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New Day Sunday

More than 12 Million People Under Flood Watches From Arizona to Louisiana; White House Ramps Up Response with More Vaccines, Antiviral Treatments; Somali Police: 106 People Rescued Following Deadly Hotel Siege; Mexican Court Issues 83 Arrests Warrants Over 2014 Case; Judge May Release Redacted Mar-A-Lago Search Warrant Affidavit; 10 Months After Film Set Shooting, Alec Baldwin Says He Still Thinks About What Happened Every Day. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired August 21, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:07]

AMARA WALKER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. And welcome to your NEW DAY. It is Sunday, August 21st. I'm Amara Walker.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, Amara.

I'm Boris Sanchez. Thank you so much for spending part of your morning with us.

It is a brand-new week. And there is plenty to get to, including this extreme weather threat across the southern plains. More than 12 million people under flood watches as they wake up today.

WALKER: Yeah, officials in Moab City, Utah, blocked off streets, closed down hiking trails, and have told people to avoid certain areas due to this rushing water. And yesterday, search and rescue crews were out looking for a missing person in Utah's Zion National Park. Rangers say hikers were being swept off their feet by flash flooding on the Virgin River.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is here now with more.

Hi there, Allison. How long is this threat expected to last?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A couple of days. The system is going to ever so slowly meander its way across the southeastern tier of the U.S. Here is a look at the system in question. Again, you can already see a lot of that moisture bringing some pretty heavy thunderstorms to portions of northern Texas, areas of Oklahoma now starting to see some of that rain move into portions of Arkansas as well as Louisiana.

You still have some rain in Arizona and New Mexico as well. But a lot of that is really going to begin to shift off to the east in the coming days. We do still have flood watches in effect for Arizona, New Mexico, but also Texas, Oklahoma and some into Louisiana and southern Arkansas as well. You also have some of that tropical moisture still surging from that potential tropical cyclone we had yesterday. It's moved inland, but it is still pushing, that flow is still pushing the moisture from the gulf into the southeastern region.

As that stationary front gradually starts to shift off to the east, you're going to see the water go with it. Here is a look at where we forecast the rain today. The bulk of it is still going to be across northern portions of Texas, southern Oklahoma, areas of Arkansas as well as Louisiana, but then as we start the workweek, you'll see more of that rain push into Mississippi and Alabama and continue off to the east.

Look at all of the yellows, the oranges, the red color that you see on the map, widespread. You're talking 3 to 5 inches of rain. But there will be some spots that could pick up 8, 9, even 10 inches of rain. Now, I will point out that some of these areas in Texas desperately need rain.

You're looking at a list of the top ten driest years to date for some of these cities, including Houston, Dallas, San Angelo, San Antonio. They need the rain. Not 10 inches of it, or if you did get 10 inches, wow want it spread you would want it spread out. Having that much rain in a short period of time increases that potential for some flash flooding, especially some of the extreme dry areas, or even portions of the panhandle of Texas, where they had wildfires earlier this year.

So, again, you got those burn scar areas that are up much more like to flood and have big concerns across this area, Boris and Amara. Something we'll keep a close eye on in the coming days.

SANCHEZ: We know you'll be watching it for us. Allison Chinchar in the CNN weather center, thank you so much.

So, this week, the Biden administration is taking new steps to slow the spread of monkeypox across states. This plan is coming just in time because cases are rising dramatically. The CDC is reporting more than 14,000 cases across the country.

Keep in mind, that's more than a third of all cases in the world. And in the last 20 days, nationwide, cases have nearly tripled.

Just this weekend, Washington's King County, which includes Seattle, declared monkeypox a public health emergency.

WALKER: Vaccine supply has been an issue nationwide due to a spike in demand. And starting tomorrow, the White House will make an additional 1.8 million doses available for local health departments to order. It also launched a pilot program this weekend sending vaccine supplies to cities hosting large events in the LGBTQ community. And the government is also making available more doses of antiviral treatment to help people who have already contracted the virus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB FENTON, WHITE HOUSE MONKEYPOX RESPONSE COORDINATOR: Next week, HHS will be positioning 50,000 courses of TPOXX across the country. That's nearly five times as many treatment courses of confirmed cases in the U.S. these courses will be made available to jurisdictions where the outbreak is most severe, so individuals can get treatment more quickly from their healthcare providers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Joining me now is Dr. Raynard Washington, director of Mecklenburg County Public Health.

Doctor, thank you so much for joining us.

So, first off, we should mention that Charlotte does have a Pride festival going on this weekend and Charlotte became the first locality to receive additional doses for distribution at large public events.

[07:05:05]

How do you think that will help you guys get the spread of monkeypox under control?

DR. RAYNARD WASHINGTON, MECKLENBURG COUNTY PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR: Good morning and thank you. I think it will help us tremendously. We have been working diligently here for the last several weeks, even months, to get as much vaccine in arms as possible. So we are very appreciative to our state and federal partners for partnering with us to make sure we have vaccine available this weekend.

WALKER: What is the demand looking like and are you able to meet demand?

WASHINGTON: We are. So we historically had a very long wait list here at Mecklenburg County. As of earlier this week, just over 1,000 individuals on our wait list. So, we have been able to communicate with those folks to get them to come out as well, so we're keeping up with demand right now. We'll be up to date at the Pride festival and look forward to vaccinating as many people as possible.

WALKER: So, what exactly are you all doing at the Pride festival? You're on the ground, do you have booths set up. How are you getting people to come to you? Are you educating them as well along the way?

WASHINGTON: Sure. We have team members out in the actual festival spaces, at two tables and tents. Our team members are there to answer questions as well as to direct folks over to the vaccine clinic that is happening along the parade route, but not right in the middle of the festival. So, our team is providing education our team is providing education and escorting folks over to the clinic.

WALKER: I spoke to a gentleman yesterday who works at the Yale School of Public Health, he is also a former aids activist, has been researching infectious diseases for more than three decades. And, of course, you know, the concern in the LGBTQ community is messaging, but at the same time, you know, messaging in a way that you're not perpetuating anti-gay stigma, but also making sure that you're educating the public effectively about the high risk groups and making sure there is access to vaccines and treatment.

What is your department's approach in terms of messaging and keeping that delicate balance so as to not perpetuate discrimination against the LGBTQ community?

WASHINGTON: Sure. I think you said it best, it is a balance. It is important for us when we talk about monkeypox or any infectious disease that we focus on those at greatest risk but we're transparent with the community about everybody's risk. In the case of monkeypox, we have been very intentional about our communications to make sure that we're speaking to those who are greatest risk and proximal to the current outbreak but important to recognize everyone is at risk. There is a risk for everyone.

WALKER: What is your thoughts -- what are your thoughts on how the federal government has been handling, you know this monkeypox outbreak? I mean, there has been a lot of criticism about the delay and why are you acting now, especially with this vaccine shortage that we're seeing across the country? Additional doses are being made available. Do you wish, you know, there were steps taken much earlier on?

WASHINGTON: Yeah. I think we all want as much vaccine as possible. Of course we know we're -- our federal partners are restricted by how much they have on supply. We're hopeful that the activity that we're seeing will continue and this momentum will continue as we all work together, local, state and federal to contain this outbreak.

WALKER: Gotcha. I do want to point out some disparities in terms of access to vaccines and this is from CDC data that suggests Black and Hispanic men, you know, make up a disproportionate number of monkeypox cases. So, in New York, African-Americans make up 31 percent of the at-risk population, but they only received 12 percent of doses administered.

When you look at here in Georgia, 71 percent of virus cases among Black men. But they received only 45 percent of vaccines. Are you concerned that as with COVID, minority communities will be bearing the brunt of this outbreak?

WASHINGTON: You know, I certainly think early evidence shows here locally as well as I believe state and national data as you alluded to that we are seeing racial disparities in terms of monkeypox cases and we're seeing equal disparities in terms of vaccine update. We have been very intentional here locally that when we start to see that divergence and cases and vaccine uptake to start working as more aggressively with our partners on the ground to make sure that our black and brown communities were getting information about vaccines, know how to sign up for the wait list, where to go.

And then start to be intentional about where we brought vaccine to. As you know, healthcare access is so important for all communities and making sure that people have easy ready access to vaccines is something we know we have to do. We have been partnering with our LGBTQ Black party promoters to make sure we can be on the ground in spaces where our community members who need vaccine most are, and that's been successful for us so far.

[07:10:04]

WALKER: Well, wishing you all the luck and success. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Dr. Raynard Washington, thanks.

WASHINGTON: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Looking overseas for a moment, there is some startling news out of Russia. The daughter of an influential and prominent supporter of Vladimir Putin was killed yesterday when her car exploded in a town not far from Moscow. That's according to Russian state media, which also says that it is likely an explosive device was planted in the car that Darya Dugina was driving.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen joins us now live from Moscow.

Fred, what more have you learned about the explosion? Does it appear that Darya was the intended target?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly from what we're hearing around Moscow and from senior people also in Russian politics they don't believe she was the actual target of all of this. We can see some of the aftermath on our screens. The investigative committee saying that the car, there was an explosion in it, it caught fire and she crashed, and was dead on the spot.

And there are a lot of people here in Moscow, especially among the sort of prominent circles in state media, but also in politics, who believe she might not have been the actual target, but might have been her father Alexander Dugin who you have already mentioned was and is a prominent supporter of Vladimir Putin, but also a Philosopher and ideologist of an expansionist theory of Russia, imperial theory of Russia and supporter also of what Russia, of course, calls its special military operation in Ukraine, and getting the Donbas area specifically to be part of the Russian Federation. So really someone who is a hard-liner, not necessarily someone I would say who has a lot of influence with Vladimir Putin, but certainly someone who does have the ideological underpinnings for a lot of the things that are going on in Ukraine right now.

We do have to point out that while there are prominent Russians, politicians who are saying they believe that Ukraine might be behind this, the adviser to the Ukrainian presidential administration came out on Ukrainian TV earlier today and said Ukraine was not behind all of this. There is an investigation going on, we already saw this morning investigators at the scene of the crime, they say they're trying to find the perpetrators, but there are a lot of people here in Moscow who believe it might be Ukraine behind all of this, guys.

SANCHEZ: And as you might expect in this situation, there is a lot of speculation running rampant online.

Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much. Keep us posted with the very latest. Thank you.

Now, just ahead, a siege at a hotel in Somalia is finally over after at least 20 people were killed. This whole thing lasted hours and hours. We're going to tell you how security forces were able to take back control from insurgents and how the United States is now responding to the attack. Plus, after nearly a decade, parents of college students abducted in

Mexico are learning more about what happened to their kids. This report is shedding new light on their abduction, and how government officials are responding.

Plus, a CNN exclusive, our own Chloe Melas sits down with actor Alec Baldwin following the FBI's report on the shooting on the set of the film "Rust." Who he blames and why he says he feared for his life.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:17:36]

SANCHEZ: We're following a developing story out of Somalia, where a deadly siege at an upscale hotel ended a few hours ago. Al Qaeda affiliate al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the attack that killed at least 30 people and injured dozens more.

WALKER: Somalia police say they rescued 106 people, including women and children from the hotel. It took Somali forces more than 30 hours to clear the hotel after gunmen stormed the building Friday evening.

CNN correspondent Larry Madowo joining us now with the latest.

Talk us through how all of this unfolded, Larry.

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Amara, Boris, there is still a search under way to try and find more bodies from this four-story hotel in the capital Mogadishu. It began Friday night when gunmen from al Shabaab detonated three explosives outside the gate of this well- guarded hotel and made their way into the building and began shooting at staff, guests, took some hostages as well. Police are telling us at least 106 people were rescued.

But al Shabaab has claimed responsibility for this attack, even though CNN has not independently verified that. Al Shabaab has been described as the largest global affiliate of al Qaeda, has between 5,000 and 10,000 fighters in the country. In recent weeks, the U.S. has carried airstrikes targeting this group, the most recent one on Sunday killed 13 al Shabaab fighters.

This is the first major attack on the Somali capital, since the election a few months back of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud who has promised to neutralize the group. I want to show you some video from last night, where they're still fighting and gunfire, some explosions happening in the hotel.

An elite counterterrorism force was called in to engage the gunmen at the hotel. They took 30 hours and a lot of people were waiting, family, loved ones, waiting to see -- to hear from their loved ones because there were still people who remained unaccounted for. The al Shabaab is considered a threat, because it carried out many attacks in Syria, even here in Kenya, against a mall, a university, a hotel complex and even against a U.S. air base in 2020, in northern Kenya, where three U.S. servicemen were killed. That is why President Biden back in may authorized the redeployment of

about 500 U.S. troops into Somalia, reversing a decision by President Trump to withdraw all troops from the country in 2020 because the threat of this terrorist group is still looming large in the country and in the region -- Amara, Boris.

[07:20:09]

SANCHEZ: And, Larry, you noted al Shabaab one of the -- if not the biggest, al Qaeda subsidiary. What is it exactly that they were hoping to accomplish through this attack?

MADOWO: They are hoping to send a message to the new administration there that promised to try to neutralize them, but, too, they want to make sure they're sending a message to the wider world, the U.S. troops fighting there, that they remain potent. Even though they have been kicked out of the Somali capital Mogadishu for more than a decade, they still control large parts of central and southern Somalia and they continue to even expand the territory that they have been carrying on attacks on the Somalia-Ethiopia border.

So this is truly another strong message from this group that they're not quite done yet, don't count them out, and warning to the administration in Somalia that they will kind of fight back if they're attacked. The big al Shabaab goal in Somalia is to try and overthrow the government and establish a very strong strict interpretation of Islamic Sharia law.

SANCHEZ: Larry Madowo reporting from Kenya, thank you so much for the update, Larry.

We want to pivot now to the Middle East, because talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal are inching forward after Iran dropped a key demand, something that at one point they considered a red line. Tehran is no longer insisting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard core be removed from a list of foreign terror organizations, something that was done during the Trump administration, and that the Biden administration has held up.

Gordon Chang is the author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World" and he joins us now live from Toronto.

Gordon, we're grateful to have your expertise and perspective this morning. How significant is this concession by Iran?

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, "NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN: NORTH KOREA TAKES ON THE WORLD": The concession is significant because for as you point out, for a long time, Iran said they would never compromise on that point. But there are many other points that are going to bedevil this deal, even though many people say that it is actually close to fruition.

SANCHEZ: I'm wondering, Gordon, many critics, especially during the Trump administration, argued that Iran didn't live up to the spirit of the JCPOA. That's why the United States got out. But since then, Tehran has only taken steps to advance their nuclear program. So what incentive does the United States have to renew or restart this deal? CHANG: The incentive is that Iran is close to it, a nuclear weapon,

if they don't have it already. The thought is, well, try and stop them. Even at this late date.

But we got to remember that it was not just the violation of the spirit of the JCPOA, that was signed in 2015. People forget that Iran actually prevented the International Atomic Energy Agency from inspecting the Parchin facility, which is close to Tehran and that clearly was a violation of the letter of the deal. And so it was not possible to certify continued Iranian compliance with the JCPOA.

Also, you know, we have seen throughout the two decades of the century that Iran has been lying to the IAEA and to other international organizations and countries about its nuclear deal. So, this is problematic at this point.

SANCHEZ: I'm glad you mentioned the International Atomic Energy Agency, because one of the new stipulations, one of the new disagreements about a potential new deal has to do with the IAEA scrapping a now three-year investigation into the Iranian nuclear program, the Iranians desperately don't want that to continue. How realistic is that as an obstacle to getting a deal done?

CHANG: Well, it appears the deal will get done despite that, but it shouldn't. Because that shows that you don't have a counterparty that is willing to adhere to the terms of its agreements. And that is really fundamental. That's the reason why there was the problem with the JCPOA, and that's why I think any new arrangement won't hold up as well. We don't have a counterparty willing to honor its agreements.

SANCHEZ: So, if you don't think that a new JCPOA is going to be effective, then is it possible to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapon and potentially inciting a nuclear crisis in the Mideast?

CHANG: Well, there will be a crisis, because the international community has allowed Iran to develop its most destructive weapons, and have relations with North Korea. And we've allowed all these transfers, we've allowed sanctions busting by China and others, so there will be a crisis of some sort.

It is, I think, unavoidable at this particular time, but this is due not to what countries do now, but what countries fail to do in the past.

[07:25:09]

And those countries that failed were, of course, including the United States. A series of presidents just made fatal mistakes about Iran.

SANCHEZ: Wow. So if you are in a situation room with President Biden, how are you advising him on handling what you see as an unavoidable crisis?

CHANG: I think that really what we have got to do at this time is start enforcing sanctions that we have in fact imposed. That is, I think, is going to send a signal to Tehran. Also, I think that we probably should not put such restraints on Israel as we have now put in place. At least to send a reminder to the ayatollahs that military action is possible.

Everything right now is exceedingly dangerous. But I think the most dangerous course of action, Boris, is to continue with policies that put us into this situation in the first place. I'm not saying that anything will work at this late date, but to do what we have continued to do -- continued to do what we have done is I think just madness.

SANCHEZ: Gordon, not going to lie to you, I leave this conversation a little bit unsettled. I do appreciate your time and your insight. Thanks so much, Gordon Chang.

CHANG: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

WALKER: All right. Coming up, a nearly decade old crime in Mexico back in the spotlight. What a new report revealed about the violent abduction of dozens of students. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:56]

WALKER: A Mexican court has issued arrest warrants for 83 people in connection with the disappearance of dozens of students back in 2014. The suspects mainly military personnel and police accused of organized crime, forced disappearance, torture, homicide, and crimes against the administration of justice.

SANCHEZ: Warrants were issued just hours after former Attorney General Murillo Karam was arrested in connection with the case.

CNN's Rafael Romo has more on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Where are our children? The question has been asked thousands of times, but the answer remains elusive. For the last eight years, the parents of 43 missing college students have been asking the same question. They have marched around Mexico. They have met with top Mexican government officials. Even with President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador who welcomed them at the national palace, the presidential mansion.

At one point, they even commandeered toll plazas in an effort to remind a forgetting nation that their children were still missing. It has been almost eight years since 43 students from a rural teachers college in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero went missing and the whereabouts of most of them remains a mystery, except three who were confirmed dead after small bone fragments were identified thanks to DNA testing.

A report unveiled by Mexico's undersecretary for human rights Alejandro Encinas who led a truth commission on the case provided more details but no definitive answer.

Encinas said the disappearance constitutes a crime of the state, in which members of a criminal gang and Mexican security forces were involved and complicit. He also said that federal and state authorities of the highest level looked the other way and were negligent even when they had knowledge of what was happening. Yet no answer for the only question that matters to the parents, where are our children?

Through a human rights group, the parents said they decided to deeply analyze the commission's report before making the reaction public. A month after the students went missing, Emiliano Navarrete told us his son called him the night he was disappeared, saying they were being shot at by police.

By the time when we met him again a year later, that version had been discredited by an independent group of forensic experts. When we met again, he was still clinging to the hope of finding his son alive.

Believe me, I will bring him back, he said.

Other parents have told us over the years that they aren't even hoping for justice to be done anymore. A parent once told me we just want to be able to give our children a proper burial.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: A federal judge appears to be moving to likely release some information from the affidavit for the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. But before he rules on what might be released publicly, the department of justice has until Thursday to submit proposed redactions.

Here with me now is CNN legal analyst and former ambassador Norm Eisen.

Ambassador, thank you so much for your time.

I want to first start with what happened this past Thursday with a federal judge granting that request to unseal some procedural records tied to the Mar-a-Lago search warrant, and we learned that the DOJ's investigating willful retention of national defense information as well. What do we learn from that?

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Amara, we -- it's nice to be back with you. We learned that this judge believes that the public has a right to know some of what is in the affidavit, supporting the execution of the search warrant on Donald Trump's property at Mar-a-Lago, and the finding of probable cause that is the reason to believe that Donald Trump may have committed three federal crimes.

[07:35:23]

The one you're referring to, we got a second set of documents, and that is the Espionage Act violation and the words that were in that unsealed document were willful retention of national defense information.

So that gave us a little bit of -- the Espionage Act is a very broad- sweeping statute. They could be thinking Donald Trump did a lot of things wrong. What they're saying is he held on to this very important information, very dangerous necessary to the United States and they have proof he did it intentionally. If that's so, then that makes out a crime for which he can be prosecuted, and that's what we're going to find out, I think, when the judge releases this affidavit.

WALKER: You believe he will release this affidavit as a judge said. He is inclined to unseal some of that, which, you know, the affidavit typically contains details regarding witnesses and investigative techniques, et cetera. The judge said he's in favor of government transparency, but how transparent can you be if the affidavit will likely be heavily redacted? What would be the point of unsealing all these blacked out pages, then?

EISEN: It's semitransparent. It is not full transparency. But, still, you can learn a great deal even if parts of it are redacted.

WALKER: Like what? What can you learn?

EISEN: Well, you can learn what the theory of the case is. There are three crimes. This Espionage Act violation, the 2071 wrongfully retaining government documents, and obstruction of justice. How -- how do they think that Donald Trump obstructed justice, for example?

So those kinds of details, the theory of the case, it is kind of a summary of what the prosecutor would present to the jury. You can provide that legal information, even if there are redactions and you can get a fair amount of factual information.

For example, we know that there was a back and forth. We might find out some more details. We might find out who signed. We know there was a document, apparently false, all classified information has been turned over. Who signed that document?

So even a little bit, Amara. Look at how much press coverage there has been of those one, two, three, four, five, six, words, willful retention of national defense information. We may get hundreds or thousands of words. So I think we'll learn quite a bit about the facts and the law.

WALKER: Norm Eisen, always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much. Good to see you.

EISEN: Always nice to be with you. Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Ten months after the deadly shooting on the set of the film "Rust," Alec Baldwin is sitting down with CNN explaining why he believes he's not responsible for the death of a beloved cinematographer. That story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:43:09] WALKER: Nearly a year since the cinematographer was killed on the set of his movie, actor Alec Baldwin says he still thinks about the shooting every day.

SANCHEZ: And notably, in a CNN exclusive, Baldwin says he does not believe that he or anyone else is going to face criminal charges for the shooting.

CNN's Chloe Melas has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHLOE MELAS, CNN CORRESOPNDENT (voice-over): Ten months in and confusion still persists over the sequence of events that led to a deadly shooting on the set of "Rust".

This week, an FBI report concluded that this gun could not be fired without the truck are being pulled while the gun was cocked and eventually malfunctioned after internal parts fractured.

In his first interview with CNN, Alec Baldwin denies pulling the trigger.

ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR: I never once said that the gun went off in my hand automatically. I always said I pulled the hammer back, and they pulled back as far as I could. I never took the gun and pointed at somebody and clipped the thing.

MELAS: While waiting for the result of the Santa Fe County sheriff investigations, Baldwin says he hired his own investigator.

BALDWIN: That private investigator, as you probably know, did not have a difficult time accessing the staff of the sheriff's department. And that person told us, quote/unquote, we've known in the department since January that Alec would not be charged with a crime.

MELAS: A sentiment echoed by his attorney.

Do you think that there is a possibility, though, that he could face charges at all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It would be a huge miscarriage of justice.

MELAS: But the then president fanned flames against him.

BALDWIN: The former president of the United States said, he probably shot her on purpose.

To me, that was really the only time I thought that I needed to be worried about what was going to happen. Because here was Trump who instructed people to commit acts of violence, and he was pointing the finger at me and saying that I was responsible for the death.

[07:45:02]

MELAS: No one has been charged for the tragedy on set. But Baldwin said there were two people responsible, armorer Hannah Gutierrez Reed and assistant director Dave Halls.

Through their attorneys, they accused Baldwin of defecting blame. But Baldwin points to the findings of an occupational safety report.

BALDWIN: Hannah Reed handed the gun to Halls and said, don't give it to Alec until I get back to the set, I've to go to something else. And he proceeded to the set, and, A, handed me the gun.

MELAS: Baldwin said Gutierrez-Reed should have known the difference between dummy rounds with make a rattling sound, and live ammunition.

BALDWIN: I mean, anybody on earth who works in that business can determine that.

MELAS: Baldwin raised questions about the supplier of guns in ammunition for the film, Seth Kenney, who is being sued by the armorer.

BALDWIN: What was the provenance of all the bullets on the set? Where do those come from?

MELAS: Well, according to the FBI report, as far as I'm aware, the bullets were comingled.

BALDWIN: If that is the case, then who comingled them? Did Seth Kenney provide her with prop ammunition where he comingled live rounds with blank rounds?

MELAS: Questions Baldwin says kept him up at night, as he replayed the final days of a talented friend and cinematographer.

BALDWIN: And she was great at her job, and she died. And she died. And that's -- that hurts me every day. Every day of my life, I think about that, it's horrible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: That was Chloe Melas reporting.

Now, an attorney for the prop supplier Seth Kenney filed an answer last month, denying the allegations, and asking the court to dismiss the case.

SANCHEZ: A bit of a hard pivot now. There is a new addition at the Cincinnati zoo, making his grand debut. We're going to introduce you to Fritz the baby hippo just a few minutes away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:51:08]

SANCHEZ: So this community in Detroit was really excited about a brand new slide coming in, and it was forced to shut down just hours after opening because kids started flying off of it. See for yourself.

WALKER: Oh, no. SANCHEZ: Luckily, no reports of injuries wrong the riders who gave

the six lane metal slide a try.

WALKER: Oh, metal, ouch. OK, there are backsides. Oh, my goodness, clearly not an experience for the faint of heart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I was going down way faster than I thought it was. Gravity hurts.

REPORTER: As you were going down, what was going through your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED GIRL: Man, I'm going to die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: Yeah. Felt like she was flying.

That aerial view was pretty bad. From the bottom it looked okay. From the top, they were in the air for a few seconds.

Officials at the Belle Isle park say they'll be making some adjustments. You think? You think? To slow down the ride.

SANCHEZ: Maybe not metal, yeah.

WALKER: Yeah, I heard that. Fiona, the hippo's brother, has a name. Who?

The Cincinnati zoo asked for suggestions after filtering through thousands. I know you've been following this very closely.

SANCHEZ: Very closely.

WALKER: They narrowed it down to two, Fritz or Ferguson.

SANCHEZ: And with more than 125,000 votes, and Fritz won. But as CNN's Jeanne Moos explains, there's a lot more to that name than you think.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAP)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bobblehead meets hippopotamus. Am I cutest hippo or what? And now, he has a name from 200,000 suggestions. It was down to Fritz or Ferguson.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So we decided on Baby Fritz.

MOOS: Fans approved, especially the father of this other Fritz. I like pork chop instead tweeted one killjoy, but it's impossible to kill the joy brought by the latest hippo born at the Cincinnati zoo.

The senior hippo keeper Jenna Wingate described his birth on "The Today Show".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I heard a plop.

MOOS: Fritz is the baby brother of the famous Fiona, she was born, blink and you'll miss it, six weeks premature and was hand raised by keepers for a while. It took Fiona weeks to take these first steps but her brother Fritz started walking right away, even if he ended up taking a few spills as he followed in his mother's footsteps.

He is winning hearts merely by wiggling his ears, to open the valves that keep out water.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you want like a gum message?

MOOS: You betcha.

Reminds us of the time their mother Bebe patiently let sister Fiona mouth her tongue, explore the roof, practically crawl down her throat, and now Fritz is opening wide. As for the name Fritz zookeepers joke that it's apt because of Bibi the mother's contraceptive fail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bibi's birth control was on the fritz. That's how this little boy came to us.

MOOS: It's no joke. Tucker the dad has impregnated two hippos, while they were using contraceptives often administered in bread.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's a stud.

MOOS: No wonder Fritz is no dud. He's already a smooth talker.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

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SANCHEZ: There's a lot to absorb in that piece. And I did not anticipate watching a live hippo birth on the air this morning.

Before we go, don't miss out on a new episode of "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA" tomorrow night at 10:00 p.m. Here's a preview.

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W. KAMAU BELL, CNN HOST: I'm on a 405-acre parcel of land leased by a collective called cockle EB. The mission here is to revive sustainable and life-giving native Hawaiian agriculture.

[07:55:05]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a conversation that's ongoing, what does he have political sovereignty or economic freedom, but independence can start right now, with their own actions. What if we had our own land and we can kind of live the way our ancestors did where we didn't rely on 90 percent of our food to be imported. We are sustainable, we weren't causing climate calamity, and we tried.

BELL: It's okay if we just step in here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you're good.

When you have a project like this, it shows what can we do if we left it up to local people and native people and immigrants to shape our own feature and unleashed the innovation.

For the bigger ones, grown up age, these little ones, they're lick big enough where you can pick them and replant them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: A new episode of "UNITED SHADES OF AMERICA" airs at 10:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

WALKER: It's been real, Boris. Had a great time with you this weekend talking about hippos and everything.

Thank you for starting your morning with us. That's our time.

SANCHEZ: Look forward to doing it again soon, Amara.

"INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY" with Abby Philip is up next.