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CNN This Morning

Defense Deploys Liar, Liar Strategy Against Cohen; Sen. John Fetterman is Interviewed about Mental Health; R.I.P. Commission on Presidential Debates. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 16, 2024 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:30:25]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": "Politico" said that "Trump seemed to doze off as his nemesis faced cross-examination." This is supposed to be the final standoff with his worst enemy and Trump is asleep. It reminds me of this climactic confrontation from "Star Wars."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: Two of my favorite things in a single clip, politics and "Star Wars." Can't resist that.

When Michael Cohen returns to the witness stand in just a few hours, we understand that the defense is going to be trying out a new strategy, calling - call it the liar, liar pants on fire approach. Sources telling us here at CNN at the defense plans to try to drive home the point that Cohen is a convicted liar because they were unable to achieve a gotcha moment during Tuesday's cross-examination.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche tried at some points. On Tuesday he brought up lies that Cohen told to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigators when they interviewed him in 2018. Blanche asking Cohen if Mueller's team questioned him about the Trump Moscow project. And he said, "you lied to them, right?" Cohen replied, "yes. The information I gave was not accurate." Blanche responding, "so, is 'not accurate' information a lie?" Cohen says, "sure." Todd then asked, "do you recall lying about anything else or were you only lying about that? Or being inaccurate? Whichever word." Cohen, "I don't know."

Rudy Giuliani, a former prosecutor, was calling for this liar, liar strategy against Cohen from the very beginning, six years ago, before Mueller's team even interrogated Cohen. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) RUDY GIULIANI, FORMER TRUMP ATTORNEY: He's destroyed himself, Chris, as a witness. I prosecuted, you know, 5,000 cases. I'd never prosecuted a case on this guy's testimony. He's contradicted so many times that, I mean, you begin your cross-examination by saying, which set of lies are you going to tell us today, Michael. Let's go through them now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, the panel's back.

Elliot Williams, Todd Blanche, is he the - was he the right person to do this, because I sort of - I don't understand why they have to change strategy to do this now on their second day of cross, after they didn't seem to be able to accomplish it in their first attempt.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: It's hard to know. Todd Blanche is a great - they're all great attorneys on the team, let's be clear.

HUNT: Sure.

WILLIAMS: They're - they have experience in court, experience as former prosecutors. That all makes sense.

Now, going after the liar, liar pants on fire strategy is really out of the textbook for how one would typically cross-examine a witness. You - even if the witness has given testimony that's believable so far in trial (ph), and he has, the witness still has prior convictions for lying.

And one of the things that they could have started out with was by saying, you lied to your wife, you lied to the IRS, you lied to Congress, you lied to the federal - you lied to the federal authorities. Is there anybody you haven't lied to? Why should this group of people even believe what you're saying today?

And that may actually be the strongest thing they could do with him because his testimony otherwise has been quite compelling. You just attack his credibility and hope that that plants something in at least one juror's mind.

MARK MCKINNON, FORMER ADVISER TO GEORGE W. BUSH AND JOHN MCCAIN: Isn't most of his lying in the service of Donald Trump, though?

WILLIAMS: It is. And he said that quite directly on the record, that I did this for the benefit of -

MCKINNON: It's like my job to lie for Donald Trump.

WILLIAMS: And, in fact, even when he was wasn't saying it, he was saying it because questions they were asking were about his relationship to the Trump Organization. They spent days building this skeleton of a case around how Donald Trump favors loyalty and relies on his people and so on. So, it's clear that this was all in furtherance of Donald Trump. And to your point, frankly, if you talk to Michael Cohen, he will say that. Everyone should know that I was doing this to benefit Donald Trump. And so perhaps that sticks with the jury as well.

HUNT: So, one of the other questions, of course, is, who's going to show up for Donald Trump today. This was what Romney had to say in that - Mitt Romney had to say in that interview he did last night about all of the supplicants, I guess. Unclear. Politicians who have paraded to the courtroom in defensive of Donald Trump. Watch Romney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I think it's a terrible fault for our country to seek people attacking our legal system. That's an enormous mistake. I think it's also demeaning for people to quiet apparently try and run for vice president by donning the red tie and standing outside the courthouse. That - it's just a - I'd have felt awkward were I one of those individuals.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Classic Romney understatement.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

Yes, look, I find the red tie thing creepy. I remember a friend of mine coming back from the 2017 CPAC.

HUNT: There they are.

[06:35:01]

GOLDBERG: And he was like, yes, it's all over. All the - all the college kids, all the college bros, they're all wearing dark suits with ties that go past their crutches. And he's like, Trump's won. He's taken over everything. And it's now -

HUNT: Well, they're literally dressed like Donald Trump. Look at that.

GOLDBERG: Yes, no, it's creepy. It's - it's weird.

HUNT: It's like - I mean it's - it's like - in that - it's like an identical - I mean, Mark, like, it's unmistakable.

MCKINNON: Yes, And that's - it's fealty to Trump. That's what it's all about. And that's the coin of the realm for anybody in the - you know, Trump's Republican Party is to show absolute loyalty and start by dressing like him and looking like him.

WILLIAMS: You know -

GOLDBERG: Vivek needs collar staves (INAUDIBLE).

WILLIAMS: He does. He does.

You know, to the question of what's been proven or what's not in the trial, it would be great to ask each of these people, do you believe or not that he paid off a porn star after having sex with her, right? And no one's really disputing that central fact. Now, there's other questions about, was it a felony? Was the campaign

nexus (ph), you know, can you prosecute him and send him to jail for it? But the central -

HUNT: Yes, the legal side.

WILLIAMS: Right, yes, the legal side. But the central - no one - that's not in dispute except the one person who's denying it is Donald Trump.

GOLDBERG: Right (ph).

WILLIAMS: He's not taking the stand, which is his right. Every witness that has come forward and common sense says that this happened, yet they're still rallying behind that as their cause. And it's almost heartbreaking, right?

HUNT: Well, I mean, I think the point is that - the point that - that underscores Trump's very existence, which is, yes, it all happened. We kind of expect that from him and this doesn't matter to me.

WILLIAMS: And is that where we - oh.

HUNT: I mean, it seems like that's where we are, right? All right.

So, let's turn to this different story.

It's commencement speech season, and that is, of course, usually an opportunity for community leaders to, I mean, some of them, let's be honest, some people have lots of cliches, but they're usually very heartwarming, you know, shooting for the stars, never give up. But then there was this one.

Harrison Butker, the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, took a different route. The three-time Super Bowl champ is facing backlash for a speech that he gave at Benedictine College over the weekend. Watch some of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRISON BUTKER, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS KICKER: I think it is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you. How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and our thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career. Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world, but I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.

I'm on this stage today, enabled to be the man I am, because I have a wife who leans into her vocation an embrace one of the most important titles of all, homemaker.

Part of what plagues our society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities. As men, we set the tone of the culture.

Be unapologetic in your masculinity. Fighting against the cultural emasculation of men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, the NFL put out a statement. They said this, quote, "Harrison Butker gave a speech in his personal capacity. His views are not that of the NFL as an organization. The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger."

I realize I'm the only woman at this table. For the record, I don't think any of you are unnecessary.

MCKINNON: But you - but you don't think we set the tone for culture either.

WILLIAMS: But a lot of us - look - it's a lot of (INAUDIBLE).

GOLDBERG: Don't ask my wife that question.

WILLIAMS: A lot of dudes.

MCKINNON: You know, the thing that's - that's so stunning to me about this is it just feels like such a huge step backwards in our culture. And I interviewed John Bolton one time and he said something that really struck me, which is, he said, Mark, there is no arc to history. Progress is not guaranteed. And that's - that's what strikes me about this.

You know, I keep thinking, we're so past this and yet here we are again. Like in the - back in the 50s.

WILLIAMS: Here's one - the line - there are people who hold those views in America, and no comment.

Here's a line that also struck me along all of this. Abortion, IVF, surrogacy, euthanasia, as well as growing support for degenerative cultural values. And there are people, one, linking IVF to euthanasia as - on par. And, two, there are people in that audience, I am certain, even at Benedictine University, who've had abortions, who have had - who have - IVF or whatever else. And the idea that is wagging a finger at them is equally troubling. It's just - it's just -

GOLDBERG: Yes - yes, look, I mean it's - it's just kind of a smorgasbord thing, right?

WILLIAMS: Yes.

GOLDBERG: I mean he also said that, you know, there's some bill in Congress that would ban the biblical explanation about who killed Jesus. I mean there's - there's - there's something for everybody in here, right, now?

WILLAIMS: Oh.

GOLDBERG: And, you know, I think it's one of these things where there's a certain sort of - there's a reactionary kind of pushback that comes up, that bubbles up, that is amplified on social media in ways that in the old days it would have been much more difficult to do this kind of thing in public.

HUNT: Well, it would have stayed with the audience that it was intended for, which, I mean, it was a conservative catholic audience.

GOLDBERG: Right.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

[06:40:04]

HUNT: And I also do want to say, I don't think anyone is saying that - at this table is saying that people who - there's an incredible amount of work that goes into running a household.

WILLIAMS: (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: And if that is what you end up doing, that is incredible - it is admirable and it is fine. I think the disconnect is that he's giving this speech to a bunch of women who are graduating from college, about to go out in the world with, you know, all of these various opportunities. And to say to any of them, if they're - if they're top goal is not what he says, he thinks it is, which is getting married and having children, that that's not admirable.

There were some female sports reporters who reacted to this. The former NFL sideline reporter, Lisa Guerrero. Hey, NFL, if you want to continue to grow your female fan base and any other marginalized group, because straight white men are already watching your product, come get your boy."

I liked NFL Network's Jane Slater. She said, "Harrison Butker, three words, bless your heart."

And then there was this from broadcast Jackie Redmond. "It's disgusting that he's up there in front of women who quite obviously have career aspirations and telling them they should only be one thing and lean into that, unlike men who can wear many hats without issue, of course."

I mean, I have a daughter. Jonah, you have a daughter.

GOLDBERG: I do (ph).

HUNT: This message -

WILLIAMS: I think we all do. Everybody on this set, yes.

HUNT: Everyone here has a daughter?

MCKINNON: Two. Yes, two.

HUNT: All right, see, and the message for them.

MCKINNON: Stick to kicking Harrison.

WILLIAMS: Well - and but the amazing thing - and to that - to that point, think about the U.S. women's national soccer team, that was probably as dominant as anyone has been in any sport. The moment they started talking about equal pay, everybody said, oh, shut up and dribble, you're just politicizing it and don't care about the sport. Like -

MCKINNON: Yes.

GOLDBERG: I do think there's an important point to be made here is that young men are in real crisis in this country, right? There have real problems. Women are starting to thrive and the backlash that you get, the resentment that you get with young men is that it makes this kind of stuff really attractive because it explains why they're having their problems and it's a bad story to tell young men.

HUNT: All right, up next here, we are going to remember the ones prominent political institution that seems to have gone the way of the dinosaurs as of yesterday.

Plus, Democratic Senator John Fetterman is here to talk about how he hopes to help millions of Americans struggling with their mental health.

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[06:46:30]

HUNT: All right, welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.

Millions of Americans suffer from major depression each year. And one in five are struggling with a mental health issue. This month, May, is Mental Health Awareness Month. And our next guest, Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman, using his platform to introduce legislation to try to establish a commission on mental health in the Senate. The goal is to expand access and affordability for mental health services. Something that the senator understands himself. Last year, Fetterman checked himself into a hospital for treatment for depression. Here's what he told CBS about that experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): The whole thing about depression is, is that objectively you may have won, but depression can absolutely convince you that you actually lost. And that's exactly what happened. And that was the start of a - of a down - a downward spiral.

I had stopped leaving my bed. I've stopped eating. I - dropping weight. I stopped engaging some of the most things that I love in my life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Democratic Senator John Fetterman joins me on set now.

Senator, very nice to see you. Thanks for being here.

FETTERMAN: Yeah, it's great to be here. Yeah.

HUNT: You're doing this with Senator Tina Smith, who also came forward and talked about her own struggles with mental health.

How do you think what you're planning would help others?

And it also -- it's something that people still seem to feel the need to keep to themselves a lot of time. And you have really set an example in talking about it. How has that changed your life and how do you hope it will change other people's lives?

FETTERMAN: Yeah. Well, we want to make it a national conversation as well, and it's got to be bipartisan because it is. Now, it's not just a red county or a blue county kind of -- it's for everybody. And if it's not you, it's probably someone that you know, or you love or you work with, or whatever, the needs that kind if a conversation.

And just yesterday, I had a two student groups visiting in my office and two people were heard -- they're like, yeah, your conversation last year helped me and I decided to get help in that.

And that's the reason why I'm doing -- that's why I'm happy to be here today to say, hey, we have to normalize that, and it's okay to have those feelings, but it's really important to go out and get help.

HUNT: Do you think some of this is generational? Let's -- I mean, you're honestly one of the younger members of the Senate and august body though it maybe.

FETTERMAN: Yeah, Well, old -- I mean, young -- young does really -- it's very relative in our time.

But I will say that it's an important conversation and -- and when I first signed into the Walter Reed, I thought this could be possibly the end of my career on that, or it'd be very damaging. But after that, I got very lucky. I was able to get help and was able to get better.

So I wanted to pay it forward and I wanted to take that platform that I have to talk about it for everybody. And whether it's a judge in Texas, she visited and she said, hey, it was your conversation. I got getting help, and I've met people regularly and hear that.

So it's a national conversation and I'm just grateful to be here today because a little over a year ago, I have emerged from Walter Reed and I'm going to be talking about this.

HUNT: So one of the things that can be really challenging for people who are trying to address this is insurance coverage. It's hard to get for mental health challenges. How would what you're doing today try to help that?

FETTERMAN: It must be so difficult. I was -- I was very fortunate I was able to turn the Walter Reed and, of course, that's not all (ph) -- it's going to be a lot of people.

[06:50:07]

So -- but we need to expand those resources. And also, there -- it must be pretty hard to -- even if you have insurance for that, just to get on the docket for a therapist to talk to people as well.

So I think we really need to address all this again, and that's why having it in a national perspective, not just the state one or local, I think we need to make sure that is part of health overall that -- so it's not separate, mental health and physical health. It's all just part of overall health.

HUNT: Yeah.

So, Senator, we had some news earlier in the show about Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, who is now on trial and we're learning that --

FETTERMAN: Yeah. So, he was missing yesterday and then I remember -- he was at a trial.

(LAUGHTER)

HUNT: The panel is here -- still here -- sitting here laughing as well.

They see -- the defense seems to be saying that his wife was doing these things without his knowledge. Your reaction?

FETTERMAN: Yeah. Yeah. No, I -- he was wondering like, you know, how could I be more sleazy? It's like, oh, I can blame the wife.

And then I found out that he had a twin. So now, it could be very novel they could say, well, that's actually the wife and my twin. I'm going to (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: Why do you think Democratic leaders won't be -- won't call for him to step down in a stronger way?

FETTERMAN: I -- I don't speak for anyone else, but I've been clear back in September that he has -- he's entitled to have a day in court like he's having right now, but he doesn't have the right to remain in the Senate.

But now that we're at now, and we're going to find how this shakes out. But -- but it's been very clear that it's a lot of troubling kinds of evidence. And now, even expanded, just the gold bars in the mattress and the cash, it's now he was a -- credibly accused of being a foreign agent for Egypt and Qatar. And those are parts of the negotiations for the hostages in Gaza.

And how can this guy get a classified brief? I don't know why anybody be good (ph) -- okay about that.

HUNT: You're from a swing state, Pennsylvania. We -- we wear different jerseys in terms of our most important Pennsylvania politics. You're a Sheetz guy. I'm a Wawa girl. But that --

FETTERMAN: Well, I'm on the right side.

HUNT: I think I'm on the right side, but you know? Hey.

FETTERMAN: Yeah, yeah.

HUNT: Well, we can set that aside and continue this conversation.

But we learned yesterday that President Biden has agreed to debate Donald Trump. Was that the right call? And what do you hear from voters on the ground in Pennsylvania? This is a very close race. Why is President Biden basically behind?

FETTERMAN: Yeah, it's been a conversation I've been having for eight years. Back in 2017 was my first campaign. It's like, you know, something's happening with Trump. He's connecting with people.

And then, of course, it did in 2016. I've been saying that in 2020, that it's going to be very competitive and close, and that's what it was. And that's the same conversation that we're having now in 2024.

Trump is -- and I don't understand it necessarily why, but he's very popular in Pennsylvania and it's going to be close and competitive, and more -- the things that are going on right now, I don't think it's going to have the kind of impact on that. People have to decide, do I want -- two very stark choices here, and it's going to come down to a very close election.

HUNT: All right. Senator John Fetterman, thank you very much for being with us this morning. I really appreciate it. You're never going to win me over to Sheetz, sorry.

FETTERMAN: Well, and all the Steelers, too. I hope --

HUNT: I'm an Eagles fan. Go Birds!

FETTERMAN: Oh, no, that -- that's a micro aggression.

(LAUGHTER)

HUNT: Senator, thank you very much for being here. I really appreciate it.

All right, 53 minutes past the hour. Here is your morning roundup.

The Supreme Court delivering a win to civil rights groups and Democrats, ordering the state to use a congressional map that includes a second majority black district. Many see this as an opportunity for Democrats to net a district in the deep red state.

Classes today are remote at UC Irvine. Staff is being told to work from home as well as police continue dispersing the last remaining protesters from an encampment on campus.

A new bill in Florida changing the state's energy policies and, in some instances, deleting entire sections of a state law that talk about climate change. This comes as Florida is dealing with rising sea levels and record temperatures.

All right, now this. We gather here today to say goodbye to a once venerable political institution, The Commission on Presidential Debates. The commission passed away doing what it loved, facilitating presidential and vice presidential debates for nine election cycles, only to meet its maker after President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump circumvented it. We should note that the commission disputes its time of death. They are still ready to plan a debate they say. They left us though with countless memorable soundbites and moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD BENTSEN, FORMER DEMOCRATIC VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (October 5, 1988): You're no Jack Kennedy

ROSS PEROT, FORMER INDEPENDENT PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (October 15, 1992): It's political patronage.

SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT) (October 16, 2012): I went to a number of women's groups and said, can you help us find folks. And they brought us whole binders full of - of women.

[06:55:02]

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (October 19, 2016): Such a nasty woman.

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE (October 19, 2016): Social Security trust fund.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (September 29, 2020): Will you shut up, man.

TRUMP (September 29, 2020): Who is - listen, who -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: And we will all be haunted by the ghosts of frustrated moderator's past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, MODERATOR (September 29, 2020): Sir, you're debating him, not me.

DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Chris, that was the worst part of -

TRUMP: People with pre-existing conditions.

WALLACE: Mr. President, I'm the moderator of this debate, and I would like you to let me ask my question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Our own Chris Wallace. In lieu of flowers, we ask that our viewers please tune in to the CNN presidential debate on June 27th.

Elliot, will you be watching?

WILLIAMS: Ah, I just - I wish I told it I loved it when it was still here. I - the commission, we have so much unresolved feelings over our life together and I -

HUNT: Mark, can you explain why it is that campaigns hated the commission so much and like - because it literally was this feature. Every time debate season came around when I was covering these campaigns of fighting with this commission that has a very noble purpose. Let's be clear. And a lot of people did a lot of hard work to bring these debates to the American people. But it clearly wasn't working.

MCKINNON: Yes, I mean, I remember in 2000, during Bush's presidential campaign, we fought very hard to go around the commission and got hammered for that.

But the reason we fought against it in other campaigns too is that it's so constricting. It dictates when, where and how you debate. And, you know, in the modern era, and today, as I - as I mentioned earlier, the purpose of the commission was to ensure that there are debates and that there's some agreement to the rules.

In this case we have two guys who have like agreed to debate and they've agreed to the rules. So, rest in peace.

HUNT: R.I.P.

GOLDBERG: I think it will be back. What is dead may never die. It will be back.

HUNT: You think that, right, it's not - it's not done?

GOLDBERG: Yes, no, it's going to have a half-life. First of all, commissions don't disappear. So like it - it will be around with the cockroaches after the nuclear bomb. It's never going away.

WILLIAMS: Oh, we -- I'm - in three days will it - will the rock roll from the tomb and will it emerge? We keep making resurrection jokes all day. I mean we - there's - there's a lot we can do here (INAUDIBLE).

HUNT: So, lets dig into what's going to be different about this and why President Biden and Trump were both willing to agree to this, Jonah, because they have agreed on a set of rules, one of which is that the Biden team really wanted the microphones to cut when the time was up. You know, we showed that moment were Biden basically told Trump to shut up on the last debate stage. They were very, very frustrated by that.

How's that going to change the experience? Plus, the lack of a live audience.

GOLDBERG: Yes, I think the lack of a live audience is the really important one. It's something I've wanted for years. I think live audiences are really distortive of the experience of how people process political information.

And the live mic thing. It's funny, everyone - in your setup earlier in the hour, you were talking about how this live mic thing would prevent moments like this where Biden says, will you shut up, man. And the weird thing is, will you shut up, man, was probably Biden's best moment in that debate because he was speaking for a lot of people. So, you never know how this is going to actually play out.

MCKINNON: I have a recommendation on that - that idea.

What they're - what they're trying to do is limit the ability for somebody to step on the other person's opportunity to speak and to - to filibuster the time. Why not penalize the person who's doing that and give that time at the end of the debate to the person who's time was taken away, kind of like in soccer, where you have the extra time.

HUNT: Yes, it's an interesting - it's an interesting thought.

We actually have - Chris Wallace talked about how frustrating this was for him. Let's watch that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: I always felt that the audience was a pain in the neck.

You know, some people are saying, well, that's going to hurt Trump because he plays to a crowd. I can tell you, as somebody who's been on that general election debate stage twice in 2016 and 2020, people aren't playing to the crowd. It is a very intense circle there between the two candidates, whose - whose podiums are just ten feet apart, and the moderator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: One thing I will also say, when you cover - covering a presidential debate from inside the hall, when you were - and experiencing it as a member of the audience, it doesn't tell you a thing about what's actually happening in the debate because you - everyone in American is consuming it on television and you miss all of that.

WILLIAMS: And really what tends to matter is how people talk about it the next day or the day after.

GOLDBERG: Right.

WILLIAMS: The - whether it's the write-ups or the articles or the recaps. And that's, you know, when people think about the - the key moments, often they weren't what they felt in the moment.

HUNT: Right.

WILLIAMS: It's what they read about it the next day. HUNT: For sure.

All right, I will leave all of you with this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's three or four people around him and still the racoon goes on. This is marvelous entertainment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At what point are we just routing for him?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very nearly got away. Go on, racoon. Very nearly got away. You can get out. Don't hurt him. They got him. They got the racoon!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I have to say, I'm already rooting for the racoon. Despite some of those def moves, his 15 minutes of fame lasted two minutes and 41 seconds before it took 10 men with trash cans to track down this racoon. He interrupted play at the MLS match between the Philadelphia Union and New York City FC last night. The crowd was very into it. The league has named the little guy Raquinho and so right in his record- setting jaunt on the pitch.

[07:00:04]

The Philadelphia Union put a lot of minds at ease with this update. The raccoon has been safely released. He is fine.

And, of course, this is not the first time something like this had happened. There was a time a turtle found its way onto the outfield - that is a very fast turtle.

WILLIAMS: Wow.

HUNT: A minor league game, slowing the contest to a crawl - want, want, very nice.

Then there was this kitten - kitty that caused the rally cat curse for the Anaheim Angels.

I think we ran out of time, so, unfortunately, we're not going to be able to show you all of the other times its happened, but we promise it's a lot.

Thanks to our panel for being here. Thanks to you for joining us. I'm Kasie Hunt. Don't go anywhere. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.