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Suspected Attacker Of Rep. Zeldin Arrested On Federal Assault Charge; Secret Service Investigation Focuses On 10 Individuals; Trump Ally Steve Bannon Guilty Of Contempt Of Congress; January 6th Hearing Paints Damning Picture Of Trump's Inaction During Attack; White House Doctor Says Biden's COVID Symptoms Continue To Improve; WHO Declares Monkeypox An International Public Health Emergency; TN Man Chased & Beaten By Officers In Home After Failed Traffic Stop; 85-Billion-Plus Under Heat Alerts Across Central U.S. And Northeast. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired July 23, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: She's -- I mean the sky's the limit. It's really been amazing. It's been amazing to watch her, her whole transformation, you know, the style of her running. Awesome.

Patrick Snell, always good to see you, too, in studio.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORT ANCHOR: Good to be here. Good to be here.

WHITFIELD: Nice. See you next time.

SNELL: It's been a while.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much. I know. It's been two months.

SNELL: Do it more often.

WHITFIELD: Maybe tomorrow. Let's start -- yes, look at the calendar. OK. Thanks so much.

All right, this quick programming note, from the grass lands all the way up to its ice fields join CNN for an epic journey through Patagonia's wild highlands. "PATAGONIA: LIFE ON THE EDGE OF THE WORLD" tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Thanks so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. More next with Jim Acosta.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. And we have breaking news in to CNN at this hour.

A man accused of attempting to stab New York gubernatorial nominee, Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin has been arrested on a federal assault charges. You're looking at some video of the incident right there. The 43-year-old man is charged with assaulting a member of Congress with a dangerous weapon. And CNN's Evan Perez is following this and other developments for us.

Evan, what do you know about the suspect?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, we know that, you know, he was facing, first, a state charge. He was released almost immediately after he was charged with a second-degree assault at the state level and now federal prosecutors have decided to charge him on a federal charge. Now that charge is for assaulting a member of Congress. Of course he is running for governor in the state of New York.

And, you know, obviously the Justice Department looks at this in a different lens. They view this as part of, frankly, a lot of these types of incidents around the country attacking not only -- trying to threaten members of Congress, members of the Supreme Court, other public officials. There is a serious focus on this at the Justice Department.

His name is David Jakubonis. He's 43 years old. And so on top of the state charge for which he was immediately released, there was a lot of criticism for that, the feds have now decided that this serious enough. They're calling it an assault with a dangerous weapon. I think we have a photo of the weapon that he was carrying, some sort of a key chain device.

And obviously looking at the chaos of that event and looking at the weapon, you know, this could have gone all kinds of different ways. Luckily people intervened and were able to detained him and get him into custody immediately after that.

ACOSTA: And there's the alleged key chain weapon there, Evan, and you were referencing the video a few moments ago. It underlines what is a major concern for law enforcement officials here in Washington that there is -- there continues to be this climate in this country where politicians, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, like you said, are potential targets for this.

PEREZ: Right.

ACOSTA: This kind of an assault or an attempt on their life.

PEREZ: Right, exactly. And look, it's a global phenomenon. You know, I just recently had an interview with the FBI director, Christopher Wray, and we talked a little bit about this because, you know, some of these things seem to be feeding each other in other countries. We've had assaults of members of parliament in the U.K. and, of course, the recent assassination of the former prime minister in Japan.

ACOSTA: Right.

PEREZ: So there is this thing of political violence that seems to be feeding itself across the world right now. And of course this one ended in a much different way because he was arrested, and now he's facing these federal charges. ACOSTA: Yes. It's a major concern. And Evan, stay with me because we

want to turn to another story that we're following. It's a story that we reported first here on CNN.

Secret Service investigators are now directing their attention to the phones of 10 of the agency's employees and text messages sent and received around the day of the Capitol insurrection. The problem is those messages apparently were not retained, and now the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general is looking into that as part of a criminal probe.

And there is urgency given what the January 6th Select Committee revealed about the Secret Service radio transmissions as agents tried to secure an escape route for then Vice President Mike Pence, his family and staff. Remember this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We may want to consider getting out and leaving now. Copy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will we encounter the people once we make our way?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have a clear shot if we move quickly. We got smoke downstairs. Stand by. Unknown smoke downstairs by protesters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that route compromised?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We haven't (EXPLETIVE DELETED) insecure. However we will have some protesters that are being contained. There is smoke, unknown what kind of smoke it is. Copy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Clear. We're coming out now. All right, make a way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And do any of the deleted Secret Service messages from that day get into any of that?

[15:05:02]

You just saw right there. We don't know the answer to that just yet. But we did hear testimony that agents were fearing the worst.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The members of the VP detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives. There's a lot of yelling, a lot of very personal calls over the radio. So it was disturbing, I don't like talking about it. But there were calls to say good-bye to family, so on and so forth. It was getting -- for whatever the reason was on the ground, the VP detail thought that this was about to get very ugly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Evan Perez is back with me now.

Evan, what more do we know about this inspector general investigation into these missing Secret Service messages? You know, there are a lot of people around Washington who are still pulling their hair out over how something like this could happen.

PEREZ: Yes. Look, and the Secret Service got a request from the inspector general, Homeland Security Department, asking for access to the text messages and other communications of 24 people, people who they viewed whose communications could help at least tell them what was going on in those key days, January 5th, January 6th, and in those moments that you just -- you know, we saw this audio describing more detail.

We know now that at least 10 of those people, they've been able to find metadata that indicates that those people had some kind of text messages that they sent or received text messages. We don't know what those messages show because, again, according to the Secret Service, sometime in early January of 2021 there was some kind of device change, a migration they're calling it, during which case the messages were deleted.

We know that there are 10 others that they -- there were no messages found, and also three who, it was only personal messages. So the key is those 10 people where we know that there's metadata indicating that there's messages but we don't know what they show.

And Jim, as you know, the January 6th Committee made a request to the Secret Service before this device change happened asking them to preserve all materials related to January 6th. Clearly that was not -- did not happen. And that's why the inspector general now says that this is a criminal investigation. It appears they seem to think that there was some crime that may have been committed here, and so they want to get to the bottom of it.

ACOSTA: Just -- and part of the reason why I think the January 6th Committee is saying we want to have hearings in September and keep investigating, they want to dig into that part of it as well.

PEREZ: Right.

ACOSTA: Evan, let me ask you about Steve Bannon because there was this huge development that happened in the last 24 hours. Found guilty of contempt of Congress. There he is right there. Looks like he's wearing his usual three shirts as he likes to wear out in public. The January 6th Committee called it a victory for the rule of law. Where does the case go from here?

PEREZ: Well, he's going to be sentenced, he's scheduled to be sentenced in October. He's facing at least 30 days in prison for these two convictions, these two counts. But he's already said that he plans to appeal. He says that this is going to be -- this is going to be something that's probably going to be dragging out now, Jim, through probably next summer because that's how long these types of appeals take place. But, look, he was defiant from the day he was arrested. He showed up

with a live streamer. Nobody really shows up with the FBI to turn themselves in with a live streaming service, you know, showing them on cam. And throughout this whole process, he has remained defiant. Listen to him outside of court yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE CHIEF STRATEGIST: In the closing argument the prosecutor missed one very important phrase, right. I stand with Trump and the Constitution, and I will never back off that ever.

DAVID SCHOEN, ATTORNEY FOR STEVE BANNON: You will see this case reversed on appeal when a former president or a current president invokes executive privilege. It's presumptively valid. Period. It's not for Congress to decide that it's not valid.

BANNON: I only have one disappointment, and that is the gutless members of that show trial committee, the J6 Committee didn't have the guts to come down here and testify in open court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And, Jim, we should point out that Steve Bannon himself did not testify in his own trial.

SCIUTTO: Speaking of gutless.

PEREZ: Right.

SCIUTTO: I mean, you know, he talks --

PEREZ: He almost sets it up, right?

SCIUTTO: He talks a big game outside the courthouse. Just show up on Capitol Hill, Steve. That's all you have to do.

All right, Evan Perez, thank you very much.

The January 6th Committee says it will spend the next month interviewing new witnesses with the promise to reappear in September. The first round of public hearings wrapped up with stunning testimony about a president holed up in the White House dining room -- TV room for more than three hours, unwilling to tell the insurrectionists to go home because they were, quote, "his people."

[15:10:03]

According to witnesses Trump never made a single call to law enforcement or the Pentagon or even to check on his own vice president. His alleged last words leaving the West Wing that night after the deadly attack, quote, "Mike Pence let me down."

The committee also showed outtakes from the speech Trump delivered the day after January 6th, refusing to acknowledge his defeat. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But this election is now over. Congress has certified the results.

I don't want to say the election is over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over. OK?

I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack yesterday.

Yesterday. It's a hard word for me.

My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote. My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN was told it took about an hour to record that three-minute video. And joining me now is former Democratic senator from Minnesota and host of the "Al Franken" podcast, Al Franken.

Senator, I guess you have a lot of thoughts on all of these subjects we just tackled over the last 10 minutes. I guess -- what did you think when you saw these outtakes from January 7th? I just thought that was fascinating, you know, a sort of window into a troubled president's mind.

AL FRANKEN (D), FORMER MINNESOTA SENATOR: I think he was depressed and troubled that day and rightfully so. He's just a terrible person, I think, we learned that through these hearings. I think these hearings, they've just exceeded all my expectations, but nothing has shocked me. Nothing about this has shocked me.

The footage right outside the Senate chamber, I know that geography, and it's chilling. And you know that the testimony that you showed there that people were calling home to maybe say good-bye, all of that is chilling.

This guy needs to be prosecuted. There's no doubt about it. I felt from the very beginning, from his call to Raffensperger, that's on tape him saying 11,780 votes. You've got to find that and if you don't, you're in trouble. That to me. But everything we've seen just solidifies this and especially this last -- so Garland has to go after him.

ACOSTA: Well, I was going to say, what does it say about our system of justice in this country if Merrick Garland does not move forward with some kind of criminal investigation, or I suppose there might be one under way, without a prosecution?

FRANKEN: I think it would be a -- this is maybe the worst crime that a president can commit, which is, it was a conspiracy to overturn an election. That's what our democracy is supposed to be about. That's what the Constitution -- that's what our country is about. This is the worst thing you can do. And I'm pretty confident now that Merrick Garland will prosecute him. The only thing worse than prosecuting him is not prosecuting him.

ACOSTA: And, you know, Al, the committee noted the infamous moment when Republican Senator Josh Hawley, serves on the body you once served in, raised his fist in solidarity with the protesters. They followed that by playing video of Hawley running through the building as the insurrectionists advanced. That moment literally brought laughter to the room.

In terms of how Hawley reacted, he tweeted out a link to a coffee mug that you can buy with his fist pump picture, there it is right there, it says, "Show me strong." I guess they don't have a mug available where he's running through the halls of Congress. What's been your reaction to all this, Al?

FRANKEN: I'd like to copyright the mug of him running through Congress. First of all, how dare he do that? The testimony was that a Capitol officer, a woman, said that that riled the crowd. It's unconscionable that he linked to that. And, you know, the video, you're right. They didn't carry the laugh on the feed which is too bad, but it got a laugh in the room, from what I heard. And it's, you know, this gives a new meaning to, you know, hauling ass, I guess.

ACOSTA: I think so. And you know what it's like to get a good laugh in the room and that certainly got one.

FRANKEN: It did. And I, you know, I would suggest showing that as often as you can on CNN. It's a great moment.

[15:15:05]

ACOSTA: We'll see if we can find the tape.

FRANKEN: Yes.

ACOSTA: And Senator, we have no indication that President Biden is not running for re-election. I want to ask you about the 2024 campaign. I know it's a ways off. But California Governor Gavin Newsom seems to be positioning himself for a run, potentially. First he bought airtime in Florida to go after Ron DeSantis, now he's taking out full-page ads going after Greg Abbott in Texas on guns and abortion.

I guess what would you like to see? Would you like to see President Biden running for re-election, if I could put you on the spot? Do you think it would be good to have some other candidates in there showing interest at this point as Gavin Newsom appears to be doing? What are your thoughts? Do you see any of this? Do you disagree with the notion that Newsom is positioning himself? What do you think?

FRANKEN: The president says he's running for reelection. I think it's not -- I think indulging in these parlor games is counterproductive. We have midterms coming up that are unbelievably important. We have to hold the Senate and hopefully add at least two seats to it. I believe we can do that. We have to hold the House and that's the only way we're going to do things like codifying Roe.

Look, doing stuff on climate that we absolutely need to do. Look how just scorching hot it is around the world. We have -- to get stuff done, we need to elect Democrats to the Senate, to the House, governors, the governor's race in Pennsylvania is so crucial, secretaries of state. They're going after our democracy. This is an extremely important period of time between now and the midterms.

I don't think we should be engaging in this kind of parlor games because it's maybe fun to do but it's not fun, it doesn't get anything done.

ACOSTA: And do you think it's a good idea for the Democratic Party to be going out there or Democratic-aligned groups to be going out there and pumping up the more far-right candidates and some of these Republican primary races that we've seen across the country? We've seen some Democrats say that's a bad idea.

FRANKEN: I think it's a bad idea. I don't like that. First of all it's just feeding more right-wing propaganda out there. It's, I think -- I don't think we should be doing that. I understand the tactic, you think you get a, you know, right-wing nut that you can beat. I understand that. That's politics, I guess, but I'm not in favor of that.

ACOSTA: And, you know, the last time you were on, you said that your family would heavily factor into your decision on whether you would run again. I know it's something that you're looking at, something you thought about. I'm sure you've noticed this, this week "New York Times" columnist Michelle Goldberg wrote a piece entitled "I was Wrong about Al Franken."

I guess a lot of folks who might say they were wrong about Al Francen. But in this column, she expressed remorse for calling on you to resign at that time without a Senate investigation into the allegations you were facing at that time. Back then she thought Democrats shouldn't go through the ordeal of having to defend you. Now she says you deserve due process. What are your thoughts on it?

FRANKEN: Well, I appreciate her doing that. It's hard to admit you're wrong. You've been wrong. So I appreciate that and she came down, as you said, that I should had due process. And that's all I was asking for at the time. And I was denied it. So I appreciate her doing that.

ACOSTA: And there are a lot of progressives who would like to see you run again. Any indication that you can give us as to which way you are leaning at this point?

FRANKEN: Well, I have certainly not contemplated that at all and I'm really focused on these midterms, and I have a PAC, Midwest Values PAC, if any of your listeners would like to -- and give to it, give to, you know, just giving to Shapiro in Pennsylvania so we can win that one. We need to, and all over the place. So I'm really focused on that.

ACOSTA: All right, former Senator Al Franken, great to have you on again. Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

FRANKEN: Thanks for having me on, Jim. Appreciate it. ACOSTA: All right. Thank you.

And a programming note, the vice chair of the January 6th Committee, Congresswoman Liz Cheney joins Jake Tapper tomorrow on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION." That's at 9:00 in the morning Eastern Time.

Coming up, President Biden says he feels a lot better than he sounds.

[15:20:02]

The latest on his condition as he recovers from COVID.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: The White House says President Biden's COVID symptoms are improving. He's dealing with a sore throat, runny nose, body aches, and a loose cough, using an inhaler a couple of times to help with his symptoms. In a letter the president's doctor says Biden is experiencing no shortness of breath at all.

And joining me now to talk about this CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University. He also served as former Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist.

Dr. Reiner, thanks. Great to see you in person. Good to see you in good health. The White House says the president's symptoms are improving but he has now had some symptoms we hadn't heard about before. What do you think?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: So he has the typical symptoms of what we now have confirmation as BA-5.

ACOSTA: Right.

REINER: The president's physician Kevin O'Connor announced today that they had sequenced the president's virus and indeed as expected it's BA-5 which is all over the United States, all over -- really all over the world right now.

[15:25:08]

And for double vaccinated, double boosted person, the most typical symptoms are those of upper respiratory tract infection, congestion, sometimes a little bit of a loose cough, sore throat, muscle aches and pains, and those are the symptoms the president is experiencing.

So our vaccines have really changed, for many people, the virus into that kind of a constellation of symptoms as opposed to the lower respiratory tract, more dangerous kinds of symptoms that could cause pneumonia.

ACOSTA: And why haven't we heard from the president's physician directly, do you think? Is that issue? Should the White House physician be out there answering questions, speaking to the press? REINER: I think you will hear from Dr. O'Connor in the next couple of

days. For full disclosure, I know Kevin quite well. I recruited him to GW several years ago. I've worked with him and he's a good friend. Look, I think Kevin views himself as kind of a quiet, behind-the- scenes kind of person who doesn't seek out the limelight. But my guess is that over the next couple of days we'll probably see Dr. O'Connor come out and just talk to the press.

ACOSTA: OK. Makes sense. And let's listen to the reaction from some right-wing hosts about the president's COVID diagnosis. I think you'll find it interesting. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX HOST: Just look around, observe reality. You don't know anyone who's gotten the vax and then got -- oh wait, everybody who got the vax got COVID. How does that work? Well, they next explained. They stopped telling you it was a pandemic of the unvaccinated because that was so obviously untrue.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX HOST: So much for Joe Biden and Dr. Fauci science.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean, just twisting the science, twisting the facts, twisting the truth. We shouldn't be all that surprised. But it's a continuation of this COVID misinformation that, you know, bursts out of FOX like a Geiser from time to time and it happened again with the president's COVID diagnosis.

REINER: So then they never miss an opportunity to distort the truth.

ACOSTA: Yes.

REINER: And the truth is that our vaccines which were invented two and a half years ago for the original Wuhan strain of this virus are no longer really that effective against preventing infection, but, remarkably, they remain remarkably effective against severe illness, death and hospitalization.

ACOSTA: Right.

REINER: And that's the truth and that's the message that the public should hear. What I would love to hear FOX say is that yes, everyone should be vaccinated and the 22 percent of Americans who are not vaccinated, many of whom watch that network, would do well to get vaccinated now because more than 400 people are dying every single day from this virus. Almost all of them unvaccinated. They can do a lot of good but yet they choose not to.

ACOSTA: Right. And we should note, and you and I have talked about this before, they're almost all vaccinated over at FOX.

REINER: Right, because --

ACOSTA: It's company policy. REINER: Because they know the data.

ACOSTA: Right. The company policy is to encourage vaccinations. I mean, it's just as simple as that. More than half of the U.S. lives in a county classified as high COVID-19 community level where the CDC recommends a universal indoor masking. I'm sure I don't have to tell you there seems to be little appetite in this country to go back to masking.

But let's listen to what the White House COVID coordinator over there, Dr. Ashish Jha, said about this yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ASHISH JHA, WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: This virus is going to be with us forever. It's really, really important that people build up their immunity against this virus.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, where do you see this going?

REINER: The CDC did the country a great disservice in February when they changed the map. Overnight they changed the map and they embraced what you described as community level, which is not really the amount of virus in the community. It's really sort of a level that your hospitals are experiencing. The number of hospital beds available. So that vastly underestimates the amount of virus in the community.

Their other map there, transmission map, shows that virtually the entire country now is at high level of transmission. And when you look at that kind of data, it would be easy to show the public why you need to mask in public, and instead of, you know, Dr. Jha and the rest of the folks over at the White House and CDC continuing to refer to that community level map which is irrelevant to the average person, they need to tell people how much virus is in the community and there is virus everywhere.

If you are not up to date on your vaccines, even if you are, if you go into a crowded place unmasked, you're going -- it's basically like going into combat unarmed. You are going to get infected. It's just a matter of time.

[15:30:00]

If you spend time in a crowded bar, if you wade through crowds at a concert unmasked, right now you're going to get COVID.

ACOSTA: We don't know how much is out of it because people aren't getting tested as regularly as --

(CROSSTALK)

REINER: We do know. We do know. We're reporting right now about 150,000 cases per day. And it's estimated because so many are testing at home the real number is about seven times that. ACOSTA: Wow.

REINER: We probably have 700,000, 800,000 cases per day.

Almost certainly we've never seen more virus being transmitted every day in the entire pandemic than now but you wouldn't know it from listening to our public health officials.

ACOSTA: And the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern. The last time that was declared was 2020 with COVID.

How concerned should Americans be right now?

REINER: I think we should be concerned because this virus has now moved from where it was endemic, which was Central and West Africa. Now we're seeing it more than just a random person who has traveled from the area. Now we're seeing community spread.

An article in the "New England Journal of Medicine" this week characterized about 550 patients.

Right now, this virus almost entirely in the community of men who have sex with men. Almost all of the transmission in the United States and Europe to date has been in the setting probably of sexual contact with a handful of cases coming from sort of spread -- household spread.

The virus does have the ability to jump from that community out into the country at large. The virus is transmitted by physical contact. Now we know it's transmitted quite avidly by sexual contact.

But there's also a possibility for it to spread via respiratory droplet or aerosol, although we haven't seen that right now.

But we need to be vaccinating everyone at risk, which is not just folks who have known contact but people who have potential contacts. We haven't had enough vaccine to do that.

Hopefully, the vaccine supply will improve and we'll get to do this massive ring vaccination over the next few months.

ACOSTA: Yes, we have to get a handle on this. No question about it.

Dr. Reiner, great to see you. Thank you so much.

REINER: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Appreciate it.

Coming up, the shocking and disturbing video of an arrest in Tennessee showing a black man being tased and beaten with a police baton after a failed traffic stop. More details on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:03] ACOSTA: One Tennessee police officer is on administrative leave and state officials are investigating following the violent arrest of a black man accused of running a stop sign.

Police say 25-year-old Brandon Calloway took off when they tried to pull him over. Officers chased him into his home, followed him into his house, ultimately tasing him and hitting him with a police baton.

The chaotic and bloody scene captured on video by Calloway's girlfriend.

And we want to warn you the video you are about to watch is very disturbing.

Nadia Romero is following the story for us.

Nadia, this video is very unsettling.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is, Jim. You need to take a look for yourself. It's disturbing but it shows the moment after police officers make their way into the home, captured by Brandon Calloway's girlfriend.

Take a watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SHOUTING)

BRANDON CALLOWAY, CHASED, TASED & BEATEN BY POLICE DURING ARREST: I didn't do nothing.

Ow! Ow!

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRLFRIEND OF BRANDON CALLOWAY: Look what they're doing him.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRLFRIEND OF BRANDON CALLOWAY: Stop hitting him! Stop.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRLFRIEND OF BRANDON CALLOWAY: Brandon, just stop resisting. Brandon, just stop resisting.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRLFRIEND OF BRANDON CALLOWAY: No! Get down on the ground! Get on the ground, Brandon! Get on the ground.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED GIRLFRIEND OF BRANDON CALLOWAY: Stop. Stop. Stop. What are you doing?

(SHOUTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: So you can see that video raises the hair on your arms. His girlfriend saying, "Get off of his neck," and then the video cuts out from there.

Now we did try to request -- we requested video, body cam video, but that request was denied by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation because of this pending investigation.

Jim, if we back up to what started this, it was an alleged traffic stop. The police allege that Brandon did not stop at a stop sign, that he continued driving, that he was speeding, going 12 miles per hour over the speed limit.

And then only pulled over when he turned into his driveway and went into that house. And that's when the video picks up and you see what happens from there -- Jim?

ACOSTA: And, Nadia, you were saying the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is now reviewing all of this. What do we know about that investigation?

ROMERO: We were able to get the affidavit that showed officers say that they decided that it was proper to detain him and the officers pursued and made entry by kicking in the front door.

And so that is the question that I asked to Brandon's attorney, Attorney Andre Wharton, about what he called a forced entry. And that he says, if this was really about an alleged traffic stop, things should not have escalated in this way.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDRE WHARTON, ATTORNEY FOR BRANDON CALLOWAY: At best, you have two minor traffic violations. No prior felony, no robbery, no homicide, no shooting, no active-shooter allegation.

[15:40:10]

And that was a quick level of force used in the home, an immediate use of force.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMERO: So Attorney Wharton says there were no attempts at de- escalation, that things were just escalated. He wants transparency in this investigation as it continues.

And I was able to speak with Brandon Calloway and I asked him how he's been doing since all of this happened. We saw the blood coming from his face, all around his face. And you saw how violent the arrest was.

This was his response to what it's been like for him over the past week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CALLOWAY: I'm definitely having flashbacks and nightmares. I really feel like my life now is a nightmare. That's like a consistent thing.

I've always had fear because of what has happened to other people like me. But, no, I never thought anything like this would ever happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: Jim, we are still reaching out for more information, body cam video, dash cam video, anything we can get our hands on to get a better idea exactly what happened before and after that cell phone video cuts out -- Jim?

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

Coming up, tens of millions of Americans suffering through a dangerous heatwave with some areas expected to exceed 110 degrees.

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[15:45:45]

ACOSTA: More than 85 million people are sweating through the heat and through heat alerts across the northeast and the central U.S. today. Forecasters say some cities could see record-breaking temperatures this weekend.

Philadelphia is under a heat health emergency and could feel as hot as 107 degrees tomorrow. In Boston, the heat has forced organizers to postpone tomorrow's triathlon until late August.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joins me now from New York.

Polo, it's hot here in Washington. How hot is it there? We see some kids cooling off behind you.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim, this is some of the youngest of those 85 billion Americans affected by today's extreme heat. Here in Brooklyn, this is how they are able to stay cool.

And the temperatures will ramp up ahead of tomorrow, as forecasters say.

And by the time we get some relief the next couple of days, New Yorkers will have experienced a total of at least seven 90-degrees- plus days in a row. The last time we saw something like that was in 2013.

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SANDOVAL (voice-over): The National Weather Service predicting the dangerous July heatwave is far from subsiding.

After blistering parts of the nation's south this week, forecasters expecting this weekend's temperatures in the northeast will soar above normal for this time of year.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I sat outside here until 4:00 this morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Too hot inside. That's why I'm sitting outside.

SANDOVAL: Expected record-setting temperatures prompting various heat alerts in the northeast corridor throughout the weekend, including in Boston and in New York, where the forecast calling for a high at or near 100 degrees in the city on Sunday.

JAMIE MCSHANE, CONEDISON: We're entering an extended heatwave. We're concerned about the consecutive one day after the next of high temperature, high heat.

SANDOVAL: A similar weekend in store for parts of the southwest with daytime temperatures in some areas likely to exceed 110 degrees according to forecasters.

In all, roughly 85 percent of Americans will see temperatures above 90 degrees over the next week.

Arizona officials report at least 29 people died from heat-related issues since March.

Dallas recorded its first heat-associated death of the year, a 66- year-old woman with underlying health conditions.

All across the country, authorities are asking people to take caution staying indoors and hydrating, limiting sun exposure and checking on the most vulnerable.

ADAM PALUKA, EMSA PUBLIC AFFAIRS: Don't think you are invincible because of your age, because of your fitness level. Everybody could succumb to the heat. There's nobody who is immune.

SANDOVAL: The heat has only compounded drought conditions out west. NASA's satellite imagery showing Lake Mead at its lowest level since 1987, a source of water to millions across seven states, tribal lands and parts of Mexico.

Compared to the image in 2000, the recent photograph from this year shows what may be the worst drought in 12 centuries.

The extreme heat in the U.S. continues to be matched by deadly summer conditions overseas. Authorities in Spain estimated more than 510 heatwave-related deaths this week.

Scorching temperatures melted the roof of a museum in central China. And Chinese state media showing COVID workers desperately trying to keep cool in sweltering suits.

And in the U.K., rail workers painted tracks white to absorb less heat to keep them from expanding. Operations at a London airport were temporarily suspended to repair a small section of runway damaged by the summer sun.

And the heat adding to wildfire concerns. Nineteen European countries are in extreme danger alert.

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SANDOVAL: Back here in the states, Boston pushed their triathlon to next month. New York City expected to proceed with theirs tomorrow, Jim, albeit with distances scaled back because of the threat from this just unrelenting heat.

ACOSTA: Yes, we're known for our hot air here in Washington, Polo, but it is downright hot here in the nation's capital, at 97 degrees right now. Just totally ridiculous.

All right, Polo, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

SANDOVAL: Unbearable.

ACOSTA: It is. We'll try to get through it.

[15:49:38]

We'll be right back.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people can't, like, tell you that you suck and everything else. It's when it goes off the court.

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA": Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's about your family. It's about what you're doing. There's time when people will question people's intelligence, question people's like character and not know the person.

BELL: And especially when it is a white person, white media outlet doing that to a black person.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

BELL: (INAUDIBLE). It used to be that if you were an athlete, the outliers were the ones who paid attention to the events in the world, thinking like Muhammad Ali or Bill Russell.

They were like that guy's the political guy. Now it's like if you're not paying attention, then it looks weird. Especially as a black man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. There's definitely encouragement to speak up nowadays.

[15:55:00] BELL: Do you feel pressure, though?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could say there's definitely pressure. That's part of the reason I got the role with the P.A. and trying to not only be educated for others but helping guys really grow and understand how they can create change.

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ACOSTA: And be sure to tune in. "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA" airs tomorrow night at 10:00 right here on CNN.

And now to this week's "CNN Hero."

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TERESA GRAY, CNN HERO: What we were expecting to see was large groups of people housed in tent cities. And actually, they are housing these refugees in individual dorm rooms. They've got food. They've got shelter. But the trauma is the same.

They've lost almost everything.

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GRAY: This is filled with women, children, and elderly. There's a flu outbreak currently that obviously affects the children. We also have pre-existing conditions.

It isn't just about fixing the broken arm or giving you medicine. It's making that human connection. Sometimes you need to hold their hand and walk them down a hallway and listen to them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There you go.

GRAY: We try to meet the needs of whatever presents to us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

GRAY: Human suffering has no borders. People are people and love is love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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