may be at risk. >> it tells you what the regime is. it tells you about its character. it wouldn't surprise me. i think there are a substantial number of people who are vulnerable to these iranian efforts, and unfortunately i'm afraid we may learn of more. >> the suspect has not yet been arrested. he is currently wanted by the fbi. thanks so much for joining us. ac 360 starts now. good evening. tonight new reporting justice department officials pushing the department to do the one thing it tries never to do and caused disaster the last time it did, namely going public about an active investigation of a political figure close to an election, in this case, a former president, who ironically benefited the last time the department strayed from that policy back in 2016 with its very public reopening of the fbi's hillary clinton email investigation. now, this latest development, which we'll bring you details on shortly, comes only two days

after he became the first current or former president ever to be hit with a search warrant. and just hours after becoming the first ever to invoke his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination, which is a pillar of civil liberties, but which he used to say only mobsters do, until he took the fifth and saying what only mobsters say when ever they're searched, in this case suggesting without anything at all to back it up, that federal agents planted evidence when they searched mar-a-lago on monday, which then quickly became a republican talking point, or in the case of lindsey graham, senator graham, who sits on the judiciary committee and who clearly should know better, just another toxic idea to smile and not along with. >> we know they doctor evidence. we know they plant evidence. >> sure. >> we know they hide evidence. we know they lie. we know they leak. i mean this is not anything new. this has been -- this has been years they've been doing this. we can't just say, oh, you know, we're waiting for the guy to come out and give a statement about what is predicated -- i mean, what? these people are out of control,

senator. this country is at, like -- we're on the edge of a cliff, man. i'm telling you, this country is at the edge of a cliff here. >> now, again, that's a member of the senate judiciary committee. a champion, like the former president claims to be, of law and order, law enforcement. just cast your memory back a couple weeks ago to the former president's first time back in washington, essentially since the attack he incited on law enforcement, and it was billed as his law and order speech. >> we're living in such a different country for one primary reason. there is no longer respect for the law, and there certainly is no order. these are great people. border patrol, i.c.e., and our police, of course, our police, all of our law enforcement. >> all of our law enforcement, he says, great people. except for fbi agents, who applied for the search warrant whom he's now heaping scorn upon and whom his followers in congress are now threatening to

defund and dismantle or drag before committees if they win control in november. great people except for the federal magistrate judge who is thought to be the person who approved the mar-a-lago search warrant, whose identity is now being concealed because of thr threats on his life. >> i do not think it's beyond this administrative state and their deep-state apparatus to actually try to work on the assassination of president trump. i think everything's on the table. i think his security ought to be at the highest it's ever been. >> so that's just a hint of the kind of darkness being spread with no evidence, no facts to back it up, all because a man who once swore an oath to uphold the laws of the land doesn't seem to like it too much when they apply to him, even laws he himself signed, such as the fisa amendments reauthorization act, which may cover the documents

taken from mar-a-lago. it increased the penalty for unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or material from a wr year in prison to five years. that was the president who signed that, president trump. we'll talk about that in a moment with conservative attorney george conway. there's also new world tonight in "the wall street journal" on what led up to the search. first, though, we begin with the pressure inside the justice department to stay something about the search. cnn's evan perez joins us now with more on both. so what are you hearing from those inside the justice department in regards to the search on the former president's home? >> reporter: well, anderson, look, i think you could hear a lot of frustration from officials that because the justice department is not saying anything, it has left the void to be filled by donald trump and some of his allies, which is what he has done. obviously he did this during the mueller investigation, and he's doing it right now. he has called what happened on

monday a siege. he, as you pointed out today, has suggested that the fbi may have been planting evidence while they were at the mar-a-lago property. again, you know, this is a search that was done by fbi agents who wore plainclothes and did not wear any of their typical raid jackets. they did this somewhere around 10:00 a.m. on monday, not in the pre-dawn hours as you often do these searches. they were trying to make this less of a spectacle, and instead what has happened is the former president has taken this opportunity to make it obviously a political scoring point for him. we hear from folks inside that they understand that the shadow of comey looms large over the department. but because the former president has already gone out publicly and said everything, they believe it's time for the department to at least get the back of some of its agents, who are, as you pointed out, now facing threats because of the

claims that are being made by some of the republicans and the former president himself, anderson. >> republicans who should know better frankly. there's new reporting from "the wall street journal" regarding interactions between department of justice investigators and those in the former president's orbit in the weeks leading up to the search on monday. >> reporter: yeah, absolutely. one of the things that is really strange about this is we know there are multiple -- there were several months of conversations that went back and forth between the justice department and the president's legal team. and according to the journal, one of the things that seemed to tip the balance for carrying out this search was the fact that they had a witness or somebody who told the federal investigators that they believed there were additional national security information documents that were being stored there in mar-a-lago against what the rules are. and so that's the reason why they took this unprecedented action, which is to go in there and retrieve the documents themselves.

again, this is something that the journal says helped tip the balance to make the fbi go into mar-a-lago on monday, anderson. >> so in a sense, an informant tipped off the department of justice about additional documents and where they were? >> reporter: right, exactly. >> according to the journal. >> reporter: according to the journal, right. keep in mind they knew -- we knew that the national archives had retrieved 15 boxes, but there was this belief there were additional documents that were being stored there. we knew they were having these conversations in june and in the months in between. what the journal is saying is that there was additional information from a witness that helped tell the agents essentially, this is where it is. this is the reason why these documents are still there. >> evan perez, thank you. more now on the federal magistrate judge in florida believed to have signed off on the search warrant and the potential danger he's facing. donie o'sullivan joins us now. what are you learning about

threats made against this judge? >> reporter: anderson, yeah, we are seeing openly on social media calling for violence against this judge, calling for him to be killed. and so much so that i want to show you the web page of the court down there in the southern district of florida. up until last night, yesterday evening, that page that you see there, which is blank -- it says access denied now. up until last night, there was details about that judge there, about his staff, about the address of the court, contact details. sometime over the past 24 hours or so, it looks like the court has actually taken those details offline. why? because there are so many people on social media talking about violence against this judge and looking for where they can find him. >> how prevalent are these kind of threats online? >> reporter: you know, we've been looking through sites both

kind of on the fringe that a lot of trump users use. also, of course, trump's own platform, truth social, and we're seeing a lot of these kind of posts. one thing that has stuck out to me, i think, is that not only are people posting what was the address of this courthouse, but people have now started asking for this judge's home address. and in just over the past hour or two, i was taking a look through even major platforms like facebook and twitter, and i saw instances on both platforms actually of where what purports to be this judge's home address being posted. now, i did ask both facebook and twitter about those, and those posts that we identified have since been taken down. but it just kind of gives you an insight, anderson, into the degree that this is being shared online. >> donie o'sullivan, thank you. i want to get some perspective from conservative attorney george conway. george, do you think the justice department should make some sort of a public statement about this search? >> i really don't think they

need to say anything more than what their procedures are and what their processes are generally for the issuance of search warrants and the conduct of investigations generally. i mean, i think the whole point of the rule of law is that the law applies equally to everyone. it applies to government officials and to private citizens. it applies to the rich, and it applies to the poor. it applies to people who look like you and people who don't look like you. and i think one of the issues here is that the reason why the government doesn't publicize search warrants is to protect the rights of the accused or the potential accused or the people who are being investigated. it's really for donald trump's protection that they went in there quietly and they executed a search warrant that's under seal. it really was for the protection of people being investigated in case it's determined that they are, in fact, not guilty of any offense that might be potentially described in the search warrant application. that being said, if donald trump

truly believes that this is a witch hunt and this was a fabrication by the government to get him, well, he has a copy of the search warrant. he knows what materials were taken. he is by law supposed to be given a document that reflects the materials that were taken by the fbi. let's see that. he won't produce that for the very same reason he took the fifth in his state court deposition today. he knows it's not helpful to him. >> a lot of norms in the republican party obviously have been upended for a long time now, but the republican party traditionally touted its dedication to law and order. so have you been surprised at all to hear -- or to see lindsey graham sort of smiling and nodding and agreeing with a fox news host talking about planting evidence and other republicans who are, you know, sounding as if -- i mean for obvious very political reasons, i'm not sure

they actually believe it, but who are all backing the former president in his outrage? >> lindsey graham, a member of the senate judiciary committee, he is a shameful, disgraceful, appalling coward, and he knows as well as anyone that it's ridiculous to assert that the fbi planted evidence here, okay? and he was just -- it was just a remarkable display even for him of cowardice to sit there and nod and say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. he knows better, and they all know better. today it's become fashionable in the republican party. it's disgraceful and appalling to basically attack law enforcement when it is going after people they like and to praise it when they go after people they don't like. that's not how the rule of law works. and lindsey graham knows that as well as anybody, but he's too -- he's too cowardly to admit it in this case. >> there's also, you know, threats of civil war from

far-right groups. the republican lawmakers comparing the fbi to the gestapo, telling americans they're coming for you too. it certainly seems dangerous for anybody to be using that kind of rhetoric, whether you're on the right or the left, for whatever reason, given the violence we saw on january 6th. >> right. i mean, we've had in the past federal judges killed, not that many fortunately, and we've had -- a couple years ago, there was a federal judge in new jersey whose family member was killed. we are starting to see the potential for concerted attacks on the judicial system, and that kind of language, that kind of threat is -- is one of the most dangerous things you can have in a democracy in a free country. it's one of the things that you see when democracies collapse. and we need to do everything we can to stand up for the judges. and, remember, a lot of -- you know, on january 6th, the reason why trump's attempted coup

failed was in part because of the judiciary, state and federal judges from coast to coast, democrats and republicans, including trump appointees to the federal bench stood up and struck down donald trump's meritless claims that there was election fraud. and it's just more important than ever in the circumstances that we find ourselves today, through the cowardice and the shamelessness of the republican party, that we stand up for the rule of law and stand up for the people who enforce the law and apply the law -- the judges. and thankfully congress, on a bipartisan basis, added to the protection of the judiciary recently in response to the threat made against justice kavanaugh. we need to do more of that, and we need to make sure that anybody that these threats are investigated thoroughly and the people who make them are prosecuted. >> do you think this has really

strengthened the former president's standing in the republican party? >> i think it may have strengthened his standing among certain parts of the party. i think that, again, what we're seeing is it provides another opportunity for people in the republican party to act like cowards, and that's one of the reasons why the republican party has reached the debased levels that it has reached today. that being said, i don't think -- i don't think for most americans, who don't support donald trump blindly, which is why donald trump lost by 7.5 million votes in the last election -- i think for most americans, they are going to be appalled by these threats to our democracy and to the judiciary and to law enforcement. >> george conway, appreciate it. thank you. next, more on the former president's testimony in new york's civil case against him just a short. and later a conversation

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as we reported, the former president sat for a deposition with new york's attorney general this morning in lower manhattan. he sat but did not say much beyond invoking his fifth amendment right against self-incrimination. that said, you would have thought it would be the last thing he may have done based upon what he has said in the past. listen. >> the mob takes the fifth. if you're innocent, why are you taking the fifth amendment? when you have your staff taking the fifth amendment, taking the fifth so they're not prosecutes, when you have the man who set up the illegal server taking the fifth, i think it's disgraceful. have you seen what's going on in front of congress? fifth amendment, fifth amendment, fifth amendment. horrible. horrible.

>> horrible then. his right now. joining us now, someone who has seen, heard, and seen it all when it comes to the former president. syracuse university law professor david cay johnston. >> based on how the president has comported himself in previous situations, i don't suppose you were prsurprised he took the fifth today? >> no and i think any competent lawyer would have advised donald not to testify because donald has a long history with skilled lawyers who get under his skin, and then he says things that come back to hurt him. there's a federal judge who once found his extensive testimony under oath was completely not credible. so there's no loss to donald by doing this with his followers, and he's reduced exposure for whatever is coming down the road from the justice department and others. >> i mean, traditionally one

might be embarrassed as a former president to be taking the fifth, but that is something he is immune from -- embarrassment. >> it is utterly shameful. until donald trump, unimaginable that a former president would rely on his fifth amendment rights against incrimination. but donald is shameless, and it doesn't bother him one bit. he has no sense of shame, and of course donald believes in his own mind he's the only person who's competent. you know, all the rest of you, we're all idiots, and we should be bowing down to donald and letting him run the country. remember when he was president, when the president's in office, it's all, he's all-powerful, which of course is nonsense. >> how high are the stakes of this civil case in new york compared to the other probes into the former president? because there are obviously several investigations swirling around him right now, but this one involves his family business and to some extent his adult

kids. >> well, ultimately letitia james could petition to close donald trump's business, the trump organization, kill the company. at this point i'm not sure that's terribly important to donald given how he's moved on to being america's beggar in chief and very successful at doing that. but more likely there will be some settlement down the road. frankly, letitia james has been rether feckless about this. when the new york manhattan district attorney stopped his grand jury, she could have gone to the governor and said, i'd like you to transfer the case to me. the governor has unfettered power to take any case and give it to another prosecutor in the state. letitia james won't even answer the question, did you ask for the case? i think she's been feckless in this. >> in terms of the fbi's search of mar-a-lago, and there's

obviously i lot we don't know about the details of the warrant. to you, what are the outstanding questions about what material the former president might have taken with him? because what i -- i don't understand two things, is why anybody -- i mean obviously why he would take classified material if, in fact, he did. and given that this has been floating out there for a long time, why he would have continued to have held on to it kno knowing, if he did, knowing that was something he was not supposed to do, and why would he have that material? >> well, from donald's perspective in his entire life, he's almost never been held accountable for anything, and the few times he has been, he's paid a financial penalty and gone on about his way. the other aspect you asked about, these are not insignificant documents. there's much too much classification of documents in washington, no question about that.

but his fbi director, christopher wray, the fbi director, was appointed by donald trump. he didn't sign off on this over some mundane, insignificant document. there's something in those boxes that's very important. i'm sure not all of it is, but they gathered a lot of material today. and this is national security material. and let's remember that more than five years ago in may of 2017, donald trump, with no announcement, invited sergey lavrov, the russian foreign minister, sergey kislyak, the ambassador, and a tass news photographer into the oval office and gave sources and methods -- that's the most closely guarded intelligence secrets. how did we find this out, and who did we find it out from? which prompted governments around the world to put out stories in the newspapers in their countries that we're not going to be so free with giving information to the u.s. because we can't trust that donald trump won't expose our spies, our

sources, our methods. >> david cay johnston, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you. coming up, we're going to get reaction to the latest developments surrounding the fbi's search of the former president's residence from senator bernie sanders. we're also going to talk about why he decided to support the democrats' sweeping health care and climate bill in spite of what he says are its flaws. that's ahead. buying a car from vroom is so easy, all you need is a phone and a finger. just go to vroom.com, scroll through thousands of cars. then, tap to buy. that. no sales speak, no wastetime. tgo to vroom.com. that. and pick your favorite. if you wake up thinking about the market and want to make the right moves fast... get decision tech from fidelity. [ cellphone vibrates ] you'll get proactive alerts for market events before they happen... and insights on every buy and sell decision.

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reported tonight about the fbi's search of the former president's residence in florida as well as democrats' busy legislative schedule ahead of midterm elections, it's been a very busy start to august on capitol hill. i'm joined by vermont senator bernie sanders, an independent who caucuses with the democrats. senator sanders, it's good to see you. on the inflation reduction act, you gave a speech on the floor of the senate where you were open about the flaws you saw in this bill. yet you decided in the end to support it. why? >> anderson, this planet faces an unprecedented crisis in terms of climate change, and the scientists tell us that we had a few years to begin to turn around and transform our fossil fuel system. this bill -- and the best thing about this bill -- is it puts over $300 billion into sustainable energy and energy efficiency, and as a result of this, my hope and expectation is you'll see an explosion in wind, solar, and other forms of sustainable energy. and at this moment in world history, that is exactly what

we've got to do. on the other hand, i will tell you given the enormous economic problems facing working families in this country, i was very, very disappointed that we did not go further in addressing the realities facing the average american. you know, we've got a health care system which is dysfunctional. we pay the highest prices in the world for our health care and our prescription drugs, and we really did not make any significant progress in making health care affordable, housing, home health care, expanding medicare, all the needs of the american people that they wanted us to act on. >> so when it comes to the provisions left out of the bill that eventually passed the senate, what do you feel should be the top priority going forward in terms of what was left out? is it health care? >> well, there is something fundamentally absurd when the united states is the only major

country on earth not to guarantee health care to all people. we spend twice as much per capita as do the people of other countries, and we have some 70 million americans who are uninsured or underinsured. i mean that's pretty crazy. the function of health care is not to make the insurance companies tens of billions of dollars a year in profit. the function of health care is to provide quality care to all people in a cost-effective way. so the fight in my view continues for a medicare for all sing payer program, guarantee health care to all people, save people money, and that's what we should be doing. >> i do want to ask you about this photo that the "los angeles times" took, you on the capitol steps. it's reported to be hour 13 of the so-called vote-a-rama that preceded the package of the bill. a lot of people have talked about this. do you have any recollection what you were thinking when this photo was taken? >> yeah. i was thinking i was tired. it was a long day.

that was the major thing. the second thing that i was thinking, you know, i wear a mask when i was on the floor of the senate. if you wear a mask for 10, 12 hours in a row, it becomes a bit of a drag. i wanted to go outside with a staffer and breathe some fresh air and get some sunshine. that was the whole purpose as to my being on the steps. >> as a shade dweller, i'm glad you were sitting in the shade because too much sun is not good. the midterm elections obviously in 90 days. if the inflation reduction act is ultimately signed by president biden, democrats, independents like you who caucus with them, will have passed legislation on climate, drug pricing, guns, semiconductor, manufacturing, and infrastructure. do you believe making progress on those issues will help democrats in the midterms? >> i think it's a step forward, but i think we have got to be honest with the american people. for example, in terms of the prescription drug provision in the inflation reduction act, you

know, medicare is not going to be able to negotiate prescription drug prices with the industry for four years, and then it's only ten drugs. and at the end of that period, if we do not change that legislation, we're going to still be paying by far the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. so to my mind, you asked me about the coming elections, and i think what democrats have got to be honest about and go forward and say, look, we are fighting for working families who today are falling further and further behind. we have zero republican support in taking on the insurance companies, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry, the big-money interests who are doing phenomenally well while working people are falling further and further behind. no republicans support. and unfortunately we have two corporate democrats who are preventing us from doing what has to be done. so to my mind, anderson, what this election is about is the need to get three or four more

progressive democrats into the united states senate so we can finally do what the american people want. you know, for years i've been fighting to expand medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision. >> yeah. >> about 80% of the american people think that's a good idea. we've got to build affordable housing. we've got to do so many things. we need more progressive democrats in the senate to do that so we're not stymied by two corporate dems. >> i do want to ask before we go, in the last couple days obviously in the wake of the fbi's search of mar-a-lago, some of your republican colleagues, we've seen them calling for investigations of the department of justice, calling for the attorney general to resign or be impeached, suggesting the fbi might have planted evidence. i know you probably don't want to speak about the substance of the case, but are you concerned about these attacks on the rule of law coming from republicans? >> well, look, i have -- and i think we should be honest about that and make it clear, that unfortunately right now and unbelievably, you have many,

many republicans who are kind of giving up on democracy and want to move us into an authoritarian form of society. and trump's big lie, this mythology that he actually won the election, is part of that effort. so am i concerned? i am. and it gets back to the point i made a moment ago. i think that if congress does not begin to respond to the pain that so many of our people are feeling, they're going to say, why do i want to believe in democracy? these guys, you know, take money from the rich. they ignore me. and if we're going to preserve american democracy, if we're going to gain the respect of the american people, ordinary people, we have got to make it clear that we represent their interests and not just wealthy campaign contributors and the billionaire class. i think all of this is tied together. >> senator sanders, i appreciate your time tonight. thank you. >> thank you very much. the victory won by two parents against conspiracy spreader alex jones. in a moment, i'll talk with neil hess lynn, whose son jesse was

killed at sandy hook elementary school. he testified at the trial against jones. he joins us here live in his first interview since the verdict to, in his words, restore the legacy of his son, jesse. in five e minutes. travel back in t time in no tie with the 1950 census on ancestrtry. [laughter] hey, i was thinking about going back to school to get my master's... i st saw something that said you could do it in a year for like $11k. hmm! order 11! s, see you at 11. ♪ 1111 masters blvd. please. that'll be 11 even, buddy. really? the clues are all around us... some things are too obvious to be a coincidence. ♪

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wealthy casino tribes who want all the money for themselves support small tribes, address homelessness. vote yes on 27. tonight we're going to spend time with one of the parents of a child killed at sandy hook elementary school who won a

major victory against conspiracy spreader alex jones last week, neil heslin. after a long fight, a texas jury awarded the parents a combined $49.3 million for compensatory and punitive damages. the punitive damages could be adjusted down according to texas state law, but it is a huge victory not just for mr. heslin but also the parents involved in two more upcoming cases against jones and was certainly a huge victory for the truth. heslin's son, jesse, died almost ten years ago, on december 14, 2012, one of the worst mass killings in u.s. history, and that horrific fact should never have been in contention. but heslin testified last week starting in about 2013 that he first heard about the conspiracy theories that sandy hook never happened. that's about the time he says he first heard the name alex jones. later in 2017, mr. heslin appeared in an nbc news segment that also included an interview with jones about the conspiracy

theories. mr. heslin's comments during the segment about holding his son after he had died with a bullet wound through his head were later picked up by mr. jones and associated on his broadcast. according to the new york times, they essentially called heslin a liar and repeated the lies about there never being a mass shooting. on the witness stand, mr. heslin was asked to go into detail about the wounds to his son. at the funeral, he says they were advised not to touch jesse's head because it was so fragile. >> when they stated that jesse was fake, that was an indication that he didn't exist and he didn't live. he did live. i was blessed with him for 6 1/2 years. he's been gone 1 1/2 times that,

and i cherish those days, those years with jesse. >> mr. heslin also testified because of alex jones, he's had people confront him in public with lies about sandy hook even to this day. some, he said, have mentions jones' name. a few years back he said his home was shot at. >> i can't even describe the last 9 1/2 years of a living hell that i and others have had to endure because of the negligence and the recklessness of alex jones. >> i'm joined now by neil heslin in his first interview since that verdict. also with his attorney. thank you for being with us.

>> thank you. >> sitting on that stand, being in that courtroom, alex jones didn't have the guts to be there that morning, but you saw him in the courtroom in the days you were there. what was it like? >> it was a great feeling to finally be there. it was over a four-year battle and a four-year wait to be there, and it was a good f feeling, and it was -- it was a good feeling to finally see alex jones face to face. >> does it make sense to you the lies he tells? is it just about money for this guy? >> i -- sitting in that courtroom for two weeks with alex jones, i got to know him just a lot better. i -- i think a lot of it's about

making the money, what he can make off of anything that's in the news. a lot of it is i think he just doesn't think about what he says. a thought comes into his head, and he just blurts it out. >> he doesn't care about the ramifications? >> no, clearly not. and, you know, with that, there comes a lot of repercussions, you know, the recklessness for the people that are involved like myself. but then down the road, you know, he's paying the price for his negligence and his recklessness now. >> and for you, this was all about your son, jesse, and all about -- >> yes, it was. >> -- his legacy. could you talk a little bit about him and why you wanted to pursue this in the way that you did and sit on that stand and go through all that? >> well, it was -- i felt it was something i had to do to protect

his legacy, and jesse's not here to do it for himself. if he was here, i wouldn't have been in that courtroom in the first place, i guess. you know, it's to protect my reputation and my credibility, which was severely damaged. and there's just so many levels and so many rippling effects from the statements that jones made. >> for so many of the parents -- mark, you know this. for so many of the parents who were killed at sandy hook, i mean their lives not only have been torn apart by the slaughter, the killings, but by the lies that have been told and the people who believe those lies. >> oh, absolutely. i mean, people have to remember this is just the first of many. neil and scarlet's story was just the first story to be told.

there are other parents with pending suits. i have two more lawsuits we're going to be trying against mr. jones. there's a lawsuit in connecticut with a lot of sandy hook parents there. they've been in an endless sense of torment for nine years now and these cases are bringing that to a head. >> you almost lost your window of opportunity, which i hadn't realized until i was reading more about this. you were representing somebody else who jones had falsely accused of the shooting. how did you get connected? >> well, it was interesting. it was actually a young man named marcel fontaine in 2018 was falsely accused of being the perpetrator of the parkland shooting. >> by -- >> by jones, exactly. they did it by taking an accusation off of 4 chan and ran with it to smear this poor kid around the world. when he brought suit in march of 2018, that was when neil called me. he said, look, i've been trying to find somebody who will sue alex jones. a lot of people tell me it's an uphill fight. we don't want to take it on.

he said, i'm looking for a lawyer who will help me do it. i said, neil, you found one. >> but the window of time had almost closed. >> almost closed. >> for which you could file. >> we had from the moment that neil called my office, we had three weeks to get a lawsuit on file or the stat yute of limitations would have expired. at that time, others were brought in by neil and we were able to bring those suits in three weeks' time, have them on file, fully researched, which required me in about two weeks' time to digest about 150 hours of infowars. >> and also you got all the text messages sent to you by the attorneys for alex jones. i mean that's just a stunning -- it was like this perry mason moment. >> that's the words that came right out of his mouth. >> to use a phrase alex jones used. >> it was apt. you now have an entire generation of millennials who are having to google search who perry mason is. but that doesn't happen in civil

courts. but when you have a guy like mr. jones who thumbs his nose at the court and disobeys its every order, those ticking time bombs are waiting. so in 12 days before he hit the stand, those materials turned over to me, and his attorneys failed to take the correct actions to protect them. we were able to prove on the stand he was a liar. >> what do you want people to know about jesse? the pictures are just -- what a beautiful boy. >> i want them to remember him for the 6 1/2-year-old boy he was. he was full of energy. he was a force when he entered the room. he was happy-go-lucky, just -- >> that smile is incredible in those pictures. >> yeah. and also that he -- his actions and his words saved nine of his classmates' lives that day. when the gunman's gun jammed, jesse yelled to those kids to run, and they did run, and was

his words and his actions that saved the life of those children, and it was brought to my attention after by three of the parents of the runners. they thanked me for thanked me for jesse's actions. >> the loss is immeasurable. and i appreciate -- it's an honor to talk to you. and i'm sorry for all that you have been through not only with the murder of your son but with this sickening man that you had to deal with ever since. >> it was hard to do that trial because i got emotional with it. and i -- over the years, i've been able to process it and put so much of it in the back of my mind. and it's -- it's in a pretty good place there. i do have, you know, trigger points, things that come up, are

said that bring -- bring them to the front of your mind again. but that -- that trial, it just opened everything back up again. and what i stated about jesse and the gunshot wound, i've never said that publicly before. it was just flashbacks of that moment. >> neil, the courage it took to sit there and to be in the same room with that person, it's extraordinary. neil heslin, thank you so much. >> thank you. well, you know, one thing i said when i filed that lawsuit was it came to a knock-down/drag-out fight in the travis county courthouse, that's what it was going to be. alex started the fight and i was going to finish it.

and i did say that i would -- i would deal with him face to face. >> and you did. >> and i had words with him too. so, once that happened, i was -- you know, everything i set out to do was accomplished. and we were in the trial, and we had the positive outcome of the trial. and it -- i feel really good. i feel good to be back home. but it's -- i'm really good with it. comfortable place. thank you. >> thank you so much. appreciate it. coming up, in democrats' immigration policies, dozens of immigrants arrived in new york city sent by texas governor ababbott. we'll have more on that ahead. it lowers the cost of drugs and ramps up p production of american-made clean energy.

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early this morning, new york city officials said an additional three buses with around 100 migrants arrived from texas as the city struggles with a surge in seek rs. intake centers are overwhelmed with more than 4,000 people since the surge began in may, and new york city isn't the only place seeing influx. migrants from texas and arizona have also been bussed to the nation's capitol. cnn's priscilla alvarez has details. >> reporter: this is the scene in washington, d.c., as migrants arrive to the city from the u.s./mexico border. republican governors greg abbott of texas and doug ducey of arizona began sending migrants to the nation's capitol earlier this year, as an affront to the administration. now abbott is also sending them to new york city. >> it's just a mean and cruel thing that he's doing.

>> reporter: migrants are placed on buses without plans for what happens when they arrive in these cities. it's led to a difficult humanitarian situation on the ground that's largely being addressed by shelters and non-profit groups. this man is the managing director of an international organization in washington, d.c. the group has been trying to shore up resources to keep up with the pace of arrivals. >> we don't have the capacity to meet every bus. but we try to at least half or more. we greet them. we give them a warm meal. we give them hygiene kits. we give them guidance on how to get to their next destination. we have shelter for up to 50 people. we prioritize women with children. and then we're able to do tickets for percentage of them. >> reporter: migrants on the buses have already been processed and are released in the united states while they go through their immigration proceedings. d.c. mayor muriel bowser has

called in extra resources, including, she hopes, the deployment of the national guard. >> we have a growing humanitarian crisis that we expect, that the federal government expects, is going to worsen. >> reporter: but the pentagon declined that request. the days long journey originates from different points along the u.s./mexico border. 37 buses have been sent to washington, d.c. from arizona, carrying nearly 1,400 passengers. and more than 100 buses have arrived to washington, d.c. from texas. abbott just began sending migrants to new york city last friday. >> is the city under strain? >> yes. >> reporter: d.c. council member brianne nadeau says the system is overwhelmed. >> truly this is a federal issue that's being played out by political gainsmanship. >> reporter: abbott maintains his actions are in response to

the administration's poor handling of the border. abbott recently issued an emergency declaration to procure shelter. >> i don't think anything is more un-american than shipping somebody on a bus without basic needs or direction or coordination. >> it's not unusual for migrants to arrive in cities across the united states, not like this where they're literally dropped off. >> that's right, anderson. after their release from custody, migrants often go to multiple cities across the united states while they go through immigration proceedings. but the lack of coordination and communication with the cities is what is straining resources. mayor adams has said that he's in touch with the administration, and the white house called the actions of both abbott and ducey shameful and wrong. the white house spokesperson went on to say, as we have done many times in response to

governor abbott's, we will manage the consequences of this latest political charade too, including by continuing to support new york city and washington, d.c. abbott has not shown any indication he plans to stop the buses any time soon. the news continues. i want to hand it over to sara i want to hand it over to sara sidner and "cnn tonight." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com anderson, good to see you. thank you. i am sara sidner and this is "cnn tonight." we are going to take you through the twists and turns donald trump and the country are going through. there are so many questions yet to be answered about what led fbi agents to mar-a-lago on monday and also who may have led them there. "the wall street journal" is now reporting there was an informant, someone familiar with documents stored at trump's residence who told i