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Lockerbie Bombing Suspect in U.S. Custody 34 Years After Attack; Historic Moon Mission Concludes with Splashdown of Orion Capsule; New Video Shows Aftermath of Ukrainian Attack on Russian Occupied Territories. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired December 11, 2022 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:00]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Today a major development in a worldwide investigation that has never stopped over the last 34 years. I'm talking about the Lockerbie bombing that took down Pan Am Flight 103 and killed 270 people, most of them Americans. Right now an important suspect in that attack, the man believed to have made the bomb is in custody.

CNN's Nic Robertson is following the story for us from London.

Nic, a major development here in a case that has been investigated for so many years. What do we know about the suspect and how he managed to allude authorities for more than three decades.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Probably alluded them because the Libyan leadership, dictator Moammar Gadhafi, until 2011, he was one of his agents, intelligence agents, wanted him kept hidden. After that, of course, the country in chaos. But he was in detention in Libya two years ago and that ultimately gave U.S. investigators the opportunity to charge him back two years ago.

His name is Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi. He now is in the United States and will face justice and be in a court soon. We don't know quite know when.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Almost 34 years since the deadliest terror attack in British history, and the man accused of building the bomb that killed 270 people, mostly Americans, is finally going to face justice in a U.S. court.

Libyan Abu Agila Mohammad Mas'ud Kheir Al-Marimi was arrested for his alleged role in blowing up Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, 38 minutes after it took off for the U.S. from London, killing everyone on board and 11 people on the ground.

The U.S. first charged Al-Marimi for his involvement in the attack two years ago while he was already in custody in Libya for unrelated crimes. MICHAEL SHERIN, FORMER ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY: It is alleged in the

criminal complaint, in the indictment, that at that time, all co- conspirators worked together to arm the explosive device in the suitcase.

ROBERTSON: The Justice Department expects Al-Marimi to make his first appearance in district court in Washington in the coming days. For years, the only person convicted in the Lockerbie bombing case was Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi. Al-Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence official was accused along with another Libyan man who was acquitted for planting the explosive inside a portable cassette player in a suitcase on the plane.

Al-Megrahi was sentenced to life in prison. But eight years after his conviction in 2008, he was released from a Scottish prison with terminal prostate cancer. Arriving home in Libya, he received a hero's welcome. In 2011, following the revolution that toppled Libya's dictator, Moammar Gadhafi, I visited al-Megrahi at his home in Tripoli. He was near death. His family, as they always had, protesting his innocence.

(On-camera): Has he been able to see a doctor?

KHALED AL-MEGRAHI, SON OF CONVICTED LOCKERBIE BOMBER: No, there is no doctor. There's nobody to ask. And we don't have any phone line to call anybody.

ROBERTSON: What's his situation right now?

AL-MEGRAHI: He stop eating and he's -- sometimes he's coming --

ROBERTSON: Coma. He goes unconscious.

AL-MEGRAHI: Yes.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): He died the following year without ever proving his innocence. Al-Marimi's trial will likely revisit part of Megrahi's defense, particularly alleged inconsistencies about how the bomb came to be in the plane.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: This is a case and an investigation that has bedeviled investigators at times and the detail and the scrutiny of a debris field scattered over hundreds of square miles in Scotland. I mean, it took the investigators figuring out, finding a tiny chip that was used in the bomb in that cassette player embedded in clothing that was wrapped around the cassette player in a suitcase, figuring out where the suitcase was from. Figuring out where the suitcase had been placed in the container and figuring out where that suitcase had initially been introduced to the plane.

This goes back, of course, way before the tight sort of screening we have today. So this was a huge investigation, but this step now, this does seem like a fundamentally big step and to have the suspect in custody in the United States, that's a breakthrough, too -- Jim. ACOSTA: It's a massive breakthrough. And again, it underscores how

investigators never give up on a case, especially one as large as this one, important as this one.

[16:05:02]

Nic Robertson, thank you very much for that report. All the reporting you've done on that case. Thank you.

The hour's other major development now, the historic Artemis 1 mission has come to a successful end. The Orion capsule splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off of Mexico's Baja California.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Splashdown. From Tranquility base to Torres Litro to the tranquil waters of the Pacific, the latest chapter of NASA's journey to the moon comes to a close. Orion back on earth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Orion traveled 1.4 million miles in just 25 1/2 days. This moon mission meant to pave the way for a program that will send humans to mars. That's why NASA officials are stressing the importance of a safe reentry. And last hour, I spoke with NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, who explained the significance of this moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: The motion was there. It was confident, but it was tense because there were two big things that had to happen today. First of all, the heat shield had to work. And it worked perfectly. And then the parachutes had to work. And they did perfectly. And so this was just incredible because it was coming in hot and fast. It was coming in at 25,000 miles an hour. 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and it did that twice, as it dipped into the atmosphere and let off that speed, and then came back up, about 150,000 feet, and then dipped in in a steep dive again to bleed off more speed and then came on in. So everything worked.

ACOSTA: And as we know, this was not a manned mission, but we know that that's NASA's hope. When do you think we will know about a human crew? Might we get an announcement soon? Would you like to make some news here?

NELSON: As a matter of fact, you're going to hear pretty soon. We are going to encourage the headquarters here down in the Johnson Space Center in Houston, we're going to ask them to go ahead and make their selection, and by the way, I think they already have, but to be prepared to go ahead and announce it.

ACOSTA: And so there are some names in mind perhaps already selected at this point, if I may nudge you a little bit?

NELSON: I believe that flight operations and the chief astronaut, they make the decisions, the Johnson Center director then confirms those and we'll let you know.

ACOSTA: Help us out here. Explain why, and I think you were alluding to this just a few moments ago, why all of this is a stepping-stone to getting humans to mars? And I suppose some of the confidence that you're taking away from today allows you to think, OK, maybe we can do this. In the next couple of days.

NELSON: Well, we can and we will. And 50 years ago we went to the moon to prove that and came back. Now, we're going to stay to work, to learn, to invent, to create, to venture out further. We're going to mars first, and then we're going to venture on out into that very, very large universe.

ACOSTA: And I guess before we go, I want to show a few more images taken by Orion before it descended. The other week, I was talking to Neil deGrasse Tyson, who was so much smarter than me on this issue, but we'd love to talk to him about space. And he was talking about how images like this put into our perspective our place in the universe. And I wonder what's been going through your mind. Are you think, Senator Nelson, that the possibilities are endless now, in part because of the success of this mission?

NELSON: Indeed they are. We have to take it a step at a time because space is hard. And it's an unforgiving atmosphere out there. And you've got to do it right, when humans are concerned. And yet the human, to have the discretion to determine what you want to pick up on mars is a very important fact. And that's why we're going with humans to mars and then venture further out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Great stuff. And former NASA restaurant, Michael Massimino, joins me now.

Michael, you're also a professor. How would you grade this first phase of the Artemis program? I would have to say maybe the homework got in a little delayed in that they couldn't launch right away, but A-plus. Something like that? What do you think?

[16:10:07]

MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Thanks for having me, Jim. Maybe that's why you introduced me as a professor as well. I think I would give them an A because I think the reason they were late was just getting to know the system better. They had got in some bad weather. So I don't consider it to be a late homework assignment. I think they get an A for this one for sure.

ACOSTA: Very good. And what do you make of what Bill Nelson was saying just a few moments ago, how we may learn fairly soon here about when we're going to see and some of the details behind a crewed mission. That's -- a human mission. That's exciting.

MASSIMINO: Yes, it is. I'm speaking to you from Houston. And I was down here, I was here last night for the astronaut reunion. It's something we have every two years. We got delayed a bit by COVID, but everybody was there. All the current astronauts pretty much were there. Harrison Schmidt was our speaker. He was the last person to walk on the moon. He's still around going strong. 50 years ago he was walking around the moon. And one of my best friends, Drew Feustel, is the chief of the Astronaut Office.

Jim, I couldn't get anything out of these people. I think they probably do have some people in mind of who it's going to be. They are very excited about this. I'll tell you what, the Astronaut Office is something we've been dreaming about for years, when I was a new astronaut, 26 years ago, my classmates and I who I saw last night, we were hoping one of us would get to know.

But now these new folks here in the office will get a chance to go. But they're not going to leak that to anybody. They're going to make their decision. Maybe they have already, I don't know. But we'll probably find out soon now that the vehicle is back.

ACOSTA: I tried to nudge them a little bit to get some news out of that, but we'll wait and see, of course.

MASSIMINO: Yes.

ACOSTA: And Michael, let me ask you this, NASA plans to turn Artemis moon missions into a program that will send astronauts to mars. Bill Nelson was very confident that we're going to see that happen. And that what we're seeing right now out of Artemis is getting us in that direction. Your thoughts. Are you as optimistic and what excites you about that prospect?

MASSIMINO: I am optimistic, Jim. I think that with what we've shown, being able to get back to the moon, with a spacecraft that can survive and take people there, that's great. That's what we've done so far, it looks like we're going to get some more data back on radiation and so on. But by going to the moon and settling there, and looking for water and resources, and ways in which we can launch from the moon to go further to mars is very, very exciting.

So I do believe that the time has come. It's been 50 years, as I said, we've been wanting to do this for decades to get to this point, but it looks like we are really there. Like no kidding, we now have some of the infrastructure built just to begin this. Just to get the rocket and the spaceship. We're going to have to build more to get down to the surface. But that's a lot more to come. I mean, even Artemis 2 is kind of -- I think it's going to be very doable.

Artemis 3, will they walk on the moon again? I think they can pull out one for sure. Artemis force starts getting more difficult if you want to stay there for longer periods of time. But there's no reason why we can't keep going and do all those things that Senator Nelson mentioned.

ACOSTA: It's really exciting. And let me ask you about some other news from the world of space, if that phrase works. A Japanese fashion mogul is chartering a SpaceX flight that will travel around the moon. Maybe you've heard about this. He's invited eight passengers who view themselves as artists, one of them is a popular deejay. What's your take on this and the role of space tourism?

MASSIMINO: I think it's a good thing, Jim. All -- you know, when I was a professional astronaut, it was my job, my occupation. And that's the way it is for my colleagues that are still here, at NASA, and the new people doing that. Now it's opening up opportunities for people to do all kinds of things. Astronauts are there to fly for their countries, for the world, for science. I think that what we're going to be seeing now as there's more access, now we can get to some other interesting things, like doing it for art or movie making or whatever they might be interested in doing.

I still think there's a purpose in that. It might not be just exploration, science, understanding. It might be more in the entertainment area. In this case, I don't know too much about this filmmaker, but it seems like they're going to be using space for other reasons and doing things for the good of people, for the world, that is not necessarily in the direction of what NASA's goals are. So I think it's a great thing to be able to expand that.

ACOSTA: Well, on the prospect of sending a deejay into space, I mean, you got the prospect for some zero-gravity clubbing I guess or something else. Whatever it is they do these days.

MASSIMINO: We used to do as much dancing as we could, Jim. You know, we would listen to music up there. That was something fun to do. Dancing around in zero gravity when we had free time. So, you know, who knows what they're going to come up with. It's hard for me to really imagine what they're going to do, and I think they probably have an idea of what they can do and once they learn more about the environment, I'm sure they're going to come up with something that will entertain always of all of us.

ACOSTA: Absolutely. Got to keep it exciting. All right, Michael Massimino, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Great day for the space program. Thanks for your time.

[16:15:03]

MASSIMINO: You bet. Thanks, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Thank you. Coming up, Ukrainian forces launch missile attacks on a city captured and occupied by the Russians. Does this signal a potential new offensive?

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: In Ukraine's Luhansk region, new images show the aftermath of an explosion at the headquarters of a Russian mercenary group, the Wagner Group, which has been accused of war crimes, has been using a hotel as its base in Russian-occupied territory. That hotel now a crater, and Russia blaming Ukraine for the blast.

Dramatic new images also coming out of Melitopol. Ukraine is fighting to gain back that city from Russia which it captured back in March. Ukrainian forces have launched missiles in that area. A former official there says that Russia turned the city into one giant military base. Its troops taking over homes and schools.

[16:20:00]

And joining me now to talk about this is the former commanding general of all U.S. army forces in Europe, retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.

General, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate it. What's your reaction to Ukraine launching this missile attack on this Russian occupied city, and also the news that there's been this explosion at the headquarters of the Wagner Group, the Russian state-controlled mercenary group, notorious group. Is this the start of a new counteroffensive? What do you think?

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES (RET.), FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY EUROPE: Hey, Jim, thanks for the privilege. Well, first of all, the Russians must be very concerned that the Ukrainians continue to demonstrate creativity in innovative ways with technology to reach further and further to hit Russian targets. So that's -- the Ukrainians are obviously not sitting around waiting on the United States to provide everything that's needed. That's number one.

Number two, I don't know that this is the start of a new counteroffensive. I think, actually, we're in the phase of what we would call condition setting, where the Ukrainian general staff is going to continue to go after logistics and continue to go after command and control, so that in another month or two months, they'll be able to launch a successful next phase of their counteroffensive. So Melitopol sits on right on one of the only two landlines of communication that go into Crimea. So hitting Melitopol will disrupt the ability of Russian forces to reinforce Crimea.

ACOSTA: And why go after the Wagner Group?

HODGES: Well, the Wagner Group of course has a certain sort of notorious cache already. They're the ones that are continuing to pound away at Ukrainian defenses around Bakhmut, and so I think there's not only an operational benefit to knock out the headquarters of Wagner, if that's what they're trying to do, but also a symbolic, a symbolic way to hit back against forces that have caused a lot of damage and have been particularly brutal.

So to step back from it, though, if this is all about Ukrainian general staff going after headquarters and going after logistics, which I think are precursors, or what we call setting the conditions for the decisive phase of the campaign, which will be the liberation of Crimea.

ACOSTA: And let me ask you this, for the second time this week, Vladimir Putin floated the possibility that Russia may formally change its military doctrine of not being the first to use a nuclear weapon during a conflict. Do you think that's just a bluff? You raised the prospect there of the Ukrainians being able to retake Crimea. Might that be a tipping point for Putin, where he just gets so desperate that he tries to use something like that?

HODGES: Well, of course, I would take it seriously anytime the Russians talk about nuclear weapons, they have thousands of nuclear weapons. I think Secretary Austin recently said it looks like they're trying to expand their inventory of nuclear weapons, but I also think it's extremely unlikely that they would actually use them. I think they -- I think the Russian general staff and the Kremlin absolutely believe that President Biden when he said that there will be catastrophic consequences.

So there is no battlefield advantage for Russia to use it and the price that they would pay would be, I think, too much for them. However, by bringing things up like this, it gets it back into our mind. When we had actually gone several weeks without too much reporting about the possibility of a nuclear strike. So this gets it back in people's minds, as we enter this tough, cold winter and again, as you know, the Russian objective is to drag this out as long as they can in hopes that we'll lose the will to continue supporting Ukraine. So I think that's what this is really about.

ACOSTA: And are there additional steps the Biden administration should be considering at this point, to turn the tide against Russia? I mean, the Ukrainians really seem to have the Russians back on their heels. I mean, would you advise the Biden administration to kind of push this a little harder to knock the Russians all the way on their backs?

HODGES: Absolutely. I think that the administration, which has done a very good job on so many aspects of this entire conflict, we still are self-deterring ourselves out of an over estimation of what Russia might do to escalate. I actually think Russians don't have anything else with which they could escalate other than to continue threatening nuclear conflict.

Now this is not happening in a vacuum. And I wouldn't claim to know everything the conversations with China, for example, that may be causing us to limit what we're doing, but Ukraine has achieved irreversible momentum. There's no going back. I believe that they are going to liberate Crimea by the end of next summer.

[16:25:01]

This could happen a lot faster if the administration and other Western allies would provide the additional things that Ukraine needs, and also, it would save a lot more Ukrainian lives if we could stop the bombing of so many Ukrainian cities sooner.

ACOSTA: All right. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, we'll catch up with you again. We'll see about that prediction of yours about Crimea. That would be -- that would be remarkable. But appreciate your time once again. Thanks so much.

HODGES: Thanks for the privilege, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Thank you.

Coming up, a new twist in the case of Alex Murtaugh, the prominent South Carolina attorney accused of murdering his wife and son. Prosecutors now revealing the alleged motive behind the crime. Plus, it was the case that captured the nation's attention. Now years later, after she was acquitted, Casey Anthony is finally speaking publicly about the disappearance and death of her daughter.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:19]

ACOSTA: Prosecutors in South Carolina have revealed what they believe led a disgraced lawyer to murder his wife and son. They say it all started with the massive amount of debt Alex Murdaugh had racked up. He is now facing charges for dozens of financial crimes that prosecutors say are tied to his wife and son's murders.

CNN's Randi Kaye has been following this awful case. Randi, what more have you been able to learn about a possible motive for these murders? It's very interesting.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It sure is, Jim. The prosecutors, they filed this motion in court laying out this possible motive, what they alleged was the motive that Alex Murdaugh had for - for allegedly killing his wife and son.

They said that he murdered them to avoid having his alleged financial schemes exposed and also to shift the focus away from his finances. And it all really happened around the time of this hearing that was supposed to take place in another case, unrelated this, involving Alex Murdaugh. And then, Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, his wife and son, were murdered just days before that hearing.

But, Jim, that hearing likely would have resulted in Murdaugh having to release his finances and also his alleged schemes could have been exposed. So, let me just give you an idea of the timeline. It was June 7 of 2021, that Murdaugh said he showed up at the property that the family had in South Carolina and found his wife and son bleeding and no longer breathing. But prosecutors say that he didn't find them that - that way, he actually shot and killed them.

I spoke with a source with knowledge of this investigation, and he told me that there was blood spatter found on Alex Murdaugh's clothing, which would have put him in close proximity to at least one of the victims at the time of shooting, this source said.

The same source also telling me that there is video, which contains audio on Paul Murdaugh's cell phone that puts Alex Murdaugh, you hear him speaking to those family members at the crime scene, much earlier in the night than when he had called 911.

So, prosecutors say that they were murdered between 8:30 and 10:06 pm on June 7, 2021. And in terms of the timeline, at 8:44 is when that video is on Paul Murdaugh's phone, of Alex Murdaugh talking to them at 9:06. He leaves the property for some reason and then at 10:07, Jim, he returns and that's when he makes that 911 call.

ACOSTA: It is such a twisted and complicated story. And you mentioned a hearing that scheduled to take place just days after they were murdered. Now, which case did that involve?

KAYE: That was related to a boat crash from 2019. And in that boat crash, a young woman named Mallory Beach was killed. Now, Paul Murdaugh, the son of Alex Murdaugh who was shot and killed, was the driver allegedly of that boat and he also was allegedly drunk. He had been charged with driving under the influence and causing her death. And he was awaiting trial at the time of his murder.

Now, the Beach family has also filed a civil suit against Alex Murdaugh in that case because he was the owner of the boat and that was the hearing that they were waiting on. In that hearing, there was a motion to compel Alex Murdaugh to reveal all of his finances, so the Beach family knew what they were up against and what they could possibly get from him.

But then, Jim, after those murders occurred that motion to compel in that hearing was canceled. It went away and people started to rally around Alex Murdaugh, seeing him more as a victim, because he had just lost his wife and son. And a lot of those people, who were wanting answers about his finances, Jim, backed off.

ACOSTA: And - and so, he's pleaded not guilty. His trial in the murders is coming up next month, but that is just the beginning. Is that right?

KAYE: Absolutely. He is facing dozens of financial crimes for defrauding some of his family, also his clients. But in addition to these financial crimes and the murder charges that he's facing in his wife and son, there are these mysterious debts that are sort of in the Murdaugh orbit and they've been there for years.

You have Gloria Satterfield who was his former housekeeper who allegedly fell down the steps at his home back in 2018. She died after that. And now her body, her family has agreed to exhume her body because the state has reopened the investigation into her death. They think there might be more there. They want some answers.

And then you also have the case of Stephen Smith, this young boy who was found dead in the middle of the road. He was actually 19 years old. He was found dead in the middle of the road in South Carolina back in 2015, Jim. That case had gone cold. And then based on something investigators say they found while investigating the double murder of Maggie and Paul Murdaugh, they have now reponed the investigation into the death of Stephen Smith.

ACOSTA: Wow.

KAYE: We don't know what evidence that might be or why they've reopened it, but it certainly is fascinating. So, while he's now dealing with the double murder charges and this trial upcoming next month, those investigations are also ongoing.

[16:35:02]

ACOSTA: Yes, it's incredible, all the connections. And Randi, another story that you've been following, Casey Anthony, speaking out years after she was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. I mean, this was - this was a case that riveted the entire country. Tell us about this new documentary.

KAYE: Yes, this was a case that everybody was watching.

ACOSTA: Right.

KAYE: I'm sure you remember when the verdict was read, and people were outside the courthouse. She used to actually live here in Palm Beach County, where I am, for a little while. She was living with her former investigator.

But we don't see her very much around town. She's been very quiet. This is the first time in this docuseries that's airing on Peacock, it's the first time that she has spoken publicly about her parents, about the search for her daughter, about where she was in those days, why she (inaudible) she lied so much to investigators.

Here's a look at what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CASEY ANTHONY, ACQUITTED OF MURDERING DAUGHTER: The only person in this world matters to me still is my daughter. But I'm still defending the fact that I didn't hurt her.

KAYE (voice-over): Fourteen years after her daughter disappeared Casey Anthony says she still misses her. In the new docuseries on Peacock titled, "Casey Anthony: Where the Truth Lies," Anthony shares for the first time on camera her own theory about what happened to her daughter, Caylee. She says she took a nap with her daughter on that last day and woke up to her father holding Caylee in his arms.

C. ANTHONY: She's soaking wet. I can see him standing there with her in his arms. And hand her to me and telling me that it's my fault.

KAYE (voice-over): Anthony says her father took Caylee after that and she doesn't know what happened next. Five months after Caylee was reported missing her skeletal remains were found in a wooded area about a half mile from the family's home. She had duct tape over her mouth and was inside a laundry bag and garbage bags. Anthony was charged with first-degree murder, lying to investigators and other charges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Testify or -

KAYE (voice-over): At her trial in 2011, Anthony's defense team claimed the little girl drowned in the family's pool and the accidental drowning spiraled out of control, with Anthony and her dad covering up Caylee's death.

C. ANTHONY: She was cold.

KAYE (voice-over): But in the new docuseries, Anthony puts the blame squarely on her father, suggesting Caylee died on his watch. C. ANTHONY: And I know people are going to question, well why didn't

I make a phone call? Why didn't I call 911? And I have to live with that, knowing that I failed to protect my child.

KAYE (voice-over): For 31 days Anthony kept quiet.

C. ANTHONY: During the 31 days I genuinely believed that Caylee was still alive because my father kept telling me she was OK.

KAYE (voice-over): When her mother finally called 911 to report Caylee missing, Anthony said the girl's nanny had taken her. Turns out that nanny never existed, which Anthony admits in the documentary.

In the docuseries Anthony says she was lying to protect her father, as she'd been taught to do, following what she claimed were years of sexual abuse by him, beginning at age 8.

C. ANTHONY: My father was holding me down and raping me. That happens again and again and again. It was like I was brainwashed. And it wasn't until much later that I started to really realize why.

GEORGE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S FATHER: G-E-O-R-G-E.

KAYE (voice-over): At her trial, her father, George Anthony, denied abusing his daughter or having anything to do with Caylee's death. Peacock says he turned down an offer to appear on their program. CNN has reached out to him for comment.

After more than 100 witnesses at her trial, Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murder, but she was convicted of providing false information to police. She was freed shortly afterward due to the time she's spent in jail awaiting trial.

C. ANTHONY: She's still everything to me.

KAYE (voice-over): Anthony says she'll always wonder what really happened to Caylee.

C. ANTHONY: (Inaudible). I don't know if it would be better to know or just keep not knowing, because I don't know what the truth is. All I know is that she's dead and something happened.

KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: And our thanks to Randi for her reporting on all of that.

Coming up, chaos at a Christmas event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) touch (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible). ACOSTA (voice-over): Why a Los Angeles council member suddenly found himself in a physical fight in front of horrified onlookers. We'll tell you about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good night, Kevin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good night, Kevin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Inaudible).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[16:39:42]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:43:45]

ACOSTA: An L.A. City council member is facing scrutiny following the release of this video that shows him in a physical fight with a community activist.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) wait.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Whoa, whoa, whoa.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, don't touch me.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, (inaudible) look (inaudible). What are you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) came from.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at them and -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you doing -

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't (inaudible) touch this (ph) Kevin.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, hey.

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What - Kevin, Kevin - ACOSTA (voice-over): Council member Kevin de Leon seen in the white shirt and Santa hat, claims he was acting in self-defense.

CNN National Correspondent Nadia Romero joins me now. Nadia, not a lot of the holiday spirit going on there. What more are you learning?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is not a good look, Jim, whether it was self-defense or not. And it has reignited these calls for him to resign.

OK, so when you see this video, you can hear people taunting the council member in the background, saying that you're anti-Black, you're anti-indigenous, you need to resign. And that comes from recordings that were released back in October and that showed Kevin de Leon, that we heard him and other council members making really racist comments.

There's really no other way to describe them, derogatory comments about the adopted Back son of one of the council members, about the people that come from Wahaca region of Mexico, of an indigenous group and their features.

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And so, because of that, the council president did resign, but de Leon did not. He said he was going to take some time away so that people could heal. Well, this is one of his first public appearances since those calls for him to resign and this is what we're looking at.

Now you can see this scuffle and the interaction. Of course, both sides are describing this in a very different way. I want you to see a statement, part of a statement released by Kevin de Leon defending himself, saying that this was simply an opportunity for him.

He was trying to push open a door, trying to get out. Reedy, which is the gentleman wearing the olive-green coat, he says launched a pelvic thrust, headbutted him in the forehead and he responded in simply self-defense. Now this is an attorney released a statement for Jason Reedy. He says, no that's not what happened.

He says that the council member and his supporters initiated physical contact by shoving him and then de Leon then grabbed Mr. Reedy, the activist when he had his hands up. He did not initiate physical contact. The L.A. Police Department has been brought in on the case. No word yet. We haven't received comment on if there will be criminal charges for anyone.

But, Jim, when you see this video, you have to remind yourself, this is a council member of our nation's second-largest city. He makes decisions for about 4 million people in Los Angeles and he's wrapped up, again, in another ugly controversy. Jim?

ACOSTA: Yes, what a mess. All right, Nadia Romero, thank you very much. Now to Idaho, where the investigation into the brutal of four college students at their off-campus house hit the one-month mark today. CNN's Camila Bernal has been following this and she joins me now from

Moscow, Idaho. Camila, we're one month in. It's hard to believe that we just haven't seen very many developments in this case. What more are police saying?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It really is hard to believe, Jim. Everyone I talked to tells me a month, that is incredible, and we still don't have a lot of information. We're basically saying the same thing over and over for one month.

Look, initially a month ago, when I started reporting on this, police said there is no threat to this community, this is a targeted attack, then they had to walk all of that back and say, well actually because we haven't made an arrest, we can't definitely say that this was - is not a threat to the community.

On the other hand, you also have police still saying that, yes, they believe this is a targeted attack, but what they're saying is, it's not clear whether it was the house here behind me that was targeted or if were the students that were targeted in this case.

Now, one of the most significant pieces of information that we've gotten all month is this white care. They're trying to find information about the driver or the passengers, of a white Honda Elantra. They say this is a car made between 2011 and 2013 and they believe that car was in this area near the house in the early morning hours of November 13, when these students were stabbed to death while they were sleeping.

Authorities now saying they're getting a lot of tips on this white care. It's unclear if any of these tips had been helpful. But we do know that it's the FBI now handling all of these tips. There are almost 50 FBI investigators on this case. That's in addition to Moscow police. So, it's Moscow leading the investigation with the help of the FBI and the state police. A lot of investigators on this case and not a lot of information. You're also seeing a lot of speculation and a lot of rumors.

And officers having to spend a lot of time debunking a lot of these rumors. And the bottom line is that a month later, Jim, we still don't have a suspect, we don't have a motive and we do not have a weapon.

ACOSTA: Just incredible. All right, Camila Bernal., we know you're on the scene following every development.

Thanks so much. We'll be right back.

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ACOSTA: For many, this time of year is about giving back. But CNN HEROS AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE salutes 10 extraordinary people who put others first all year long. The star-studded gala airs live tonight at 8:00 Eastern.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight, it's the time of year to be inspired and honor some of humanity's best.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

CARIE BROECKLER, PEACE OF MIND DOG RESCUE (voice-over): We have found homes for almost 3,000 dogs.

TYRIQUE GLASGOW, YOUNG CHANCES FOUNDATION (voice-over): Our community center used to be the community drug house.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

BOBBY WILSON, METRO ATLANTA URBAN FARM: I want my grandchildren to have it better than what I have it today.

RICHARD CASPER, CREATIVETS: I just always wanted to serve other people.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

TERESA GRAY, MOBILE MEDICS INTERNATIONAL: Human suffering has no borders. People are people and love is love.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Join Anderson Cooper and Kelly Ripa live, as they present the 2022 Hero of the Year.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Join me -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In honoring -

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: CNN Hero of the Year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CNN HEROS AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE, tonight at 8:00.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: It's going to be a great show. You don't want to miss it. So, gather up the family and get ready to be inspired. Tune in later tonight. That's the news, reporting from Washington. I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you back here next weekend. Pamela Brown takes over the CNN Newsroom, live after a quick break. Have a good night.

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