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President Trump Sues "Wall Street Journal" Over Publishing Letter Allegedly from Donald Trump to Jeffrey Epstein; Congressional Republicans Pass Bill Cutting Funding for PBS and NPR; Police Say Driver in East Hollywood Dragged from His Car and Shot by Bystander after Crashing into Crowd and Injuring At Least 30 People; Excessive Rainfall Threatening Parts of U.S. with Flooding; Mother Remembers Her Daughter Who Died in Texas Floods; U.S. Homeowners Unable to Refinance Mortgage Loans as Interest Rates Remain High; Oncologist Discusses Dietary Habits that May Reduce Cancer Risk; World Number One Golfer Scottie Scheffler Leads in British Open. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired July 19, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the other side of me, the performer in me is of course looking for some kind of moment.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Lots of moments there. A new episode of "Live Aid, When Rock N Roll Took on the World," airs tomorrow, 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

All right, we begin this hour with significant developments in the expanding saga surrounding convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. President Trump has now filed a stunning new lawsuit against "The Wall Street Journal". Trump is seeking as much as $20 billion from the newspaper and the company's media mogul owner, Rupert Murdoch. The lawsuit is in response to "The Journal's" story, saying President Trump gave a birthday letter and a lewd drawing of a woman to Jeffrey Epstein back in 2003. The lawsuit was filed within hours of the Department of Justice asking a judge to release grand jury testimony in the Epstein case.

The Trump administration has faced blowback from supporters after releasing a memo stating that there was no evidence Epstein kept a client list. CNN's Betsy Klein is joining us now from the White House. Betsy, walk us through these latest developments.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, after days of infighting between President Trump and the MAGA movement that he has created, the president is now turning to a familiar playbook of attacking the media to try and change the narrative and go on the offense here. So he announced that he is suing "The Wall Street Journal", it's publishers, and the reporters who published that story earlier this week about a letter that was signed by what appears to be President Trump sent to Jeffrey Epstein on the occasion of his 50th birthday back in 2003. It included that picture of a naked woman.

The president now suing for libel, assault, and slander. He says that it is fake. But a spokesperson for Dow Jones, "The Wall Street Journal's" publisher, telling CNN in a statement, quote, "We have full confidence in the rigor and accuracy of our reporting and will vigorously defend against any lawsuit."

Now, it's been two weeks since the Department of Justice and the FBI released a memo that concluded that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide and there was no so-called client list. And since then, MAGA world has really been in revolt, calling for more documents and transparency and information into this matter, really setting up a loyalty test between President Trump and the movement he created.

But the president's preference really has been for this to go away. He has called it sordid but not interesting. And pressure was really intensifying, particularly with the publication of that story, prompting questions about how close Trump really was with Epstein and what he knew about Epstein's proclivities. The president then announcing that he was going to ask Attorney General Pamela Bondi to unseal any pertinent testimony related to Jeffrey Epstein, the government filing that request in court on Friday. But it could take a little bit of time to process. And if it is indeed granted, it represents really a small portion of the overall body of evidence against Epstein.

Now, one of the big reasons that this just isn't going away for the president is because it was him and his vice president, J.D. Vance, and FBI Director Kash Patel, his deputy Dan Bongino, who spent a significant amount of time propagating those conspiracy theories about Jeffrey Epstein on the campaign trail, in the podcast space. So it's really not a surprise that the president's supporters, some of his most vocal supporters, are frustrated that this memo did not bear more significant fruit.

The president appearing to acknowledge that in a post to social media. He wrote this morning, quote, "I have asked the Justice Department to release all grand jury testimony with respect to Jeffrey Epstein, subject only to court approval. With that being said, and even if the court gave its full and unwavering approval, nothing will be good enough for the troublemakers and radical left lunatics making the request. It will always be more, more, more."

Of course, all of this comes as the president and some of his top allies set expectations that they did not meet, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, Betsy Klein at the White House, thanks so much.

All right, Trump's lawsuit against "The Wall Street Journal" is not the first time he's gone after media outlets for reporting on him, but this is the first time he has filed a libel suit while in office, likely making him the first sitting U.S. president to sue a reporter or media outlet for allegedly defaming him. CNN's Tom Foreman dives into this latest showdown that appears headed for court.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I told Rupert Murdoch that he shouldn't print this fake story. But he did, and now I'm going to sue his ass off."

[14:05:05]

President Trump is laying into "The Wall Street Journal" and its owner over the Epstein story just weeks after ripping the papers coverage in general.

DONALD TRUMP, (R) U.S. PRESIDENT: "The Wall Street Journal" has truly gone to tell.

FOREMAN: Throughout his second run and return to the White House, Trump has said plenty about the media.

TRUMP: I watch these criminals back there, the press.

As the news is really fake.

Real scum.

And it has to stop. It has to be illegal.

FOREMAN: And he's taken action. Trump sued ABC News, saying he was defamed in an interview about a past sexual abuse case. The network settled by promising $15 million to Trump's presidential foundation. But his attacks have not stopped.

TRUMP: ABC is the worst newscast of any newscast by far.

Trump filed a suit against CBS's "60 Minutes," saying it unfairly edited an interview with his Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris.

TRUMP: She gave an answer that was so bad that they changed it.

FOREMAN: Many media and legal analysts said his claim was unfounded. But just weeks ago, CBS parent company paramount settled too, coughing up $16 million.

Trump filed a lawsuit against "The Des Moines Register" over an election poll that showed him doing poorly in a state he eventually won.

TRUMP: And in my opinion, it was fraud and it was election interference.

FOREMAN: The paper disputed the claim. The matter is still in court.

And there is more.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm Donald Grump, and I have more trash than all of yous. FOREMAN: Trump, who was parodied long ago on "Sesame Street," has

torn funding away from public television, radio, and Voice of America. Press rooms at the White House and Pentagon have been rearranged, often to the advantage of pro-Trump outlets. He's battled the Associated Press over it's widely respected stylebook, still referring to the Gulf of Mexico --

TRUMP: Its called the Gulf of America now.

FOREMAN: And he's even savaged another property of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who recent polls showing public faith in Trump falling, posting "It's why MAGA hates FOX News."

Few of these cases have produced anything like a substantial apology for any behavior, and many of the companies seem to be settling it just so they don't go into long, drawn out legal proceedings. Nonetheless, this has proven to be a winning political strategy for Donald Trump, even if he doesn't necessarily win in court.

Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, joining me right now to talk about all of this is Bill Carter. He's a former media reporter for "The New York Times." Bill, we've got a lot to cover. Let's see if we can get through it all.

BILL CARTER, AUTHOR, "THE WAR FOR LATE NIGHT": OK.

WHITFIELD: All right, so legal experts we consulted said that they could not recall any sitting U.S. president suing a media outlet over a story. Do you see his once friend, Rupert Murdoch, buckling, settling, or fighting?

CARTER: Well, Murdoch has a history of fighting. I mean he even fought with his children over the future of his company. So I don't think he's going to buckle. And he was already threatened before the article appeared. Trump was threatening them. So they went ahead. I think they feel really confident in what they have. And proving what he wants to prove is pretty ridiculous. I mean, they went out of their way to sort of word this very carefully and say lawyers have looked at it, et cetera. So it's it looks like just a campaign of intimidation, which is essentially what he's been trying to do with all these media outlets is intimidate them into folding.

WHITFIELD: And this lawsuit comes as Congress just voted to cut public media funding. Do you see public broadcasting and NPR and PBS TV being able to survive without $1.1 billion in government funding?

CARTER: You know, obviously that is going to be a huge problem, and they're probably going to be a lot of stations in smaller areas that will have to close, that will have to shut down.

And it's a very interesting thing. The Republicans have complained about public television and public broadcasting for years for its political skew, but not much of its programing is political. So in order to, you know, push that down, they've eliminated all the educational programs, the children's programs, all the other things that have been very popular and basically very successful. But it's all political these days, and they're seen as the enemy. So Trump wanted to step on them. And the Republicans agreed.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And you underscore Republicans have been going after it for a long time. I didn't realize until I read "The New York Times" today, too, that Republicans have been targeting public broadcasting for five decades, in fact, according to its reporting. And this president has done a lot of things to undermine mainstream media, from lawsuits to rearranging seating in the White House press room to eliminating media spots altogether in the White House and other government agencies.

[14:10:00]

Still, how much of a surprise does this come to the NPR and PBS TV and the people who work for all of these outlets?

CARTER: I think they're surprised that the Republicans who basically supported them in the past because of the work they did in their local districts, that they folded. But they shouldn't be surprised anymore, because Trump has basically got the Republicans by the throat. If they oppose him, he proposes an opponent in a primary, and they just don't want to stand up to him. So essentially what he says is what they're going to do. And he wanted it done, and they did it. That's basically what they've been doing this entire Congress.

WHITFIELD: So now you've got CBS ending late night with Stephen Colbert after CBS settled a lawsuit by Trump, CBS and Paramount, settling that lawsuit by Trump for $16 million over the editing of a Kamala Harris interview. Do you see this as bribery, which is how the Writers Guild of America is seeing it?

CARTER: Well, I'm not going to take that position based on just the accusation that it's bribery. And, you know, CBS is making the point that they were losing money. And I think that's valid. That's probably true, that they were losing money.

It's also true that this deal is hovering in the background over CBS, this deal where Skydance is going to take over Paramount, and the government had to approve that. And obviously, that's why the "60 Minutes" settlement happened. And the timing of them announcing that Colbert was going to be out was certainly interesting. They could have waited weeks and weeks to do this, but they are doing it now before the settlement. So it looks like there could be a quid pro quo. There looks like it could be a bribe. And so people are going to accuse him of that.

It's interesting that the Writers Guild asked the attorney general of the state of New York to look into it. I don't think anything will come of that because it's really been very difficult to go after Trump in any way. But it's certainly something people should think about, that our country was founded because we had a king and we wanted to get rid of a king. Well, if the king doesn't like -- isn't amused by the jester, he could chop his head off. We don't do that in this country. If he's not amused, he should just complain. And he has the right to complain.

WHITFIELD: All right, Bill Carter, I think we got through just about all of it. See, we did it.

CARTER: I hope so.

WHITFIELD: And there was a lot. All right, thank you so much. Great to see you.

CARTER: Sure.

WHITFIELD: All right, and now we're learning a lot more about this breaking news out of east Hollywood where police say a driver was dragged from his car and shot by a bystander after crashing into a crowd of people and then injuring at least 30 people. The L.A. Dire Department says seven of those injured outside the music venue are in critical condition. More than 100 emergency personnel responded to the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. ADAM VANGERPEN, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, LOS ANGELES FIRE DEPARTMENT: This was a very chaotic scene. There was people were helping each other out because this was a nightclub. People were waiting to go inside there. They were ordering tacos. So they're seeing people that they don't even know are injured. They're stepping in to help them out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is outside the venue. Julia, I mean, there were an incredible sequence of events taking place outside that venue. So what's the focus now in the investigation?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the focus and the priority here, Fred, is to find the person who fired the weapon into -- onto that driver who plowed into that crowd. That person is still at large.

Now we're piecing together what happened here. What we know from video that CNN has reviewed is we see this driver driving into the crowd. After that happens, and he injures more than 30 people, he's then taken out of the car. And that is when we have a fight ensued there. He's punched. He's being beaten by the crowd outside that bar. And then someone pulls out a gun and shoots that driver. That, authorities say, that person is still at large. He's considered armed and dangerous.

But there's more to the situation that police is saying is just peculiar. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY LEE, PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICER, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is not common at all. I would say in my 18 years as a law enforcement officer in the LAPD, I would say this is first of its kind that I'm aware of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And that, Fred, also goes to just where we are here. You know, east Hollywood, it is a part of Los Angeles that has a lot of nightlife, a lot of commerce. But it's not a particularly violent location where you would expect somebody to pull out a gun during an altercation like that, even if that did happen outside a nightclub at 2:00 in the morning.

Now we have from CNN's John Miller reporting that says that there's no indication at this point, Fred, that beyond the impaired state of that driver, that there was any further criminal intent there, and no connection to this point to terrorism or anything greater that authorities are investigating.

[14:15:04]

Again, the focus remains on just finding that suspect with the weapon that they have not yet been able to find.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Incredible scene, Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much in Los Angeles.

All right, still to come, the summer of severe storms continues with a new threat of flash floods stretching from the plains to the mid- Atlantic.

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[14:20:03]

WHITFIELD: Excessive rain is triggering flooding and mudslides across much of Virginia right now. It's just one of several states facing the potential of damaging downpours this weekend. Take a look at Russell County in southwestern Virginia, where roads were washed out. Heavy rain caused flooding in front of a post office there in Dante. A sheriff's captain there called the situation pretty dire. And overnight, Virginia's governor urged residents to avoid driving as first responders work to clear fallen trees from the roads.

And like we saw overnight in Virginia, heavy rain is also threatening to bring flash flooding to millions of people across much of the U.S. CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar reports nearly every region of the country faces some kind of threat this weekend.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The threat for excessive rainfall is not a small one today. In fact, 42 states have at least a small portion of them under that threat. And some of these states like Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland are entirely covered for that potential threat today.

Now, one thing to note is we've already had a lot of these storms ongoing throughout the day. They're going to continue into the evening, not only in the Midwest but also across portions of the mid- Atlantic. Even Sunday morning, still looking at some very heavy rainfall across states like Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky. States that have already had a lot of rain the last few days are going to continue to see more.

In addition to the potential for flooding, we also have a risk for severe thunderstorms. Now the main threat is going to be damaging winds, but we can't rule out the potential for some small hail or even an isolated tornado, especially in the yellow shaded areas that you see here.

Now, overall, most of these areas likely to pick up maybe up to two inches of rain. But right here where you see the orange and red color, not out of the question that some of those spots could pick up four, five, or even six inches of rain total by the time we get through the next few days.

Now, if it feels like it's been raining a lot and there have been a lot of flooding related events, it's not just you thinking that. In fact, take a look at this map. Just since July 1st, all of the states you see highlighted here in red, 44 of them have come together to produce over 1,200 flooding reports. So yes, it has seemed like a lot of flooding reports because there have been a lot of flooding reports. And unfortunately, we are likely to continue to get some flooding reports, not just for the remainder of the day today, but as we finish out the rest of the weekend as well.

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much.

All right, to Texas now, where some of the youngest victims of the horrific flooding earlier this month are being laid to rest. Eight- year-old Blakely McCrory was one of at least 135 people killed in the floods. For Blakely's mom, her death was the third in her family this year. CNN's Pamela Brown spoke to Lindsey McCrory about the losses that she has suffered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY MCLEOD MCCRORY, MOTHER OF BLAKELY MCCRORY: Unfortunately, I did have some other losses in my family. We lost my husband in March and then my brother in June. So I think that prepared me for Blakely's loss. I'm coping very well. I have amazing love and support from people I know, from people I don't know.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Your dear daughter, as I was reading, you believe is in heaven with her father right now.

MCCRORY: Absolutely. My faith is so strong.

BROWN: And you're actually wearing a Camp Mystic necklace right now that you gave Blakely. Tell us more about that.

MCCRORY: Yes. So I gave this necklace to my daughter right before camp, and I advised her that if she didn't want to lose it, because she's eight years old, and of course, they lose jewelry. I told her to wear it, you know, during the whole time at camp. So she wore it when they found her. And that was one of the ways they were able to identify her.

And I just want to thank the Texas ranger that was so lovely and gracious that helped me and just was so professional. My friends, my good friends from high school had it extended so that I could wear it so I would have a touchstone close to my heart.

BROWN: As we wrap this up, is there anything else you want the world to know about your sweet Blakely before you say your final goodbyes later today?

MCCRORY: She had the best time at camp. She went out on a happy note. She probably looked at that flooding, you know, going out in the night, you know, as an adventure, because you're not supposed to do that as a kid. And the counselor said that Blakely was encouraging her cabinmates to not be afraid. She was always a leader, encouraging others.

[14:25:01]

So I, in my heart, I know it happened fast, and I'm just so grateful the life that she lived was so happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: House Republicans narrowly passed President Trumps $9 billion spending cuts package, marking another legislative win for the president. The bill was part of the Department of Government Efficiency efforts to slash more federal spending, and is still awaiting the president's signature.

Joining me right now is CNN correspondent Julia Benbrook. So, Julia, good to see you. What more can you tell us about this bill and its impact?

[14:30:02]

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this package, which includes $9 billion. In spending cuts, it received the final stamp of approval that it needed in Congress from the House of Representatives shortly before those members left for the weekend. The final tally in that chamber was 216 to 213, and the vote was primarily along party lines, with just two Republican members voting against it.

Now, the package codifies some of the Department of Government Efficiency cuts into law with the stated goal of rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse within the federal government.

So what exactly was targeted in this package? Roughly $8 billion will be taken from foreign aid programs as part of the White House's efforts to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development. Another $1.1 billion taken from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR and PBS, as well as some of the local affiliates across the country. So this has the potential to have a big impact on those stations, particularly those in those rural areas.

Now, following the vote, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he hopes that this rescissions package is the first of many like it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R-LA) HOUSE SPEAKER: A rescissions package is the first of what we believe will be multiple rescissions packages. That's our plan. I'm delighted to send that over to the president's desk for signature.

We're going to downsize the scope of government. Government is too large. It does too many things and it does almost nothing Well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, House Democratic leadership, of course, had a very different tone when they responded to the passage of this bill. They called it extreme and reckless. I want to pull up some more of those comments. They said, quote, "This legislation undermines the public health and national security of the American people while launching an assault on public radio and television at the same time that we are witnessing tremendous death and destruction wrought by extreme weather in this country. House Republicans are taking a chainsaw to the public airwaves that Americans rely on for information in an emergency." They went on to say, "While extreme MAGA Republicans will claim this is about eliminating so-called waste, fraud, and abuse, they just jammed through a massive tax giveaway to billionaires that balloons our nation's debt by trillions of dollars."

Now, the passage of this rescissions package illustrates another legislative victory for Trump, and it comes just weeks after Congress passed his massive domestic policy agenda bill, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill. And they were able to do that with these very narrow majorities in both chambers and with Republican lawmakers voicing concerns. So both of these recent wins illustrating the power that Trump still has and how he plans to use it on Capitol Hill.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julia Benbrook, thanks so much.

All right, in a moment, some homeowners locked into higher rate mortgages believing that the rates would fall. Well guess what? The drop still hasn't come. We'll look at what this could mean for the home market.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:46]

WHITFIELD: All right, we learned this week that inflation rebounded in June to its highest level in four months. For some homeowners, it's adding to financial challenges that they are having with their mortgages. Just take a look at this chart. Mortgage rates have remained stubbornly high for three years now. And what it means in real terms is that for a $500,000 mortgage in 2018, your monthly payment would be just over $1,800. Well, that was a two -- that was at a two percent rate, rather. The same monthly payment now for a 6.5 percent mortgage now costs you more than $2,900 each month on the same $500,000 mortgage.

CNN business writer Samantha Delouya has been covering this story, and she's joining us right now. Samantha, great to see you.

SAMANTHA DELOUYA, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Great to see you.

WHITFIELD: So you've been talking to some homeowners, right, who had been hoping to refinance at a lower rate, but they don't have that opportunity right now. So what are they telling you?

DELOUYA: Yes, exactly. Homeownership is often seen as a cornerstone of the American dream. But for some Americans who bought homes in the last three or so years, that has turned into a costly source of stress. Like you said, that's partially due to the fact that mortgage rates have stayed stubbornly elevated as the Federal Reserve continues its fight against inflation.

I spoke to a lot of homeowners. Many of them told me that, you know, they thought these high monthly payments would just be a temporary sacrifice. That's because they thought victory would be declared against inflation sooner, and they would be able to refinance their home loans. One even told me that when she bought her home in 2022, she thought she'd be able to refinance her loan in six months.

Obviously, relief has not come, and many economists do expect that President Trump's tariff rate will reignite inflation, meaning that mortgage rates could stay higher for longer. And Fredricka, I spoke to a lot of homeowners who told me they feel literally trapped in these home loans.

WHITFIELD: Meaning do they feel like they are entertaining whether they have to list their homes because it's just too expensive to keep? Or, I mean, what are their options? What are they considering?

[14:40:05]

DELOUYA: Yes, I mean, it's certainly possible that we'll see more homes being listed for sale in the next few months or few years from people who are getting fed up from these ultra elevated, not ultra- high compared to history, but compared to recent history, high mortgage rates.

But the issue is that home prices have actually softened in a lot of major metro areas. So, you know, some of these homeowners I spoke to told me they could potentially be stuck selling their homes at a loss right now if they had sold them right now because of how much they had bid up those homes in 2022 and 2023 when that post pandemic home buying demand was so strong. Now they would have to take a loss. So some of them feel, you know, trapped. One told me she wishes she'd just stayed renting.

WHITFIELD: Oh, wow. So is there evidence, too, that Americans who want to buy homes today are delaying things, hoping that borrowing rates will soon fall?

DELOUYA: Yes, there's certainly evidence that home buyer demand has certainly softened right now. There's more homes on the market. They're staying on the market longer. Homebuyers are kind of shuffling their feet, getting a little skittish. They're waiting, hoping to see mortgage rates fall or see what happens with the economy, because there's a lot of economic uncertainty. And homeowners right now who are buying homes are also betting that mortgage rates will fall. Many of them are taking on riskier adjustable-rate mortgages, which have a low introductory rate. But then the rate goes up. They're betting that before the rate goes up, they'll be able to refinance.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy. I mean, that is risky. All right, Samantha Delouya, great to see you. Thanks so much.

DELOUYA: Great to see you.

WHITFIELD: All right, still to come, does sugar feed cancer? What about being overweight or drinking alcohol? Ahead, the myths and truths of how to limit your risk of cancer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:46:43]

WHITFIELD: More young women than ever are getting breast cancer. And there's a lot of advice online about what can and cannot help to prevent it. Are they myths or is there real science behind them? CNN's Sara Sidner sat down with oncologist and author Dr. Elizabeth Comen to find the truth about cancer prevention.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Probably once a week I hear someone say to me, you know sugar feeds cancer. You really shouldn't eat that. Is that true?

DR. ELIZABETH COMEN, ONCOLOGIST, NYU LANGONE: Sugar is not going into the cancer and feeding it, right? It's not this, like one way train with that M&M that you put in your mouth. And that also puts a lot of blame on the patient.

That being said, excessive sugar can lead to excessive weight. It can change your metabolic function. And we know that that is not good overall as being what's called a host to cancer. So cancer cells are living in your body, and we want to make them inhospitable. We want to make your body and the environment around it less hospitable to cancers.

SIDNER: I asked a couple of different oncologists, is there a cancer diet? And I was told no twice, except when it came to drinking alcohol. Three oncologists said do not drink alcohol.

I'm confused. Is there a cancer diet or not? If you're not supposed to drink alcohol, it seems to me that there's got to be something to do with nutrition. COMEN: It's a great, great question. I'll tell you what I think we

know, and then we'll hit the alcohol point as well.

So we do know that maintaining more of a plant forward diet with less processed foods -- and what is processed foods? I mean. There are all these quizzes online about, is it processed? Is it not processed? In general, if it's got artificial dyes in it, it's more likely to be processed. If you can't pronounce a laundry list of ingredients there, it's more likely to be processed than not. You want to think about whole foods, whole grains, real foods. And limiting especially processed red meats, the processed deli meats, the processed salami, the pepperoni, things like that.

The other piece that we know that can be helpful is alcohol. We know that it's a carcinogen. We know that there's an association, the more you drink, the higher your risk.

However, this is not the same risk as having a genetic mutation that leads to an 85 percent increased risk of cancer over your lifetime. But people ask me all the time, what can I do that's within my control? You can't control what your family history is. You can control what you put in your mouth and how you exercise and what you drink.

And so we do know that there is an increased association not only with breast cancer, but other types of cancers from alcohol consumption because it is a direct carcinogen.

SIDNER: Does being overweight or being obese make you more susceptible to cancer?

COMEN: It does. It does. So we know that obesity, like tobacco consumption or alcohol consumption, is one modifiable risk factor for cancer. But we know that it can also be a tremendous battle to fight, right. And so it's something that we really want patients to talk openly with their doctors about, about what are their options, what are their lifestyle options, what are the medication options that they might be able to have, so that they can start to decrease their risk from that excess weight.

[14:50:05]

SIDNER: Oh my God, this is my fault. Like, that's the first thing that jumped into my head when I heard that.

COMEN: And there's so much shame around that, that I think we have to really dismantle and compassionately give patients their options.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much to Sara Sidner for that report.

All right, the new CNN original series goes inside the notorious billionaire boys club of the 1980s. This week follows Joe Hunt's ascension as the leader of the social and investment club. But as tensions and pressures escalate within the group, a series of high stakes decisions pushed the billionaire boys club into dangerous territory. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Joe reveals he and Jim had killed Ron Levin, the BBC boys were stunned.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This was a group of young 20 somethings who had very little experience with life. I can only imagine their heads were spinning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right, watch a new episode of "The Billionaire Boys Club" tomorrow, 10:00 p.m., right here on CNN.

Straight ahead, back to our breaking news. Dozens of people injured after a car plows into a crowd outside of a Los Angeles nightclub. An update from the Los Angeles Fire Department next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:03]

WHITFIELD: All right, nearly a dozen Beyonce fans are recovering from their injuries after attending the Cowboy Carter tour in Atlanta. Surveillance and bodycam footage from Tuesday captured this terrifying scene at one of Atlanta's metro stations. An escalator carrying at least 30 riders rapidly sped up for about nine seconds, tossing passengers into a crowded platform at the Vine City train station. CNN affiliate WANF reports 11 riders were injured and at least one of them underwent surgery. City officials are now investigating the incident.

And it's round three of the British Open, also known as just the Open. And there are some familiar names battling it out on top of the leaderboard. CNN's Patrick Snell is following all the developments. He's here with me now. So who's got the lead?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Hi.

SNELL: Yes. One very familiar name, Scottie Scheffler, the American player. So dominant. He had a one-shot lead going into Saturday's third round. And he's only gone and increased his lead. I tell you what. They've just wrapped up play there at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland. Scottie Scheffler, the world number one, and Fred, he's absolutely playing like it as well. This is a player that in the build up to this year's Open championship, or British Open if you prefer, but officially it's the Open championship, they battle it out for the famed Claret Jug. He basically said -- he made headlines when he said the joy of winning is purely fleeting. Well, given he just said that he sure is hungry to go on to add to his tally of career Majors, he's looking for his fourth overall. He's looking to get his hands on his first ever Claret Jug. The Open championship is the oldest Major in golf, and just a few minutes ago, he fired a third round 67 to get himself to 14 under par. And he will take a four-shot lead into Sunday's final round. He's looking pretty much unbeatable right now.

And it was just a moment I think sums it up best. He was playing the 14th hole. The rough out there at Royal Portrush is absolutely treacherous. He puts his drive in the rough. It looks to all intents and purposes that he is going to go on and at least drop one shot. Now what does he do? He puts the ball calmly, advances it, saves par, not a bogey in sight during round three for him on Saturday, 14 under par. And it's going to take some superhuman effort from someone somewhere else to try and reel him in, because he's not giving it up.

WHITFIELD: No, he has an incredible lead. So who potentially could be nipping at his heels?

SNELL: Well, that is the question.

WHITFIELD: It's going to take a big error on his part, right?

SNELL: He's going to have to give some strokes back, I think, if it's going to be an interesting Sunday. And he's a he's just robotic in his magnificence out there on the golf course. I think it's going to be very, very difficult.

Who might make a challenge? That is the big question. I tell you what, Chinas Haotong Li is making a really, really good name for himself, ten under par through three rounds. He fired a 69 on Saturday. And the English player as well, keep an eye on Matt Fitzpatrick, the young Yorkshireman. He's a former U.S. Open champion. He got himself theoretically into the mix. He's at nine under par.

But the player, the fans out there on the course are all talking about come Sunday, they hope, is some guy by the name of Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland.

WHITFIELD: I was going to say, wait a minute --

SNELL: Rory McIlroy wearing red, McIlroy wearing Tiger Woods like red on Saturday. He got in a wonderful round earlier, he fired a 66 on Saturday to get himself to eight under par. There are thousands. There's over 40,000 fans on the course there at Royal Portrush.

WHITFIELD: He's quite the rival, right?

SNELL: Well, I'll you tell what.

WHITFIELD: Tiger's rival, not he's taking the color?

SNELL: Well, yes, but he's just completed the career grand slam. So he's in really good shape. Like he's in a good place. He's at eight under par. But that's by my mathematics, that is six shots behind Scheffler. And that is going to be very, very difficult for anyone to, like, reel him back in. Its going to be very, very tough.

McIlroy, though, has got the support of thousands out on the course, so we shall see what happens on Sunday.

WHITFIELD: Yes, he is quite the phenom. SNELL: Yes, he really is. If he gets the crowd behind him and Scheffler gives one or two strokes back, it could, it could get interesting. But we'll see.