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Trump's Legal Team Looming Deadline On Evidence Rules; Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) Is Interviewed Regarding Trump Legal Issues And Texas and Greg Abbott; Expected Indictment In Georgia For Trump And His Allies, Security Ramps Up; U.S. Loses to Sweden In Penalty Shootout At Women's World Cup; Simone Biles Makes Triumphant Return To Gymnastics; Missing Boater Found Alive 12 Miles Off Coast; GOP Hopefuls Raise Prospect Of "President Harris" To Hurt Biden; Broadway Presents "Here Lies Love." Aired 5-6p ET

Aired August 06, 2023 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: The rescued mammal will receive a round the clock care including cuddles to mimic maternal closeness. Thank you so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The "CNN Newsroom" continues with Jim Acosta right now.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: You're live in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening. Former President Donald Trump's lawyers now have about 24 hours to respond to a legal filing related to his latest indictment. Special Counsel Jack Smith requested a protective order after Trump posted on social media, quote, "If you go after me, I'm coming after you." Smith wants the judge to limit Trump and his legal team in terms of what they can publicly discuss about that sensitive evidence in the election interference case.

Former Vice President Mike Pence who is now challenging his former boss for the Republican presidential nomination testified in the special counsel investigation of the case and he may again get called as a witness if Trump goes to trial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have no plans to testify, but look, we'll always comply with the law. But look, I want to tell you, I don't know what the path of this indictment will be. The president's entitled to a presumption of innocence. He's entitled to make his defense in court. There actually are profound issues around this pertaining to the First Amendment, freedom of speech, and the rest. I'm confident he and his lawyers will litigate all of those things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Let's continue this conversation. Joining us now is Congressman Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas. Congressman, thanks for spending some of your Sunday with us. I guess let's just jump right into this. First of all, your reaction to Trump issuing what appears to be a warning or at least can be inferred as a warning, to people involved in the election charges case.

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): Well, I'm not surprised. I mean, after all these years, that's kind of Donald Trump's method of operation, is that he tries to intimidate people, he tries to bully people in his own way, threaten people. And I do think that it was a veiled threat and I'm glad that the prosecutors have asked for protective orders, because what you see Donald Trump do again and again is try to get his supporters or his followers to do his dirty work.

That's what the insurrection, the attempted coup was on January 6th, was Donald Trump riling up a bunch of people and letting them march onto the Capitol, break into the Capitol, while he sat back at the White House.

ACOSTA: And Trump is also going after the judge handling his case already. I mean, saying this on Truth Social, he says, "There is no way I can get a fair trial with the judge, quote/unquote "assigned" to the ridiculous freedom of speech fair elections cases" is how he describes it. He goes on to say, "Everybody knows this and so does she. We will be immediately asking for recusal of this judge on very powerful grounds and likewise for venue change out of Washington, D.C."

Let me ask you, Congressman. What can the judge do to rein in the former president? Does she need to issue some kind of warning to him to knock it off?

CASTRO: Well, she can issue a warning. She can issue a warning for him not to make the threats that he's made, to not make comments about the case and so forth. Remember, they have now entered a judicial proceeding, a legal proceeding that's headed to trial eventually unless they make some other agreement before that. So, she has pretty wide latitude to stipulate what he can and can't do as a defendant who is in front of the court.

And she ought to take every opportunity where it's appropriate if he keeps popping off like this to do that because, you know, his words could very well lead to harm and danger to folks involved in the trial.

ACOSTA: And the former president's attorney, John Lauro, was on CNN earlier today arguing that Trump was essentially engaging in political speech, First Amendment protected political speech when he was contesting the election results in 2020. Let's listen if we have that sound. I can get your response on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LAURO, TRUMP LAWYER: First of all, there was no fraudulent conspiracy. That's part of the reality of the defense. What President Trump was entitled to do and what Mr. Barr misses, and I'm not sure he's read all the cases, but when it comes to political speech, you cannot only advocate for a position, but you can take action. You can petition. You can ask even your vice president to pause the vote.

(END VIDEO CLIP) ACOSTA: Yeah, Congressman, what do you make of that?

CASTRO: I think he's conflating two things. He's conflating speech and action. It's true that Donald Trump or any other candidate who loses an election can go out there and say that I think everybody cheated me out of this election. I think I actually won this thing and so forth.

[17:05:00]

But when you as a president of the United States start to use the power of your office to bully people and intimidate people to find votes, for example, in Georgia, to change votes, to try to force Mike Pence with intimidation or through intimidation to not certify the election, then you've crossed over from words into using your official office for oppression. And that's what we saw from Donald Trump.

ACOSTA: And I know some of your fellow Democrats, a lot of Democrats in the House have been calling for cameras in the courtroom for this case. It is really unusual to see a federal case with cameras in the courtroom. Do you think there's any way at all that that might happen?

CASTRO: You know, I saw that news and I really thought long and hard about it because you can really -- you could think about it and you could argue it both ways. You know, you could say, well, if you put those cameras in there, it's just going to turn into a big circus and it's really going to debase the legal proceedings and the judicial process.

But, you know, the other side of it is that the stakes are so high here. And if it's not covered, if people aren't able to see it for themselves, what happens is it gives Donald Trump and his team a chance to do what they've been doing for a long time, which is engage in this purposeful, directed misinformation and disinformation and lies about exactly what's going on.

And so, by televising it, you would actually allow people to see it in real time and people would be able to see with their own eyes what's going on. And that makes it less likely that when somebody comes, somebody like Donald Trump or his team come up with these conspiracy theories about what happened in the courtroom, people will be able to say, and we'll be able to go back and look at the tape and say, well, you know, that's not what happened. So, in the end, I think that it would probably be a good thing in this case.

ACOSTA: Let's talk about what's going on in your home state of Texas. On Tuesday, if I have this correct, you're leading a congressional delegation to the border. You want lawmakers to see firsthand the deadly razor wire, the floating barriers that you and I have spoken about before on this program, those barriers in the Rio Grande.

It's part of the state's Operation Lone Star crackdown by the governor there, Greg Abbott. What do you want to accomplish with this and do you think it perhaps could add some weight to this push to get those barriers removed from the Rio Grande, that razor wire removed?

CASTRO: Well, to answer your last question, I certainly hope so because what Greg Abbott is doing is barbaric and inhumane. Even though migration has dropped substantially since the end of Title 42 a few months ago, even though the number of border crossings has dropped, Greg Abbott has gotten more extreme in how he's treating migrants and asylum seekers. So, he installed razor wire along the Rio Grande, even though he's a governor without any jurisdiction over an international body of water.

And then he put in these barrel traps that got razor wire below them or concertina wire below them so that people can get stuck on them, and people have gotten stuck on them. In fact, there was -- it was reported last week that among two dead bodies, there was -- in the river, there was one that was actually stuck to these buoys. One of those two bodies was a child from Honduras.

And so, as far as I'm concerned, Greg Abbott has blood on his hands. He has installed these things knowing that it's more -- they are more likely to force people to drown in that river. But also, what they've done is for the people that the asylum seekers that do make it over and present themselves for asylum, what the state is doing now is adopting a practice from Donald Trump's playbook.

They're separating families now at the border. So, they're traumatizing these young children by taking away their parents from them again at the border. When Donald Trump did this, there were literally thousands of kids that were left at least for a time without their parents. And there's still some families that have never been reunited to this day. Even as the Biden administration set up a commission to work on the reunification, there are some families that they've just not been able to reunite. So, Greg Abbott has gotten to a very barbaric place.

ACOSTA: What should the Biden administration do about this? Because isn't it the job of the federal government to police the border, to patrol the border, to control the nation's borders? It sounds as though the governor has his own border policy, that he's running his own border policy.

CASTRO: Yeah, I mean, if the Biden administration is not careful, what they're going to allow is for the state to usurp the power of the federal government on immigration and border enforcement.

[17:09:57]

And remember, we're at a time now where even compared to 20 years ago, we have triple or quadrupled the number of border patrol agents than we did 20 years ago. We have drones on the border. We have anti-tunnel technology on the border. The state has a bunch of its own resources, putting aside the recent development of the razor wire and the buoys and so forth, they already had a lot of resources dedicated to the border.

And so, what's happening now is because of politics, Greg Abbott has decided that he's going to continue using the border as the number one boogeyman for his own political gain. And really, Jim, a big part of the reason for that is that he's got no solutions to a lot of the other problems that are facing Texans, on healthcare, on education, on job creation, all of these things, he really has nothing to offer.

And so, he continues to put the focus on the border by treating people more and more inhumanely. It's very pathetic, but that's the politics of Greg Abbott.

ACOSTA: All right, Congressman Joaquin Castro, anytime the governor wants to come on, he can certainly respond to all that. We'll extend that invitation. Congressman, though, in the meantime, thanks very much. We appreciate it.

CASTRO: Good to be with you.

ACOSTA: Alright, thank you. And in New York City, the migrant crisis is becoming more dire with the mayor's office there saying nearly 100,000 asylum seekers have come flooding through intake centers since the crisis began there in the spring. And with emergency shelters reaching capacity, some of the new arrivals have been forced to sleep outside. City officials are once again calling for state and federal help and CNN's Polo Sandoval joins us live with more details. Polo, what's being done to deal with this influx of people?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That remains still a very complicated issue for New York City officials, Jim. You know, we've heard from New York City Mayor Eric Adams time and time again continue to reiterate that call and echo that call for assistance both at the state and the federal level. You mentioned migrants that had to sleep on the sidewalk as recently as last week. That was actually right outside of the facility that you see behind me.

This is old historic Roosevelt Hotel here in New York City that not only has served as shelter for some asylum seekers, but also is still that primary intake center where many of the newly arrived will be directed to so they can get the resources that they need. However, last week amid an influx, there were dozens of asylum seekers, mostly single men, that were forced to sleep on the sidewalk.

And we should make clear that the city a few days later was able to place them in some temporary shelter facilities. But all of this really speaks to the wider need of -- for housing. Still about 56,000 of those nearly 100,000 that you mentioned, Jim, are still in the care of New York City officials here. The concern is that those numbers will continue to grow.

You know, we heard your conversation with Congressman Castro just a few moments ago. It has actually -- this weekend actually marks one year since the first bus that was paid for by the Texas governor's administration that we actually saw it arrive here. We should however mention that to date we've only received about 10,500 asylum seekers through that busing program. So, it's still a small percentage.

So, though it certainly hasn't been the cause of the wider migrant crisis, it certainly has not assisted New York City officials as they warned the scenes that happened out here just last week are bound to repeat themselves if the city does not receive assistance. Jim?

ACOSTA: Alright, Polo Sandoval, thank you very much. Still ahead, the impact of Trump's legal troubles and his rhetoric

against the prosecutors indicting him on the 2024 race. GOP presidential rival Asa Hutchinson will join me live in our next hour, but first I'll speak to the sheriff of Fulton County, Georgia, as a grand jury in Atlanta prepares a possible fourth indictment against Trump.

And later, no three-peat-for team USA at the World Cup. A look at what went wrong and what the squad's future looks like now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VLATKO ANDONOVSKI, HEAD COACH, USWNT: It just shows how cruel this game sometimes can be and how small of a detail makes a difference between winning and losing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

ACOSTA: Next up could be Georgia as the possibility of yet another indictment looms over Donald Trump. A grand jury there is considering criminal charges against the former president and his allies over a plot to overturn the state's 2020 election results. CNN's Brian Todd details the evidence being considered in that case.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This was never supposed to happen in America.

TODD (voice-over): The already enormous legal pressure on the former president is likely about to intensify. A grand jury in Georgia expected to consider criminal charges against Donald Trump and his Republican allies.

KATIE CHERKASKY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: In terms of the Georgia case, it's going to add a significant burden on him to defend yet another case. These cases will all have significant trial deadlines and pretrial deadlines for hearings that he's going to have to be involved with, and that will detract from his campaign.

TODD (voice-over): A decision on whether to seek charges against the former president in Georgia will be made within the next few weeks by a team led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.

FANI WILLIS, FULTON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The work is accomplished. I mean, we've been working for two and a half years and we're ready to go.

BRIAN TODD (voice-over): The case focuses on the multi-pronged effort Trump launched in the wake of the 2020 election to overturn the results in Georgia. It included pressure on Georgia's governor and secretary of state, both Republicans, to find enough votes to flip Joe Biden's win in the state.

TRUMP: So, what are we going to do here folks? I only need to 11,00 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Gimme break.

TODD (voice-over): When the governor and secretary of state refused to go along, Trump urged state lawmakers to convene a special session to reverse Biden's victory.

RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER LAWYER OF DONALD TRUMP: This election was a sham.

TODD (voice-over): Trump ally Rudy Giuliani went to the Georgia House and Senate with bogus voter fraud claims.

TIA MITCHELL, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Rudy Giuliani is considered to have a lot of exposure in Georgia because he spoke at those legislative hearings and we know a lot of the information he shared was not true at the time.

[17:19:59]

TODD (voice-over): Other Trump allies who could face criminal charges are Republican activists the Trump campaign recruited to serve as fake electors. They allegedly played key roles in a failed plot to block the election from being certified.

MITCHELL: About half of them have received immunity deals, which indicates they're working with the prosecution to tell them what they know.

TODD (voice-over): CNN has reported that Fani Willis is considering bringing charges of conspiracy and racketeering in this case.

CHERKASKY: Racketeering charges are typically broader criminal schemes involving multiple individuals and essentially the maximum punishment for those types of charges are typically much higher than other charges that are mentioned here.

TODD (voice-over): Testimony has also been sought in the Georgia case from former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. Fani Willis has told local officials of threats she's received, many of them of a racist nature during the period she's been investigating this case.

WILLIS: I've probably been called the N-word more times in the last two and a half years than most -- a hundred people combined.

TODD (on camera): Throughout the Georgia investigation, Donald Trump has vehemently denied wrongdoing, as have his allies. Trump has lashed out at Fani Willis, calling her racist and quote, "a lunatic Marxist." Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Security is being ramped up outside the Fulton County courthouse in Atlanta. Barriers have gone up around the building ahead of a possible indictment against the former president and roads in front of the courthouse will be closed starting tomorrow. Now, let's talk about this. Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat is here

now to discuss. Sheriff, thanks so much for being with us. We really appreciate it. How else are you preparing for what might happen if and when the -- if Fani Willis makes her announcement?

PATRICK LABAT, SHERIFF, FULTON COUNTY, GEORGIA: Well, we've certainly learned from both New York as well as Miami. So, we've got a lot of different agencies involved. And so ultimately, we've created a force multiplier and really just focusing on the moment. So, again, you mentioned roads being closed, several other security opportunities for us that we keep close to the vest. But other than that, we are standing ready.

ACOSTA: And during our local interview this past week you might have heard that in that piece we were just playing a few moments ago, but Fani Willis has said she has received racist and threatening messages. Let's listen to a little bit of what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILLIS: -- receiving phone calls that -- and text, excuse me, phone calls, e-mails and communications that are derogatory in nature. They don't always state what they -- what the reason is that they're calling, but I've probably been called the N-word more times in the last two and a half years than most -- a hundred people combined.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Sheriff, she is warning her staff to be wary of more threats, that they're likely to come. Are you aware of any of these threats? Is your department investigating those threats?

LABAT: So, we investigate every threat and she and her team have forwarded us those threats. I've received threats personally, both text, cell phone, messages, et cetera, so -- and e--mails. It's easy to be a keyboard bully, but our goal is to focus on the safety and security of our community and really stick to the plan.

ACOSTA: Yeah, and forgive me, Sheriff, for pressing just a little bit on that. These threats that are coming in, they appear to be related to the former president's case or the potential for an indictment of the former president?

LABAT: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. They mentioned the former president by name in many of them, e-mails, social media, again, including voicemails.

ACOSTA: And are you concerned at all that if these threats materialize in some way, that your department might not be ready for a lone wolf, that sort of thing? I know you're doing everything possible, but as you know in a lot of these kinds of cases, it just takes one person.

LABAT: It does. And again, we train for this. We have high profile -- have had high profile cases in the past. And so again, we will remain vigilant. We're focusing on all of the courthouse security, the surrounding security and just trying to be prepared as we possibly can.

ACOSTA: And Sheriff, we've seen the former president arraigned in multiple criminal cases already. Unlike most court proceedings, the former president has been able to skip the mugshot process. A lot of Americans have asked the question, why? Why is he being treated differently than other Americans who might get caught up in the same kind of situation?

You said last week that Trump will not be given any special treatment in Fulton County. If that is the plan, if that's the case, how are you going to handle taking a mugshot of the former president? Is that what the public should expect to see or any of the other folks who may face indictment in that case, if that comes to pass?

[17:25:02]

LABAT: Well, first and foremost, we will follow our own policies and procedures. We simply don't treat or give any leniency to just because of your status. Ultimately, there may be a court order that his lawyers may ask for. There may be some alternate thought processes around it, but we'll stay focused on our policies and procedures. And if mugshot is warranted, we'll follow that policy and procedure as well.

ACOSTA: But no special treatment for the former president, if that happens?

LABAT: No special treatment for anybody. So, we again, as I mentioned earlier, we have a lot of high-profile cases here in Fulton County and Atlanta. And so again, we treat everybody equally.

ACOSTA: All right, Fulton County Sheriff, Pat Labat, thank you very much for your time, sir. Good luck with what is coming up next. We appreciate it.

LABAT: Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

ACOSTA: Thank you. All right. Still ahead, World Cup glory denied for Team USA. We'll look at the chaotic end to their heartbreaker against Sweden and the millimeter that came between Team -- them and a chance to advance. You are live in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:30:00]

ACOSTA: Quest for another Women's World Cup soccer championship is over for the U.S. after a heartbreaking loss this morning to longtime nemesis Sweden. The U.S. women dominated for much of the game yet neither team managed to score, forcing a dramatic penalty shootout. And CNN's Don Riddell takes us inside the loss.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Jim, penalty shootouts can be the most exhilarating thing in sports unless your team is involved in one and then it can be a nightmare. The U.S. team is heading home after a dramatic loss to Sweden and in the end the difference was about as thick as this piece of paper.

After 90 minutes and extra time, it was goalless, and that's when the drama really began. The first five kicks were all scored. Sweden's Natalie Bjorn was the first to miss her penalty. The American legend Megan Rapinoe then had a chance to give her team a commanding lead, but she blazed her kick over the bar. Normally so composed and reliable, she could only laugh at the agony.

But now, everyone's nerves were jangling. Rebecca Blomquist stepped up only to be denied by a brilliant save from the U.S. goalie Alyssa Naeher, and that meant Sophia Smith had the chance to win it for the Americans, but she missed as well. The pressure was now almost intolerable.

The U.S. team was hoping to win a third straight World Cup but Kelley O'Hara shoved (ph) against the post, was their third miss out of four kicks, and it was Lina Hurtig who won it for the Swedes but they had to wait to celebrate. It seemed as though Naeher had saved her penalty, but the goal line technology revealed that it had crossed the line but only just. It really couldn't have been any closer.

The ball was over, the game was over, and for the U.S. legend Rapinoe, her remarkable career was now over, too.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGAN RAPINOE, USA WOMEN'S WINGER: Still just feel really grateful and joyful and, you know, I know it's the end and that's sad, but, you know, to know that this is really the only time I've been in one of these, this early, you know, says so much about how much -- how much success I've been able to have and just how much I've loved playing for this team and playing for this country and, yeah, it has been an honor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: You know, there were such high hopes for this U.S. team, but there will be no three-peat for them this year. And because they've been so successful in the past, this will really sting. It is by far their worst ever World Cup performance. Back to you, Jim.

ACOSTA: All right. A tough loss for the Americans. Don Riddell, thank you very much. It was a triumphant return, however, to competition for Olympic gymnast Simone Biles after a two-year absence. The seven-time Olympic medalist won the core hydration classic yesterday. It was her first meet since the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she withdrew from several competitions to protect her physical and mental health.

You can see Biles right there just dazzling the crowd. She hasn't announced her intention just yet to compete in next year's Paris Olympics but she said last month, it was still a possibility.

Let's discuss. CNN sports analyst Christine Brennan joins us now. Christine, great to see you. Before we get to this incredible maneuver, Simone pulled off yesterday, set the scene for us and let's talk about the context surrounding her return and the questions raised by her remarkable victory. Could this be a big comeback we're looking at here?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Hi, Jim. Yes, I think it could be, sure. I think we should expect to see her at the Paris Olympics in less than a year now, which is kind of hard to believe how quickly it's coming.

Yes, Simone Biles as, of course, you mentioned, the star going into the Tokyo Olympics, four gold medals from Rio back in 2016. Everyone is expecting another haul of medals for Simone Biles. And then in the team competition, she had to withdraw because she called it the "twisties," a word that we all became very familiar with, losing her space or where she was in space, spatial awareness and not unable to tell the floor from the ceiling.

For any of us, that would be a problem. But for her, what these incredible difficult routines that she does just could have led to serious injury and, obviously, she had to withdraw. So, then, after several days of not being able to compete, she did decide to come back and try one last event in Tokyo two years ago and that was the balance beam, and she watered down her performance and she still won the bronze medal. So, while she's suffering from the "twisties," she's dealing with her mental health.

[17:35:01]

This is a difficult time for her. She's still good enough, even with a watered-down program to win the bronze medal. She has taken time off. She got married. She has had social media. You can see she's having a wonderful time --

ACOSTA: Yeah.

BRENNAN: -- just living her life as she is deserved. And then she comes back to this qualifying need for the national championships.

ACOSTA: And she pulled off the double pike. I hope I'm getting that right. Talk about that. I mean, it just -- what an amazing accomplishment it is to come back from these questions that she had, this difficulty that she had to this moment yesterday. That's pretty remarkable. Some Olympic athletes, if they have something like this occur, they can't come back. It's difficult for them to come back.

BRENNAN: Exactly, Jim. And she's 26, which is certainly not old to you and me in real life, but for gymnastics, a young woman's sport, that's also remarkable. And she'll be 27 if she is at the Paris Olympics.

So, this Yurchenko double pike, she comes up with all these things that no one else has done. She is the greatest of all time for a reason. And this is just -- I watched video replay of it several times and she's just up in the rafters. I mean, she is just spinning and turning and twisting. It is extraordinary. That's Simone Biles.

And as she said, she really doesn't have the "twisties" anymore, but she still thinks about it and she just try to tell herself, hey, I've done this so often muscle memory, I can do this. So even the greatest of all time still has to kind of talk herself into this sometimes, which is wonderful, I think, for everyone to hear and her honesty about what she has been dealing with.

ACOSTA: Yeah. I mean that in and of itself is an inspiration. And oh, to be 26 again -- I mean, that -- I can't imagine how that could be too old for anything. But let me move on to Team USA and the World Cup. Such a disappointing end for Team USA. They've had such a run. What were your impressions? I still can't believe how few goals they scored through this whole tournament for Team USA.

BRENNAN: Exactly. And there was three nothing against Vietnam two weeks ago, then they scored one goal in the next three games, and that's just hard to believe. And, you know, in soccer, they talk about finishing, meaning you put the ball in the back of the net. U.S. couldn't do that.

And then, of course, even the penalty kicks, which, as Don was explaining, you know, they're so excruciating anyway. And then three of the last four penalty kicks, the United States missed. They didn't even put it on the goal. I mean, make the goalkeeper who was excellent. By the way for Sweden, make her make the save. And it was Megan Rapinoe and Kelly O'Hara and Sophia Smith all just completely missed.

And, you know, they're great athletes, they'll be okay, but just the thought that the U.S. couldn't put down the hammer when it needed to and score those goals, there were three or four chances, you know, the game could have been put out of reach even before those penalty kicks. The U.S. had 11 shots on goal. Sweden had one shot on goal.

ACOSTA: Wow.

BRENNAN: And, you know, that's just the way kind of went for this World Cup. Lots of questions. There will be a lot of examination of what went wrong within U.S. soccer, I am sure, because something like this has never happened before for the U.S. national team.

ACOSTA: Yeah. The program has had an amazing run, but it was disappointing, the way this worked out. And it's sad to see Megan Rapinoe go, but I have a feeling they're going to rebuild and we're going to see some incredible stars the next time around.

Christine Brennan, great to talk to you. Thanks so much. Really appreciate it.

BRENNAN: Jim, my pleasure. Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. Good to see you. Right now, Republicans are battling to see who will face President Biden in 2024. But on the trail, some are also raising the specter of a President Harris. What's behind that strategy? Some new CNN reporting from one of my colleagues coming up, next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIKKI HALEY, FORMER SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: America can't afford a President Kamala Harris. I will say that over and over. TUCKER CARLSON, CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, WRITER, FORMER FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Amen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:42:56]

ACOSTA: A missing Florida boater is safely back on shore today after being rescued by the Coast Guard about 12 miles off the St. Augustine Coast. Twenty-five-year-old Charles Gregory was reported missing after failing to return for nearly two days. Gregory was last seen Thursday night leaving a boat ramp and a small lightweight and flat bottom vessel before being found alive on Saturday.

CNN's Camila Bernal is following this for us. Camila, wow, I mean, it's kind of a miracle. It sounds like that he was found. He was in a tiny boat. The Coast Guard was able to spot him. How is he doing?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a fascinating story, Jim. Thankfully, he's doing okay. I talked to his father, Raymond Gregory, and he told me, look, my son was scared to death. He said he had never spoken to God so many times as much as he talked to Him during those 30-plus hours that he was hanging on to dear life.

Essentially, what happened here, according to his father, is he went out at four in the morning on Friday to go fishing. He always does this. And he didn't realize it, but this time, the tide was going out faster than what he thought it was. A wave comes through, knocks him out of the boat. He loses half the things on the boat, including his cell phone, the throw cushion, the life jacket. He has to remove the engine from the boat, and then he's just holding on to that boat.

He says he saw sharks, big fish. He got stung by jellyfish. But out of all the things he experienced, he told his father that the worst thing was the night because he was sunburned that with the wind, it was just freezing cold, so he would try to get in the water to warm up.

Of course, thankfully, he got rescued on Saturday by the Coast Guard, and his family is now saying that he still is going to be hurting for a couple more days because of the sunburn, because of the jellyfish sting, because his muscles, the tissue essentially was breaking down. But the father saying he will be okay and told me, look, the lesson here is that he never gave up. So, he's telling people, Jim, to not give up.

ACOSTA: Yeah. That footage is incredible.

[17:45:00]

And it looks like the boat was almost submerged at one point towards the end of that rescue.

BERNAL: It was.

ACOSTA: Wow. All right, Camila Bernard --

BERNAL: Yeah, it was. Thank you, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yeah, thanks so much. Really appreciate it. In their quest to retake the White House, Republican presidential hopefuls are going after a familiar face, not the Democratic incumbent, President Joe Biden, but the vice president, Kamala Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): If we muff this one and Biden gets in again, heck, you may end up with Kamala as president.

HALEY: If you vote for Joe Biden, you really are counting on a President Harris, because the idea that he would make it until 86 years old is not -- is not something that I think is likely.

CHRIS CHRISTIE, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you think his act looks bad now, wait till he's 83 and 84 and 85 and 86. And by the way, in case he doesn't, you get Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: CNN political reporter Daniel Strauss joins us now. Daniel, first of all, we need to say, you know, just to state the record here, Donald Trump is 77.

DANIEL STRAUSS, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Right.

ACOSTA: So, there are these age questions and the Republicans are going after the president. They've done that time and again. But what is the thinking you're going after Vice President Harris on this?

STRAUSS: Well, I mean, the thing is, partially, it goes back to Trump's age, too, that among Republican voters, there is a view that President Biden is an old 80-something and former President Trump is a spry 77. And the argument here is that Biden may be so old that it is possible that maybe if he wins another term, it could be a President Kamala Harris, and that could be worse.

The Republican candidates are using Harris as sort of the specter or a boogeyman of what could happen if Trump -- if Trump does not win -- sorry, excuse me -- if Biden does not win another term. And look, it is rare for vice presidential candidates or vice presidents to really sway a large swath of voters in another primary, but that's the strategy here.

ACOSTA: Any indication that this is effective at all? It sounds kind of vice presidential to be going after the vice-presidential candidate.

STRAUSS: Yeah. I mean, the fact that multiple candidates are saying this and multiple candidates are doing this in fundraising emails, at rallies, in interviews, suggests that their analytics, their polling shows that it is breaking through somewhat with the voters that they need in this republican primary. ACOSTA: All right. We'll see how the Democrats respond when they get out there and campaign more in earnest. We haven't seen as much of that, but I'm sure we will be seeing that in the coming days. Daniel Strauss, thank you very much.

STRAUSS: Thank you.

ACOSTA: Appreciate it. He was once the front man for the "Talking Heads," and now he's heading to Broadway. How the audience plays a big role in a new musical by David Byrne.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:52:14]

ACOSTA: Former "Talking Heads" front man David Byrne is back on Broadway. CNN's Chloe Melas talked with Byrne about his new show that puts theatergoers on a dance floor.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHLOE MELAS, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: That's right, there is a new Broadway musical here in New York City called "Here Lies Love." It's from David Byrne, who you probably know from his days as the front man for the "Talking Heads," and he spoke to me about why he was intrigued about the life of Imelda Marcos, the first lady of the Philippines, and why he wanted to turn it into a musical. Take a listen.

DAVID BYRNE, MUSICIAN: I had an idea of doing a -- some kind of musical narrative show in a disco, in a dance club. And I wonder, could we do a thing -- could you do a thing where the audience is dancing and grooving and they're somehow getting a story at the same time?

(MUSIC PLAYING)

When I read that Imelda Marcos loved going to disco, she went to Studio 54, she turned the roof of the Malacanang Palace in Manila into a kind of a dance club --

(MUSIC PLAYING)

-- you -- yeah, that she and her husband ran a dictatorship for many, many years. And so, I thought, this is a person who's kind of outrageous, somewhat despicable, but also charming.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

And I thought, and maybe that world, the world of a dance club where everybody, it's very kind of hedonistic and slightly decadent, is kind of the way it -- the way it feels if you're a person in power like that.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

I'm old enough that the Broadway musicals were like "Sound of Music" and "My Fair Lady" and things like that, which amazing songs. But I didn't see myself working exactly in that tradition. I wanted to bring the music that I knew, the stuff that the kind of music that I did, the kind of things that I love. And I thought, why can't we do that on Broadway?

(MUSIC PLAYING)

And well, turns out it's possible. But yeah, but it's unusual.

MELAS: So, you actually feel like you're in the show. They include the audience. It's this immersive experience.

[17:54:59]

And a lot of that has to do with this sound system called L-ISA and Adele and others use it. And you really feel like you are one with these characters and it makes for such a fun experience. Back to you.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

ACOSTA: All right. Sounds great. Thanks, Chloe. Really appreciate it. All right, in just minutes from now, Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson joins us live. We'll get reaction from him to the Trump team's legal defense so far in the January 6th case. There he is right there and his take on where the Republican Party needs to go from here. That's coming up in just a few moments. You're live in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: You are live in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jim Acosta in Washington. Good evening. The clock is ticking for former President Donald Trump and his lawyers. They have until 5:00 p.m. tomorrow to respond to a legal filing related to his indictment over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

[18:00:00]

Special counsel Jack Smith requested a protective order after Trump posted this on social media Friday evening, saying -- quote -- "If you go after me, I'm coming after you."