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Awaiting Ruling On Moving Meadows' Case To Federal Court; Trump, 11 Co-Defendants Plead Not Guilty In Georgia; President Biden And First Lady Tour Hurricane-Battered Parts Of Florida; Inside The Rural Georgia County Involved Int The latest Trump Indictment; Fourteenth Amendment Fantasy; Mayor Teri Johnston (D-Key West) Discusses Jimmy Buffett's Legacy; Crew Wrestles 900 Pound Gator To Shore In Florida. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired September 02, 2023 - 17:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:00:09]

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

We begin with a pivotal week in Georgia's election meddling case against Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants. More developments are looming. Any day we could see a key ruling on Mark Meadows, Trump's former White House chief of staff. Meadows is requesting that his charges be moved from Georgia to a federal court.

Former President Trump and 11 of his co-defendants have entered "not guilty" pleas. We've learned Trump's trial will be seen both online and on television assuming it stays in Fulton County.

The presiding judge there says all hearings and trials in his courtroom can be livestreamed and televised. That also applies to Trump's co-defendants.

Joining us now to talk about this, CNN senior political commentator and former Republican congressman, Adam Kinzinger, who also served on the House Select January 6th Committee.

Congressman, great to see you.

Hey, let's jump right in to this. And I do want to get to the January 6th news and the latest on Donald Trump's many legal troubles but we're about four and a half months from the Iowa caucuses. Trump is out to this massive lead over his Republican rivals.

We're showing this to our viewers -- a brand-new "Wall Street Journal" poll shows Trump is the top pick with 59 percent -- 59 percent of Republican voters supporting and the rest of the field is way behind him. What do you make of that?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean look, here's the interesting thing, Jim. When Donald Trump was charged with this stuff, if the people -- because even the rest of the people in the polls not named Donald Trump, generally have the trust of the GOP base. But the GOP base is choosing somebody else. Had all those people come together and said look, this is not our party. This is not ok.

You know, as Chris Christie said, we can't normalize this. I think you'd be seeing a very different number. But instead, what you see is the vast majority of Donald Trump's opponents go out and say this is a witch hunt. This is a politically-motivated attack.

And so if the people you trust are saying that, you're going to believe it because why would you believe otherwise? The people you trust are saying it's politically motivated, and you're going to rally behind the guy that's being attacked.

And that's what's happening here. And that's what -- it's the shame of not having courage in running for office. It's the shame of leaders who are too scared to tell the truth. And you know, we're going to see a Republican Party with Donald Trump as the nominee, it sounds like.

ACOSTA: And could President Biden be in trouble if Trump is the nominee? He's running about even with President Biden in this latest "Wall Street Journal" poll.

KINZINGER: Well look, this is my message to Democrats. Don't take this for granted. Like, I think Donald Trump will be the easiest to beat of probably any other candidate running. So I guess from a tactical perspective, I can understand that. But there is a chance Donald Trump could win.

We said in -- I said in 2016 literally the night before the election, there's no way Donald Trump's going to win. After the election, I kind of woke up saying there's no way Donald Trump actually won.

And I think that's the danger we have right now, which is why I've been saying we have to have this what I call kind of an uncomfortable alliance between the left and the few sane on the right to defend democracy.

Frankly, probably support Democrats in 2024 instead of Donald Trump. So it's a real risk out there and I think that high -- those polls show Donald Trump is tied, I'd take that very seriously.

ACOSTA: And let's talk about President Biden. He's in Florida today to tour storm damage. I'm sure you noticed this. He was not greeted by Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis. He did get praise from Senator Rick Scott. Here's how he reacted to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I'm not disappointed. He may have had other reasons because -- but he did help us plan this. He sat with FEMA and decided where we should go. Where we'd be the least disruption.

I'm very pleased. A guy who we don't agree very much at all, distinguished former governor and senior senator. He came, talked to me and to you all about how an -- what an incredible job the federal government was doing. And I found that reassuring. And so I think we can pull all this together. I really do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Congressman, what do you make of that? Is this really a snub from Ron DeSantis? Looks like one. And what do you make of the president brushing that off? What's your reaction to that?

KINZINGER: So you knew the former president pretty well. You covered him a lot. Let me just say this. I could never imagine him having -- giving a speech like that and, you know, said well, it's not a big deal. Maybe he had something else going on. Rick Scott's here.

Joe Biden is being a grown up. And the thing that I hope happens here is that we can see the example of somebody like Joe Biden in this case and say that's how a president should act.

[17:05:00]

KINZINGER: You know, we all have political differences. And that's one of the things that annoys me is whenever people say like, well, we have political differences but.

We all have political differences. Nobody ever -- no two people in this country agree on everything. And so -- but when we have to put things like a hurricane comes in, you have to put those differences and the politics aside.

Obviously, DeSantis isn't capable of doing that. Thankfully, Rick Scott was able to do that and thankfully the president of the United States Joe Biden is able to do that.

And I hope we don't normalize this petty politics particularly when President Biden is going to have to sign the checks frankly that go to Florida that DeSantis is going to be begging for.

ACOSTA: Yes.

And let's talk about this case down in Georgia. And I just have to ask you because you were on the January 6th Committee. Are you looking forward to watching Donald Trump's trial in Fulton County streamed live or carried live on places like CNN if and when that happens?

KINZINGER: Well, I kind of am and -- so there's part of me that's a little worried about it. You know, it's like O.J. Simpson trial vibes and dividing the country more. But I think -- I think that when you put the evidence in front of the people, when you can describe the evidence in more than just the charging document, which was pretty damning in and of itself, and when you show this trial happening, I think that this could possibly break the fever in the GOP when you actually see this stuff presented.

Now, maybe I'm being overly optimistic, I fully understand that. But it was part of like the whole January 6th Committee. One of the things I was doing it for was because I think history had to set the record straight. There were too many conspiracy theories out there and I think our committee did that. I think this trial will do the same. And it will make it very awkward

for those members of the House, members of the Senate, you know, anybody in the GOP defending Donald Trump when this evidence is being put out there.

So I'm supporting it, you know, being livestreamed. I like it. I do have a little concern but I'll be watching for sure.

ACOSTA: What did you think of Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp, saying to his fellow state Republicans, you know, we're not going to go after Fani Willis? We're not going to do these impeachment proceedings against her.

Let's listen to Brian Kemp and we'll talk about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): The bottom line is that in the state of Georgia, as long as I'm governor, we're going to follow the law and the Constitution regardless of who it helps or harms politically.

And in Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theatre that only inflames emotions of the moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: Yes, what are you thought on that?

KINZINGER: I thought it was a very powerful statement. There's something in the water in Georgia for Georgia Republicans with the exception of like Marjorie Taylor Greene where they stand up for the rule of law. You think of Brad Raffensperger, you know, standing up to the pressure of Donald Trump to just go find 11,380 votes.

And you look at Governor Kemp. You can disagree with Kemp's policies all you want. But what he said is we're not going to play this game of, you know, lying to people, conspiracy theory, firing the prosecutors.

He's gotten widely praised and that he deserves that praise for that. We need more Republicans, Jim, to do the same thing. To stand up and say that we defend the Constitution.

ACOSTA: Yes. And he hasn't paid a price. I mean note to other Republican Party leaders in other parts of the country. I mean you can do this, too.

You know, Congressman, I want to ask you about these sentences that came down on members of the Proud Boys for their roles on January 6th. Ethan Nordean, 18 years. That's the tie for the longest handed down in the January 6th cases so far. Job Biggs, 17 years. Zachary Rehl, 15 years. Dominic Pezzola, 10 years.

They could have gotten more. But those are big sentences and in some of these cases, it sounds like the defendants are expressing remorse. Maybe it's phony, crocodile tears. Who knows? But what did you think when you saw some of these sentences come down

KINZINGER: I think they're appropriate. They're totally appropriate. We have laws. We have to protect democracy, Jim. It's the hardest form of government.

I used to think it was the easiest. It's actually the hardest because you have to have trust. You have to have law. You have to enforce that law.

And these people paid a price. These weren't people that, you know, bumbled into the Capitol on accident and kind of pushed in there. They went in intentionally, you know. They led the way and there's a cost to that.

Are they sorry? Maybe. Maybe not. I don't know. If they are sorry, I'm glad. But you know, a lot of people are sorry after they commit a crime but that doesn't mitigate the time they serve in prison.

So I think this is a lesson and look, it's these kind of charges that present -- are preventing future things like what happened on January 6th from happening again.

[17:09:55]

ACOSTA: Yes. Just finally very quickly -- just to follow up to that. Did it take too long though? You know, that's one question that I, you know -- just I churn over sometimes. Did it take too long for these cases to get to this point? Did it take too long for these Trump cases to get to this point.

And I know, you know, you have to have a fair process and prosecutors have to do their jobs and due diligence and so on and so does our justice system. But it just -- isn't there something to be said for all of this just took too long?

KINZINGER: It did. It di. I fully agree. Some of that was you had a few courtrooms and a lot of defendants and it was just getting them through the process.

I think the DOJ started too late on the Donald Trump issue. That said, we are where we are now. And I feel confident the January 6th Committee actually spawned that larger investigation which is what we're seeing the fruits of today.

You know, break the law, you're going to have to pay the price. It doesn't matter who you are, what party you are or if you've ever been president of the United States or not.

ACOSTA: All right. Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Congressman, thanks very much for your time. Always great to talk to you. Appreciate it.

KINZINGER: You bet.

ACOSTA: Still ahead, the debate over Donald Trump and the 14th amendment. We've been hearing from legal scholars over the last couple of weeks who suggest it could disqualify the indicted former president from running.

We'll speak to someone who argues it's not going to work.

Plus, tributes and memories to Jimmy Buffett keep coming in. We'll look at how the Florida Keys shaped his life and music. Yes, he is popular down there. Lots of Parrot Heads down there as well. We'll talk about that in just a few minutes.

Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:11:32]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: Prosecutors say four of Trump's co-defendants charged in the Fulton County, Georgia case have connections to an alleged voting system breach after the 2020 election in another part of the state. It was more than 200 miles away in the mostly rural and heavily Republican area of Coffee County. Trump got nearly 70 percent of the vote there.

And as CNN's Elle Reeve found out some locals say they're not surprised by the accusations.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is where it all went down.

ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is where it all went down. This other door is where they had camera footage in reference to the voter breach.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's blowing my mind that something this important has happened in our little county.

MIKE CLARK, COFFEE COUNTY RESIDENT: You walk inside of voting registration with no mask on and they just give you the votes. They just give them to you. Why? I mean that shows you right there it hasn't just started. Always been just like it.

REEVE: In the Georgia indictment of Donald Trump and others, prosecutors allege what might sound like a whacky, unprecedented scheme. That rural Coffee County election officials allowed Trump associates to access voter data. But some locals say the allegations are right in line with the history of voter intimidation and suppression.

Are you surprised this really happened in Coffee County?

Olivia Coley-Pearson, Douglas City Commissioner: Not at all. Because they knew they had somebody who would allow them to come in and do it.

REEVE: Among those 19 mug shots, Douglas City commissioner Olivia Coley-Pearson saw some familiar faces, fellow Coffee County locals who she tangled with in past elections.

CATHY LATHAM, FORMER COFFEE COUNTY GOP CHAIR: Olivia Pearson is up to her normal handing out hamburgers and hot dogs.

REEVE: Coley-Pearson has been a voting rights activist in Douglas, a majority black county seat for many years. And not everyone has been happy about it.

LATHAM: All kinds of things happen in Coffee County just to get people to come vote. Yes. It's not really good situation down here.

REEVE: Georgia allows disabled or illiterate people to get help voting. After the 2012 election, Georgia investigated Coffee County complaints that Coley-Pearson assisted ineligible people and began calling voters she had helped.

GLENN ARCHIE, GEORGIA SECRETARY OF STATE: She signed on the back of it that she assisted you and I was wanting to know, because she didn't not mark, it's not marked why she assisted and I was wondering why you needed assistance.

ALVIN WILLIAMS, COFFEE COUNTY RESIDENT: Cause I can't read.

ARCHIE: Ok.

WILLIAMS: I'm Illiterate.

REEVE: The state didn't charge her but local prosecutors charged her with two felonies saying she helped other voters who were ineligible. After two trials, she was found not guilty in 2018.

COLEY-PEARSON: You would think it was murder, robbery, something that really does some damage to our community. But I was trying to help somebody who wanted to exercise their right to vote.

I don't know.

REEVE: Then while helping a woman vote in 2020, Coley-Pearson asked about the buttons on a voting machine. She says Misty Hampton, the former elections supervisor now under indictment with Trump, began yelling at her.

COLEY-PEARSON: Then she just began hollering at the top of her lungs, "That's what they got in trouble for last time. Punching buttons or touching buttons." Or something to that effect.

It struck a nerve with me because I was on trial fighting for my life for something I was not guilty of. So I did raise my voice at that point. And I said to her, "You are lying then and you're lying now."

REEVE: In a deposition, Hampton said she spoke in a normal voice and that Coley-Pearson was being disruptive.

Coley-Pearson left to pick up another voter and when she returned, police stopped her outside the polling place saying she had been banned.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened?

COLEY-PEARSON: You can't touch (INAUDIBLE).

And I got arrested. I was put in handcuffs.

REEVE: In handcuffs.

COLEY-PEARSON: I've never been arrested before. I didn't know, you know, it's so tight like that.

REEVE: It's just shocking to hear someone treated like they're a violent criminal.

COLEY-PEARSON: Exactly. Especially being an elected official. I stand up for what I believe is right and some people have a problem with people when you speak out.

REEVE: At the time, she had been driving Rolanda Williams, who agreed to talk if we didn't show her face.

[17:19:46]

ROLANDA WILLIAMS, COFFEE COUNTY RESIDENT: I mean I was scared and fearful and I was just like telling Miss Olivia I didn't want to go back up there to vote and I won't go back and vote because of everything that's going on.

I didn't understand why they called this Crooked Coffee, but now I understand.

REEVE: Why do you think it happened?

R. WILLIAMS: Because of the race thing.

REEVE: Hampton and former county Republican Party chair Cathy Latham are accused of allowing Trump associates to copy voter data. Both pleaded not guilty and have not responded to CNN's request for comment.

Latham has said she was not quote, "personally involved in the breach".

Do you see a connection between what happened to you and this big push after the 2020 election to dispute the vote totals in usually majority black cities like Atlanta, Detroit, and so on?

COLEY-PEARSON: Of course. There's a certain amount of power and control when you're in certain offices. Some people will do whatever it takes to maintain it. And if it takes voter intimidation to do it, some people are willing to intimidate people.

REEVE: The election commission initially denied surveillance footage of the election office breach existed. So far, there's been no local investigation into what happened.

Hampton resigned in February 2021 for falsifying time sheets. (INAUDIBLE) is the new elections supervisor. COFFEE COUNTY ELECTIONS SUPERVISOR: The day that they voted me in to

this particular position, the first thing our chairman said was who gets behind the counter. I was like nobody.

REEVE: Now she says the public needs reassurance that the county's elections are secure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know this has always been a really small town and people have always been pretty close knit. Regardless of party or anything like that. We were all from Coffee County.

And this has kind of divided people in a sense. but I think it's like that across the whole country. It's not just here.

REEVE: That division was clear in our conversations with people around town. But even among Trump voters, there was an openness to holding people accountable.

ZIP GRANTHAM, COFFEE COUNTY RESIDENT: I mean, if they had, I'm 100 percent against it. Do I like Trump? I wouldn't want him sitting at the table with me at this moment, no.

But yes, I think he had a past and I think right now that he is being, I don't know, maybe he should be held responsible.

REEFE: What do you say to black people in Coffee County who say well actually I have faced discrimination here and there's a whole history of trying to keep black people from voting. And it's not the 60s anymore, but it's not perfect.

GRANTHAM: I personally think that's across the both.

REEVE: Why?

GRANTHAM: Because they got the same right to vote I do. I mean you know. They're in the military now. I mean, you know. They're advancing Side by side.

Yes. I mean there's no segregation to talk about.

COLEY-PEARSON: Now some people are in denial. Especially around here because they're friends with the folk from Coffee County that's involved. And I know you're innocent until proven guilty but, you know, that video speaks volumes.

I hope it sheds more light. I hope those people in Coffee County who were pointing their finger at me can really see now, you know. It was a bigger picture.

REEVE: Elle Reeve, CNN -- Douglas, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: It's 5:00 somewhere including right here in the East Coast.

Still ahead, the mayor of Key West joins us to remember the mayor of Margaritaville, Jimmy Buffett. One of the Keys' most famous residents are coming up in just a few moments.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[17:23:41]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: This week, we've learned government officials in key battleground states are looking at whether former president, Donald Trump can be disqualified in 2024 under a rarely used clause of the U.S. Constitution. Section 3 of the 14th Amendment says that a public official is not eligible to assume public office if they quote, engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the U.S., or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.

But in a new piece in "The Atlantic" conservative columnist and Trump critic David Frum is calling this theory a fantasy and warning the only way to defeat him is through the ballot box.

And David Frum joins me now. David, I don't have to explain to you, folks like the Judge Luttig, Laurence Tribe from Harvard. I mean there's some pretty high-powered legal minds advancing this theory. But you say it's just not going to work. Your thoughts.

DAVID FRUM, "THE ATLANTIC": Well look, I admire the Judge Luttig. I took Larry Tribe's class in law school but we need to think not like lawyers but like political people. And say what would happen if you tried this in real life outside the lab.

That section of the 14th Amendment has been frozen in time for 150 years. Nobody's tried to defrost it and use it. You try it now and there are all kinds of questions that were not there in the 1860s when it was written that will have real life consequences. And let me mention just one.

The amendment doesn't tell us who's supposed to enforce it. At the time the amendment was written, it was obvious. The union army would enforce.

But now in today's context, who would enforce it? The secretaries of state of the many states and that means that Republican secretaries of state, once this thing is defrosted out of time, would be able to say, you know what, we don't think so and so is a good enough American to be to be on the ballot. We don't think this other person is a good enough American to be on the ballot. We are going to take all our enemies off the ballot. People need to think about the next step beyond the immediate step.

[17:29:47]

ACOSTA: And so you don't think Donald Trump qualifies, I guess or meets the criteria of Section three of the 14th Amendment. I guess, you believe he qualifies to be president but he doesn't meet the criteria laid out in this section of the Constitution.

FRUM: It's not that. That section of the Constitution actually doesn't specify criteria because it all seems so obvious when that amendment was written in 1866. There were no questions. The questions are all new.

What I'm saying is, you re-animate this frozen entity and it's going to -- and now you bring it back to life, it's not going to be used one time. It's going to be used again and again.

You saw how the state of Tennessee, a Republican majority tried to throw three Democratic congressmen -- sorry, members of the legislature, out of the legislature, then to force new elections.

Well, maybe they would declare them enemies of the United States and try to prevent them from ever running from office again.

You need to think beyond Trump and to understand, you take this thing out of the freezer, it's going to live forever.

ACOSTA: David, you know, there's this new -- I wanted to ask you about this new "Wall Street Journal" poll that shows Donald Trump way out in front of this Republican field and in a neck-and-neck match-up with Joe Biden at this point.

Your thoughts on that poll. And do you see any scenario where Trump is not the nominee at this point?

FRUM: I think that's part of the reason why we have legal scholars looking at the 14th Amendment because it looks like he's going to get this nomination.

Look, it's a problem. This man tried a coup d'etat to preserve his presidential term, refused to accept an election. Broke a two-century- plus peaceful transfer of power. I get it.

But people are looking -- and it's terrifying that Donald Trump could run again. And it's terrifying that many of our fellow citizens will support him and that it seems to be neck and neck.

I understand the wish for some kind of cheat code to get out of this video game but the only exit, I'm sorry, we're all going to have to dig deep and fight this one more time because there is no easy exit.

ACOSTA: And how does that happen, do you think?

FRUM: It happens -- everyone watching this podcast, sorry, this broadcast, needs to be registered. You need to get your friends registered. You need to talk to people about the urgency of the threat to democracy of the United States.

What it means that a president, not in some faraway place, but in this country, tried to overthrow an election, overthrow the Constitution to extend his term.

And there's no magic solution. There is only the will of the citizenry. To register, to be active, to be committed, to be serious. To fight for your rights and fight for your democracy. ACOSTA: And, David, just finally, just to push back a little bit on

what you're saying. You said a couple of times Trump tried to carry out a coup, he tried to overthrow a democracy.

Doesn't that mean he meets the criteria in the 14th Amendment? I know what you're saying that it could have unintended consequences, open up a Constitutional Pandora's box, to some extent.

But if he meets the criteria of the 14th Amendment Section III, why not have secretaries of state go out and test this?

FRUM: OK. Because it will go into the courts. In 1866, when people talked about rebellion and insurrection, there were dozens of laws and hundreds of presidential orders proclaiming the southern states in a state of rebellion and insurrection.

There was no ambiguity about it. There were lots of laws that the Confederacy was in a rebellion and an insurrection.

So you didn't have to go to court to say, is Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, are they insurrectionists? They had been branded as such by multiple statutes, multiple presidential orders.

Today, you'd have to do all of that from zero. So some would go to court. And by the way, who put the secretaries of state in charge? That's not how it was done in 1966.

Then the Union Army was occupying the south and they could say, if you were a former Confederate officer and you were trying to run for office, you had previously taken an oath to the United States, the Army would stop you.

We don't have that system today. We don't have a definition and we don't have a means of execution. And if we try to invent both on the fly, we're going to discover it doesn't stop with Trump.

The 14th Amendment is not just about the presidency. It doesn't mention, the section, the presidency. It mentions Senators, House representatives. It mentions state officials. This has gotten very wide ranged and people need to be aware of what they're unleashing.

ACOSTA: All right, David Frum, I think we're going to have to continue this conversation. I'd love to get you on with someone who thinks this could work and have you both talk about it.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: But great piece in "the Atlantic."

Always great to talk to you. Thanks very much for your time.

FRUM: Thank you.

ACOSTA: All right. Good to see you, David. Thank you so much.

FRUM: Thank you. Bye bye. ACOSTA: Still ahead, the mayor of Key West joins us to remember Jimmy

Buffett. How life in the Keys influenced his music. How residents there plan to pay tribute to him.

The mayor of Key West is going to fill us in on what they're going to be doing to remember Jimmy Buffett this weekend. We'll tell you about it in a few moments.

[17:34:44]

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ACOSTA: The legendary singer and songwriter, Jimmy Buffett, has passed away. He was 76 years old.

[17:39:59]

His family released this statement on Buffett's' Web page, saying this, "Jimmy passed away peacefully on the night of September 1st surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs."

Buffett was best known for his breezy hits and barefoot performances.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And the mayor of Key West, Florida, Teri Johnston, joins us now.

Mayor, great to see you.

I guess your reaction to the death of Jimmy Buffett? It's so sad that he's passed away. But I know how much he meant to so many people there in Key West. What are your thoughts there this evening?

MAYOR TERI JOHNSTON (D-KEY WEST): Well, it was a shock, Jim. I heard about it this morning at the 5:00 news and my phone hasn't stopped ringing since then.

Jimmy Buffett had a profound effect on Key West and the Florida Keys. He projected our lifestyle to people from around the world. Live and let live. A laid-back atmosphere. Sand and sun and flip-flops.

And we were very sad to hear about his passing.

ACOSTA: Yes. And you know, it's 5:00 somewhere. And of course, it's in the 5:00 hour right now on this program.

And I'm just wondering, how are folks going to be remembering Jimmy Buffett? It looks like you're going to have something taking place tomorrow. We're showing it on screen to our viewers. It's 5:00 in Key West, second-line procession in honor of Jimmy Buffett, Sunday, September 3rd, at 5:00 p.m. Just the way it should happen in remembering this legend.

JOHNSTON: Yes. Exactly. That was organized by our local rum distributor, Paul Menta (ph), who is putting together this procession in order to benefit our bahama Village music program, which I think Jimmy would be very happy.

ACOSTA: And what are some of the sights and sounds around Key West? I suppose you're running into people, you're hearing from folks remembering Jimmy Buffett.

What's it like around town? Because we know Key West was so special, had such a special place in Jimmy's heart. And he kind of personified that Key West lifestyle, Key West spirit of hanging out in your flip- flops, cracking open a cold one and so on.

JOHNSTON: Everyone, everyone is deeply saddened by his passing, Jim. I've talked to many people on the streets, gotten a lot of phone calls.

Right now, from city hall, all you can hear is Jimmy Buffett music playing.

He made a lot of friends in the city of Key West and the Florida Keys. In fact, he had a recording studio down in our waterfront area for years and years. Kind of an uneventful building where he recorded a lot of music.

So it's -- it's been a shock to the community. We are very, very grateful, however, that Jimmy's been coming here since the '70s and has had such an impact on our island.

ACOSTA: Yes. And he was an incredible businessman, too. He had those Margaritaville hotels and restaurants and had a footprint there in Key West as well.

I mean, that is something you can't forget about when you talk about Jimmy as well, right?

JOHNSTON: No, exactly. He had an incredible business mind.

In fact, as you talk about Margaritaville, one of the things Jimmy would do is, you would hear on the Coconut Telegraph that he was somewhere in Key West.

Then, all of a sudden, he would pop up in Margaritaville and play a two to three-hour impromptu concert --

ACOSTA: Wow.

JOHNSTON: -- for the locals and the visitors in Key West that day. He just was an incredible gentleman.

And I also want to mention another side of Jimmy that many people don't realize is he was an incredible environmentalist.

ACOSTA: Yes.

JOHNSTON: He was very concerned about the manatees in the state of Florida and also the Florida Everglades and our ecosystem.

And I just thank him for using his voice in order to protect those types of things in the Florida Keys.

ACOSTA: Yes. It's so true. And that was the side of Jimmy that a lot of people didn't know about. But he talked about it from time to time.

The other thing I have to mention -- and maybe you can speak to this as well. I had a chance to meet Jimmy Buffett in Cuba back in 2016.

We were talking to our Patrick Oppmann, our Havana correspondent, in the last hour and we were both reflecting on how personable and approachable Jimmy was.

Even though he was this icon, even though he had this huge business empire, he was just like a guy at the bar drinking his Margarita.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: Or his daiquiri. And, you know, just a great guy.

[17:44:56]

JOHNSTON: Yes, and he engrained himself in the city of Key West. He would be walking down the streets. People would have sightings of him and he would always stop and have a conversation.

He was never too busy to say hello to the locals and to the visitors in Key West. Just an incredible human being who we will all miss.

ACOSTA: Yes. We're all going to miss Jimmy.

And we can show it on screen one more time. It's going to be 5:00 tomorrow. If you happen to be in Key West, they're going to have this. It's 5:00 in Key West. Second-line procession in honor of Jimmy Buffett.

I have to say, as sad as we are to see him go, you know, his passing away on Labor Day weekend, to some extent, I guess makes a little sense in that a lot of folks are at the beach this weekend and they're probably enjoying a cold one and thinking about Jimmy Buffett.

(CROSSTALK)

ACOSTA: Mayor Teri Johnston, thanks so much for your time.

JOHNSTON: Thanks so much, Jim. And please make sure you wear your flip-flops tonight, OK?

ACOSTA: I will. I've got them handy. As well as a cold drink.

(LAUGHTER)

ACOSTA: All right, Mayor, thanks so much. Nice talking to you. Appreciate it.

JOHNSTON: You're welcome.

ACOSTA: All right, speaking of Florida, Florida is known for its gators. But seeing one that weighs 900 pounds is still a shocker. Look at that monster right there. The alligator hunter who caught it joins us live, next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:50:48]

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)

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ACOSTA: There it is. New video showing the moment a team of gator hunters in Florida made what's being called the catch of a lifetime.

The three-man crew wrestling a massive 13-foot, 900-pound monster out of a lake in Orlando. They say it could be the second-biggest gator ever caught in the state.

Alligator hunting is promoted in Florida as a way to manage the gator population.

My next guest is cruise captain, alligator hunter, Kevin Brotz.

Kevin, great to see you.

And I got to ask you, that thing is real, right?

(LAUGHTER)

CAPT. KEVIN BROTZ, LED CREW THAT CAUGHT MASSIVE GATOR: It seems surreal, but, yes, it is real.

ACOSTA: Did you know he was out there or was this a complete surprise?

BROTZ: No, that's the crazy thing about it. It was a complete surprise. We knew the area had potential but I had only been in the area one other time in my life and that was about 15 years prior.

ACOSTA: I mean, this looks like something out of the movies. I'm looking at your boat right here. We're showing it on TV.

And I don't mean any offense, but the alligator looks like --

BROTZ: No. ACOSTA: -- he's bigger than the boat. What was going through your head when you saw him and you realized this was no ordinary alligator?

BROTZ: That we needed a bigger boat.

(LAUGHTER)

BROTZ: So I guide for a living. You know, I guide gator hunts year around. And I use bigger boats. I have a 16-foot airboat. I have a 25- foot bay boat. And those boats are typical platforms for gator hunting.

But on this trip, I was with two amazing friends of mine and we wanted it to be special so we went old school with a jon boat.

And I've seen a lot of big gators. I've guided close to 1,000 different gator hunts.

And when this guy popped up, I felt stuff I've never felt before. Really in awe as well as a sense of fear, knowing if we did something wrong or did something really crazy, we could be in trouble.

ACOSTA: Yes. What was the battle like? Was it a battle?

BROTZ: It was a battle. You know, I've been in fights that were kind of wilder. This one was kind of just a four-and-a-half-hour fight. Actually, about a three-and-a-half-hour fight, four-and-a-half hours by the time we got it in the boat.

Started off slow. We spotted the gator two hours prior, hooking it. Ended up getting a hook into it finally. The gator just stood its ground. He didn't run. Usually, they'll swim away. You've got to fight them.

We got three rods into it. Eventually four and five lines with ropes and hand lines and the gator never really took off.

I think a gator this size is used to standing his ground. He's probably 60 to 90 years old and he's used to eating whatever messes with him. So he had no reason to run.

Ultimately, about an hour into the fight, he swam under a bunch of trees and that's where we were for about two and a half more hours before he finally gave us the opportunity to get more lines in him that weren't caught in the tree limbs.

We had four lines tangled up under trees. And he came up three times during that fight, which you have the footage of, and he breathed and took breaths of air next to the boat and it was just absolutely intense.

ACOSTA: Yes, and he's just an incredible specimen.

I'm just wondering, how do you explain this to folks outside of Florida who are watching this saying, wait a minute, why not just leave him where he's at? How do people in Florida control the gator population by doing what you do?

BROTZ: It's a great question, and that's the one I try to answer the best because it's the one that means the most to me.

We're not out there to just kill animals. That's against everything in my soul as a true hunter. I'm a conservationist first.

The state of Florida has to manage population because, without population management, we have increased interaction with humans. So we all know what happens and what can happen if that happens.

So we try to take gators out of areas that are populated by humans or there may be that interaction.

[17:55:00]

So the state gives out a certain number of tags for every body of water, whether it's a lake or a river or a county. And they do that based on a survey.

Say there's X number of gators in the area. We want to pull out this many to keep the population in check. So they'll allocate a certain number of tags for that area so that the population stays kind of somewhat under control.

ACOSTA: All right.

Well, Captain Kevin, what a fight. I mean, just incredible that you were able to catch an alligator of this size. I feel like maybe you do meet the definition of Florida man, but in a good way.

BROTZ: I'll take that as a compliment. It's an honor. It's humbling. And we had, you know, all hands on deck. God was with us. Kept us safe.

And he's going to be full-body mounted on my wall for the rest of our lives. He'll be a true trophy that people can come check out and be inspired by.

ACOSTA: Very good.

Well, Captain Kevin Brotz, thanks very much for your time. Really appreciate it. Good talking to you.

BROTZ: No problem. Have a blessed day. Thank you.

ACOSTA: You, too.

All right, in the meantime, two big stories we're following. New polling in the 2024 race for the Republican nomination showing just how much a hold former President Trump has on the Republican Party despite all of his legal problems.

And the death of an American statesman. We remember the life and legacy of former governor and ambassador, Bill Richardson. We'll be talking about that in the next hour. Stay with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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