tv Don Lemon Tonight CNN July 20, 2022 12:00am-1:00am PDT
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responsibility on a johnson's individual agents and officers saying that it was their responsibility. but what was the redundant system there? there should have been a level system there, there should have been a level that backup was not lost. and finally, i think this is the most important part. are any of the missing text messages, do they have a material impact on the ongoing investigation? and i need full transparency, and then if there was any type of malfeasance or error made by the service, full accountability that that was done. that's how they're going the start recovering from a couple of these missteps. >> you know, carrie, sources are telling cnn that congress told the secret service on january 16th, and again on january 25th of 2021 that they needed to preserve and produce documents related to the capitol attack. agency said their phone migration started in january,
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but this source says that it was january 27th, after the request. what do you think of that discrepancy? they clearly have some explaining to do here. >> the secret service certainly has nor explaining to do. and the department of homeland security, which houses the secret service, really needs to take more of a leadership role in helping to manage this response to congress and get to the bottom of what has happened to these messages. i think congressional overseers at this point, what they really need to start asking from the secret service and from dhs is what are the steps that they are taking to determine first of all whether any of these messages are still recoverable. i think i am holding out, don, that there is still a possibility that this agency will be able to turn up more of these messages. let's not forget the secret service is a law enforcement agency. it is an investigative agency, and it has substantial forensic capabilities.
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so recovering messages, investigating what happened here actually is something that they're quite capable of doing, and congress needs to really press in terms of what are the steps they're taking to try to recover first, and then second, i think is the explanation about how did they get to this point. >> they released a statement today, jonathan, and it says that they planned to do forensic examinations of agency phones. i mean, that sounds like they still have the phones. so should those phones be turned over to investigators for independent analysis? will they allow that? >> don, you're hitting on exactly what my questions were. we have to know what do they have, right? what items of evidentiary value do they still possess that they can work forensically to try to recover those text messages. but there are other pathways that members of the investigators from the january 6th committee and the inspector general's office, they can also
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go and figure out who was assigned to those phones previously, and interview them. i know we're up against clock a little bit, but those phones belong to somebody. and that person had an intent to send a text message on january 5th and 6th. what was the context of that? what type of statement will they make about their electronic communications on that day. while we may not have the phone and actual text messages, we can get sworn statements and affidavits from the people who own those phones to try to these at least directionally see was there any information that was transmitted that has a material impact to the investigation. >> listen, carrie, jonathan talked about redundancy and asking individual agents to make sure that their information is backed up before that migration. employees were told to manually back up their text messages. if they didn't, their texts would be permanently deleted if they didn't do that. why would the agency trust employees to voluntarily back up
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information? >> yeah, it doesn't sound like a good way to handle an enterprise level technology change that was going on. >> right? >> in the agency, right. so i think this is rightly the purview of congressional oversears, and it's rightly the purview of the inspector general of the department to figure out, you know, was this something where this was a mishap, this was a technology transition that went awry, and it happens to be that it was covering a period of time that is of critical importance to a major congressional inquiry and of national interest. so -- but i have to say, don, at this point, based on everything that i read, i'm not yet willing to think that this is some kind of deliberate activity on behalf of individuals within the agency to withhold information. i don't think we're there yet in terms of the facts. it looks a little bit more like
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perhaps incompetent or mismanaged behavior within a government agency, which is not something i've never heard of before. >> unfortunately. it's surprising that it is the secret service. thank you, carrie. thank you, jonathan. i appreciate it. >> thanks, don. we're going to move on now and talk about opening statements given today in the trial of former trump aide steve bannon for contempt of congress for failing to complies. bannan has pleaded not guilty, but if he is found guilty, each one carries a mandatory minimum of 30 days in jail. let's discuss now. cnn political correspondent sara murray is here, and former u.s. attorney michael moore. good to see both of you this evening. many experts have told us this case should be an open and shut one. how are bannon and his lawyers defending him today? >> well, look, when it comes to what's happening in court, bannon doesn't have a loft
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defenses at his table. they're going to essentially argue they thought the subpoena was still up for negotiation, including the date of this subpoena. of course, when bannon exited the court, he had a lot more to say about the house select committee. take a listen. >> bennie thompson sent a staffer over here. where is bennie thompson? we subpoenaed thompson, and they're hiding behind these phony privileges. he is too gutless to come over here himself. he's made it a crime. made it a crime, not a civil charge of wanting my testimony, but a crime. and he didn't have the courage or the guts to show up here, and he sent a staffer. >> so in case it wasn't clear from that, steve bannon really wanted bennie thompson to testify at his trial. the judge shut that down when bannon tried to subpoena him. he left the door open of possibly revisiting that depending on where the prosecution's case goes, but it's a very slim chance we're going to see bennie thompson testifying, especially since he
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tested positive for covid today. >> i wish i didn't have to waste the audience's time with the sideshow that this is, michael, but this is a big deal that he is having to do this. the prosecution says that bannon straight-up refused to follow the rules. do you think that his defense holds any water here? >> you know, i really don't. and i think that most of what you're seeing is just a circus, even from the sort of the shenanigans outside the courthouse. what he is playing for is for that one juror to come forward and say well, maybe so, maybe he tried to cooperate. he is playing for the one. he is not playing for the win like the prosecution has the get a unanimous guilty verdict. so he just wants to convince one person. so they're trying this argument. they're going to try the say he cooperated. he didn't understand. really kind of this wishy-washy thing about whether or not the subpoena was effective. and they hope they get the one. at the end of the day, i don't think they will.
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but, you know, this is -- i think it's a great move, by the way, to send a staffer in. because this is how you treat a tyrant, right? you sort of cut their legs out from under them by not playing up to their level. you bring in somebody low. you can think about it while we don't send presents to meet dictators, because we don't want to give them that position. i thought that was a great move on the part of thompson's office. >> sarah, is there any, any chance that we could get a verdict in this trial before the "prime time" committee hearing on thursday night? it's quick. >> don't -- don't rule it out. we don't know. >> sarah, the wheels of justice move slow. we know that. but go on. >> they do. but frankly, there aren't that many witnesses. a lot of this stuff took a lot longer than we expected, even getting to the opening statements took longer than we expected. but this is not a trial that has that many witnesses. you know, it's possible. i think a lot of that is going to end up being about how long the jury deliberates when this does go to them. >> but regardless, sarah, of the
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outcome of the trial will, the committee or the doj be interested any information bannon has about what the president was doing leading up to january 6th? >> nope. >> they don't think he is going to really say -- cooperate? >> well, look, the committee has said they're still interested, but they're not interested in participating in the spectacle of steve bannon testifying at a public hearing. we haven't seen any indication yet from doj that they are interested in talking to bannon. and of course they have seen in a number of cases previously what it is like to interact with bannon. so, you know, anything's possible. i'm not not holding out hope that this is all of the sudden going to turn into steve bannon becoming a cooperative witness. >> so michael, the committee is still considering sending out more subpoenas. if bannon is found guilty, if he is found guilty, could that change the calculus for others who might also be fighting these? >> i think there is a possibility of that. and that's one of the goals behind the prosecution is to show that there may be consequences for flouting the rule of law and breaking the law.
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we've come a long way with the committee. they've had a lot of testimony and a lot of witnesses there. so i don't know who else they're going to need. and at the end of the day, they're also up against a clock, because we're moving closer to the midterm. moving close fer the republicans were to take it to the house, rather, that it may disband the committee. we're at place where maybeme of or if this is just an effort to talk about the systemic failure in the administration. and so, you know, we'll see. hopefully we're getting to a point where they're ready to make their report and we see at the end of the day where they come down. >> so i want to ask you about you have been reporting on the atlanta area d.a. looking into trump's efforts to overturn the 2022 election in georgia. it's telling all 16 fake trump electors that their targets have an ongoing traditional investigation. before they were just witnesses.
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so what changed now? >> well, we don't entirely know what changed, but we do know from the court filings that district attorney willis said that her investigation has matured, that new evidence has come the light, and that is what inspired her to send these target letters out. i mean, it's a significant step, because as you pointed out, a lot of these folks are witnesses. and a number of them had seemed like they were cooperating and willing to give her some information. so we don't know, you know, if perhaps they were holding something back that she wants, and that's why she is sending these target letters. we don't know if something came up in these interviews that made her suddenly believe that their conduct may have been criminal when they didn't believe it before. but it does sort of point to a big escalation in her investigation. >> why do you think, michael -- because i believe you say this could be aimed at catching a bigger fish, are prosecutors hoping these electors could spill the beans. is that's what's happening? >> yeah, i think that's likely. i mean, one of the reasons you send out target letters, you're
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not required to do that at this entry level. it's got to be interesting that she's done it, especially with a grand jury that doesn't have the power to indict any way, which i find a little unique. one of the reasons you do it is you want to put pressure on somebody, a witness, somebody who you believe you may have evidence of criminal conduct that uy may move forward on. you put pressure on it to flip and to come in and say instead of being prosecuted yourself, i'd identified you as a target. don't you want to tell me about the man up the line, ointerest lady in the conspiracy, or whatever the case may be. she may be using this as a way to exert pressure as a way to being serious about bringing some of these indictments. one thing that is concerning a little bit is we're getting mighty close to statewide election here. and there is some real political implications that are going on with these letters a and the timing of them and who is sending them out and who is involved in the case, this type of thing. i think that's something that she needs to be careful about. i don't want to armchair quarterback her. she is a good lawyer and a good
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prosecutor. at the same time, you don't need to make hasty decisions to provide arguments that say this is not legitimate. you're not really calling me a target. you're playing political games. we've seen that in some of the filings. i think we'll probably hear more about that as we go forward. but again, i think this is a goal to try to get people to flip, to talk, as she moves forward with this investigation somewhat. again, a little bit on the clock, because we're about three and a half months out from a statewide election. you got to say well, why now are we seeing target letters go out, especially against statewide candidates. >> it's interesting every time i hear one of you legal types talk about that. if anybody is in trouble, all they do is say you know what? i'm going run for office and get out of trouble, because then they won't want to prosecute me. that's disturbing, michael? >> it can be disturbing if you -- it depends on how you take -- you'll take it as it should be. that is we do not want the criminal process to affect our elections. we don't want people to come in. and if you've got -- you've got
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somebody who's got a specific candidate they want to endorse. you've got somebody with a specific gel. you don't want them to come in and a take out a criminal prosecution against their opponent, their candidate of choice can win. >> just get out of trouble because they're running for office and they could be guilty as hell. >> but remember, that's -- >> folks are already running. this isn't like the situation we're talking would be donald trump as sort of all of the sudden going to announce his presidential campaign because he wants to get out of trouble. in georgia, these are people who were already declare, already in the race. >> this is one of the races you keep a grand jury process secret. you don't make a lot of press statements about the grand jury process because it allows you to function without the fear and threat that you're going to bring the credit on somebody who may at the end of the day may not be a defendant, may not be a legitimate target. so it allows you to work this secret to do your investigation without bringing harm to people. at the same time, you're moving forward with your investigation in a way that allows you to
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get -- >> yeah, georgia, i mean, right now in the thick of it. always something happening down in georgia. thank you, michael. thanks, sarah. >> we're in the middle of it. >> you. >> glad to be with you. ever since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade, a lot of people are saying gay marriage could go the same way as roe v. wade, right? it could be the next right that americans lose. and if you think it couldn't happen, just listen to ted cruz. >> you know, burgerfed no, we know better than you. and every state must sanction and permit gay marriage. i think that decision was clearly wrong when it was decided. so you both stay cool. our smart sleepers get 28 minutes more restful sleep per night. save 40% on the sleep number 360 special edition smart bed queen now only $1,499.
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the secret service was only able to provide a single text exchange to the inspector general who had requested a month's worth of records for 24 secret service personnel. that's according to a letter obtained by cnn. i want to bring in our jeffrey toobin to discuss. jeffrey, we're just getting this in again. saying the secret service was only able to provide a single text exchange to the inspector general who had requested a month's worth of records for 24 secret service personnel according to a letter the january 6th committee obtained by cnn. hello, jeffrey. any plausible explanation for this, you think? >> you know, this is based on our colleague jamie gangel's reporting. this just is pathetic. i mean, this is just unbelievable that something so important and so obviously important, even at the time, i mean, this isn't like the secret service was told months later go back and get this date that, you
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know, didn't seem significant at the time. obviously, everybody knew january 6th was enormously important. according to jamie's reporting, the secret service was told on january 16th, just ten days later to preserve all the email and text traffic, and they didn't. and what happened? how did this possibly happen? and who's responsible? and most importantly, where are all these texts? these questions, you know, cry out for answers. >> how can this be is the question, especially considering, you know, the importance of an agency like the secret service, jeffrey, and what they do. >> well, how can this be is obviously the right question. and there are two possibilities. one possibility is incompetence, which is something that i believe is generally the explanation for most things.
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at least according to this report, they seem to have trusted the individuals who had the phones to preserve things as opposed to doing it centrally, which seems deeply idiotic. but the question is was this all just a terrible mistake. alternatively, was there some sinister activity and attempt to ditch correspondents that they didn't want people to see? again, that seems unlikely, but something went terribly wrong here. and, you know, somebody's got figure out what happened. >> this is a key piece of reporting that we are -- that i want to read here. this is the important part that our viewers should know if you're just tuning in. the secret service is only able to provide a single text exchange to the inspector general who had requested a month's worth of records for 24 secret service person january
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5th and january 6th. namely, a text message conversation from the former u.s. capitol police chief steven sun to former secret service uniform division chief thomas sullivan requesting assistance on january 26th, 2021 and advised the agency did not only have further records responsive to the dhs/oig's request for text messages according to the letter from assistant director ronald rowe to the january 6th committee. what are we seeing here? was does this say? >> don, let's just pause and say, you know, in plane english what that letter says. they ask 24 -- for 24 people's records for everything related to january 5th and 6th, and they got one text exchange? i mean, that's just ridiculous. and, you know, the question is what happened to the rest of the
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stuff, and why wasn't it preserved? and who directed this operation of getting rid of these texts, and why did they do it? and can this be recovered now, because i think as most people know, just because you hit delete on an email or delete a text doesn't mean it's gone forever. it sometimes can be recovered. and that is an operation that i expect the january 6th committee and possibly the fbi will want to be doing because these texts are very important. this is perhaps some of the most important documentary records of what donald trump was doing on january 5th and 6th because the secret service agents obviously were with him all that time. there's got to be relevant information in those texts. and the idea that one text exchange out of 24 people over two critical days, it's just preposterous that that's all that remains.
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>> yeah. jonathan wackrow is a former secret service agent. he is back with us. jonathan, i'm sure you know the breaking news. they've just gotten one single text exchange. and jonathan, this has nothing to do with protecting the president. this is not even related to. and that's what the secret service's job is to protect the president of the united states. >> well, don, this goes back to, you know, i want more information, right? i don't want this drip, drip, drip of we got, this we have this. what i want is a full accountability. i need a diagnostic done on what happened to all of those devices, where are they. i want to know is there a possibility or a pathway for further forensic investigations of those small devices. and if there isn't, what are the other options? can we interview the individuals that possess those small devices, the phones? who is on the receiving end of a
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text message? they may not have had their information completely wiped. so i don't think hope is lost here in terms of trying to find out the information that was transmitted. but it's going to be a difficult process, but again, as i said earlier, we're up against time, right? the investigation is going to come to an end soon. so the january 6th commission, the inspector general, they had to work swiftly and work collaboratively with the secret service to find this information and get it out there immediately. >> all right. thank you, jonathan. thank you, jeffrey. appreciate it. we'll continue to update our viewers as we get more information on this. so stacey abrams running for governor of georgia, but will president biden's low approval impact her race? i'm going ask her next. plus, sesame place amusement park facing allegations of racism. ret. i put it on once, no more touch ups! secret had ph balancing minerals; and it helps eliminate odor,
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plus find out how to get up to a $650 prepaid card with a qualifying bundle. georgia criminal investigation into donald trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election picking up some speed. all 16 of the, quote, fake elects or the part of the plan to replace joe biden's legitimate electors with trump electors, we're told today they're now a part of the criminal probe. joining me now stacey abrams, a democratic candidate for georgia governor. thank you, stacey abrams, for joining us. i appreciate it. >> thank you. >> this alleged plot to overturn the election in georgia seems to be -- keep getting bigger and closer to the former president. i mean, never a dull moment when it comes to georgia politics. you guys always seem to be in the spotlight. why is it so significant that this is going down in your
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state? >> because this is a state that unfortunately has a very long and recent history of voter suppression and of voter intimidation and challenges in our system. i know that one of the people on that list is the republican nominee for lieutenant governor, and that our current governor has said he is proud to have him as a running mate. he is proof of the fact that in georgia, whether you're the governor who just happened to not commit treason, or the lieutenant governor who may have participated in a seditious act, that either of them are poor representations of what democracy should be in the state of georgia or in the united states. >> so you mention that the governor, you'll be running against him, the president, i want to talk than in the context of the current president biden's approval ratings, the lowest they have ever been. only 38% of people approve of the job he is doing. look, parties in power already usually lose the next election, as you're aware of. these numbers don't look good,
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stacey. if voters aren't happy with the head of the party, that will have an impact on democrats in races across the country, including you in your governor's race. >> we understand that the national challenges are real, that the impact of inflation, that the rising costs are absolutely devastating to families, but we also know that the governor has the ability to do something about it. and unfortunately, this governor has refused to act. he is sitting on more than $547 million that could help families stay in their homes. instead, they're facing evictions at a record rate. he could do something about the issue of gun violence. and yet he weakened gun laws to put more weapons in the hands of criminals and dangerous people. he could address the needs of women by expanding access to health care instead of expanding medicaid would lower costs not only for low-income families, but lower costs across the board, he has signed into law the most extreme and dangerous abortion law in the state's history making it dangerous for women to even contemplate
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getting pregnant. he has made it harder to be a georgian, harder to survive here. while the national headwinds may be real we know that the pain and the trauma and the danger in georgia if kemp remains governor is also real. >> the question is about biden, though, and whether biden impacts you and your race. >> my point is this. while we live in a nation where the president is doing his best to confront economic challenges that are happening around the world, we have a governor who has the very real tools in his hand provided by democrats to actually stave off these challenges. he has the ability to take millions of dollars provided by the state, by president biden, senator warnock and ossoff, instead he is refusing to deploy those resources. he is refusing to expand medicaid, he is refusing to acknowledge the housing crisis. it's very important that we recognize that the governor's races matter because governors have the ability to respond locally and directly to the needs of the people. and brian kemp is refusing to do
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that job, either because he doesn't care, or because he is unwilling to do his job. >> but doesn't it seem to be helping him in georgia? maybe that's where georgians are? i'm wondering because maybe he wouldn't be doing it if he didn't think it was beneficial, and the polls are showing that he is doing okay. >> the polls have us in a pretty dead heat. and the reality is i've been traveling the state. i just got back from visiting bankington and albany, and tifton, georgia. and in every single place, i hear from families who are in pape. they wonder why the governor won't step up and help them with her housing crisis. they want know why he won't expand medicaid when health care costs are real. when part of what is happening with inflation is the cost of everything is going up. when you have the decide between putting food on your table or putting medicine in your body, that is the wrong choice to have to make. georgians are being forced to make the choices despite having the resource. the governor has the ability to solve these problems, and he is refusing to.
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but he is counting on people only paying attention to what ehas done. he is refusing to offer a single sense of what he will do to tackle these crises. and that is why i'm going win the race for governor. >> you have -- you've got a key senate race happening down there. what would it mean to georgia and the country to have a senator herschel walker instead of a senator raphael warnock? >> we begin by having a senator who has misled the public, misled his party and misled the people of georgia as opposed to senator warnock, who has done everything he can to serve our communities. he brought the resources to the state that brian kemp is currently taking credit for and advantage of. he has been a champion for lowering costs, whether it's prescription drugs or making sure that we have gas prices that are lower. i stand in lockstep with senator raphael warnock, because together we believe we can serve georgia. let's be clear, don. you can either have trickle-down
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economics or an economic policy that lifts all boats. unfortunately, whether it's herschel walker or brian kemp, they only serve those who benefit themselves. they have no interest in and have no proven engagement with communities that need their help, including a middle class that is struggling just as hard to say where they are. raphael warnock is doing that work. i as an independent and private citizen have been doing that work. but unfortunately, the republican ticket has no interest in doing the work for the people of georgia. >> a similar question as i asked you before. i mean, herschel walker is, despite all of the missteps, despite all of the lies that he has been caught in, the fact checks that prove it he has never worked in law enforcement and so on and so forth, he is still doing okay in the polls. what does that say about where georgians are in this moment that someone like herschel walker can still be doing well, despite all of the headwinds, or all of the controversy that he has created? >> georgia is a divided state. we are purple for a reason.
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we're half democratic, half republican. my race in 2018, it was the difference of 1.4%. the victory that raphael warnock had four years later, that victory was 100,000 votes. this is a very narrow margin state. and because of that, every vote counts. and that goes back to the original point. we have to have leaders who believe in democracy and believe every voter has the right to be heard. brian kemp does not believe that prior to his one day of grace, the fact that he is getting credit for not committing treason, he built a reputation as someone who not only spawned and invested in voter suppression, he celebrated it. he said during his republican primary that he passed sb 202 because he didn't like the results of the federal election in 2020 and 2021. we win these elections when people know who we're running against. and because the state is divided, every vote is going to
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count. raphael warnock andri going to work hard up and down the ticket to make sure we turn out every single georgian to make sure we have a state worth voting for. >> stacey abrams, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me. >> we did invite stacey abrams's opponent brian kemp to be on the show. he is welcome to join us any time. maryland republicans have chosen trump-backed state lawmaker dan cox, an election denier who has taken a series of hard-line conservative positions as their nominee for what will be one of the most difficult governor's offices for the party to hold in november's midterms. cox won the jump shot race to replace term-limited republican governor larry hogan. and coming up next, sesame place apologizing after one of their characters appears to ignore two young black girls. their mother responding tonight. >> the fact that this even happened, the fact that this is even going to be a core memory
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the incident as a misunderstanding is not enough. cnn's brynn gingras has the story. >> reporter: a sesame place snub that one mom is calling intentionally racist. this nine-second video posted on social media over the weekend shows two young black girls along the parade route at the pennsylvania theme park, eagerly trying to get the attention of the character rosita. you can see rosita giving a white parade goer a high-five before seemingly signaling a no to the young girls. >> i was shocked. i couldn't believe that it happened. jodi brown says even more shocking is happened when she sto stopped recording. >> so you immediately thought this wasn't right? >> absolutely. i got -- i immediately got upset because there is no way. there is no way that it just happened. >> reporter: she says she tried
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unsuccessfully to talk to a supervisor. so she took to social media. the post went viral. it got the attention of hundreds of thousands of people online, including civil rights attorney ben crump. >> had that been me, the whole parade would have been in flames. >> reporter: and singer kelly rowland. on sunday, sesame place issued a statement our brand, our park and our employees stand for inclusivity and equality in all forms. that is what sesame place is all about and we do not tolerate any behaviors in our parks that are contrary to that commitment. the park also said the performer didn't intentionally say no to the two girls, and instead the hand gesture was character to hold their child for a photo, which is against the rules. it also suggested the costume may have inadvertently caused the performer to miss seeing the girls at a lower level. >> what did you think about the explanation the park initially gave? >> i think it was a slap in the
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face because you didn't take accountability for what the character did. instead, you make -- like i said, tried to give an excuse. >> reporter: a park spokesperson tells cnn says me place has apologized to the family and granted them a refund, adding quote, it's not acceptable to us when children and families don't feel special, seen and included at our park. >> this family deserves substantially more. the harms are real. these two 6-year-old girls will have to live with this memory for the rest of their life. >> reporter: following the increasing backlash, including from his licensing partner sesame workshop, the park said we will conduct training for our employees so they better understand, recognize, and deliver an inclusive, equitable and entertaining experience to our guests. what do you say to your daughter, your niece as this becomes a bigger issue? >> i do want to show them, like, you have all this love. you have all this support from
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hundreds and thousands of people. so as i told them before, when it first happened, for every one bad person, there is going to be a million other good people. >> brynn gingras, cnn, new york. >> let's bring in cnn political commentator bakari sellers, also a lawyer. bakari, thank you very much. i just want to say sesame place first scauld this incident a misunderstanding. second an apology, said employees would be trained to include equitable guest experiences. there is also other similar videos out there of characters appearing to do the same thing. what's going on here? >> i don't know what's going on, but i'm also not surprised. this is something that happens, you know, day in and day out to young black and brown children throughout the country. it's not just sesame place, but it's the proverbial we just don't see these children. we don't see them as equal. we dent see them as human.
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we see them as less then. my heart guess out to these young ladies, these young girls because they didn't ask for all of this. they just wanted a hug or an acknowledgment, or a kiss blown in their direction. i for one believe that this is something that happens on a daily basis. but now we have cell phone. so people are able to see it more often. >> so listen, i think it's possible for one incident, because you know those costumes. the character is actually looking out of the mouth of that costume. >> sure. >> a and the vision can be limited. but there are, again, as i said, other similar videos out there. of young kids being -- seemingly being pushed aside. look, i don't know what happened. should we be buying their excuse? are there explanation i should say? >> that's part of the problem. i mean, and don, you know this. you've been in this business a long time. it's usually not the act.
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it's usually the follow-up or the response or the cover-up, or whatever it may be. and their response was just pathetic. i think there is a way in which you handle a situation such as this. look, we screwed up. this person is going to go through training. they're going to be whatever. i'm not trying to cancel anybody. i don't want to cancel sesame place. it seems like people go there and have a decent time. but it's representative of many of the ills we had this in country. and people are going to say why are you making a big deal out of this? i'm not making a big deal, but we have a problem in our country, and it's pervasive to our school systems to the water we drink all the way to the fun we try to have with our children. whether you want to see it or not, it's right there in his face. >> bakari, thank you. appreciate it. be well. >> i will. thank you. a shocking crime on "law & order," a crewmember shot and killed in brooklyn this morning, and the suspect is still at large.
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so shocking gun violence claiming the life of law and ordering or nice crime this michael jordan. shot this morn as he saved parking spots in brooklyn. pizarro was sitting in a car when authorities say an unknown assailant allegedly opened pizarro's door i should say and fired at his neck and head. he was rushed to a nearby hospital but couldn't be saved. the suspect is still at large tonight. nbc and universal television, which produces the series putting out a statement saying, quote, we are working with law enforcement as they continue to investigate. our hearts go out to his family and friends, and we ask that you respect their privacy during this time. thanks for watching.
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a warm welcome to our viewers joining us in the united states and all around the world. i'm christina macfarlane in for max foster in london. just ahead -- >> the weather pattern that happened yesterday when this fire grew so large so quickly is happening again today. >> we have almost double the number of days with a heat index over 90 degrees. >> key secret service text messages from the day before and the day of the capitol attack are still missing.
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