you'll have a hard time finding in Washington these days. Much of the country only saw the cartoon image hatchet man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Senator Dole has richly earned his reputation as a hatchet man tonight.

BLITZER: Sharp-tongued partisan.

BOB DOLE, FORMER REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I used election promise from my opponent.

[16:50:03]

BLITZER: Pundits who didn't know better labeled him mean-spirited. But the man wasn't defined by grouchiness or gridlock. In the Senate where he spent the bulk of his political life, Dole became a master at forging compromise, working with Democrats to cobble together bills that left the country better off. A food stamp bill with George McGovern, the Americans with Disabilities Act with Tom Harken, Social Security reform with Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

DOLE: Some might find this surprising given the view that Congress has been my life, but that is not so. With all due respect to Congress, America has been my life.

BLITZER: He also was a driving force behind Washington's magnificent World War II memorial.

DOLE: I've sort of become the unofficial greeter. I try to greet every group. I can't explain the emotion and what it means to one of these 85, 90, 95-year-old veterans who get a chance to touch and feel the World War II memorial. It's probably the best thing that's happened to them in years, and they're going to remember it the rest of their life.

BLITZER: Dole was one of those young Americans who went off to the war on a hillside in Italy, an explosion severely damaged his shoulder and spinal cord. Dole spent 39 months in hospitals, hovering near death more than once.

DOLE: First I didn't think it was fair. Then I looked around to the next bed and they were taking away somebody away who had passed away or somebody who'd lost both legs or done something else so I didn't feel so sorry for myself.

BLITZER: His right hand remained virtually useless for the rest of his life. His mind, however, was fine. Voters in his home state of Kansas sent Dole to Washington for five terms where he thrived, becoming a Republican leader in the Senate. He was President Gerald Ford's running mate in 1976 and ran for president in 1980 and 1988. Finally winning the Republican nomination in 1996.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: William Jefferson Clinton has a job for four more years.

BLITZER: I didn't work out.

DOLE: There's a lot more fun winning. It hurts to lose an election but stay involved and keep fighting the good fight.

BLITZER: A 45-year political career was over. Dole moved on with grace.

MELANIA TRUMP, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: Great Senator Bob Dole.

BLITZER: After the bitter 2016 primaries, Dole was the only former Republican presidential nominee to attend the convention that nominated Donald Trump. He poignantly saluted the casket of fellow Republican but frequent rival George Bush. And to the end Dole kept the trademark humor so familiar to those who knew him and so surprising to those who did not.

DOLE: We always try to have a little fun. My view is if it's not any fun it's not worth doing. You look at your life and doing reflection I think success and failure are not opposites. It's just part of your life.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:58:03]

ACOSTA: The Top 10 CNN Heroes of 2021 have been announced. One of whom will be named the CNN Hero of the Year by you, our viewers. So in the last week of voting, let's reintroduce another of our incredible top 10.

Cervical cancer is nearly obsolete in the Western world but is killing hundreds of thousands of women in remote and resourced poor countries. When she learned about this disparity, this Top 10 CNN Hero made it her mission to eradicate cervical cancer globally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Free cervical cancer screening. Screen and treat for free of charges.

DR. PATRICIA GORDON, CNN TOP 10 HERO OF 2021: There are 350,000 women dying a painful undignified death globally. And it's almost 100 preventable. So this is everything you need to screen and treat a patient. We bring in these big suitcases. We teach local health care professionals the see-and-treat technique. At the end of the week of training we pack up that suitcase and give it to the nurses that are going back to their clinics.

Within a day we can literally save 20, 30 lives depending on the number of women we screen. That there are 8,000 women who are alive and well and able to provide for their families is honestly the most rewarding thing that I could have ever imagined in my life. I think I'm the luckiest doctor that ever lived.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Go to CNNheroes.com right now to vote for her or any CNN Hero of the Year nominee for your pick for CNN Hero.

And calling all "Happy Days" fans, you can be the proud owner of some classic Fonz memorabilia if you're willing to cough up some serious cash. Henry Winkler and Turner Classic Movies which is owned by the same parent company as CNN are auctioning off items from Winkler's collection including a full Fonz outfit.

There it is right there. Chris Stirewalt I understand has one at home. Complete with one of the seven iconic leather jackets that were purchased for filming and the Fonz's dark boots.

Actually, the boots are pretty cool. The outfit is expected to fetch more than $50,000. I want that motorcycle, though.