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Alec Baldwin Gives Interview about 'Rust' Shooting; Lighting Director Suing Baldwin Over Shooting; Congress Passes Stopgap Funding Bill after GOP Stand-off Over Vaccine Mandate; U.S. Ramping Up Sequencing Efforts to Find Variants. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 03, 2021 - 06:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to viewers here in the United States and around the world. It is Friday, December 3. And I'm Brianna Keilar with John Berman.

[05:59:34]

"I have nothing to hide." Those are the words from actor Alec Baldwin in a raw and emotional first interview since the deadly shooting on the set of his film, "Rust."

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The tragedy took the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin tells ABC News that, at first, he had no idea she was even shot. He recalled the moment when the gun went off.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: She was someone who was loved by everyone who worked with and liked by everyone who worked with, and admired. I'm sorry. Ad admired by everybody who -- who worked with her.

Well, the trigger wasn't pulled. I didn't pull the trigger.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC NEWS: So you never pulled the trigger?

BALDWIN: No, no, no, no.

I would never point a gun at anyone and point a trigger at them, never. That was the training that I had. You don't point at somebody and pull the trigger.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you have this Colt .45. You just pulled --

BALDWIN: The hammer as far back as I could without cocking the actual --

STEPHANOPOULOS: And you're holding onto the handle?

BALDWIN: I'm holding. I'm just showing. How about that? Does that work? Do you see that? Do you see that? She goes, yes, that's good. I let go of the hammer, bang, the gun goes off.

Everyone is horrified. They're shocked. It's loud. They don't have their ear plugs in. No one was -- the gun was supposed to be empty. I was told I was handed an empty gun. Or there were cosmetic rounds. Nothing with a charge at all or flash round, nothing.

She goes down. I thought to myself, Did she faint? The notion that there was a live round in that gun did not dawn on me until probably 45 minutes to an hour later.

At the end of -- she was laying there. And she was there for a while. I was amazed at how long they didn't get her a car and get her out. But they waited until a helicopter came. And by the time the helicopter took off with her and, I mean, literally lifted off, we were all glued to that process outside.

When she finally left, I don't know how long it was she was there, 30 minutes, 40 minutes. Because it seemed like a very long time. But they kept saying, Well, she's stable. Nobody -- just as you disbelieved that there was a live round in the gun, you disbelieved that this was going to be a fatal accident.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you didn't know exactly how serious it was?

BALDWIN: At the very end of my interview with the sheriff's department, they said to me, We regret to tell you that she didn't make it. She died. They told me right then and there. And that's when I went in the parking lot and called my wife.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Baldwin made it very clear that he believes he did nothing wrong, telling George Stephanopoulos he is desperate to find out how a live round found its way onto the set.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: I don't want to sound like I'm a victim. I mean, again, we have two clear victims here.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Is this the worst thing that's ever happened to you?

BALDWIN: Yes. Yes. Because I -- I think back and I think of what could I have done.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Your emotions are so clearly so right there on the surface. You felt shock. You felt anger. You felt sadness. Do you feel guilt?

BALDWIN: No, no. I feel that there is -- I feel that -- that someone is responsible for what happened, and I can't say who that is. But I know it's not me.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You're not worried about being charged?

BALDWIN: I don't -- I've been told by people who are in the know in terms of even inside the state that it's highly unlikely I would be charged with anything criminally. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So two lawsuits now out against Alec Baldwin from members of the crew. One being from Serge Shenoy, who was head of lighting. This is how Baldwin addressed that.

BALDWIN: There are two people that filed civil suits so far. And one of them walked up to me outside the church, probably within 15 or 20 minutes of the event itself, and put their hand on me and said, You realize that you have no responsibility for what's happened here, don't you?

STEPHANOPOULOS: Was this Serge?

BALDWIN: No comment.

Serge, for example, this is the only thing I'll say about someone specifically, he was her dear friend. He was a very close friend of hers. And yet, he's chosen to file his lawsuit in advance of Matthew's suit.

STEPHANOPOULOS: And there's only so much money?

BALDWIN: Well, if you get into settlements alone, there's a pool of the insurance money. There's a couple different policies. There is a pool of money that is available that is finite.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Joining us now is Gary Dordick. He is an attorney representing Serge Shenoy, the chief lighting technician on the set of "Rust." Thank you for joining us.

Did your client tell Alec Baldwin within 20 minutes after the shooting that he bore no responsibility for what happened?

GARY DORDICK, ATTORNEY REPRESENTING SERGE SHENOY: He certainly might have. In the time with the emotions running as they probably were, he might have said that. He's not a lawyer. He doesn't know completely what happened. He's a very nice man. He's compassionate. He may well have said that.

BERMAN: So what changed from the moment that he saw it actually happen and his original reaction? Was it remembering how much money Alec Baldwin had?

[06:05:02]

DORDICK: Well, let me say this. I'm not the most objective person, since I'm the lawyer representing Mr. Shenoy. But just about everything was wrong with that Baldwin interview. He may not be listening to the people that give him advice.

But I'll walk him through that step by step in deposition. He takes no responsibility at all. He feels no guilt. He says he's not the victim, but he sounded like it the whole time.

He pulled the -- he says he -- "I didn't pull the trigger." But he showed a complete lack of knowledge for the use of firearms. He said, "I didn't pull the trigger. But I pulled the hammer back and I let it drop. So I let the hammer drop, and the firing pin fired the bullet. But I take no responsibility." That's just absurd. This doesn't have to do with money, as has been said --

BERMAN: Well, look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, but it does have -- but it does have to do with money for your client. There are two issues. What did Alec Baldwin do and what did Alec Baldwin do to your client?

And there are two separate things here. There's no question that a gun that was in Alec Baldwin's hand went off and killed someone. But it wasn't your client.

DORDICK: Yes, of course.

BERMAN: So what I'm trying to figure out is, at the moment, when your client saw it, saw the whole thing happen, was a witness and told Alec Baldwin he bore no responsibility, from that moment to now, what changed?

DORDICK: It's -- a person who is a victim who suffers, and the suggestion that my client hasn't suffered is absurd. It's a total lack of understanding for people that suffer emotional stress and post- traumatic stress syndrome.

My client has suffered tremendously. And for Alec Baldwin to say, Well, I find it peculiar, strange he filed suit before Matthew Hutchins, again, is absurd. Matthew Hutchins is suffering in his own way and will do what he feels best for him.

But there's no basis for Mr. Baldwin to criticize Mr. Svetnoy. He has rights. He's pursuing his legal rights. And to criticize him is not Alec Baldwin's place and makes no sense whatsoever.

BERMAN: How would your client feel if your client was to get money, insurance money, before the family of Halyna Hutchins?

DORDICK: It's not about how he feels if he gets money before the Hutchins family. Matthew Hutchins and his son have suffered unimaginable, devastating loss. I'm sure they're not ready to deal with a lawsuit right now, but that doesn't mean no one else should pursue their rights.

My client has said from the beginning this is more about bringing awareness to the problem and trying to bring about change where these corporations put profits before safety in these movie productions over and over. My client, if the changes are made and awareness is brought, he'd settle his case for no money whatsoever.

BERMAN: How much does your client care about who put that bullet in the gun?

DORDICK: Like everybody, a tremendous amount. I'm not saying all the fault is on Alec Baldwin. But for him to suggest no fault is on him is absurd. He should have checked that gun. He's the one who held it. He's the

one who pointed it. He never should have pointed that gun at a human being. Never. Whether someone told him it was cold or not. He bears responsibility.

But certainly, whoever put a live round in that gun, whoever left that gun unattended and didn't follow the chain of custody of that gun may be more responsible. But he bears responsibility also.

BERMAN: Gary Dordick, I appreciate you being with us. Thank you so much.

DORDICK: Thank you, sir.

KEILAR: Government shutdown averted. Both the House and Senate last night passing a stopgap measure that will fund the government through mid-February. And this just came after party leaders resolved a Republican standoff over President Biden's vaccine mandate.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty is live for us on Capitol Hill.

Sunlen, what's the latest?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, the government will stay open. Lawmakers had until midnight tonight to broker a deal. And they were actually able to do that before the deadline.

Late last night, both the House and the Senate passed through the stopgap funding measure that will keep the government funded until February 18. But it was not without some tense moments.

There was a handful of Senate Republicans who threatened to withhold their vote on the stopgap measure, potentially force a government shutdown over their separate objections, the federal government's vaccine mandate from the Biden administration.

Now, ultimately, Senate leaders yesterday were able to vote -- to broker a deal that would allow a separate vote on an amendment that would have defunded the vaccine mandate. But that ended up failing.

But that paved the way for them to pass through the stopgap measure. This now heads to President Biden's desk to his signature to keep the government open and funded. But they will be here again, Brianna, in 11 weeks. Lawmakers will have to address government funding in February.

KEILAR: Yes. We said, look, great they averted a shutdown. But funding a government in two-and-a-half-month chunks isn't the way to do it. So we'll be seeing a lot of you on this story. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you.

SERFATY: Thanks.

[06:10:10]

Up next, 60 Michigan schools closed amid a wave of copycat threats. And why investigators are now questioning school officials on what they knew before the deadly shooting.

Plus, Germany is putting major restrictions on the unvaccinated. Folks there can be banned from public life as the country faces a coronavirus surge.

BERMAN: And topless women, leather costumes, sex toys everywhere. The explosive claims from the house manager in the Ghislaine Maxwell trial. New details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: As the investigation unfolds in the deadly school shooting in Oakland County, Michigan, authorities are now questioning just how much school officials knew in the hours leading up to the deadly shooting and why that information wasn't shared with law enforcement.

[06:15:08]

Plus, the Oakland County prosecutor tells CNN that additional evidence will show the shooting that claimed four lives could have been prevented.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAREN MCDONALD, OAKLAND COUNTY PROSECUTOR: The information that will be announced tomorrow will also disclose that it -- it probably could have been prevented. And that is -- is unconscionable.

So it's just not enough to charge this shooter. But we're also going to make sure that the person or the individuals that gave him access to that weapon and did so, and not just in a negligible way, far beyond negligence, are held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Meanwhile, nearly 60 schools in Michigan remain closed today after a rash of threatening calls that authorities say turned out to be hoaxes.

The Oakland County sheriff's office has issued a stern warning saying that those responsible for the copycat threats will be found and that they will face criminal charges.

Joining me now is someone who is all too familiar with this unimaginable heartache of losing a child to a school shooter. Scarlett Lewis lost her 6-year-old son, Jesse, during the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting. She is the author of "From Sandy Hook to the World: How the Choose Love Movement Transforms Lives, Stories from Around the Globe." She's also the founder of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement.

Scarlett, you have such an important approach that I want to talk about here in just a moment with you. But, you know, first off, I just want to know what you thought when you heard about this shooting.

SCARLETT LEWIS, FOUNDER, CHOOSE LOVE MOVEMENT: Good morning, Brianna. I had actually already been on a call with a mother in Connecticut

whose two high schoolers were in lockdown for over an hour. And then received texts. And I thought that must have reached the news and then heard about Michigan. I was absolutely devastated yet again.

KEILAR: And, look, it's this horrible club that you and other parents are part of. You know, to understand what this is for these parents. You know, like in the case of Sandy Hook, there were clearly warning signs here, right? What do you think about learning that?

LEWIS: There are almost always warning signs. And I say that every school shooting is 100 percent preventable. And you know, that requires us to change the tired narrative that we've been perpetuating in our society.

We really need to change our focus from the actual problem to the root cause. And the root cause of these shootings is loneliness, isolation, disconnection, lack of emotional management and relationship skills. These are called essential life skills. We're not born with them. We have to learn them. And we learn them at home. But they absolutely have to be reinforced and practiced at schools.

And we know that schools that prioritize practicing these essential life skills are the safest.

KEILAR: Yes. And we're learning, right, and we still have a lot to learn about this particular individual and how those factors could have affected all of this. We do know, Scarlett, as we just heard from the prosecutor there, the parents could be facing charges here, right? The parents. Because this was a weapon purchased by the father.

You're all too familiar with the accessibility of weapons from a parent to a child being a factor in a school shooting. What do you think about that possibility that the parents could be charged?

LEWIS: I can tell you that I was incredulous that there was no responsibility taken after Sandy Hook. There was no accountability. And I think that without those two, we're going to see school shootings continue.

KEILAR: I'm looking here, of course, at the date. And we're coming up on the anniversary, unfortunately, of -- of the Sandy Hook shooting. And, you know, Jesse would have been 13. I'm sure you think every day about what you miss. What do you want this nation to know about that loss?

LEWIS: Jesse's school bus comes by my house every single day to pick him up and drop him off. And of course, every day I'm poignantly aware that he is not getting on that bus.

And I just want everyone to know that and realize that we've had 350 school shootings since the tragedy at Sandy Hook. So within the last nine years. We've had 28 school shootings this year alone.

[06:20:06]

It is our responsibility to keep our kids safe. And there are things that we can do.

We need to change the narrative. We need to focus on getting these essential life skills into schools as a priority. We can reduce and prevent these school shootings. But we are going to have to take responsibility to do this, and it is a call to action to each and every one of us.

My 6-year-old son actually stood up to the shooter that came into his first-grade classroom and saved nine of his classmates' lives. We're going to have to find that courage within each one of us and change the narrative and focus on the root cause. And that is lack of these essential life skills.

KEILAR: Yes. Scarlett, we shouldn't demand that courage of our children. You know, it's amazing what Jesse did. And it's amazing what you're doing. And I appreciate your courage and your insight here. Scarlett Lewis, thank you so much.

LEWIS: Thank you.

BERMAN: Yes. I was at Sandy Hook by the night of that shooting. And I can't imagine being one of the parents.

KEILAR: Yes.

BERMAN: Who has to watch every few months when there's another shooting like this one and how painful it must be. But, you know, she is turning her pain into action.

KEILAR: Yes. Look, I covered Virginia Tech. And it's the worst story I've ever covered. And I'm sick of covering these. You know, it's -- it's so hard. It's -- I think it's so easy to become numb when you're watching it. And sometimes I think that's to protect ourselves.

But, you know, I just -- these parents are doing amazing work, but these lives, they can't be in vain. They can't.

BERMAN: I wish there was something I could say to -- to make this better. But one thing I can promise you is you're going to have to do this again.

KEILAR: I know.

BERMAN: So the United States ramping up sequencing to fight coronavirus variants. How far along is the country?

And millions of Americans left in the dark as families struggle to pay utility bills. That report coming up.

And Kyrsten Sinema getting candid about President Biden's sweeping social safety net plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Schumer has said he wants to build on Build Back Better, that broader social safety net bill, before Christmas break. Are you prepared to vote "yes" when that comes to the floor?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Her response ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:06]

KEILAR: Genome sequencing to identify coronavirus variants has been ramping up here in America. U.S. health officials saying that the country now sequences tens of thousands of coronavirus samples each week. But about 20 nations still outpace the U.S.

CNN health reporter Jacqueline Howard is with us now.

We're realizing now just how important all of this sequencing is in order to track down a variant like Omicron, Jacqueline.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It's very important.

And when you think about the state of sequencing here in the United States, we have made progress in the number of coronavirus samples we sequence per week.

So sequencing is done in commercial labs, public health labs. But when you look at public health laboratories alone, we know that these laboratories sequence between 15,000 and 20,000 specimens per week. That's four times greater than it was a week ago.

So we are casting a wider net to identify variants.

And when you look at all labs, not just public health labs but all labs across the country, here's how many specimens are sequenced per week, according to CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We are now sequencing approximately 80,000 samples per week. About one in every seven PCR positive cases. And that's more than any other country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD: So you see there, Brianna, we have made progress in the number of samples sequenced.

But when it comes to the speed where -- you know, the time it takes to go from collecting a sample, testing someone, then sequencing to find a variant, that's where we have room for improvement.

When you look at the data, take a look at these numbers here, looking specifically at countries that have identified the Omicron variant so far. You see at the bottom of the list, leading the pack is the U.K., where it takes about 10 days to go from collecting a sample, testing for COVID, sequencing for the variant.

Here in the United States, that whole process can take up to 28 days. So we have made strides. We have made progress. But there's still room for improvement -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. That's like month-old news. You know? We want to know it as soon as -- as soon as possible here. Jacqueline, thanks for that.

BERMAN: So dramatic developments overnight. Germany imposing major restrictions for the unvaccinated, essentially banning them from public life. German leaders are considering plants to make vaccinations mandatory in the coming months.

CNN's Frederic=k Pleitgen live in Berlin with the latest here. These are very strict measures, Fred, that the government there thinks are necessary, given the rise of cases.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Given the rise of cases, John, and given the fact that large parts of the German population remain unvaccinated, which is quite surprising to a lot of people, considering this country is actually led by scientist Angela Merkel.

John, if you look at the German vaccination rate, it's actually a little less than 69 percent of the population that is vaccinated against COVID-19. And if you look at the average seven day of daily.