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Dems One Seat Away from Senate Control as Nevada Race Remains Tight; Mid-Air Collision at Dallas Airshow; What Happened to the Red Wave. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired November 12, 2022 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:07]

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

Right now, all eyes are on Nevada and the senate race between Democratic incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and her GOP rival Adam Laxalt.

Just 862 votes -- 862 votes separate the two, Laxalt is in the lead for now. But there are still votes left to count that could come in at any moment.

This is why Nevada is so crucial. The balance of power in the Senate right now is tied at 49 each. If Democrats can keep Nevada, they control the Senate.

Next door in Arizona, a big win for Democrats last night with Senator Mark Kelly holding on to his seat against the challenge from the Trump-backed Republican contender Blake Masters.

Over in the house, Republicans are just seven seats away from taking the majority there. The Democrats are still in the hunt.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Nevada for us.

Rosa, election officials and Clark County have a massive task on their hands. And they are trying to get through all of this. They said that they'll have a release of a new count later on tonight. Everybody is going to be waiting on pins and needles to get that information.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You're absolutely right. And today is deadline day for mail-in ballots in the state of Nevada. And what that means is by law, all mail-in ballots that were postmarked on election day, that were received by registrars across the state, by 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time today must be counted. That is by law.

Here in Clark County where I am, officials say that they've received 268 ballots so far, and they plan to go to the post office at 5:00 p.m., Pacific Time to make sure that every ballot is counted. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE GLORIA, CLARK COUNTY, NV REGISTRAR OF VOTERS: We are taking ballots in that we're required to take in according to the law. There's no way that we could find ballots. They are brought here by the United States Postal Service. As long as it is postmarked, we process those ballots and put them into count.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FLORES: Now, here's a quick state of play of the ballots that are remaining. There are about 50,000 ballots across the state. And here's a quick breakdown. There's about 1,000 in the GOP stronghold county of Douglas. Then, there is about 12,000 in the swing county of Washoe. Results there are expected to be posted at 8:00 p.m. Pacific, 11:00 Eastern. Now, that is home to reno.

And then there is about 34,000 ballots here in Clark County. Here's is a breakdown of that. 22,000 are mail-in ballots, and also election day drop off ballots. Then, there's 7,000 ballots that's still need to be cured (ph). The deadline for that is Monday. And there's another, more than 5,000 provisional ballots and that deadline for that is Wednesday.

And I should add, Jim, that Clark County officials have said that they plan to stay, working here in the building that you see behind me. There's hundreds of people that are counting ballots. They plan to stay here through the afternoon, through the evening, until they finish counting those 22,000 ballots.

After that is when we are expected for those tallies to be posted, Jim.

ACOSTA: And we thank them for all the work that they're doing. It's so important to our democracy. Rosa Flores, thank you so much.

With me now is historian Jon Meacham. He's the author of the new book, "And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle". He is also an former adviser on occasion to President Biden.

Jon, great to see you. Thanks so much. It's such an honor to have you on with us this afternoon. And I'm just curious, you wrote this last weekend, shortly, before the midterm election. You wrote this, "Usually, a vote is about a policy, tax, tax raise or immigration reform. This year's vote is about more than that. It's about whether elected Republican officials will obey the law, fairly count the votes in 2024, and obey the will of the people."

What is your reaction, as we sit here this weekend, and you have good American citizens sitting in election offices in Nevada and Arizona, just doing the work of ensuring that that votes are counted, they are tabulated correctly, that the accurate counts are getting out to the American people and this is how it's supposed to work.

It's kind of comforting to see, you know, all this hold up over the last week or so, despite everything that's happened in this country. JON MEACHAM, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Yes, comforting is the right

word, reassuring, and also, always a reminder how important this is, as Wellington said of Waterloo, it's the damnedest closed run thing you ever saw in your life.

[17:04:39]

MEACHAM: And so one of the things we always have to remember is that in a democracy, we have to win battles, and the war goes on. And the war is, metaphorically speaking, the war is keeping a system where we can preserve the rule of law, we can preserve the capacity to give as well as to take.

And democracy is very counterintuitive (ph), right? We are basically built to take what we want, to secure our own selves, our own destinies, when in fact what a democracy does is it creates a capacity for us to have that opportunity by recognizing, by recognizing that your equality and dignity are worth protecting, you are more likely to recognize that mine is. If I recognize that your vote counts, you are more likely to recognize that my vote counts.

And so I feel a lot better, about the future, the present and the future of American democracy on this Saturday than I did last Saturday.

ACOSTA: Were you surprised at all by the results? You see, election deniers running for secretary of state, for example, in key battleground states, being unsuccessful? You're are seeing candidates like Mehmet Oz, Lee Zeldin in the New York governor's race, Tudor Dixon in Michigan's governor race, they conceded.

Yes, they were Trump-backed candidates. They had hard-fought races but they ultimately conceded, unlike the former president.

And I want to play what Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan said when he lost his election for senate seat in Ohio to J.D. Vance. Let's play that really fast and I'll get your reaction.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM RYAN (D-OH): I have the privilege to concede this race to J.D. Vance, because the way this country operates is that when you lose on election, you concede.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Not everybody is doing this, but out in Arizona right now, it doesn't seem to be happening just yet with Blake Masters. But candidates conceding gracefully and showing class after everything that we've been through, it's almost like a bomb on the country. What do you think? Did this surprise you?

MEACHAM: I think that's right. I think, you know, one of my arguments about American history and American reality is that there was never a once upon a time, and there's never going to be a happily ever after, because this is a human undertaking. It has to do with our habits (ph) of heart and mind. It has to do with human frailty and our fallen (ph) natures, and just trying to get just enough right.

But that's what America is at its best, right? It's that just enough of us do the right thing, just enough of the time, that we keep this experiment and the journey toward a more perfect union going.

And I think what was so unsettling, and you were at a front row seat over the last five years or so was this notion that perhaps just enough of us weren't going to show up anymore. And that appetite and ambition, the appetite and ambitions of one interest, one party, one person were going to triumph over what American politics ought to be, which is an attempt to win elections, create solutions to given problems, for a given period of time. And then doing it all again.

That's what politics is. It can't be total war every afternoon. It can't be total war by tweet. It can't be total war by election. It has to be a mediation of differences.

And I think President Biden's victory in 2020 was the first great act in this drama of trying to create a longer lease on life for this experiment. And I think in many ways, 2022 will stand as a really important midterm election, as important, really, as any I can think of.

You know, heck, Abraham Lincoln lost functional control of the House of Representatives in the middle of the Civil War. Presidents and incumbent parties usually get clobbered to some degree or another.

ACOSTA: Right.

MEACHAM: And interestingly, President Biden here has defied history. And what it really is though, and I don't want to say this in a partisan way, I'm not a partisan. As you said, President Biden is my friend. I help him when I can. But I help him, and I believe in what he is trying to do, because he believes in this constitutional experiment.

And you can disagree about his views on taxes or climate, or whatever you want to disagree about. That's fine. That's what we're supposed to do, to use the phrase you used a minute ago.

ACOSTA: Right.

[17:09:43]

MEACHAM: But you can't argue about the functional reality of the rule of law. And the rule of law, I think, was on the ballot last week. And I think it won. And that doesn't mean we can take it for granted.

But let's be honest, we'd be having a very different -- a tonally different conversation if these deniers had won.

They lost, American democracy won. And let's get back to arguing about marginal tax rates and climate and not arguing about reality itself.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, that would be music to my ears. I mean, that was my great fear over the last four or five years, Jon, and that's why I'm such a big fan of your work is that it just felt like things were coming unglued and coming apart at the seams. We are just getting to a point where we're not even respecting -- not just respecting facts and truth and that sort of thing, but elections.

You know, we are going from the alternative of facts to the alternative election results. I think it was what was happening back in 2020. And this time -- and to your point about President Biden, I want to ask you about this, because you were just alluding to this. Historically, as you were saying, you know, presidents struggle.

The party in power struggles during a midterm, and President Biden's approval rating was in the 40s, the economy was getting low marks from voters. People could look at the high gas prices down the street, and yet, he was -- President Biden was able to buck all of that. Democrats were able to buck all of that. Why do you think that occurred?

MEACHAM: I think that the argument about democracy, which I believe in fervently, was this positive (ph), if not -- I'm not sure how many people were voting solely on democracy, but it was part of a matrix of concerns. It is really hard in the American experience, if you think about it, to take away someone's right.

Our story is about the expansion of rights. It is about widening the mainstream. It is about increasing individual autonomy, so that we will fulfill the Declaration of Independence that we all are created equal, right?

I mean if you think about civil rights, women's rights, workers' rights. that's the story of the country. And in our best moments have been moments, where we have expanded the capacity of people to determine their own destinies within the constitutional structure, as opposed to limiting them.

And I think when the Supreme Court overturned Roe versus Wade, and said in the opinion, it could be a political issue. Well, you know what? We have something of a verdict on that now, don't we?

ACOSTA: Right.

MEACHAM: Not just, it's been around the country. And what the election denial is about is taking away our right to choose our leaders. And so, people, Americans, don't like it. And they don't even recognize it at a conscious level. They don't like the idea of losing the autonomy and of ceding authority to temporary majorities or one party or another. That's the greatest of the American experience, right? We don't have a culture of tolerance. Because tolerance suggests, and this is a little dorky for you on a Saturday afternoon -- but you asked.

ACOSTA: That's right, lay it on us. That's all right.

MEACHAM: So tolerance, if you think about it, this was Madisonian argument way back. Religious tolerance, for instance, is a little tricky. Because if you tolerate, that presupposes that there is a majority that is granting a right for a minority to do something, right? You tolerate. If you change the prism a little bit, and think of it as liberty, that

is not religious tolerance, but religious liberty, then liberty is sacrosanct. Nobody can take away your liberty. Tolerance comes and goes.

And at the core of the American insight is that we are free people. And that applies to our health care decisions. It applies to our decisions about how we want to make a living, how we want to raise our families, and who we want to vote for.

And I think that that sensibility was very much in the country. It's been manifested in the vote. And I think that a lot of what we do for a living, a lot what our friends do for a living, you know, we need to look anew yet again on ourselves because the business of predicting in a country of 330 million people is a very tricky business.

ACOSTA: It really is. And if we can get back to a place where we just have a little more faith in one another that we can run elections, you know, and we can just have confidence with the people behind the glass -- plexiglass in Arizona, they're just nice people from down the street. Somebody you might know from the PTA meeting, you know, in your neighborhood.

And they're just -- going in there and doing their job and counting votes. And that we can have faith in that. I just think that that is -- if we can just start there, and then move in the direction of what you are saying, and just start having debates again about policy and that sort of thing, my goodness, I think will be moving in the right direction.

[17:15:00]

ACOSTA: Jon Meacham, such a great honor to have you on. Thanks so much as always. We really appreciate it. Thanks for the time today.

MEACHAM: Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. And make sure to check out, Jon's book, "And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle". All of Jon's books are just priceless. Check it out.

Coming up next why the red wave that many on the right promised did not materialize.

Plus, a live look at Capitol Hill, a beautiful shot of Capitol Hill right now where the balance of power in both the Senate and the House has not been decided. But with more votes being counted and being released in the coming hours, we may know a lot more, as this night goes on.

We suspect we're going to get some answers later on this evening. So you're going to want to stick around for that. Stay with us.

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[17:19:48] ACOSTA: This just in to CNN. There was a mid-air collision at a Dallas airshow. You are looking at some images from that right now. The FAA and the NTSB are now investigating. It's unknown how many people were on board both of these planes.

CNN's Pete Muntean joins me now on the phone. Pete, what more can you tell us?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, the information we're getting right now is very preliminary. We know that both airplanes involved were part of the airshow, and (INAUDIBLE) of the Air Force.

The big air show for World War II airplanes and both of these airplanes both served in World War II. A B-17 Flying Fortress, the bomber that you've seen in movies over and over again, and a P-63, a pursuit plane. Those are exceedingly rare -- there are only about eight B-17 (AUDIO GAP) maybe even fewer p-63s, probably three or four worldwide.

You can see in the video and it's horrific that P-63 ran into the B-17 bomber, the larger airplane. And a rain of parts came down in the middle of this air show, and had a huge fireball.

What we're hearing preliminarily is that nobody on the ground was hurt. These air shows involve a lot of risk and a lot of discipline from the pilots. It is a practice and well-perform thing that they do.

But the issue here is that we just don't (ph) know all that much about how this took place. What was going on at the time, if the pilot of one of the airplanes lost sight of the other one?

We do know that these airplanes were performing in the air show. They were not giving (AUDIO GAP) at the (AUDIO GAP) the FAA investigators. But right now, they're just learning about this as well. And they're just getting early information, too.

So as we get more from federal authorities, which will no doubt be investigating this, we will share it with our audience. But also, it's important to note out that this video that you are seeing will be a huge part of this investigation. You know, in an era where everyone has a camera, these are really key investigative details that investigators will be looking at to try and figure out exactly what went wrong here.

Beyond the obvious loss of life, what is also so sad about this is that these people who fly World War II airplanes like this devote so much immense skill and resources to try and keep this flying (INAUDIBLE) a piece of living history. We've seen that go horribly awry today. It's also important to note that in air shows across the country, these happen every weekend.

This was on Veterans Day weekend. Of course, that is, you know, a big reason why these were flying, and underscores the importance of the sacrifice the veterans have made.

But (INAUDIBLE) in decades since somebody on the ground was hurt or killed. It's an incredible risk to the pilots and they know the risk, but also, the audience is typically very safe. And It's likely -- we'll pan out here -- (INAUDIBLE) that nobody on the ground will start.

ACOSTA: All right, Pete Muntean. Keep us posted in all of this. Thank you very much.

In the meantime, back to the midterms, it was the IT phrase of the midterms -- a red wave, and yet, the red wave did not materialize. Democrats are one win away from holding the Senate. Republicans did not pick up as many House Seats as they would have liked. And they haven't locked down the house just yet.

Joining me now to talk about this, CNN political commentator, former adviser to President Clinton Paul Begala. And also with me, former Republican Congressman from Florida, Francis Rooney.

Paul, let me start with you first. Your thoughts, what happened to the red wave?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I do have to say as a Texan, first. My heart -- I heard Pete's report, my heart goes out to everybody in Dallas who was at that airshow and my prayers are with the folks there. That's just heartbreaking.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

BEGALA: In terms of the politics and the election, you, know I heard your interview with Brother Meacham. Midterm elections are always a brake pedal, always. And this time, though, the brake pedal was not on the party in power.

I had never seen this. We have never seen this in all of American history to have the voters say, I want to put the brakes on the party that has no power right now.

The Democrats have the House. The Democrats have the Senate. The Democrats have the White House. This should have been a landslide year for Republicans. Inflation high, president approval rating low.

But I believe that people were sufficiently concerned about the democracy, as Professor Meacham was saying, and about their rights, and about MAGA extremism that they said, wait, we are going to put the brakes on the party that actually has no power yet. That's how worried we are.

This is five-alarm fire for the Republican party, I have to say, and it's good as a Democrat. I want to have two healthy strong parties. If the voters can't even allow you to be the brake pedal, when one party has all the power, that's a -- it's a shocking result actually. I haven't fully digested it.

ACOSTA: Congressman, what do you think? What happened to the red wave?

FRANCIS ROONEY, FORMER FLORIDA REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN: Well, I agree with Paul. It should have been a lose 30 or 40 seats in the House, just like happened with Trump, George W. in 206, and Obama in 2018. But it wasn't.

[17:24:49]

ROONEY: And I think two things. Abortion was one. And the Journal had an article this week about polling about abortion. And in 2018 and 2020, 10 percent of Democrats -- I'm paraphrasing -- and 80 percent of Republicans say it's an important issue, and that flip-flopped in 2022. So that was an issue.

And then we have Trump. And Trump, recruiting all these terrible, election denier, anti Democratic candidates, had a reverberation that I think Paul and Jon Meacham mentioned.

As well as all the noise he put out into the electorate, both for Democrats and against Republicans. This guy is the best thing for Democrats since FDR.

ACOSTA: It was a bad week for tinfoil hats, that's for sure.

And Paul Begala, let me ask you about this, because I suppose we don't know ultimately what's going to happen in the House. It does appear at this point, that the Republicans have the best chance to claiming the majority.

But we don't know what speaker Pelosi's plan is going to be, if the Republicans ultimately take the house. She obviously has known for quite awhile that it would be very difficult for Democrats to hold on.

And there is obviously the personal trauma surrounding what happened with her husband. What do you expect her to do? Can the Democrats do without Nancy Pelosi? She is one of --

BEGALA: I know.

ACOSTA: -- and as Francis really knows this, I mean just one of the most effective speakers, I mean, that we've seen in probably our lifetime.

BEGALA: Yes, we have never seen a legislative leader in all of our history do more big things with such a small margin. And if the Republicans take the House, which looks more likely than not, Mr. McCarthy likely, Francis would know better, to become the speaker. Let's see how he does.

I don't know what Speaker Pelosi is going to do. I don't know. I love her. I'm close to her but I have not talked to her since the election. I don't have any real insights.

But the Democrats can't do without her, you know, and Biden has had a great two years. He wouldn't have had any of it, any of it but for Nancy Pelosi. I can tell you, the Democrats don't want to see her go.

I do think it is striking that Mitch McConnell, I think is a very able leader for the Republicans seems to be under attack from his party. And even Kevin McCarthy who all he did was raise hundreds of millions of dollars for his party. They seem to go -- the Republicans seem to be going after their leaders.

The Democrats including me, they love Nancy Pelosi, and if cloning were legal, I would want to clone her.

ACOSTA: And Congressman, let me ask you this. Governor Ron DeSantis down in Florida, he had a very good night on Tuesday, won by a wide margin. People talk about Glenn Youngkin, the governor of Virginia as being rising stars in the Republican Party.

Can they get out of the shadow of the former president? Do you think in these coming days, weeks, months and perhaps, start putting some distance between the Republican Party and the former president, and make a run at this in 2024?

We have Trump potentially announcing this coming Tuesday, we don't know for certain. What do you think?

ROONEY: Well, maybe I'm a late in age idealist, but I think the pavement's cracking around Trump all the way. And this midterm shows it. And Kim Griffith came out the other day, and said I'm done with him. Several lieutenant governors and other politicians have basically moved away. I moved away a long time ago.

I think that Governor DeSantis and Governor Youngkin present significantly important opportunities for Republicans to regroup around a broader base, a base that is based on democracy and rule of law and legitimate elections, and pushing our issues, not pushing personality.

ACOSTA: All right. Paul Begala, former Congressman Francis Rooney, thanks so much, gentlemen. Appreciate the time.

BEGALA: Thanks, Jim.

ROONEY: Thanks.

ACOSTA: All right. And coming up, Dave Chappelle's SNL hosting gig drawing controversy. Why there are reports the shows writers plan to boycott his appearance?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:13]

ACOSTA: Dave Chappelle is hosting "Saturday Night Live" tonight, but not without some controversy. The comedian has been forced to deny reports that writers for the show were boycotting his appearance because of his past comments about transgender people.

CNN's Jason Carroll has more on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Anticipation building at 30 Rock, home of NBC and "Saturday Night Live," where Comedian Dave Chappelle is set to host SNL's post-Election Day episode this weekend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Dave. He tells jokes for a living. He's also about to host "Saturday Night Live" for the third time.

CARROLL: But this time, questions about possible problems behind the scenes.

Chappelle's representatives pushing back on unconfirmed reports that "SNL" writers were staging a boycott related to the comedian's previous comments about the trans community.

Telling CNN, "We've seen nothing to support media reports of a writer's boycott. In fact, the writers delivered over 40 sketches for Dave's consideration and collaboration."

Chappelle has come under fire for comments about the transgender community and his standup routines most recently, in his Netflix special, "The Closer."

DAVE CHAPPELLE, COMEDIAN: Gender is fact. This is a fact, every human being in this room, every human being on Earth had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on Earth. That is fact.

(APPLAUSE)

CARROLL: A Reddit user captured this Instagram story from "SNL" Writer Celeste Yim, who wrote, "I'm trans and non-binary. I use they/them pronouns. Transphobia is murder and it should be condemned."

It is not clear if this was aimed at Chappelle. Yim did not respond to s CNN request to comment about him hosting.

[17:35:01]

News of Chappelle's return was met with some backlash on social media.

(CHEERING)

CARROLL: And some point it out the show announced in September it was adding its first non-binary cast member, Molly Kearney.

(CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

CARROLL: Chapelle began his post-election hosting for "SNL" in 2016, following the election of Donald Trump.

CHAPPELLE: All my black friends who have money, said the same thing when Trump got elected. That's it, bro, I'm out. I'm leaving the country. Are you coming with us?

No, I'm good. I'm going to stay here and get this tax break and see how it works out.

CARROLL: And he continued in 2020 after Biden won. CHAPPELLE: And I thought we're having a comedy show.

(LAUGHER)

CHAPPELLE: I tried to walk meat in here.

CARROLL: Now Chappelle is set for another go in front of "SNL"'s live studio audience, as both his critics and fans wait to hear what he will say next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And joining me now, senior entertainment writer for CNN Digital, Lisa France.

Lisa, I guess Dave Chappelle knows how to stop controversy. You know, there's a lot of distance between this reporting about a writer boycott and what Chappelle was saying. What do you hear?

LISA FRANCE, CNN DIGITAL SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT WRITER: Well, I actually talked to Chappelle's rep, who said that things were going great on set.

He was excited about hosting, and that everyone was working with him closely to make this possible.

The call that they gave me, the rioters, and Jason said in his report, presented him with more than 40 options for sketches. And they were super excited. They were hoping that people will tune in to see what Dave was going to say.

The thing about Dave Chappelle, he's been very open about the fact that he does not believe he could be canceled. He's perfectly OK with people complaining about his standup.

But he is holding really hard and fast that that comedy is comedy and you should be able to say what you want to say.

ACOSTA: And, Lisa, in promos for the show, Chappelle poked fun at his ability to stir up controversy. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHAPPELLE: This, we all be hosting "SNL" with musical guest Black Star, an episode that's going so black it's going to be on -- (INAUDIBLE). Just kidding.

(LAUGHTER)

CHAPPELLE: It's going to be right here on NBC.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wait, we're doing if live?

CHAPPELLE: Of course.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With you? CHAPPELLE Obviously.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this news cycle?

CHAPPELLE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Interesting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: What do you think? I guess we are going to hear Chappelle address this at some point during the show. What do you think?

FRANCE: I think so. He likes to lean into the controversy. This is a big part of his brains.

And I feel like some people even hate watching him, because they're so annoyed and aggravated by what he has to say, that they just want to see what he's going to say.

So, mission accomplished, because lots of people were talking about Dave Chappelle. Some people were talking about him even in the sense of, they don't want to watch black dance.

There's a sense of home, that fear of missing out, that the fear of being something off the rails, they want to be able to see it and talk about it.

ACOSTA: No, absolutely. And I suppose we'll be watching for that.

Let me ask you this, on a different subject. Actor Alec Baldwin, he has filed a lawsuit stemming from the fatal shooting on the set of "Rust."

He is alleging wrongdoing by the armorer, the assistant director, several others. Basically, he believes he has been unfairly blamed for the shooting. Tell us about that.

FRANCE: Yes, there was a suit that was filed by the script supervisor, and he was one of the defendants on the suit. And this was his counter complaint.

What he said is this tragedy happened because the armor deliberately loaded the gun and brought into the set. He names the armorer. He said he was handed this gun. They did not check it. This is what he's alleging.

So, he's pushing the blame for the death of the director of photography, the cinematographer, on those who prepare the weapon and handed him the weapon.

Whereas the armorer's attorney has said, you know, look, Alec Baldwin is the one who fired the weapon and so, consequently, he is responsible for this death.

ACOSTA: And let's switch gears, finally, Lisa, talking to you about entertainment.

I think we need a timeline cleanser. And that is this news that we got on Friday that the legendary comedian, Gallagher, died. Obviously, it's very sad news that he passed away.

But I have to talk about this a little bit because this is the kind of stuff that we used to watch on TV before social media, before things kind of went in a hand basket.

And Gallagher just made a name for himself, going on stage, and smashing watermelons. It was just one of the most hilarious and delightful things to see. And he would get the audience sprayed with more watermelon bits and so on.

What do you think about his legacy and what he leaves behind?

FRANCE: Well, Jim, don't you miss the '90s because --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: I do, yes.

FRANCE: Yes, so he was everywhere on the show plan. He did more than a dozen special.

And this is a very physical sense of humor that he did, it appealed to people of all ages. I mean, it didn't matter if you are young, if you were all, you want to tune in to see what he was going to do with his flattering of the watermelon.

[17:40:01]

And he didn't stop working until the pandemic. His reps told us that she continued to tour, while other people that were --

ACOSTA: Wow.

FRANCE: -- you know, his contemporaries, they were doing other things, he was still doing his standup.

ACOSTA: I don't know if our viewers can see this. I guess they can pick that up a little bit. The plastic, you know, covering that they would give people, they would give people ponchos and sheets of plastic to, you know, and the front doors of the audience, so they wouldn't get watermelon all over themselves.

I mean, he was just a special comedian. And it was a special time, as you mentioned, to have this kind of, like, irreverent humor. It wasn't mean-spirited, it wasn't nasty, it was just, good, old-fashioned fun.

Lisa France, thanks so much. Thanks for sharing all that with us. We appreciate it.

FRANCE: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Coming up, crypto collapse. The stunning downfall of the FTX exchange. And a prediction from Larry David that turned out to be pretty, pretty good! If you have seen the headlines -- that was my best try -- if you've seen the headlines, but don't know what they mean, you will after our next segment, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:45:13]

ACOSTA: Tough times for cryptocurrency in visitors, maybe getting tougher. One of the latest and largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world now says they are investigating a $473 million hack.

FTX, which filed for bankruptcy on Friday, now says it's investigating whether some crypto assets were stolen, as they were moved offline.

FTX is experiencing a rapid collapse, despite being one of the more powerful players in the crypto industry.

Founder and CEO, 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, resigned, and has lost his $16 billion fortune, it's been estimated, in less than a week.

CNN's John Starlin is joining us now.

John, thanks for joining us.

Larry David, enthusiasm, fame, started in a Super Bowl commercial for FTX in which he actually made a pretty, pretty good prediction as Larry would put it.

I can't really get into that. I could not do a good impersonation of Larry David saying that, but I feel like, during the show, it's not appropriate with what's happening in cryptocurrency.

Break it down for us, John. What's going on?

JOHN STARLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The character of Larry David might have been a good choice. But the actor, Larry David, appearing in an FTX ad might have not been the best choice, right?

ACOSTA: Yes.

STARLIN: Up until a week ago, FTX was probably the most important name in crypto. And like you said, they spent millions of dollars on flashy ad campaigns.

Tom Brady, Gisele, Larry David, they were in their ad campaigns. Their name was on the Miami Heat basketball stadium. All of that came crashing down in a week. $30-some-odd billion dollars down to now nothing.

It all happened when a report came out of leaked documents that showed that fierce books were not as good as they appear to be. That led to a run on the bank. People tried desperately to get their money out, money that FTX did not have.

Now, things moved very quickly after they froze users funds, including selling themselves to Binance, its biggest arrival, which then backed out of the deal within 24 hours. From that, a bankruptcy followed, which is what you are seeing play out now.

ACOSTA: And, I mean, what does this mean for all of those crypto bros out there, guys in their sweatpants with millions of dollars and their bank -- I guess they don't have millions of dollars in their banks, anymore. I shouldn't make light of it. It's got to be scary for a lot of people.

Can crypto come back? Or is it just caught in a spiral right now?

STARLIN: You know, we've seen crypto face tough times, right? And the words that people look at is contagion. How far will this spread?

Now, in May, Luna was a big crypto that came crashing down and brought a lot of big players. This industry is very enmeshed in one another.

Ironically, the company that really tempt down on that was FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried who started buying all these distressed assets. People compared him to JPMorgan during the great depression.

Well, now it is FTX and SBF, that he is known, SBF Sam Bankman-Fried has collapsed.

So, how bad will this go? I talked to one former SEC official who told me it's a death spiral and a blood bath all in one. The contagion has just begun to spread and nothing can slow it down, as John Reads (ph), a former SEC official said.

So how far will this go? Stay tuned.

ACOSTA: I just have to wonder, is this going to shape up, as just another one of those, I don't want to call it a Ponzi scheme, but a get rich quick scheme, I mean, a lot of people thought for that.

STARLIN: Oh, I think it's hard not to look at that term and wonder whether FTX and Alameda Research, which was the hedge funds owned by Sam Bankman-Fried, whether this was mismanagement, or whether this was genuine criminal fraud.

One thing that people have been noticing was an Alameda paycheck to investors from 2019, which offered double digit returns, and guaranteed results.

Now, anyone with any financial understanding, when they see those words, red flags should go up right away.

Jim, if I offered you an ice cream that tasted exactly like Haagen- Dazs, but I promised you, you would never get fat on that, right? You know, I think you would be suspicious of both me and the ice cream.

Well, when it comes to billions of dollars' worth of financial products, you would think people would have the same level of scrutiny.

ACOSTA: Yes. All right John Sarlin, thanks so much for breaking that down for us. It was pretty, pretty good.

[17:49:34]

And we'll be right back.

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ACOSTA: Top-10 CNN Heros of 2022 have been announced. One of them will be named the CNN Hero of the Year by you, our viewers.

We're introducing each of our top-10 as you vote for your favorite in the next few weeks.

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NELLY CHEBOI, CNN HERO: Once these computers were ending up in landfills.

Well, we have kids here, myself included. Back in the day, who didn't know what a computer is.

We refurbish them. We install our custom operating system that is geared to us, teaching our kids things such as troubleshooting and Internet skills.

We're working with institutions, colleges, companies, even individuals, and then, we bring it to the schools.

All of you are going to be graphic designers today.

They can go from doing remote classes to video production, coding, personal branding and so on.

The thing that was frustrating for me growing up, not seeing change, not seeing hope, not seeing progress.

[17:55:03]

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

CHEBOI: I feel like, with these kids, I can see a path. I can see a way where they can make a living online. And that is really, like, why we're doing this work.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Go to CNNheros.com to vote for her for CNN Hero of the Year or any of your top-10 heroes. You can vote for any or all of them up to 10 times a day. That's how it works every day. Check it out.

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