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At Least 20 Dead After Terrorists Attack Upscale Hotel In Somalia; Mike Pence Denies Taking Classified Docs When He Left Office; Case Of Paralytic Polio Found In Rockland County, New York; Mexican Court Issues 80 Arrest Warrants Over 43 Missing Students; Mar-a-Lago Search Could Impact Trump's Timing On 2024 Decision; McConnell Plays Down GOP Senate Takeover Chances; Colorado River Shrinks Dramatically Over 22 Years; Alec Baldwin: I Feared For My Life After Trump's Comments. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 20, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:10]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: Queen Elizabeth's secret to longevity has finally been revealed by her former chef. It's a jam sandwich. It's such a staple that it made an appearance at tea with "Paddington Bear."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perhaps you would like a marmalade sandwich? I always eat one for emergencies.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II, UNITED KINGDOM: So do I. I keep mine in here. For later.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Well, the Queen has apparently been enjoying her so-called jam penny every day since she was 5 years old.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

I'm Phil Mattingly in for Pamela Brown. Tonight's top stories, the toll from a terrorist attack at a hotel in Somalia now rising to 20 dead. Security forces are still trying to take control of the situation at this hour.

Also tonight, new data on long term COVID and the increased risk of brain disorders. Dr. Leana Wen is here to discuss.

And Hollywood actor Gary Busey in trouble with the law again. The new charges he faces after a movie convention in New Jersey.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

It is 2:00 a.m. in the capital of Somalia and a terrorist attack is still playing out more than 24 hours later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: Harrowing images. At least 20 people are confirmed dead in the attack on the upscale hotel. Dozens more injured. And an unknown number of people are being held hostage.

Now the al Qaeda linked terrorist group Al-Shabaab is claiming responsibility for the siege. CNN has not been able to verify that claim. Police say the attackers and their hostages are now trapped in the middle two floors of the hotel. And they warn the death toll is likely to rise.

A short time ago, this statement from the U.S. embassy there. "The United States strongly condemns the Al-Shabaab hotel attack in Mogadishu. We extend condolences to the families of the loved ones killed, wish a full recovery to the injured, and pledge continued support for Somalia to hold murderers accountable and build what others destroy," it's the end of the quote.

Now fears this Saturday night in the current presidential administration about the impact of all those classified documents recovered from former President Donald Trump's home in Florida.

Want to get straight to Arlette Saenz in Wilmington, Delaware, where President Biden has been staying out of the spotlight this weekend.

But, Arlette, we haven't heard intentionally much from the Biden White House about this search but we are hearing from Mike Pence. Fill us in on the latest.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Phil, former vice president Mike Pence revealed that he took a different approach to these classified documents from his former boss, President Donald Trump. In an interview with the Associated Press, Pence was directly asked whether he retained any classified documents after leaving office and he said, quote, "No, not to my knowledge."

Now as for that FBI search at Mar-a-Lago, Pence also refrained from weighing in on that directly, instead saying, quote, "I honestly don't want to prejudge it before until we know all the facts." Now meanwhile, the current administration has really taken this tight- lipped strategy when it comes to addressing that FBI search, trying to maintain some distance from the Justice Department's probe.

But privately, officials have started to express concern over these classified documents that were taken by the former president, specifically they are concerned about any implications it could have for the intelligence community as they work to gather information.

Now, the White House does not have a window into what exactly this material was that the former president took. But they are concerned that it could put sources and methods of the intelligence community at risk. President Biden himself has yet to weigh in directly on this probe. But it's clear that officials within his White House are keeping tabs on this closely and what implications it could have for the future, especially when it comes to the intelligence community.

MATTINGLY: Yes, potential major implications. Arlette Saenz, great reporting as always, thanks so much.

Now the U.S., which accounts for less than 5 percent of the world's population, is now recording 35 percent of global monkeypox cases, with well over 14,000 cases across 49 states. This week, the United States announced new efforts to accelerate its response, including an additional 1.8 million doses of the monkeypox vaccine along with steps to boost testing and treatment.

[19:05:03]

The Health and Human Services Department also launching a new program to be at large events tracking LGBTQ plus communities who are currently the most at risk.

Now as the government insists it has not fallen behind yet another pathogen, monkeypox, is far from our only concern. In rough numbers, the U.S. is still seeing around 100,000 cases of COVID-19 every day. And the virus is still killing about 400 people every day. And even as the CDC enacts sweeping changes to help it respond more quickly to public health crises, polio, polio, has made an unwelcome return.

One case of paralytic polio was diagnosed last month in Rockland County, New York. But wastewater analysis in the region including New York City indicates that that one case is just the, quote, "very, very tip of the iceberg," and that the polio virus is circulating.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. RICHARD BESSER, FORMER ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: We are always at risk of new infectious agents or infectious agents that we thought were in our history, of them coming back to our country. And what it says to me as a pediatrician and a parent is it's so important to ensure that our children are vaccinated fully and on time, so that if and when things like polio are reintroduced to our country, our children are safe and protected. And there are a lot of children out there who are not fully vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: CNN medical analyst Dr. Leana Wen joins me now with more.

Dr. Wen, look, this is very troubling. And that's probably an understatement to some degree. How much of it, how much of the vaccine rates, how much is polio starting to reemerge, even in a minor way right now, is due to COVID? We're told the disruption of the pandemic has caused the worst back slide in immunization rates in decades.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Right. Well, first of all, the reemergence of polio in the U.S. is a public health emergency. I mean, this is a virus that used to lead to disabilities, permanent disabilities, incurable disabilities for tens of thousands of children every year, that killed thousands of kids in the U.S. every year. I mean, when I went to medical school we learned about polio as a disease of history, as something that doesn't affect people in the U.S. acutely anymore. But now it's reemerging. And what you are saying is exactly right,

that even one case of paralytic polio is a public health emergency because one case illustrates that there may be hundreds of other cases that are out there, that are spreading without our knowledge. So it is believed that there were disruptions due to the pandemic, disruptions to health care services, disruptions in education.

The vaccination rates in some parts of the country, including in Rockland County where there's one case of paralytic polio is only 60 percent. In some parts of Rockland County, it's only 37 percent, and so this is a real emergency what we're seeing diseases that were otherwise preventable and were otherwise eliminated in the U.S., now coming back because of lack of vaccination.

MATTINGLY: Yes. I had to reread those Rockland County numbers several times. I didn't believe they were actually true. Your "Washington Post" piece on this issue ended up being a learning experience about what polio actually is because we just haven't had to think about it in the U.S. It's a really scary time.

I do want to shift, though, to COVID. As we just talked about, plenty of the virus is still out there as we approach another flu season. And we're learning that the Biden administration is planning to stop paying for COVID shots and other treatments, shifting those costs to consumers. What are your thoughts about how this process is starting to roll out or at least be discussed in the administration?

WEN: Well, my understanding is that the Biden administration is recognizing, as I think a lot of scientists are, that COVID is going to be with us. That there is this gradual shift then to recognizing that COVID has to switch from being a pandemic to being endemic. This is by the way that shift to being endemic does not in any way mean that COVID is over. In fact it means that COVID is here to stay in the same way that influenza is here, in the same way that we have many other endemic diseases.

By the way saying that something is endemic also doesn't mean that it's not an emergency or not something that we have to deal with. We still don't want to get COVID. We don't want people to become severely ill from COVID. We still have to invest a lot more in treatments and also in vaccines and boosters and other medications that could help people, especially the most vulnerable. But I think there is this recognition that we need to treat COVID like other diseases, which are things that unfortunately are not covered for free by the government.

MATTINGLY: Yes. It's something we're going to absolutely watch play out. I think it underscores the reality which you underlined here. But one of the concerns is, you know, there is a study in "The Lancet Psychiatry" which shows increased risk of some brain disorders two years after a COVID infection. This means possible increased risks for dementia, epilepsy, psychosis, brain fog, which has been a common complaint from some COVID survivors.

[19:10:04]

I think it kind of underscores the reality, there's just so much we don't know about COVID and what it means going forward. What does this tell you based on what you've seen from the study?

WEN: Well, there's no question that long no question that long COVID is real, that there are people suffering from long term consequences, both mild and severe. And to your point, there's a lot more that we don't even know about what that even looks like, and what cardiovascular effects there might be, what effects on the brain as this study is showing there might be.

I think the other issue to consider is that most people in the U.S. at this point have had COVID, and probably are going to get COVID again considering how transmissible it is. And so as we think about the risk from COVID, we also have to balance that with the price that we have to pay to avoid getting COVID. And I think many people are deciding that, yes, COVID is real, it's something that may have long term consequences, but I also can't put my life or my kids' lives and other people's lives on hold just to avoid this. So that's a very difficult balancing act.

MATTINGLY: Yes. No question about it. As every parent knows who's dealt with schools in the last several years about to once again.

Dr. Leana Wen, I know you're one of those parents. Thanks so much as always for your time.

All right, coming up next, Mexico now calling the disappearance of 43 students presumed murdered by a drug gang a crime of the state, as a former top prosecutor is arrested.

Also ahead, modern politics embracing meme wars. The Biden camp trolling the trolls by spinning a conservative attack to their advantage.

And Alec Baldwin is adamant he did not pull the trigger of the gun that killed cinematographer Helena Hutchens. His interview with CNN is coming up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:01]

MATTINGLY: It first caught the world's attention nearly eight years ago, the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico. Now one of the country's former attorney generals is under arrest just as a government truth commission labeled the disappearance as a, quote, "crime of the state."

A court in Mexico has now also issued 83 arrest warrants. The targets ranging from military commanders to police officers to members of a criminal group.

CNN's Rafael Romo joins us live for more on this. Rafael, you think eight years, I can't believe it's been that long, are we getting any closer right now to the truth of what actually happened to these children?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AFFAIRS EDITOR: Hi, Phil. There are new and shocking revelations in the report issued by the truth commission, including that Mexican security forces followed the students and knew at all times where they were, and what they were up to and didn't move a finger when they were attacked.

Phil, the report doesn't answer the main question the parents of those have been asking for for nearly eight years, even after the arrest of the man who served as Mexico's attorney general when the students were kidnapped.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO (voice-over): "Where are our children?" The question has been asked thousands of times but the answer remains elusive. For the last eight years the parents of 43 missing college students have been asking the same question.

They have marched around Mexico. They have met with top Mexican government officials. Even with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who welcomed them at Mexico's National Palace, the presidential mansion. At one point they even commandeered toll plazas in a desperate effort to remind a forgetting nation that their children were still missing.

It's been almost eight years since 43 students from a rural teachers' college in the Southern Mexican state of Guerrero went missing. And the whereabouts of most of them remains a mystery except three who were confirmed dead after small bone fragments were identified thanks to DNA testing.

A report unveiled by Mexico's undersecretary for Human Rights, Alejandro Encinas, who led a truth commission on the case, provided more details, but no definitive answer. Encinas said the disappearance constitutes a crime of the state, in which members of a criminal gang and Mexican security forces were involved and complicit. He also said that federal and state authorities at the highest level looked the other way and were negligent even when they had knowledge of what was happening.

Yet no answer for the only question that matters to the parents. Where are our children? Through a human rights group, the parents only said that they have decided to deeply analyze the commission's report before making their reaction public. A month after the students went missing, Emiliano Navarrete told us his son Jose Anghel called him the night he disappeared to let him know the students were being shot at by police.

By the time we met him again a year later, the government's version that the students were killed and their bodies burned on a landfill had been discredited by an independent group of forensic experts. When we met again, he was still clinging to the hope of finding his son alive. "Believe me, I will bring him back," he said. Other parents have told us over the years that they aren't even hoping for justice to be done anymore. A parent once told me, we just want to be able to give our children a proper burial.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO: And there is a new bombshell in the case, Phil, we were talking a little bit about it at the beginning. And late last night the court in the state of Mexico issued arrest warrants for 83 people in connection with the disappearance of the students including, imagine this, 20 military officers and soldiers stationed in the city where the students went missing.

[19:20:03]

The list also includes more than 40 local and state police officers as well as 14 alleged members of a local criminal gang.

Phil, back to you.

MATTINGLY: Quite a turn in a remarkable tragedy.

Rafael Romo, you've been covering it all the way through. Thanks so much for your time.

All right. From having to explain how many homes he really owns to what he puts in a veggie tray, what he calls a veggie tray. The Pennsylvania Senate campaign of Dr. Mehmet Oz is just one midterm race stirring concern among some Republicans over the quality of candidates in key battleground states.

We're going to have Daniel Lippman and Laura Barron-Lopez discuss that with me and much more, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:08]

MATTINGLY: While the country waits to see how much of the Mar-a-Lago search affidavit could be made public on Thursday, other documents now publicly sharpen the focus on Donald Trump as a possible subject of a criminal probe. That's what several legal experts are telling CNN. A procedural document unsealed Thursday mentions, quote, "willful retention of National Defense information" which could point to the role directly of the former president. But even with the legal matters may face, there's also of course the political factor.

Now with me to talk about that, Daniel Lippman, White House reporter for Politico, and also CNN political analyst, Laura Barron-Lopez, White House correspondent for the "PBS News Hour."

Guys, thank you for coming in on a Saturday night.

Daniel, I want to start with you. There are signs that the former president will try and use the Mar-a-Lago search and his feud with the FBI as a starting point, as a continuing point for a potential 2024 campaign. From what you're hearing when you talk to sources, do you expect the timing of that announcement or an announcement if he does run, which has been a hot button issue, everyone is talking about it in town, do you expect it to move up, to move back? What are you hearing about that?

DANIEL LIPPMAN, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: What we're hearing is that it's probably going to be moved to after the midterm elections because if he announces before and then Republicans do horribly in terms of not taking over the Senate, then Republicans could cast blame at Trump and say, hey, you messed it up, you really rallied Democrats in terms of -- you know, making sure that there's a kind of a rally round Biden effect. And, you know, Trump is bete noir in the Democrat Party and so he's going to turn out that activist base. But if he waits longer then it gives them more breathing room.

MATTINGLY: Yes. And leaders, Republican leaders have asked him to wait until after not to make himself the issue, not that he's ever not the issue.

But, Laura, that's actually some of my colleagues had a really good story about how Republicans who are running in tight races, particularly in the House, kind of avoid mentioning Trump altogether as the midterms get closer. One Republican lawmaker telling CNN, quote, "I don't say his name ever." If Trump does jump into the 2024 race sooner rather than later as GOP leaders have asked him not to do, will Republicans have to basically make this all about Trump?

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think that a lot of the races already are a lot about Trump. I mean, especially since we saw that he was a key factor in so many of the primaries, and so many of the new candidates, the new Republican candidates who won their primaries who are now the GOP nominees, won because they tethered themselves to Trump because they repeated the 2020 election lies. And so we are still going to have -- we've had since he came on the scene those anonymous quotes like was in the CNN article, because again, people who want to distance themselves from him so far are not putting really their names to it, other than the ones that we know already, which is Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.

MATTINGLY: Yes. We're on, what, like year seven of the terror of actually going on the record to criticize the former president.

LIPPMAN: We're going to have to wait a long time.

MATTINGLY: Still feel like forever at this point.

One of the things, Daniel, you talk about folks that Trump has backed. Obviously he's been a huge player in all these primaries.

Daniel, here's what Mitch McConnell said in April about the midterms. Quote, "Obviously the atmosphere could not be better. I think it is an overwhelming likelihood the wind will be at our back and that's obviously very important." I want to share what McConnell said this week. (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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now the first part is just a fact, right? There is a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate. The candidate quality comment, Mitch McConnell watches his words very closely. He's not loose with what he's saying there. And what he was alluding to I think has a lot of truth to some degree. Is he lowering expectations there, or is he just kind of embracing a reality right now for Republican candidates in the Senate?

LIPPMAN: I think it's a combination of both. He's kind of throwing those Herschel Walkers, Mehmet Ozes, under the bus because these are not candidates that he necessarily wanted in terms of entertainment and sports stars, those are not the types of people that McConnell likes to surround himself in the Senate. And they're untested.

And particularly in Georgia, you look at the ads, the negative ads about, you know, from his ex-wife accusing him of domestic violence. And in Pennsylvania, where you have Dr. Oz committing kind of gaffe after gaffe, you know, you'd wonder like who on the campaign is saying, yes, it's a good idea to post videos of him talking about French, you know, cuisine platters?

BARRON-LOPEZ: Crudites.

LIPPMAN: Yes. Crudites. That was actually -- I got an e-mail from Merriam-Webster saying that was one of the top searched words this week. And so that's probably not a good -- when you're going viral for that, you're probably not doing that well in your campaign.

MATTINGLY: Well, and it's an interesting issue, right, and it's fascinating because of Trump and McConnell's ability to really kind of come in and dominate who is running and who kind of the party gets behind has been shifted to some degree in this cycle.

[19:30:05]

But the idea that you're getting out there in terms of midterm races, one we've been watching a ton for good reason is Pennsylvania. It is a clear toss-up state, Republican retiring. Republicans thought they had a chance to hold it. Democrats saw pickup opportunity.

Dr. Mehmet Oz who endorsed -- Trump-endorsed; Democrat John Fetterman, the Pennsylvania in that race. Now, Oz is catching grief for the very campaign video you're talking about, which taught everybody what crudites actually was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. MEHMET OZ (R), PENNSYLVANIA SENATE CANDIDATE: I thought I'd do some grocery shopping. I'm at Regner's and my wife wants some vegetables for crudites, right? So, here's a broccoli. That's two bucks, not a ton of broccoli there. There is some asparagus, that's $4.00. Carrots, that's four more dollars. That's $10.00 of vegetables there and then we need some guacamole. That's $4.00 more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Now, Oz was doing the ad to highlight inflation, which every poll you look at right now says it's the number one concern for Americans. Crudites seem to be the issue that has caused a lot of angst.

Which Fetterman really kind of capitalizing, trolling Oz on everything from saying crudites instead of veggie tray, confusing the name of two well-known supermarkets in Pennsylvania, which is kind of a cardinal sin in Pennsylvania, trying to make the claim that Oz is parachuting into the race from New Jersey.

And there is even a report in "Rolling Stone" that Trump thinks Oz will "Bleeping lose without some drastic changes."

I think, Daniel, one of the questions is right now, you look at the polling that is coming out, we're heading into Labor Day. Things are really kicking gear. Is Oz in real trouble right now?

LIPPMAN: I think that's kind of blindingly obvious, because if you look at Pennsylvania, you know, John Fetterman has not been able to campaign for last few months, because he was recovering from his stroke, and Dr. Oz has been, you know, campaigning a bunch throughout the state, but has not been able to have that real man, you know, everyday touch. You know, he is a TV star.

And with Trump's election in 2016, a lot of people who were on TV saying, "Hey, I want to do that, too." You know, Dr. Oz is close to the former President. But he, this week, he also had issues in terms of the number of houses he has, the number of residences, that, you know, harkens back to most Americans can say, "Hey, they have one house. They have maybe a beach house they go to for a timeshare, at best."

And so that it kind of comes into the Mitt Romney territory of John McCain, where they've gotten in trouble for their wealth.

MATTINGLY: Can I ask, Laura, I want to kind of ride off that a little bit to something, the place that we generally are most days, which is the White House, not an institution, not a team known for media mores, it's not a team known for kind of being at the leading edge on tech. Their digital team is good, but it's not their focus, right, and the campaign, and they embrace that to some degree.

But Biden has got a lot of breaks after a pretty difficult year, gotten a lot of wins. So much of his team is embracing this whole dark Brandon meme, which basically takes an insult used against him by conservatives, a rather crude one, and turns it around on his critics.

You see that there? Look it up. It takes a long time to explain the genesis of it, but you also see, he is wearing the aviators. He always wears them. He is wearing a lot more now, you've got a "The New York Times" Style section article about this.

I think this seems trivial and kind of weird inside the beltway, but I do think it reflects a feeling in the White House that I've picked up over the course of the last several weeks in terms of a team that was having a tough time and felt like things weren't ever going to break their way, and there is almost, daresay I say, swagger about like how they're approaching things right now.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, the White House staff is -- they're feeling themselves. I mean, they're pretty happy about what's been happening, because of course, Biden just got one of the biggest wins that he had been pushing for, for over a year, which was, you know, actually passing some of the things that were in that Build Back Better plan, the climate change, the prescription drug reform, which Democrats have actually been trying to get for some 20 odd years.

So those are things that he now gets to say, look, when I was President, we were able to do this in addition to the infrastructure bills, but yes, to your point, Phil, this White House throughout President Biden when he was a candidate, throughout his campaign, they always, you know, were happy about the fact and prided themselves on the fact that look, Twitter is not the real world, and we don't engage in Twitter.

And now, they're actually using these viral memes to show, look, we have a pep in our step and we're going on offense, and they are about to really, really hit the gas on they say that the President is about to finally actually make a lot of, you know, tour, trips around the country to push what he has accomplished and to try to get out there ahead of the midterms.

So, we'll see if they actually do that now, especially since he is coming off of COVID, but this is something that I think, yes, it could potentially be good for Democrats. They are starting to embrace the Internet-of-Things more. You see it with Fetterman who has really capitalized on that and the White Houses is starting to learn a bit.

MATTINGLY: I believe the kids call it "vibe shift," is that the thing -- a little bit of a vibe shift.

LOPEZ: That is what the kids --

[19:35:10]

MATTINGLY: Vibe shift -- okay, I am just kidding. Laura signed off on me on that one.

Daniel Lippman and Laura Barron-Lopez, no vibe shift needed with these two. Thanks, guys, so much, as always.

All right, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Stunning before and after images show how the world's rivers are drying up before our eyes. This, as concern grows in the southwest over the state of America's largest manmade reservoir. The tough choices government leaders will need to make.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHRYN SORENSON, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, KYL CENTER FOR WATER POLICY, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: They have some really tough choices to make. No elected official wants to be the person saying who gets water and who doesn't.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: Climate change is having a dramatic effect on the Earth's natural resources. One of life's most vital necessities, water is disappearing quicker than ever.

This is one stretch of the Colorado River.

In 22 years, its banks have dried up and it's thinning out fast. It is suffering from extreme drought out west, one that shows no sign of easing anytime soon.

[19:40:10]

MATTINGLY: One of the reservoirs it fills is Lake Mead shown here. Water levels have been steadily falling since 2000 and started to drop even faster in 2020.

And to be clear, this isn't just a North America problem. Here is a river in China. These dramatic images are just from the past year as China faces its longest heatwave in six decades.

Europe's largest rivers, those aren't immune either. Ships are now struggling to navigate the Rhine River because water levels have fallen so much.

Here is the River Po in Italy. Nearby residents used to worry about floods. Now, it is drying up and fast.

France's River is also looking a lot smaller, and the region, much less rain and these photos are dramatic.

The Colorado River though perhaps the most striking example of climate change here in the US. It supplies water to 40 million people in seven states and Mexico. This week, the Federal government announced more mandatory cuts to water usage.

Arizona will face the largest cut, about 21 percent of its annual allotment.

CNN's Bill Weir reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Summer

monsoons are adding a few precious inches to the Lake Mead waterline, but not nearly enough.

America's largest reservoir is still 25 feet lower than last summer, so this fall, parts of Phoenix will see unprecedented Tier 2 cuts of their share of the Colorado River, joining Arizona farmers at the end of the water rights line.

WEIR (on camera): Do you foresee a day when it's Tier 3, Tier 4 and mandatory cuts that will get really severe?

SORENSON: So absolutely, I am genuinely worried about the possibility of this system hitting Deadpool.

WEIR: You are?

SORENSON: I absolutely I am.

WEIR (voice over): Deadpool is when Mead gets low enough to crash the whole Colorado system and when Kathryn Sorensen was running water departments in Phoenix and Mesa, it was the biggest worry. But now, it's worse, and the Feds are begging Western states to cut up to one out of every four gallons consumed.

WEIR (on camera): I know from our reporting, there was some Western water managers that were frustrated that the Bureau of Reclamation wasn't tougher. They said you guys work it out, or we'll work it out for you. But they didn't do that.

What are your thoughts on that?

SORENSON: Well, you know, it is disappointing because the longer that we have to endure the uncertainty, the more at risk the entire system is, and I don't envy the Federal government. You know, the Biden administration, they have some really tough choices to make.

No elected official wants to be the person saying who gets water and who doesn't. I'm sure they are desperately searching for the least worst option, but in the meantime, water levels continue to fall.

GOV. DOUG DUCEY (R-AZ): And we will invest heavily in conservation, efficiency, reuse, and advanced water technologies like desalination.

WEIR (voice over): Arizona's outgoing Governor wants to build a desalination plant in Mexico and canals in Kansas to bring more water eventually.

But in the meantime, the call to use less puts fresh scrutiny on thirsty industries like golf, especially after an Arizona Republican investigation found that 30 to 50 percent of courses here use more than their share of water with little oversight.

WEIR (on camera): State records show that the water cops of Arizona have issued a punishment against a golf course, exactly twice in the last 20 years. So, it's pretty obvious that from the Feds down to the locals, people aren't exactly lining up to be the tough Sheriff desperately needed to tame water use in the Wild West.

SORENSON: I don't golf. So, I don't feel the need to defend golf. But I will say this, people focus on it because it is visible, but there are lots of things about what we do, what we consume, what we eat, what we wear, that are also very water intensive.

So, I don't like to think of it in terms of "We don't have enough water." I like to think of it in terms of "What do we have enough water for?" Do we want to build semiconductor factories or do we want to grow cotton? Do we want to grow subdivisions or do we want to have high density development that is more water efficient?

Those are the conversations we need to have.

WEIR (voice over): Bill Weir, CNN, Phoenix.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Up next in the CNN NEWSROOM, Gary Busey, the actor facings sex offense charges after an alleged incident at a movie convention.

Also ahead, Alec Baldwin deflects blame for last year's fatal movie set shooting and says the tragedy "has taken years off his life" in a new interview with CNN.

We'll be right back.

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[19:49:15]

MATTINGLY: New tonight, actor, Gary Busey is facing sex offense charges after an incident that allegedly happened during the Annual Monster Mania Convention in New Jersey.

Police say they were called out to the hotel hosting the convention last weekend. The 78-year-old now faces two counts of criminal sexual contact and two other counts including harassment.

A law firm representing Monster Mania told CNN in a statement: "Immediately upon receiving a complaint from the attendee, the celebrity guest was removed from the convention and instructed not to return."

CNN has reached out to representatives of Gary Busey for comment. Police say the investigation is ongoing.

And 10 months after the movie set shooting that killed cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, actor Alec Baldwin speaks to CNN amid new findings from the investigation, but Baldwin maintains he never pulled the trigger and says at one point, he was afraid former President Trump could get him killed.

CNN's Chloe Melas has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER (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 click the thing.

MELAS (voice over): While waiting for the results of the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office 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 "We've known in the department since January that Alec would not be charged with a crime."

MELAS (voice over): A sentiment echoed by his attorney.

MELAS (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, it was really the only time I thought that I needed to -- 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 (voice over): 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've got to go do something else." And he proceeded to the set and A., handed me the gun.

MELAS (voice over): 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 (voice over): 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 commingled.

BALDWIN: Well, if that's the case, then who commingled them? Did Seth Kenney provide her with prop ammunition where he commingled live rounds with blank rounds?

MELAS (voice over): Questions, Baldwin says 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 -- when she died and that's -- that hurts me every day. You know, every day of my life I think about that, it's horrible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: An attorney for the prop supplier says Kenney filed an answer last month denying the allegations and asking the Court to dismiss the case.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM and as kids start heading back to school, districts are dealing with a shortage of bus drivers to actually get them there.

How they're making up for the thousands of unfilled jobs across the country.

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MATTINGLY: As school systems across the country struggle to find enough teachers to fill all the classrooms is here, many districts have another major problem, hiring enough bus drivers to get those kids to school.

CNN's Nadia Romero has more -- Nadia.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I feel this is a problem we're seeing all across the nation. Let's start with Fulton County schools in the Atlanta area. Right now, they say they're experiencing about a shortage of 200 bus drivers to start their school year.

And so, take a look at the numbers, just this morning, there were two recruitment fairs to try to lure in more people to be bus drivers. They are offering more than $20.00 an hour, paid training and a six- hour workday.

I want you to listen to one Georgia school bus driver explain how it has been so challenging being a bus driver during the staffing shortages.

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JUANITA JACKSON, FORSYTH COUNTY BUS DRIVER: We just work harder and longer and double back and try our best to get them all home as safely as fast as we can.

It's an important job and people don't realize we really do need you. We need them out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: But this isn't a problem just in the State of Georgia. In Tempe, Arizona, one school district is telling parents that there could be a 15 or 20-minute delay to pick up schools. In Connecticut, one organization says they're short about 1,000 bus drivers and in St. Louis, the superintendent there at the public school district says that they've had to suspend 35 bus routes that's impacting nearly 3,400 students in elementary school and high school.

So, the district is giving $75.00 gas cards weekly and Metro passes to parents and students affected. The superintendent says they hope to have that issue fixed and the next two weeks -- Phil.

MATTINGLY: A critical story. Nadia Romero, thanks so much.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

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