tv CNN Tonight CNN January 13, 2023 7:00pm-8:00pm PST
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who go online to loveshriners.org right now. when you do, we'll send you this adorable love to the rescue blanket as a thank you. and a reminder of all the kids whose hero you are. each and every month. please call or go to loveshriners.org right away. my cholesterol is borderline. so i take garlique to help maintain healthy cholesterol safely and naturally. and it's odor free. i'm taking charge of my cholesterol with garlique. good evening everyone. i am laura coates and this is "cnn tonight." there are new developments into the investigation into the
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classified documents from president joe biden's time as vice president joe biden. we are learning more about his private office where ten classified documents were found. more on that in a moment. we also got new cnn reporting on the classified documents found in that office including a memo from biden to then broem, two briefing memos preparing biden for separate phone calls and one with the british prime minister. the other with the president of the european council. look, it is unclear how much of this material remains sensitive and whether that is really the point in the end. tonight we'll dig deep into the special counsel's investigations of president biden and former president trump. what the special counsel in each case is looking at and key differences between them. plus the two stories everybody cannot stop talking about this week. the gop's george santos problem
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and the firestorm over gas stoves. you see what i did about the fire storm? it is a moment. a friday night everyone. congressman santos got caught in a never ending series of whoppers about his own resume and it doesn't stop there. as they say. but wait. there's more. it also includes whoppers about his education, even his own family. now cnn's own k file learned about his work for a company later accused of running a ponzi scheme. meanwhile all the brouhaha over gas stoves shows no signs of dying down. there is something the two stories have in common that you might not have noticed. we'll thread that needle a little later tonight. lots to talk about tonight. with cnn's political analyst alex burns, the former independent counsel michael zeldin, and former federal prosecutor elliott williams. i am glad you're here with me
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tonight. michael, you at one point were an independent counsel. when you look at these scenarios, everyone is focusing on there are two special counsels but they have different roles because the facts might be different even though the headline is the same. how due see it? >> smith steps into the middle of an ongoing investigation, multifaceted. hur, who is the biden newly appointed one has to set up his own office. he has to get a skiff. he has to hire a staff. he has to figure out what his mandate is. then he has a very narrow set of issues to look the. how did these documents get out? why did they get out? were they disseminated? was there criminal intent? it is a much more circumscribed issue. smith has a big deal on his hand. biden's guy hur has a much more narrow focus. >> in the past you've said when you compare the two elliott i remember a very poignant remark. you said, look. right now trump has a legal
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problem. biden has a pr problem. do you still feel that way? >> absolutely. what former president trump has is a series of steps going back to august. frankly even before that. where he made the situation worse for himself legally based on his own statements and the conduct of folks around him including his attorneys. that is the reason why as we talked about the other day, one of the bases for the search warrant of his property was possible obstruction of justice, acts to get in the way of the justice department. if you read between the lines about what people are complaining about with joe biden it is they didn't tell the media fast enough. the story switched a little bit. they weren't totally forthcoming. that is public relations. it can spiral into a legal problem. if it, evidence comes out that the biden team was either hiding information, was aware of what it was, was deliberately trying to conceal documents, of course there is possible criminal liability there. but right now it is just not clear it's there.
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>> of course arguably when special counsel is involved from doj you have a legal problem no matter how you want to talk about it. there is a problem. i want to show you the lay out of biden's office for a second. i think it is important to try to take a step back and look at what we're talking about here ks where the documents are supposedly found. this animation actually shows where white house documents were found. this is at biden's office. i also want to show you, do we have the animation of where we found them, not we. i mean the royal we. where they were found at trump's mar-a-lago estate as well, just to think about the contrast in terms of where they may be. this is biden's office. i don't know why it is not showing up. here it is. the contrast. i point these two things out because both to look at where we are talking about and should it raise any eyebrows about where the documents were found. there was the indelicate moment yesterday with biden talking
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about his corvette and that seeming to intimate, look. my corvette is in a locked place. they're safe. the documents may have been. when you look at this and how people will process the information in the reporting, what stands out to you about these contrasts? >> in some ways i think having them side by side is some ways helpful to joe biden and some ways unhelpful. on the one hand it is very clear that the biden case based on what we know about it now is far, far less legally dangerous than the case involving former president trump. at the same time, it is a little bit misleading just to consider sort of the facts of the biden situation in contrast to trump. this isn't an election where one of these guys gets indicted and the guy with the much worst facts of the case is probably going to be that guy. no. joe biden needs to handle this in absolute terms. either stuff was done improperly or illegally or it wasn't.
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i'm with elliott here. based on what we know now we are clearly not in a position to say joe biden is in profound legal jeopardy. at the same time to the point about public relations and what we know is they weren't fully forthcoming and there were questions about why they didn't answer certain things at certain times those gaps lead you to withhold judgment on the seriousness of this because we clearly don't have all the information. >> i think people get suspicious when they feel like their politicians aren't being straight with them. >> just don't jump -- let's not just assume based on the information we have right now it is not that serious. >> this is us talking, michael. in your position before, obviously there is room for the honor system in some fields. this is likely not one of them. what will they be looking at in terms of the special counsel's office to assess whether there really was the requisite intent or the knowing nature. did he know this was the case, not just willful but was it knowing?
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>> really the who, what, when, where, why. how did they get out. why did they get out. who had knowledge. was there any dissemination. was there any alter or as sandy berger who was prosecuted under this statute for taking documents and when they realized he had them he sort of altered them. they determined there was no criminal liability because there was no knowledge or intent. petraeus also prosecuted under this statute. he took them and gave them to his biographer who he was having a relationship with and they determined the dissemination tipped it over to criminal. all of these things are what the special counsel has to look at before he can determine whether this is inadvertent, nonintentional, not willful, therefore not criminal or whether it implicates criminal law that requires the national security section and him
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collectively to make a determination does this fit in the norms of prosecution. >> all really good points to compare. people forget. they think this is only beginning with trump's alleged mishandling or confirmed mishandling and think this is a confined universe of this never happens. of course it goes back to the idea of why is this consistently happening? i keep going back to the moment, if it were a trial in a criminal trial you would have problems getting into evidence that which you could not show had a chain of custody that preserved the integrity of the evidence. you have custodians of record. in this instance it seems there are just documents unaccounted for until all after sudden oops-a-daisy someone finds them. >> it is no accident that joe biden in that very first press confer conference said i was surprised to know of these documents and my staff hasn't told me what is in them. that is distancing himself from the level of intent they needed
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to charge him with a crime. it exposes a bigger problem though that the former president of the united states can have documents at his house and not know they are there. this is far beyond joe biden or donald trump. this is a simple fact that we need as a nation, as a government, to get a better system for tracking classified information that is not electronic. if it is on an electronic device there are ways to encrypt and so on. papers can migrate out of white houses. that is a problem. we've seen it now with two different presidents. >> the thing that is interesting to me though, what the biden case sets as potential precedent if you will and i think they are really disconnected cases, biden is saying and his staff is saying, look. joe biden worked until the last possible minute before the obama administration ended and then he left and there was chaos around some of these documents and they inadvertently got there. trump is saying the same thing. i'm working to the end. i don't think i lost the
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election. then it turns out they have to leave and they're packing furiously. he says i didn't know they were there. biden says i didn't know they were there. >> but trump says they're mine i'm keeping them >> i understand that. but at the threshold level there is similarity. where they digress is when trump says i'm not giving them back. i'm potentially hiding them. i may be obstructing your investigation. >> he literally said they are my property. >> i am not sure that raises the criminal responsibility that he has. the obstructing of the investigation is what his criminal liability is. >> but knowing possession of the documents. once he knows that. >> after the fact. >> still, it is willfulness or knowledge they'll be relevant to charging anybody with a crime. when you say these are mine, not the government's property, that is itself evidence of intent. i'm not saying you can convict the guy tomorrow of anything but what prosecutors do is build cases. you establish intent when somebody says a document that isn't his is actually his. >> these are the lawyers'
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conversation politically, the nuance has to be so explicit and also an appetite to actually receive it. for the electorate. >> sure. i do think one of the things we've seen actually with both trump and biden over the years is actually it is hard to change voters' mind about these guys. you know, we in the media love covering these investigations and we should cover these investigations. but i remember i am actually old enough to remember when ken starr was going to bring down the clinton presidency or patrick fitzgerald was going to bring down the bush white house. we all remember the mueller investigation very clearly. at the end of the day people have a pretty developed view of the president. what i think personally as a political reporter talking to sources on the political side of things, the question for biden is does this undermine the impression of competence which has already been through the ringer a bit in the presidency
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and this motion he was just really working hard and lost track of his papers does it reinforce the kind of absent minded grandfather side of the biden image which the white house is not super enthusiastic about. we have seen really tough hits delivered against both joe biden and donald trump and at the end of the day it takes an enormous amount to move the needle because voters know them both very well. >> stick around. we'll talk next about two other stories that also got everybody's attention this week. not so much about the competence but credibility and trust certainly has come up yet again. george santos the congressman out of new york is still defiant after lie after lie and we'll add a third one after lie about his background. there is also the uproar over gas stoves. why am i connecting the two? is it a fourth analogy? no. there is something really in common. i'll tell you what it is in a moment. the smoothing benefits of retinol a are now for your whole body. plus, fast-working crepe corrector
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the whole downstairs the whole fridge and the whole secret nap room because is it really a vacation home if you have to share a house with a host? ♪ only with vrbo two of some of the strangest political dramas of the week now finding their way into new proposed laws. some shall we say, well, inventive and maybe descriptive acronyms. we have two democratic representatives from new york introducing if you look at it the santos act. it stands for the stopping another nontruthful office seeker act or for short, see, the santos act. meanwhile two republicans taking a cue from the heated
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controversy over gas stoves this week introduced their own stoves act. what is that short for? look at it. stop trying to obsessively vilify energy act. are therese -- are therese political micro aggressions? so look. obviously it is understandable how the santos discussion continues to concern so many people because it is a sitting member of congress. what is more surprising for people though is the quick pace at which the gas study released back in december and commented on and revealed earlier this week had even the president of the united states i would say arguably responding quicker than to the allegations about mishandling classified
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documents. it tells you the power of what? special interests, the concerns, what do you get out of this? >> to me it taps into a caricature of the left the right has that they are trying to take away all these things it fits into oddly, an interesting cultural totem but 40% of america has gas stoves and the idea this would be taken away by an idle comment by a bureaucrat but it triggered the sorts of i think aggressive cultural wedge issue attraction of the right to use it and put democrats on the offensive. >> will it be successful? >> no. i don't think so. i think this is going to be an issue that can get ahead of messaging wise and not be a deciding factor for the 2024 presidential election. i do think why it is happening is we are in a time when the amount of information people are receiving is coming at them so quickly and it seems like
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everything is a crisis. when you think about the santos act and the stove act, those are very different issues. sometimes they get conflated as the same level of issue. i've said on wednesday i would prefer a gas stove if i really like to cook. a big if. i would prefer a gas stove. i think that there are other ways to prevent the ventilation issues around gas stoves. but george santos is a liar and needs to be removed from office. these are separate absolutely issues. obviously somebody, a sitting congressman lying. the idea of somebody else talking about the attack they perceive on the gas industry very different. but really the point also is the way it is perceived and the idea of they're coming after, always the government against someone. against an industry or you or someone and there is a positioning that people have of, look.
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it is me they're coming after. you they're coming after. i am in the way. and gas, santos, some odd proxy in terms of this argument. what do you say? >> so i'll speak some truth to the american people here. >> ooh wait for it. >> in the last couple, how many times over the last five years have you heard people say, i wish life could just get back to normal, right? the trump years were so chaotic. we had a pandemic that killed millions of people. we had global economic -- just want to get back to normal. this is normal. this sort of firestorm about a preposterous, off-hand comment, buried in a report by some federal agency nobody has ever heard of before. it rockets around social media on on to real media. all of a sudden the president is responding to it. we remember when barack obama was going to come and take your light bulb, not that long ago. the idea we are in week what, three or four of this, not to
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totally trivialize the santos story. it is bad when somebody who is a giant liar is elected to congress but the most back bencher in the house of representatives. the idea we're fixating o know this screw ball character who is clearly way out of his depth that is also a return to normalcy in its own way. the idea that the temperature of politics and the stakes of politics is a little bit lower now at the point where we can spend this much time talking about stuff that just doesn't really matter certainly on the level of the pandemic or global recession or chaotic sort of presidency careening all over the road kind of is a return to normal. >> something has to fill the vacuum. if you don't have a main character in american politics or on twitter, something does fill the gap and it is going to be the stoves act, the santos act. small outrages. >> i want a new normal. i'm sorry. i don't want this normal. i don't want the trump normal. we deserve something better. i hear you.
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santos is not a major party player. but it is an indication of who and how the leadership of that party is responding to behavior which is fraudulent, lying, and enabling other people in the party i.e. a former president to lie and be fraudulent and potentially commit crimes. i hear you. i would rather talk about gas stoves than covid any day but i'm trying to find a new normal >> i think that is totally fair. if you have to choose between waking up in the morning and maybe the president has threatened nuclear war on twitter versus maybe a guy lied about working at goldman sachs one is more sustainable as a lifestyle. >> unless working at goldman sachs and then he passes a bill that collapses our economy there is some type of effect he still has legislative authority and i don't think we should just sweep it under the rug as a nonissue. >> it does feel a little trivial in light of the fact the secretary of the treasury issued a letter to congress today saying we were nearing our
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federal debt limit. i do think there are things that are going to eclipse the more trivial items in the near future and i guess we have to enjoy these while they last. >> i wonder if that is the point. when we're talking about a lot of what the trump presidency informed a lot of people about was the idea of you would see this idea of the bright, shiny objects put up as a distraction from what was in the periphery happening. many people wondered, why are you focusing on this over here? it is what you are not looking at over here that is the issue. sometimes the return to normalcy in politic is getting people triggered, riled up about a particular issue and my immediate skepticism says, what is it you don't want me to be thinking about? what about the debt ceiling? what about issues surrounding a man who has lied in congress and still has a seat? what about the concessions that happened oh, about a week ago. where is all that information? that in a way is the normal. we have more to talk about there. don't worry. we'll have plenty. i know you are all eager to
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continue the conversation. we'll move on a little bit though. there is the trivial politically but then there is the real important issues in terms of even human life. you've seen the reports about a missing massachusetts mother. the question many are asking, looking at prosecutors and law enforcement alike, how do you solve a possible murder without the body? investigators in massachusetts are trying to do that right now. we'll break it down for you what that looks like, next.
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now as the search goes on in massachusetts for a missing mother anna walsh we are learning she filed a police report in washington, d.c. nearly a decade ago claiming brian walsh who would later become her husband threatened to kill her. the case was never prosecuted. co-workers reported ana walsh missing on january 4th. brian walsh is in police custody charged with misleading investigators. those investigators found
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potential, well potential evidence in her disappearance including a bloody knife found in the couple's basement and a hacksaw at a nearby garbage transfer facility. but still, no sign of ana walsh. i want to bring in chief law enforcement analyst here at cnn and intelligence analyst john miller and cnn legal analyst joey jackson also a criminal defense attorney. thank you for being here tonight. this story is so difficult and so sad to think about. this is a mother of three children, her whereabouts unknown. you have her husband who is being pegged as maybe the prime suspect here. there is a lot to consider. the evidence, john, seems to be growing against brian walshe but without a body having been located or her being located in any manner. this is very difficult to fully proceed or is it? >> among prosecutors the old adage was no body, no murder.
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you had to have a body to prove someone was actually killed. that has changed a lot over the years. if you think about some of the cases we all know, one of the most famous child kidnappings in history, a suspect convicted without the body ever being recovered. you think of the case of irene silverman the new york socialite who disappeared. and santa kimes and her son kenneth convicted. the body has never been found. more to the point of this case you look at the case in new york where dr. baum murdered his wife, strangled her, then flew her over the ocean and dumped the body. body has never been found and he has been convicted and finally confessed to doing just that. most on point i think the case john smith. john smith murdered his first wife in new jersey, in ohio. murdered his second wife in new jersey. was on to his third wife when a
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dedicated fbi agent robert hillen who never let go of the case kept stringing together the circumstantial evidence, led to the recovery of one body not the other but smith is in jail in federal prison and doesn't see parole until 2029. we know this can be done. in this case with dna and blood evidence, cell phone, you know, easy pass, all of the things that string together for circumstantial evidence that didn't exist just a short while ago, it's not what defense lawyers used to have the advantage on. i'll leave that to joe. >> let's bring you in here. the buzz words i'm sure you were picking up on circumstantial evidence, thinking about that and how one is able to even conceptualize a defense. i want to know. this is someone because he was already waiting sentencing in some kind of art fraud trial, he had an ankle monitor. the idea is to know where one's whereabouts are and if they are
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not where they're supposed to be. that is not beneficial to somebody who if he, again, is a suspect and has the presumption of innocence of course but as a suspect could be easy to track down where he was. >> yes, you know, we have this thing as you know very well as a former prosecutor called consciousness of guilt. what is consciousness of guilt? it means you do things because you're guilty. that is the explanation. and so here john pointed out, right, very appropriately all the cases throughout the course of time. there is more, right? this country has been successful at prosecuting people who hide bodies since the 1800s. when you talk to investigators and you give misleading information with respect to your wife's whereabouts, when you have ankle bracelets and you are pursuant to that federal conviction that he had on probation, and as a result of that you have to stay home, and you can leave to pick up your children but you left and your children didn't have school, all
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of those things kind of circulate to the consciousness of guilt issue. in addition to that we talk about the circumstantial evidence. you know, laura, circumstantial evidence is evidence. it is powerful. people don't get credit because they're smart enough to conceal their crimes. so as a result of that, what you do, you string together things that make sense. so what are you going to do in this case? factually you're going to examine the specific facts. why did you make the misrepresentations? was it because you killed her? why did you say she left the house when the cell phone was pinged to the home? why did you go to home depot and pick up supplies in why was there blood in the basement? why, why, why. you put all of those issues together and all of those issues really seemed to suggest that she is missing and is not going to return because it was at your hands. so yes there are challenges as you know associated with any prosecution particularly when you don't have the body but those are not challenges that
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cannot be overcome predicated upon the evidence which is not direct. no one saw you. but the circumstances strongly suggest that you did it. >> john, it is difficult as you all were talking we were seeing images of anna walsh and just the contrast of how we are discussing this is striking to so many. that is really the most significant and unfortunate and sad aspect of this. we we're talking about a body, looking at a human and a woman and a mother and wondering if she will be found. there is also this record. there is a police report we're learning about where apparently she at one point said that he had threatened to kill her. tell me as law enforcement how this is factoring into the investigation. i know if you are prosecuting a case like this i would look at this as the idea of maybe a prior bad act or thinking about to joey's point, as a type of
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evidence that i would try to get in but for law enforcement how would you gauge this? >> well, one of the things we go by is the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. so the idea that he made threats allegedly to kill her and that was reported to police in washington, is what we call a clue. on the other hand, and this happens in the district of columbia where you were a prosecutor, you're going to be fighting the idea that it happened in 2014. after that they had a relationship, got married, had three children. on the night before she disappeared, she writes a letter in red marker apparently on a champagne bottle box that says, love, perseverance, and we'll have a great 2023 because we're still together. even though she knows he is going to prison. so she is messaging if that is her handwriting that everything is okay and there is a future. it underscores that when you
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look at a house, a facebook page, a happy family in photos you never really know what is going on behind the scenes. >> so true, gentlemen. that is where law enforcement has to unpack. >> very quickly, you know, laura, that defense attorneys when the appropriate time comes will be moving to preclude. in the event there was some 2014 case they're going to argue, number one, it's not relevant to the particular circumstances here. because it happened in 2014. number two, it is prejudicial. the fact is that if you admit this in front of a jury they aren't going to want to hear anything else. they'll just want to convict. it is an open question as to whether that will see the light of day if terms of ever getting before a jury. i think the authorities are going to rely upon other evidence to piece together that is compelling and admissible for the jury that goes to show that he is the responsible party in the event again that she is
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indeed dead. >> and the event this ever goes to a trial if the charges are filed. thank you, gentlemen. nice to see you both. we'll follow this story. also a story we are following, homes and businesses have been gone. at least nine people dead across the southeast. selma, alabama absolutely devastated by tornadoes. look a the images. we're going there next. before we begin, i'd like to thank our sponsor, liberty mutual. they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. and by switching, yo.
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the duckduckgo app, lets you search and browse pria blocking most trackers all forf your search history is never tracked, so it can't be shared. and when you leave search, duckduckgo helps keep companies from watching you as you brows. join tens of millions of people making the easy switch by downloading the app today. duckduckgo, privacy simplified. tonight residents in selma, alabama are trying to put their lives back together. just one day after a severe storms and at least one powerful tornado slammed the city and others nearby in alabama and georgia the governors of both declaring states of emergency in impacted areas to help with cleanup efforts. joining me now is democrat
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democrat congresswoman terry seoul who is from selma and has been in area since yesterday. welcome congresswoman. i am glad you're here. i am so interested in hearing what has happened down there. you've been there since yesterday and even got an aerial view. what did you see? >> i have to tell you, laura, it was heart wrenching. as the person who represents the city of selma this congress it is much more personal for me because selma is my hometown. to see the destruction of homes and businesses that i frequented as a child, elementary school that several of my friends went to, these are my neighbors, my church members, my teachers. it was really gut wrenching. i can tell you this. the fact is that in the light of day today we were able to have the governor come and declare a state of emergency. i do believe, we had senator
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katie brit come as well. it is about trying to make sure we have a coordinated effort to bring back the city of selma and my hope is we'll continue to see these kinds of coordinated efforts on the state and local level so we cannot only rebuild but build back better if you will. >> really important to hear about that coordination. you have the mayor of selma asking residents to conserve water after power outages affected the treatment facilities. how are people coping? the water conservation request still out there? >> no it is not thank god. but initially when it hit there were over 10,000 households affected by the power outage. thank god for surrounding communities because they rally to give us generators in order to make sure we didn't have that
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problem with the water pump. i just, i want to thank all of the volunteers, first responders, our neighboring communities that really came and helped us. i can tell you the city of selma has seen some horrible days. people know the city of selma because of the civil rights movement. i can tell you we are resilient people who will come together in a time of crisis and work together. we will work together to make sure our city is rebuilt. i just, you know, my hope is that we can have a coordinated effort. i know that we can. we did so just in the most recent crisis here in alabama. this is a time to unite all alabamians in the effort to help. >> i wanted to ask you, what help do you need from the federal government? what will the help come in terms
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of coordination, the state of emergencies haven't been declared. what do you think selma needs most right now? >> right now we need help in removing debris and we've had surrounding cities and counties offer that help. the fema, i've been in contact with fema, the small business administration, i've been in touch with obviously the white house. we really are going to need emergency resources and assistance and we really need it now. we know that to get fema we have to do a damage assessment and that is what we're doing right now. we are very much in the mode of recovery. you know, right now there is a shelter. my old high school is now the shelter that the red cross is running to offer displaced citizens of selma and dallas county an opportunity to have a cot and a bed. the whole town is really rallying behind. but i think yesterday we were just all, it was gut wrenching
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to see the tremendous, widespread damage. >> of course. congresswoman sewell, thank you so much for stopping by especially at a time like this. i certainly hope selma gets the help they need. thank you for being there to give us the information as well. >> thank you. up next, we'll talk about, well, in happier times what would be the chance if you were able to have really all the money in the world it seems or over a billion dollars? you might get the chance to find out soon. just a few more minutes until the megamillions drawing from the $1.35 billion jackpot. stay with us. helping them achieve financial freedom. we're providing greatater acces to investing, with l low-cost options to help maximize savings. from the plains to the coasts, we help americans invest for their future. and help communities thrive.
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well, it is friday the 13th, but it might end up being someone's lucky day maybe even my lucky day. the mega millions drawing is in just a few minutes with the jackpot reaching an estimated 1$1.35 billion, yes with a basketball, billion, the second largest in history. the last jackpot you remember was won at $502 million back in october, but in just a few minutes there could very well be another winner. and cnn's harry henton is here to break down the dauds with us tonight. i got my tickets. i actually have three of them here today. thank you very much. i'm not going to share the numbers because i don't want to share in case i do win, but it's a lot of money and a lot of people are waiting to see what's happening. we've been getting a lot of jackpots this large lately. why is that? >> look, the fact of the matter is if you look at the top jackpots ever won you'll notice something going on they're all
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from 2018 onward. right now we're at the second largest at $1.35 billion. it was just past this past summer when we had $1.37 billion in july 2022. so we've been seeing a lot higher jackpots recently. now, why is that the case? well, turns out there was a rule change -- a rule change back in 2017 that made it more difficult to win. but of course when it's more difficult to win and fewer and fewer are winning, it drives up the jackpot. what exactly happened? well, what the mega millions folks decided to do they decided to take the megabowl which must be matched today win and that went from 1 to 15 the potential possibilities to 1 to 25, and that took the odds of winning from 1 in 259 to 12 in 303 million. maybe it is my lucky day to quote clint eastwood. here's some advice, though, if you want to win and want to get
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the largest jackpot possible. you don't want to have to share the money. so what do you want to do if you don't want to share the money. remember you must share if two or more tickets win. so pick a regular ball that goes well past the numbers of 31. you want your regular balls to be larger than 31. why? because when people play they tend to play dates and of course no month has more than 31 days. pick numbers 32 and up on the regular ball and that will give you the best shot of not having to share, which of course laura i i know you don't want to do even though it may be with me. >> i'm looking at my ticket and going hold on second. and of course i would share with you, and in case you do win i'd like to know what would you do if you won the lottery except of course you can give my that first answer about how would you and i share this money together. >> let me tell you, if you won the lotto jackpot would you
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share the money with friends and family? i think most americans polling in say yes. 87% say, yes, and i would share it with you. would you quit your current job, 62% of americans say, yes, they would do gnat. i would not be in that group. i happen to love playing a little fun with you on a friday night talking about lottery, maybe something we'll talk about football next time around. who knows? but what would i do if i won the lotto jackpot, selfish answers only here, yes i'd give money to charity, blah, blah, blah. a little borry i might say. here's what i would do. i would bring triple cereal back. i don't know if you remember that from the 1990s. i really love the taste of triple cereal, but it's no longer around. so i would try to bring triple cereal back. what would you do if you won the mega millions jackpot? >> i would pay you never to use that photograph of me again. i hate that haircut.
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can i pay you a million and a half not to show that again? take that off, number one. i've got to tell you, yes, try to solve a lot of problems but i would spend it wisely and leave that umbrella for me to dot in that respect but i might bring a couple food choices back but i would tell you i do love my job but you might for a couple of weeks see a spinning anchor chair. >> i'd just say if either of us win maybe we can get better photos, or photos of ourselves we enjoy better. >> i mean we look good in those pictures,hy, it's true. it's just, you know, there are other ways. anyway, i've gotten my ticket. i hope you have yours as well. if i shall win on-air i'll call you privately, my friend. >> thank you very much. i appreciate it. now to someone not so lucky tonight, president biden. he's dealing with a special counsel investigation. so just how should a white house act when dealing with a crisis like this or others? we're going to talk to a former press secretary who ought to
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