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Former V.P. Mike Pence Open To Testifying To January 6 Committee; Mass Shootings Not New In America; All Talk Resolves Nothing; Solutions Need To Be Implemented; Good Weather Ahead Of Thanksgiving; Fans Are All Eyes Tto World Cup. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired November 23, 2022 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KASIE HUNT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Thank you so much for watching. Our coverage continues now with Alisyn Camerota. Hi, Alisyn. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: You too. Have a wonderful holiday, Kasie. Great to see you.

HUNT: Thank you. Good night.

CAMEROTA: Good evening, everyone. This is CNN TONIGHT. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

Sources tell CNN that former Vice President Mike Pence may be open to telling federal prosecutors what he knows about Donald Trump's efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power on January 6th. Tonight, we have more on what he might tell them.

Plus, it's been a horrible 10 days of mass shootings in the U.S. from the murder of three UVA students to what happened at Club Q in Colorado Springs, and then last night, six people were shot and killed in a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia. Four people are still in the hospital tonight from that event.

Is there any way out of this awful cycle that seems to be one of our national pastimes. Other countries don't endure this hell, what is the answer to ending mass shootings and this gun violence epidemic? We have a lot of people here with us tonight that have ideas that go way beyond thoughts and prayers.

All right, so we have a lot to talk about. Let's begin with the Justice Department seeking testimony from former Vice President Mike Pence. CNN senior crime and justice reporter, Katelyn Polantz has been working this story for us. So, Katelyn, what's the latest tonight?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, Alisyn, the Justice Department approached Mike Pence's team weeks ago wanting to talk with him in their criminal probe into January 6th and the moments after the election, obviously they're looking into Donald Trump, the White House, everything that was going on there to try and disrupt, potentially Congress from certifying the presidency and from allowing Joe Biden to become president.

In this situation, our reporting is that Mike Pence is open to discussing a possible arrangement with the Justice Department where he could provide testimony. So, he would be a witness in this sort of situation.

And we know throughout these past couple of weeks, Alisyn, the Justice Department has been carving out information around both Trump and Pence, right? They've been looking at the conversations that you would've had. We know that they have brought in Pence's top deputies, Greg Jacob, and Marc Short into the grand jury.

They brought them back a second time into the grand jury in recent weeks. Then, because they had declined to answer some very, very deep questions into the heart of the Oval Office. Now they're sharing them. And so now the question is, will Pence also fill in whatever blanks are left? Will he choose to speak?

And also, how aggressive will the new special prosecutor, special counsel Jack Smith be in wanting to move this forward and potentially have more negotiations with the Pence team.

CAMEROTA: So, Katelyn, of course, you remember that, vice President Pence had closed the door to testifying before the January 6th committee. He said this in our CNN town hall last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Congress has no right to my testimony, the very notion of a committee on Congress in Congress summoning a vice president to speak about deliberations that took place at the White House, I think would violate that separation of powers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: But so, Katelyn, clearly, he sees the Department of Justice differently in a different category.

POLANTZ: Yes, Alisyn, he said no to Congress but Mike Pence is out there sharing things that he had never shared before this year. So he just released a book and in that book, one of the things he writes about are direct conversations he had with Donald Trump in that crucial period, early January, 2021.

And he basically says, he's telling Trump it's not going to work. You can't use me to block your loss in the election. And Trump tells him things like, if you wimp out, you're just another somebody. He also writes, Trump said, you'll go down as a wimp. So that word wimp, wimp over and over.

Trump is saying these things directly to Pence. There wouldn't have been other witnesses of them, of that. But Pence is disclosing that in his book. That's the sort of thing that could get the Justice Department interested in them. And the Justice Department has a lot of power in a criminal probe like

this. They have used presidents, former presidents in the past to testify in investigations. They have really, they have no bounds around them to use people like Pence as a witness. They might have to go through a process to get executive privilege wiped away in court.

[22:04:56]

But really, they have been in a situation where even former President Ronald Reagan after he left office, testified about things that were going on inside his administration in the Iran Contra affair. So, we are in an area, that we just don't know what's going to. happen here. But if Pence wants to talk, he probably will be able to. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: And that's just one of the things that he said in his new book. We'll read some more of the passages as well. Katelyn, thank you very much.

Let's bring in, we have CNN political commentator, Errol Louis with us tonight. Also, CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson and CNN political commentator, Scott Jennings.

Gentlemen, great to have you here.

OK, so Joey, legally, this is in a different category, right? The Department of Justice is in a different category than the January 6th House committee. Does Mike Pence have to answer DOJ prosecutors?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: He could stall it, he could prevent it. I think there will come a time where he will answer questions. So, let's talk about the distinction. When you have a House committee, of course Congress has an oversight responsibility and they're investigating for that purpose. When we're talking about Department of Justice, we're talking about a department that is involved in criminality, not themselves, but in the investigation of it.

And so, when you're doing that, the only effective way not to testify is to assert some privilege or to otherwise give the indication, Alisyn, that you shouldn't testify. I don't think, you know, the privilege will carry the day. I don't think he is looking to assert privilege. I don't think it necessarily applies here. And I think there will come a point in time that he does speak.

Last point. You know, I think there's reasons to negotiate his testimony. The Justice Department always wants a motivated witness, a calm witness, a cooperative witness, a witness who is there not having any belief that they are, and he's not the subject to target of any investigation.

I think it allows them to be more forthcoming. That is the witness. I think it allows them to be more explanatory. And by the way, there's a little wrinkle here. There's an election coming up upon which him and the president, the former president, may be, at opposite sides. And so, he may be very motivated to tell a story as to what happened, not to mention the book that you talked about. So, help me God, in which he has many excerpts in that book with respect to those conversations between him, the president, other parties who --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

JACKSON: -- who are there.

CAMEROTA: Scott, I want to read a portion of that book because, I know that at times we can think, we've all heard everything that Mike Pence has to say about January 6th. Not exactly. In his book there's some new stuff. So, here's what he has writes about.

He says on January 5th, I got an urgent call that the president was asking to see me in the Oval Office. The president's lawyers, including Mr. Eastman, were now requesting that I simply reject the electors. I later learned that Mr. Eastman had conceded to my general counsel. That rejecting electoral votes was a bad idea, and any attempt to do so would be quickly overturned by unanimous Supreme Court. This guy didn't even believe what he was telling the president.

So, it sounds like there is some new stuff, Scott, that he could offer.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, I think he should talk to the Department of Justice in this criminal investigation. I think he had a pretty good argument on not going to Congress. I do think the separation of powers is something that ought to be taken seriously. But the main thrust of what we're going to get out of January the sixth, strikes me as coming from this Department of Justice investigation of who broke what laws.

And so, I think Mike Pence should do it. And it sounds like he's got --

CAMEROTA: Scott froze for a second. Errol, you can pick up where he left off. Is there any reason for Mike Pence not to do it?

ERROL LOUIS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, he may not want to, but I think it's the handwriting is on the wall. Like, you can't take millions of dollars, what was probably millions of dollars for a book advance and start dishing all of this breathless information about conversations in the Oval Office and then try to assert a privilege that it's confidential and he doesn't need to talk about it.

So, you know, and just as you said, former President Reagan testified when he was asked, sitting president Bill Clinton, let's go back to 1998. You know, the whole -- the whole testimony, all four hours and 16 minutes is online. You can watch it if you want to this day, where he was subpoenaed. He appeared before the special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice, and he said a lot of really embarrassing things about conversations and actions that went on between him and Monica Lewinsky and others in the White House.

So, Mike Pence, you know, I think Joey is right. You want him to be in a good mood. This is the first part of a negotiation, but in the end, he's going to have to testify. CAMEROTA: Let's talk about what's happening with Donald Trump. I know

it can be hard to keep up with all of the various cases that Donald Trump is involved in, but here, let's just break it down to this week and what's happened this week.

So here is what has happened, Joey. The New York judge has scheduled a trial date for the Trump Organization in that lawsuit that's been brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James. The Supreme Court did clear the way for a House committee to get Donald Trump's taxes after he had tried to block them for years.

An appeals court has been skeptical of Donald Trump's arguments for, you know, what he was doing with all of those classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. And then Senator Lindsey Graham has testified before the Fulton County grand jury again about trying to overturn the election results in Georgia. That's just, I mean, we're not done with this week yet, Joey, so that's what's happened.

JACKSON: Yes.

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CAMEROTA: So, does it -- does it feel to you like things are ramping up.

JACKSON: I think so. I mean, look, this is our legal process at work, right? You're entitled certainly to push back as the president does very litigious arguing and litigating as it relates to whatever his taxes. You know, people who shouldn't talk.

Going back to our last conversation, Marc Short, right, the chief of staff of the vice president, in addition to his lawyer.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Meaning that President Trump is angry that Marc Short is talking.

JACKSON: Exactly, right. And so, trying to block that testimony, but this is the way the process works. And I think ultimately, if you do things that are allegedly not so good, if you have documents, potentially you should not have had, there's accountability factor.

If you have organizations that are engaged in alleged impropriety, there's an accountability factor there. So, I think some -- at some point in time, Alisyn, you've heard the expression that chickens come home to roost, right? You reap what you sow. All the things you can say. I think that the reckoning time is here.

And when you run for president, that does not act as a bar to investigations and potential indictments, and of course prosecution. So that's not going to help or could stall it, but it's not going to prevent the inevitable.

CAMEROTA: Scott, how do you see it? Do you think things are ramping up? JENNINGS: Well, I mean, he's got a lot going on. He's carrying a lot

of bags, a lot of heavy bags, and I think if you're a Republican voter and you're trying to sort this out right now about whether we want to go through this a third time, this is going to weigh on the minds of a lot of people.

I saw some polling tonight before we went on the air. National polling that indicated Donald Trump's favorability with Republicans had dropped. Ron DeSantis was on the rise. It appears to me that Republican voters are finally catching up to all this and deciding maybe they've had enough and maybe the bags are too heavy to carry and too risky to roll the dice on him for another run from the White House. So, this stuff certainly doesn't help as you're kicking off your presidential campaign.

CAMEROTA: Right. OK, gentlemen, thank you very much for that perspective. Stick around because it's not a matter of if there will be another mass shooting in this country. But when. That's what we've learned. It's been quite a 10 days in this country, and the wake of the deadly rampage at Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, that happened just last night. The question is, what are we going to do to stop this epidemic?

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CAMEROTA: Eyewitnesses described the chaos inside of Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia last night when a 31-year-old shooter, who was a team leader for these store's overnight shift, opened fire and killed six people and wounded four others in the latest mass shooting.

How do we get out of this awful deadly cycle in our country?

Here with me is Errol Louis, also CNN contributor Jennifer Mascia. Katherine Schweit, former head of the FBI active shooter program, and CNN political commentator Scott Jennings.

Nice to have all of you. And we need solutions obviously with we're way past the time of thoughts and prayers. What's interesting, Jennifer, is that Virginia has relatively strong gun laws. So, I'll put up what they did in 2020. This was a democratic state legislature, and they made progress for, or at least what Democrats consider progress.

And so, they passed universal background checks, which as we know are very popular with the public. There is a reporting requirement for loss or stolen gun, limit of one handgun purchase per month for most people that seems like it should be enough. And then they have red flag laws.

So, explain how it is possible that someone who was clearly exhibiting some unhinged behavior was able to have these guns.

JENNIFER MASCIA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the background check in America only captures a snapshot in time. It doesn't really go deep. We see other countries are able to avoid this gun violence because they do a lot of vetting before the point of purchase. Right now, you can -- guns are extremely easy to access because our gun laws are built with holes in them.

Our federal system does not cover private transactions, which means that you can sell a gun to a friend, a yard sale, and most states are like this. So, Virginia can have very strong gun laws, but if there are weak gun laws in neighboring states, it undermines all of that progress.

CAMEROTA: Katherine, that is exactly the point that I have asked about so many times when we're reporting on these awful mass shootings. Why can't there be more questions asked at the point of purchase, some sort of screening done to weed out people who, this guy last night, the shooter, he was described by all his coworkers as gruff, mean, condescending, made threats. He was paranoid about the government. He talked about it all the time. He threatened what he would do there would be retaliation if he was ever fired.

I mean, is there no kind of screening or questions that could be asked by gun sellers. It's not a law that you have to sell a gun to anyone who asks, why can't we do a better job of this?

KATHERINE SCHWEIT, FORMER HEAD, FBI ACTIVE SHOOTER PROGRAM: Well, I think you, you make you -- part of it is you made the good point. There -- they can refuse any sale. And I know that gun sellers do, FFLs do refuse sales. And I've talked to several who said he just didn't seem right. I don't think he knew what he was talking about.

So, I know that they can, but the limitations are just that. You're talking about people who their businesses to sell guns, and there is not any state or federal regulation like they have in a lot of other countries where you have to have witnesses, neighbors, they talk to the neighbors, they get, you have to have people who vouch for you, who write letters. Some of the other countries are set up that way.

We just don't have any standards like that in the United States. So, it's a little late, you know, 400 million guns in to start thinking about those kinds of standards for gun sales.

CAMEROTA: I hear you. But we have to do something. I mean, obviously we're in this cycle. We just have to. We have to do something because nothing isn't working. And hold that thought for one second, Katherine, because I want to ask Scott about this.

Governor Youngkin of Virginia said basically, which we hear a lot, now is not the time to talk about, you know, he didn't say, now is not the time to talk about solutions, but there'll be a time for that. He basically said. Let me play for you what he said this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GLENN YOUNGKIN (R-VA): This is a horrendous event. It's a horrendous senseless act of violence. And today, we have to come around families and support them.

[22:20:00]

There will be time for us to react and better understand. We will have once the facts and circumstances are well understood an opportunity to take actions. Today, we must stay focused on families.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: Scott, unfortunately he's wrong. We will not have any time to better understand or take actions because if, at our current rate, there'll be another mass shooting tomorrow.

JENNINGS: Well, I think he's making a pretty valid point, which is we don't know all the circumstances that went into what happened to this particular guy. And I think before you start prescribing solutions to solve a particular matter, you know, however, this guy came to get his gun and however he came to make the decision to shoot up the Walmart and his coworkers, you would want to know all the facts before you started, you know, saying we have to do this or we have to do that.

I mean, look what happened in Colorado. What we thought we knew about the shooter, what was alleged about him, really changed over 48 hours. And so, --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: Like what?

JENNINGS: -- it strikes me that you want to find --

CAMEROTA: What part changed in Colorado?

JENNINGS: -- if you want to find an answer to a question, you should get all the facts before you -- before you start prescribing. So I think -- I think --

CAMEROTA: Well, hold on, Scott.

JENNINGS: I think what he said was just fine.

CAMEROTA: Hold on, hold on, hold on one second. First of all, we've covered, I mean, I don't know, I can't even hazard a guess of how many I've covered of these. So, they do sometimes fit a pattern and there does seem to be a deranged, sort of unhinged stable personality type that often does mass shootings. But what changed in Colorado?

JENNINGS: Well, what was being said about the shooter's motivations in Colorado changed over a couple of day period after his lawyer said some things about his -- the way he self-identifies. And so, I --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: So, you believe, so you believe, you believe that, that mass shooter, you believe his lawyer and him?

JENNINGS: I mean, Alisyn, I don't know. I mean, it's his lawyer. It's what -- it's what he's arguing that we didn't know anything and everybody was making arguments, and then his lawyer goes to court and says something that totally changes the narrative. All I'm saying in the case of this Walmart shooting is we don't know anything about this guy.

We know people said he was weird, and we know he went and shot up his coworkers. That's all I know. And so, if I'm Governor Youngkin --

CAMEROTA: Yes.

JENNINGS: I'm not going to go out and start proposing solutions to things when I really don't have the facts of this.

CAMEROTA: I hear you, Scott.

JENNINGS: I mean, we're going to be prudent to let it free.

CAMEROTA: I don't know, Scott, because it wasn't just that he was weird, it was that he was paranoid and he was making threats and he was -- he was acting in this way that we often see unhinged, paranoid people behaving.

And they all knew it. They'd seen it for years. It wasn't new. And so anyway, but Errol, you --

(CROSSTALK)

LOUIS: Yes. Let me add some facts to this. This was a workplace killing. On average more than one person dies in a workplace killing every single day. And that includes, you know, I mean, the number is over 390 for the last year, for which there's federal data. You know, this year alone, by the way. And the only reason, look, the only reason we're covering this Walmart case is because it came so close to the other mass killing.

But there have been workplace killings this year in Wisconsin, in Ohio, in Michigan, in Maryland, in Tennessee, on and on and on. It happens all the time, and other than in local markets, it doesn't even get reported. That's how entrenched it is in our culture.

So, you know, you want to talk about who has responsibility? Yes. There's the gun sellers. Yes, there's the governor. There's also Walmart. There's the workplace. You know, the employees who went to work had the right to expect a safe workplace, not somebody who's a supervisor who's muttering to himself exhibiting deranged behavior and then took their lives.

And the Occupational Safety and Health Administration part of the Labor Department, where's Marty Walsh? Where's the White House? What are they going to do about this? I've been writing about this for years. This has been going on for years. It's an absolute epidemic. There are the measures that can be taken but not if we don't collect the data, talk about the data.

The secretary of labor needs to step forward today, right now, perhaps before the end of the week and say what he is prepared to do. There was some talk about violence being directed at hospital workers. That's a particular workplace where there was a lot of workplace violence during and after the pandemic. But there are a lot of other places as well.

And we, we as a country, have to really sort of isolate this piece of the crisis and make sure that employers are living up to their responsibility and the federal government that oversees those employers is living up to its responsibility as well.

CAMEROTA: I knew you guys would be the perfect panel to talk about this with because we are going to come back and talk about what each of you thinks is the one suggestion for a solution to break out of this. Because this year could mark the second highest year of mass shootings on record in the U.S.

So again, we're going to talk about solutions at the national level. We'll be right back.

[22:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We're approaching the 10-year anniversary of the murder of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and the mass shooting epidemic has only accelerated since then.

Joining us now is Nicole Hockley, her son, Dylan was killed at Sandy Hook and since then she has tackled gun violence virtually every day. She is now the managing director of Sandy Hook Promise.

Nicole, I'm so glad that you can join us tonight. I always appreciate talking to you, even though it's often in these horrible circumstances. I know you were listening to our conversation about what happened at that Walmart last night. What -- what aren't we getting? What are we missing?

[22:29:53]

NICOLE HOCKLEY, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SANDY HOOK PROMISE: Honestly, I was listening and it was a very infuriating conversation to listen to. Because I'm seeing a lot of deflection rather than dealing with the problem at hand. We have -- we have an epidemic, and it's not just about workplace violence, it's about church violence. It's about nightclub violence. It's about school violence. It's everywhere.

We have over 600 mass shootings alone this year. That's over two a day. There isn't time to wait for people to get over it. There isn't time for to wait to just, let's worry about the families first, and we'll think about solutions later, because tomorrow it's someone else's family. And if we're not taking action today, then we're not doing anything to prevent the violence tomorrow.

We're just waiting for it to happen to us next. And that's not a place any of us want to be in. So, I'm kind of I'm a little bit angry tonight, which I'm not normally, and this is very -- I'm just very dissatisfied with the lack of accountability and desire to take strong actions to deal with a problem in a way that we can protect constitutional rights and save lives. The solutions are in front of us. We just have to stop fighting and work on getting them passed.

CAMEROTA: Nicole, you are entitled to your frustration and anger. I think that all of us feel it, but you just articulate it better. I mean, I think that you -- your tweet this morning that you sent out at 7 a.m. I think, spoke for all of us.

You said, again, waking up to news of another mass shooting this week. But still, there are people who won't acknowledge the problem or accept the solutions. Instead, cue thoughts and prayers. How about some effing action instead?

So, what is the solution? What is the action, Nicole, that you'd like to see people take?

HOCKLEY: You know, I hate to say this pun, but there's no silver bullet. There's no one solution that's going to solve this. There are legislative solutions such as strengthening the implementation of extremist protection orders.

There's federal funding available right now for states to apply for to either implement or strengthen their implementations. Awareness and education are critical for these laws to work well, and that could have helped in Virginia and it could have helped in Colorado.

Other laws like background checks, limits on high-capacity magazines and semiautomatic weapons. These are important. They're not restricting someone, but they're keeping people safe. And then there's a lot of community work that we can do. Strengthening the bonds within communities, learning the signs, recognizing the signs of someone who is in crisis or could be at risk of hurting themselves or someone else, and taking action to get that person help.

Not thinking it's someone else's problem, someone else will take care of it. But actually, being that up stand and leaning in. That's something kids can do. That's something adults can do. That's something we can all do that's going to help create safer futures.

CAMEROTA: That's such a great point, Nicole, because so often after these things, there is a pattern. I mean, you heard me arguing a little bit with Scott there and Scott will be back in a moment with us. But there's a pattern after we've covered this, you know, probably, I mean at least 50 times, you see that there actually are signs. And we have to be --

HOCKLEY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: -- able to be proactive instead of reactive. I know that you were involved in the bipartisan federal gun safety law that was passed.

HOCKLEY: Yes.

CAMEROTA: And so here just to remind people are some of the things it does, it enhances review processes for buyers under 21. It incentivizes, as you say, state red flag laws $750 million to help states implement and run crisis intervention programs. It increases the funding for mental health programs and school security. That's something that Governor Youngkin talked about just today. It closes the boyfriend loophole. It requires more gun sellers to register as federally licensed firearm dealers.

I know it didn't go as far as you wanted it to, but can it cut down on mass shootings?

HOCKLEY: It can. If these are -- if the -- if the federal money is used, if the laws are strengthened, if schools are using these violence prevention programs, there's so much funding available, there's no excuse not to do it other than our own will or political will that might get in the way of us taking action.

So, it's there in front of us for taking and creating something good from. You just have to lean in and do it. It's going to take time. Yes. And that is incredibly frustrating with the amount of violence we have right now. But if we don't take those steps now, all we're doing is allowing the violence to continue until we suddenly decide that we're finally ready because it's happened to us.

CAMEROTA: Nicole, you're wonderful. I always appreciate your voice and talking to you. Thanks so much for taking time for us tonight.

HOCKLEY: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: I want to bring back Errol Louis, Jennifer, Mascia, Katherine Schweit, and Scott Jennings. Errol, you were listening there. I know very closely what's the solution. What's the one thing that we should do that we can do that would stop this?

LOUIS: I'll go back to what I mentioned before. I think you have to get the private sector involved. They're not just the site of killings and it's all up to the rest of us to sort of figure out who should be hired and allowed to supervise at Walmart. It is the responsibility of Walmart. They've got to do better. If they don't have the tools to screen employees, they should figure out how to get the tools to screen employees.

They can figure out how to get inside our heads and tell us how to buy stuff. Well, you know, there are -- there are data scientists out there who can help them sort of figure out how to do this. They can maybe create some model legislation for us.

[22:35:01]

I think overall, by the way, in addition to bringing in the private sector, we're going to have a general election in a couple of years at which, you know, upwards of 150 million people are going to cast a vote. The political will is expressed at the ballot box. Now is the time, not later to try and do whatever is necessary, whatever is possible to reduce the -- some of the best possible actions to a couple of propositions.

And then make sure that it is on the ballot, at every office from the county commission all the way up to the president of the United States. And then we can really sort of, put it to a vote and see if we can actually force some action on this.

CAMEROTA: Scott, your solution.

JENNINGS: I'll give you two. I think we ought to put violent criminals in jail and keep them there, and I think we ought to strengthen nuclear families in this country. I think one of the strands that goes through a lot of these shooters is absolute lack of a solid upbringing. They have broken homes, they've been taught terrible lessons in their lives and they end up in violent outcomes. And so, those are my two.

CAMEROTA: OK. Katherine, you have written a book saying that there is an end. We -- there's a way to end mass shootings. What is your solution?

SCHWEIT: Stop dumping all gun violence into one bucket and thinking there's one solution. The workplace violence is one situation. Mass killings that occur where somebody runs out at the last minute and buys a gun is another problem. Strengthen the funding and make sure that we get a strong ATF so they look for straw buyers. Develop those systems so that we don't have to chase after the minute number of people who are committing the kind of terror that we're seeing, so that people who have guns and are confident that they can be responsible gun owners don't feel like somebody is running after them to take their guns away.

And then my second thing would be, make sure that be -- you get mad. You, everybody should be mad about this. As mad as Nicole as mad as I am, that you should be so mad that you should be going, you know, through your kids' drawers and your husband's trunk in his car. There's no democracy in a household.

The people who make the leaking, who do the leaking, who make their statements, they make them and they do leak 95 percent of the time say actual words to people saying they're going to do things just like we are just talking about, but people don't respond and think they're serious about it. Like, get mad, be serious about it.

CAMEROTA: It's a great suggestion. Go, go ahead, Jennifer.

MASCIA: Well, you know, 80 percent of homicides are perpetrated with guns. At the end of the day, guns are the common denominator. There would be no gun violence without guns. We see, because we see that other countries don't have this type of violence. And the way that you cut down this violence, the data shows, is by properly vetting gun owners requiring training.

It's a level of scrutiny that Americans are not used to, and it's kind of shocking, but we see that other countries have successfully done it because they don't have this every week. You know, in between, Colorado Springs and Chesapeake, there were 418 people shot in America, 160 of them fatally. That's everyday gun violence.

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: That's a remarkable number. And so, you're talking about in basically the last 10 days.

MASCIA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: Virtually two weeks.

MASCIA: And actually, no, that was the last three days.

CAMEROTA: In just the last three days?

MASCIA: Yes. Between Colorado Springs and Chesapeake, there were 418 people shot in America, not mass shootings. That's interpersonal violence. When guns are around and conflict happens, people reach for them and vetting gun owners before the point of purchase, data shows does cut down guns. Now only seven states have gun owner licensing programs.

That is something that we're going to see big state divides. You know, you're going to have California, New York with super strong gun laws and lower gun deaths, but then you have 25 other states that will not require permits to carry a gun in public or training.

I mean, and of course borders are porous, so if even if you have a state with strong gun laws or that requires this kind of background checking for licensing, if you're next to a state that doesn't, it's different.

Friends, thank you all very much. I really appreciate this conversation. Thank you all for thinking of solutions. It's the only thing left to do after we report on something like this so frequently. I really appreciate your perspectives.

OK. On a lighter note, the U.S. men's national team said to take the World Cup stage against England on Friday, and it could be a match just as dramatic as the one against Wales. The family of one of the team stars, Kellyn Acosta is going to join me with what they're thinking, next.

[22:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: OK. Millions of Americans will be crisscrossing the country for Thanksgiving. And of course, the weather could be a challenge and put a damper on some of your festivities. So, we've got your holiday forecast. OK, Derek, what are we looking at?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we've got a lot to be thankful for, right? And it's going to be quite an interesting weather forecast across the U.S. especially considering that over 55 million Americans are on the move. If you're talking about Atlanta, Jackson International Airport, the Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, they're expecting two and a half million people to move through the airport. Just through the course of this weekend.

We got lost to be thankful, though, and that includes a very decent forecast along the i-95 corridor. With the exception of just high- volume delays. I think that, we're setting up pretty nicely today, but things are going to get interesting across the nation midsection as we go forward in time. And I'll talk about that in just one moment.

Because we've got some very, very, messy weather that's going to start developing. Hey, you know what? A lot of people tuning into the Macy's Day Thanksgiving parade. Well, you can't beat this weather forecast if you're in New York City where temperatures will be in the 40s and the calm winds. That's the good news for the people holding the balloons.

[22:45:01]

So, this, parade will go on without any hindrance from the weather, at least. You can see high pressure and control of the weather. Now this is the storm system that's going to bring us wet weather going forward into the rest of the weekend. And this cause, could cause some travel delays, especially as you head home by Saturday and Sunday from visiting family and friends.

We have winter weather advisories and winter storm watches in place for the Texas Panhandle. You can see some of the snow that's already forming across the northern Rockies, but this is the wet weather that could cause some delays, Dallas into Houston. We're getting a lot of that Gulf of Mexico moisture here going forward.

Now just check out this forecast radar. Time this out for you. Thursday being Thanksgiving Day, you can see the wet weather starting to develop, but Friday things are going to get messy across the deep south, the southeast. We're anticipating one to two inches of rain just south of Atlanta as the system moves through. And you can just see this forecast accumulation going forward, Alisyn, things are looking a bit on the wet side.

There's a snowfall for New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle, really kind of a wet looking forecast for this area, again, for the second half of the weekend. But in terms of today, getting out the door, at least, I should say Thursday, Thanksgiving Day forecast looking pretty decent.

But Sunday, that's a whole another story. We're anticipating travel delays for D.C., as well as New York City. You can see another storm system developing across the Pacific northwest.

CAMEROTA: So, Derek, basically is your advice that everybody should travel tonight or tomorrow for Thanksgiving, and then get out of there before Sunday.

VAN DAM: Great question, and yes, you hit it the -- perfectly. That's exactly what I would advise. Get out the door today if you can still, or perhaps early in the morning on Thursday because the weather will be most tranquil on Thursday, but as you wind off the weekend, you need to get home quicker than what you'd anticipated because Sunday, that's when things will get very interesting along the east coast.

That's when I anticipate the travel delays as people head home from grandma and grandpa's house, head home from family and friends. They will be hitting some of these major airports along the eastern seaboard and they could see moderate travel delays that could slow you down getting home.

CAMEROTA: OK, we will heed your advice. Derek van Dam, thank you very much.

VAN DAM: Thanks, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: OK, we'll be right back.

[22:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: OK, just as you're sitting down to devour some turkey leftovers, the U.S. men's national soccer team will be playing England in a rematch. That may be the biggest thing since the Revolutionary War, and we all know who won that one.

So, tonight, I have with me the family of the U.S. men's national team's midfielder Kellyn Acosta. With us now are Ken and Kanikah Perry-Acosta, and there's a long delay. So, everybody, be patient for this conversation because we hope technology will help us.

Great to see you guys tonight. And your son made this incredible play in the game. People call it the World Cup saving foul. Basically, he, you know, foul --

KANIKAH PERRY-ACOSTA, MOTHER OF USMNT MIDFIELDER KELLYN ACOSTA: Yes.

CAMEROTA: His -- his, well, his friend, but also the competitor, and everybody says that he saved the game. So, tell us what that moment was like.

PERRY-ACOSTA: That was actually pretty amazing. I was, I was wondering if he was going to go ahead and take the foul. We had to have it. He had -- he knew he had to take it. And you know, they -- he does play with the other player, so, you know, you not want to hurt anybody, but we needed it to save us, though. Tell him did what he needed to do and he took him out.

KEN ACOSTA, FATHER OF USMNT MIDFIELDER KELLYN ACOSTA: It was play for the USA. It was, let's need it, or it could have been a goal. So, it was a great play.

CAMEROTA: And so, I mean, back domestically, he plays with Gareth Bale, but I guess that all bets are off, you know, when you're in the World Cup.

PERRY-ACOSTA: Most definitely.

ACOSTA: Definitely.

CAMEROTA: And so, what has it been like for, for you guys? Sorry to be -- sorry that the delay is making me interrupt you guys. What's it been like to be watching this and what's the mood by the way in Qatar? Because we've heard about the controversies. What's the atmosphere there? PERRY-ACOSTA: Well, it's been, actually, it's been great here. It's a beautiful city. We've done a lot of mostly family oriented things with the U.S. team. So, it's been fun. Like they make sure that everything is taken care of. Everything is like handled. You know, they tell us where to be, so it's perfect and we have all these activities. It's a lot going on here and it's been a great, great experience.

ACOSTA: And the fan base is great too. And the crowd got into it before the game, the after the game, a lot of chanting before and after the game, so it's been great so far.

CAMEROTA: That's wonderful to hear. Well, it's been wonderful to watch and great to cheer your son on and he saved the World Cup basically, for the U.S. So, congratulate him and we'll be watching on Friday. Thanks so much, guys for joining us tonight.

PERRY-ACOSTA: All right, thank you.

ACOSTA: I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

CAMEROTA: OK, so the holiday season is here, of course, and with it comes the traditions that make it special, including all those holiday movies and TV shows that we love to watch. So, this year, CNN is bringing us a unique look at our favorites, the new CNN original series special event 'Tis the season. The holidays on screen unwraps the most memorable and festive moments of holiday classics, new and old, and explores why these stories continue to delight audiences. So, here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: Christmas movies and television specials are always about someone who has lost their faith in humankind regaining it.

PHIL ROSENTHAL, CREATOR, EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND: Christmas story is one of the best movies about nostalgia, family, and Christmas.

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I watch it every year at least twice. It's the script of my life.

RAMI MALEK, ACTOR: It's hard to beat "Home Alone," just a fun and a high jinx. It is on the Mount Rushmore of holiday movies.

RON HOWARD, DIRECTOR: I lost myself in Miracle on 34th Street.

ALFONSO DURALDE, FILM CRITIC/AUTHOR: National Lampoon's Christmas vacation was capturing how the holidays make us all insane.

[22:55:02]

BEN MANKIEWICZ, HOST, TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES: There is that consistent Christmas element in elf of change of realization.

TIMOTHY NAFTALI, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Watch a good Christmas show and it doesn't matter when it was made. These ideas don't get old. UNKNOWN: Unwrap the stories behind everything we love to watch at

Christmas. A two-hour special event. 'Tis the season, the holidays on screen, Sunday at 8 on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: It's been an awful 10 days in the U.S. for mass shootings. I know it's hard to think about this every day and every night, but we do have a list to show you that really drives home what we're talking about.

In less than a week, there have been eight mass shootings in America. Innocent people killed at everyone, lives ruined, family members in mourning virtually forever.

[23:00:02]

More than 600 mass shootings in the United States so far just this year.