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President Biden Commemorates 58 Years Since Bloody Sunday; Fact-Checking Trump's CPAC Speech; 2024 Race Getting Started for White House Contenders; Clark County Official Says Derailed Tank Cars Not Hazardous; Trump Says He Won't Drop Out of 2024 Race if He's Indicted; Increased Police Presence Near Atlanta's "Cop City" Project; HQ Trivia Game's Rise and Fall; Chris Rocks Addresses Oscar Slap. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired March 05, 2023 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00]

WALLACE: With Coach K and John Williams. You can catch their full interviews anytime you want on HBO Max. And join us next Sunday night here on CNN when my guests are the rising Democratic star, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and actress and business mogul, Jessica Alba.

Thank you for watching, and good night.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to this special 8:00 hour of the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

And we begin this hour with an emotional anniversary of a pivotal moment in American history, on a busy weekend when the race for the White House was taking shape. President Joe Biden was in Selma, Alabama, today for the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, and a speech before some of the country's most prominent civil rights leaders.

While outside Washington, a very different scene in a very different speech, as former President Donald Trump spoke to the Conservative Political Action Conference, vowing retribution in his words. And earlier today in California, the politician who could be Trump's biggest rival for the GOP nomination in 2024, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, speaking at the Ronald Reagan Library.

But we begin in Selma, Alabama, with Arlette Saenz.

Arlette, what can you tell us?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Jim, President Biden used the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, a historic moment in civil rights history, as an opportunity to renew his call for voting rights legislation. He spoke here to commemorate the 58th anniversary of Bloody Sunday. That moment where hundreds of activists marched across the Edmond Pettus Bridge in advancement of voting rights, and ultimately were beaten by many white police officers.

This served as such a significant moment in civil rights history, and ultimately led and galvanized the movement to get the Voting Rights Act signed into legislation, just months later. And the president in his speech here acknowledged that more work still needs to be done, and once again, made his case for voting rights protections to be enshrined into law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Selma is a reckoning. The right to vote, the right to vote, to have your vote counted is the threshold of democracy and liberty. With it, anything is possible. Without it, without that right, nothing is possible. And this fundamental right remains under assault. Conservative Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act over the years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now throughout his 2020 presidential campaign, President Biden did make voting rights legislation a centerpiece of many of his talking points. But so far, those efforts up on Capitol Hill have completely stalled. And many activists have become frustrated with the White House and members of Congress for not passing voting rights legislation.

Now in addition to pushing for voting rights bills here, while he was on the ground in Selma, Alabama, he also talked about the tornado that recently devastated this community. A tornado ripped through Selma, Alabama, back in January. If you drive through town, you can see the devastation that was wrought on businesses and buildings.

Both the president and the city's mayor talked about the need for the community to continue to come together to recover in the wake of that incident. But now, his focus really here in Selma, Alabama, was trying to push for voting rights legislation and also remind the country that this is a moment, Bloody Sunday, that should not be erased from American history and that it is something that people can still learn from -- Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Arlette, thank you very much.

Turning to Donald Trump's speech last night at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and as often the case with the former president, the speech was full of half-truths, lies, and some absolute whoppers.

CNN's Daniel Dale joins me now.

And Daniel, the speech lasted almost two hours and you've been sifting through it. We won't be able to get through all of the falsehoods in this segment. But let's play some clips and then have you fact-check Trump's claims. Here's the first on job creation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: We had the greatest job history of any president ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Daniel, fact or fiction?

DANIEL DALE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolute fiction, Jim. Mr. Trump has the single worst net jobs record of a presidential term, those four years, losing 2.7 million jobs. Now I think you can fairly say, well, we had a COVID-19 pandemic. But even if you just go to the three and a bit years before the pandemic, Mr. Trump's record is middling, middle of the pack. There were about 6.7 million jobs gained. That's nowhere even close to the actual record for a term, which is 11.5 million jobs in Democratic President Bill Clinton's first term.

ACOSTA: And Trump covered a lot of ground, as he often does, including this claim about the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Germany. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I got along very well with Putin, even though I'm the one that ended his pipeline. Remember, they said, Trump is giving a lot to Russia. Really?

[20:05:01]

Putin actually said to me, if you're my friend, I'd hate like hell to see you as my enemy. Because I ended the pipeline. Do you remember? Nord Stream 2. But I ended it. It was dead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Daniel, what's your fact check on that one?

DALE: He didn't end it. It was not dead. He did impose sanctions on companies working on this pipeline, but that didn't come until nearly three years, Jim, into his presidency. Now, those sanctions did slow down the project, but still under President Trump, Russia, the Russian state-owned company that is behind this pipeline said, fine, you sanction those companies, we're going to do it ourselves.

And they announced with about a month and a half left in Trump's presidency that they were going to resume construction, and with a few days left in Trump's presidency, Germany announced that it was granting another permit for constructions in its waters. So Trump may have slowed down Nord Stream 2, but did not kill it.

ACOSTA: And Daniel, let's turn to Mexico and the wall. Always guaranteed to fire up the MAGA base, sort of MAGA catnip for his supporters. Let's listen to what Trump told the crowd last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: As you know, I built hundreds of miles of wall and completed that task, as promised, and then I began to add even more in areas that seemed to be allowing a lot of people to come in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Daniel, I think I know the answer to this because the wall was not finished.

DALE: The wall, Jim, was not finished. The president basically or the former president basically did the fact check for me. He said, we finished it, and then we built some more. Doesn't make sense and we know from an official report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection two days after Trump left office, they said, 458 miles of wall had been completed under Trump, but about 280 more miles that had been identified for wall construction had not been completed.

So, Jim, nowhere even close to done.

ACOSTA: And Trump also mocked a movement for social justice, especially some of the unrest that occurred in Minneapolis after the murder of George Floyd by police in 2020. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But we saved Minneapolis. The thing is, we're not supposed to do that because it's up to the governor, the Democrat governor. They never want any help. They don't mind -- it's almost like they don't mind to have their cities and states destroyed. There's something wrong with these people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Daniel, I'm going to take a wild guess where this one falls in your fact checking.

DALE: Trump has been saying this since 2020. And it is a reversal of reality, Jim. He says the Democratic governor didn't do anything, so he had to take action. In fact it was Democratic Governor Tim Walls who himself activated the Minnesota National Guard amid this unrest. And he told CNN back in 2020 that he did so at the request of the Democratic mayors of Minneapolis in St. Paul.

Now Trump did demand that Minnesota activate the National Guard, but in fact Walls had already done so seven hours earlier, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. Daniel Dale, we knew you would be busy last night. I suspect you'll be busy in the days and weeks and months to come.

Daniel, thanks so much.

Let's discuss all of this with former top aide to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, Kevin Madden, and Miles Taylor, former chief of staff to Trump Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.

Kevin, let me go to you first. I'll put aside the fact-challenged speech from the former president for a moment, but President Biden referenced the need to teach all of this nation's history in Selma earlier today. It had kind of a campaign theme to it, I think.

Let's listen to it and talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BIDEN: The truth matters, notwithstanding what the other team is trying to hide. They're trying to hide the truth. No matter how hard some people try, we can't just choose to learn what we want to know and not what we should know. We should learn everything, the good, the bad, the truth of who we are as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Kevin, that seems like a not-so-thinly-veiled shot at the discussion over what is being taught in schools, especially this debate over critical race theory. What do you think?

KEVIN MADDEN, FORMER TOP AIDE TO MITT ROMNEY'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN: Yes. It's a direct contrast with some leaders on the right who are increasingly wading in and trying to make a feature or a centerpiece of many of their arguments about their candidacies or the challenges to the Biden presidency on cultural issues. And, you know, I think what Biden is doing is signaling that he's ready to have that fight and wants to have that fight and believes it's a contrast he can win.

I think he does get into some dangerous territory or some problematic political rhetoric when he starts talking about teams. Because one of the things that helped Biden win in 2020 was that he was seen as a uniter, somebody who could appeal to the big middle of the electorate. But he does seem to be relishing that with a potential DeSantis candidacy or a rerun of a Trump candidacy.

ACOSTA: Well, and to that point, Miles, at almost the same time today, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was in Southern California, also touched on education. Let's listen to that.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: In the state of Florida, we're proud to stand for education, not indoctrination in our schools.

What is the purpose of having a school system? You know, the left thinks the purpose is to use your tax dollars and use public institutions to impose an ideological agenda, to foment political activism and advance, quote-unquote, "social justice."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Miles, I mean, it's interesting. Apparently also in the speech, DeSantis talked about what he called the woke mind virus infecting the left and other institutions. I mean, he is really -- he's running with this as an issue heading into the 2024 campaign. He hasn't announced whether he's going to run for the presidency. But following up on Trump's speech last night, it really does sound like he's test driving some themes.

MILES TAYLOR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO DHS SECRETARY NIELSEN: Yes, I mean, look, I think the worst-kept secret out there in the presidential race, the early presidential race, Jim, that Ron DeSantis is looking to run for office. I think it's very likely we see him announce in the next few months.

What's most striking to me, though, when I see him speak on the trail is really the Trumpification of his rhetoric. I mean, when I worked with DeSantis, when he was a member of the House and I was a staffer, he was a very different guy back then. A much more moderate guy, moderate in tone and policy positions.

And what you see from him or Nikki Haley or Mike Pompeo or these other presidential aspirants is much more Trumpian rhetoric out there. Those words could easily have come out of the ex-president's mouth and they come out of, you know, Ron DeSantis' mouth.

I also think it's noteworthy that at CPAC, you had one of the aspirants, Nikki Haley, heckled out of the event by Trump supporters. So yes, the ex-president is going to be challenged in his quest to reclaim the presidency. But make no mistake, this is still Donald Trump's party because they're speaking his language.

ACOSTA: Yes, Kevin, it's almost as though these other potential challengers or sometimes announced challengers are trying to challenge Trump with their own version of Trumpism. You know, it may be sort of presented in a different way. Ron DeSantis is running on more of these cultural issues. But Trump last night, let's talk about his speech, where he told supporters, I am, quote, "I am retribution." Not exactly that shining city on the hill.

MADDEN: Yes. I think this is emblematic of the fact that your most active base Republican leader who describes themselves as a conservative right now, this is how they define the conservative fight of the moment and of the future which is us versus them. You know, contrast between us and what they believe are the perceived excesses of the left. So many of these -- many of these candidates right now are really trying to sort of win that sub-primary on who could be strongest on fighting the left, taking the fight to the left, becoming a fighter.

You know, ultimately, they are trying to be another version of Trump and Trump has sort of mastered this. And one of the big challenges for them will be ultimately, if they're going to win a general election, they're going to have to be viewed as the more optimistic candidate or the candidate with a better vision for the future. So Trump, in trying to be a version of Trump, that's going to be somewhat problematic.

ACOSTA: And Miles, you worked in the Trump administration and I know you sharply departed from the former president on a whole host of things, what do you make of the speech that he gave last night? It was another one of these, you know, fests -- you know, one of these speeches where he just lies after lie after lie after lie. And then also talking about things like retribution. It almost sounds like he's going on a revenge tour.

Did you think that we would be in a position right now as a country where he would be essentially in the position right now of, for all intents and purposes, the frontrunner of the Republican Party?

TAYLOR: Well, unfortunately, yes, Jim. I'm always going to give it to you unfiltered. And I thought I had seen Donald Trump reach the heights of rhetorical excess, but we saw him last night say, I am your warrior, I am your justice, I am your retribution. I mean, it felt a little bit like the most recent Batman film where he says, I am vengeance 20 times.

And we can mock this guy, but look, he has a very, very, very realistic path back to the presidency. And if there's anything you've learned about Trump, it's that you have to take him at his word. And those watch words for this campaign will be retribution or revenge, both electorally and actually.

What do I mean by that? Well, electorally, they've largely purged the Republican Party of centrist and moderate Republicans in elections, but I say "actually," because a lot of people, myself included and other ex-Republicans, have literally been chased out of the party with intimidation and violence.

It's why I left and went and joined the Forward Party because the political extremism was getting so intense. And it's noteworthy that the ex-president focused so much in his comments in the speech and recently on Bushies, people who served in the Bush administration previously, because he looked back at his first term and sees those ex-Bush officials as having been a guardrail that kept him from doing what he wanted to, often illegal or unethical things.

[20:15:18]

And he wants to make sure there are not those people in the Republican Party any longer. And I've got say, he's been quite successful in making sure that that's the case.

ACOSTA: Yes, Kevin, I mean, if you look at the news coming out of the GOP field or the potential field today, former Maryland Governor Larry Hogan says he's not running for the nomination. He's concerned about having too many candidates in the mix that would ultimately lead to another Trump win. What do you make of that? I mean, I suppose there is some merit to that argument. But it also deprives Republican voters of having a moderate -- a fairly success moderate governor, Republican governor on the debate stage.

MADDEN: Yes. But, I mean, the idea for or the argument for a Hogan candidacy was probably pretty thin. I mean, we heard a lot of talk about, you know, the Trump version of the party versus the Reagan version of the party at CPAC. And if Ronald Reagan ran inside a Republican primary today, you know, he'd finish in the middle of the pack. That's the reality of where this party has gone and where really a lot of the base enthusiasm is.

So, you know, one of the big openings right now in the party for somebody who's not Trump is that if we look at Trump's speech, it was a lot of revisionism, it was a lot of talk about vengeance, but it was all a re-litigation of the past. And as we all know, anybody who's worked on a campaign, particularly presidential campaigns, they are always a contest for the future. And so if one of these candidates wants to go in and win the big middle and wants to win the sort of more optimistic vision for the future of the party, there is an opening.

Trump has left an opening. But right now, he still has a very, very tight hold on the most active base voters that matter in these primaries.

ACOSTA: But, Miles, I mean, just to close this out. I mean, one of the problems that we've seen up until this point, four other Republicans, and this happened back in 2016 to some extent. We didn't see it in 2020, and I guess it remains to be seen whether we'll see it in 2024 is that you have candidates like Nikki Haley, people like Mike Pompeo, sort of tiptoeing and tap dancing around the former president.

They don't want to take him on by name. And I just wonder, how does one win the Republican nomination without confronting Donald Trump in that sort of mano-a-mano fashion? I mean, it seems to me you're going to have to confront him at some point?

TAYLOR: Well, that's one of the deep, deep ironies here, Jim. One of the deep ironies is that these people have their own political ambitions to become president of the United States, but because they didn't stand up and say publicly what they actually believed privately, there's not much daylight between them and Donald Trump.

And I can tell you firsthand, I was there for conversations with Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo, and others, where they expressed deep disgust in private with Donald Trump. But they've done everything they can during that administration and afterwards to portray themselves as loyal lieutenants of the ex-president.

So that's probably going to be the biggest challenge for they and other aspirants during this campaign is drawing that distinction. And I want to echo what Kevin said, I really think this is not Ronald Reagan's party anymore. And Donald Trump for years -- I used to think it was narcissistic, that he would make fun of Ronald Reagan and say he was greater than Reagan or Abraham Lincoln, but I've come to the conclusion that he's right.

Neither of those ex-presidents, well, perhaps Lincoln, but Reagan didn't have people who literally worshiped him, were willing to die for him, were willing to overturn a free and fair election for him. Donald Trump did. And we cannot discount the significance of that going into the 2024 presidential campaign.

ACOSTA: Yes, I mean, there was certainly a lot of cult-like behavior on display at CPAC. I mean, there were hats and T-shirts that said "Trump Won" and so on, and this sort of departure from reality, you know, trend continues in that wing of the Republican Party right now.

Kevin Madden, Miles Taylor, we could go on all night like this, but we can't. But thanks very much for your time, guys. Really appreciate it.

MADDEN: Good to be with you.

ACOSTA: All right. Thank you.

Coming up, Norfolk Southern is facing new scrutiny after another train derailment in Ohio. What we know about what that second train was carrying. That's coming up.

And Donald Trump says an indictment would not stop him from running for president again. His former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen will be here in just a few moments to react.

And later, Chris Rock is finally speaking out about this moment. We all saw it. It was the slap heard around the world. Why he says he's not a victim.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:23:49]

ACOSTA: The EPA now says there is no environmental harm near Springfield, Ohio, after a Norfolk Southern train derailed there yesterday. This is the moment it happened. If you haven't seen this video, it is unbelievable to watch. The derailment prompted a temporary shelter in place for nearby residents, but it looks like they will avoid the kind of environmental and health dangers being experienced in East Palestine, Ohio, where another Norfolk Southern train of course derailed just one month ago.

CNN's Polo Sandoval joins me now.

Polo, what more are you learning about this new derailment that happened over the weekend, which I'm sure just really unsettled people in that area?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It certainly did, Jim, especially after what was experienced just a little over a month ago. But earlier today, I listened in as a Norfolk Southern official confirmed that the train that derailed yesterday was carrying hazardous materials, including propane and ethanol, except not in the train cars that actually derailed. Some 20 in all that actually left the rails out of the 212 that were being pulled from northern Ohio down to Birmingham, Alabama, when this happened in Springfield, Ohio, yesterday.

You could see, Jim, just a massive mess that's left behind. But fortunately, according to authorities, not a toxic mess. Nonetheless, that cleanup continues. Officials saying that there were very small amounts of industrial solutions that were in four tanker train cars that did derail, but did not pose a threat to the public.

[20:25:08]

You can sort of see here where both derailments that we've followed are. But I want you to hear as one local official basically assesses the situation and why what we saw yesterday in Springfield, Ohio, very different if you compare it to the situation in East Palestine from a little over a month ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ASST. CHIEF MATT SMITH, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO FIRE RESCUE DIVISION: We were just certain that there were only four tanker cars that were involved, and they were all empty at that time. There is residual in there, but very minor amounts. After the research, they did a recon of the site, found nothing that spilled on to the ground, and nothing -- very minimal material on the actual cars themselves, that actually dried very quickly. There is no spillage on to the ground or into the water ways at this time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Now certainly official there in Clark County recognize that even though this wasn't toxic disaster that East Palestine experienced, there are still some very serious questions that have to be answered in terms of the investigation because this train was transporting hazardous materials, and so it certainly could have been worse.

And those questions that were posed by the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, Jim, about what the industry is doing to prevent the hundreds of derailments that happen every year in this country.

ACOSTA: All right, Polo Sandoval, thank you very much. We'll keep an eye on that.

Coming up, the retribution candidate. That's how Donald Trump is pitching himself to voters while vowing a possible indictment won't stop him from running. Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, there he is. He'll join me live to talk about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:31:09]

ACOSTA: Donald Trump says he won't drop out of the race for the Republican nomination, even if he were to be indicted. The former president is involved in multiple federal and state investigations, of course. Georgia prosecutors are looking into his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss in that state. The Department of Justice is investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol, as well as Trump's handling of classified documents after he left office.

And joining me now is Trump's former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen. He's the author of revenge, how Donald Trump weaponized the U.S. Department of Justice against his critics and host of the "Mea Culpa" podcast.

Michael, great to see you. I mean, I guess there's really no surprise here that Trump is insisting an indictment will not stop him from running. I suppose, with his base, it will be like more catnip.

MICHAEL COHEN, TRUMP'S FORMER LAWYER: Yes, Jim, what that is, that's the Donald Trump fake tough guy talk, whereby, I don't care what anybody thinks that they're going to do to me. You could indict me, you could come after me, it's not going to sway me, and it's not going to prevent me from running. Unfortunately for Donald, what he doesn't seem to understand or maybe he does, he's just not trying to show it, is that nobody cares what he thinks.

Tish James, our, you know, unsinkable attorney general is continuing, and I believe they have voir dire starting at the end of this month. So he, despite whatever he thinks, is going to be involved in that litigation. On top of that, if Alvin Bragg decides to indict and move forward, he will be involved in that litigation, as well, whether or not he wants to again play, you know, his Truth Social tough guy.

On top of that, you have the January 6th hearings. And you have so many other litigations that are now pending against him. There's absolutely nothing that he could do about it. Nothing.

ACOSTA: Yes, well, let me ask you that, since you brought it up. You've been speaking with the Manhattan DA's office in the investigation of the payments aimed at covering up Trump's alleged affair with Stormy Daniels. How close do you think that case is to some kind of resolution? Maybe an indictment. Do you think that's soon?

COHEN: Yes, so, Jim, I don't want to acknowledge or, you know, disagree with your statement about what the district attorney is specifically looking at. Obviously, everybody knows about the hush money payment, but I don't suspect that that's the only thing that they're looking at.

I am going back again for additional prep, for grand jury prep. I am very confident, and I suspect that Alvin Bragg and his really fine team of prosecutors believe that there is enough within which to charge Donald Trump.

Now, again, that's Alvin Bragg's decision. I think that they finally see what Mark Pomerantz and Carey Dunne saw about a year ago. But, you know, now it's Alvin Bragg's term.

ACOSTA: Stay tuned, I guess.

COHEN: And right now things are moving very quickly over there.

ACOSTA: Yes.

COHEN: Stay tuned is right.

ACOSTA: All right. And I didn't mean to put you on the spot there, and I want to talk about CPAC because you used to go with Trump to CPAC. How surprising was it to see him winning that straw poll, giving the headliner speech, despite all these investigations into his actions before, during, and after his presidency? Did you think that he would be at this point right now?

COHEN: By the way, it's like going to a bingo parlor, you're the only one there, and hey, I won bingo. He's the only one that's there. I mean, other than Nikki Haley, who else has announced? You know, CPAC right now is not the CPAC of before when actually I think I saw you there and so many other people.

ACOSTA: Yes. COHEN: That place was packed, wall-to-wall people. If you look to see

Don's -- the Donald's speech that there, 60 percent of the room is completely void.

[20:35:06]

There's empty chairs everywhere. When I was there with him, there was standing room only. Now all of a sudden you're playing to probably 45 percent of what the general crowd is. This entire CPAC, like Matt Schlapp, like Dave Bossie and the whole rest of the crew, it's meaningless. It doesn't tell you anything. And the fact again that he won the straw poll is like, you know, he's the only guy at the bingo parlor and he wins. It doesn't mean anything.

ACOSTA: Got it. Well, and I mean, last time, but the speech last night, Michael, I mean, you've heard some of this rhetoric before, but it does seem to be ratcheted up. He's dubbing himself the candidate of retribution. That's what he said last night. What does that say to you?

COHEN: It says that, Jim, you and I could have a lot of problems if, in fact, this lunatic ends up becoming president again, which I'm still maintain -- I don't even think that Donald is going to get the nomination. Now I know everybody says, no, no, no, you know, he has such a strong hold over like 28 percent of the Republican Party.

What we're seeing right now is Donald Trump's popularity, believe it or not, it's decreasing on a steady basis. And there's more of these indictments, more of these charges continue to be mounted against him, and he starts to really feel the pressure of what's called accountability, I don't believe that Donald is going to be the nominee. And I think that you're going to see somebody new come out of the woodwork and I think that's who you're going to see a lot of support coming for. Right now, yes, it's just Donald.

ACOSTA: Yes, quick follow-up, though, on that, Michael, and that is, we saw one potential candidate, Larry Hogan, the former governor of Maryland, say he's not going to run. It does look as though this is going to be a smaller field than we've seen in years past. It sounds -- if you look at what Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo were doing at CPAC, not really calling out Trump by name, sort of tip-toeing around, where are the candidates who are just going to go up and confront Trump face-to-face? It's just not happening at this point. Doesn't that make it easier for him to win the nomination?

COHEN: To the contrary, the fewer people that are there in that race, the better the chances are that that individual wins these specific states. The more people that are in, the more it gets divided. And it's a winner take all.

Now the thing with Larry Hogan, I bet most of your viewers, they say, well, who's Larry Hogan? Most of them have no idea who he is. The guy had no name recognition. Wait until you start to see down the road, as they get closer to the nomination process, you'll start to see better named, better recognized named people start to enter the race. And again, I still feel very confident that all of these indictment and charges, though Donald will definitely want to be the nominee, because he'll then make the claim that you can't come after him.

He's the presidential candidate, despite the fact that that doesn't exonerate him or prevent the litigation from continuing.

ACOSTA: All right. Michael Cohen, you've got a point there, and we'll be talking about that I'm sure in the days and weeks and months to come because that is not going anywhere.

Michael Cohen, great t to see you again, as always. Thanks so much.

COHEN: Great to see you, too, Jim, always.

ACOSTA: Appreciate it. All right. Coming up, police in Atlanta are responding to demonstrations at the future site of a controversial training facility. The latest on this developing situation, next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:42:41]

ACOSTA: Atlanta police are responding to what they're calling demonstrations at the location of their future training center. The 85-acre site has been a magnet for protesters worried about the project's impact on nearby forest lands, among other concerns.

And CNN's Isabel Rosales is following this and joins me on the phone.

Isabel, what are you seeing right now?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via phone): Hey, good evening to you, Jim. It is tough to get a firsthand look at what exactly is happening around here. And that's because law enforcement has absolutely locked this down. This is the site of the future safety training facility for both police and firefighters. So what I'm seeing around me is a rather large police presence. Police cars with their lights on.

And they blocked off this large swath of area here, by the site of that future safety training facility. It appears to also be a police helicopter making its rounds up above, SWAT vehicles we've seen going past. And we have video from our affiliate WXIA, where we can see large plumes of smoke and that large police presence, too.

We are working to get more details as to what is happening here. We have a statement from Atlanta Police Department saying we are aware of the current events unfolding near the new public safety training center. Please give us time to gather information. We will have information for you soon.

So, Jim, all of this comes off the week of action, which started just yesterday by organizers here, really activists that call themselves Defender of the Forest. It's seven days of events designed to drawn attention to the "Stock Cop City" movement. So a protest, a rally. They've done guided tours. A portion of the nearby forest area where activists have been really camping out for over a year and protests of this project that they have dubbed "Cop City."

Back in 2021, Atlanta City Council, they authorized the plan to build a giant state of the art training center, $90 million. It's for the city's police and fire departments, 85-acre complex. That would be one of the largest in the U.S., with classrooms, a mock city, a driving course, a shooting range, but activists they call this an urban warfare training center.

Jim, we are working to get more details and to figure out and nail down what is happening here.

[20:45:02]

ACOSTA: OK. Thank you very much, Isabel Rosales, for that update. We appreciate it.

Still ahead, Chris Rock is finally addressing this infamous moment. The Oscar slap. He's being brutally honest and quite funny about what he thinks of Will Smith now. You're going to want to watch this next live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Before Wordle or spelling bee, almost everyone with a mobile device was playing HQ Trivia. The new CNN Film, "GLITCH: THE RISE AND FALL OF HQ TRIVIA" reveals the crazy story behind the revolutionary game show app. It went viral then crashed and burned in record time. Here's a preview.

[20:50:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT ROGOWSKY, COMEDIAN AND FORMER HOST, "HQ TRIVIA LIVE": This is HQ, I'm Scott the host.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: HQ Trivia was everywhere.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You could actually win real money.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just got so popular. The app is not ready to work. And it crashes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that's when the cracks started showing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rus and Colin were polar opposites.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was jealousy.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It leads to chaos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Joining us now the original host of HQ Trivia, Scott Rogowsky, aka, the Quiz Daddy.

ACOSTA: Scott, it's tough to overstate how --

ROGOWSKY: That's right. Good evening, Jim.

ACOSTA: Good to see you. It's tough to overstate how quickly this app took off. I mean, I remember it. People were playing it. It was kind of crazy there for a second. It started off with a couple hundred players in August 2017, hit more than -- how many, two million daily?

ROGOWSKY: 2.4, 2.5.

ACOSTA: Visitors?

ROGOWSKY: Yes, it was a lot.

ACOSTA: Wow. And why did people love it so much?

ROGOWSKY: It was a lot. In a short amount of time. Well, I think it took something that was a classic format, right, like "The Quiz Show," which have been around since 1930s radio days and updated it for the modern age, which means mobile, on your phone, live, interactive. You had to tune in, and we're giving away money. That helps, too, right? Instead of just watching a game show, you could participate in the game show, be a contestant yourself, and win some cash.

ACOSTA: And you were the face of this phenomenon. What was that like for you?

ROGOWSKY: I mean, it was wild. I had been a struggling, underemployed comedian in New York City for about 12, 13 years, just trying to do my thing. And I get this audition and it really changed my life. What can I say? All of a sudden I'm getting recognized when I'm just walking around Soho, having lunch with my cousin, I'm getting recognized. And people dressing as me for Halloween. I'm being asked to speak at these events and conferences and people screaming for me. It was like -- I felt like Justin Bieber for a couple of months there.

ACOSTA: Wow. That's got to be a good feeling. And I hesitate --

ROGOWSKY: Yes. Yes.

ACOSTA: I hesitate to do this, but my producers are putting me up to this. I understand you actually have a couple of HQ-style trivia questions for us. I am probably going to get all of them wrong, but fire away, I think.

ROGOWSKY: You're not a trivia guy? I mean, OK.

ACOSTA: I am a good trivia guy, but I feel like I'm going to lose. But anyway. We can try.

ROGOWSKY: Well, you're a proud dog daddy, as am I. So here's a question about dog breeds. What was the most popular dog breed in America in 2021? The golden retriever, the French bulldog, or the Labrador retriever.

ACOSTA: Gosh. I want to say the French bulldog but I -- ROGOWSKY: What kind of dog you have?

ACOSTA: I have a beagle, a rescue beagle. His name is Duke, he's wonderful.

ROGOWSKY: Yes, me too.

ACOSTA: I'm going to say golden retriever.

ROGOWSKY: Golden, classic. My neighbors had them growing up, but it's the Labrador retriever. You're halfly right. We'll give you a half point there. French bulldog was number two.

ACOSTA: OK.

ROGOWSKY: Let's try a D.C. sports question, Jim, because you're a D.C. sports fanatic there.

ACOSTA: OK. Oh, man.

ROGOWSKY: So the Washington football team recently changed names. Which one of these was not considered for the new name of that Washington football team? The Red Hogs, the Chairmen, or the Armada. They had eight finalists. Two of these were on the list. One was nowhere to be found.

ACOSTA: Chairmen not considered.

ROGOWSKY: The Washington Chairmen? Yes, that wouldn't be a fun football team. You're right, Jim. You got that right, baby. Congratulations.

ACOSTA: It's hard enough to root for these guys. I mean, if you called them the chairmen, it would be even worse.

ROGOWSKY: Yes. That's a fair point.

ACOSTA: Well, Scott, it's been great talking to you. We could do these trivia questions all night. I'm so glad I got one of them right. But I'm looking forward to this documentary. Thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

ROGOWSKY: Yes. We got about 10 minutes here. We've got to go to the watch party here.

ACOSTA: Sounds good.

ROGOWSKY: We start soon.

ACOSTA: All right. We'll be watching. Best of luck to you. Thanks so much.

ROGOWSKY: All right, see you. Thanks.

ACOSTA: Take care. All right, now the all-new CNN Film "GLITCH: THE RISE AND FALL OF HQ

TRIVIA" premieres tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific right here on CNN.

Up next, in the meantime, turning to other news, a very special tribute to Tyre Nichols commemorating his love of photography. We're going to talk about that in a few moments.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:56:42]

ACOSTA: One year later, Chris Rock is finally speaking out about that slap by Will Smith at the Oscars. On the stand-up's special streamline or stream I should say on Netflix the comedian addressed the infamous moment and how he feels about Will Smith now and CNN's Chloe Melas joins me now.

Chloe, I'm feeling a little punchy after all anchoring this weekend, but you know what, we're at the end here, we saved the best for last. We have you here.

Chris Rock, I mean, he's been silent about this or nearly silent about this for all this time. But he came out with this hilarious special last night. I saw some of the clips and read some of the quotes. Hysterical.

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Jim, I was just talking to CNN's Marian Garvie, and she said, it is Chris Rock at his absolute best. And you better believe he saved it for the end. But as you say, saved the best for last, after about two hours, everybody got what they paid for, what they came to hear. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ROCK, COMEDIAN: You all know what happened to me. Getting smacked by Suge Smith. It still hurts. I got summertime ringing in my ear. I love Will Smith. My whole life, I loved this (EXPLETIVE DELETED). My whole life I root for this (EXPLETIVE DELETED). OK? And now, I watch "Emancipation" just to see him get whooped.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELAS: I mean, he says a lot more than just that, Jim. But, you know, I think that --

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: That's the one we could play on TV, I guess.

MELAS: I know. Well, look, I mean, there's a lot in there, and I will say that like he touches on Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith, how, you know, she had an affair, and how he says in the stand-up that Jada hurt Will more than Will hurt me, and he gets pretty deep into this. And this goes on and on. And you know, the two of them did a red table talk together and they have been open about, you know, the issues in their marriage.

And I think the big question is, will Will Smith and Chris Rock reconcile or, you know, is Chris going to continue to maybe sort of like use this to his advantage professionally because no doubt, even though he is a major comedian, one of the most famous in the world, you know, it obviously has evaluated his professional career in the last year, you know, but, obviously, what happened was really awful.

And many people think that Chris has handled himself with grace and really, really been classy about the entire thing. And I have to agree, but I don't know if we're going to see Chris Rock sitting down with Oprah anytime soon. He said in the stand-up that that's just not something that he would ever do.

ACOSTA: No, I don't think we're going to see that in his future. But funny stuff from Chris Rock. He goes there right to the edge and over it. And it was a lot of fun to watch.

All right, Chloe Melas, thanks as always. We appreciate it.

And a different kind of remembrance is paying tribute to Tyre Nichols, the 29-year-old black man who died in January brutally beaten by police officers in Memphis, Tennessee. One of Nichols' passions was photography, a love he shared online, but never in a formal exhibition. But starting this weekend, the organization Desert X is displaying a billboard installation of Nichols' photos along the Gene Autry Trail in California bringing his dream of sharing his art to reality. And some beautiful images there. Tyre Nichols, his work on display.

That's the news. Reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta. I'll see you next year -- next weekend, I should say. The new CNN Film "GLITCH: THE RISE AND FALL OF HQ TRIVIA" starts right now. See you.