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Sudan Adviser: Absolutely This Is A Coup; Hireka: Sudan's Transition To Democracy Has Ended With Coup; U.S. Support For Sudan Depends On Transitional Order; "Facebook Papers" May Be Company's Biggest Crisis; 8.7 Million People Are On Famine's Door In Afghanistan. Aired 10-11a ET

Aired October 25, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

[10:00:26]

BECKY ANDERSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR (voice-over): New political upheaval for Sudan. A state of emergency now in place after the military

takes over. So, what is in store for the country?

Mark Zuckerberg and his company are facing what could be their biggest crisis ever, as the so-called Facebook papers start becoming public. And

now, the whistleblower who leaked information, giving testimony live to British lawmakers, as they consider cracking down on social media

companies.

Thoughts harrowing new details about the shooting involving Alec Baldwin. The victim's last words and what was happening when Baldwin pulled the

trigger. And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BEASLEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME: So reckless disregard of humanitarian needs on the ground by all sides, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: Strong condemnation of Tigray from the World Food Programme's chief. David Beasley speaks to me about the situation on the ground in

Ethiopia and in Afghanistan.

ANDERSON (on camera): Hi, I'm Becky Anderson. Hello, and welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD. This is from your Middle East programming hub in Abu Dhabi,

where the time is just after 6:00 p.m.

At this hour, we are monitoring Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

ANDERSON (voice-over): The company's former product manager is giving evidence to the British Parliament. She says and I quote, the failures of

Facebook are making it harder to regulate Facebook.

Her testimony comes just hours after the release of some explosive leaked company documents collectively referred to as the Facebook papers. And

there are tens of 1000s of them. And they paint a damning picture of the social media giants role, not least in the January the 6th Capitol Hill

riot, and include documents showing Facebook allegedly failed to act when it knew its platform was allowing politicians to lie, uses to spread hate

speech, and some to engage in human trafficking. More on that in just a moment.

ANDERSON (on camera): First up, I do want to connect you to a fast developing story out of Sudan, where a military takeover is in progress.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Just within the past few hours, they had of the Armed Forces dissolved the joint military civilian government, declared a

state of emergency, and announced elections for 2023.

He spoke after Sudan's information ministry announced that the Prime Minister, Cabinet members and other civilian government officials have been

placed under arrest. Prime minister's whereabouts unknown.

There are reports of gunfire and casualties outside Sudan's Armed Forces headquarters in Khartoum and protesters marching in the Capitol and

blocking bridges.

ANDERSON (on camera): Well, today's chaotic events followed a failed coup last month and mark the crumbling of a power sharing agreement made after

the 2019 ousting of the longtime President Omar al-Bashir.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Well, the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum expressing grave concern and calling on all involved to stand down. The U.N. Secretary

General Antonio Guterres issuing a statement earlier, calling for the immediate release of the prime minister and all other detained officials.

Going on to say there must be full "respect for the constitutional charter to protect Sudan's hard-won political transition. The United Nations, he

says, will continue to stand with the people of Sudan.

ANDERSON (on camera): Much of the early information, CNN received about the situation in Sudan came from the prime minister's economic advisor Adam

Hireka. He spoke to me a short time ago and I asked him point blank, is this a coup?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM HIREKA, ECONOMIC ADVISER TO SUDANESE PRIME MINISTER ABDALLA HAMDOK (via telephone): Absolutely, it's a coup'. It's a coup, it's nothing else

and the coup and since all the institutions that have been created to facilitate the transition are now dissolved. So, it is a coup' and unless

something happens and live there is a change in the process of unfolding now, again, I think this is an end to transition to democracy (INAUDIBLE).

[10:04:56]

ANDERSON (on camera): General Burhan says they had to do this because the transition negotiations were threatening Sudan's peace and stability. What

do you make of that statement?

HIREKA: I think this is not -- in my view, this is not a realistic characterization of what happened. And I think we saw this coup can

(INAUDIBLE) coup, because they were blockades here and there, including blockade of the seaport -- on the seaport of the country, and blockaded the

road that links the seaports of the rest of the country. That continued for six weeks -- almost six weeks. And this blockade could have been removed if

the civilian -- the military side supporting the civilian government to negotiate with the people of eastern Sudan who blockaded the road.

ANDERSON: Well, there reports of struggles between the transitional partners -- the civilian and the military.

HIREKA: Yes, the world must admit and think the issues of contention are well known to the people of Sudan. And these issues have not been addressed

over the last three years. And they seek -- one of them is transition of power. Chairmanship from military to civilian. And it was, according to the

initial agreement, it was supposed to happen next months, or according to the (INAUDIBLE) agreement could happen in July 2022.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Prime Minister Hamdok has called on the people to get out on protest. Do you think the Sudanese people will do that? Will

they heed his call?

HIREKA: Well, I think, Sudan is a very unique country. In terms of diversity, ethnicity, culture, religion, and Sudan, unfortunately, has

witnessed civil war since 1965, nonstop, up to now.

So, there is now a general understanding amongst Sudanese people that this country cannot be united and run by the military. The military was in power

for most of the time for over 52 years. And they only created more and more divisions within the country until South Sudan succeeded in 2011.

And now, we have wars in this country in Nuba Mountains, and in Darfur still. And so, nobody -- very few people in this country would imagine a

situation where the military can stop the civil wars. Civil wars can only be solved by civilian people who can sit down, make agreements that are

binding, that are restated, and then, the country can move forward.

Unfortunately, this what happened today is a leap in the dark, and majority of Sudanese people believe that this is a return to where we were some

years back, and probably civil wars will never start in this country.

ANDERSON: You are the prime minister's advisor. What if anything have you heard from the prime minister at this point? You said you saw him last,

last night?

HIREKA: Yes. I -- today, in the morning, when I heard about what happened, I went to the prime minister's residence. He is my boss, my friend, and he

is a state man. That is well-respected by everyone in this country.

And I went to his residence, unfortunately, he was not there. His -- the prime minister and his wife were taken to an unknown destination by

soldiers.

ANDERSON: So, what message do you believe he has to Sudan's 40 million population? Today's reports of protests are filling the streets across

Sudan. What is his message?

HIREKA: There was a lot of pressure on the prime minister to serve the government. And I think, as I mentioned, through mediation by Mr. Jeff

Feltman, U.S. envoy to the Horn of Africa. There was a narrowing of differences on key issues of conflict between civilian and military

partners.

[10:10:10]

HIREKA: They were all and narrowed down. And there was a demand on the date for elections, agreement on the date for handling handing over of

chairmanship of the Sovereign Council to civilians. There were agreement on setting up on completing all transitional institutions, including the

transitional legislative council by next month.

What General Burhan mentioned in his address, actually was most of a lot of it was agreed between the two parties. But as the prime minister stood his

-- stood very strong against the dissolving the civilian government without a process.

I think that was the biggest issue of contention. When I -- until the time I saw the Prime Minister last night.

ANDERSON (on camera): Well, the U.S. envoy to Sudan Jeffrey Feltman was in Sudan over the weekend, and he stressed that U.S. support depends on

Sudan's leaders and adhering to this agreed transitional order.

Of course that was established in 2019 and in 2020 in Juba. General Burhan statements do seem to be a departure from the U.S. envoy's message. So,

what do you believe this move signals?

HIREKA: If we go back to the same government institutions, then, I think, whatever resources come to the country where there will be squandered. And

I can see the concern of the U.S. and other partners, including international organizations. So, there has to be, I think, a focus on

building institutions on returning this country to civilian rule.

ANDERSON: What do you want to say to the international community and what is their role here today? You've talked about the U.S. envoy's involvement

today. And what's the bigger picture here, sir?

HIREKA: Well, I think the bigger picture -- a return to military rule will make more civil wars in Sudan and instability in the region. Sudan is a

country at the heart of Africa and every seven countries -- seven other countries.

Country on them -- that has a long seaport. And Sudan has been a place for oppression, poverty, and destitution for a long time. I think the

international community should not allow these countries to fall back. It should support the people -- the majority of people of Sudan who believe in

positive futures through civilian rule.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: I'm going to bring in CNN's Nima Elbagir who has done extensive reporting on and from Sudan. And she is today with us out of London. And

the events today, very, very troubling. And there are those who say something like this was inevitable. What led up to what we are seeing

today, Nima?

NIMA ELBAGIR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, just from what we've been hearing prior to the point that we've reached

now, a lot of the concern was around whether the military believed that they could hand over to the civilian rulers at this second half of the

transition point.

And if you listened to the military, they say that their concern was this failed coup attempt, a month ago, that they were concerned that there were

still factions loyal to the premium -- to the previous regime and potentially the impact that could have on the country.

If you listened to those within the civilian leadership, they're already pointing to the fact that the military among its first action was to

dissolve the committee's dealing with accountability, whether that's financial accountability, or whether much more importantly, to so many

sections within society in Sudan.

Accountability for the massacre in June of 2019, which the military itself and forces parallel to it are believe to be culpable in. Those are the key

issues. Who is going to take responsibility for the corruption? For the money that went missing over those decades of previous power? And who's

going to take responsibility for the loss of life under the military's nose, Becky.

ANDERSON: The spokesman there talking about issues of transitional justice. Specifically, is that effectively what he's alluding to there without

pointing fingers? Is this the military fearing for their -- for themselves at this point? That's what you're saying here, (INAUDIBLE)?

[10:15:02]

ELBAGIR: Yes. Absolutely, absolutely. There have been concerns throughout the last three years that what the military rulers needed in order to allow

this transitional period to continue is effectively immunity.

Now, how does the revolution -- how do these young men who went out on the streets, these young women, who we went out with, Becky, how do you tell

them that their friends and their loved ones that they lost will not receive justice? One of the most popular slogans throughout the revolution

and even we've been hearing them in the videos that we've been able to get out of Sudan over the last few days has been blood for blood, a dumbed

down, which means that there has to be justice for the blood that was lost.

And in a country that has seen decades of this seesaw between democracy -- short lived democracy, and then decades of military transition, many people

say that without transitional justice, as you so rightly referred to it, we're going to continue in Sudan to see that seesaw.

ANDERSON: Nima Elbagir is in London for you today. As I say, has reported extensively from and on Sudan for CNN over the years. Nima, it was a

pleasure. Thank you very much. Indeed.

That is not the end of what we are doing on this story today, obviously, incredibly important. More on this as we move through the next hour and 45

minutes.

I want to get you though up to scratch on our other top story this hour. Accusations that Facebook knew about objectionable content on its platforms

and it didn't act. That's according to tens of 1000s of leaked company documents known as the Facebook papers, and it represents an existential

crisis for the company.

Those documents were part of the disclosures to the U.S. regulator by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. But it's not just U.S. government

that is interested in all of this. She is, as we speak, giving evidence to the British Parliament.

Let me bring in Donie O'Sullivan for you. The Facebook papers may be the biggest crisis in the company's history. Donie joining me now.

Before we talk about the wider story here, you've been monitoring this testimony today in London. What's being said, Donie?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, that's right, Becky. Haugen, there, really giving some very compelling testimony. She appeared

before the U.S. Congress a few weeks ago as well. And what really sticks out with this whistleblower is how well she is able to articulate in just

plain terms the problems with these platforms.

And she had a warning this morning in London, where she warned that if Facebook doesn't get its act together, we are going to continue to see

events like the interaction here in Washington, like everything they've stoked in Myanmar, happening again, and again, and again, because the

platform is designed in ways that hate speech, that division and polarizing content is amplified.

ANDERSON: Well, let's talk about some of what she is discussing. She is pointing this out, as you say, very eruditely, to British lawmakers. You

have had a chance to have a look at some of these Facebook papers as they are known.

Look, the company is confronted whistleblowers is confronted P.R. firestorms, congressional inquiries in recent years. But this crisis is

more intense. Donie, just walk us through some of the revelations that we have here. What's the key takeaway, if you will?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes, I mean, look, there's obviously so much focus, and some of Facebook's own former employees would tell you that Facebook is too focused

on the United States.

That it is responsive for as bad as it is here. It is responsive to issues here, it's responsive to lawmakers here. But in other parts of the world,

the havoc can be wrecked on the platform, and the company doesn't bat an eyelid. That, of course, is something that the company dismisses and

disputes.

But I think, you know, some stuff that really stuck out here to me, Becky. One was on human trafficking, modern day slavery. There's internal Facebook

research that shows that this is a problem on the platform.

As we've been digging into these files the past few weeks, my colleague Clare Duffy here at CNN in New York, she was digging in more to this human

trafficking issue. She found on Instagram, an account last week that was advertising domestic workers for sale essentially.

And Facebook only took action on that account after was brought to the -- their attention by CNN. So, you know, there's a lot in this about how

Facebook helped fuel the interaction here in the U.S., but so much more. And we haven't even begun to talk about India, its biggest markets. And in

terms of the problems there, it has particularly in fueling sectarian divisions. Becky.

ANDERSON: Yes, and we will Talk about that story.

(CROSSTALK)

[10:20:01]

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

ANDERSON: And more as the days go on because this story is not going away nor should it. Donie, thank you.

Coming up on CONNECT THE WORLD, shocking new information about just how dire things are in Afghanistan as winter approaches. The latest from the

World Food Programme is coming up.

And more warnings from British health officials about the impact of COVID- 19 on the healthcare system there. And what really happened on the Rust movie set. We are live in New Mexico.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON: Well, earlier this hour, we brought you the latest developments out of Sudan where an attempted military coup is taking place. We often

tend to forget what this sort of instability means for people on the ground? Well, it means no security, no jobs, and frankly, no food. Just

take a look.

At Afghanistan, the World Food Programme says that almost 23 million people will face acute food security, and folks, that is half the population --

half the population. And that is a near 40 percent rise in the number of Afghans facing hunger since, for example, April.

Well, earlier, I spoke with David Beasley who is the head of the World Food Programme to get a real stare on what is going on there. And on the

worsening situation in Ethiopia. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEASLEY: Becky, just when you think, it could get any worse anywhere else in the world. We're facing so many crises all over the world and all of a

sudden, bam, Afghanistan. And so, we will be very clear on the new numbers that we've just come out with on how many people are starving to death in

Afghanistan, a nation of 40 million people.

The number is now going up to 22.8 million people that are marching toward starvation out of that 8.7 million are on famines door. You know what the

price tag of that?

(CROSSTALK)

ANDERSON (voice-over): That's a quarter of the population.

BEASLEY: Yes. 95 percent of the people struggling to eat. You know what it's going to cost just to feed those 22 million at 50 percent ration for

those that are in trouble, with those that are about to die, that's 75 percent ration? Just $223 million per month.

Becky, where is that money coming from?

ANDERSON (on camera): We've seen pledges of something like a billion or more. But there are still many questions being asked about whether the

agencies -- and indeed, more importantly, other countries are prepared to work with the Taliban, are you?

BEASLEY: We don't have a choice to work with whomever is controlling access on the grounds. Whoever is on the ground where people are, we work with

them to reach innocent people.

[10:25:02]

BEASLEY: We are neutral or independent, we are impartial. And quite frankly, the Taliban has said you do what you need to do, we'll protect

your resources, your warehouses to make sure they're not stolen. They've cooperated with us. Obviously, it's not perfect. But we're reaching the

people that we can reach for the money we have right now. But we run out of money in December. January one, we have no more money, and we need $220

million to reach the number of people. Otherwise you're going to have -- you think is bad now? It will be chaos.

ANDERSON (on camera): And what do you say to people who suggest that by working with the Taliban, because you say you have absolutely no choice,

that you are legitimizing?

BEASLEY: Well, no, it's easy for us. Is that -- but we're not here to legitimize any government. We're here to help the innocent people, and

that's where we deliver the food to.

The Taliban, we're not doing it through the Taliban. Just like in Yemen or in Syria, we're not doing it through the government. We're directly feeding

the people. So, they actually can be independent and self-sufficient free of government influences to that degree.

ANDERSON: You and I have spoken now for nearly a year about the situation in Ethiopia. What's going on, on the ground, David?

BEASLEY: You talk about a manmade crises. I mean, Ethiopia was moving in the right direction. And now, we are barely getting enough trucks into the

Tigray northern Ethiopian area.

Maybe it support 15 percent of the people. I don't know where to get the food from. Hopefully, we will come out of the field in the next few weeks

showing the reality that exists. But there's no way that the people are surviving there.

We're out a fuel, we're out of cash in terms of paying our people, and we're running out of money, and we can't get our trucks in. I've got -- I

had literally 10 trucks that will provide the fuel that we need to push food and medicines out there for a solid two weeks. Just for two weeks to

send drugs that sitting at a checkpoint, guess how long? Two months.

ANDERSON: Two months.

BEASLEY: Two months.

ANDERSON: And you run the fuel as I understand it for other agencies.

BEASLEY: Yes, we move the fuel for other agencies that are also feeding people, providing medical care, all the humanitarian needs and people that

are in crisis because the economy there is completely shut down because of the war.

Everybody is to blame. There is no doubt about it. For us not even to be able to get our fuel trucks in, this is -- this is disgraceful.

ANDERSON: What do you understand to have happened late last week with the U.N. flight that was rerouted back from Mekele? What happened?

BEASLEY: Well, we fly -- had WFP at (INAUDIBLE), flies from Addis into Mekele. And that's where we deliver humanitarians and cash to pay our

humanitarian workers on the ground there.

And the flight had been -- because we deconflict -- you know, we work in war zones. We know how to do this. We do it all the time. Whether it's

Yemen, Syria, it doesn't matter. So, we're pros, experts of working in combat areas.

We deconflict, all sides are put on notice, they agree, the planes flying in. It's a few minutes for landing, and guess what, boom. There's an

explosion on the ground right near the airport. A military strike.

I mean, come on. You knew our plane was in the air. How can this happen? Obviously, abort, abort, abort. And we go back to Addis Ababa. What if our

planes been shut out of the air intentionally or unintentionally? This is reckless. It's a reckless disregard of the humanitarian needs on the ground

by all sides, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON: David Beasley, speaking to me at our broadcast site at Dubai Expo earlier.

Well, ahead on the show. The U.K. government insists it's protecting the vulnerable from COVID. So, why are such long queues forming outside

emergency rooms? We'll get you to London.

And with the Winter Olympics just months away, we're going to tell you what China is doing to fight new outbreaks of the coronavirus.

You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson. Do stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:31:38]

ANDERSON: Welcome back. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi. You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. It is half a 6:00 here. A quick update on the coup in

Sudan for you. The United Nations secretary general calling for the immediate release of the prime minister and all others arrested when the

military dissolved a fragile power sharing government.

Sudan's military leader says the action was taken to protect the country's safety and security. He declared a state of emergency and announced the

elections for 2023. Now, protesters marched in the capital Khartoum, some blocking bridges. The information ministry reports gunfire and casualties

outside the Armed Forces headquarters.

We'll get you up to speed on some of the other stories that are on our radar right now.

And people are lining up for coronavirus testing in China due to new outbreaks there.

More than 100 cases have been reported since October the 17th in 11 provinces, mostly in northern China. China reimposing lockdowns for

hundreds of thousands of people, and Beijing canceled next Sunday's marathon.

Indonesia's president says his country will gradually reopen when the country's COVID vaccine rates surpass 70 percent. Now, he is pushing for

vaccinated travel lanes across Southeast Asia to boost tourism. So far, though, only about a third of Indonesians have actually been fully

vaccinated.

And Singapore's government is telling employees, by January, they must be fully vaccinated before returning to work. In September, Singapore was

forced to postpone relaxing restrictions over the Delta variant. 84 percent of its eligible population are already fully vaccinated.

While the U.K. too has some of the world's highest COVID vaccination rates. Yet more British health leaders are sounding the alarm. The president of

the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, which monitors standards of care says the health sector is already in a terrible place. Cases are surging,

long queues of ambulances forming outside hospitals. This as the government refuses to implement more mask mandates and social distancing measures as

winter there approaches.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz more on these warnings. Salma, from the -- some of the nation's top health officials, we discussed this last week and said

that the government wasn't budging. We have had the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine now suggesting that a lot more needs to be

done to avoid these bottlenecks forming outside emergency rooms. What's the latest?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL FIELD PRODUCER (on camera): Absolutely, Becky. I mean, at the end of the day, there is strategy which is to deal

with the number of coronavirus cases and the rising infection rates. But what health experts will tell you is it all comes down to a finite number

of beds.

There's only so much hospital capacity across the U.K. That hospital capacity was already stretched before the pandemic. That's why later this

week we're supposed to hear about budgetary -- more budget being given to the NHS, to the National Health Service here to try to alleviate some of

that pressure. But this was already an institution that was under strain, Becky.

And then, here comes the pandemic and now we're entering what potentially could be a winter crisis according to many of the doctors and nurses across

this country that say they simply cannot withstand yet another wave of coronavirus patients alongside those already illnesses that increased

during the winter time.

[10:35:11]

ABDELAZIZ: So you have two different strategies playing out here. The government strategy, which is we are going to stick to vaccinations. Prime

Minister Boris Johnson over the weekend announced a call to arms, urging those who are over 50 And who are medically vulnerable to get their booster

jobs.

There is also a vaccine drive for 12 to 15-year olds. There is a major focus there on getting the very young vaccinated and of course anyone else

who is not yet vaccinated to get immunize, they say, the government says that will be enough because it is not about social behavior, it is about

vaccinating, vaccinating, vaccinating.

On the other hand, you have many in the medical community who say we need to see social behavioral changes. That means mandating masks. That means

putting COVID passports in place. That means urging people to work from home.

For now, of course, the government sticking to its guns, saying that vaccinating their way is the only way out of this crisis. Becky.

ANDERSON: Salma Abdelaziz is in London for you. Salma, thank you.

Coming up on CONNECT THE WORLD.

ANDERSON (voice-over): Learning more about the final moments of Halyna Hutchins' life as she was shot by Alec Baldwin's prop gun on set. We're

live in New Mexico for you.

And Mo Salah leads Liverpool to a stunning finish over an old rival. More of that on "WORLD SPORT".

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON (on camera): We are learning more about the circumstances surrounding the accidental shooting on the set of Rust, Alec Baldwin's

latest movie.

Let me bring in Stephanie Elam who joins us live from Santa Fe, New Mexico where the movie was being filmed.

Stephanie, as I understand it, police have released the affidavit for a search warrant outlining how Alec Baldwin's prop gun was discharged, and

what exactly does it say?

STEHPANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, the affidavit has given us a lot more information, Becky. We've learned the disposition of where

everyone was when this happened. And what we know is that Alec Baldwin was rehearsing a scene. He was sitting in a pew and working on a cross draw

where he reaches across his body to grab the firearm to draw it out. And so, he was aiming it directly at camera.

And right behind that camera is were Halyna Hutchins was standing and behind her looking over her shoulder was the director Joel Souza. When this

firearm mishap happened, she was hit in the torso and fell back.

Another camera operator was there, he said that he heard her say that she could not feel her legs and just how much blood there was. That was on the

director too who was hit in the shoulder.

A couple of other things that we learned from this is that there was also a walkout from some members of the camera department that morning, earlier in

the day, because of some issues with housing and pay.

[10:40:07]

ELAM: Nothing about safety for this particular group. But because of that, there was only one camera available at the time. So, they were trying to

work within those parameters.

But we know that from the affidavit that law enforcement officials were looking to perhaps get anything that could have caught this, whether or not

the cameras rolling. The director saying it wasn't.

We've also learned as well that the assistant director, David Halls was also the one who yelled out, cold gun, when he handed it to Alec Baldwin.

And that should have meant that there was no ammunition in it. That it should have been clear. So, questions about his role in this, as well as

the armorer, we do know that there have been two complaints from 2019 against Halls for just basically not paying attention to safety protocols

on two different sets. CNN has reached out to Halls but he has not responded to our requests for comment.

So, giving us more color here, but it is interesting to note that one of the other camera people who was there when this happened, so that Alec

Baldwin had always been very careful. Making sure that children weren't around when these kind of firearms were being used on set.

So, just a tragic event and it does seem that people there were rallying behind Alec Baldwin.

ANDERSON: Yes. What a tragic, tragic situation. Alec Baldwin, Steph, briefly has reached out to the family. What's he said?

ELAM: Yes. He has posted on Twitter his thoughts and feelings. We know that based on some imagery, we've seen that he's reached out and met with

Hutchins' widower, and also their young son, I believe is 7 years old, to talk to them, and just to stay in communication with them. We've also seen

that her widower has also posted about the beautiful woman that she was.

And just to give you some context here, there was also one of her best friends, from one of Halyna Hutchins best friends who spoke on "NEW DAY"

talking about this situation. Take a listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RACHEL MASON, FRIEND OF HALYNA HUTCHINS: I wanted to reach out because I wanted him to know that even though I am so devastated about what happened,

and I'm so like deeply saddened, I just don't think any person who was in that position as an actor, no matter where the responsibility ends up lying

when people pull it all apart. He's so not responsible for this tragic, horrific nightmare of taking the life of my friend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM: So, while people are focusing on the assistant director who handed Baldwin the gun and also the armorer, who should have been responsible, a

lot of people looking at Baldwin. But again, because he's a producer on the film, there's still questions about whether or not he'll face some

liability here, Becky.

ANDERSON: Stephanie Elam on the story for you. And more of course on that @cnn.com. Steph, thanks.

Liverpool came out on top on Sunday with Mo Salah helping his side seal a 5-0 victory over rivals Manchester United. Salah delivering an

extraordinary performance. A hat trick that will live in the memories of Liverpool fans, the world over not so much for stunned Manu fans as well.

That was a drubbing as it's known in the game at home.

Let's bring in Amanda Davies. What a -- I mean, what a highlight for Mo Salah and what has already been a phenomenal start to the season.

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Yes, absolutely, Becky. I think this result will live in the memories of Manchester United

fans but absolutely for the wrong reasons.

Liverpool and Salah dominating against their old adversaries. He's scored for the 10th straight game has now -- is now the all-time top African goal

scorer in Premier League history.

But for all their celebrations, so many questions now being asked at Old Trafford.

What next for (INAUDIBLE)? Where do they go from here after one of the most humiliating embarrassing defeats in a very, very long time? And that's what

we're looking at in a couple of minutes in "WORLD SPORT".

ANDERSON: Yes, I think he called it one of his darkest days at the club, didn't he? And "WORLD SPORTS" up next. Amanda's got that. We'll be back top

of the hour for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WORLD SPORT)

[11:00:00]

END