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Manhunt Underway After Four Killed Near Atlanta; More Than 85 Million Americans Under Heat Alerts; Interview With Rep. Steven Horsford (D-NV); Belarus: Wagner Fighters Now Training Troops; Source: Escaped Pennsylvania Inmate Michael Burham Captured; Unions Demand Artificial Intelligence Protections. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 15, 2023 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:36]

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

We do begin this hour with breaking news coming out of suburban Atlanta. At least four people are dead in the city of Hampton and right now, a shooter is on the loose. Officials calling him armed and dangerous.

Officials are offering a $10,000.00 award leading to the capture of the suspect and CNN's Polo Sandoval is following this for us.

Polo, what do we know?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jim, this is an ongoing manhunt for a mass shooting suspect that's unfolding currently about 30 miles south of the city of Atlanta in the city of Hampton. The local sheriff there, the Henry County sheriff identifying the suspect that they're trying to track down as Andre Longmore, a Hampton resident.

This is a photo that investigators released just earlier this afternoon. A man believed to be in his early 40s and believed to be responsible for the deaths of at least four Hampton residents.

Detectives believe that he opened fire shortly after about 10:45 this morning shooting and killing those people, three men and one woman and then fled, so investigators are trying to track him down.

Now, first question, a possible motive. The local police chief says that it's still too early to say. However, he was also asked if there is a possible connection between the suspect and any of the four victims and the chief saying at this point, he does not believe that to be the case. Though it's still extremely preliminary.

They're currently looking for him. He was last seen aboard a 2017 black GMC Acadia with a Georgia plates DHF 756. I want you to hear directly from the Henry County sheriff as he shared a message tonight with the community, but also aimed directly at the suspect that they're trying to find right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHERIFF REGINALD SCANDRETT, HENRY COUNTY, GEORGIA: This is an all

hands on deck movement to make sure that we place Mr. Andre Longmore in custody.

The Henry County sheriff's office is also offering a $10,000.00 reward for any information leading to the arrest and apprehension and prosecution of Mr. Longmore.

If you see Mr. Longmore, please call 911. Do not approach him because he is known to be armed and dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Sheriff Scandrett there certainly hoping that that reward will encourage anybody to offer any sort of information in terms of his whereabouts, though certainly discouraging any member of the public from actually approaching him. As you just heard Jim, he is armed and extremely dangerous.

It is certainly devastating for this community, just south of Atlanta. In fact, the mayor there starting a press conference earlier this afternoon, holding a prayer calling today, "an extremely sad and somber day for her community," now the latest community struck by gun violence as the man continues -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes. We cover these mass shootings all too often here on the weekends.

Polo Sandoval, thank you very much for that.

Let's talk more about this with the director of Forensic Science Program at George Mason University, Mary Ellen O'Toole. She is also a former senior FBI special agent and profiler.

Mary, can you take us through what investigators are likely doing right now as Polo was just saying a few moments ago. The suspect is on the loose, he is presumed to be armed and dangerous at this point.

MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, RETIRED FBI SPECIAL AGENT PROFILER: Certainly, yes.

So what they're doing, they have multiple people working on the case. They have a forensic team that's assigned to collect evidence at the different crime scenes. I understand there may be as many as four.

So they also have -- they are probably putting together or calling out their tactical teams as well, to make sure that they are ready to go if they need them. And what they're looking for from the investigative team is was this a mass shooting or was this more of a spree shooting because that would determine some of the motive for this crime.

So were these victims targeted? Were they more victims of opportunity?

When you see a spree murder, oftentimes you see that in domestic violence cases where the offender shoots the partner and then goes on to shoot the in-laws and other family members, so it's unclear exactly what the circumstances are, but there will be multiple groups of people taking charge of different parts of the investigation.

[18:05:10]

And this is particularly difficult because you still have the offender out there, and while they are probably considering he may have suicided, they can't exactly say at this point that that's the case or not.

ACOSTA: Yes, and Mary Ellen O'Toole, I mean, one thing that the authorities apparently said just a short while ago is that they can't tell the public everything that they know about this case, because they may be working some angles, that perhaps they don't want getting out there on the airwaves at this point, you know that tactic all too well.

Let's talk about the major arrest of the series of cold case murders up in New York, known as the Gilgo Four.

A 59-year-old Manhattan architect, Rex Heuermann, he is now in custody charged in connection with three of the four murders. I guess, what was your reaction to this arrest when you heard about it, because it is -- it is always something remarkable, something to note when a cold case of this magnitude, potentially has been solved.

O'TOOLE: Yes, when I saw it starting to appear on the news yesterday, law enforcement seemed to be very confident about what was happening, and that usually suggests that they've got some powerful evidence.

And when you use the term powerful evidence, you're talking about DNA evidence, circumstantial evidence, to effect an arrest like this would not be happening.

So I knew at that point, they had strong physical evidence, and that could only come by using current technology, current forensic technology applied to old evidence, and that suggests that they had been working on this very aggressively for quite some time, and in fact, that's the case.

ACOSTA: And the taskforce allegedly found hundreds of searches relating to the Gilgo Beach murders on Heuermann's computer, as well as what's described as torture porn. Authorities say he also compulsively searched for pictures of the victims and their relatives in order to locate them.

From your experience, how unusual is the suspect's profile? I mean, those are some details that are very disturbing.

O'TOOLE: Yes. I know it may appear to be unusual, but when you're talking about a serial sexual killer, someone that murders other people for sexual gratification, these are the cases where the offender follows their case in the media, no matter how old it is.

So the word of compulsion is actually a very accurate word, so he wanted to monitor the investigation, that's number one. But number two, he also wanted to more than likely relive the case and relive the experiences, and I think that's what was behind the follow-up phone calls to one of the members of the victim's families in order to hear the fear and the sense of being distraught on the other end of the telephone. Those all gave him a sense of excitement and sometimes even sexual excitement, so he was reliving these cases, despite how old they were.

ACOSTA: Wow. That is frightening to hear.

All right, well, Mary Ellen O'Toole, we always enjoy your insights. Appreciate it very much. Thanks for your time. Good talking to you.

O'TOOLE: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. In the last hour, police in Fargo, North Dakota held a press conference after three of their officers were shot on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF DAVID ZIBOLSKI, FARGO POLICE: For no known reason at all, a violent gunman attacked our officers firing multiple rounds, striking three of them, two of them critical in stable condition and one of them deceased.

This is -- it is an unconscionable act. It's hard to fathom. It's unbelievable that something like this would happen in our community. Many of us think a lot of stuff can happen and does happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Authorities say the suspect, a 37-year-old military veteran named , Mohamad Barakat died after a police officer shot and killed him.

Today, police and first responders paid respects to their fallen officers with a procession. You're looking at right there, that started outside the emergency room and ended along an interstate highway. You can see the long line of cars there in that video.

Now to the extreme heat across much of the United States. Nearly 100 million Americans are under heat alerts today. Look at this graphic here, and you can see the map. It tells the story.

It is all happening, a lot of is happening in the Southwest United States. Cities like Phoenix are roasting and scorching triple-digit temperatures and it may even get worse in the days ahead.

Right now, the temperature has reached 115 degrees at the airport in Phoenix, that means Phoenix has hit at least 110 degrees for the past 16 days. The streak that is expected to continue until at least Wednesday and our Mike Valerio is in Valencia, California about a half hour north of LA.

[18:10:08]

Mike, you're at a waterpark there which is good for those folks there, but a lot of folks who can't get to the water are just baking this weekend. What can you tell us?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I can tell you, Jim, that because we are 30 miles away from the coastline where it is right now a cool 70 degrees, if you can believe that, we just hit 103 here and oh, look at that, we're down to 102. So maybe we have hit the peak, but that is why we have so many families who have come here to Six Flags Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor.

And as we push in to show you what's happening at this hour, you know Six Flags, Jim, cannot just open as if this is a normal day. They have to hire up under the mushroom fountains right there, the glorious tableau that you see right there, people are being watched or being cared for by no fewer than two dozen lifeguards, a dozen first responders and medical professionals who are spread between the roller coaster section of the theme park outside of our field of view and the waterpark right here. They also have an ambulance on standby, a heat emergency plan to keep people safe.

Also, Jim, I thought it was so fascinating. You know, when we got here before the crack of dawn, we started talking to personnel at Six Flags and they told us that in recent years, they've made a conscious effort to cool down portions of the park, to create shadier areas to cool down portions of the park and people visiting in case God forbid, they succumb to heat-related illnesses or injuries.

Listen to what we heard on that front.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX FRENCH, PARK SUPERINTENDENT, SIX FLAGS HURRICANE HARBOR: We've added different shade structures. We have tons of umbrellas and tables for people to go around, keep cool, and just take a break from, you know the direct sunlight, take a break from their day, enjoy something to eat, enjoy something to drink and just keep on going that way they don't have any issues throughout the rest of the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: No injuries reported as of this late afternoon hour. We're also watching for the potential for fire danger. There were three wildfires about 90 miles southeast of here in Riverside County that erupted late last night early into this morning.

Some evacuation orders, Jim had been rolled back which is certainly good news, but we will be watching that this evening into tomorrow -- Jim.

ACOSTA: Mike Valerio, thank you very much.

Coming up, the national defense bill passed the House, with it a slew of controversial amendments. Why this massive piece of legislation is already a flashpoint.

Plus, we're learning much more about the fallout from the Wagner mutiny, where the mercenary fighters are now according to reports. And later on, in this program a stunning and historic victory in the

women's singles final at Wimbledon, all the action is coming up ahead live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:53]

ACOSTA: During this week's battle on the House floor over the must pass defense spending bill, there was an amendment to prohibit the Defense Department from requiring diversity training. The amendment offered by Arizona Republican congressman, Eli Crane was under debate when this happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ELI CRANE (R-AZ): My amendment has nothing to do with whether or not colored people or Black people or anybody can serve, okay? It has nothing to do with the color of your skin --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Speaker --

CRANE: Any of that stuff.

REP. JOYCE BEATTY (R-OH): I'd like to be recognized to have the words "colored people" stricken from the record. I find it offensive and very inappropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: That rebuke came from Ohio congresswoman, Joyce Beatty and then Crane, we should say later apologized and offered this when he said: "In a heated floor debate on my amendment that would prohibit discrimination on the color of one's skin in the Armed Forces, I misspoke. Every one of us is made in the image of God and created equal," from the congressman there.

Joining us now with more on this, Nevada congressman, Steven Horsford, a Democrat and chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. What did you make -- I mean, first, the congressman from Arizona making that remark on the House floor during this debate over the defense authorization bill -- appropriation bill, and then his apology afterwards.

What did you make of all of that? What what's going on?

REP. STEVEN HORSFORD (D-NV): Well, Jim, thank you for having me on. I'm here in Orlando, Florida at a Democracy for the People event, talking to constituents with the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, about the issues that matter from voting rights to the courts to our schools.

But what that member did, Representative Crane from Arizona was unbecoming. It was unprofessional, it was insensitive. The word itself has vestiges of racism. For that word to be used on the House floor in 2023 is unconscionable.

While he may have publicly acknowledged his error, he still has not personally apologized to the member, Representative Joyce Beatty that it was directed towards or the body.

And look, Representative Crane and people like Senator Tuberville have proven time and time again why the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion training is actually needed in this moment.

As Secretary Lloyd Austin said of the Department of Defense, our diversity is our strength. We have over 40 percent of our service members who are individuals of color and so, to have this resource within the Pentagon is something that is important to our servicemembers, it is important to our national security and it's unfortunate that the extreme faction of the Republican Congress chose to use this as a wedge issue against our military.

[15:20:03]

ACOSTA: And I mean, do you accept the Congressman's apology?

HORSFORD: Well, he hasn't given that apology directly to the body or to the member that it was targeted to, but the larger point is, it's not about any one individual, it is about the vestiges of why they are using woke as a wedge issue.

Look, if you're against people of color being in the military, just say it. If you're against us having representation in the private sector, just say it. But it's time out for using these issues to divide us, rather than to bring us together as a nation.

ACOSTA: Well, and you mentioned Republican senator, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and what he was saying earlier on in the week when he was defending the use of the term "White nationalism," and I was talking to one of your Democratic colleagues in the previous hour, and I was asking her and I'll ask you the same question whether or not these two episodes highlight something that perhaps the American people aren't aware, that there are these kinds of attitudes floating around up on Capitol Hill, more so than we realize. What's your sense of that?

HORSFORD: Senator Tuberville is using a Jim Crow era tradition of the Senate, which is a blue slip to uphold the conformation of hundreds -- hundreds -- of military nominees who are essential to our national security.

These are highly qualified people. These are people who should be in their position. It is the first time in 164 years that the Marine Corps has not had a commandant confirmed by the Senate. We currently have an acting person in that role.

Unfortunately, this is why the Congressional Black Caucus had to call on Chairman Durbin to reform the blue slip process, not only for the military, but for federal judges, and other important positions, because it's past time, it's long past time, for these types of traditions, which have a history and segregation and Jim Crow to still be used in the United States Senate in 2023. We've called for that to end or to be drastically reformed and we're

hoping that Chairman Durbin will take us up on that request.

ACOSTA: And this defense bill has been described as dead on arrival in the Senate, but it goes to the Senate where Democrats are expected to strip out these hot button issues that were attached to it. It still has to go back to the House, and I guess I'm curious if some of those provisions somehow are left in the legislation coming out of the Senate, coming back to the House, is there any chance that you would vote for that? Do you think the vast majority of Democrats would have any hope of supporting that piece of legislation?

Or might we end up in a situation where this defense spending bill is really just held up for months on end because of these kinds of attachments, these kinds of amendments that have been added to it?

HORSFORD: Yes, not only are they trying to defund diversity, equity, and inclusion, but they are denying servicemembers access to reproductive justice. Servicemembers who do not have a choice in where they're deployed, and if they happen to be deployed to a state, like Florida where I am at today with Representative Maxwell or Texas where they're now trying to take these rights away, those servicemembers don't have a choice.

So yes, the Senate does have to act to correct these most extreme provisions that now have been advanced. It's unfortunate that Speaker McCarthy allowed the far-right faction to take over this bill.

This is the first time, Jim that I've not been able to vote for the National Defense Authorization Act. I have four military installations in my district in Nevada. I support providing funding to our military and their ability to have the resources and the tools, but not when it includes these wedge issues that are against people's fundamental right to health care, reproductive justice, or that defund and erode diversity and equity, which is a strength within our military, not a weakness.

ACOSTA: And I want to get your thoughts on some new reporting that we have over here at CNN that secretaries of State in Pennsylvania and New Mexico have testified to that special counsel grand jury investigating Trump's actions after the 2020 election.

What did you make of that? I know Nevada was another state that had the issue of fraudulent electors, phony electors being advanced to try to overturn the election results. That was something that you encountered in your state.

I guess, what is your sense of how this investigation is proceeding over there at the Justice Department?

[18:25:10]

HORSFORD: Well, I want to commend the attorney general and the special prosecutor for doing their job, but this is why we're here in Orlando, having a forum with constituents to talk about the attacks on democracy. This is not only about the former president, and those who were

involved in overturning a duly elected election, or to deny the voters the results of that election by not upholding the electoral process.

You know, I was there on January 6 at the US Capitol. It was not just an attack on our building, it was an attack on the foundations of our democracy, which are our schools, it's the courts, and it is the most important and most fundamental right, which is our right to vote, that's why the Congressional Black Caucus, our members are working to pass the voting -- John R. Lewis Voting Rights Enhancement Act. It's the first time in 40 years that Republicans have not worked with us to reauthorize that. These are the cornerstones of our democracy.

We'll be talking to constituents here later about what they have, their role and their power in ensuring that we continue to uphold our democracy at a time that it's under attack, not just the last election, but the elections to come.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman, Steven Horsford, thanks very much for your time. We appreciate it.

HORSFORD: Thank you, Jim, for having me on.

ACOSTA: All right.

Thank you. Coming up, just weeks after staging a rebellion, members of the Wagner Mercenary Group are said to be training the troops of the Kremlin's closest ally. We'll talk about that next, you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:05]

ACOSTA: It has been three weeks since Russian mercenary organization, the Wagner Group's attempted mutiny in Moscow. In the aftermath, many Wagner fighters were granted amnesty and given the chance to live in Belarus. Now, the Belarusian government says that some Wagner fighters have begun training its troops.

CNN's Alex Marquardt reports on the latest fallout from the Wagner rebellion.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Jim, some Wagner fighters are now in Belarus having come in from Russia. That's according to the Ukrainian state border guard that issued a statement on Saturday. We had heard from the Belarusian Ministry of Defense that had also said that Wagner fighters were in their country and training some of their soldiers.

But the Pentagon says that the majority of the Wagner mercenaries who took part in that failed insurrection on June 24, that they're back in Russian occupied Ukraine, but not really do anything, not taking part in the fighting against Ukrainian forces.

Meanwhile, it does appear that Russian President Vladimir Putin is trying to weaken Wagner and weaken its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, splitting him from his men. He said in a remarkable interview to a Russian newspaper, Kommersant, that Wagner simply doesn't exist.

He appeared to be trying to make two points. One that legally speaking mercenary groups are not allowed in Russia, but also that Wagner as we've known it as a fighting force in Ukraine no longer exists.

This is the quote in the newspaper: "We do not have a law for private military organizations. It simply does not exist." The group exists, but legally it does not exist, which of course Jim is rather confusing.

Putin then goes on to detail a remarkable meeting that took place five days after the insurrection at the Kremlin, which Yevgeny Prigozhin is getting a promotion attended along with around three dozen of his commanders. Putin told the men that they could keep fighting in the Russian military under their current commander if they wanted to.

And when they started nodding, according to Putin, that's when Prigozhin piped up saying no, the guys do not agree with this decision. So apparently an open disagreement by Prigozhin to Putin.

Meanwhile, here in Ukraine, the counteroffensive is continuing making some progress according to Ukrainian officials, but moving very slowly. We have spoken with soldiers at the front, a general who is in charge of much of this southern front and we've also heard from a senior adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy today.

All of them expressing optimism and saying that they do expect to do well, but at the same time in the face of fierce Russian resistance and massive minefields that the fight is going very slowly and progress is extremely modest according to the senior advisor, Andrii Yermak. He says that it is hard work, it is not going that fast and it is slow, Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. Alex Marquardt, thanks very much for that report.

Let's discuss with CNN Military Analyst and retired lieutenant general, Mark Hertling.

Gen. Hertling, great to see you.

It Wagner fighters are in Belarus for training, what does that tell you?

MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Well, first of all, Jim, it's good to see you too.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HERTLING: And secondly, if Wagner fighters are in Belarus, they are probably as confused about what their mission is, as the rest of us are. Just listening to that report by Alex saying, it's Putin now disavowing the fact that for Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenary group even exist, is this the same group that just months ago Putin was praising for great actions on the battlefield and now they're illegal and have they been split as the reporting and the intelligence seems to suggest where some are going back to the Russian army, some are going to Belarus.

I would suggest those Wagner mercenaries are as confused as we are. And when you get confused soldiers of any ill (ph), they're going to have very low morale. In addition to that, they're training an army. The Belarusian army, truthfully, from my time in Europe was one of the, let's just put it was last on the priority for the ones that we were concerned about in terms of exhibiting great behavior, great discipline and great training.

[18:35:09]

ACOSTA: Yes, we're getting some Wagner whiplash, General. Let me ask you, what about the comment by Vladimir Putin during an interview in which he says the Wagner Group doesn't legally exist. I mean, is this potentially a prelude to the Kremlin completely disbanding the Wagner Group? I mean, it looks like they're doing okay. They're in Belarus and they're training?

HERTLING: Yes, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that too, Jim, because I've been monitoring Wagner not only in Ukraine, but in other countries. But what we're talking about and what we've been talking about for 18 months is a total dysfunction in leadership of both the Russian government and the Russian military.

Not only do you have these kinds of comments coming up about the Wagner Group, which has been a good fighting organization on the front lines, although they have been beaten back by the Ukrainian forces. You're also seeing additional Russian generals killed on the battlefield. A couple of Russian generals who have been relieved of their responsibility at the Combined arms - army and division level, high ranking generals.

So you're seeing a continued army leadership in disarray and dysfunction, that is not going to bode well for the next couple of weeks, as Ukrainian momentum continues to build in our offensive.

ACOSTA: Yes, and I want to switch gears, General, quickly and get your take on something that's been playing out up on Capitol Hill. Republican senator, Tommy Tuberville, as you know has been blocking US military promotions and nominations over his objections to the Defense Department's reproductive health policies.

I mean, a lot of this, I mean, got derailed - the whole conversation over that got derailed when he was defending the use of the term white nationalist and so on, putting that to the side. What is your reaction to what he's been doing?

HERTLING: It is despicable, Jim. And I can say this now as a retired officer that this politician is holding the U.S. military hostage. So far 265 flag officers, that means generals and admirals, of all four services. That's about 31 percent of the total leadership of our military has been affected by this. And they've been affected in various ways, they haven't been able to assume positions, because you can't just move in to a position once you've been suggested for promotion until the Senate confirms it.

And it's caused all kinds of confusion and static movement of different leaders within the military and it will cause a deterioration of combat readiness. There will be some that say, hey, generals don't matter. They're just the leaders of the organization.

Well, we've just been talking about how much those generals matter on the Russian front. And when you have this kind of dysfunction, when general officers and admirals are not able to assume their positions, it not only affects those individuals, it affects the troops under their command and it also affects family members.

Because all of those generals have families as they're trying to move from one location to another. It certainly is putting schools in - for the kids and - well, I'll just cite a personal example. Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes.

HERTLING: I was held up on a promotion list one time to the rank of brigadier general for six months. And the amount of dysfunction it caused within my family trying to get kids to school trying to move cars and household furniture to different locations overseas, it's just - the American people can't understand how much of - just a dysfunction that Senator Tuberville is creating, just because he does not agree - one senator does not agree with the military policy of this - of the Department of Defense.

It's also affecting the State Department. They have not been as verbal as Secretary Austin has been ...

ACOSTA: Right.

HERTLING: ... but it's also affecting the confirmation of State Department officials (inaudible) ...

ACOSTA: This has happened and we were just covering that in the last hour. But Gen. Hertling, you raise a good point and I wonder if it gets into an issue of is the - can the President actually function as the commander in chief if a random senator can just hold up these kinds of promotions and appointments over at the Pentagon. The Marine Corps not having leadership and so on.

HERTLING: You're going to see not just the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps was the first, Jim. If this whole continues, it will affect the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and several of the vice chiefs.

So you're talking about all the services which have a congressional mandate to man, equip and train the United States military, not having the leadership that they need. And that's just at the top level, this trickles down to the three, the two and the one star positions too, because all of them are being held up by Sen. Tommy Tuberville just because of one senator that disagrees with the policy that is taking care of our soldiers, that's the key point.

[18:40:08] This policy that he's debating is something that creates cohesion

among the force because soldiers know that they're taken care of. In this case, female soldiers are taken care of in terms of their health.

ACOSTA: All right. Gen. Mark Hertling, thanks as always for those insights, really appreciate it. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:44:32]

ACOSTA: Some more breaking news coming into CNN at this hour, a escaped Pennsylvania inmate Michael Burham has been caught. A source tells CNN he was captured without incident. Burham escape last Thursday from the Warren County Prison by allegedly climbing workout equipment to lead through a roof and then shimmied (ph) down a rope of sheets. Authorities describe Burham as armed and dangerous with survival skills and military reserve experience.

We're continuing to monitor this.

[18:45:00]

We will bring you the very latest on that, but in the meantime that escaped Pennsylvania inmate we're told by our very own Brian Todd has been captured. We'll have more on this in just a few moments.

In the meantime, off to London where for the first time ever the women's Wimbledon champion is an unseeded player and you won't believe what she is going to do tomorrow to celebrate. Patrick Snell joins us now with that story.

Patrick, this looks like an amazing finish. Tell us more.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORT ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Jim, yes. What an incredible achievement for Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, 24-year-old, winning her first grand slam title, the first unseeded woman ever to win the sport's most famous tournament, the fourth most prestigious tournament that goes back 150.

She got the job done on Saturday against the Tunisian, Ons Jabeur, winning in straight sets. And now, look, in the build up to it all we've seen so much about Vondrousova and her passion for tattoos. Yes, a passion for tattoos and her beloved cat as well. Frankie, she left behind in Prague, this was a devastating performance.

But as you say, she's going to celebrate by getting another tattoo, possibly on Monday, possibly in the London area as well. And Jim, she's going to be taking someone else along with her, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKETA VONDROUSOVA, WIMBLEDON CHAMPION: I made a bet with my coach. He said if I win a grand slam, he's going to get one also. So I think I'm going to have some beer maybe because it was really exhausting two weeks and I just tried to get myself together for a few last days and I was just so nervous before the game and I'm just really grateful. I'm thank you guys, everyone for support and coming here

SNELL: Beers and tattoos, Jim. Those are part of her celebrations.

ACOSTA: To all you young tennis players out there, it's about the tats and cats, I guess.

All right. Patrick Snell, thanks very much. Amazing wrap up to that tournament. We'll be right back.

(ANNOUNCEMENT)

[18:51:36]

ACOSTA: Artificial Intelligence is a crucial sticking point in the Hollywood strike. Actors and writers want regulations to protect their identity and creative content. Screen Actors Guild president, Fran Drescher, said this. We quote: "If we don't stand tall right now, we're all going to be in trouble. We're all going to be in jeopardy of being replaced by machines."

CNN's Jon Sarlin joins us now. He's a host of CNN's Business' Nightcap.

Jon, great to see you. Drescher also called AI an existential threat to creative professions. A lot of folks are wondering about the implications, the far reaching implications of this technology. I had never thought about the possibility that this could affect writers and actors, but I guess it very well could.

JON SARLIN, CNN: It's interesting, for years the fears around AI job loss focused on blue collar workers, right? There were threats that self driving cars would replace millions of truck drivers. Well, we haven't really seen that emerge.

But what we have seen in the last few years is this incredible technological advancements when it comes to generative AI in the sense that now white collar workers and creative workers like actors and writers are fighting to protect themselves from companies who could be looking to replace flesh and blood workers with AI.

Now, shortly after the actor strike was announced the SAG negotiators came out and rejected the studio's AI proposal saying that with that proposal, for example, a background actor could be hired for a day's work, have their face scan and then that likeness will be used in perpetuity.

Now, the studios push back on that characterization. They said it was false. They said their proposal would only permit a company to use the digital replica of a background actor in the motion picture for which the background actor is employed.

But as you mentioned, Fran Drescher is saying or at least framing this argument not just about the actors, but that the actors are on the front line for all labor to ensure protections. And it's interesting that right now this backlash that we're seeing against AI, we really haven't seen before. Go back to 2016, right? There was widespread criticism of Facebook and

digital platforms for allowing disinformation to spread on their platforms during the 2016 election. But we didn't see boots on the streets there like we're seeing now with Sag and WGA. So just as this technology is unprecedented, this growing backlash against it is also unprecedented.

ACOSTA: Yes, I can see a lot of clauses going into the actor's contract saying just because you have my image for this one episode of this one show doesn't mean you can copy it and use it over and over again in perpetuity. I can understand the danger there.

Switching gears, Jon, new information tonight about Twitter's financials. What did Elon Musk say on Twitter? Was this just an attempt to gin up traffic on his site, because it does sound serious.

SARLIN: Yes. Not great news for Elon Musk and Twitter. So Elon Musk tweeted today that Twitter has seen a 50 percent drop off in ad revenue along with a heavy debt load, which you might remember came from Elon Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter which was financed in large part by debt.

So because of those two things, Elon Musk now is saying the company has a negative cash flow. This goes against what he told the BBC earlier, which was the company was rapidly breaking even he was hoping they would soon make money.

[18:55:03]

Well, now we know what was very apparent for a long time, twitter is in deep financial problems. They've slashed their valuation from that $44 billion, advertisers have fled the site, amongst Elon Musk's chaotic ownership style, allowing people to come back to the site, including former President Trump, although he hasn't tweeted.

So, all of this bad news for Twitter comes at a time when Meta (inaudible) threads this Twitter competitor that has emerged by far as the most significant threat to the void created by Elon Musk ownership of it, and announced that it had 100 million users at least since it launched. So look, Twitter is draining money as this new competitor has emerged on the scene.

ACOSTA: Yes. A lot of flailing going on over Twitter, no question about it.

All right. Jon Sarlin, thanks so much as always, we appreciate it.

And we are following breaking news at this hour, escaped Pennsylvania inmate, Michael Burham, has been caught. Much more after the break. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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