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Steve Bannon Willing To Testify Before January 6th Committee; DOJ Criminal Investigation Closes In On Fake Electors Plan; Wildfire Burning In Yosemite Doubles In Size; NASA To Reveal First Images From Deep-Space Telescope; Suspect In Killing Of Abe Initially Wanted To Use Explosives; Iowa Beach Temporarily Closed After "Brain-Eating Amoeba" Detected. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired July 10, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:13]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Phil Mattingly in Washington, D.C. Jim Acosta is off today.

The January 6th Committee could get the chance to question an unexpected witness, Steve Bannon. Yes, the same Steve Bannon who is facing a criminal contempt trial for openly defying a congressional subpoena is now willing to testify at a public hearing. The former Trump adviser's reversal follows expressed permission from the former president himself.

In a letter to Bannon Trump writes, quote, "I watched how unfairly you and others have been treated having to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees. I will waive executive privilege for you which allows you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly."

A side note, Steve Bannon wasn't working in the White House at the time. Committee member Adam Kinzinger today saying the committee is open to Bannon's testimony as long as it's under oath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): I think what you're seeing for sure by comments like that and anybody else's, they went from initially saying that this committee was nothing but, you know, a sideshow, something that nobody was interested in, to all of a sudden, oh, yes, I want to testify publicly in front of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Kinzinger also confirmed another major piece of the investigation saying that former White House counsel Pat Cipollone did not contradict testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson who provided explosive details from the final days of the Trump administration.

And the House committee's investigation is not the only one zeroing in on Trump and his inner circle.

CNN's Sara Murray has the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In battleground states across the country, GOP activists, Republican Party chairs and even a State Senate president.

KAREN FANN (R), ARIZONA SENATE PRESIDENT: I am the Senate president in Arizona, and it is our job to make sure we have fair and accurate elections.

MURRAY: Are getting hit with subpoenas. As early as this week, some Republicans tied to the plan to put forward fake electors for Donald Trump are set to turn over information to federal investigators sources tell CNN.

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): If they have something they think is a crime, they'll bring an indictment, and that's when you will find out what they're doing.

MURRAY: The Justice Department's investigation into January 6th began with the violence that erupted at the U.S. Capitol and charges against more than 800 alleged rioters including the leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. But in recent months, it's expanded to cover the fake elector scheme in seven battleground states with subpoenas to prominent Republicans like Arizona Senate president Karen Fann, Georgia Republican Party chairman David Shafer, and Arizona Republican Party chair, Kelli Ward.

KELLI WARD, ARIZONA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIR: Do not let this election be stolen.

MURRAY: The probe also inching closer to Trump as investigators raided Jeffrey Clark's home, the former DOJ official who pushed Donald Trump's voter fraud claims.

JEFFREY CLARK, FORMER DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: They even brought along something, Tucker, I've never seen before or heard of, an electronic sniffing dog and they took all of the electronics from my house.

MURRAY: And also seized electronics from former Trump election attorney John Eastman, who peddled baseless fraud claims and pushed a legal theory that Vice President Pence could block the 2020 election certifications.

JOHN EASTMAN, ATTORNEY: All we are demanding of Vice President Pence is this afternoon at 1:00 he let the legislatures of the state look into this.

MURRAY: Beyond the DOJ probe, a separate criminal investigation into Trump and his allies is escalating in Georgia, where investigators subpoenaed key Trump allies including Rudy Giuliani and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham. The district attorney there says more subpoenas may soon be heading to Trump's inner circle.

FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: We're going to do our due diligence. MURRAY: And a separate congressional investigation unearthed new

details like Trump's eagerness to go to the Capitol January 6th and the legal risks that went with it.

CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, FORMER AIDE TO WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF MARK MEADOWS: Mr. Cipollone said something to the effect of, please make sure we don't go up to the Capitol, Cassidy. Keep in touch with me. We're going to get charged every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen.

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: Going to the Capitol --

MURRAY: Those revelations increasing Trump's criminal exposure and raising the odds he could face repercussions.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Thanks to Sara Murray for that report.

Let's bring in two CNN political commentators, Republican strategist Alice Stewart and former Clinton White House press secretary Joe Lockhart.

Guys, thanks so much for joining me.

Alice, I want to start with you. If Republicans take back the House in the midterm elections, which seems pretty close to certainty at this point, that without question spells the end to the select committee but it's very clearly not the end of Justice Department investigations, the investigation down in Georgia.

The big question now particularly based on what we've seen the last several months, does this issue go away just because Republicans control the House or is this something that carries over into, you know, potentially 2024?

ALICE STEWART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATORS: Look, the issue in terms of the House Select Committee, that will clearly go away and they won't continue to look at that. The question is, what does the DOJ do?

[18:05:01]

What have they seen and heard, and what are they learning and investigating that could potentially lead to criminal charges? That's the big question. But what we're seeing in terms of voters, the cake has pretty much baked. Those that were frustrated and angry with the insurrection are going to continue to be frustrated and angry. A lot of Republicans specifically Trump's base and the ultra-MAGA base, they look at this as nothing to see here.

Nothing to do here with regard to holding people accountable, and they are focusing more on the policy issues in terms of midterm elections, the economy, jobs and crime. So I think in terms of the midterm election, Republicans are going to be more motivated by policy issues and not looking back at past grievances having to do with election integrity, election fraud and what happened on January 6th. MATTINGLY: Well, those also aren't very beneficial issues for

Republicans if you're talking about based on everything we're seeing and hearing.

Joe, as much as it pains me to see this, 2024 speculation is already in high gear. President Biden's poll numbers are at their lowest point right now. Trump's scheme, fraudulent scheme, to overturn the 2020 election is obviously very much in the news. It seems like these types of things have members of both parties looking to some degree for alternatives.

They should look no further than their TV screens according to a new "Politico" op-ed which argues the FOX's far-right star Tucker Carlson could take the GOP nomination if he wants it. And that Democrats should answer with Jon Stewart. Stewart has said no way he'll run. I think his tweet was, no, thank you.

But, Joe, this speaks to a larger question. Is Joe Biden right now at this moment given his poll numbers, given the turbulence, the top choice for Democrats in 2024?

JOE LOCKHART, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think he's under pressure from his own base because there are things that the base are very angry about, abortion being probably the number one issue, that he has limited power to impact.

I think when it comes down to whether it's Joe Biden or Donald Trump in 2024 or Joe Biden versus Ron DeSantis in 2024, these issues are going to be much more important and people will be looking past any one issue and looking at the manner the men and women that are running in the race.

I would also say that there's a long history of people from entertainment being in politics. You know, a couple of months ago everyone raved about President Zelenskyy's skills and bringing the message of Ukraine to the world. And he's a former comedian. So politics and American politics is no exception have seen entertainers be very effective politicians.

STEWART: If I could just follow up on that.

MATTINGLY: Yes, please.

STEWART: I think there's a lot of GOP fundraisers and donors that would love nothing more than to have Tucker Carlson run for president in 2024 as a Republican, but because he is able to connect. He certainly has the top-rated talk show. But, look, Tucker Carlson is pretty fed up with the Republican Party. He doesn't feel as though the party represents Republican voters. He clearly does because people tune in. They listen to him. He connects with him.

But I don't see him doing so. He has indicated in an interview that he doesn't strive for the power or to control people, rather to inform and educate them. So Tucker Carlson for 2024 is a good talking point. I don't see him ever doing that certainly as a Republican.

MATTINGLY: Yes. He denied it last week.

STEWART: Yes.

MATTINGLY: Quickly bursts of these every single cycle.

Joe, I want to ask you about what I think was one of the most interesting developments of the last 48 hours and that's related to the White House strategy when it comes to criticism for the left. They've obviously been under searing criticism, extensive pressure in the wake of the Supreme Court decision and based on their reaction.

But in a "Washington Post" story the White House communications director put up this statement saying Joe Biden's goal in responding to Dobbs is not to satisfy some activists who have been consistently out of step with the mainstream Democratic Party. It's to deliver help to women who are in danger and assemble a broad base coalition to defend a woman's right to choose now just as he has assembled such a coalition to win during the 2020 campaign.

This was a whoa moment to me when I read it because the administration has been so reticent to go down that path despite regular conversations with frontline Democrats asking them to take this kind of stand.

Do you feel like this is a good strategy, and is this a turning point for the administration in terms of how they deal with their own party?

LOCKHART: Well, I think this is a turning point for Democrats and it is the big wild card in American politics right now which is just what does overturning Roe v. Wade mean as far as election day? It is a wild card in 2022. You said earlier that it's almost a fait accompli the Republicans will take Congress.

[16:10:00]

I don't think we know that because I don't think we've had this sort of seismic political change in this country since maybe the 1960s and 1970s. So it is something that the president and Democrats have to be united in putting this front and center.

And I think you saw that over the last three or four days with these executive orders and -- but again there's still frustration that he can't just sign a piece of paper and say this goes away and until he -- you know, or you can't pack the Supreme Court. And so there'll be frustration for a while.

MATTINGLY: Yes, but there's no question, that was an up and in high fastball brushback pitch from Kate Beddingfield. And I know progressives have been very frustrated by it. But it will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Alice, I want to ask when it comes to the Republican Party Trump's influence in the Republican Party hasn't waned much, if at all, since he left office. But Adam Kinzinger said something that kind of caught my ear in the sense that that will eventually change. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KINZINGER: What does history say in five or 10 years? Because I can get you, well, I can get about as close as I can to guaranteeing that in about 10 years there's not going to have been a single Trump supporter that exists anywhere in the country. It's like Nixon. There were a lot of people that supported Nixon until he was out of office and then everybody is like, nobody supported Nixon. I figure that that's going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I feel like November 2016 should stop everyone from guaranteeing anything ever to some degree.

STEWART: Right.

MATTINGLY: But do you agree with that assessment that the party will not be tethered to the former president five or 10 years from now?

STEWART: I truly believe so. I certainly hope so. Because with him we lost the House, the Senate and the White House. And look, politics is a game of addition. We cannot just rely on Trump's base and the MAGA base. We have to add to that and we have not done so. And it's also a game of numbers, and right now we're seeing numbers, financial numbers, people like Ron DeSantis raising millions of dollars.

Because he provides an alternative to Trump. The conservative values without the chaos. And Republicans realized we need to have someone that represents the policies without the personality conflicts that Trump brought to the table and they're looking at options.

There are people out there that can bring the policies that we had under the Trump administration without all the chaos and they realized we can't just win the primary. We have to win the general and doing so by finding someone that's a lot less toxic.

MATTINGLY: Yes. And there's a lot of people that look at, it's worth noting, it's early. I know -- it is early. So much is going to happen over the course of the next two years.

Alice Stewart, Joe Lockhart, thanks guys so much. I appreciate it.

STEWART: Thanks.

MATTINGLY: All right. Coming up, the famous sequoias in the Yosemite National Park now under threat as a growing wildfire ravages the area. Firefighters now using sprinklers to try and save them. But first, a quick programming note, make sure to tune in tonight and join CNN as we explore the diverse land, marine and wildlife of Patagonia's desert coast. "PATAGONIA: LIFE ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD" premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. on CNN. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is Patagonia. See this land of extremes like never before, where animals and humans once enemies now fight together against new challenges. What does it take to live in one of the most wild and isolated places on earth?

"PATAGONIA, LIFE ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD" premieres tonight at 9:00 on CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:18:10]

MATTINGLY: A wildfire burning in Yosemite National Park has doubled in size in just the last 24 hours. The Washburn Fire threatens the world famous giant sequoia trees at Yosemite, some believed to be more than 2,000 years old. Now earlier today fire crews set up these sprinklers to protect the grizzly giant, the second largest sequoia in the national park. It's 209 feet tall.

CNN's Chad Myers is tracking the conditions firefighters are facing on the ground and joins us now with a closer look at this very dangerous fire season.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It is going to be another day out there with temperatures above 100 degrees, low humidity, and a little bit of wind. These firefighters are getting no break whatsoever. Now this fire is almost 1600 acres and growing quite rapidly. It is very hot. All the stress is put on the firefighters, all of the dead trees in the area also burning the underbrush here.

Look at Fresno will be 107 tomorrow. A little bit higher in the mountains, maybe go 103. But try to be fighting a fire at that type of temperature. There's the rainfall off to the east. The monsoon coming into Arizona and New Mexico over the next couple of days but certainly no rain for California. 61, 61 major fires in nine separate states. But here's the number that we need to focus on. 4.6 million, almost 4.7 million acres burned already in 2022.

Now the average for this date over the last 10 years is 2.2 million. We are double, double the number of acres that have already burned across the country, and that's including Alaska because there are also some major destructive fires burning in Alaska right now. No end in sight to this fire season.

MATTINGLY: The numbers are unbelievable. If you don't see what's happening, you're not paying attention.

Chad Myers, thank you so much.

[16:20:04]

Now a short time ago at the WNBA All-Star Game, a stern tribute to Brittney Griner, the Phoenix Mercury star who has been detained in Russia since February. Griner was announced as an honorary starter before the game and players and coaches wore shirts with her name. Griner's wife Cherelle described the moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHERELLE GRINER, WIFE OF BRITTNEY GRINER: It's always going to be difficult being around basketball without my wife being present but I use these moments as just gratitude for her legacy and impact. You know, that even in her absence, you know, you can't not say Brittney Griner, so, I'm just so grateful that everybody in this arena is actually still remembering my wife even without her being here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now sources tell CNN that in the coming weeks, former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will travel to Moscow to discuss the release of Griner and former Marine Paul Whelan.

Coming up next, take a look at this image. You are looking at one of the deepest images of the universe ever -- that's real. That's a real photo. Multiple stars and galaxies all captured by NASA's deep-space telescope. Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson joins me live next to discuss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:25:38]

MATTINGLY: Scientists and space enthusiasts all over the world are eagerly awaiting the reveal of the very first images from NASA's James Webb telescope. Now those who have gotten a sneak peek say the high resolution images are like nothing they've ever witnessed. It will change the way we see the universe.

CNN's Kristin Fisher has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And lift off.

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Six months after the most powerful telescope ever made launched into space --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Control center --

FISHER: -- the team inside the Webb Space telescope's flight control room is preparing to reveal what astronomers all over the world have been waiting for, for decades. The telescope's first full-color images which are expected to be light-years more impressive than the test images released last month and will include the deepest image of our universe that's ever been taken.

KEN SEMBACH, DIRECTOR, SPACE TELESCOPE SCIENCE INSTITUTE: Our view of the universe is definitely going to change on July 12th.

FISHER: Ken Sembach runs the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, home to Webb's Mission Control. And he predicts the day that Webb's first images are released will be on par with the day that Galileo became the first person to ever point a telescope to the sky. SEMBACH: There will be the universe we knew from before Webb and the

universe we know after Webb. I really mean that. I think our perspective will change.

FISHER: NASA says some of the images released on July 12th still need to be taken. Others have already been captured and are being kept secret. But NASA's leadership has gotten a sneak peek.

PAM MELROY, NASA DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: What I have seen just moved me, as a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being.

THOMAS ZURBUCHEN, NASA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR: A sense of, frankly, I got emotional.

FISHER: But getting emotional about the telescope is something Lee Feinberg has learned to bury after working on Webb for more than two decades. The telescope's most recent brush with death took place just a few weeks ago when a micrometeoroid struck one of the telescope's massive golden mirrors, which are critical for its operation.

KEN FEINBERG, WEBB'S OPTICAL TELESCOPE ELEMENT MANAGER: Earlier in my career, it might have been a punch in the gut. But what I've learned about working on big projects like this is things are never as bad as they first seem or never as good as they first seem.

FISHER: He was right. The telescope survived the strike. And NASA is now on the verge of handing this $10 billion telescope over to the scientists, whose research proposals have been selected for the first year of observations.

FEINBERG: It is just doing as well as we could have ever hoped if not better. And so I think the scientists are just going to be extremely happy to use it. And we're going to be excited to see what gets -- you know, what comes out of it.

FISHER: Kristin Fisher, CNN, Baltimore.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Joining us now is astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. He is the co-author of "Welcome to the Universe in 3D: A Visual Tour."

Neil, thanks so much for joining us. Look, I want to be honest with you, straight out of the gate. I am not an astrophysicist nor could I ever have been. But this new telescope is being described as so powerful it can peer back into the origins of the universe. So given my preface what does that mean?

NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, ASTROPHYSICIST: But by the way, you said you're not an astrophysicist. Neither are most people. Astrophysicists are barely one in a million people in the world, so don't feel bad, first of all.

MATTINGLY: Thanks. Thank you.

TYSON: One of the fun facts about cosmic discovery is that the results of what we do in telescopes and laboratories and the like are very accessible to the public. As a minimum they show up in science fiction films. But otherwise people talk about it at the water cooler the next morning, and, yes, this telescope is exquisitely tuned to observe galaxies forming at the origin of the universe.

And those galaxies, if it's not -- if people didn't otherwise know those galaxies are very intensely radiating ultraviolet light and in some cases X-rays. And so -- but this telescope is not tuned for ultraviolet because over the 13.5 billion years that the light has been traveling the universe has been expanding and that expansion of the universe has stretched the wavelength of the light and transformed it from ultraviolet into infrared.

[16:30:01]

It's a longer wavelength light. So, this is a telescope that's capturing light as it comes to us, not as it was first emitted. And so, that's part of the brilliance of and the concept of how and why this telescope works, and why we expect it to basically transform our understanding of the universe.

MATTINGLY: You know, one of the things -- this is an extensive project over three decades, billions of dollars, the expectations being set by those who have seen these photos in detail up to this point, are very high. We live in a moment where things rarely meet expectations that are that high. You think this will meet those expectations without any question?

TYSON: Yes, I think -- first of all, I just want to congratulate my colleagues, who have been -- have indeed been working on this for decades. You're going to see some final results, or some recent -- those engineers that have been trying to figure out how to get this telescope to work as intended, and a whole other set of people to get it funded. So, it's a hugely collaborative effort, and to have it just reach fruition and come on the -- on the -- on the precipice of the release of the actual scientific data, I mean, I'm on the edge of my seat as well.

So, what you need to think about this is the telescope -- oh, I left something out, excuse me, because it's sensitive to the infrared, infrared has a capacity to penetrate deep into very dense gas clouds, that exists within galaxies, and what goes on inside of gas clouds, stars are being born, planets are being born. So, this telescope has the power to see deep inside of stellar nurseries, to see the newest parts of the universe being born, as well as the oldest. So, it's quite the one-two punch there.

MATTINGLY: Yes. Look, I mean, I'm actually surprisingly following this. I apologize if my Facebook is like --

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: I swear to God, I'm like following what you're saying. Can I -- I want to bring up the teaser picture that was released again. Because, you know, again, as somebody who doesn't do this for a living, I see shiny object, and I'm interested by it. I'm always interested by these types of photos. And I think everybody is, but when you look at the teaser photo, when you've seen the teaser photo, what are you seeing in that?

TYSON: Oh, yes, sorry. So, to get back to your earlier question, seeing that teaser photo, oh, my God, I've said it, if that -- if that's the engineering photo to test that things are focused and are aligned and are working, I'm -- I can't wait the 48 hours until they release the astronomical scientific imagery. And that image, by the way, you see the spiky objects, those are, those are stars in our own galaxy sitting in front of our noses.

And they're very bright, and they have to try to block it out. And they -- those spikes are because of the structure of the telescope itself. And that really in the universe, the light as it moves around the what's called the secondary mirror is held up with a spider structure, and light diffracts around that structure and gives you the what they call diffraction spikes. So, ignore those. Those are star seeing in front of our nose.

Every other smudge, every other object in that image is an entire galaxy, most of which are on the ranks of our Milky Way galaxy. It's self-containing hundreds of billions of stars. So -- and this is just some random part of the sky. Right? We didn't say, hey, there's an interesting spot. Let's look there. No. This is like, we're going to expect just that kind of result no matter where we look. And so, yes, this is some good stuff coming down from space.

MATTINGLY: And everybody listening, remember the thing that immediately draws your eyes, the spikes, ignore that, it's basically the advice we're getting at this point in time.

TYSON: (LAUGHING)

MATTINGLY: So, I do want to ask you about something related to this, a little bit off topic. Elon Musk made some headlines in the last 24 hours. I'm not going to ask you about your definition of material adverse effect in the Twitter deal, I promise. But I do want to ask you about his long-stated position, which he reiterated according to Reuters and Bloomberg, in Sun Valley, about colonizing Mars.

He tweeted a couple days ago, "Humanity will reach Mars in your lifetime." Drudge Report flashing this headline, let's talk about Mars with a picture of Musk after he reportedly spent much of his speech in Sun Valley talking about it.

So, I guess you've pushed back on this with a fairly rational argument that I've read in the past, which is people probably don't want to live in Mars or on Mars. But when you look at the technology like we're seeing with Webb and the ability for people to really create extraordinary things when given the time and financing, when are we going to be able to put somebody on Mars, and will Musk be the one to do it?

TYSON: Yes, so a couple of things. First, we are already on Mars with rovers, many generations of rover. We now get high resolution images, remote controlled from Earth on Mars, which at any given moment could be 50 or 100 billion -- I'm sorry, 100 million miles from Earth. So, we can -- we have a human presence on Mars through our robotic emissaries.

[16:35:13]

So just think -- first think about it that way. Of course, Elon wants to put people on Mars. And you got to have to want to do that. But, you know, it takes more than just wanting to do that, somebody has to pay for it, okay? It's -- this is -- it's expensive to send people to Mars, because usually they want to come back, you got to feed them along the way. We can't run on solar power the way a rover can.

And so, it's a whole other objective to accomplish that than just sending a robot. So, the question is, can that happen? I can tell you that Antarctica is warm, is balmier and wetter than any place on Mars, and nobody's lining up to build condos in Antarctica. Okay?

So, I don't know -- unless until we terraform Mars, that -- then sign me up, turn Mars into earth, then I'm all in. But we're still victims of our own forces of nature on Earth. We run away from hurricanes and tornadoes, and we're victims of earthquakes. To terraform is to control the forces of your planet in a way, so that they do what you want them to do. And we're not really there yet. So, I -- I'm all for the ambition of wanting to colonize Mars. I just think it's not as close in time as people are imagining.

MATTINGLY: I like that you caveat that the people usually want to come back when they go to this place. I would agree, I would think. Neil deGrasse Tyson, this is going to be a huge week. Tuesday is really exciting. Thank you so much for coming on and sharing your perspective. I really appreciate it.

TYSON: Very happy to be with you.

MATTINGLY: All right, and make sure to tech -- to check out Neil's book, "Welcome to the Universe in 3D: A Visual Tour." We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:40:00]

MATTINGLY: Quiet and quote, totally normal. That's how former colleagues describe the man who police say admits to shooting and killing Japan's former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. New details are emerging about the 41-year-old suspect who shot Abe while he was giving a campaign speech on Friday. Police say he used a homemade weapon. But the suspect tells police he initially wanted to use explosives. CNN's Blake Essig joins us live from Tokyo. And Blake, what else are we learning right now about the suspect?

BLAKE ESSIG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Totally normal, quiet, and mild-mannered, Phil. Not exactly the characteristics that would come to mind to describe a man who was determined to assassinate the former prime minister. But according to NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, the 41-year-old

suspect considered carrying out the crime a day earlier at a separate campaign event, but decided against it because he was looking for a space that was less guarded. In the end, Abe was shot twice from several yards away while delivering a speech in the City of Nara in support of ruling party candidates ahead of yesterday's Upper House election.

NHK reports that the suspect targeted Abe because he held a grudge against a group that he believed Abe had ties to and was linked to his mother. Now, CNN has contacted local police, but they wouldn't name or provide any information on this group. It's important to note that the man suspected of murdering former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe hasn't yet been formally charged.

On Sunday afternoon local time, T.V. cameras did catch a glimpse of him when he was moved from a police station in Nara about -- a city about 230 miles west of Tokyo, where the assassination took place, to the District Prosecutor's Office. And as you mentioned, Phil, the suspect told police he originally planned to kill Abe using explosives before deciding to use a homemade gun.

NHK citing police say that they found explosives and several other homemade guns at the 41-year-old suspect's home. These guns, including the one used to kill a former Prime Minister Abe, were made with iron pipe barrels and wrapped with duct tape. Some of these guns had two, three, and even six barrels.

Now, in the days that have followed, many questions have been raised about the former Prime Minister's security, the chief of police in the prefecture where Abe was assassinated says that he can't deny that there were problems, and that he takes responsibility for the failures that led to Abe's killing, Phil.

MATTINGLY: Yes, still a lot of unanswered questions. Blake Essig, great reporting as always, thanks so much. I'm joined now by Tobias Harris, he's a Senior Fellow for Asia at the Center for American Progress and author of the book "The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan" Tobias, Blake mentioned the Upper House elections that happened yesterday. They're landing mostly where we expected in terms of Abe's party, Liberal Democrats, are doing quite well.

[16:45:06]

But it's less about how the election -- the election landed and more about how the party itself is still very much pushing forward on, I think, what Abe's legacy was, or his primary issues when he was Prime Minister. Obviously, he's still a prominent member of the party. Is that your sense of things that the party itself, even if OB is gone, it's still very much an image of what are they brought to the table?

TOBIAS HARRIS, SENIOR FELLOW FOR ASIA, CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS: I think that's exactly how to think about it. He -- Shinzo Abe, certainly at the moment of his death, was probably still the most powerful figure in the party, even two years after resigning. He was the head of the party's largest faction, we know the LDP is dominated or has been for a long time by its factions.

He, of course, being a statesman gave him, I think, a massive presence domestic -- in domestic media and also international media. Of course, he had an ability to indicate what Japan's policy should be, and basically indicate how -- what he wanted the government to do and force the government to listen to him.

And of course, he also, I think, was also the head of what you might say, the largest ideological block within the party, which is different than the faction. So, he had a tremendous amount of power to shape the direction that the Kishida government might go. And also, I think Kishida was personally dependent on him to win last year, and was aware of that. And so, it was definitely going to be a factor after this Upper House election.

MATTINGLY: You know, you wrote, in an op-ed for the New York Times, you had like the -- as a journalist, you were always looking for the perfect lead, quote, to capture what you're writing about. And your lead quote, which is a quote from the Prime Minister, and his first time -- I believe his first term, as prime minister, which was, "My mission is none other than to draw a new vision of a nation that can withstand the raging waves for the next 50 to 100 years," which I don't think anything encapsulates more what he did, particularly his eight years, the second time around. What did he do to prepare Japan for those waves that he's referencing there?

HARRIS: Well, I think you look the whole arc of his career, you're going back, you know, early 1990s, as a young (INAUDIBLE) member, you're trying to figure out what he was going to do. And he had an idea that Japan had to have a stronger leadership, stronger government, stronger -- top-down leadership. And you know, for a long time, during the Cold War, Japan had a lot of (INAUDIBLE) you know, they say government by interest groups, the Prime Minister was basically first among equals, who couldn't actually set a direction, you have strict civilian control the military, the military was, you know, limited on what it could do.

And from very early on in his career, his goal was that the government -- the civilian government needs to be stronger, we need to have a proper national security establishment that can play a role defending Japan in the world, and also contribute to our alliance with the United States. And we need to make sure that that politicians are able to say what they want to do and actually follow through on it.

And that was really, I think, the guiding threads of his entire career. And you look at every step of the way, these were the things he was pushing at. And it was clear in 2006, when he became prime minister, first time, this is what he wanted. After his wilderness period, he came back, he thought a little bit more, refined what he wanted, but fundamentally, it was the same goals and the same things he pursued during his almost eight years during his second government.

MATTINGLY: You mentioned the relationship with the U.S. Obviously, you don't want to view everything about a major foreign leader through the lens of the U.S., but we are in the U.S. But I've been so fascinated, I covered him when I was covering President Obama, and covered him with President Trump. And obviously, the current president, Biden, worked with him as vice president as well.

What's your sense right now for people here who are wondering what it means broadly, about the relationship between Japan and the U.S.? President Biden said the stability -- it's stable, it will remain stable. I think it's certainly been put in a much better and stronger place from the former prime minister. But what does this mean going forward for the relationship?

HARRIS: Well, I think Abe as prime minister have predicted during his second tenure realized there is no alternative to the alliance, the United States for Japan security that as a country with long-term demographic future is problematic. Its economy has been stagnant. It's trying to find a way out of that. Japan can't face a country with China's strength alone, that it needed -- it needed, the U.S. committed to Japan's security, to the region's security, and to the region's actually economic development as well. I mean, that was always something that he was interested in pursuing.

And every one of his successors is going to follow that playbook now. I mean, no one, I think, wants to confront the alternatives, you know, the idea of Japan somehow trying to defend itself alone, or even step into the United States' shoes. I think they recognize, you know, that you need, you know, a democratic superpower.

Of course, I'm also interested in India as a democratic superpower. But the United States brings so much to the table, is respected, is a military power, is an economic power. And Abe knew there was no alternative to making sure that the U.S. was present in the region. And I think his successors will absolutely follow the same course.

MATTINGLY: Well, and so many of the issues that he was raising his hand on and saying this is going to become a problem. That's why we need to pursue this, have very much come to fruition. It's still stunning. When you look at the region right now, the U.S. now uses the free and open Indo Pacific, which was framing that he kind of started with the quad, he was the driving force behind that. Internationally, he was a very, very major player. Tobias Harris, thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

HARRIS: Thank you.

[16:50:09]

MATTINGLY: All right, if you want to learn more about Shinzo Abe's life and legacy, do be sure to check out Tobias's book, "The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan." Now, coming up, a rare brain-eating amoeba forcing Iowa to close a popular lake beach. That's next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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MATTINGLY: New today, a lake beach in Iowa is temporarily closed after a swimmer was hospitalized with a rare brain-eating amoeba. Doctors found the microscopic amoeba in the Missouri resident after he swam recently in that lake. The public health officials say the amoeba can cause a life-threatening brain infection. The amoeba is commonly found in lakes, rivers, and ponds and can

infect people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. Health officials say this type of infection is incredibly rare since 1962. They've only been 154 cases in the U.S. Now, this week's CNN Hero, Bobby Wilson, is using his retirement and savings to support those in underserved communities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP):

BOBBY WILSON, CNN HERO: We have turned five acres of land right here in the heart of the city into a green oasis that really impacts the quality of life of people that lives around here and visit with us. Till it back into -- most of the people in this neighborhood don't have access to fruits and vegetables that they can readily get.

[16:55:07]

My main goal is to make sure that marginalized and underserved communities have access to locally grown food that's free of chemical. We are more than just a farm. We are about justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We are changing the dynamics of the way people think about food, the way people use food. This work is changing people's lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: You can see the full story at cnnheroes.com. We'll be right back.

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