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Ghislaine Maxwell Gets Limited Immunity, Trump Not Ruling Out Pardon; Jeffrey Epstein's Wealth Tied To Web Of Powerful Connections; IDF Plans To Have Humanitarian Pause In Gaza Fighting Sunday; A 200- Foot Asteroid Heading For A Crash Into The Moon; Ireland Investigates Mass Grave Of Babies In Church-Rum "Home"; CNN Gets Rare Access To Goodyear Blimp. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 26, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:01:04]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York, and we begin this hour with news from Scotland, where President Donald Trump is visiting.

On the trip, he'll take part in trade talks, meet with the British prime minister and golf at his own resorts. The visit also puts physical distance between the president and the growing political crisis back home. The administration has been embroiled in controversy over its handling of the documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case. This week, sources familiar with that discussion told CNN that when Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed the president in May on the Justice Department review of documents related to the Epstein case, she told Trump his name appeared in the files. Now, that was not the only focus of their talks, the source said. But Trump has denied this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, were you briefed on your name appearing in the Epstein files ever?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, I was never, never briefed. No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: It's also not clear in what context Trump's name appears in the documents. Sources familiar with the department's review say the files seem to include several unsubstantiated claims the DOJ does not find credible, including those related to Trump.

I want to go now to former state attorney for Palm Beach County, Dave Aronberg.

Dave, thanks so much for being here with us as we kind of sort through all of this. This week of course Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche spent two days interviewing Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's associate, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 for carrying out this years' long scheme with Epstein to groom and sexually abuse underage girls. She's tried to appeal her conviction. Let's start first there and just the idea that somebody like Todd

Blanche, who is the deputy attorney general, would go down and even do this interview.

DAVE ARONBERG, FORMER STATE ATTORNEY, PALM BEACH COUNTY: It's extraordinary, Jessica. I've never seen anything like it. The number two person at the Department of Justice is personally interviewing a convicted felon, someone who committed the crime of human trafficking, and who was indicted back in 2020 for perjury by the Trump administration. But now, the same Trump administration is interested to what she has to say and is ready to believe her.

And Trump was subtly dangling a pardon. He didn't quite say it, but he said that it's too early to talk about that now. So this is a game that's being played right now where you have Ghislaine Maxwell defense lawyer, saying she's going to tell the truth. She gave up 100 names and Todd Blanche is there to listen and to hopefully get information that can help exonerate Trump. Mind you, I don't believe that Trump committed any crimes here, but the way he's been acting sure makes it seem like that.

DEAN: And so, just so people know, she was given limited immunity to have this discussion. It's kind of -- it's called, I think, colloquially, a queen for a day kind of scenario. What does that mean? And what actually, to your point, can you glean from something like that when you have this big question floating over how trustworthy is she?

ARONBERG: Yes. She's the devil's accomplice. She shouldn't be getting a pardon. And she's being treated like the queen for the day, which is what any good defense lawyer would require, which is, if you want my client to talk, you're going to have to give her immunity so that she doesn't face charges for what she's about to say. But remember there's no investigation here. According to Todd Blanche and the administration, this investigation is closed.

They're just trying to get more information for more transparency. So president Trump is trying to have it both ways. He's not allowing the release of the file within the Department of Justice. But at the same time, he's speaking to Ghislaine Maxwell to try to get her to give up names. I don't think that's going to placate their ravenous base because this base has been fed all these conspiracies, all these lies, and until they have Bill Clinton and Bill Gates' head on a platter, they're not going to be satisfied.

DEAN: And just legally speaking, where does this go from here?

[19:05:02]

ARONBERG: Well, I think that it goes nowhere legally unless they have enough information to file charges against a third party, but they haven't done so already, and you're not going to base it purely on Ghislaine Maxwell's word. She's a liar. She's a convicted felon. You need real corroboration. So I think this stuff wasn't meant for a court, but rather for the court of public opinion. This is a PR move in my mind. DEAN: Yes. And then -- and then to what end is Pam Bondi and the DOJ

now kind of tangled up in all of this?

ARONBERG: Well, Attorney General Bondi is in a tough situation because you have the heads of the FBI, Bongino and Patel, who rose to power based on these conspiracy theories. And now the ravenous base is demanding the goods. And the goods aren't there. This is like the whole Frankenstein story. You create this monster, and now the monster has turned on them. So she's in a very tough position, but ultimately, she's loyal to the president and is going to carry out his orders.

And the president doesn't want to be anywhere near this. He realizes his name is in the files, and it's apparent that AG Bondi probably told him that. But now he's saying not only did she not tell him that, but he has nothing to do with this guy, Jeffrey Epstein. You know, he should just come clean and say, yes, he was friends with him. Everyone knows that. It doesn't mean he committed any crimes. It's not the crime here, but the cover-up that's causing so many problems.

DEAN: And then there's this question, you kind of touched on it, of any potential pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell. Now, when the president was asked about this when he was leaving for Scotland, he said he hadn't really thought about it. It's something that he can do. He has not said no. That's clear. He has not said yes, but he's kind of talked around it.

In terms of pardoning somebody like Maxwell, who is again serving 20 years for the sex trafficking of minors. Is there -- is that common? How often does somebody like that get a pardon?

ARONBERG: Never. We've never seen this before. But then again, who would have thought that violent January 6th rioters who attacked police would get pardons, but they did. And so what's to stop President Trump from doing it? Well, public opinion. So he could do it on his way out. This is the same dance he did with Paul Manafort, where he doesn't come out and say, I'm going to give you a pardon if you play ball. They talk around it. They dance around each other.

You heard some similar rhetoric from the lawyer for Ghislaine Maxwell, praising President Trump and saying she's going to be trustworthy and truthful and she's going to come clean with all the information. So this is a little dance they're doing. And in the end, if Trump gets what he wants, which is he wants Ghislaine Maxwell to exonerate him, to say that Trump, to her knowledge, is not in the files, committed no crimes, then, yes, I think it's very possible that she could get a pardon on his way out of office.

DEAN: All right. Dave Aronberg, great to have you on a Saturday night. We really appreciate your time.

ARONBERG: Thanks for having me, Jessica.

DEAN: When Jeffrey Epstein died in prison in 2019, he was enormously wealthy. He owned a collection of mansions across the world, two private islands, and was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. How the disgraced financier managed to become so wealthy is central to the ongoing scandal, with Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill demanding answers.

CNN's Tom Foreman picks it up here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was found dead behind bars, he owned two Caribbean islands, homes around the world in Manhattan, New Mexico, Palm Beach, Paris. And according to Forbes, his estate was valued at $578 million, making Epstein clearly a wealthy man. Not so clear to some who have watched the case closely how he got it all.

JULIE K. BROWN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE MIAMI HERALD: I think that's the smoking gun here. Epstein's finances and where he -- how he made his money, who he got money from.

FOREMAN: Born in middle class Brooklyn, Epstein was a bright student who dropped out of college and into high finance, where he courted billionaire clients including the man behind Victoria's Secret and the Limited. Les Wexner kickstarted Epstein's professional success and when Epstein's private crimes came out, he expressed outrage.

LES WEXNER, FORMER CEO, L BRANDS: Being taken advantage of by someone who was so sick, so cunning, so depraved is something that I'm embarrassed that I was even close to.

FOREMAN: But Epstein made many rich and powerful contacts before his sexual predations were publicly known, including now President Donald Trump, who in 2002, before his friendship with Epstein fell apart, reportedly over a real estate deal, told "New York" magazine, "I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy."

Aside from Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's longtime girlfriend, none of his highly placed former pals have been charged with any crimes related to him.

[19:10:03]

No law enforcement authorities have ever accused Trump of any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. And the president bristles at the whole idea that the Epstein case still has secrets to reveal.

TRUMP: It's all been a big hoax. It's perpetrated by the Democrats, and some stupid Republicans and foolish Republicans fall into the net.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Still, some find Epstein's fortune inexplicably large, too big in their assessment to have been made by legitimate hustle. And they openly wonder, with no proof, at least not yet, if maybe some of Epstein's contacts were somehow involved in his crimes and paying to keep it quiet.

REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): We need to know, were they paying Jeffrey Epstein money to do these? Who gave him the loans to buy the islands? What was he paid? Where did that money come from?

FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Tom, thank you.

And we do have some breaking news into CNN. This is an update for you. As we told you, several people were stabbed at a Walmart in Traverse City, Michigan. And state police say a suspect is now in custody. The local sheriff's department saying details are still coming in on the victims and exactly what happened. Munson Healthcare, that's a hospital system in northern Michigan, says it's now treating 11 victims from that incident.

Again, a stabbing at a local Walmart there. We're going to continue to follow the story. We'll bring you any updates as we get them.

Also, more breaking news as Israel's military says it's going to pause some of the fighting in Gaza tomorrow to get life-saving food and aid into the territory. This, as dozens of people have starved to death.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:16:26]

DEAN: Just moments ago, the Israeli military confirmed to CNN they have begun airdrops of aid into Gaza. This is one of several actions announced tonight in response to the growing outrage over the starvation crisis in Gaza. Israel's ambassador saying tomorrow the IDF will open humanitarian corridors there.

And last hour I spoke with CNN analyst and Axios correspondent Barak Ravid as he broke the news.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: On Sunday morning, Israel is going to implement a humanitarian pause in the fighting that is expected to last at least between something -- between eight to 10 hours in several large areas in the Gaza Strip, both in the southern Gaza Strip, in the central Gaza Strip and in the northern Gaza Strip, to allow safe access for the U.N. and other aid organizations.

This is the first time Israel is allowing such humanitarian pause in the fighting since Israel unilaterally decided to resume the war in March, and also decided then to stop the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. This is a dramatic step, a very significant step, and a result of huge international pressure on Israel over the last days and weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN's Nic Robertson is in Jerusalem and has more now on these new measures -- Nic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The IDF has said that they're starting a series of actions that are designed to improve the flow of humanitarian aid inside of Gaza. And the headline action they're taking is restarting they say airdrops. They will be air dropping seven pallets of food. Food they say that has come from U.N. and international aid organizations. They say it will be flour, sugar and canned food.

Now it's worth -- it's worth noting here that just a couple of days ago, the IDF had already said that there would be this likelihood of restarting airdrops of food into Gaza. But what's quite significant about this announcement tonight the IDF is saying they will be the ones dropping the aid. Now, that does seem to be a departure from what we've seen in the past. It's also worth noting that seven pallets of aid is a tiny, tiny amount compared to what's actually required on a daily basis inside of Gaza.

But this is just one measure the IDF is saying that they're taking. They say they're going to improve the humanitarian corridors for the U.N. to move its aid around Gaza, which the IDF has been heavily criticized for. They say that they will have humanitarian pauses because they say that the combat operations will continue. But these humanitarian pauses would allow the movement of aid inside of Gaza.

And they also point out a couple of other issues as well. They say that 250 trucks worth of food this week have been moved into facilities at the perimeter of Gaza, ready for distribution. And they say 600 trucks worth of food has been distributed inside of Gaza this week. Point on that, aid organizations say about 600 trucks is what's required for Gaza on one day. The IDF saying that's what they got last week.

So the IDF's position clearly coming under a lot of international pressure. Clearly the narrative that's emerging from Gaza about the malnutrition, the deaths, more than 120 people now, two-thirds of them children, have died of malnutrition recently inside of Gaza.

[19:20:03]

The IDF is saying that this is a false narrative or a false narrative being created by Hamas, that this is an intentional starvation or tactics to cause starvation by the IDF. They say that is not the case, and that's why they're having this big push now, change that narrative, improve the distribution.

Again, I think these what we see and its effectiveness would be the best judge of how the situation improves because there are many times the similar steps have been taken the improvements have been there, have not been huge. And for one reason or another have not been lasting. This is a beginning step, it appears. And again, the seven pallets the IDF say they're dropping by plane onto Gaza, that will need to be a lot more aid. That part of it stepped up significantly to make a big difference on the ground.

(END VIDEOTAPE) DEAN: All right. Nic Robertson for us there in Jerusalem, thank you so much.

And joining us now CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger.

David, thanks for being with us on this Saturday evening. We're getting this news of these actions tonight from Israel. Is this enough? I think let's start there. What kind of difference might this make? And then we can go beyond that.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Jessica, at the levels at which the Israelis announced tonight I don't think it's going to make a huge difference. Look, any increased amount of aid getting in in a situation as desperate as this is welcome. But, you know, it was only a year ago that we were saying you really needed to see a run of about 1500 trucks a day getting in to make a real difference. And they were down to under 200 on many days.

And so the Israelis, as you just heard, are feeling huge amounts of international pressure. That's understandable given the scenes of starvation, the accounts you're getting from doctors in the area. I know the Israelis have made the argument that previously Hamas was seizing the food. "The New York Times" and other news organizations have made a pretty convincing case that those instances were fairly rare.

So they've got to radically change the way this is unfolding right now, or it's going to be a starvation on Israel's watch because Israel has declared it wants to control the territory.

DEAN: Yes. As you noted, CNN also confirming that that report by USAID showed that the idea that Hamas was stealing the aid, that that was not what that report found. And so what might this mean more broadly, as we zoom out more broadly for this conflict these talks, the Americans, the Israelis walked away? They seem to be at an impasse right now. We have reporting from others that the Trump administration is perhaps rethinking its kind of strategy around this.

What does this mean more broadly for where we are in this war?

SANGER: Well, if the Trump administration is rethinking its strategy, it may be, you know, a little bit on the late side for that. But again, probably welcome because I think everybody I run into in the Trump administration agrees the existing strategy is not working. The president was asked yesterday about the starvation and the humanitarian situation, and he ended up answering by saying that Israel needed to just go rout out the rest of Hamas, and they needed to go fight it out.

He's not appointed a special envoy of any kind to deal with the Palestinians and the food issue. The U.S. you'll remember last year during the Biden administration made an effort to create a pier and bring food in that way. That didn't work technologically and the U.S. abandoned it. Right now the Israelis are saying it's up to the United Nations and NGOs, non-governmental organizations, to bring in the food.

But of course, if Israel is the governing power in Gaza and they say that's the only acceptable outcome right now, then they are responsible for the food and the medicine.

DEAN: All right. I want to turn to another topic to talk -- to touch on as well, which is President Trump obviously in Scotland this weekend. We know he's set to meet with Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union, for these trade talks. He's hoping for what he calls the biggest deal of them all.

As someone who's been following all of this very closely, reporting on it, what are you expecting from these talks? Are you surprised to see that she's traveling there to Scotland?

[19:25:08]

SANGER: Well, it's certainly an improvement. You'll remember that he did not invite her to come to the White House while the Japanese and other world leaders have been invited before. She finally did meet President Trump first at the Pope's funeral.

I think you're going to see the Europeans try to see if they can strike an actual agreement. The president said repeatedly a few months ago that the purpose of the European Union was to mess with the United States. I'm not sure that the Europeans view it that way.

I think the issue that is now settling in on many around the president is that they have made the tariffs the central issue between Europe and the U.S. at a moment that they need Europe's help in Ukraine, on broader defense issues, on a range of other issues, including Israel- Palestine, and at some point, they've got to get past all of the trade disputes if they're going to sort of restore the alliance's traditional role.

I'm not sure the president cares about restoring that based on what he said, but clearly we're paying a price here for focusing only on the tariffs.

DEAN: All right. David Sanger, always good to see you. Thanks so much.

SANGER: Great to see you.

DEAN: You too.

An asteroid the size of a building that's zipping its way around the sun could be on a collision course with the moon. What does that mean? We're going to talk about it. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:31:17]

DEAN: Mark your calendars for something no human being has seen in 5,000 years. Meet the asteroid 2024YR4, it is 200 feet wide. It's on track to crash into the moon in a few years and that could give the moon a new beauty mark in the form of a giant crater.

CNN contributor Kristin Fisher is joining us now. She's the host of "The Endless Void" on YouTube. Kristen, good to see you. What do we know about this? What does it mean?

KRISTIN FISHER, CNN SPACE AND DEFENSE ANALYST: So, Jessica, you may remember this is the asteroid that everybody thought might hit Earth, just a few months ago. Back then, it had the highest percentage ever recorded in history in terms of a chance of it actually hitting Earth. We now know for sure that it is not going to hit Earth. So, that's the good news.

DEAN: That's good news.

FISHER: That's good, right? Okay, we're safe, but the moon perhaps not so much, right. Now, I should caution this is a very small percentage still, just over four percent chance of this asteroid hitting the moon in late 2032. But, Jessica, it's a big enough chance that scientists are now seriously starting to study what the ramifications could be.

Not to Earth and not to Earthlings, we're not going to go the way the dinosaurs with this asteroid, but to the moon itself. And also, some things that are very important to humans, things like our satellites that are needed for communications and GPS. And also, Jessica, remember, by that point in time, 2032, NASA and China are hoping to have NASA astronauts and Chinese taikonauts living and working on the surface of the moon.

I think a lunar base there is a bit too aggressive of a timeline by then, but if an asteroid were to hit the moon, that would. You can't have astronauts on the moon, if an asteroid were to hit the moon. So, those are some of the things that scientists are starting to look at and study.

DEAN: That is so interesting. So, 2032 for that and we will see how that shakes out. I do want to also ask you about some reporting from Reuters about NASA, that it's about to lose roughly 20 percent of its workforce. What do you know about this? What kind of impact might that have?

FISHER: Yes, I mean, that calculates to about 4,000 employees not going to be at NASA by the end of this year. That's a reduction in the workforce to about 14,000. And, you know, Jessica, we were just talking about NASA astronauts and Chinese taikonauts. This loss of brainpower and these are not just, you know, lower level NASA employees. A lot of the people that have taken these buyouts, essentially from the Trump administration, are senior level folks at NASA.

And so, Senator Mark Kelly came out a few weeks ago and said, the fact that you have this many people, senior level people at NASA taking -- potentially taking these early retirements from the Trump administration, it's coming at a really precarious time for the space agency because it is in a self-described space race with China to return American astronauts to the surface of the moon. And right now, Jessica, China and the United States are really neck and neck. We've seen all those setbacks with SpaceX's starship program right at the same time that China has really been showing some strong progress with its spacecrafts.

So, a loss of brainpower, this brain drain from NASA, this loss of institutional knowledge, really coming at a critical time for the space agency.

DEAN: Yes, it sounds like it. All right, Kristin Fisher, it's always good to see you. Thanks so much.

FISHER: Great to see you, Jess.

DEAN: Up next, were going to take you to Ireland, where a long-awaited excavation is underway. Why the project could bring closure to hundreds of families after decades of mourning and mystery.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:39:52]

DEAN: In Ireland, forensic experts are excavating remains of hundreds of babies from a mass grave. They're believed to have died at a home run by Catholic nuns for unwed mothers. The institution was one of many across the country, and in 2021, the Irish government formally apologized.

Donie O'Sullivan speaks to survivors and the families searching for answers.

[19:40:11]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the middle of this housing estate, lies one of Ireland's darkest secrets.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): There was knowledge that something was here.

CATHERINE CORLESS, LOCAL HISTORIAN: Yes, of course there was.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just hidden between a lot of them.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): Now, we're here in the Town of Tuam, it's on the West of Ireland and this housing. estate was once the site of a so-called mother and baby home.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Between the 1920's and 1990's, tens of thousands of Irish women who became pregnant outside of marriage were sent to homes run by nuns.

CORLESS: Every inch of that lot is going to be excavated.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Contraception was illegal in Ireland until the 1980s, and abortion was illegal here until 2018.

JOHN ROGERS, TUAM MOTHER AND BABY HOME SURVIVOR: The church and the state they had this thing about unmarried mothers being evil. They looked on them as dangerous because they were dangerous to men.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): John Rogers was born in the mother and baby home here in Tuam.

ROGERS: A lock of hair. My mother kept that for 40 years and gave it back to me the day that we we're reunited.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): John was taken away from his mother, Bridie Rogers, when he was only one-year-old.

ROGERS: Because she swore the day that she took that, that no church or state would ever be able to claim me as their own. I belong to Bridie Rogers.

CORLESS: So, I think there are somewhere about the bounds of course.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Local historian and grandmother Catherine Corless began researching the Tuam baby home from her kitchen table.

CORLESS: The home itself now.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): That's what the housing, estate.

CORLESS: Yes, yes, that's it.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): She made a shocking discovery.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): You discovered 796 babies had died in this home.

CORLESS: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): There's no records of them being buried anywhere else, but there is this septic tank.

CORLESS: Yes.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): What did you think?

CORLESS: Well, I was horrified -- absolutely horrified. And -- but first of all, I had to absolutely prove it and keep talking and keep saying they're there.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Catherine kept talking, even though some people in Tuam and in the Irish Catholic Church wanted her to stop.

CORLESS: First of all, I felt the resistance. I wasn't expecting that. I just thought, they said -- they'd look at my research and say, my God, I thought they'd take it over from me and do something. I mean, between the archbishop, the nuns, the whole lot, all said no.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Her discovery shocked Ireland. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The tomb is not just a burial ground, it is a social and cultural sepulcher. It just seemed as if in Ireland our women had the amazing capacity to self-impregnate. And for their trouble, we took their babies and we gifted them or we sold them or we trafficked them, or we starved them, or we neglected them, or we denied them to the point of their disappearance.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Now, forensic archeologists are beginning the delicate process of exhuming and identifying the baby's remains.

ROGERS: These babies that are in septic tank, maybe they were my playmates, I'll never know. All I know is that those children, friends of mine, they disappeared.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): In homes like this across Ireland, many babies disappeared because they died. Others disappeared, sometimes after allegedly being illegally adopted or trafficked to America.

ANNA CORRIGAN, LOST BROTHER AT TUAM: I'm here, I've spent ten years looking to find him.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Two of Anna Corrigan's brothers were born in the Tuam home. She believes one of them was sent to America and could still be alive.

CORRIGAN: If somebody is watching this and if you know anything about a William Joseph Dolan who was born in the Tuam home in 1950 and would have been eight-months-old when he was moved to either America or Canada, please reach out.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Her other brother, John, died as a baby and is on Catherine Corless' list of 796 names. His body may be in the septic tank.

CORRIGAN: For the children that are lying up there, they've been crying for a long time. They've been crying to be heard. They didn't have dignity in life, they didn't have dignity in death and we're hoping now that they will be identified, they will be moved to a dignified burial.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): The Republic of Ireland has been an independent country for a hundred years now after a proud history of fighting British colonial oppression. But for much of the last century, the Irish Catholic Church and the Irish government colluded to create a form of oppression of their own, one that specifically targeted women. What's happening here in Tuam is a reckoning.

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): As a younger Irish person, I just find it very hard to reconcile how people put up with this. I understand it was probably fear.

ROGERS: It was fear. It was fear. I think it was because the church, the Catholic Church, had such a grip on people, and they were trying to dictate morally, and they were trying to introduce, I suppose, a prurient society.

[19:45:40]

CORRIGAN: They wanted to show we're not like those no disrespect to anybody watching on the religion. We're not like those Protestants. We're good, wholesome Catholics, right? And we have calmly maidens dancing at the crossroads, and we don't have any of that carry on that goes on in other countries, but we do, because we are human beings.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Donie O'Sullivan CNN, Tuam, Ireland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Donie, thank you. We'll have more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:46]

DEAN: The Goodyear Blimp might be one of the world's most iconic aircraft, and CNN aviation correspondent and pilot Pete Muntean got a rare chance to get behind the controls and take it out for a spin. This is what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome aboard.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT AND PILOT (on camera): Thank you. How's it going?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good and you?

MUNTEAN (on camera): Good.

MUNTEAN (voice over): I'm about to do something pretty cool and very rare. I think I'm one of the only reporters to ever take a flying lesson in the Goodyear Blimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you nervous?

MUNTEAN (on camera): A little bit, yes. This is totally different than what I'm used to. So, don't judge me too hard.

MUNTEAN (voice over): I'm at the world's biggest airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. There are 10,000 planes here, three quarters of a million people, the busiest swath of airspace in the world right now. You can see down there, that's the north 40. That's where I'm camping with my plane and maybe the biggest and most unique flying machine here is the blimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, so when you're ready, I'm going to give you the controls.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Okay. I'm ready.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have the tray.

MUNTEAN (on camera): I'm going all over the place.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to be serious.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Yes, this is a hoot. It feels like I'm driving a bus. You put in the controls, and then you kind of wait and wait and wait, and then it does something. And then it does a lot.

MUNTEAN (on camera): This is the hundredth anniversary of the Goodyear Blimp, which is maybe the most successful aerial advertising campaign of all time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Would you like to see some of the maneuvers the ship can do?

MUNTEAN (on camera): Heck yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you can make the blimp wave and just rock back and forth like a boat, right?

MUNTEAN (on camera): So I just did an air show maneuver in the blimp.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lower the nose down close to 30 degrees in the pit.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Okay. I feel like I'm looking straight down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you're going up, okay.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You want to try a 360-degree spin?

MUNTEAN (on camera): Sure, yes. Okay, yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you're just going to go all the way left.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go and then if you get a sink, you're adding some --

MUNTEAN (on camera): -- more power, it's kind of like turning an elephant around. I mean, for such a huge thing, it's pretty maneuverable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is.

MUNTEAN (on camera): I took it for granted. It looks like the blimp is so graceful and bumbling through the air, but it's really -- it's quite a flyer, I'm surprised.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's fun to fly.

MUNTEAN (on camera): Yes, it's totally fun to fly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: Pete, thank you.

It was 40 years ago this month when some of the biggest names in rock and roll came together. Rock stars like The Who, Bono, Duran Duran and Bob Geldof led legendary concerts in London and Philadelphia to raise money for famine relief in Africa. And here's a preview of tomorrows new episode of "Live Aid: When Rock and Roll Took on the World".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(LIVE AID Concert)

GARY KEMP, ENGLISH SONGWRITER AND MUSICIAN, SPANDAU BALLET BAND: No one played together for eight years, you know, so this was a big event.

I remember talking to Pete Townshend a lot, who was my hero at the time, no question. No one was allowed at the side of the stage at any time.

But Pete said, why don't you just walk up with me when we go on? I stayed with Pete, walked up to the side of the stage, and when they started playing, I just got the full bass shock hitting me, but that was an amazing experience.

BOB GELDOF, IRISH SINGER-SONGWRITER AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST: History has proved it to be a good thing in one respect, which is that Bob has not taken a penny from it and has had to stand by it all these years, you know, through thick and thin. Sometimes being accused of doing it for his own ego, which is absolute nonsense. I was trying to do something that would make sure that it didn't happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:55:07]

DEAN: Be sure to tune in. It's a new episode of "Live Aid: When Rock and Roll Took On the World". It airs tomorrow night at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific, only here on CNN.

Thanks so much for joining me tonight. I'm Jessica Dean. I'm going to see you back here again tomorrow night. "Erin Burnett: OutFront" weekend is up next. Have a great night everyone.

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