Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Lashes Out at January 6th Committee After Damning Hearings; Trump Defense January 6th Rioters and Promises Pardon if Re- Elected; Senators Wrap Final Meeting on Guns This Week with No Deal; "The Fonz" Fires Back at Famous Athlete Herschel Walker. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired June 18, 2022 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:05]
JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. And this just in, a moment many parents have been waiting for since the pandemic began.
The CDC has just signed off on giving the COVID vaccine to children under the age of 5. Further recommendations from the CDC, kids aged 6 months to 5 years are eligible for two doses of Moderna, and children ages 6 months to 4 are eligible for three doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Shots could start going into those little arms as soon as Monday. And as we get more information on this, we'll bring it to you, but that very important information from the CDC just coming in to CNN.
Now to the January 6th investigation and former President Donald Trump lashing out at the committee after explosive hearings this week showed that Trump and his team knew that their 2020 election reversal scheme was based on lies but proceeded with it anyway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: There's no clear example of the menacing spirit that has devoured the American left and the disgraceful performance being staged by the unselect committee. The unselect's entire sham presentation is based on video that has been deceptively edited. They're taking six, eight, and nine-hour depositions and they're putting up five-second clips. This guy Luttig, whoever the hell Luttig is, a former judge, and he was saying Pence had no choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: More lies from Donald Trump. In the meantime, the January 6th Committee will detail how the Trump team tried to get states to fraudulently change their 2020 election results. It was a pressure campaign that Trump distilled into one infamous phrase. Find 11,780 votes.
On Tuesday, the man Trump said that to will give his side of the story. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger will testify publicly along with his deputy in that office. But the plan went beyond Georgia. A source tells CNN that Arizona's Republican House speaker will also testify about the Trump pressure campaign.
Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren confirmed that to CNN in the previous hour. And joining us now to talk about this is former federal prosecutor and CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig.
Elie, great to see you. Thanks for doing this as always. We all know this hearing with Brad Raffensperger is going to include that infamous tape of Trump talking about those votes, but I guess the difference between this tape and the Nixon Watergate tapes, for example, is that it seems that Republicans in Congress this time around are unwilling to hold this president to account, outside of Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, and much of this whole saga can be summed up by that question.
Do you need anything more than Trump saying find me 11,780 votes? I mean, that's kind of the whole ball game right there.
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Jim, if I was prosecuting this case, that would be the very first words that the jury would hear. That recording is really interesting because I actually went back and listened to this whole thing. It's 62 minutes long. It's an incredibly long phone call, and I think the defense you would hear -- there's always going to be a defense -- is, well, Donald Trump doesn't always choose his words precisely, and really, what he wanted was Raffensperger to just do a full and thorough recount.
But when you listen to that full tape, that full recording in context, he's browbeating Raffensperger. At one point he threatens Raffensperger if you don't do this, you might be committing a crime. And so I think when you look at the full context, it's quite clear what Donald Trump wants Raffensperger to do is find, to use Trump's words, just enough votes for Trump to win.
But we do know, let's keep in mind, the district attorney down in Fulton County, Georgia, Fani Willis is looking at exactly this. So it will be fascinating to hear Raffensperger's view on this next week.
ACOSTA: And Elie, yesterday Trump got on stage, denied that there was an insurrection, he was denying reality essentially, but we know from the testimony that on January 6th, Trump was told that the mob had breached the Capitol, but still he went ahead and tweeted this, that Pence didn't have the courage to act, and we know based on what we've seen so far how some of these insurrectionists came to Mike Pence when this tweet came out. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Vice President Pence and his team ultimately were led to a secure location where they stayed for the next four and a half hours, barely missing rioters a few feet away.
REP. PETE AGUILAR (D-CA): Approximately 40 feet. That's all there was. 40 feet between the vice president and the mob.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: You know, Elie, what does this tell us about I guess possible intent on Trump's part?
HONIG: Well, Jim, one of the questions going into these committee hearings is what do we learn anything new? Here's an area where I really think we have learned quite a bit that's new. There was this notion that during these three hours of the Capitol attack Trump just sort of did nothing. Dereliction of duty. Sat there and twiddled his thumbs.
[16:05:02]
But I think we're now learning that he actually did worse than that. We saw snippets last week from two mid-level White House staffers who detailed this remarkable moment where they all decided he has to do something. He has to call this mob off. And then this staffer said we all got notifications on our phones and said, oh, boy, he's done the opposite. He sent that tweet at 2:24.
And, Jim, when we hear that phrase 40 minutes -- excuse me, 40 feet, the way I think about that is the distance between the bases in baseball is 90 feet, so that means these rioters were less than half the distance from home plate to first base away from Mike Pence, and that's really alarming.
ACOSTA: Yes. It's not much. And there is this -- you know all of this controversy surrounding Georgia Congressman Barry Loudermilk. Again, he is pushing back on the notion that he led a reconnaissance tour the day before the January 6th attack. We're watching some video of this right now. The committee had put out this video of a man taking photos of tunnels, hallways, staircases the day before the insurrection. What do you make of this?
HONIG: Well, there certainly are some suspicious movements and actions in that video, Jim, but big picture, I don't think there's enough evidence at this point to conclude that Representative Loudermilk knowingly gave reconnaissance tours intended to aid the rioters the next day. There's just too many outstanding questions that have not been answered. Did the people he gave the tour to enter the Capitol? It appears not.
Most importantly I've not seen any evidence showing that Loudermilk knew that anyone had bad intentions. I think we need to be careful here. There's no way a prosecutor would charge this case based on the evidence as it is. There's no way a jury would convict based on the evidence as it is. Maybe the committee has more, but as things stand right now, I'm not ready to pass judgment on Loudermilk.
ACOSTA: All right. We'll see if the committee has more information on this.
Elie, great to see you. Thank you so much.
HONIG: Thanks, Jim, all right.
ACOSTA: And during his speech on (INAUDIBLE) Friday, former President Trump did not just try to diminish the January 6th attack, he lied over and over and over again about the human toll of that day while defending the insurrectionist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If it were an insurrection that took place at the Capitol, you would have known it very soon. They would have -- these were strong people. These were great patriots, they were policemen, they were firemen, they were soldiers, they were sailors. There were no guns. I heard they didn't have one gun. Nobody was killed except for a wonderful young woman named Ashli Babbitt who was viciously shot, and in my opinion, for absolutely no reason.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: There were a number of lies there. There were weapons found by police that day, and of course there were more casualties besides Ashli Babbitt. Of course Trump did not mention the injured Capitol police officers. He did not mention fallen officer Brian Sicknick who suffered multiple strokes after his confrontation with the mob.
And joining me is the life partner of Officer Sicknick. Sandra Garza.
Sandra, I guess, first, what do you make of some of that video we just watched there of the former president and how he's continuing to lie about this? I mean, just over and over again.
SANDRA GARZA, PARTNER OF FALLEN CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER BRIAN SICKNICK: It's infuriating. He continues to do this, to defend these, as Officer Hodges said, terrorists that attempted to overthrow democracy, to murder members of Congress because that's what they were intending to do. We've heard their own words. They wanted to execute the vice president. They were looking for Speaker Pelosi.
I mean, he cannot defend that fact. That's what they were intending to do, and I am sick and tired of him trying to down play or outright deny that, and his supporters, to say that Brian did not die as a result of January 6th because he did. His cause of death was natural. But that does not mean that January 6th did not play a role in his death. And what I mean by that is, sadly, we just learned from the horrific events of Uvalde, a great example of this is Mr. Joe Garcia.
He died from natural causes. He died from a heart attack when he learned that his poor wife, Irma Garcia was gunned down in the school. She's a hero. She was trying to save those children. But just him hearing of his wife being murdered he died from the stress of learning of her death.
[16:10:03]
And by the way, my heart goes out to the families of those innocent angels that were murdered on that day. I was disgusted and appalled to hear about that, and I understand -- well, I should say my heart goes out to them. I don't know what it's like to lose a child. I know how much I was hurting learning about Brian's death, but nonetheless I'm devastated for them. But --
ACOSTA: But the fact of the matter is if January 6th had not happened, Brian would be here today.
GARZA: That's right. That's right. That's right.
ACOSTA: That's just the fact of the matter.
GARZA: Right. Right.
ACOSTA: And so to say -- I mean, this is the case with the other officers, some of the officers who took their own lives.
GARZA: That's right.
ACOSTA: In the weeks that followed.
GARZA: That's right.
ACOSTA: If January 6th had not happened, those people would still be with us very likely.
GARZA: Right. Donald Trump was messing with the universal balance, that's what I like to call it. We don't know what would have happened. Brian died from natural causes, but we don't know what the next day or the day after that would have led to. I mean, we have no way of knowing, but Donald Trump wanted to step in there and play a higher power, that's what I like to call it, and mess with people's lives.
He altered the chain of events in the universe. I believe that all of the people that died on that day and the days following, you know, would still be here today had it not been for Donald Trump, you know, wanting to mess with, you know --
ACOSTA: Our democracy.
GARZA: Yes, right, right.
ACOSTA: And take me back to being in the room for the January 6th hearings. What has that been like for you? We're seeing some video of you right now, some pictures of you right now next to Harry Dunn. Some of the officers who were there that day defending the Capitol. It's just an intensely emotional time. What's it like being in there?
GARZA: The first hearing was really, really hard. I was very, very upset seeing the footage, some of that footage we had not seen before. Serena Liebengood, Howard Liebengood's widow, was sitting next to me. And it was very, very hard. She -- I heard her crying. She started crying, and of course that started to get me emotional, and then of course seeing the footage, it was very, very hard to see it.
It just brought up all that pain and anguish and anger all over again. It was like reliving that horrid time all over again. It was devastating, and of course Officer Dunn and Officer Gonell, Officer Fanone, Officer Hodges -- I mean, Hodges and Aaron Smith, Officer Jeffrey Smith's widow was sitting there. I mean, we were all horrified to see the footage. It was really hard.
ACOSTA: Yes, we talked to Harry Dunn last week, and he was saying how one of his colleagues in law enforcement was having a panic attack, was feeling some PTSD after that hearing. The other thing I want to ask you about is there are a lot of people who witnessed this pressure campaign, you know, what Trump was up to, Trump and his team were doing leading up to January 6th. And I know you've had some criticism for people like Jared and Ivanka.
GARZA: Yes.
ACOSTA: What do you think they should have done? I mean, we saw during the hearing there was that one clip of Jared Kushner saying, oh, well, you know, some of these folks who were talking about quitting, they were just whining. You know, just sounded, you know, very dismissive that people would object to trying to overturn an election. I mean what are your thoughts on some of the people who essentially enabled Trump to do this?
GARZA: Well, they're playing a --
ACOSTA: Plotted with him to do this, in some cases.
GARZA: Right. Right. These people are playing a dangerous game here. We still have not caught -- and I actually I'm not including myself in law enforcement, but law enforcement has not caught the person who planted those pipe bombs, and, you know, I think we kind of are moving away from that very serious fact. You know, had those pipe bombs detonated, we could have seen a serious loss of life, body parts all over the place.
You know, I think they're living in magical fantasy land here because the person who planted those pipe bombs is not going to make a mistake the next time. So, you know, they're playing a dangerous game here. Donald Trump is continuing to play this game of, you know, running this false narrative, you know, running his election lie --
ACOSTA: When he's talking about pardoning some of the people on January 6th.
GARZA: Yes. Yes. Yes.
ACOSTA: What did you think when you saw it?
[16:15:04]
GARZA: Oh, I was so angry because, you know, he's purposely riling these people up. You know, this is all a game to him. And what really makes me angry, Jim, is that he's safe in his white castle with Secret Service protecting him, and he's running his mouth in, you know, the safety of his home where he lives and all his family members and all the enablers, his favorite people in Congress are safe in their little white castles while the rest of us are, you know, living without security.
You know, and the staffers, the people who cleaned up the savagery of that day, the people who defecated in the Capitol, who urinated in the Capitol, you know, they should have cleaned that stuff up, you know. That really makes me angry because, you know, like I said, you know, the next time something happens we're going to have a far worse outcome than we did on January 6th. Trump and the rest of the people who enabled him just got lucky.
They got lucky, and I know he was really breathing a heavy sigh of relief at the fact that Brian died of natural causes because had that not happened and there was far more death that happened on that day, he would have been answering to a lot more than he is today. So I'm really angry about that. Sorry, I get really riled up because it just makes me so angry.
ACOSTA: That's OK. Well, it makes a lot of people angry, you know, it should make everybody angry when you see Trump talking about pardoning people from January 6th. It's just --
GARZA: Well, if he does that, I mean, we're going to have a real problem because these people are going to end up doing something worse the next time and we're going to have a lot more bloodshed.
ACOSTA: All right, Sandra Garza, thank you very much.
GARZA: Thank you.
ACOSTA: All the best to your family and Brian's family.
GARZA: Thank you.
ACOSTA: We appreciate your time. Thank you so much.
GARZA: Thank you.
ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, a heartbreaking revelation from Uvalde, Texas, we were just talking about that for a few minutes, about how a single decision might have changed everything about that mass shooting that took 21 lives.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:21:18]
ACOSTA: The mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, and the missed opportunities to thwart the suspected gunman were what prompted fresh negotiations in the Senate over a gun safety bill. But talks have hit a roadblock over two provisions. Two of the biggest sticking points are over federal funding for so-called red flag laws and language on closing the so-called boyfriend loophole. That would ban firearm purchases for people convicted of domestic violence.
And on Friday, Senator John Cornyn, the lead GOP negotiator, he heard an earful from some of his fellow Republicans back home at the Texas GOP convention there.
(CROWD BOOING)
ACOSTA: And joining us now is Ryan Busse, a former gun industry executive who now works as an adviser to a gun violence prevention group. Ryan, thank you very much for being with us. Last year you wrote the
book "Gunfight: My Battle Against the Industry that Radicalized America." And in this book, you talk about how the gun industry used to adhere to these self-imposed rules and norms that you described, but then that changed. What happened?
RYAN BUSSE, FORMER GUN INDUSTRY EXCLUSIVE: Well, the sort of politics that you just saw in that clip, Jim, is what happened. Sadly, I saw that coming, but you know, the firearms industry, the NRA has radicalized wide, wide swaths of our country, and I think that it's now infected every single part of our country, every bit of policy. It's wound into the DNA of the GOP, and I lived through a time when the NRA tapped into this sort of racism and hate and fearful -- ginning fear up in people to make people vote in irrational ways and pressurized the political system that started certainly after Columbine and here we are today.
ACOSTA: And to talk about the proliferation of firearms in this country, especially assault style weapons like the AR-15, you know, "The New York Times" looked at court filings in online archives to examine how gun companies exploit the anxiety and desires of Americans, and what they found were that this Maddison Avenue methods that hone in on pressure points like self-esteem, lack of trust, and others, fear of losing control, those are sort of the things that they look at. And I know you've written about how the industry markets these weapons to people. How does that sound to you? Maybe you could expand on that.
BUSSE: Well, they're -- you know, the times are square on the money with that assessment. The day of the Uvalde shooting, the gun that the shooter used, the Daniel Defense AR-15, that company known for very highly pressured incendiary marketing. They had a social media post up with a toddler sitting on the floor, literally a toddler, with an AR- 15 that the shooter used and a bible verse above it and a parent pointing at the kid as if God was ordaining this young toddler to learn how to shoot an AR-15.
And that's the sort of incendiary marketing that we've seen in the industry for so many years certainly going back about 15 or 16 years. Prior to that, the industry itself would not allow like the tactical gear that you saw, the Buffalo shooter wear and some of the Uvalde shooter wore, hardly any AR-15s wouldn't allow it in its own industry trade shows. Right? So it knew that proliferating this stuff out into society was going to lead to very, very disastrous outcomes, and here we have very disastrous outcomes. It's really -- I don't know how it can be a shock to anybody.
ACOSTA: And what changed inside the industry? Why did they go from, as you were describing it? And I think you wrote a piece about this yourself in the "Atlantic."
[16:25:01]
Why did it change from being cautious about the AR-15 spreading around in society and tactical gear and enhancements to AR-15s that can make them more much dangerous weapons. The industry being concerned about that as you described at one point, how did it change to just letting it rip now and just letting these products, you know, spread around society?
BUSSE: Yes, it was a conflagration of things, but essentially the NRA figured out that using hate and fear, conspiracy, racism, using those things could drive political outcomes. Then it just so happened those exact same things drove gun sales. Right? If you think to the most tumultuous times any of us have lived in, January 1, 2020 to January 7th, 2021, George Floyd, COVID, lockdowns, protests, counterprotests, National Guard, people killed, Kyle Rittenhouse, like that's the exact time of the highest gun sales in the history of our country.
So you had the NRA figuring that out 15 or 18 years ago. Then the industry growing and needing a symbol, and then the sort of forces joining up, and then you had 20 years of war, right? You had this weapon of war that was glamorized every night on the evening news. People wearing AR-15s, you have returning soldiers, and this all kind of came together in this very powerful political force where an entire industry is wrapped with the NRA into an entire political party, half of our political system, and now you have this all or nothing NRA-ism that really is the heartbeat of the GOP.
ACOSTA: And our team just brought up and put it up on screen for our viewers to look at that that tweet from Daniel Defense, the maker of the weapon that was used in Uvalde, and you know, here's the tweet, it says train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he would not depart from it. And it's a very young child holding an AR-15 rifle, and you know, you were just talking about this a few moments ago.
I mean, this is not just about marketing these weapons at gun shows or at gun dealers, gun stores, that sort of thing. It seems like the industry now wants, you know, an assault style rifle in the hands of almost every child in America now. They want to I guess normalize it and sanitize it for even young children it seems because it means, you know, future customers are --
BUSSE: Well, Jim, there's a Wee1 Tactical --
(CROSSTALK)
ACOSTA: Potentially going to be able to buy these things.
BUSSE: Yes, at this year's shot show, the industry trade show, Jim, there was a new company launched called the Wee1 Tactical company. W- E-E-1. Like little one. Their gun is a JR-15, the Junior 15. It's a miniaturized AR-15 for little kids. Like the one in that picture of Daniel Defense tweet. Right? There's another gun being marketed now called the Urban Super Sniper. So Wilson Arms Urban Super Sniper.
Now I assume that marketing works. I assume that these things are marketed for very specific reasons. Do you really need to use your imagination as to what an Urban Super Sniper is supposed to be used for? I mean, this stuff is so far beyond irresponsible. I don't even know what words to use. ACOSTA: And earlier in this program, and I'll just make this the last
question, we were showing an incident at the Tyson's Corner shopping mall in northern Virginia where there are people who heard gunshots, and police responded to that call, and all of a sudden you have video after video on social media of panicked shoppers running for the exits, running out of the shopping mall. If our team can put it up on screen, we can show it to our viewers.
I mean, this is just another example, Ryan, of what has happened to this country. And I wonder when you look at this sort of video or when you hear about mass shootings are happening almost every day in this country, how are we supposed to get out of this?
BUSSE: Well, it's unforgivable. I guess what I'll say is we have to go step by step. We didn't get into this with one big sweeping action. We got into it with 30 years of very calculated actions, and we need to start making things marginally better instead of making things marginally worse. And that clip you showed of John Cornyn in Texas, with essentially the Republican base in Texas rising up.
If you need proof that firearms and gun politics has radicalized half of the country, well, there you have it because they're mad about the Senate framework, which there's nothing revolutionary in that framework. There's no bans, there's not even universal background checks. There's some red flag funding. There's some straw purchase enforcement. Like, it's good stuff, but it's hardly revolutionary, and you see what sort of radical response you're getting. We've got to turn the tide on that.
ACOSTA: All right, Ryan Busse, thank you very much for your time. Thanks for your expertise. We appreciate it.
BUSSE: Yes. Thank you.
ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, the Fonz versus the famous athlete, what had Henry Winkler firing back at U.S. Senate candidate and former football star Herschel Walker. We'll ask him that next.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. There he is.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:30:00]
ACOSTA: All right, coming up, the Fonz versus the famous athlete. What had Henry Winkler firing back at U.S. Senate candidate and former football star, Herschel Walker. We'll ask him that next.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. There he is.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: Henry Winkler, aka, "the Fonz," had a few choice words for Georgia Senate candidate and former football star, Herschel Walker. It started when Walker was asked about the nation's biggest issue.
The famous athlete's answer, "Famous people," he said, "giving advice."
And speaking on a political podcast, Walker said, quote, "Some of the biggest problems going on in our country today, we have so many celebrities telling people they can't do it."
He goes on to say, "I think they tell all the kids they can't do it, making our kids feel sorry for themselves."
[16:35:02]
Of course, Herschel Walker is a famous person himself.
That drew a response from Henry Winkler, who tweeted, "I need to repeat this again. I am an American first, with every right to an opinion. Then I am an actor."
That is Henry Winkler's response to Herschel Walker.
And Henry Winkler, of "Happy Days" fame and so many other incredible roles over the years, he joins me now.
It's such an honor to have you here.
We should point out Henry Winkler stars on the great TV show "Barry" on HBO owned by the same parent company as CNN.
We should also note we did ask Herschel Walker if he would like to talk to us today. We did not get a response.
But, Henry, great to see you. Thanks so much for doing this.
HENRY WINKLER, ACTOR: Thank you.
ACOSTA: Why did you decide to speak out?
WINKLER: You know, well, the general premise has bothered me forever. I always thought it was so weird so many people use that kind of tactic of saying, oh, you're on television, you shouldn't say what you think. And I'm thinking that is the craziest thing I ever heard.
And then when I saw Mr. Walker's tweet, I thought to myself, first of all, we are, as a profession, we are uplifting. That's number one.
Number two, why shouldn't I have the same point of view he has the right to. He's a celebrity. What is he talking about?
He talks about being an absentee father. He has a couple of children he hasn't even mentioned, nor has seen.
That we can say anything for a vote is nauseating.
ACOSTA: And you don't hide your political preferences, Henry. You take part in Democratic fundraisers. You're public about who you support, who you don't.
Tell us about how you feel about these upcoming midterms. There are a lot of predictions of a red wave coming as President Biden and the Democrats deal with these high gas prices, inflation, and so on.
What do you think? How do you see this upcoming cycle shaping up?
WINKLER: What do I -- I have no idea. If this is what is happening.
I have an overall view that, if autocracy takes over, they will no longer need the vote.
If they no longer need the vote, the people that are working so hard and are so excited about winning are going to be kicked to the curb eventually because they will no longer be needed. I predict that to be a truth.
But if this is the way -- we are a great country. We have survived ups and downs. I have grandchildren. And I hope they live the same wonderful ability to dream the way I did.
My parents escaped Nazi Germany. I am first-generation American. I am very proud of it. And I'm getting to do what I dreamt of doing when I was 7.
ACOSTA: Yes, and you do it so well. We're going to talk about "Barry" in a moment, which is a great show.
I got to admit, I grew up -- I'm a first-generation American, too. My dad is a Cuban refugee. I grew up in northern Virginia right outside Washington, D.C.
And one of my favorite memories was getting around the television with my folks and watching shows like "Happy Days." That was just my childhood.
So I hope you don't mind me asking you about this. But "Happy Days" depicted a scene -- it didn't delve into politics too much, but there was an episode where Fonzi was campaigning for Dwight D. Eisenhower.
We have to show this and get your take on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WINKLER: Hey, he won the war for you, didn't he?
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
WINKLER: Hey, listen, if Ike loses, the Fonz is going to be mad.
(LAUGHTER)
WINKLER: I tell you, I like Ike. My bike likes Ike.
(LAUGHTER)
WINKLER: So get out and work for the old guy.
And one more thing, for all you volunteers at the Eisenhower booth, there's free root beer and hot dogs, huh? Hey.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Henry, you're pretty good at that, I got to say. I mean, you know, my bike likes Ike. We had a shot there of Mr. and Mrs. C., as you used to refer to them back in the day.
When you consider everything that's going on right now with, you know, this toxic, you know, stew that we have brewing here in Washington, we may not be out of the woods yet when it comes to our democracy.
Gosh, that image there of you campaigning for Eisenhower, it just seems so far away.
WINKLER: You know, I bet that entire scene was based on the joke, "My bike likes Ike," you know? They probably wrote the entire thing just for me to say that.
[16:40:04]
But you know, what is so -- the ability for the American community to listen has so dimensioned that that -- when that takes a turn, possibly everything else will go with it, you know?
I have an overview thought that we, as a country, we care more about the profit than we do about the population of 300-plus million people. That is sad.
ACOSTA: And you have this terrific show "Barry" on HBO. People have been raving about your role on the show.
But I have to ask you about this. There's a new open letter signed by over 200 actors, filmmaker, producer types, people like J.J. Abrams, Mark Ruffalo, Chandra Rime, urging the entertainment industry to be more mindful of guns use, how they're portrayed on screen and films and on TV shows.
It says and I'll put it up on the screen:
"As America's story tellers, our goal is primarily to entertain. But we also know the stories have the power to effect change, cultural attitudes towards smoking, drunk driving, seatbelts, marriage equality. All have evolved due to, in large part, to movies and TV's influence. It's time to take on gun safety."
You're on a show that's currently about a hitman trying to transition out of the business.
How much responsibility do you think Hollywood has when it comes to these depictions of violence with so much gun violence going on in this country right now?
WINKLER: Well, first of all, that is a very good question. And second of all, I'm very proud to be a part of shows -- you know, the Fonz, we did -- we did a show about wearing glasses. We did a show about going to the library and that you could take a book out for free.
"Barry" is a young man who is troubled and complicated and is trying very hard to leave the gun behind. And hopefully, eventually, will make it.
But yes, we do have a voice in that we do -- we can present a point of view and then leave it up to the public to go, oh, my goodness, that's a good idea. I think maybe I can follow that.
ACOSTA: Absolutely. And we've seen it time and again throughout our history, you know. These cultural influences that we have coming out of Hollywood having a positive effect on society. Sometimes not so positive.
But, Henry Winkler, maybe you'll get to that point on "Barry." It's a terrific program. That would be a great ending to the show.
WINKLER: Thank you.
ACOSTA: Thanks so much for your time.
And we should note, we don't have time to show it right now, but I love the tweets of you fishing out in the wilderness there. That looked like a lot of fun too.
WINKLER: Do you know what? I just came back this morning from the river in Idaho, which is -- talk about transformational.
But I will end by saying this. There's a wonderful lawyer, who is an acquaintance of ours, who said, "It is not about the money. It's only about the money."
ACOSTA: All right, Henry Winkler, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Good to see you, sir. And we'll, hopefully, talk to you again soon.
We appreciate it so much.
Quick break, we'll be right back.
WINKLER: I hope so. Have a great summer.
ACOSTA: Sounds good. You, too.
[16:43:36]
Thanks, Henry. Take care.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:48:13]
ACOSTA: We're getting a devastating new report about the school massacre in Uvalde, Texas.
According to "The New York Times," a police officer armed with an A.R.-15-style rifle hesitated when we had a brief chance to shoot the gunman before he entered Robb Elementary School but he didn't take the shot because he didn't want to hit any children.
That fateful decision is actually the second missed opportunity that we've learned about. We previously knew that an officer with the Uvalde school district police force arrived early but drove past the gunman.
Two teachers and 19 children were killed. And 11 others were wounded, of course, in that mass shooting.
A Philadelphia firefighter died earlier today in a building collapse. The building caught fire overnight and crumbled about an hour after the blaze was put out.
Six people were trapped inside when the building collapsed. The firefighter who died was a 27-year veteran of the Philadelphia Fire Department.
And some other sad news. Former CNN host and long-time political analyst, Mark Shields, has died. Shields was a moderator and panelist for a weekly CNN talk show called "The Capitol Gang" for 17 years. Great show here on CNN. He was also a staple on "PBS News Hour" for 33 years.
Judy Woodruff, the anchor and managing editor of "News Hour" remembers Shields for his "encyclopedic knowledge of American politics, his sense of humor and his big heart."
Mark Shields died earlier today of kidney failure. He was 85 years old.
[16:49:28]
And we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ACOSTA: We're learning new details about the presidential cat's life at the White House. You can see her here being carried on to Marine One on the way to the Biden beach home. She often spends her weekends traveling wherever the first family goes.
But the start treatment doesn't stop there. She also has several floors in the White House to explore and play all day.
We're told by our sources she was adopted by first lady, Jill Biden, after the two bonded while on a campaign stop in Pennsylvania. There she is right there.
[16:55:57]
And great Scott, you'll wish you had a DeLorean to go back in time after hearing this next story. Get this -- a sealed near-mint condition 1986 VHS tape of "Back to the Future" recently sold at an auction for -- get this -- $75,000, setting a new record for a videotape.
Makes me want to go into some boxes in my basement right now.
The VHS copy was owned by Tom Wilson, yes, that Tom Wilson, who played none other than Biff Tannen in the classic 1980s film.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THOMAS WILSON, ACTOR: Hey, McFly, what do you think you're doing?
MICHAEL J. FOX, ACTOR: Biff.
WILSON: Hey, I'm talking to you McFly, you Irish bug.
FOX: Oh, hey, Biff. Hey, guys. How are you doing?
WILSON: You got my homework finished, McFly?
FOX: Well, actually, I figured since it wasn't due until Monday --
(CROSSTALK)
WILSON: Hello, hello? Anybody home? Hey, hey, think, McFly. Think.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: There you go.
Making the offer even more special, Wilson's offered to write a note to accompany the tape. Who can forget Biff back in those days? A great movie.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:00:00]
