good evening. dr. anthony fauci today issued a battle cry that speaks loudly to where we are right now against covid, and how frustrating, confusing, and exhausting a place it can be. we can't give in, he said, as new york state reported its highest daily case count of the entire pandemic. he went on to say, we will win this war, we've just got to hang in there. and if this is a war, there is no shortage of news tonight from the front line. some of it hopeful, some deeply troubling, all important to bring you. we will joined by the director of the national institutes of health and the governor of colorado. who is pushing ahead with the treatment of the pandemic as though the medical emergency is over. we begin, though, with exclusive new reporting from cnn's jamie gangel and jake tapper on the former president's attempt to overturn the election. concerns a text message dated november 4th to then-white house chief of staff mark meadows and

it lays out a rationale for overturning election results before they are fully known. maryland congressman jamie raskin read the texts tuesday night during contempt proceedings for meadows. >> here is an aggressive strategy. one day after the election, why can't the states of georgia, north carolina, pennsylvania, and other republican-controlled statehouses declare this is b.s., where conflicts in election not called that night and just send their -- just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the scotus. >> now, when congressman raskin read that, he didn't say who the sender is believed to be. well, tonight, it seems we know. cnn special correspondent jamie gangel joins us now with exclusive reporting. so what have you learned? >> so, anderson, jake and i have learned that according to three sources with knowledge, members of the january 6th committee believe the sender of that text was former energy secretary and governor of texas rick perry.

we understand that he sent the text to the chief of staff, mark meadows, on november 4th. and just for perspective, this was the day after the election. before all the votes were counted and the election was called. a spokesman for rick perry says the former governor denies sending the text. but when we asked how it came from perry's phone, the spokesman had no explanation. anderson, just for the record, jake and i confirmed with multiple people who know rick perry, who have his number, it is, in fact, his phone number. so just imagine it's after election day but it hasn't been called. this is a message saying don't wait until the votes are counted. ignore the voters. it was really a strategy to subvert the will of the people. >> i mean, it's incredible that -- that -- i mean, again, the timing of it. just one day after the election. what is the particular

significance of this text? i mean, why would it be so important for the committee to drill down on? >> so first, the committee may very well have other texts in this exchange that we don't know about yet. did mark meadows respond? how does it fit with other evidence or communications that the committee is learning? our sources say this is just the tip of the iceberg. that it is one of many significant texts the committee is looking at. and in this case, it appears to show this strategy that trump world was already discussing. these are trump loyalists who apparently believe he is going to lose and they are coming up with plans to steal the election. if the committee can build a timeline using communication like this, it's critical to presenting their case. and -- and let's just underscore again, mark meadows handed these over to the

committee with no claim of privilege, anderson. >> jamie gangel, appreciate the reporting. thank you. >> sure. going to come back to this story a bit later in the hour when a member of the select committee joins us. but as we mentioned at the top, the day's covid developments are significant. including a major victory in the president's vaccine mandate for large companies. the ruling from the 6th circuit court of appeals says the government can enforce a vaccine or testing rule for companies with more than 100 employees. it came -- came as separate appeals court today declined a justice department request to reinstate the similar mandate on federal contractors. consequential, and to a very busy week, more from cnn's kyung lah. >> reporter: america's covid time warp. long testing and vaccination lines in miami, and familiar fears of exposure. >> i'm so scared. so i decided to make an appointment to get tested just in case. >> reporter: in new york city, the positivity rate has doubled in just four days.

a city health adviser tweeted, we've never seen this before in nyc. a return to holiday tradition is halted once again. radio city music hall announced its christmas spectacular shows are cancelled for the rest of the season due to increasing challenges from the pandemic. in pharmacies, store shelves for rapid tests sit empty. all echoes of the past. people here waiting more than an hour to be tested as omicron reveals its rapid spread. >> this is after coming yesterday twice and then not being able to get tested here. >> this is a whole new animal. and we got to be honest about the fact that it is moving very fast and we have to move faster. >> reporter: the past is prologue, as new york's mayor redoubles restrictions and considers scaling back the times square new year's eve celebration. a visible return of sports restrictions. hockey in montreal played to

empty stands. the nhl shut down two teams because of covid spread and the nfl postponed three games this weekend. overall, deaths are increasing. nearly half of u.s. states up sharply in seven. that is an increase of 8% from just last week. >> i think we are really just about to experience a viral blizzard. if you look what's happened in south africa, you look at what's happened in europe. i think in the next 3 to 8 weeks, we are going to see millions of americans are going to be infected with this virus. >> we are looking at a winter of severe illness and death if you're unvaccinated. >> reporter: as with previous surges, the unvaccinated are filling hospitals as weary doctors warn they are exhausted and losing staff. >> the reality is you can't just create humans in order to provide that care and staffing is a challenge everywhere. >> reporter: what makes this

winter different? while omicron may be highly, highly transmissible, vaccinations, especially boosters, can protect you from serious illness. but in a setback to parents of 2 to 5-year-olds, pfizer said two doses of its vaccine did not produce enough immunity. saying they are now testing out three child-size doses. a delay until the second quarter of next year. >> you want to really get the right dose and the right regimen for the children. so although you don't like there to be a delay, you want to get it right and that's what they are talking about. >> and kyung lah joins us now. there's obviously been a lot of frustration with school quarantines moving to virtual classes. what options are the cdc looking at to keep kids in school? >> reporter: well, the cdc presented something and it is a pilot program called "test to stay." one of the places where they did that test is actually here in los angeles county. and basically what this is, is instead of what's currently cdc, you know, formal guidance, which is if your child is exposed, has some sort of exposure, then you have to quarantine for 14 days. it can be really frustrating for families because then you got to scramble and figure out child care.

but in test to stay, what they found in these pilot tests is as long as the kids are tested at least twice during a seven-day period, then there is no higher transmission. the goal here, anderson, is to keep kids in school even as we have more of this virus -- the omicron variant -- swirling. and it'll be swirling in schools. anderson? >> kyung lah, appreciate it. thanks. with all that, it is a lot. we are especially glad to be able to turn to dr. frances collins, director of the national institutes of health. dr. collins, so you heard michael osterholm say that we are about to experience a viral blizzard, he called it. millions of americans getting infected in the next 3 to 8 weeks. do you agree with that? is that what we are about to see? >> it's clear that omicron is an extremely contagious variant. that it doubles every two to four days and you just have to look at the projections of what that means and, yeah, we are in for a lot of cases of people getting infected with this virus. what we would like to see, though, is as many people as

possible protecting themselves with vaccines and especially with boosters in order to limit the consequences. anderson, we still don't really know -- and there's some controversy about this -- whether omicron causes the same kind of severity of disease or whether it's a somewhat milder form of the illness. we really need to know that. i would not assume right now that it is milder but wouldn't that be nice if it turned out to be the case. the problem of course is if this is so infectious and we might see hundreds of thousands of cases every day, maybe even a million cases in a day from omicron. that even if it's a little less severe, you are going to have a lot of people in the hospital and our hospitals are already really stretched with delta, especially in the northern part of the country. >> so, i mean, there is this new study from the uk tonight which finds no evidence that omicron causes less severe disease than delta. do you believe that study? have you seen any evidence to refute it?

because, you know, what so many people have been saying up to this point, obviously, is it's not as severe with limited data. >> you know, anderson, it's interesting. you and i are talking about a paper that was posted about an hour and a half ago. it's not been peer reviewed and i read it carefully and they basically say they don't have enough data to say whether it's more severe as far as hospitalizations or not. they can't say that it's milder but they can't say that it's not milder. so i am not sure it changes the dynamic. we just need better data to figure that part out. >> so the cdc is urging everyone eligible to get a booster. dr. fauci said the definition of fully vaccinated is on the table, open to discussion. he has also repeatedly said the question of redefining who is fully vaccinated is a matter of semantics. is it? >> i think it is. there are two different ways in which that -- those two words are being used. one is, have you fulfilled a mandate for your employer? i'm the director of nih for at least two more days and all our federal employees have to be fully vaccinated, which means they need two doses of moderna

or pfizer or one of j&j. but fully vaccinated in another sense, in terms of being fully protected against sars-cov-2 and especially omicron, at this point means a booster. so anybody who is listening who is in that sort of 60% of people who got the original vaccinations and are now eligible for booster but haven't done it, this is the time to do so. give yourself a christmas present. get that booster. don't wait because omicron is going to be one of those things you don't want to mess with and your best protection is the booster. >> but the booster will take -- no matter -- you know, if anybody gets vaccinated now or gets a boost, still going to take two weeks to really have full efficacy. still, it obviously should be done. a lot of people worried going to the holiday week about traveling, gathering indoors. what should everyone be doing to celebrate safely? >> well, safely is the absolute watchword here. i mean, people are tired of these recommendations about how

to be safe but they still apply. the virus is still going to be best held at bay if we follow them. this is, after all, a very wily virus, but it still has the same way of being transmitted by people being close together in a closed space. so if you are in one of those situations, boy, keep your mask on if you are indoors and maybe even consider whether you want to gather at all in a large group, with people who are unvaccinated, because that is where a lot of the trouble's going to happen. and consider, if you are going to a gathering where even everybody's vaccinated, not a bad idea to also look into getting tested before you go just to be sure you are not one who happens to have a breakthrough infection and don't even know it and might be spreading to other people. be careful. >> would you mask up even if you know the people you are having dinner with or i guess dinner -- you are eating so you are probably not wearing a mask but you are going to have -- go over to their house even if you are vaccinated, would you mask up? >> absolutely. i am planning to do that tomorrow night. >> so, pfizer's two-dose regimen

for 2 to 5-year-olds failed to produce expected immunity. and now pfizer is adding a third dose to the regimen. what is your message to parents who are concerned that a vaccine for younger kids keeps getting delayed further? they are now saying if because of this, needing to do tests with a third, that it is going to be delayed i think to the second quarter of 2022. >> well, let's be honest. that's not the answer anybody was hoping to have but isn't it a good thing that they are actually checking in this study to see whether the two doses were going to be sufficient. and in that age group, apparently, between age 2 and 5, two doses of three micrograms was not enough to get you up into the safe zone, hence the need for a third dose. that's what is now going to be required but of course that is going take a little more time. i wish that was the not the answer but i'm glad the science is driving the decision. >> just before talking to you, i got email from a friend of mine who has two kids and has been incredibly careful and has this feeling of, like, should i just

give in to the inevitable that i am going to become positive and just give in to it? and there is certainly a lot of covid fatigue and some people have said the variant is so contagious, omicron is, it's basically inevitable that most people get infected, including people who are vaccinated. and why not just rip the band-aid off, so to speak? what do you say to that? >> i'd say that is a dangerous approach because omicron maybe is somewhat less severe, although we don't know that. and the uk study is questioning that. but just letting it rip here, and having everybody get infected, there are going to be serious casualties as a result. i mean, anderson, we've lost 800,000 americans to this disease. i'm not going to tell you that omicron is not capable of adding to that. so we just have to double down on all those mitigation steps even though we are all tired of them. you know, i often think what was it like -- i was not alive in 1943 -- what was it like in 1943 when world war ii was going on and on and people were having to make all these sacrifices?

were they tempted to say, oh, to heck with it? no, they stuck with it because they believed in the importance of -- of the mission. we have to believe in the importance also, because it is about saving lives and it is up to all of us. it's not going to work if half the country decides to heck with it and omicron really goes crazy. and especially, for those people around us who are vulnerable, who can't develop immunity because they have cancer or they have an organ transplant, it is up to all of us to protect them by doing all of these things, get the vaccine, get the booster, and practice the mitigation strategies, including masks. >> just to be clear, somebody who gets sick now and thinks, oh, well, it's omicron and it may be less harmful, they have no idea if they are getting omicron or delta. i mean, delta is still a big problem, is -- is this not true? >> absolutely true. i am glad you brought that up. right now, more than 1,000 people died today from covid-19. almost all of those -- probably

99% were delta because omicron is just showing up now. and by the way, most of those people were unvaccinated and most of those deaths were not really necessary. that is another serious heartbreak in terms of how our country has dealt with this. and i am sorry if we are having yet another disappointing situation but maybe it could also be little bit of a wake-up call for people who have still been on the fence to take care of themselves and the people around them. >> yeah. i mean, there's -- i -- i just think there is no excuse at this point if you want -- if you claim to be a good citizen or believe in community or citizenship at all, to not get vaccinated, to not get boosted. as you know, the cdc advisers voted unanimously to recommend the pfizer and moderna vaccines over johnson & johnson so people who got -- who decide to get the johnson & johnson vaccine and now they are worried about level of protection. what do they do? >> well, they should get a booster from an mrna vaccine. nih did this study of mix and match in terms of what was your initial vaccine and what did you get boosted with?

if you start with j&j and get an mrna booster, you get a pretty n good result from that. i watch that closely. i have two grandchildren who got j&j. they are now boosted and i think they are going to be fine. >> dr. francis collins, appreciate your work. thank you. >> it's good to be with you, anderson. >> by the way, your last day at nih is sunday. so thank you for your service and all you have done to help so many people. appreciate it. >> it's been a complete privilege. thank you. >> thank you. coming up next, colorado's governor on why he doesn't see the need for a mask mandate in his state and why he recently said the covid emergency is over. we will talk to jared polis ahead. and later, we will return to our breaking news on the possible source of the message pushing to throw out electoral votes before all the votes were even counted.

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after such a difficult week of covid developments, including one noted public health expert forecasting what he is calling a viral blizzard this winter, the approach our next guest is taking to the pandemic has surprised some people. just a week ago, colorado governor jared polis said this about the pandemic now that vaccines are widely available. quoting now, he said, we see -- we see it as the end of the -- of the medical emergency. he went on to reiterate his opposition to a statewide mask mandate, even in the face of what was known at the time as omicron. governor polis joins us now. thanks so much for being with us. so explain why you believe this because it did catch a lot of people by surprise, i guess. you say the emergency is over -- the medical emergency is over. what does that mean? >> look, i hear terms like viral tidal wave, and i think what people want at this point in a pandemic are facts, not fear. and people should be empowered to make decisions to protect themselves. science-based decisions with the health and safety we -- we need

to live. we need to operate from doctors and scientists, with the individual freedom and local control that we deserve. i think it should be no surprise that jewelsburg, colorado, population 1,253, addresses this in in a different way than san francisco or new york city and even our own state. cities like denver, aspen, colorado springs are all taking this seriously and making sure we have the capacity to serve those in need but they have different approaches to do it. >> ohio's governor mike dewine deployed more than 1,000 members of his state's national guard to hospitals today to help with staffing shortages. how are your hospitals doing? >> our infection rate's been going down for over a month now. we are in a much better place than we were a month or two ago. we don't know when that will turn around. we know it's a matter of when, not if, omicron becomes prevalent here. but we have done a knew things to prepare ourselves. one is, for months now, we have made free at-home testing available to every colorado resident. we have sent out over 1.2 million tests to people right at their doorstep. they take them.

it's free to sign up. sorry for those who live out of state, you can't get a test. they are only for shipping in colorado to our residents. very popular program. in addition, we have made monoclonal antibody treatment widely available through ten mobile stations and our regular hospital system. it's important people know that we are in a very different place, anderson, than march of 2020. we now have vaccinations, highly effective. everybody should get vaccinated and boosted. on top of that, monoclonal body treatment can reduce hospitalization risks if you are infected by over 70%. so that's where we are and we just want to lead with facts. >> and colorado's seeing lower cases and hospitalizations over the past month as opposed to the sharp spikes seen in the northeast. what kind of numbers would you need to see to consider a different response at state level? >> you know, there is a lot that we don't know about this virus. we talk about what we do know, right? we have learned a lot about how to treat the symptoms. how you can prevent it with a highly effective vaccine, the

need for a booster with omicron. one of the things scientists don't know at this point, anderson, is why it peaks at different times in different places. why it's in northeast now. why it was the midwest, before. we don't really fully understand that. we are expecting omicron, it's in colorado already. we don't see widespread community transmission but it's only a matter of time and we want to make sure to arm people with the facts to protect themselves. get boosted. even more important for omicron. and of course, the free tests. use them, and wear a mask indoors around others is a great step to take to add additional protection. >> so is it you don't -- you wouldn't characterize what is happening in colorado as a medical emergency at this point? >> i think we had a medical emergency back in 2020. we had no room in hospitals, no treatment. here's where we are, anderson. we have highly effective vaccines. when you get the booster, it even protects -- very high level of protection against omicron with everything we know as long as you are boosted. here's what's important and this is why the vaccine is even more important than masks. if you wear a mask, it could

reduce your risk of getting the virus, but you know what? if you get it, you get it just as bad as if you are weren't wearing that mask. whereas with the vaccine, not only does it reduce risk of getting the virus but if you get if, it will be a much more mild case. just right where we are now, we have about 1,200 people hospitalized with covid in colorado. only 150 of them are fully vaccinated, anderson. almost everybody -- 85% of the people hospitalized -- are unvaccinated. >> what are your vaccination rates like in the state? >> what's that? >> what are your vaccination rates like in the state? >> we are doing well. better than most, which is why i think our -- our peak was a little bit lower than most. we are at 76% of everybody 5 and up vaccinated. we're well into the 80% range for adults. and we are making sure we boosted everybody in our long-term care facilities and nursing homes early on. the most vulnerable. and we are at 43% of people who are eligible for boosters have gotten them so we have taken that very seriously and done everything we can to get the word out. facts first, but we have also done lotteries, $100 bonuses. $50 bonuses.

free time off from major employers. you name it, we want to make sure it's available to you and convenient for you. >> you said recently if you haven't been vaccinated, that is your choice. i respect that. but it's your fault when you are in the hospital with covid. it's also a danger to, you know, i mean, children under the age of 5 who can't get vaccinated. >> yeah. by the way, i'm -- as you know, anderson, the parent of a 10-year-old and a 7-year-old and they got vaccinated the very first week they could. we are so glad to have the protection. they are able to play with their grandparents -- my parents -- and had a great time with them last week. but look. i think that the patience of most americans is wearing thin to take additional steps to protect the unvaccinated who, by their own choice, have not garnered protection. and you know what? if you are unvaccinated and watching this, you very likely will get covid and every bit of data shows in science you are much better off if you get vaccinated first. we are not talking a marginal case.

you are not twice as off -- twice as well off, three times as well off. you are 47 times less likely be hospitalized if you are fully boosted than if you are not vaccinated with covid. and that's simply the facts unembellished in the hospitals today. it's the best decision you can make to protect yourself. >> governor polis, i appreciate your time. thank you. >> thank you, anderson. just ahead, more on our exclusive reporting tying rick perry to that now well-known text message suggesting a quote aggressive strategy unquote to overturn the 2020 election. this was the day after the election that message was sent. the january 6th committee believes he authored it. perry denies that. i will be joined by a member of i will be joined by a member of that committee, next. can it one up whatever they're doing? for sure. seriously? one up the power of liquid, one up the toughest stains. any further questions? uh uh! one up the power of liquid with tide pods ultra oxi.

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our thanks. your rewards. now, the exclusive cnn reporting at the top of the broadcast that a text message about a, quote, aggressive strategy, unquote, to throw out electoral votes came from a phone number or phone used by former energy secretary and texas governor rick perry. house investigators believe perry was the author the text. perry denies that. if true, it is a major revelation about the republican effort to overturn the election. one of many in a week that feels as if it's produced more startling revelations than the rest of the year combined. much of that new information is courtesy of the house select committee investigating the january 6th riot. joining me now, a member of the committee, california's pete aguilar. congressman, thanks for joining us. so, you hear reporting from jamie gangel and our jake tapper. i know you have to be careful

about what you say. but i need to ask, do you believe rick perry was the author of that text message? >> we know who the author was. i am not in a position to -- to give that at this point. but i think it is more important to understand that the white house chief of staff was entertaining text messages, you know, like these about overturning the elections. but for the time being, to protect our investigative work, we aren't going to divulge who that text message came from. >> one of the remarkable things about this text message is that it came the day after the election. i mean, this wasn't on, you know, a month later, two months later. that it sounds like this was already something that had been discussed. this -- this was not the -- i mean, just from the -- the wording of the message, it sounds like this was sort of an

ongoing discussion among some people about how to overturn the election results, which, by the way, votes were still being counted at that time. >> yeah. and i think it's important that our timeline recognizes that. that's why chairman thompson has said we're not just investigating the rallies of january 5th and january 6th. everything that led up to that, including from the election day to that time. were there any points before the election that individuals had conversations about this type of strategy? was this something that they had been, you know, talking about while they cast doubt about absentee ballots and other lawfully given ballots to local officials? was this something that was a little bit deeper and was it something that was talked about before the location? those are all things that the committee wants to get to the bottom of. >> can you say if the committee has interviewed rick perry or -- or sought to interview him? >> i can't get into the individual meetings that we've had. but we have had public subpoenas that -- that we have put out and -- and made public. and then, there have been dozens

and hundreds of other interviews that we have also taken. over 300 witnesses so far. witnesses even today and planned over the next -- over the next week. those are things that are going to help our investigative framework and make sure that we're doing everything we can to find out the truth of what happened. >> it was obviously a very important week. a lot of information coming -- coming from the committee. the criminal contempt referral of mark meadows to the justice department, as well as appearances by several potentially key witnesses on capitol hill. are getting many details from witnesses that haven't been shared publicly? because keith kellogg, the former national security adviser to then-vice president pence told reporters this week there was nothing discussed in his meeting with the committee that hadn't been already reported in the media. >> there are plenty of details that haven't been reported in the media that we continue to gather. that's part of our investigative work. but i will say that the senate produced a report that served as

a good jumping-off point to our work. they had a number of -- of interviews that they did. and we continue down that path. but we are using them as building blocks. we're starting at a very high point, and then we're continuing to gather information. but there are new details just about daily that we are learning about the activities that were going on between the election and january 6th. who was having conversations, at what levels were both people in and out of government part of that? those are some of the things that we continue to get to the bottom of. >> congressman pete aguilar, appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you. former police officer kim potter testified in her own defense and broke down today as she described the moment she fatally shot daunte wright. what she said in court today, next. battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide hygienic clean free. it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old free detergent. tide hygienic clean free. hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin. ♪ limu emu... & doug ♪

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with buy-one-get-one free fandango tickets. join over a million members by signing up for free on the xfinity app. our thanks. your rewards. closing arguments are scheduled for monday in the trial of former police officer kim potter, who is charged in the death of daunte wright. testimony ended this afternoon after potter took the stand giving an emotional account of the deadly traffic stop last april. cnn security correspondent josh campbell has details. >> and i remember yelling taser,

taser, taser. and nothing happened. and then he told me i shot him. >> reporter: former officer kim potter testifying for the first time, explaining the moment she shot and killed daunte wright last april. potter described seeing her fellow officer struggling with wright during the traffic stop. >> he had a look of fear on his face. it's nothing i had seen before. we were struggling. we were trying to keep him from driving away. it just -- it just went chaotic. >> reporter: wright, who officers learned had an outstanding warrant for a weapons violation, was initially pulled over for minority offenses. pointed out by a rookie officer. >> we discussed a little bit of suspicious activity. he noticed a -- a pine tree or air freshener hanging from the rear view mirror and the tags were expired. >> reporter: potter revealing

they would not have pulled wright over at all if she hadn't been training that officer. >> why not? >> an air freshener to me is just an equipment violation. >> you did stop the vehicle, right? >> yes, part of field training is that my probationer would make numerous contacts with the public throughout the day. >> reporter: that contact would turn fatal. >> i shot him! oh, my god. >> reporter: when she pulled her gun instead of her taser. the prosecutor asked her about training on her taser and her gun. >> you were trained on it, right? >> yes, but it was a while back. >> you were trained in march of this year on that taser, correct? >> yes. >> reporter: the state pointing out -- >> you never saw a weapon on mr. wright, did you? >> no. >> never saw a gun? >> no. >> reporter: adding she did not try to save wright or check on other officers in the aftermath. >> you didn't make sure any officers knew what you had just done, right? >> no. >> you didn't run down the

street, and try to save daunte wright's life, did you? >> no. >> you were focused on what you had done because you had just killed somebody. >> i'm sorry it happened. i'm so sorry. >> reporter: prosecutors continuing to push. >> you knew that deadly force was unreasonable and unwarranted in this circumstance. >> i didn't want to hurt anybody. >> so, josh, with the defense having rested its case today, what's happening next week? >> reporter: well, all the evidence is in. these jurors have heard testimony from all of the witnesses who will be testifying in this trial. on monday, we are expecting closing arguments. this will be the final opportunity for the prosecution and defense to lay out their respective cases. of course, anderson, the prosecution has claimed all along that an officer who was a senior as potter should have known the difference between a firearm and a taser. potter has pleaded not guilty. her defense has claimed since the beginning that this was a

tragic mistake. we expect on monday that after closing arguments, the jurors will be sequestered and then they will begin their deliberations. anderson? >> josh campbell, appreciate it. thanks. joining us now for more perspective, criminal defense attorney sara azari. so sara, i am wondering what you made of kim potter's testimony today. did she help her case? >> yeah, anderson, you know, her testimony was really a hail mary and i am not sure that i would have done differently because ultimately, the goal of the defense here was to tug at the heart -- the hearts of the jurors here. but in terms of the meat of her testimony, and the explanations and admissions that she made, i think it really hurt her. it certainly didn't help her, right? they -- they put the weapons next to each other and compared them. the shape, the size, the weight, the part of the body that they were holstered. and then, in fact, how much more effort it took to get -- to draw the -- the taser, versus the glock. and she confirmed all those facts, and then she went further

to say that she never, in her 26 years of being an officer, had deployed a taser. well, that goes straight to count two and criminal negligence, right? the idea that, you know, you have had all these certifications and recertifications and you are out in -- in the public to protect and to serve, which is your duty and your oath of office. and you have, you know, these -- these weapons on your body that you are completely ignorant of using. and by the way, there is a department policy that you are supposed to test fire your taser each time you sign on to your shift and you failed to do that. so it goes to criminal negligence and i think she really sort of established the prosecution's case through some of these admissions. >> the defense tried to humanize her. talked about her family. how she decided to become a police officer. is -- i mean, will the jury be tasked with looking at that? or will they just be looking at first, second-degree manslaughter charges? >> well, you know, anderson, the jury is not supposed to apply heart to the facts. they are supposed to apply law to the facts.

and that -- that is what they are supposed to do but remember it takes one straggling heart out of these 12 hearts to hang the jury and i think that is what the defense is going for. and so if the jury goes with sympathy and mercy, that's obviously one outcome. but the really correct outcome is applying the law to the facts. i mean, the idea that she was kind of a rookie even though she had 26 years of experience. she should have had a desk job and not been in the field. but none of that really matters because manslaughter is an accidental shooting. >> so closing arguments start monday. what do you expect? >> i expect that the prosecution's going to argue that her mistake was not a reasonable officer mistake. you can't compare her to a regular human being. she is an officer, she has training, she has duties that she essentially breached. they are going to say that not only deadly force was not justified but even her taser was unreasonable to use. that is according to their use-of-force expert that

testified towards the end of the prosecution's case. and i think the defense is going to say, you know, good on her that she mistakenly pulled out her glock because she was justified in using deadly force. and that her mistake was a human mistake and -- and this is not manslaughter. and so it'll be interesting to see, i think, with christmas coming. there might be some pressure on this jury to come back with a verdict before the end of the week. >> sara azari, appreciate it. thank you very much. >> thanks, anderson. tonight, we have got new and exclusive reporting related to the july assassination of haitian -- of haiti's president jovenel moise. cnn's mat rivers has the details and what authorities think could be the motive. that story is next.

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just more than five months ago, haiti's president was gunned down in a late-night raid on his home. he fell into more attacks. homes set on fire. 10,000 people fleeing to shelters. tonight, we have reporting behind what might have been the motivation of the attack.

matt rivers is on the ground in port-au-prince. what have you learned? >> reporter: we've been talking about this for months. what is the motive of this attack. a source close to the investigation, tells us the night of the asal nation, when the assassins entered the home, one of the top priorities was looking for a document, that the president himself was compiling. in that document, a list of the names of the people that the president believed were some of the top drug traffickers in this country. the plan, according to this -- the source, in this investigation, is that the president was going to take those names and bring them to the united states authorities, in the hope that the authorities would help him target some of the trafficsers and their enlisted activities in this country. that, according to the source, is one of the potential motives they are investigating behind the assassination, the theory of what the president was going to do with that list, that is one of the top theories that

investigators have right now, in terms of what was behind this atk. the source adding that president moez was not able to turn that over before he was killed. >> i know you talked to some of the suspects notice a haitian prison. what did they say? >> this is access we were trying to get in the beginning of all of this. this week, we were granted access to the patricia here. we were able to speak, though we weren't able to record our conversation with five of the colombian suspects. remember, 26 colombians were among those arrested as a result of the investigation. these suspects basically told us they think they're victims of a setup. they said they were brought here under false pretenses and from the moment they were arrested, they were put under threat. they told us that they were

forced to sign testimonies with basically statements that they can't even read, that the police wrote for them. it was written in a foreign language. they said they had no legal representation, have not appeared in front of a judge to face any charges, more than five months after this assassination and they're basically rotting in this prison, they're claiming they're the victims of the setup, some of them remain outside prison walls. >> how are they being treated in the prison? did they say? >> they say they'd been tortured at various times. right after their arrest, they say police beat all of them. one guy actually lifted up his shirt and on his left shoulder blade he showed us what were definitely recent scars that he said were from stab wounds from the haitian police, other people showed us scars on the top of their heads from where they said they got pistol whipped and said that has happened in the beginning.

i went inside, it's one of the worst places i'd ever been. there are people basically piled up in these prison cells. there's sewage running through exposed pipes you can see. these prisoners tell us they are given one plate of rice per day. they looked terrible. many were losing hair. they had lost at least 30 pounds each according to the five suspects they spoke to. they basically say they don't think their lives are worth anything in that prison. we asked haitian authority and they didn't deny it. they said we don't treat them any differently than we treat the haitians. >> appreciate it very much. the latest chapter on dr. gupta's book. and how people are receiving life changing results because of cannabis. programming reminder, this sunday join dr. sanjay gupta for the potential marijuana benefits for children with autism. it's his sixth installment in the series.

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