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World On Edge About Possible Attack On Ukraine Nuclear Plant; Giuliani Suggests Trump Took Documents To Mar-a-Lago To Preserve Them; Vanessa Bryant Testifies Crash Photos Caused Panic Attacks; McConnell Casts Doubt On GOP's Chances To Retake Senate; Trump To Hold September Rally For PA Senate Candidate Dr. Oz; Warnock Slams Herschel Walker For High-Profile Gaffs; Hackers Crack Open Voting Machines To Dispel Election Lies. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired August 20, 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]

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: World Series 75-year-history. Nobody can take that from them. And they get to play again for Easton on Sunday.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Yes, still lot of uplift. All right, Coy Wire, thanks so much.

And thank you for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The "CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now.

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

And we begin overseas where Russia and Ukraine are accusing each one of bringing the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster. This is the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the biggest in Europe, with six reactors. And it lies right on the front lines of Putin's unprovoked war.

Kyiv says Russia is storing heavy weaponry inside the complex and using it as a cover to launch attacks knowing that Ukraine cannot return fire. Moscow meantime has claimed that Ukrainian troops are shelling the site. And new satellite photos obtained by CNN suggests otherwise, though.

CNN's Sam Kiley joins us now from Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine.

Sam, both sides waging a war of words over this, accusing the other of conducting a false flag. But what do these satellite photos tell us?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they show us that since the last set of images on July 19th were taken, there's been no significant strikes, evidence of strikes. That is, the sort of mark of an explosive impact on the ground. Indeed, they show very little activity indeed in terms of damage done to the area around the nuclear power station. So that kind of undermines the Russian claim that there has been these counterattacks coming from the Ukrainians.

At the same time recently, in fact today, I've spoken to a number of people who escaped from the town next to the nuclear power station. And they are insistent that whilst they are aware of Russian missile systems being fired from close to that location, they're also saying that the internet gets switched off, that mobile phone system gets shut down, and then about half an hour later there's incoming small mortars and other weaponry that they say -- and we've only got their word for it -- are being fired by the Russians to make the Ukrainians look bad.

Now there are no Ukrainians within mortar range of that location. So if it is mortars landing there, then it's definitely not the Ukrainians that are firing them. But they're still not showing up on the satellite imagery that we've seen.

But what we have seen, Jim, because we've been down physically on the ground on the other side of the Dnipro River in normal civilian towns. At one village we saw a whole house that had been destroyed, another impact on a soccer pitch. They all pointed back towards the location of the nuclear power station just across the river and then the neighboring town has seen 13 people killed in missile attacks that the Ukrainians say have emanated from close to that power station.

Ukrainians insisting that they can't counterattack because they can't risk the nuclear power station, not only because it is a nuclear power station and therefore an extremely dangerous place to be firing missiles anywhere close to, but also because it is a source or major source for them of electrical energy. And it is Russian alleged plans, announced plans that they want to shift the energy supply away from the Ukrainian network and into a network run by Russia, possibly sending it down into the Crimean Peninsula.

That is actually causing consternation in the international community, particularly among nuclear scientists because any process that interferes with the structure of that nuclear power station could be much more dangerous, could actually cause a meltdown -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Sam Kiley, can't take your eyes on what's happening in Ukraine right now particularly what's happening in Zaporizhzhia.

Sam, thanks so much for staying on top of it. We'll get back with you later on the program. Appreciate it very much.

Now to Washington where CNN has learned White House officials are privately expressing what's described as deep concern over classified documents found at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home. Publicly the White House has remained silent but behind closed doors it's a different story as officials wonder whether any of the information Trump took could put the sources and methods of the U.S. intelligence community at risk, or even worse.

But if you ask Trump's former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, there really is no difference between keeping the documents in the basement of a Florida club versus the West Wing, at least that's what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: And now they want to make him responsible for having taken classified documents and preserve them. Really, if you look at the Espionage Act, it's not really about taking the documents, it's about destroying them or hiding them or giving them to the enemy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

GIULIANI: It's not about taking them and putting them in a place that's roughly as safe as they were in in the first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And with me now to talk about this is former special counsel to Donald Trump, Michael Cohen.

[15:05:03]

Michael, great to see you. He's the host of the hit podcast "Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen." He's also the author of the soon to be released book "Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the U.S. Department of Justice Against His Critics." Of course Michael is also a best-selling author as it stands now.

So, Michael, great to see you. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate it.

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL TO DONALD TRUMP: Good to see you, Jim. Thank you.

ACOSTA: Yes. No, it's been a long time. It's great to talk to you again. What about what Rudy Giuliani is saying there? What is your response to that?

COHEN: Rudy, I mean, could you imagine that this guy was once considered America's mayor? It is the most flawed statement that anybody could have possibly made. It's almost as if he prepared for this flawed statement. First of all, that's not what the Espionage Act says. Number two, it's almost like going into a bank and say, you know, I just want to take the money from the bank, I'm going to put it in another secured location, which may not be your bank. I'm going to put it in the basement of Mar-a-Lago?

First of all, he doesn't even know that many of the documents that were seized by the FBI were in Trump's office which are above the ballroom, not in a basement. So, again, one of the biggest problems that people seem to be forgetting is that Mar-a-Lago is not, and I want to say it again, it is not, Jim, his private home. It is a social club that has hundreds and hundreds of members that come in and out.

ACOSTA: Right.

COHEN: You may remember not too long ago, there was a Chinese dissident who was running around with a thumb drive and a bunch of other, you know, illegal things that they ended up taking her off the premise. It is an unsecured location, plain and simple.

ACOSTA: Yes. And they had security issues there. You're right about that. And not just that one that you just mentioned there. I mean, that leads me to my next question, Michael, which is should classified documents, you know, ever be stored at Mar-a-Lago? That seems like a place where you would not want to store much more than the fixings for the Trump omelet station.

COHEN: Good point. The answer to that is an emphatic yes, and I think every one of your viewers is thinking the exact same thing. Number one, Donald had no right to take those documents. Those documents don't belong to him. They belong to the American people and they belong with the National Archive. Every president over the last 50, 60 years have complied with exactly the National Archive request for all documents to be stored there, not at their private residence.

Now, I'm not talking about the love letters from Kim Jong-un or the love letters from Vladimir Putin or Erdogan or any of the other dictators that Donald Trump decided to befriend. I'm talking about sensitive, classified information, and really the question is not so much what the documents are, but why Donald had them there. And I've been very forthright and I turn around and say that I believe Donald was going to use it as a get-out-of-jail-free card. I think he was going to look to ultimately extort America --

ACOSTA: Like leverage.

COHEN: In order to prevent them from incarcerating him or at least indicting him.

ACOSTA: And what do you mean by that? Like leverage. I mean, like if the feds were to come to him and say, you know, you're at risk of prosecution here or we're charging you with, you know, X, Y and Z, he could say, a-ha, but I have these documents, hold on.

COHEN: Sure. And that I have, as you're well aware, many, many supporters. And these supporters have, you know, copies right now and that the second that you do this, you put me in handcuffs, this goes out to China, North Korea, it goes out to Russia, it goes out to Iran. And who knows what it could be? I don't know what the information is? All I know is it's classified. Maybe it's the location of our nuclear silos. I don't know.

But rest assured of one thing, Donald does not care about this country. And it's amazing that more people don't keep talking about this. He only cares about himself and his own well-being. So would he use information to blackmail the country in order to keep him free? Absolutely, 100 percent.

ACOSTA: Yes, and of all the so-called truths that he's put out on his Web site, he hasn't said why he has these documents. He hasn't really explained that. I mean, why do you think that is?

COHEN: Well, like I said, I think that he was going to use it as leverage. There's no other reason. And again, I could understand the love letters. I could understand one day he wants -- someone is there whom he thinks is impressive and he wants to impress that person, so he'll pull out a letter from the Queen or he'd pull out a letter from Erdogan or from Putin or Kim Jong-un like the love letters that he kept talking about for months on months.

OK, he will show those, oh, look what this person said about me. I'm really smart, I'm really handsome, I'm really rich. That's what he would use those for. But the question is why did he have classified documents and then, of course, think about what Donald does.

[15:10:02]

Donald turns around and he says, OK, number one, I don't have any more. We gave you the documents and we signed an affidavit there are no more. Then all of a sudden, of course, FBI raids. So now the documents are in possession of government. So instead, now he declassified everything that nobody -- he's followed no protocol in terms of declassifying anything. And then, of course, he's allowed to have it and then you have Rudy Giuliani and his other sycophantic fools, these acolytes that just sit there, and whatever it is that Donald Trump says, these people just repeat.

ACOSTA: Yes. And I have to ask you because earlier this week, we had some reporting saying that Trump was considering releasing surveillance footage of the Mar-a-Lago search to essentially fire up his base. I mean, you know Trump and his, you know, desire for secrecy, his pension for secrecy, above almost anything else. Would he actually release surveillance footage, do you think? All of it?

COHEN: If that footage -- yes, if that footage, Jim, was beneficial to him, it would have already been released. What he's doing right now -- because he's a greasy grifter. What he's doing is he's fundraising off of it. And my understanding is he's already raised several millions of dollars. I mean, that's what this is all about. This isn't about anything other than fundraising and people have to remember, if they read the fine print, 90 percent of all money that goes into Donald's super PAC or his account, he has full discretion over.

You're basically handing him 90 cents of every dollar that you send in for him to do whatever he wants. And it's not political. It's all about himself.

ACOSTA: Well, and let me shift to, you know, financial matters for the former president. Let me ask you about the former Trump Organization CFO Allan Weisselberg. He pleaded guilty as you know to 15 felonies related to a scheme where apparently he was avoiding paying taxes on corporate perks. He's expected to testify against the Trump organization but he's not cooperating with the broader investigations against Trump.

What do you think about that? I know you had a hand in this.

COHEN: Yes, I did, but I'm unhappy with the fact that he's getting five months. I believe he should have received a more significant sentence. Nevertheless, people have to remember that part of his plea is that he will cooperate in the October case that's coming up against the Trump Organization. There is no way to separate Donald Trump out of the Trump Organization. He is emphatically the Trump Organization.

It is his eponymous company. So when they put Allen up on to the stand, and remember, he's not getting sentenced until after his cooperation for this hearing. They're going to ask him, and if they don't, if Alvin Bragg and his prosecutors don't, it would be a terrible dereliction of duty by a prosecutor. They have to ask him the poignant questions which is who directed you to do it, why did you do it?

ACOSTA: Right.

COHEN: Every year the personal financial statements increased, increased. Every year you had to file certain documents. Allen, you didn't make these decisions, you didn't have the authority even as the CFO to do anything without Donald Trump's approval, plain and simple.

ACOSTA: Michael, why is it there -- I mean, why can't his supporters see that in almost every direction, you know, you can point arrows from Trump's face in all these different directions, the Trump Organization, January 6th, Mar-a-Lago classified records, I mean, and the list goes on and on. And yet the base sticks with him. These loyal supporters stay with him. What is it -- how is it that he has this hold on people?

COHEN: Like I said, Donald Trump is a cult leader. Somehow or another, he has managed to tap (INAUDIBLE) managed to tap into it.

ACOSTA: And there was a "Rolling Stone" report about Trump's paranoia with all these investigations going on. A source saying to "Rolling Stone" that he's asked about, are the phones being tapped and on a couple of occasions he's wondered aloud, you know, whether there are any Republicans visiting his clubs who could be wearing a wire.

Is that the kind of paranoia that you know, that you've seen in Donald Trump, or is this sort of next level stuff? Do you think that he's becoming more of a paranoid person?

COHEN: Yes, so Donald right now is very concerned because he's not sure who the mole is. And it's driving him crazy, simply because he knows that he's in real trouble now. This is not, you know, investigation that's going nowhere. He knows that the investigation is really -- it's really ramping up. And yes, I've seen him do it.

[15:15:01]

You know, it's part of like in my book "Revenge," you know, how Donald Trump weaponized the Justice Department to go against his critics. Just looking to see what comes out of Donald's mouth when he says the Biden administration has weaponized the Justice Department to go after him because they don't want him to run for the presidency in 2024. He is the great deflector. He knows exactly what he's doing. He's the guy that weaponized the Justice Department to go against people like myself, McCabe, Comey and so many others who are his critics. I mean, that's just who he is. So he's using this, again, to be the victim.

ACOSTA: And that's why -- you know, I guess the question I wanted to ask you and we haven't spoken in a long time, the question I wanted to ask you more than anything else because I've known you well and I know you've known Donald Trump for years now, decades now. Do you think this is it? You know, you hear the cliche the walls are

closing in, and, you know, time is about up for Donald Trump and so on. I wonder what you think, Michael Cohen, knowing what you know about Donald Trump, how he seems to have 9,000 lives, not nine lives. Do you think that time is running out for Trump?

COHEN: Yes. I think ultimately what's happened now is time has gone on in and these investigations have now advanced, and the information, the truth has come out, and the truth is never good for Donald Trump. And in this specific case, yes, he's had 9,000 lives. But at the end of the day you have all of these people who have been brought in who provided testimony. You have documentary evidence like the evidence I provided to the House Oversight Committee, that implicates Donald Trump in a multitude of illegal or I should say improper actions, that he should be brought -- you know, brought to court on.

Now one of the biggest problems that we have is they're afraid. I don't understand why. But now that's past. You have Fani Willis in Georgia, the case going forward. Our New York attorney general Tish James. You have even now the D.A. in Washington. There's a multitude of litigation that has come against this man, so extreme.

I also don't understand why we're so fixated on getting him for everything. You don't need to do that. Let's get him on the simple stuff, the stuff we already know which is tax evasion, misrepresentation to banks, you know, lying on personal financial statements, like what they did to Al Capone. You don't have to get him for X, Y, Z. Let's just get him on that simply to put him where he belongs.

ACOSTA: All right. Michael Cohen, I hope we can continue the conversation. Thanks so much. Great seeing you again. Good talking to you. Hope all is well.

COHEN: Great to see you as well. Thanks for having me.

ACOSTA: All right. Thanks, Michael. And keep an eye out for Michael's upcoming book "Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the U.S. Department of Justice Against His Critics." We'll be on the lookout for that when it comes out.

Coming up, what the widow of Kobe Bryant revealed about her life after graphic photos of her late husband's helicopter crash leaked. Stay right there.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:22:20]

ACOSTA: The widow of basketball legend Kobe Bryant delivered some emotional testimony in a federal civil trial over leaked photos of the helicopter crash that killed her husband and young daughter. Vanessa Bryant broke down in tears as she described the panic attacks and anxiety that she feels over the possibility that the photos could one day surface online. She also revealed that when she first learned the photos had been leaked she had to run out of the house so her surviving daughters would not see her sobbing.

Bryant is suing the Los Angeles County for invasion of privacy over the leaked photos. One sheriff's deputy admitted under oath that he sent the images to a colleague while playing the game "Call of Duty." There was also testimony about first responders showing off the gory photos at a bar and during an awards ceremony cocktail hour.

Joining us now is Michael Musto, a legendary entertainment journalist for "The Village Voice,"

Michael, great to see you, as always. This is just a painful case. My goodness, what this family has been going through. Does Los Angeles County have much of an explanation as to how they're going to counter this lawsuit?

MICHAEL MUSTO, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST, VILLAGE VOICE: Well, I don't think they do. Vanessa Bryant, the widow, has made a very strong case about how not only did she have to endure the death of her husband and their child in this horrible crash, but now she has to deal with the constant threat that these photos that the responders seem to be very loose about showing around, seemingly as either party favors, or by their explanation, for educational reasons. She's terrified they're going to leak out to actual social networks or the media. And I don't think she can handle that. She's already been traumatized enough.

ACOSTA: And one of the heartbreaking details in the trial was that Vanessa Bryant had told the sheriff on the day of the crash, if you can't bring my babies back, then please secure the area. She knew that the pictures of the paparazzi were going to be a problem.

MUSTO: Absolutely. They don't seem to know -- the L.A. Sheriff's Department, L.A. County doesn't seem to know how many pictures were taken, how many people deleted the pictures under orders. So there probably are still some floating out there. One of them showed a picture to a bartender. It's almost like bragging rights, look what I have. If the photos were necessary for documentation or investigation, that's absolutely understood. But it should have been kept for that purpose and not just flashed around for bragging rights.

ACOSTA: And Michael, I know another story that is being followed in the entertainment world is the situation that's going on between Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. CNN has obtained an FBI report that detailed how Angelina Jolie accused Brad Pitt of injuring her and verbally abusing their children during a ride on a private jet in 2016.

[15:25:01]

What's the reaction in Hollywood to all of this? I guess charges were never filed. But what do you know?

MUSTO: This is sort of the opposite of the Kobe situation, where Vanessa wants everything under wraps. Angelina wants everything to come out. She wants the paperwork from the FBI to come out, maybe because she wants to know why charges were never pressed, though there are reports that perhaps she wasn't going along fully with the charges at the time.

But in any case, what happened was, in this private plane situation in 2016, Brad was accusing Angelina of being a bad parent. She says he then got violent with her. One of the kids then told off Brad, he -- Brad lunged at the kid and Angelina got Brad in a chokehold. And eventually the FBI investigated. And for whatever reason, charges were not pressed, but let's face it, something happened on that plane because very shortly after that Brad Pitt went for rehab and cleaned up, and also Angelina filed for divorce.

And right now, it's getting messy because some people say Angelina just wants this to come out to get back to Brad. I think she just wants closure and truth. But in any case, there is an ongoing custody battle between the two of them. Angelina had fully custody then they had shared. Now it's back to the full with Brad having custody time. And Brad would like shared again. So it's the sea saw back and forth. And it's like I'm glad I'm not a celebrity and I'm glad I'm single.

ACOSTA: Yes, and they've got a beautiful family. You know, my team really wanted to dig into this one. And it's a little bit on the lighter side. Down in Georgia there's a wedding going on this weekend. I've heard something about Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. Perhaps you have too, Michael?

MUSTO: Yes, I have. And this will never work out because Jennifer is three years older than Ben. She's a cougar. No, I'm kidding. But apparently she's run out of new people that she likes and she went back to Mark Anthony again. That didn't work out. She's now back with Ben. Some people say it's for publicity. If so, they're really doing it up because they already got married in Vegas. Now they're doing a big three-day thing at Ben's Georgia sort of plantation style antebellum home. Does that disturb you a little bit, Jim? That doesn't make me too happy.

ACOSTA: A little "Gone with the Wind" or something like that, I guess?

MUSTO: Yes.

ACOSTA: Maybe -- yes.

MUSTO: Exactly. Exactly. But in any case, I wish these kids well. I actually think there is true feeling there. And even Jennifer Gardner, Ben's ex is behind it. J. Lo's mother is behind it. So I think it might actually work out this time. I wasn't invited though.

ACOSTA: Yes, I wasn't either. That's why we're here. All right, Michael Musto, great to see you, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

MUSTO: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Coming up, Mitch McConnell is warning why he's feeling less optimistic these days about Republicans retaking the Senate in the midterms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:32:08]

ACOSTA: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is lowering expectations for the upcoming midterm election. He's admitting it will be tough for Republicans to retake the Senate as races in even red- leaning states are getting tighter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I think there's probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate.

Candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome. Right now, we have a 50/50 Senate and a 50/50 country. But I think when all is said and done, we're likely to have an extremely close Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: A PAC tied to McConnell is already prepared to spend $28 million in ads to help Ohio Senate candidate and "Hillbilly Eulogy" author, J.D. Vance, win his against Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan.

But Vance has drawn controversy for suggesting that women in violent marriages should stay in them for the sake of the children.

Joining me now to talk about all of this is Larry Sabato, director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. He's also the author of "The Kennedy Half Century." And a friend of mine.

Larry, great to see you. Thanks so much for coming on.

And happy belated birthday. Although, I did wish you happy birthday on Twitter. Happy belated birthday here on the show. Great to have you.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I very much appreciate it. It was 70. You might as well tell people that.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to do that.

I wasn't also going to make any references to Mike Lindell. But now that we got that out of the way, we can get --

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: -- to midterm politics.

SABATO: I'm sitting on a pillow, Jim.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: That's your only pillow, that's right.

Larry, are you surprised by Mitch McConnell's comments and how the midterms are shaping up for the Republicans in the Senate? I mean, they had plenty of time to prepare for this. Yet, they put

forward a lot of Trumpy candidates in some key races and appears to be back firing like a lot of people said it would.

SABATO: I'm certainly not surprised at what Mitch McConnell said. Whether you like or dislike Mitch McConnell's policies, let me tell you something from personal experience. He is a superb election picker over many, many-years' time.

Even when he's picking a candidate he doesn't really want to win, he'll tell you what he thinks is going to happen.

The truth is, if he had been picking the Republican nominees, the GOP wouldn't be in this position right now.

Gee, who was it that picked these candidates? I just can't think of the guy's name. Donald Trump, obviously.

ACOSTA: Right.

SABATO: He picks bad candidates in Pennsylvania and Georgia and Arizona and Ohio and, goodness knows, how many other places.

Maybe, some of them will win if it's a Republican-enough year. But some of them are going to lose. Better candidates who were running in the primaries probably would have captured those seats.

I think what McConnell was doing -- without attacking Trump, never mentioned his name -- he's setting expectations so that people aren't shocked by the returns and then turn around and blame him.

[15:35:09]

ACOSTA: Right. The person you just mentioned, former President Trump, has announced he's going to hold a rally in September for Dr. Mehmet Oz in that Pennsylvania Senate race. Critical race there.

He's in a tight race. Although, maybe not so tight depending on which poll you look at, against current Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who has been trolling Oz as a carpet bagger, among other things. He's talked about his vegetable shopping at the supermarket and so on.

In this race, as you know, Larry, the non-partisan "Cook Political Report" has moved this from as to-up to a lean Democratic.

I know that you guys look at these races. Where do you have this race right now? Is it trending in that direction?

SABATO: Well, if you force me to pick a winner today, obviously I would pick Fetterman. He's well ahead in both public and private polls.

However, one factor that's held us back, we want more time to review Lieutenant Governor Fetterman's recovery from a very serious stroke he had in May.

As long as he's robust, then, frankly, I don't see how he loses. Oz las made so many mistakes, fundamental mistakes.

And there are problems with his candidacy. Like, does he even live in Pennsylvania? In Pennsylvania, it matters whether you live in their state when you're running.

But there are other races I think more revealing, like Arizona, for example. That's Senator Mark Kelly, two-year incumbent.

If I had to pick two Democratic candidates who are running the best campaigns in the country, it would be Senator Mark Kelly in Arizona and also Tim Ryan, Congressman Tim Ryan in Ohio.

Ohio really shouldn't be close. But Ryan is running about even with J.D. Vance because Vance is also a really bad candidate, who apparently can't raise money, and the Republicans have to run in there and rescue him with $28 million.

ACOSTA: We were showing the poll numbers in Arizona, showing Mark Kelly, the incumbent Senator, leading Blake Masters 50 to 42 percent. That should be a race that should be a heck of a lot closer than it is.

But again, this is where the Trump factor comes in, and this situation in the Republican Party right now, where candidates feel like they have to echo and parrot his election denialism despite the peril, damn the torpedoes.

SABATO: Arizona is the classic case this year. Yes, there are election deniers all over the country. Hundreds of them have been nominated by the Republicans, if you count state legislative positions.

But the epicenter of election denialism is Arizona.

ACOSTA: Right.

SABATO: The Republicans nominated a ticket that comes right out of Team Crazy, from top to bottom.

ACOSTA: In Georgia -- maybe they're vying for that title as well -- you've got Herschel Walker taking on Senator Raphael Warnock.

And here are some of the ads playing in Georgia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HERSCHEL WALKER, (R), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FOR GEORGIA: I grabbed my gun because I was working with law enforcement. You all didn't know that, did you?

ANNOUNCER: Herschel Walker said he worked in law enforcement. He didn't.

WALKER: As you walk through the door, it would kill any odor (ph) on your body. When you leave, it will kill the virus. I believe in this product. I'm used to hard hits, getting knocked down and cheap shots. One, I voted for Joe Biden 96 percent of the time, votes that gave us high gas prices, open borders, and men competing in women's sports.

When Raphael Warnock votes with Joe Biden, he's not for Georgia.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Larry, Herschel Walker is popular in Georgia, no question about it. He's a football legend there and so on. But he seems to have been selected, handpicked by Trump for that specific reason and nothing else.

SABATO: Yes. Essentially, Trump really insisted on him. Mitch McConnell wanted somebody else but he eventually went along with Herschel Walker because he really didn't have a choice there.

I have to tell you, Jim, Herschel Walker has more scandals and mistakes than you'd need to sink a battleship. Maybe football stardom can save him. That's really the only thing that can save him. Plus, the Republican drift of the year.

But, wow, it's really amazing when you look at what's happened over the past six months there.

ACOSTA: And the House, do you think the House could potentially stay in Democratic hands at this point?

SABATO: I never rule anything out, particularly in mid-August. But I think it's unlikely.

The real question, Jim, is whether Democrats, if they're going to lose the House, can lose the House by a reasonable number, like 15 or even 20.

[15:39:59]

So that if, if, if they win the president race in 2024, they might be able to sweep in enough Democrats to retake control of the House along with the Senate, if they lose the Senate.

That's really the question Democrats have to answer as they try to fund these campaigns around the country.

ACOSTA: All right, Larry Sabato, happy belated birthday again. Thanks so much. Great to see you.

SABATO: Thank you so much, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, appreciate it.

Coming up, CNN's Donie O'Sullivan talks to hackers and other experts about the security of America's voting machines.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRIS KREBS, FORMER DIRECTOR, DHS CYBERSECURITY & INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: The biggest vulnerability in democracy is the people. It's the brains. It's the perception hack.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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ACOSTA: Hackers are warning that misinformation, not machines, is the biggest election vulnerability.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan bring sus this report from the DEF CON convention.

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HARRI HURSTI, ELECTION SYSTEM EXPERT: So the conspiracy claims all the time evolved. That once one head of the hydra is cut down, the second head pops up.

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DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've had two years of nonstop conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, many of which center around these, voting machines, that they were in some way hacked and used to steal votes and to steal the election.

We are here at DEF CON in Las Vegas, which some people called hacker summer camp. And hackers are doing their very best this weekend to break into these voting machines.

Isn't what you're doing here, by tearing these machines apart and showing that they can be vulnerable, is that not just going to play into more of the fears, more of the conspiracy theories about the election?

CAT TERRANOVA, DEF CON VOTING VILLAGE ORGANIZER: I think a lot of these fears and these conspiracies really thrive in darkness.

Here, we have like a clear box model where we open things up if you're able to look inside, and you're actually able to get your hands on these voting machines yourself.

It's not that there are not vulnerabilities within these machines that needs to be addressed. Just because there are vulnerabilities, doesn't mean that they were manipulated or exploited in the way that certain parties are saying that they are.

O'SULLIVAN: How are -- you've spent the weekend tearing apart voting machines? You've talked a lot about vulnerabilities. But have you ever found evidence that vulnerabilities have been used to change the results of an American election?

HURSTI: Never. Same comes with all the auto experts. We have always said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. We have never seen that kind of evidence. KREBS: Vulnerabilities exist in in almost all software regardless of where you find it. Even in, you know, nuclear power plants, you'll find that.

There are a system of defenses and protections to ensure that a bad guy can't get to them. And those exist in voting systems as well.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Chris Krebs oversaw election security at DHS for the 2020 election before being fired by Trump for speaking out against conspiracy theories.

KREBS: The biggest vulnerability in democracy is the people. It's the brains. It's the perception hack.

O'SULLIVAN: Cyber experts here say the big challenge to the 2022 midterms is not the machines. It's misinformation.

HURSTI: I'm afraid even what I know the vulnerabilities of the systems I am more of right about misinformation claiming an attack, which actually didn't happen, and which will then get the holding in people's mind.

MICHAEL MOORE, INFORMATION SECURITY OFFICER, MARICOPA COUNTY RECORDER: We want to focus on pushing security forward and instead we're responding to death threats.

O'SULLIVAN: Nate Young and Michael Moore know all about conspiracy theories. They're part of the election security team for Maricopa County in Arizona, a ground zero of election lies.

They're here to work with hackers to make elections more secure by exposing vulnerabilities and getting them fixed.

NATE YOUNG, DIRECTOR OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, MARICOPA COUNTY RECORDER: We have not seen a single accusation or conspiracy theory that has produced any actual tangible results.

O'SULLIVAN: Conspiracy theories, like those being pushed by the likes of the My Pillow Guy, who baselessly claims countries like China have hacked American elections and changed votes.

MIKE LINDELL, CEO, MYPILLOW: No. Just forget about the evidence. If I'm right, then China took our country right now. Do you care? Would that bother you?

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): How does it feel as a voting systems expert listening to people like Michael Lindell?

HURSTI: It makes me sad. It makes me sad from the fact that all of the resources, all of the energy, which could have been used for something beneficial, improving is now misused.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Misused to perpetuate misinformation that undermines American democracy.

KREBS: The further the narrative goes on, the firmer and gets set in stone. You repeat the lie long enough, and then, many times, it becomes kind of that reality, their reality.

Ultimately, this comes down to the voters. What do people want? Do we want to be a democracy? And if the answer is, yes, better start damn acting like it.

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ACOSTA: Very true.

And coming up, a flash mob robbery caught on camera as a crowd goes wild inside a 7-Eleven store. More of that video next.

Plus, check this out. A bird's eye view of Hampton Beach in New Hampshire, literally. What a shot there, courtesy of our affiliate, WMUR.

I hope you're enjoying your summer. But perhaps staying inside right now and watching the CNN NEWSROOM.

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We'll be right back.

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ACOSTA: We have some stunning new video to show you of what Los Angeles police is calling a flash mob of looters. Take a look at this. Police say a crowd of people blocked an intersection. Many were doing doughnuts.

The group then entered a 7-Eleven nearby and began taking snacks, drinks, cigarettes, lottery tickets and other merchandise. You can see it right there. It's just a whole group of them grabbing whatever they want inside the 7-Eleven.

The surveillance video from inside the store shows the ensuing chaos as the looters took just about everything in sight. Just unbelievable video there.

This week's "CNN Hero" was inspired to help other adults with learning disabilities grow academically and creatively after they finished high school.

Meet DeAnna Pursai.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, everybody.

DEANNA PURSAI, CNN HERO: The College of Adaptive Arts is a lifelong equitable collegiate experience for adults with special needs of all different abilities who historically haven't had access to college education.

[15:55:10]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hit that right there.

PURSAI: We have 10 schools of instruction, and they get the same access to the array of classes that any college student can select.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And reaching towards the sun.

PURSAI: I want for every student that walks through our doors to be treated like the thinking intellectual that they are.

I love you.

ANGEL, SISTER OF DEANNA PURSAI: I love you, too.

PURSAI: My experience with my sister, Angel, has helped me be a better, more authentic transparent person.

I am so humbled each and every day by their depth and ideas and ways to make the world a better place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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