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House GOP Campaign Leader Asks Candidates To Run On Policies, Not Trump; Biden Administration Privately Expressing Deep Concern About Risks Of Secret Documents At Mar-a-Lago; Alec Baldwin Speaks About Fatal On-Set Shooting; NYC & DC Grapple With Influx Of Migrants Bused In From Texas; At Least 20 Dead After Gunmen Storm Mogadishu Hotel; Ohio Lawsuit Targets Scam Auto Warranty Robocalls. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired August 20, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:31]

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

Quote, "I don't say his name ever," end quote. That's what one Republican lawmaker running for re-election in a competitive district is telling CNN about former President Donald Trump. Today we're learning more about how vulnerable Republicans are looking to distance themselves from Trump ahead of the midterms.

The man in charge of the House GOP strategy, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer, advising candidates not to focus on Trump but rather focus on Republican policies. Trump primary picks have won over 90 percent of their races according to "The Washington Post," but when it's time for the general election, is the Trump stamp of approval a MAGA scarlet letter?

Apparently, some Republicans think so. And now even the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell is warning Republicans may not retake the Senate.

Let's discuss this with former Republican congresswoman Barbara Comstock and former adviser to four presidents and CNN senior political adviser David Gergen.

Congresswoman, what do you think about this? I know you used to serve in a sort of a swing district there in the northern Virginia suburbs, kind of near where I grew up there in Fairfax County. What do you think? It seems like a lot of these candidates are treating Donald Trump like Beetlejuice, try not to say his name too many times. What do you think? How should they handle this?

BARBARA COMSTOCK (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM VIRGINIA: Well, certainly in the districts that make the majority, the swing and the purple districts, Donald Trump is an albatross, so you already have the situation in these purple states where, you know, as Mitch McConnell has pointed out, we have very poor candidates, in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Georgia, and Arizona, where we may -- where Republicans may lose the Senate because of those election denying poor candidates.

Same goes in gubernatorial races, and in the House seats, certainly in those swing districts, having Donald Trump in the focus again instead of being able to run against Joe Biden and the economy and, you know, gas prices and groceries as they certainly had wanted to, that is a big problem. And so having Donald Trump in the news for the next 80 days, having him in the front seat, you know, maybe grabbing the wheel, driving you, you know, off a cliff is not where Republicans wanted to be at this point.

ACOSTA: Yes, they could be in a point, David, where you have a Trump split screen of Trump both declaring that he's running for re-election in 2024, while there's an update in the Mar-a-Lago search investigation or whatever else investigation breaks at that specific time.

Let's revisit with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said about the midterm landscape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I think there's probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. Senate races are just different. They're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And David, it did not have to be this way for the Republicans on the Senate side.

DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, it didn't. McConnell has a very, very good point, and that is that Republicans are in better shape on the House side because that tends to be a national election, and Joe Biden for all of his effort and all of his successes he's had in the last few weeks, he's still in -- add up the poll, he's at about 40 percent level still, which is not good news for him and suggests right now that the Democrats are still strongly favored to keep the House.

But as McConnell points out, when it comes to Senate elections, a lot depends on the quality of the candidate, and in this case, Republicans have at least two people who are questionable candidates, Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania who has been slipping, increasingly the Democrat there seems to be in pretty good shape, and also in Georgia with Herschel Walker. He knows a lot about football but not much about politics, and he's slipping.

And also at this point the Republicans are getting ready to put a big splash in for JD Vance. That's going to be an interesting race to watch in Ohio. But I think overall what you see now, the conventional wisdom for the next few days will probably be Democrats still leaning heavily to win the House, but Republicans they've got a real shot at losing the Senate, and the Democrats could well pick up the Senate.

ACOSTA: And maybe even expand the margin that they have now with just Kamala Harris, the vice president, breaking ties in the Senate.

[16:05:04]

And Barbara Comstock, GOP leadership has been telling candidates to focus on policy, but here's what the candidates have been saying lately.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARI LAKE (R), ARIZONA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: These people sent politically motivated federal agents to President Donald Trump's home and raided it. How dare they?

CARL PALADINO, NEW YORK GOP CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: An administration of people like Garland who should be not only impeached, he probably should be executed.

ANTHONY SABATINI (R), FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE, U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: If it was up to me, I would totally defund the FBI, completely defund the FBI.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And I have to ask you, Barbara. I know you've worked so closely with some of the people who've been affected by January 6th, like the police officers who were hurt up on Capitol Hill, members of Congress and so on who have been dealing with the aftermath of that. And yet you still see some in the party, many in the party, engaging in this very dangerous rhetoric.

COMSTOCK: Well, as a Republican, I would encourage my fellow Republicans to oppose every one of those Republican candidates you just saw because those are anti-democratic vile candidates. Kari Lake just endorsed an anti-Semite who was attacking Jews saying, you know, very anti-Semitic remarks by a candidate that she just endorsed. And to hear remarks by those other two House candidate that are just totally unacceptable.

I mean, I'm old enough to remember when Republicans opposed David Duke and, you know, we said, you know, we don't care if he's nominated.

ACOSTA: Right.

COMSTOCK: We're not going to, you know, vote for the crook who was the Democrat. It's important with the slogan back then. So these are candidates that are going to hurt Republicans in the long run. Unfortunately, these are Donald Trump, you know, Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats, and I did want to -- I think David meant to say that Republicans still will hold the House. I do think Republicans still will hold -- will still get the House, but it's going to be a smaller margin because of candidates like you just saw there.

But unfortunately, some of those kind of candidates, they're in very red seats, and so if they still win, candidates like that, they're going to come in and make for a very ugly majority. Maybe it will be a smaller majority, but it will be represented by more Marjorie Greenes, more very vile -- you know, these extremists that will make for a caucus that will get nothing done.

So that is the real threat to, you know, what Congress will look like next year, and so, you know, for those areas like in Florida where they still might be able to get a sane Republican, certainly oppose some of those people in that candidate in upstate New York who I think was supported by Elise Stefanik, please find an alternate other than that guy who's really threatening violence against our law enforcement, which is totally unacceptable.

ACOSTA: Yes. It really is unacceptable.

And David, I wanted to close this out by asking you about Congresswoman Liz Cheney. She has talked about running for president.

GERGEN: Yes.

ACOSTA: She's teased the idea that she may run for president, but could she actually win the Republican presidential nomination in this climate?

GERGEN: I don't think she could win the Republican nomination. You know, people are taking a harder look at her now since she was so brave and noble in the way she took on Donald Trump, and there was widespread admiration for her. But at the same time, as people are taking a closer look, and they see, you know, she's been voted with Trump. This is -- Liz Cheney has voted with Trump 93 percent of the time. 93 percent.

And it's just really hard to see how she, you know, so many Republicans will go after her from the base, and yet she doesn't have enough to go to the middle of the road or go to the left. She doesn't have -- you know, her record is 93 percent, doesn't support that. So I think it's a tough go for her. What I do believe is in the long run, Donald Trump will be longer and better -- he will be remembered, but Cheney will be admired. (INAUDIBLE).

May I just point out one other person I think deserve credit this weekend? And that's Mike Pence. You know, the last 72 hours telling the Republican Party to get off the backs of the FBI. You and I are old enough, Jim, to remember the FBI and the Secret Service have been, you know, largely Republican or conservative areas. I mean, they're patriots, but they lean very much into the right, and to go after people when they've been for so long the Republican Party has depended and stood up for them, it's just -- it's embarrassing in many ways, and I'm really glad Pence went after it.

ACOSTA: Yes, and --

COMSTOCK: David's exactly right. Having represented many of them, that is true. Back the blue, these are people who are -- tend to be more conservative and to have Republicans say defund the FBI is just insane.

[16:10:09] ACOSTA: Yes, if you're going to back the blue, you have to do it in all cases, you know, not when it's convenient to you or when it's convenient to your political party.

All right, Barbara Comstock, David Gergen, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

And CNN is learning White House officials are privately expressing deep concern over classified materials the FBI seized from former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, and whether that information could potentially put sources and methods the U.S. intelligence community uses at risk.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Wilmington, Delaware, where President Biden is spending the weekend.

I know Arlette, the White House officials, they don't want to run out in front of the cameras and talk about this sort of thing. But if they're privately expressing some concerns about this, that is notable.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the White House, Jim, has really largely refrained from speaking about this FBI search of Mar-a-Lago publicly, but behind closed doors, officials have started to express privately concern about the former president taking these classified documents with him after he left office.

Now the White House does not know what exactly is included in this material that was seized by the FBI, but one of their concerns is whether it might jeopardize the work of the intelligence community by possibly putting some of those sources and methods that they use to collect intelligence at risk.

Now some of these documents typically should have been viewed in secure settings, but instead they've been down at Mar-a-Lago including in a basement storage facility, a few of those documents were there. The intelligence community has also been concerned about what exactly the former president took with him to Mar-a-Lago, and there have been discussions amongst intelligence community representatives, the DOJ, the National Archives and also some of those intelligence committees up on Capitol Hill about possibly missing sensitive documents.

There is also diplomatic concerns on whether any of those documents that were taken might cause some tension with allies but really the White House has tried to keep a tight lipped strategy when it comes to this FBI search even as they're privately expressing concerns about those classified documents the former president took.

ACOSTA: All right, Arlette Saenz, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Joining me now is Peter Strzok, a former FBI counterintelligence official who played a central role in both the Hillary Clinton e-mail and Trump Russia investigations. He's also the author of this book, "Compromised: Counterintelligence and the Threat of Donald J. Trump." You know, Peter, you're perfect to talk to about this. This is a very

important situation, and it's interesting that White House officials are privately expressing these concerns, that this material at Mar-a- Lago could potentially jeopardize U.S. sources and methods for intelligence gathering. And I suppose they're not tipping their hand that they think that the documents themselves are sensitive.

But there is a concern, I suppose. How dangerous would it be to have documents like this laying around the basement of Mar-a-Lago in a storeroom that originally didn't even have a padlock on it, apparently.

PETER STRZOK, FORMER FBI CHIEF OF COUNTERINTELLIGENCE: Well, Jim, it's a huge deal. Look, this is the real story. It is not a question of Trump's major filing that he's alleging or releasing video of the search. The big issue at the end of the day is the nightmare scenario that you have extraordinarily classified documents, documents that might impact the lives of agents overseas, documents that might impact very expensive, very sophisticated intelligence collection whether on satellites or other sort of cyber means of intelligence gathering.

All in the possession of Donald Trump who had no authority to have it, who had, as you said, stuck in a basement where nobody, his attorneys on television can't tell whether two, 10, 40 people had access to the room and it presents for the intelligence community completely separate and distinct from any criminal investigation that's going on, it presents a real challenge and a real threat to assess whether or not any of these intelligence sources and methods are at risk and what that means in terms of its impact on the national security of the United States. Not last term, not last year, but right now going into the future.

ACOSTA: And despite all of that, we continue to hear from some prominent Republicans that there is some kind of political conspiracy when there's no evidence of that. Take a listen to the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Republican Mike Turner. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): It's the leadership. It's the two individuals that have been appointed by this president, the FBI director Wray who serves at the pleasure of the president and of course Attorney General Garland that have questions to answer both to the American public and to Congress and to our Intelligence Committee about their actions. Until we condemn any and all violence. And it's always disheartening. I mean, it's heartbreaking when people make statements like this and it certainly should be condemned.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, I mean, just a note that Christopher Wray, the FBI director, was appointed by Donald Trump, but I take your point. Republican congressman --

TURNER: He serves at the pleasure of this president, so he is an appointee of the current president because he stayed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:15:04]

ACOSTA: Let me just get your reaction to that, Peter.

STRZOK: Well, I guess the question is, is there no threat to national security so large that some members of the Republican Party would not place that above their fealty to Donald Trump? I mean, we're not talking about small things or the love letters from Kim Jong-un. We're talking about top secret information at the sensitive compartmented information level, things that are so restricted, so sensitive that their release would cause exceptionally grave damage to national security.

I don't care and I would hope a responsible member of Congress it wouldn't matter the political party of the person who had it. If they had this information, if they were placing it at risk, that is something that should rise above any sort of partisan concerns, but we saw a pattern over four years of Trump attacking this notion of sort of perverting the -- you know, I grew up a Republican and it was the party of national security and law and order, and that was something that was a core component of the party.

And now that's all gone. It's support in defense of Trump, national security, the United States be damned, it doesn't matter what he does because he has to be protected at all costs, and it's shameful and people shouldn't be doing it.

ACOSTA: And Peter, what about this notion, I wanted to follow up with this because of what Mike Turner said about, you know, FBI director serving at the pleasure of the president and so on. I mean, what is the culture like inside the FBI? Because I guess the general notion that I think most people have is that it's a fairly conservative institution. I mean, is it an institution that conservatives should naturally trust perhaps more than other institutions here in Washington?

STRZOK: Absolutely it is. I mean, look, my experience over, you know, more than 20 years was that the work force is very largely conservative. It is a law enforcement organization, so the ideas of, you know, being -- supporting law enforcement, supporting the national security of the United States are very strong within the organization. Most people don't talk about their politics, but there is a general sense that it is a very conservative workplace.

And that's what just boggles my mind over the past four or five years how the entire Republican Party seems to have tipped on its head something that they would have supported for generations prior to that, and again, the one reason that I can put my finger on, the one reason that they've abandoned this sort of support for the national security of the United States is falling under the thrall of Donald Trump, and anything that would pose potentially a threat to him or a challenge to him necessarily becomes the enemy. And that's what you're seeing driving this sort of condemnation and criticism of the FBI right now. ACOSTA: And I want to ask you about this, our reporting is that Trump

is considering whether to release the actual surveillance footage of the Mar-a-Lago search to fire up his supporters. He's already pulled in billions -- or millions of dollars of fundraising off of this search. I mean, how does that -- how does that strike you that he would potentially release this surveillance footage.

I mean, to me it sounds like, you know, this is Trump throwing, you know, some catnip out there hoping to, you know, generate one more news cycle of coverage about something that he fires up his base with.

STRZOK: Yes, well, I think it's actually a lot worse than catnip in this case. I mean, no doubt about it, he's going to use it to gather money to fundraise, but the reality is he and all of his enablers have been engaging in extraordinarily violent rhetoric, sort of stoking the passions and inflaming the sort of sense that the FBI is doing these horrible things. We had a gunman who's now dead attack the FBI Cincinnati field office.

We've had others charged with making threats against FBI agents. We've had a judge who's been doxed. All these things that he's doing are creating an environment of violence. And if he goes and he releases videotape of the search which would allow those agents and investigators to be identified, I can't think of a more irresponsible, disgusting thing for him to do all in the name of generating political support, all in the name of squeezing another $1.50 out of the supporters that he has been bilking out for years and years and years.

ACOSTA: And that leads me to a quick follow-up, Peter, and that is, would the FBI want to see that surveillance footage, if he's going to raise the specter of releasing this footage, is that something that would be tantalizing for the FBI, for investigators to want to take a look at to see what kind of security measures were being put in place to keep those documents secure. Who was coming and going. That might be useful information.

STRZOK: Well, sure it would, and I know one of the things that has been reported is that among the subpoenas if there are one or more that were issued to Mar-a-Lago and Trump's attorneys included CCTV of that basement room. So the question is, if this is released, certainly as an investigator people will be looking very carefully to say, OK, what were the various sites that we could identify that had CCTV coverage?

Two, did Trump and his attorneys actually comply with the subpoena to turn over whatever footage was requested, demanded in those subpoenas.

[16:20:05]

And three, if there are things in there that might be relevant to the ongoing investigation, certainly anticipate another subpoena or perhaps another, you know, warrant to compel production of that footage if it is the kind of thing that might bear relevance on the ongoing investigation to where and how these highly classified materials apparently were being handled and accessed.

ACOSTA: All right, Peter Strzok, thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

STRZOK: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, and coming up, CNN's Chloe Melas speaking one on one with actor Alec Baldwin following the FBI's report on the "Rust" shooting. Who he's blaming and why he says he feared for his life because of Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: It's been nearly a year since a cinematographer was killed on the set of his movie. Alec Baldwin says he still thinks about the shooting every day. In a CNN exclusive, Baldwin says he does not believe he or anyone else will face criminal charges for the shooting, and CNN's Chloe Melas reports.

[16:25:08]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten months in and confusion still persists over the sequence of events that led to a deadly shooting on the set of "Rust." This week, an FBI report concluded this gun could not be fired without the trigger being pulled while the gun was cocked and eventually malfunctioned after internal parts fractured.

In his first interview with CNN, Alec Baldwin denies pulling the trigger.

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: I never once said, never, that the gun went off in my hand automatically. I always said I pulled the hammer back, and I pulled it back as far as I could. I never took a gun and pointed at somebody and clicked the thing.

MELAS: While waiting for the result of the Santa Fe County sheriff investigation, Baldwin says he hired his own investigator.

BALDWIN: That private investigator, as you probably know, did not have a difficult time accessing the staff of the sheriff's department. And that person told us, quote-unquote, "We've known in the department since January that Alec would not be charged with a crime."

MELAS: A sentiment echoed by his attorney.

(On-camera): Do you think that there is a possibility, though, that he could face charges at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be a huge miscarriage of justice.

MELAS (voice-over): But the then president fanned flames against him.

BALDWIN: The former president of the United States said he probably shot her on purpose. To me, that was really the only time I thought that I needed -- that I was worried about what was going to happen because here was Trump who instructed people to commit acts of violence, and he was pointing the finger at me and saying I was responsible for the death.

MELAS: No one has been charged for the tragedy on set. But Baldwin said there are two people responsible, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and assistant director Dave Halls. Through their attorneys, they accused Baldwin of deflecting blame. But Baldwin points to the findings of an occupational safety report.

BALDWIN: Hannah Reed handed the gun to Halls and said, don't give it to Alec until I get back to the set, I have to go to something else. And he proceeded to the set, and, A, handed me the gun.

MELAS: Baldwin said Gutierrez-Reed should have known the difference between dummy rounds which make a rattling sound and live ammunition.

BALDWIN: I mean, anybody on earth who works in that business can determine that.

MELAS: Baldwin raised questions about the supplier of guns and ammunition for the film, Seth Kenney, who is being sued by the armorer.

BALDWIN: What was the provenance of all the bullets on the set? Where did those come from?

MELAS (on-camera): Well, according to the FBI report, as far as I'm aware the bullets were comingled.

BALDWIN: So if that is the case, then who comingled them? Did Seth Kenney provide her with prop ammunition where he comingled live rounds with blank rounds?

MELAS (voice-over): Questions Baldwin said kept him up at night, as he replayed the final days of a talented friend and cinematographer.

BALDWIN: And she was great at her job, and she died. And she died. And that hurts me every day. You know, every day of my life, I think about that, it's horrible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MELAS: In January the film's armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed sued the movie's gun and ammunition supplier, accusing its founder Seth Kenney of selling her a cache of dummy ammunition with live rounds mixed in.

Now Kenney's attorneys filed an answer last month denying any allegations, and asking the court to dismiss the case, but admitting his company was the sole supplier of ammunition to the set.

In my wide-ranging interview with Alec Baldwin he said the last 10 months have been tough especially when it comes to finding work, and that he has been fired from five jobs, just one the other day. But he says he's leaning on the support of his family, specifically his wife Hilaria Baldwin who's expecting their seventh child this fall.

Back to you. ACOSTA: And an attorney for the prop supplier Seth Kenney filed an

answer last month denying the allegations and asking the court to dismiss the case.

Coming up, a closer look at Texas's controversial program of putting migrants on buses and driving them hours and hours north to New York and Washington. We'll get that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:34]

ACOSTA: All right, right now. The cities of New York and Washington, D.C., are grappling with a massive influx of migrants that have been bussed in from Texas.

It's a highly controversial policy by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, and a very public dig, of course, with the Biden administration over its immigration policies.

Abbott revealed his state has sent more than 7,000 migrants by bus to Washington and nearly a thousand migrants to New York since earlier this month.

New York officials accused Abbott of weaponizing the situation while the mayor of Washington is asking for help from the National Guard.

CNN's Jean Casarez joins me now with more.

Jean, the D.C. mayor says the district is at a tipping point. Tell us more.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, here in New York, because there's a plan and they have it in place, and it is called Open Arms. We want to tell everybody exactly what's happening in New York because they've gone to a lot of work to get a lot of resources together.

The buses arrive at port authority, which is the bus terminal, the bus station basically here in New York. As they come off the buses, they are greeted.

And you see the hands? They really hold their hands, and they walk with them to, first of all, get clothes, as many as they want, whatever they need. They can get all the clothes there.

Then they go to toiletries and then school supplies. Anything they may need it all in the area of school supplies they're given.

Then it comes to housing. Now, there's a bidding process going on right now at New York City hotels all over New York City to actually house them. And they are -- they want some of them, as many as possible, to actually live in hotels. There are also shelters.

[16:35:08]

And they want schools that are close to where the families are staying.

Now, I want you to listen to the New York chancellor for education, New York City, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BANKS, CHANCELLOR, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: Already,, our incredible public-school staff are stepping up, working tirelessly to ensure a smooth transition for these new students with minimal disruption in their education.

GARY JENKINS, COMMISSIONER, NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES: As more families arrive, we will be prepared to support their needs and quickly enroll them in school so that we are doing everything we can to preserve stability for them as they focus on their education.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ So let's take a look at the numbers right now. Since May, there have been 6,000 migrants that have come to New York City, 600 in the last three weeks.

And they expect 1,000 students, at this point, kindergarten through 8th grade, to be entering the New York City public schools come September. But we're early. It's still August.

ACOSTA: Yes. And Jean, I'm just looking at the numbers and the pictures you were just showing us a few moments ago. I mean, there are children being used by the state of Texas as political pawns in this to try to send a message.

CASAREZ: As the facts are, because I focus on the facts, there are a lot of adult males that are coming to New York City, but there are children. So 6,000 in total. And 1,000, at this point, children. And they are trying to accommodate them.

And, by the way, medical, any medical they need, the city of New York will pay for. That is something else they are offering these adults, these children, and these families.

ACOSTA: All right, Jean, thank you very much.

Coming up, chaos after gunmen storm an upscale hotel in Africa. At least 20 people were killed. We'll get a live report from the continent next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:41:04]

ACOSTA: The U.S. is condemning a terrifying attack on a hotel in Somalia that has killed at least 20 people. Police say gunmen stormed the hotel in Mogadishu setting off explosions and seizing some guests as hostages. Video shows Somali security forces surrounding the hotel earlier today. Police say the attackers belonged to an al Qaeda-linked terrorist

group.

CNN's Larry Madowo joins me now.

Larry, just a terrifying situation there. What's the latest?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The latest is that, Jim, we're approaching the 30th hour of this siege and we still don't have confirmation that it is over.

These gunmen breached the security defenses of this usually well- guarded hotel by detonating explosives at the gate. They then made their way into the building and began shooting at the guests, at the staff.

They have taken some hostages. Some people have been released. But there are people who remain unaccounted for. So there are family members, loved ones who have been gathered outside the hotel just waiting for word.

We have seen the death toll climbing just today. It's likely to go even higher because there's, at least one hospital, Jim, that's receiving some of the wounded and that have received some bodies, received some in critical condition.

The fear is, when this is all over, the death toll could be much higher.

And the U.S. considers al Shabaab a real serious threat. It's been described by a U.S. official as al Qaeda's largest global affiliate. The U.S. Africa Command estimates they have between 5,000 and 10,000 fighters in the country.

And it has been carrying out attacks in Somalia, even in Kenya. As recently as 2020, it carried out an attack at a U.S. base in northern Kenya and killed three U.S. servicemen.

And in May, President Biden ordered the redeployment of U.S. troops in Somalia to try and deal with this situation supporting U.S. and Somali troops in the country.

It is an escalation in this war against this terrorist group that had tried to overthrow the Somali government for the past decade to try to install a strict version of Islamic Sharia Law there.

It seems that it's not about to come to an end, even after, in May, Somalia elected a new government. The president has promised to exterminate the group, but it seems to be getting stronger -- Jim?

ACOSTA: All right, Larry Madowo, following that tense situation there, thank you very much.

Coming up, an update 12-year-old little league player critically injured after he fell out of a bunk bed at the little league world series. We'll get you an update on his status, coming up. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:47:55]

ACOSTA: Does this sound familiar? Your phone rings. You pick it up and a voice says we've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty. Yes, it does sound familiar to me. That call is one of the 33 million scam robocalls made to Americans every day.

CNN's Gabe Cohen reports, it now looks like officials are close to shutting down the robocall's masterminds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBOCALLER (voice-over): Hi, there. This is Jessica, calling in regard to your Volkswagen warranty.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Odds are you received a bogus auto warranty call similar to this.

ROBOCALLER (voice-over): The warranty is up for renewal.

COHEN: Now authorities are cracking down on a scheme an FCC official calls the most sophisticated illegal robocall operation they've ever seen. More than eight billion spam calls to Americans.

And a new lawsuit claims two California man are behind nearly all of it.

Aaron Michael Jones and Roy Cox Jr are accused of violating telemarketing laws by tricking Americans into buying vehicle service contracts and making millions of dollars off the scam.

CNN tried to track them down, dozens of calls, texts, and e-mails, but no response.

Both Cox and Jones have been sued by the Federal Trade Commission in the past and ordered never to telemarket again. And yet, like many robocall scammers, they are accused of just retooling their operation.

DAVE YOST, OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL: We are coming in to try to take them down.

COHEN: So now, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is suing Cox, Jones, and their associates, potentially for millions of dollars.

YOST: It's enough to take back everything they've made. If a slap on the wrist doesn't work, punch them in the face and knock them down.

COHEN (on camera): Did you consider criminal charges here?

YOST: Criminal charges are not off the table.

COHEN (voice-over): Yost is part of a new anti-robocall task force, attorney's general for nearly every state working with federal officials to ramp up illegal robocalls enforcement. In 2021, Americans received an estimated 21 billion scam robocalls, costing them nearly $40 billion dollars in a 12-month period.

[16:49:59]

MARGOT SAUNDERS, SENIOR COUNSEL, U.S. CONSUMER LAW CENTER: It's usually very hard to find the callers. All of these unwanted robocalls are undermining the value of our telephone system.

COHEN: Most of the calls come from overseas and tracing them is a fairly new technology. So up to now, authorities have struggled to stop them. And the callers that do get caught often go right back to scamming, according to an FCC official.

So, authorities are turning attention to the gateway providers, the telecom companies that let those robocalls onto the U.S. phone network.

JESSICA ROSENWORCEL, CHAIRWOMAN, FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION: Specifically, those that we believe maybe turning a blind eye to these kinds of calling scams.

COHEN: When a call comes from overseas, typically several small carriers get paid to pass it along before it reaches your cell.

Investigators are using a technique called "trace backs" to identify the original source of these illegal calls. Then the agencies like the FCC can order the rest of the industry to stop doing business with those carriers.

JAMES EVANS, ATTORNEY, FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION: If there are not this tier of providers who are willing to take this bad traffic, then the robocallers will find themselves with nowhere to place their calls.

COHEN (on camera): That's the case with the auto warranty scam. In July, the FCC ordered all telecom companies to block all robocalls from Cox, Jones and eight voice service providers they say are linked to the scheme.

Since then, those calls have nearly vanished, according to a robocall analysis company.

Do you think you can really stop these scammers?

YOST: I think we can significantly decrease them.

COHEN: How long will that take?

YOST: Years, not months. It's an arms race between the enforcers and the criminals. But we're getting smarter, and we are on to their ways.

Gabe Cohen, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: A 12-year-old little league player is now in fair condition after he fell from a dormitory bunk bed and fractured his skull at the little league world series.

The family of Easton Oliverson happy for small miracles like this when he took his first steps on Friday. Take a look at that.

Easton is now experiencing some swelling in his face that has made it difficult for him to see. But the family says, instead of complaining, he tells everyone he talks to that he loves them.

During his team's game yesterday, supporters wore Team Easton bracelets and get-well messages on their shoes. His hat and glove were placed on the field and even their opponents from Tennessee wore Utah caps.

And take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: Brogan Oliverson.

(APPLAUSE)

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: So great how everybody's pulling for him. The crowd's ovation for Easton's fill-in, his 10-year-old brother, Brogan.

Unfortunately, Easton's team did not win, but they'll get another chance in the little league world series tomorrow. No matter what happens, we are pulling for little Easton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Hawaii, in the meantime, is a paradise, but for whom? W. Kamau goes byond the crowded beached to explore the tensions between visitors and locals in an all-new episode of "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST, "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA": Is it possible to move to Hawaii and not be an (EXPLETIVE DELETED)?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, so that's my question.

BELL: Yes, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, man. OK. I think in current times, especially if you know better, especially if it was a choice, no, there's no way to move to Hawaii in my personal opinion and not directly be a part of what contributes to our harm.

So I mean, like --

(CROSSTALK) BELL: I guess your T-shirt answered the question.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes, yes.

It really is no matter what you're going to be taking up space.

BELL: Even if you're touristing?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Even if you're touristing. And if you're touristing, you're just directly contributing to an industry that commodifies and bastardizes our culture, uses us as an aesthetic.

Tells us what parts of us are pretty, but we're your servers. We're here to entertain you. We're here to take care of you. And just give, give, give but you don't even give anything back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:54:07]

ACOSTA: Be sure to tune in to an all-new episode of "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA." It airs tomorrow night at 10:00 right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: He's the piano man behind hits like "Only the Good Die Young" and "New York State of Mind." Now legendary singer, Billy Joel, is sitting down with our very own Fareed Zakaria to discuss the inspiration behind some of his biggest songs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: I always thought "New York State of Mind" was your homage to Ray Charles.

BILLY JOEL, SINGER & SONGWRITER: You're exactly right. I was thinking of Ray Charles when I wrote it. Except I wrote in it in such a high key, I don't know if Ray would have been able to sing it.

(SINGING)

JOEL: It should be more like this.

(SINGING)

ZAKARIA: Would you wear dark glasses when you played it?

JOEL: Absolutely, sure. I thought of Ray Charles singing it in Yankee Stadium when I was writing the song, yes.

ACOSTA: And did you -- were you trying to do some kind of fusion? I mean, not just the Ray Charles but, in general, where you'd had some influence and then you'd try to meld it into something you were doing?

JOEL: Well, a lot of times, I'm thinking of somebody else other than me singing what I'm writing. Because I don't like my own voice. I never did. I liked to sound like

somebody else, and I'm thinking of somebody else when I'm writing. I want to conjure up somebody else.