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Thirteen Killed, Dozens Hurt After Russian Strike On Zaporizhzhia; Kari Lake Removed From Arizona Town Hall Before Opponent Takes Stage; Interview With Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) About January 6th Hearing; At Least 185 People Reportedly Killed In Weeks Of Street Clashes In Iran. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 09, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:07]

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

A civilian neighborhood in Ukraine reduced to rubble by Russian missiles. At least 13 people are dead and dozens more are wounded. Some of them children. It happened earlier today in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia. Rescuers with search dogs are still looking for signs of life among the wreckage.

The attack on innocent civilians comes on the heels of this, a bridge explosion that dealt a major blow to Russia's military supply capabilities. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility but an aide to Ukraine's president says today's missile strike on civilians could be an act of retaliation.

Here's a view of the explosion that we didn't see yesterday. Take a look at this. Russian officials say three people were killed and CNN international security editor Nick Paton Walsh joins me now.

Nick, what more can you tell us about the Russian missile attack in Ukraine earlier today? They're still going after civilians. Nothing much has changed on that front.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Look, it's an utterly ghastly scene. Hundreds of rescuers combing through the damage to these apartment blocks where we now know the death toll to be 13, another 80 people injured.

Just bear this in mind, Jim, a totally innocent civilian block hit by what appeared, according to Ukrainian officials, to have been six cruise missiles and possibly 16 antiaircraft missiles, fired by a strategic bomber and a stealth jet flying into Ukraine.

Now the cruise missiles frequently used across Ukraine by Russia. The antiaircraft missiles some say being deployed because the inventory of other missiles is depleted. Because of the intensity of bombardment we've been seeing, this isn't the first time Zaporizhzhia has been hit, Jim this week. It's one of a number of attacks that we've seen. But it forms part of a pattern of what Ukrainians say is indiscriminate bombing against civilian targets. Some had wondered if this was retaliation for the attack on the Kerch

Bridge, that vitally symbolic part of Russian infrastructure that feeds its occupation of Crimea, the Ukrainian Peninsula illegally annexed in 2014, and the rest of their occupation in other parts of Ukraine. But Zaporizhzhians would say frankly we've been hit every day before that attack actually occurred.

Russia beginning to explain its position after that attack. Russia's president Vladimir Putin meeting the head of his investigative committee and saying that as a result of the report he'd received from that committee, they believe that the Ukrainian secret services were responsible with the help of what he referred to as foreigners.

It's still unclear exactly how this explosion occurred. Was it a truck bomb? Was something else involved? The damage has been significant, I think it's fair to say. But Russian state media being very clear in their mind that they're able to get cars moving across the damaged road areas of that and the rail traffic has resumed.

It's so vital for Russia's supply of its troops in the south of Ukraine, supply that's already been frankly atrocious and part of why these petitions are slowly collapsing. But there will be an important meeting in Moscow tomorrow of Russia's Security Council. Yes, they happen weekly, but this particular one of great emphasis. We may learn exactly what Russia's response will be from this attack.

This to Vladimir Putin was a bridge of great significance. He opened it personally in 2018 by driving a truck across it. The idea that Ukraine could attack it, startling, frankly, in terms of a sign of their capabilities versus their lapses in Russia's security capabilities, but also to having many concerns as to what escalation Russia might bring.

Russia's spokesperson for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, was asked whether this may invoke part of Russia's nuclear doctrine about defending its own territory. His response to that question was inappropriate. So we don't really know where this is going. We know that Russia is losing day after day after day on the battlefield. In terms of the symbolism, major infrastructure being attacked, we'll have to wait and see what the Kremlin response is tomorrow -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Nick Paton Walsh, thank you very much for that report.

And joining me now to discuss is retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

General Kimmitt, thanks for being with us. We appreciate it. It really seems Russia is hellbent on retaliating for the humiliation suffered by that bridge being blown up. What do you see right now when you take a look at what the Ukrainians were able to pull off as Nick Paton Walsh was talking about a few moments ago, and then what appears to be an act of Russian retaliation, going after civilians as they've done time and again?

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT (RET.), U.S. ARMY: Yes, first of all, Jim, it's hard to believe that this was not a Ukrainian operation. Within 24 hours they were already issuing a stamp with an attack on the Crimean bridge put on the stamp. So pretty conclusive to me that that was done by the Ukrainians.

With regards to the retaliation, I think that comes at the same time you've got General Surovikin taking over the entire operations inside of Ukraine.

[16:05:07]

He's well known to be like his predecessor Dvornikov, a veteran of Syria, he was the one that was accused of doing the massive bombing inside of Aleppo. So I suspect he's coming in not only to prove that they can respond to the attack on the bridge but also to demonstrate what a tough commander he's going to be of all the Ukrainian forces -- all the Russian forces inside of Ukraine.

ACOSTA: And even before everything that had happened this weekend, it's been a lot, President Biden was warning of nuclear Armageddon. The White House wants Putin to come to the negotiating table. But I guess I was wondering, what did you make of the president's remark? Are we getting into that kind of a critical stage? What did you think?

KIMMITT: Well, I think it was an unfortunate choice of words. I certainly don't want to diminish the use of a nuclear weapon inside of Ukraine. But the fact remains there's a big step between using a tactical nuclear weapon inside of Ukraine and thermal nuclear war with strategic weapons between Russia and the United States and the free world.

The biggest problem of course of the use of tactical nuclear weapons is it would be reducing a threshold that has been in place since 1945.

ACOSTA: But do you think Putin could go that route? That he might employ these tactical nuclear weapons out of just sheer desperation?

KIMMITT: Well, it's Russian doctrine that if in fact Russian property, Russian territory is attacked, that the use of nuclear weapons is an appropriate response. I would remind everyone that we used to have very, very small tactical nuclear weapons that were about 100 pounds and ranged about 850 meters. It should not be the end of the world. It should not lead to nuclear war. We'd better, although, have some very, very significant responses to Putin and his forces if those weapons are released on the battlefield.

ACOSTA: And we're hearing stories of Russian soldiers being completely ill-equipped. It's almost comical in some cases. In one case they moved into a pig shed in Kherson because they didn't have anywhere else to say. We're seeing videos of Russian officers telling troops they will have to bring their own sleeping bags and telling them that they are fit for the Russian draft even if they have hernias or plates in their heads.

What does that say about the ability of the Russian military right now and how it's been degraded by the Ukrainians? KIMMITT: Well, two things I'd say. First of all, it's pretty

embarrassing to see how they're treating their troops. However, I'd also note that I commanded Russian troops that were working with our brigade inside Bosnia in 1997 and '98. They are used to operating on a scale of privation that American troops just wouldn't accept. We had nothing but cold showers, they had nothing but cold showers in the middle of winter. They had very poor food. So this is the Soviet Russian way of war. Don't take care of your troops and just make them fight.

ACOSTA: Wow. And Forbes is reporting that 700,000 Russians have fled since the draft was announced. What do you -- I mean, I'm sure you've seen these images of these Russians, you know, fleeing and crossing into places all around the former Soviet Union, into these neighboring countries. Do you think that this spells cracks in Putin's power?

KIMMITT: Well, what it indicates is that the war has now come to the people of Russia. He tried to keep this as a special military operation, focused inside of Ukraine with a small number of troops. That is over. Now that he's gone to mobilization of the reservists, people back in Moscow and the outlying cities understand that this war is now their war, and some are voting with their feet. That is not good for President Putin. One questions whether an autocrat really worries about public opinion. If he does, he should be concerned.

ACOSTA: And apparently, General Kimmitt, he's going to be meeting with his national security team in the next day or so. Is there any hope, any -- I mean, I hesitate to even ask this question, that anybody is going to talk sense to Vladimir Putin, give him any sense of what the reality of the situation is? Or he just doesn't want to hear that?

KIMMITT: You know, this is starting to resemble Hitler in his bunker in 1945, taking advice from his commanders on the ground. None of who thought that there was any chance that they were going to win.

[16:10:04]

And as they did temporize their words to the dictator for fear of their own lives for telling the truth, I would imagine that that is the same concern of his advisers because candidly, if Putin goes down, his hand-selected advisers are going with him. So I would suspect he's going to hang in there regardless of what the advisers say. And frankly, I don't think the advisers are going to give him the advice that he needs.

ACOSTA: Fascinating. And the comparisons are interesting. We'll be watching, of course.

General Mark Kimmitt, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

And coming up, Kari Lake, the GOP nominee for Arizona governor is removed from a town hall audience as election drama ramps up with less than a month until the midterms. We'll take you live to Arizona for the details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [16:16:03]

ACOSTA: With the midterms less than one month away, the drama is ramping up in the razor-thin race for Arizona governor. Republican nominee Kari Lake created a scene at a town hall that resulted in the event organizer asking her to leave.

CNN's Kyung Lah is following the latest from Arizona. Kyung, tell us the latest.

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, this was a candidate forum for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. And the way that this forum was scheduled is that the candidates would not appear on the same stage. It was a back-to-back town hall style event. They would not be on stage at the same time.

The reason why I keep emphasizing this is that Katie Hobbs, the Democrat running for governor, has said she will not debate Kari Lake saying Lake will turn it into a circus and she would become a part of the spectacle. Well, Kari Lake since then has been trolling Hobbs saying that she is simply avoiding her, that she is afraid. It has come to where Lake supporters have shown up to Hobbs' events dressed up as chickens.

Well, this no-debate issue came up with both candidates when they appeared on "Face the Nation." Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARI LAKE (R), CANDIDATE FOR ARIZONA GOVERNOR: I have agreed to any and all debates, and I will be taking part in one without my opponent next week on the 12th. I would love it if she would show up because I think there's a lot of important issues that the people of Arizona need to hear about.

KATIE HOBBS (D), ARIZONA SECRETARY OF STATE, CANDIDATE FOR ARIZONA GOVERNOR: I have no desire to be a part of the spectacle that she's looking to create because that doesn't do any service to the voters of Arizona to hear from us, where we stand on the issues and how we would govern.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So sometimes voters learn things from moments of duress or challenge or circus. Don't you think you're strong enough to handle any kind of circus Kari Lake might present if in fact she were to present one? Don't the voters of Arizona deserve to see that reel?

HOBBS: I think the voters of Arizona have had a chance to see how I work under crisis throughout my leadership during the 2020 election as secretary of state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Well, Kari Lake supporters have absolutely loved this. She has turned this into a political advantage. It is a very Trump-style move. And we are at a Trump rally. She is scheduled to stand side-by-side with Donald Trump. This is his second rally in the western states. Yesterday was Nevada. Today it is Arizona. He is set to take the stage in just a few hours -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right, Kyung Lah, thank you very much.

And joining me now the director for the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, Larry Sabato, and CNN senior political analyst and senior editor for "The Atlantic" Ron Brownstein.

Larry, Arizona is famously a state that Trump did not carry. He did not carry Arizona in case it's still in doubt with anybody, and yet his preferred candidate for governor, known election denier Kari Lake is neck in neck in this race for governor against Katie Hobbs, the secretary of state who fought against the so-called fraud in Arizona.

What does that tell you about where the country is right now, that Kari Lake could potentially be on the verge of winning this election being an election denier herself?

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Jim, Arizona is a swing state and it is extremely closely divided. We saw that not just in 2020. We've seen it in a lot of state races there as well. So it doesn't surprise me at all that you've got a really close race here. Kari Lake, as you noted, is a very dedicated election denier. She actually seems in my view at least to believe this nonsense.

But she's also very good at using TV which I think is one reason why Katie Hobbs doesn't want to debate her. She was a TV anchor for many years. She's more comfortable with the medium. But it's going to be a very close race. And at this point I don't think there are a handful of undecided voters in that particular gubernatorial contest. This is a battle of turnout between Democrats and Republicans in Arizona.

ACOSTA: And Ron, does that make sense for Katie Hobbs to not debate Kari Lake?

[16:20:05]

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, you know, she's allowed it to become an issue, kind of a process issue. Her basic argument that Lake would turn it into a circuit I think, you know, has validity to it but probably doesn't ring, you know, very persuasively to many voters. I don't -- like Larry, I don't think that the process issues are going to decide this. I mean, as you say, we have a state that is divided almost exactly in half and you have two candidates that are really close.

Lake is like Trump in 2020, suffering in the Phoenix suburbs, among college educated voters. But the key dynamic has been in Arizona as in many other states how few Republican leaders or voters are basically following the Liz Cheney line of saying, you know, they will essentially draw the line and ex-communicate a candidate who deny the reality of the 2020 election because so many Republican leaders and Republican voters are crossing that line and sticking with Lake, despite her election denialism. It's going to be really close in a state like Arizona, which still probably lean slightly red. ACOSTA: And Larry, I mean, the Senate race in Arizona is also

important. Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly is trying to fend off this challenge from the Trump-backed Blake Masters who was an election denier. He's been trying to distance himself a little bit from some of that in recent days, and Kelly is I guess trying to distance himself somewhat from President Biden to show that he's an independent minded senator in that state. Let's take a listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): I've spent a lot of time in our southern border and let me just say it's a mess. It's a chaos. It's crisis after crisis. I've stood up to Democrats when they're wrong on this issue.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It sounds like you're saying --

KELLY: Including by the way --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes?

KELLY: Including the president. You know when the president decided he was going to do something dumb on this and change the rules, you know, that would create a bigger crisis, you know I told him he was wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What do you think, Larry?

SABATO: I think that's the right approach for Kelly. I don't think President Biden is terribly popular in much of Arizona at least. But the key thing there is that Kelly is doing better than Katie Hobbs, and he's doing better than Katie Hobbs because he's an incumbent. He's used the two years of incumbency that he has had quite well. He's a good candidate and Blake Masters doesn't have, let's say, the media ability that Kari Lake has.

He's not as good on TV and his positions, if anything, have been as or more extreme than Kari Lake particularly on abortion. You know, he's scrubbed his Web site but it's hard to take away your position when you're an absolutist anti-choice politician which he's been.

ACOSTA: And Ron, Trump was in Nevada last night. He's in Arizona today as Kyung was just saying. And I want to play this moment from Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville. He made this crowd to -- comment to the crowd last night and the comment was undeniably racist. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AZ): Some people say, well, they're soft on crime. No they're not soft on crime. They're pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparation because they think the people that do the crime are all dead. Bullshit. They're not all dead. (CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: I mean, it's obviously a repugnant, bigoted comment, Ron. What is going on and I suppose this is just par for the course at these Trump rallies, the way that the rhetoric has just sunk to the very bottom of American politics.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, as openly racist as anything we've heard in American politics probably since George Wallace. And there were some people on Twitter who are arguing that even Wallace might not have been that explicit in the 1960s. This is part of the legacy of the Trump impact on American politics where euphemism and dog whistles are out the window and you can say go back as Trump did to a group of Democratic women of color who are in Congress as if they were not American citizens.

And again it is the willingness of the roughly one quarter of the Republican coalition that do not share these views to stick with candidates who do embrace them and do enable Trump that allows this to be electorally competitive. You know, we're talking about a minute ago about that Arizona debate. You look at that debate and you see the exact -- I felt like it was the Masters-Kelly debate was the entire '22 election in miniature in an hour.

When it started and the focus was on Biden's performance on the economy and immigration, Kelly was on his heels. Masters came out really strong as it went and it focused on election denial and abortion and some other issues, the extremism of many of Masters' views came into focus, and that is, Jim, the central tension of this election. Most voters feel that Biden has not performed well on the economy, on the -- on crime, but they also view the Trump era Republican Party as a threat to their rights, their values, and in many cases to democracy itself.

[16:25:08]

And how that sorts out is what is creating this unusually fraught and I think unpredictable midterm.

ACOSTA: Yes, Larry, what did you think when you saw that comment from Tommy Tuberville? I mean, this is somebody who worked in college football. You're on a college campus. He was coaching young black players and then to make these sorts of remarks, I mean, it's just appalling.

SABATO: It's nauseating, and let's go ahead and use the word that nobody likes to use, racist. This was purely racist. It is an outrage. Where are the other senior Republicans? Why aren't they denouncing what he said? This was way out of bounds. We're not talking about something that was hugging the edge of semi-respectability. This was totally out of bonds. Where are the denunciations? We said that about Trump a lot. It ought to apply to Tuberville, too.

ACOSTA: All right. Well, Larry Sabato, Ron Brownstein, thanks so much. Appreciate the time.

BROWNSTEIN: Thank you.

SABATO: Thanks.

ACOSTA: All right. Thanks. And the January 6th hearings start up again this week. Will there be more bombshells? A key member of that committee, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, there she is, she'll join me live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:48]

ACOSTA: Former President Donald Trump using a campaign appearance in Nevada to brag about the crowd size on the day of the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They never want to show how massive our crowd was. You know the biggest crowd I've ever seen? January 6th. And you never hear that. It was the biggest, and they were there largely to protest a corrupt and rigged and stolen election. It's the biggest crowd and you never hear that. And you see very few pictures of it but they're there. That was the biggest crowd I believe I've ever spoken to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining me now is a key member of the January 6th Committee which has its next public hearing on Thursday, Democratic Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren of California.

Congresswoman, I want to talk about the hearing and the committee work in just a moment, but I just want to get your reaction to what Trump was saying at that rally about his crowd on January 6th. What's your response to that?

REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA): It's amazing really. We did show pictures of the crowd swarming in to attack the Capitol police. So we've been open about that crowd. How he can revel in that day is very telling. It was a sad day for America where he tried to overturn the election with this mob, and he's celebrating it. Pretty sad.

ACOSTA: Indeed. And there are reports that at your hearing this week the committee will show video footage captured by some Danish filmmakers of Trump ally Roger Stone calling for violence, telling his associates to claim victory even if Trump lost. Just to remind our viewers of some of that, let's watch a clip of that and then I'll ask you about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, TRUMP ALLY: Excellent. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) the voting, let's get right to the violence. Shoot to kill. See an Antifa, shoot to kill. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) them. I'm done with this bullshit.

Let's just hope we're celebrating. I suspect it will be -- I really do suspect it would still be up in the air. But when that happens, the key thing to do is to claim victory. Possession is nine-tenths of the law. No, we won. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you. Sorry. Over. We won. You're wrong. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Congresswoman, are those clips going to be part of your presentation, do you think?

LOFGREN: Well, I'm not going to preview the hearing, but certainly we will be reinforcing the evidence of ties between extremists and Trump world, the plan which actually began prior to the election for the election to be seized even if it had been lost. You know, honestly, this was a plot that began and was carried out with great intention by Trump world including the president himself, utilizing violent extremists.

ACOSTA: And what did you think -- what's your take on what Roger Stone is captured saying there? Let's get right to the violence.

LOFGREN: Well, it's appalling. I mean, not only is it profane, of course, but it's violent and he's very closely connected with these extremist groups which we know, along with others in Trump world. So this -- you know, we came very close to seeing the democracy thrown overboard. And as the rhetoric and the president is engaging, former president is engaging in, we're not out of the woods.

I mean, the idea that the election was stolen is provably false. Trump's own close associates came to the committee and explained that he knew that it was lost and yet he continues to lie about it for a reason to try and seize power without regard to elections. It's very concerning.

[16:35:03]

ACOSTA: And do you think the public is going to get a fuller sense of the connections between Trump and these associates like Roger Stone and these violent extremist groups? Are we going to have a better sense of all of that at the end of your investigation? Do you have a better sense than what the public has been told, and are we going to learn what you have learned at some point?

LOFGREN: Well, you know, the constraint of the hearing is you've got like two hours. So you can't put -- we've worked all summer gathering additional information. And you can't cram it all into two hours. We're also writing a report and there will be, you know, a more complete information in that report.

There are connections between Trump world and these violent extremists that are known, and we will be providing evidence. We won't know everything, of course. Some people have refused to speak to us or taken the Fifth, showing their consciousness of guilt, but we will have I think information so that reasonable people can reach a sound conclusion.

ACOSTA: And Congresswoman, we now know that some of the documents seized by the FBI during the search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort did pertain to the 2020 election. Is the committee anxious to get to the bottom of that?

LOFGREN: Well, of course but those documents of course have not been shared with us. The Department of Justice is pursuing its own matter just as our committee is on a separate track. But I think ultimately we will find out what was in those documents. And of course, I'm very interested, along with others. I do think that the fact that we were asking for information from the Archives may have led them to the conclusion that not everything had been provided to them.

ACOSTA: And 21 months after the insurrection, we're still hearing from some Republicans spreading distorted accounts of what happened that day. This is Senator Ron Johnson who's running for reelection right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): To call what happened on January 6th an armed insurrection, I just think is not accurate. You saw the pictures inside the Capitol. It saw that day. The armed insurrectionists stayed within the rope lines in the rotunda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Within the rope lines of the rotunda. You know, it's staggering to listen to this. But if some of these candidates who continue to lie about January 6th or about the 2020 election get voted into office a month from now, what does that say about the state of our democracy, and that some of these views may get cemented into this alternate reality that some are living in in this country?

LOFGREN: Well, it's obvious BS. He knows it. He knows it's a lie. I'm sure he's seen the pictures of the rioters coming in and beating and harming our police officers. That wasn't people politely staying within a rope line. It's just ridiculous that he would say that. And he's trying to, you know, his own leader, Mitch McConnell, called it an insurrection right after the riot.

So, you know, lying to the public is not the right thing to do as a public official. He should really be ashamed of himself for comments like that. And how do you face these police officers who really saved our lives, including his life? How do you face them after saying that this was just people staying within the rope lines? It's really -- it's not right.

ACOSTA: And finally, the January 6th investigation has been a lot of work, a lot of hours.

LOFGREN: Yes.

ACOSTA: And I'm wondering on a personal level, do you -- and perhaps some of your fellow committee members, want this to be the last hearing? Would you like to see these hearings continue? There's still plenty of time between now and the next Congress. You could -- you know, you were just saying a few moments ago it's hard to squeeze everything into two hours. Why have it be two hours? Why not have more hearings?

LOFGREN: Well, we could but I'll tell you the work isn't just the hearings. It's the interviews and, of course, you can't be at every interview. Sometimes they're held simultaneously. Reading all the transcripts, it's helping to write the report. It's coming up with recommendations for changes in the law or the procedures. So the hearing is just the tip of the iceberg. There's a lot of work that is not on TV that's not being seen.

And, you know, we're looking forward to getting as complete a job done as we possibly can. I think we've worked not only hard but worked well together.

[16:40:01]

You know, every member of the committee has strong views, and yet we've listened to each other and we've reached consensus. And that's been a good process.

ACOSTA: And just one quick final follow-up to that. You know, we've seen -- you mentioned that we've seen clips of interviews and that sort of thing during these hearings. Do you think the public will ever get a chance to see sort of the unedited, unabridged version of those interviews of the various witnesses that were brought before the committee perhaps at a later stage? Are we going to get everything that the public wants to see in all of these?

LOFGREN: Sure you will. And you'll see that we were very cautious not to use anything that would distort what people were saying. I mean, you can't -- if you have a five-hour interview, you can't run the whole thing, but we wanted to be very, very careful to make sure that what we did show was faithful to the bulk of the testimony that was given.

ACOSTA: But you think the public should be able to see that at some point?

LOFGREN: Sure. Sure.

ACOSTA: Yes. OK. All right, Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, good luck with the hearing later this week. We appreciate the time. Thank you so much.

LOFGREN: Thank you very much. Have a good Sunday.

ACOSTA: All right. You, too. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:22]

ACOSTA: Today top Iranian officials said that anyone arrested during recent protests in that country will not be released. This comes as at least four people were reportedly killed in a protester crackdown in northwestern Iran Saturday. According to one human rights group at least 185 people have died in clashes with security forces. These are people opposed to Iran's clerical leaders and what they call the government's intimidation tactics and corruption.

And CNN's Nada Bashir has the very latest -- Nada.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jim, over the weekend in Iran, we've seen anti-regime protests continuing across the country. But of course in response to these demonstrations there's also continued to be a brutal and deadly crackdown on any signs of dissent. On Saturday alone at least four protesters were killed across the Kurdish cities of Sanandaj and Saqez after security forces opened fire on protesters according to Iranian human rights group Hengaw.

Human rights groups have also detailed the use of excessive and lethal force by Iran's security forces. We're talking about teargas, metal pellets, beatings and even live fire ammunition used against peaceful protesters.

And while CNN can't independently verify death toll claims, the Norway-based Iran human rights organization says it believes at least 185 people have been killed since September including 19 children.

Now, according to Iran's semi-official Fars News Agency, Iran's deputy interior minister for security and law enforcement said Sunday that any protesters arrested would not be released and would be tried in court quickly, adding that their verdicts would be decisive and deterrent.

But in the midst of this continued violence and even restrictions on internet access in parts of the country, we also saw another public show of defiance on Saturday. In a now viral video clip, Iran state broadcaster appears to have been momentarily hacked during its nightly news program. The broadcast was interrupted by an image of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with a target superimposed on his face.

On screen, a clear message, join us and rise up. But what was perhaps most poignant about this interruption was the broadcast of images of four women who have died in Iran over the last month. Mahsa Amini whose death in the custody of Iran's notorious morality police in September has of course sparked this latest uprising as well as Nika Shakarami, Hadis Najafi, and Sarina Esmailzadeh. All of whom died over the nationwide demonstrations.

And while the movement continues to be driven by acts of defiance, by women protesting against the Iranian regime's severe restrictions on women's rights, the movement has also now grown to encompass more wide reaching grievances held by the Iranian people, gaining support and momentum up and down the country -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Nada Bashir, thank you very much.

And Iranian state media we should note did confirm the hack. They blamed it on a corrupt file that made its way into their play out system.

We're going to take a quick break. Be back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:53:15]

ACOSTA: On tonight's brand-new episode of the "THE MURDOCHS: EMPIRE OF INFLUENCE," Rupert Murdoch's eldest son finds himself clashing with his father's most powerful executive at FOX News. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because Lachlan is in charge of the affiliate networks at the time, Ailes needs to go to Lachlan to get his signoff even though Ailes doesn't actually report to Lachlan, and for that matter doesn't have any respect for Lachlan. Lachlan says no, and Ailes can't believe that he's being told no by little Lachlan Murdoch. Ailes goes to revert behind Lachlan's back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rupert tells Ailes, don't worry about the boy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go ahead and do the show. You know, that is the most some stinging rebuke of his own son's authorities, as you can imagine. Don't worry about the boy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those five words make their way across the globe, reaching Lachlan when he's in Sydney. Soon after, Lachlan flies back to L.A. to confront his father.

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ACOSTA: The CNN Original Series "THE MURDOCHS: EMPIRE OF INFLUENCE" airs tonight at 10:00.

And now to this week's CNN Hero.

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DUSTIN LAFONT, FRONT YARD BIKES: Let's go, let's go. Our kids in South Louisiana growing up knowing they have to be resilient from day one.

We could probably get you a whole new stem with a bar that has no grips. Is that what you would like the most? Something like that?

Our mission is to create safe spaces that empower kids to learn about their intrinsic worth as they learn to build a bike.

I want you to take your lever and run it around. All the way. There you go. So now we have to insert your tube next.

[16:55:03]

Our program is really open to any kid, any age to come learn mechanics and build it, earn it. In our space, our students get opportunity to see themselves as creators, designers, dreamers. It starts to build on this thought of affirming who they are. That

they're a wonderful person, that they're a person that makes the world better. That they are beautiful.

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ACOSTA: And for the full story, go to CNNheroes.com. Time for me to pedal off into my weekend. That's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you back here next Saturday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Pamela Brown takes over the CNN NEWSROOM live after a quick break. Have a good night.

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