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Death Toll Rises To 146 In South Korean Capital's Halloween Incident; Suspect Was Looking For Speaker Nancy Pelosi Before Attacking Her Husband; Interview With Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) Interview With Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey; Obama Reacts To Pelosi Attack, Calls Out "Dangerous Rhetoric". Aired 4-5p ET

Aired October 29, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:39]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. And we are following breaking news out of South Korea. A horrific chain of events and a fast rising death toll in Seoul. Right now at least 146 people are confirmed dead.

This happened at a Halloween festival. And I want to show you some of the scene. We have to warn you, though, the video you're about to watch is graphic. It is a horrifically chaotic scene on the streets of Seoul, South Korea tonight as people perform CPR on others on the ground where they fell. The fire department chief there saying the cause is presumed to be a huge uncontrollable crush of people.

We still do not know what led to that crush of people. But the White House, at this hour, is now weighing in. National Security adviser Jake Sullivan wrote, "The reports out of Seoul are heartbreaking. We are thinking about all those who lost loved one and hoping for a quick recovery for those injured. The United States stands ready to provide the Republic of Korea with any support it needs."

Let's get right to CNN's Will Ripley who has been up all night covering this. He is right there on the scene for us as he has been all afternoon here in the United States.

Will, you've been speaking to witnesses. What more are you learning about what happened?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, Jim, the number of people and families affected by this just continues to grow. When you're talking about 146 people at least killed, that's a death toll that has almost tripled since we arrived here on the scene a number of hours ago. And these are not necessarily just locals. These are foreign students. These are young people, mostly, late teens, early 20s.

And I spoke with a witness who says that he was here with his friends who were American service members. So there are more than 30,000 U.S. troops stationed here in South Korea and Halloween is a popular day to take off, take leave and come here to Itaewon, the nightclub district in Seoul, that is always packed on Halloween. And yet this year, the first year post-COVID restrictions where there's no limit on crowd size, it was especially packed.

And I want to show you just this massive, massive police, firefighters, law enforcement presence out here. You're now up to more than 1700 people who are on the scene investigating because they have two really, really urgent tasks. One is happening at hospitals throughout the area and morgues where they're trying to identify these people, and let the families know because there are so many families that have not been able to get ahold of these young people who were out celebrating on Halloween night.

I mean, the hotels are fully booked. People have been coming in, even flying in from around the region to come here to Itaewon to celebrate. But a lot of people don't know if their loved ones are OK, if their friends, if their children, if their family members are OK. And so identifying the victims, notifying families, but also starting to look very closely at the cause because one thing that people keep telling me repeatedly out here is that yes, it was crowded, but I talked to one person who's lived here for 10 years who said it's crowded every Halloween. Why this Halloween?

Is it possible for me just to show our viewers here? Thank you. Can we just show them the streets, sir? Is that possible? Thank you. Thank you. We just want to show people how narrow this street is.

Charlie, just get up here, right up here to the green tape here. So this is the street where it happened. OK. And you can see, Jim, just how narrow it was. And if we pull up the pictures that was given to me by one of the young men, a 22-year-old who was actually, you know, partying here, it was full of thousands and thousands of people.

And OK, we'll step right back here. Thank you so much. And he actually described for me what it felt like when all of these people were so packed together. And this was about an hour or two before the incident. So listen to how he described it. He said it was very scary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SONG SEHYUN, WITNESS: I saw the people, like, going to the left side. And I actually saw the person actually get into the opposite side. So actually the person in the middle they got jammed and they have, like, you know, no way to communicate. And they're like, you know, they cannot breathe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: But why did the crowd then start to panic? Why were people piled on top of each other? Police said that some people -- you know, literally it was almost like a small mountain of people and the people who fell down and were crushed underneath, people who suffered cardiac arrest.

[16:05:09]

But why? Why so many deaths from cardiac arrest and why did it happen this particular Halloween? That's the big burning unanswered question right now, Jim. ACOSTA: All right. Will Ripley, and we can note that you're there at

5:00 in the morning in Seoul, South Korea. And law enforcement presence there, the first responders who are on the scene, it's just remarkable what's going on there.

Will, thanks so much for that great work. We really appreciate it.

Our other top story this hour, doctors are expecting the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to make a full recovery after an intruder attacked him with a hammer inside Pelosi's San Francisco home. Sources tell us the suspect, David DePape, shouted where is Nancy before trying to tie up Paul Pelosi.

CNN's Josh Campbell joins me now.

Josh, I mean, when you hear that the suspect was shouting where is Nancy, inside the Pelosi home, it's just terrifying and it leads one to wonder. And I'm sure law enforcement officials have been agonizing over this question is, what if the speaker had been there at time? It's just unspeakable what happened there.

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And it shows that it's not theoretical when officials warned that all of this political rhetoric, this heated rhetoric we've been talking about for so long could lead to actual violence. It appears in this case that this suspect believed in a bunch of conspiracy theories at least according to a social media online presence that we found where he's posting memes and postings about election fraud, denying the results of the 2020 election, talking about COVID vaccines and conspiracy theories about the January 6th insurrection.

This appears to be someone again who's not just on the receiving end of that vitriol but was predisposed to act with violence. And what we're told is yesterday morning in the early hours here in San Francisco, this suspect, 42-year-old David DePape entered the rear of the Pelosi residence and encountered Mr. Pelosi. The speaker was not here at the time. There was an altercation. The husband, Paul Pelosi, of the speaker, he was brutally assaulted during this accident and was eventually taken to the hospital.

We learned last night new details about why the police were brought here to begin with. That's according to our colleagues John Miller and Jamie Gangel, reporting that during this altercation, Paul Pelosi was able to dial 911 and left his phone open. He was speaking in code and it was an adept dispatcher who actually heard the altercation, realized something was wrong. She sent the police here. They ultimately were able to tackle that suspect and take him into custody.

Jim, he now faces multiple charges including attempted homicide and assault.

ACOSTA: All right. Josh Campbell, thank you very much. We appreciate it.

Let's talk about the criminal proceedings now under way in this case. CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig is with us now. Elie, just a terrifying event that happened there at the home of the

speaker of the House. Walk us through the charges that the suspect, David DePape, now faces.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, truly a terrifying event, Jim. So this suspect is being held currently by California state authorities. He's currently being held on a litany of crimes including burglary, assault, trespass and battery. And most important, as Josh said, he's being held on charges of attempted homicide which tells you that police and prosecutors believe the intent here was not just to attack, not just to injure, but an attempt to actually kill. And we'll see what degree this is.

The suspect is going to be arraigned in California court on Tuesday. If the police can establish, if prosecutors can establish that this was deliberate and premeditated then it should be a first-degree attempted homicide which means he'll face potential of life in prison. I thought it was notable that the police chief went out of his way to say at the press conference that in their view this was intentional. To me, that suggests that we will see those most serious charges here.

ACOSTA: And what about federal charges?

HONIG: Yes, so federal authorities, the United States Department of Justice can charge this case as well as the state. That's actually not a double jeopardy problem. You can have both state and federal charges for the same conduct. We saw that for example in the killing of George Floyd. Those police officers were charged both in the state of Minnesota and federally.

It is a federal crime to assault or certainly to kill or attempt to kill either a public federal official or a family member of a public federal official so long as prosecutors can show that the reason, the motive had something to do with that public official's performance of their public duties. And so that's why the evidence here that we've heard of this individual calling where is Nancy, and that kind of thing is going to be so important because if the authorities can tie this attack to Nancy Pelosi's role as speaker, to her work as a member of the House of Representatives, then you will have federal charges of attempted member of a family member of a federal official.

ACOSTA: And are there any equivalent cases that we can draw any lessons from on how this investigation -- that might tell us how this investigation might play out?

[16:10:03]

HONIG: Well, Jim, I think it's impossible to ignore that just this week alone, in addition to this horrific attack on the speaker's husband, we saw a case where an individual pled guilty to making threats to Eric Swalwell, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, who I think is coming up soon in the show so he'll talk about that case.

And we saw three people convicted of conspiring to kidnap the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmir. So that's just in the last three or four days, those things have happened, those cases have come to fruition, Jim. So it's a trend, it's a disturbing trend as Josh said, and I think it's just something that's impossible to ignore in the bigger picture.

ACOSTA: All right. Elie Honig, great to have your insights on this. Thank you very much.

HONIG: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: As Elie was just talking about this, let's get the view from inside Congress now from someone who knows exactly what it's like to be targeted. And in fact there's been a major development in the case of a man who threatened him and his staff, Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California, he joins us now.

Congressman, thanks very much for joining us. And my apologies that this is what we're going to have to talk about here rather than all of the other various issues that the voters are looking at heading into the election. But as you know, and our viewers may not, a Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to one count Friday after the Justice Department says he threatened to kill at least three staffers and a, quote, "beat the S-H-I-T out of the congressman," referring to you, of course. And that he had several AR-15s. He could spend five years in prison.

What's your reaction to this plea and this overall threat environment that is -- just seems out of control right now?

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): Thanks, Jim. And as you alluded to, this is, you know, one of many threats. In fact, you know, if you had reached out to me, you know, to ask, you know, which threat this was, and frankly, I told you I was going to have to look it up because we get dozens of voice mail threats, threatening to kill me, my family or my staff each week. And so when we heard about a plea, like that's great. But this is just kind of a drop in the bucket for what's out there.

So I'm grateful to the FBI, the DOJ and the Yonkers Police Department. My staff is grateful as well. But we're seeing political rhetoric, violent political rhetoric, is on the rise and we're a country of unrestricted weaponry. And that's makes this just so volatile and combustible.

But, Jim, what really frustrates me is that leadership has -- lack of leadership has consequences and inaction has consequences. And when I see my Republican colleagues fail to condemn the political violence that's out there or in many ways like Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert glorify it, it inspires others and it gives them a permissive lane or a green light, if you will, to believe that it's OK to do this.

ACOSTA: And what can be done about that?

SWALWELL: Well, certainly, you know, funding the Department of Homeland Security and local law enforcement to protect, you know, these critical, you know, voter integrity sites. SO make sure ballot box, drop off sites are protected. Make sure that poll workers are protected and make sure that we have the resources to protect, you know, the staff and, you know, our lawmakers. We try to extend and increase funding for Capitol police.

We passed it in the House. The Senate did not pass it. And again it was politicized. And so, we have to, you know, double down on the intelligence side of what we know but also giving law enforcement the resources to make sure that our elections are always decided and not by violence, but by voting.

ACOSTA: And this is not your first experience with violent threats. I mean, you were just alluding to this a few moments ago and explaining that this is happening way too much. Let's play some audio of a threat you received from someone else last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You people are a disgrace to God, our country, and our people. You're the enemies of the United States people. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). You atheist, communist (EXPLETIVE DELETED) are the threats to our democracy, our Constitution and our way of life. And as for these invaders that you're letting in this country, I hope they chop you and your family up and feed them to their dogs, you pig. You (EXPLETIVE DELETED). And there's your free speech for today, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). From Trump nation. Write it down you little (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Trump nation, baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And Congressman, you and others get these violent, evil voicemails and yet you keep doing the work that you do. But I have to wonder when you look at what -- you dissect what that person said in that voicemail, for example, referring to you as the enemy of the people. We've heard that kind of language used before, talking about foreign invaders. We've heard that kind of language before by the former president of the United States.

How do you see the connection between the rhetoric that is used by people like Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene and the others, and these kinds of threats that are coming into your voice mail, coming into the voice mails of your colleagues?

[16:15:01]

SWALWELL: There's a straight line from what Donald Trump, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert say and what we find on the Facebook, Instagram, Twitter feeds of the people making the threat.

Jim, most Americans, if you don't work in politics, your Facebook page has pictures of your family, your favorite sports teams, maybe, you know, hunting with your kids, your pets. You know, things you do in your life that you love and enjoy. But for these people that making threats, their Facebook pages look exactly like Marjorie Taylor Greene's Facebook page or Donald Trump's Facebook page.

And that's the problem is that they adopt what they hear from leaders in the Republican Party and because it's not condemned by other leaders like Kevin McCarthy, they go out and they carry out the rhetoric in a violent way that they are hearing. And that's really the problem. The only antidote to this is unity among the Democrats and Republicans at the highest levels to say that this is not acceptable. And again when we decide which side wins in America, it is not by a bayonet, it's at the ballot box.

ACOSTA: And your Republican colleague, Adam Kinzinger, told CNN on Friday that he went to the U.S. Capitol Police seeking more protection after he got a threat against his young child, and he was essentially told get in line. As you know, the protection doesn't cover the family when the lawmaker is not with them. What can be done about that?

SWALWELL: Yes. We need more resources to protect family members because also, Jim, it's not just the family members who are on the X or the staffer, you know, working on the X, meaning that they're stationary. You know, the members are often traveling, they're in their districts, they're on campaign stops, they're overseas, you know, on congressional delegation trips. The family members are stationary. The staff members, you know, work at the Capitol so they're most likely, you know, to be the victims of one of these threats.

But we don't have the funding and the resources right now. And Republicans have blocked our efforts, you know, to protect family members. And so I share the frustration that Adam has because we've been told the same thing that we acknowledge that you have a high level of threats. We just don't have the resources to protect you. And frankly, the number of people in the last two days who have texted me, you know, different, you know, firearms that I should buy to protect my family is just disturbing because that is a deterrent to people wanting to go into public service is if you think that you have to arm yourself to the teeth or have public security.

One other part of this, Jim, my staff, my chief of staff told me today that she spends up to 10 hours every week, in her work week, just dealing with the FBI and the Capitol Police about the threats coming into our office. So it's actually affecting our ability to serve our constituents. And so it's just -- it's dizzying. It's time for it to end and it's not going to end until you see Republican leaders say enough is enough.

ACOSTA: And just a quick follow up on that, Congressman Swalwell, my understanding is, is that because of the concern that members of Congress can't get enough protection for themselves and their families that they're having to go out and hire private security. And that's happening more and more.

SWALWELL: Hundreds of thousands -- Yes. Jim, hundreds of thousands of dollars is what we had to spend out of our campaign fund because the House won't cover security costs. And so again, your supporters are supporting your effort, you know, to win your own election or help, you know, others win elections and instead you're having to dip into that because the House won't pay for personal security.

So, again, it's almost as if you can threaten somebody and then for them to protect themselves, it reduces their ability to make their case for their own re-election because they're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars just like Kinzinger, just like Liz Cheney and others have to do for their own personal security.

ACOSTA: All right. Congressman Eric Swalwell, thanks very much for joining us. And, you know, sorry that we have to delve into this very touching subject of security.

SWALWELL: No, I'm pissed, Jim. Sorry to be so fired up about this.

ACOSTA: No, we appreciate it. Thanks for your time. Thank you, Congressman.

Coming up, it's the final push, the midterms are inching closer and critical races are tightening as control of Congress hangs in the balance. We'll discuss with Democrat Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. There he is. The senator joins us, next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:32]

ACOSTA: Welcome back. We want to tell our viewers just in the last few minutes, President Biden, he voted in Delaware and after doing so spoke with reporters about the attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to make a brief statement about Nancy and Paul Pelosi. You know, talked to them. He seems to be doing a lot better. Looks like he's going to recover fully. And -- but also, don't know for certain but it looks like this was intended for Nancy. Kept asking where's Nancy? Where's Nancy? And the generic point I want to make is that, you know, it's one thing to condemn the violence but you can't condemn the violence unless you condemn those people who continue to argue the election was not real, that it's being stolen.

All the malarky that's being put out there to undermine democracy. You can't just apologize and say the violence. It affects people's mentality. It affects how people think. Particularly people who are not maybe as stable as other people. So the talk has to stop. That's the problem. That's the problem. You can't just say I feel badly about the violence. We condemn it. Condemn what produces the violence. And this talk that produces the violence. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE).

[16:25:06]

BIDEN: You know, I was down watching her game down at school. And I didn't hear about it until on the way in the car. I've known nothing about it except that -- South Korea, correct?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: 126 people were killed in a stampede. (INAUDIBLE).

BIDEN: I will make a statement when I find out more about it. But I just literally heard about it from staff on the way down in the car.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: How are you feeling about the (INAUDIBLE) to go, and how are you feeling about decided where to go, where not to go down the stretch?

BIDEN: Yes. I'm feeling good. I mean, I've been into I guess now 36 constituencies? Either campaigning for specific candidate or going with the candidate who is doing some like out at the bridge in Pittsburgh. And I'm going to be going to the remainder of the week. I'm going to be engaged, I'm going to be back in Pennsylvania. I'm going to be in Maryland. I'm going to be I believe in Mexico, California.

I'm going to be all around the country. My wife, Jill, is up in New Hampshire right now. So I'm going to be spending the rest of the time making the case that this is not a referendum. It's a choice. A fundamental choice. A choice between two very different visions for the country. And that's what it's about.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, do you have any reaction to the Russian (INAUDIBLE).

BIDEN: Yes, I do. It's just purely outrageous. There's been increased starvation. There's no reason for them to do that. And -- but they're always looking for something rationale to be able to say the reason they're doing something outrageous is because the West made them do it. And it's just not, there's no merit to what they're doing. The U.N. negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You were with Fetterman yesterday. Are you confident about his (INAUDIBLE) the way it looks there?

BIDEN: Yes. I thought he was really good. I thought he knew what he was doing. I thought he was strong. Now, look, Fetterman is Pennsylvania. Fetterman is everything that he appears to be. You know where he stands. He has great courage. He has no reluctance to say what he thinks. He's my kind of guy. And I think he's going to be fine. He's just getting better and better. He had a stroke. He's recovering.

Thank you all very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, press. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: All right. There you have it. President Biden in Wilmington, Delaware. He just voted a few moments ago. Voted early. We have some video of that to show you as well. But he was just making the comments to reporters that -- I guess a few headlines here. One of them being that he continues to support Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman there in Pennsylvania who is running for that open Senate seat. Noted that Fetterman suffered a stroke but is getting better and better.

But the president also made some comments at the top of that video that you just watched talking about the violence out in San Francisco in the home of the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi where her husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked by an intruder wielding a hammer. The president making the point that this -- what he called malarky in our country over the disputed 2020 elections results, people not giving up on the big lie about those election results is contributing to this climate.

This climate of heightened rhetoric, overheated rhetoric, and so on. And the president making those comments just a few moments ago to reporters. We're going to pick up on that note in just a few moments. We have Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania who is also supporting Fetterman in that hotly contested race. We'll talk to the senator in just a few moments. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:10]

ACOSTA: We're just 10 days away from the midterm election with early voting already under way in many states. Candidates are bringing out some big stars in the final stretch.

In Pennsylvania, President Joe Biden making rare campaign appearance. He was there with Vice President Kamala Harris. There were there to stump for Democrats in key races, including Senate candidate, John Fetterman, who is in a very tight race against Republican charger, Mehmet Oz.

Joining me now to talk about this is Democratic Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey.

Senator Casey, great to have you on. Thanks so much.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Let me play a clip from Fetterman's rally yesterday and get you to respond to it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA) & U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FOR PENNSYLVANIA: It's so much nicer to spend a night with you all than it was with Dr. Oz.

During the debate, we knew it wasn't going to be easy, certainly after five weeks -- actually, five months after having a stroke.

But after that stroke, I got knocked down but I had to get back up.

I'll be much better in January, but he will still be a fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Fetterman was referring to Tuesday's first and only debate between him and Oz.

We heard the president just a few moments ago. Senator, we were playing that video. The president was making the case that Fetterman is getting better and better. He appears to be getting better and better. He sounded fine there.

What is your assessment of the lieutenant governor's ability to serve?

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Jim, I've known John for a good while. I've seen the progress he's made since his stroke.

I know two things about this race. I know John and the progress he's made and I know Pennsylvania pretty well. And John is ready to serve right now, right now, in terms of his ability.

But I do think his health will progress even more over next couple of months. So I believe he's going to win the race. And when he's taken the oath of office, his health will have progressed even more up to that point in time.

[16:35:07]

But I thought he showed a lot of courage the other night.

And in so many ways, this story of John Fetterman literally getting knocked down by a stroke, as anyone who knows that knows or any other health challenge.

This is Pennsylvania story. People are used to getting knocked down by losing a job or losing something in their life and getting back up and doing the difficult work and achieving so much.

I think people identify with his story. They understand what he's up against, just like he's understood what they have been up against.

And he has a very strong connection to the voters. I think that's why you have all of this corporate money, this ocean of corporate money coming in to knock him down. They haven't knocked him down. He's going to win.

ACOSTA: Staying on the debate, Mehmet Oz made this comment on abortion rights. And the Fetterman campaign has seized on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEHMET OZ, (R), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FOR PENNSYLVANIA: As a physician, I've been in the room when there's some difficult conversations happening. I don't want the federal government involved with that at all.

I want women, doctors, local, political leaders leading the democracy that allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What did you think when you heard that, Senator?

CASEY: I think a lot of people in our state are disturbed by that statement.

Look, politicians have jobs to do but this isn't one of them, to be directly involved in that decision.

Unfortunately, it was a pattern in this debate where John Fetterman was addressing issues directly.

They were asked a simple question, yes or no to raising minimum wage to $15. John Fetterman was a yes and he gave his reasons why. The other side went around and around the mulberry bush and you never heard the response to that.

John Fetterman was very clear about Roe v. Wade. He supports it. You heard a lot of talk from the other side.

The third issue I thought that stood out as well was the issue of crime and gun violence.

Both candidates were asked, where do you stand on the bill passed this summer? The first time the NRA was defeated in the United States Senate in 25 years.

John Fetterman said he would have supported the bill. The other guy talked about around it and basically said he wouldn't support the most commonsense set of gun measures that even conservative Republicans supported.

But if you are in the pocket of the gun lobby, I guess you don't support it.

So John was very direct and I think people noticed that.

ACOSTA: Senator, you've been very successful running for office in Pennsylvania.

I have to ask you, do you think the Democratic Party has done an effective job, been aggressive enough on the issue of crime, outlining what can be done to reduce crime, targeting rising crime in America's cities and so on?

CASEY: Jim, I'm not going to comment on the party. But I'll tell you what the difference is in this race. John Fetterman is going to be supporting in the United States Senate the kind of legislation that I've supported. Like supporting the COPS Program.

We have a vote in March of this year. It went by everybody but here are the facts.

We have voted in the House and the Senate this year on the COPS Program, on the Burn Justice Assistance Grant, on Homeland Security, border security, all in the spending bill.

More than three-quarters of Republicans voted against it. They voted against the COPS Program. John Fetterman will vote for it.

And his record as a mayor -- the reason he ran for public office was to help the crime problems in his home city of Braddock and to work with the police. They reduced the loss of life through gun violence over the course of five years.

So he's got a record on fighting against crime. He's a Democrat who will support these bills.

Based upon the votes this year of the Republican Party, they are the party of crime in Washington. Based upon their votes. Let them explain why they voted against the COPS Program, $512 million.

Why did Republicans vote against $675 million that goes to courts and prosecutors to fight crime? They have no answer for them. I think we should emphasize that as people go to vote.

ACOSTA: All right, Senator Bob Casey, thanks so much for the time.

If any of your Republican colleagues would like to come on and take on the questions, we're happy to have them on.

Thanks so much. We appreciate it.

CASEY: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: And coming up, you're looking live at a crowd right now getting ready for former President Barack Obama in the battleground state of Wisconsin.

Just hours ago, on this show, he was in Michigan. He was in Detroit, talking about the situation that happened out in San Francisco where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband was attacked.

We'll see if the former president talks about that in a few moments. We'll have that live for your next.

[16:40:01]

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: A busy Saturday for former President Barack Obama as he hits the campaign trail to stump for Democrats in key battleground states. You're looking at live pictures right now of where Obama is set to speak at any moment in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

It will be Obama's second stop of the day. He took the stage just hours ago in Detroit, Michigan, and spoke about the attack on Paul Pelosi and the threats posed by the current political climate.

Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to take a moment to say a prayer for a friend of mine, Mr. Paul Pelosi --

(CHEERING)

OBAMA: -- who was attacked --

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: -- 82 years old, was attacked when somebody broke into his home looking for his wife, Nancy.

(CROSSTALK

And thankfully, doctors believe he's going to be OK. But we'll let the investigators do their job.

[16:45:00]

But here is one thing we can feel, we know. If our rhetoric about each other gets that mean --

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: -- when we don't just disagree with people but we start demonizing them, making wild, crazy allegations about them, that creates a dangerous climate.

(CROSSTALK)

OBAMA: And if elected officials don't do more to explicitly reject that kind of rhetoric, if they tacitly support it or encourage their supporters to stand up outside voting places armed with guns and dressed in tactical gear, more people can get hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Former President Barack Obama on the campaign trail in Michigan earlier today.

Coming up, a strange phone call sets a CNN reporter off to a baffling mystery involving death, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Was James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, murdered? The host and reporter of a new podcast joins me next.

Plus, join Stanley Tucci as he explores the fabled Italian Riviera. The land is rugged. The people are inventive. And the dud is unique and sophisticated. It's great stuff, as always with Stanley Tucci.

Don't miss an all-new episode of "STANLEY TUCCI, SEARCHING FOR ITALY." That's tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

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[16:51:13]

ACOSTA: A strange phone call has tipped off a CNN reporter to a baffling mystery involving death, drugs and rock n roll. In a new CNN podcast, "THE JAMES BROWN MYSTERY," Reporter Thomas Lake

takes listeners on a journey in the inner work of the Godfather of Soul as his investigation leads to some shocking discoveries as he tries to answer the question: Was James Brown murdered?

Here's a preview.

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THOMAS LAKE, CNN DIGITAL SENIOR WRITER & CNN PODCAST HOST, "THE JAMES BROWN MYSTERY" (voice-over): You probably know James Brown was one of the most famous musicians. He died about 15 years ago in a hospital in Atlanta.

UNIDENTIFIED CNN ANCHOR: The cause was heart failure.

LAKE: At least that's the way I thought his death went down, until one day I got a phone call.

JACQUE HOLLANDER, FORMER CIRCUS SINGER (VO): I said, look, I know you're probably going to think I'm crazy.

LAKE: From a circus singer who said she could prove that James Brown was murdered and that Brown's third wife, Adrienne, was murdered.

HOLLANDER: I'm going to ask that you not hang up on me.

LAKE: This call sent me down a deep rabbit hole and led me to places I never imagined in my wildest dreams.

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ACOSTA: Joining us now is CNN reporter, Thomas Lake. He's the host of the new CNN podcast "THE JAMES BROWN MYSTERY."

Thomas, I was asking my producers about this. I had no idea this was a thing. This was something that had not been pondered or considered before.

Tell us more about this strange phone call that started you on this story five years ago.

LAKE: In 2017, I was at any desk at CNN Center when the phone at the desk rang. On the phone was this woman who said not only should James Brown's death be investigating, he was murdered, but she had evidence that could possibly prove it.

It came from an unlikely source. This woman was, at the time, the singer, the main featured singer for the Carson and Barnes Traveling Circus.

My first question is, how could she possibly know this? I was a little bit skeptical at first. I thought, this is so unusual, so out there. Could it possibly be true?

So I kind of put her off for a while. She kept calling, texting. Finally, my editor said maybe go see what she has.

So months later, I did. It turned out she did have quite a lot of evidence. As wild as her claims sounded to begin with, I was able to find corroboration for many of them.

ACOSTA: It all sounds really hard to believe. But what made you decide to move forward with the investigation and where has that led you?

LAKE: Yes, great question. There were a couple of things early on. One, she told me that the doctor who signed James Brown death certificate told her he still had questions about the way Brown died even decade after Brown's death.

I found this doctor in Atlanta. He agreed not only to speak with me -- I sat down to speak with this doctor, Marvin Crawford. But Crawford told me he always had questions about Brown's death.

He wondered whether Brown died of natural causes. He wanted an autopsy from the beginning.

It was a pretty stunning claim from a medical provider who treated Brown. That was one of the early indicators that something was very wrong here.

Another thing that happened was Jacque, the circus singer, she had been friends with James Brown's third wife, Adrienne. And she always suspected that Adrienne was murdered.

And she suggested I call this retired detective who worked on the case. So I did. I called this guy, Steve Miller. At that point, he digs out something from a box in his closet, this notebook from a reliable, confidential informant.

[16:55:05]

And now, for the first time, he finished reading the notebook that this informant had left the detective before the informant died.

For the first time, in 2017, the detective finished reading the notebook and it said a medical doctor had confessed to murdering Adrienne Brown while she lay in her recovery room in California in 1996.

At this point, I said there's something very strange here. This needs further investigation.

ACOSTA: Yes, very strange, indeed.

All right, Thomas Lake, we'll be listening to this. Thank you very much. Very compelling stuff.

Be sure to check it out. "THE JAMES BROWN MYSTERY," available now wherever you get your podcasts.

That's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you back here at 3:00 p.m. Eastern. Pamela Brown takes over the NEWSROOM live after a quick break.

Have a good night, everybody.

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