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Autopsy Completed After Epstein's Apparent Suicide; Interview With New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), Presidential Candidate; America's Top Two Intel Officials To Resign This Week; Family Separations Of A Different Kind In Mississippi; President Donald Trump And Anthony Scaramucci Word Goes Went Public. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 11, 2019 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:40] ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Breaking news just in, we have just learned an autopsy was completed on Jeffrey Epstein.

And as we await those results, we have also learned nobody was watching Epstein when he apparently killed himself in prison. No guards had eyes on him around the clock, he was not on suicide watch, and he didn't have a cellmate. That's what we're hearing today from a source with knowledge of Epstein's time at the federal prison where he was found dead this weekend.

Now, Epstein was a politically-connected multimillionaire and convicted sex offender who was awaiting trial on new federal sex trafficking charges. He reportedly tried to kill himself a couple of weeks ago, so the questions today remain, why, why was someone with Epstein's history not monitored more closely? How was he able to take his own life in his super-secure federal facility jail cell?

Where, where were the people whose job it is to keep inmates alive and safe, so they can stand trial for the crimes they're accused of? Who failed and who is responsible? A source says the two guards at that special housing unit were both working overtime and that one was working his fifth extra shift of the week.

CNN's Kara Scannell has been following this breaking news this evening. Kara, this source is also telling CNN, Jeffrey Epstein should not have been left alone in his cell at all and that guards should have been checking on him even when he was asleep. What is the official explanation for this?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN REPORTER: Well, Ana, the Bureau of Prisons, which oversees the Metropolitan Correctional Center where Epstein was held, is not commenting at all at this hour, but those are all great questions that you've just laid out. And questions that the FBI and the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General are very likely to be investigating, themselves, and focusing on.

But a source familiar with Epstein's detention has told our colleague, Mark Morales, that there appeared to be at least two breaches in what would be the normal protocol. Epstein was held on suicide watch because he was found about three weeks ago in his cell unconscious with marks on his neck. Now, pending release from suicide watch, according to protocol, you're

supposed to have a cellmate, someone, another inmate, who is in the cell with you so you're not alone. But in this instance, we've learned that Epstein was alone, and there's no explanation yet for why that happened.

Another potential breach in protocol that we've learned is that when you are in the special housing unit where Epstein was placed after he was removed from suicide watch, you are supposed to be monitored by the guards every 30 minutes. They will wake the prisoner up to make sure everything is OK. And what the source tells us is that that did not happen, that the two guards who were on duty were both on overtime shifts.

It's not clear why they did not review Epstein as they were supposed to, per protocol, every 30 minutes, but a source tells us that that did not happen. So these are all big questions with -- that investigators are going to be focused on, from both the time Epstein was placed on suicide watch to when he was taken off to how he ended up dead in his cell in just two weeks, Ana.

CABRERA: All right, Kara Scannell, a lot more questions as we talk about all of this. And again, the breaking news right now, we know an autopsy is complete. Hopefully, that may shed some more light on exactly how he died.

Joining us now is former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik. He is also the author of "From Jailer to Jailed: My Journey from Correction and Police Commissioner to Inmate," which chronicles the years he spent in the federal prison system. Thank you for being here with us.

BERNARD KERIK, AUTHOR, "FROM JAILER TO JAILED: MY JOURNEY FROM CORRECTION AND POLICE COMMISSIONER TO INMATE": Pleasure (ph).

CABRERA: You wrote an op-ed about Jeffrey Epstein's suicide saying it makes no sense. Tell me your thoughts about this.

KERIK: A couple of things. One, that housing area he was in, it -- historically, that's a 15-minute bed check, not a 30-minute bed check. A bed check by those C.O.s should have been a living, breathing body. You have to look into the cell, you have to see the body, and you have to make sure they're breathing. If you can't make that determination, you knock on the door, you ask them to get up, you ask them -- to see them, basically, to make sure they're alive.

The officers being on overtime, that's an issue, especially if the reports are true where you have one guy that's been on overtime five days straight. You know, there's going to be questions as to why the bed checks weren't done, even 30-minute bed checks. But I have to tell you, the real question is, who took him off suicide watch? Why didn't -- why wasn't there a buddy system in place where he had somebody with him?

[19:05:06] And, you know, people have to keep in mind, in that cell that he was in, there's a bunk bed. You know, a lot of people say, well, how did he hang himself? There's no hooks. There's no bars.

I've seen a guy basically take a pair of nylon socks, lay down on a bed, and choke himself out and kill himself. It happened in the Manhattan House of Detention many years ago. It can be done. You place the ligature, ligature goes around your neck, you step away from the bed -- a bunk bed --

CABRERA: Which we don't want to necessarily describe and tell people how they can do it, but your point being, like, you can know --

KERIK: It can be done.

CABRERA: You can understand how it could happen in this circumstance --

KERIK: It takes 90 seconds.

CABRERA: -- which you don't have to actually be hanging or dangling.

KERIK: Right, it takes 90 seconds. Eight minutes without oxygen, you are brain dead. You're gone. So even 15-minute bed checks -- there should've been somebody with this guy. They should've had a buddy system, should've had somebody in the cell with him.

I think the big questions for the Attorney General, who took him off suicide watch? Why weren't the checks done? You know, and --

CABRERA: Let me ask you about the suicide watch issue because I did speak with another person yesterday, Jack Donson. He's worked as a correctional treatment specialist for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He was not surprised that Epstein was taken off suicide watch, as we're told, at the end of July after initially being put on suicide watch on July 23rd. Listen to what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACK DONSON, FORMER CORRECTIONAL TREATMENT SPECIALIST, FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS: I've done suicide watch, and it lasts ordinarily just from one or two days. I've never seen, in my entire career, a suicide watch lasting for more than a week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: He also said that that special housing unit, it has the highest rate of suicide in prison, especially if the inmate is in a single room without any, you know, cellmate. Do you think that was a mistake? Should he have been alone?

KERIK: No, he shouldn't have been alone. Look, I ran Rikers Island for six years. I could tell you, you know, we've had people on suicide watch for months if necessary. If necessary.

This was one of the highest-profile figures in the facility based on his charges and based on his history. He should've had -- he should have been on permanent suicide watch until a determination was made by somebody that he'd be OK. But the buddy system should have been in place. And why he was alone, I don't know.

Keep in mind, Ana, there's cameras on the north side and south side of that housing unit. So you're going to be able to see, one, the officers that did the bed checks if they did or did not do them. You're going to be able to see anybody that entered that cell and left that cell during that time.

I understand they found him at 6:30 in the morning. That's the last bed check, so to speak, before the change of tour. So there's a bunch of these issues that the Inspector General, the FBI, will have to look at.

CABRERA: So when you talk about surveillance cameras, we've talked to others who've been inside thinking that there's surveillance everywhere. But you think there's just a couple of cameras and not necessarily on the cell itself.

KERIK: No, not on the cell. Not inside the cell, there is no camera. There's a camera on the west side and the -- and the east side of the cell, so you can basically see from both ends. You can see who came into the area, who opened that gate.

Now, yesterday, I saw reports where the cameras were not operational. I -- that would be a really big problem for the facility if they weren't, when did they go down, how did they go down, things like that. But this is stuff the Bureau will look at.

CABRERA: In your op-ed, you suggest that prison officials were trying to demoralize Epstein in a bid to get him to cooperate with the government. And you closed with some thoughts about the dangers of depression for somebody who is in solitary by themselves saying, only time will tell if that's what happened with Epstein or if something more sinister occurred. What are you suggesting?

KERIK: Well, you know, who put him in there? Who eliminated the buddy system? Who took him off suicide watch? Why was he taken off suicide watch? When?

These are all questions -- the bottom line is solitary confinement is a mind-altering, torturous tool that is sometimes used by the government. And it's used by the government to make people take a plea, to make people cooperate. It's done. It happens. I know it happens.

CABRERA: And you, again, have this unique position of you're a former law enforcement official, you've also been on the inside. You served three years in federal prison on tax fraud charges. What is life like in there? What is your experience? I mean, not on suicide watch, obviously, but being in a place where you have a lot of solitary time.

KERIK: It's -- it is -- it is depressing. I mean, it's -- you know, it alters the mind. You hallucinate. You talk to yourself. You kind of go crazy.

So to -- the worst thing you could do to a suicidal prisoner is stick him in solitary confinement. It's the worst thing you could do. So you have to ask yourself, why? Why did they, especially knowing this guy tried to kill himself two weeks earlier?

[19:10:08] CABRERA: Bernard Kerik, great to have you with us. Thank you for your insight.

KERIK: Thank you.

CABRERA: Really appreciate your time.

Coming up, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio joins us live with reaction to reports that jail policies were violated in the lead-up to Jeffrey Epstein's apparent suicide. Stay right there. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: We're back with our breaking news. We've just learned that an autopsy has been completed on Jeffrey Epstein. I want to bring in the Mayor of New York City and Democratic presidential candidate Bill de Blasio.

Mayor, CNN's reporting is that Epstein was not regularly monitoring -- or monitored, I should say, the night of his apparent suicide in what appears to be a breach of protocol. He was left in a cell by himself even though he had just come off suicide watch. What have you heard about this case, and what do you think the repercussions could be?

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK CITY, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Ana, what I have heard does not make any sense. I don't know how on earth in a federal jail, highest-profile possible prisoner, and a guy who either tried to commit suicide previously or was assaulted, how on earth is he not being watched 24/7? So something's wrong here. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but something is way too convenient here that, you know, I don't know how on earth this could have happened. Full investigation, Ana, needed right away.

[19:14:53] But, Ana, the other thing is, it goes far beyond this incident in this jail. Everything that we've heard about Epstein, everything we've heard about this ring of wealthy people trafficking in underaged girls, that needs to be fully investigated by the Justice Department, by local authorities. Anyone and everyone -- because you're talking about some of the wealthiest, most powerful people in America. And if they commit a crime, they should still see justice whether Epstein is alive or not.

CABRERA: You say you are not a conspiracy theorist. President Trump is spreading a conspiracy theory about all of this that the Clintons had Epstein killed. What's your response to that?

DE BLASIO: Yes, that's -- I -- first of all, it's even more irresponsible than most things that Donald Trump says. It's absolutely unpresidential. It's the kind of thing that's going to lose him the next election because people are sick of it. They're sick of a president acting like a child.

But there's another piece to this. It's Donald Trump doing his famous, you know, bait and switch. I call him Con Don for a reason. He's a con man. He is trying to get people to think about the Clintons when the guy who runs the Justice Department, the guy in charge of the federal prisons, is Donald Trump. Like, he is ultimately responsible for the very place that was holding Epstein.

So, no, people are not going to fall for that, Ana. They're going to say, wait a minute, wait a minute, that was on your watch. How did it happen? And he was your friend. He's Trump's friend. So what is Trump hiding? That should be the question.

CABRERA: Let's pivot because you're there in Iowa. You've been talking gun control this weekend like so many others, and you've been very critical of the President during this nationwide debate. Here's what you told voters yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DE BLASIO: Stop shifting blame. Stop making excuses. You're the one who can do something about it. Take those tiny little hands of yours, pick up the phone, call Mitch McConnell, and say the Senate has to vote for gun safety measures right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I have to ask, does that move us toward a bipartisan solution, or is it just mimicking the Trump style that other Democrats would rather avoid?

DE BLASIO: Look, Ana, I think the bottom line here is that when we saw these tragedies, Donald Trump immediately tried to blame everything but the atmosphere he's created. He created a hateful atmosphere. There's just no doubt in my mind that White supremacists were emboldened. Hatred became normalized.

We did not have multiple attacks, one after another, on different faiths, on different ethnicities. We've had, you know, two Jewish centers attacked in the last year or so. We had this attack in El Paso explicitly against Mexican-Americans.

This did not happen on an ongoing basis in America before Donald Trump, so he does the bait and switch again. He attacks Hollywood, he attacks the video game manufacturers, when everyone knows if he told Mitch McConnell, vote on background checks, Mitch McConnell would do it.

So that's all I'm saying, is, like, let's stop --

CABRERA: But if you want people to focus on the gun control and gun safety issue, why are you talking about the President's hand size?

DE BLASIO: Look, I'm going to be blunt about the fact that this guy mocks everyone. Sometimes, we should mock him back. We should be giving back exactly what he dishes out. But that was only a point of being colorful. The truth is he has the ability to change what's going on in this country, and he's not doing it.

CABRERA: You recently did an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, and I want to play a moment from that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: -- after we've had you (ph) --

DE BLASIO: So you want comprehensive immigration reform?

HANNITY: Well, I'm telling --

DE BLASIO: No, but do you want comprehensive immigration reform?

HANNITY: I want the wall --

DE BLASIO: Because you got 11 million people here right now.

HANNITY: After we build the wall --

DE BLASIO: Oh, come on.

HANNITY: After we build the wall --

DE BLASIO: What about 11 million people who are here?

HANNITY: After we build the wall and secure our borders.

DE BLASIO: This is a --

HANNITY: But my answer is, absolutely, we only -- we give those highly coveted slots --

DE BLASIO: Sean --

HANNITY: -- to the people that respect our laws.

DE BLASIO: Sean, this is why it's such a charade. You've got 11 million --

HANNITY: A charade?

DE BLASIO: It is a charade, stop it. What you are doing, and what your network does too often, is try to distract people --

HANNITY: Oh, my network? By the way, there are people on my network that don't like a single word I say. What are you talking about? We're not one --

DE BLASIO: And God bless.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I know you've gotten a lot of positive response for going on and having that interview and that conversation. You went on the show presumably to expand your umbrella of support and talk to, potentially, Trump supporters. But you have called the President recently a White supremacist. Are you worried that that may alienate the voters who put the President into office? DE BLASIO: Oh, no, Ana, I think it's actually -- I really believe

it's actually the opposite. I -- literally, before we came on air, a registered Republican here from the Des Moines area came up to me -- his name was John -- and he said, hey, I really appreciate you went on. I don't agree with you on a lot of things, but I appreciate that you were willing to go on, take him on, you know, have that back and forth.

[19:19:54] I've been hearing that from a lot of people. They want an honest debate. And in fact, I think those millions of people who watch Fox -- they're Americans, too. There are a lot of them that have been Democrats. A lot of them are Labor Union members. We got to talk to them.

So actually, that little clip you played was going right at the heart of the conversation around immigration, and I believe it is a charade. There's 11 million or 12 million people here who are part of the backbone of our country at this point, and we're having a discussion about, quote/unquote, invasions and all sorts of attempt to suggest that immigrants somehow cause the problems of middle-class Americans or working-class Americans.

I say, very consistently, the guy in the kitchen or the guy working the fields didn't cause your problems. Wall Street did. Big corporations did. People with actual power did. I think presenting that argument on Fox to working people who watch Fox is actually part of how we make change.

And I got to tell you, Ana, a lot of people have said to me, they were pleasantly surprised to see a Democrat and a progressive go in there and take on Hannity and expose some of the contradictions. People are listening. I think it's the right thing to do.

CABRERA: Mayor, what do you think is the biggest misconception voters have about you?

DE BLASIO: About me?

CABRERA: Yes.

DE BLASIO: Oh, look, I -- I think what, unfortunately, has put -- been put out there is that, somehow, in New York, the things that I've been doing have not been supported by the people of New York City. I think, you know, there's some who have projected that out there unfairly.

I won the election originally with 73 percent of the vote in the most diverse place on Earth, the most opinionated place on Earth. Ana, it's not easy to win an election in New York City with 73 percent of the vote. And then after four years and all sorts of big challenging issues, controversial issues, I won re-election with 67 percent of the vote.

So I think what's been portrayed is, somehow, New Yorkers are negative about what -- the things I have done. It's just not true. The facts suggest otherwise, and I wish the people in this country were being given the whole story.

The biggest city in America is also the safest big city in America, 500,000 new jobs, pre-K for all our kids, I mean, these are things we should want for the whole country. I think the more people get to understand that's what I've achieved in a tough environment -- you know, Mayor of New York City, for years, has been called the second toughest job in America.

CABRERA: OK.

DE BLASIO: What better way to prepare you for the presidency.

CABRERA: OK. Mayor, before I let you go, the real hard-hitting question here -- and quickly, if you will, in answering -- your favorite food there at the Iowa state fair?

DE BLASIO: Oh, wow, let me tell you, Ana, I've been eating everything. I'm going to be eating a lot more. But so far, I got to say corn dog is winning. Just a good old traditional corn dog works for me.

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: The oldie but goodie, the corn dog.

DE BLASIO: Yes, ma'am.

CABRERA: Mayor Bill de Blasio, thank you for joining us.

DE BLASIO: Thank you, Ana.

CABRERA: Good luck on the campaign trail. Thank you.

Think about this for just a moment. The top two officials in charge of America's intelligence are resigning this week. What does it mean for our national security? Your weekend presidential brief is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:26:39] CABRERA: Election interference from Russia and other countries, cybersecurity espionage, deep fake videos targeting American democracy -- they're just some of the dire national security threats the U.S. is facing right now. And while there is a revolving door for the nation's highest intel officials.

Now, the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, and the Principal Deputy Director in the DNI office, Sue Gordon, are both leaving. They're gone Thursday. That brings us to your weekend presidential brief, a segment we bring you every weekend with the most pressing national security issues the President will wake up with tomorrow.

And with us now is CNN National Security Analyst, Samantha Vinograd who helped prepare the daily presidential briefing under President Obama. Sam, you give our viewers every week a presidential brief of sorts, but the people who are doing it for the President, they're going to be gone. What's the impact?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, this is self- inflicted brain drain on the President's part. By passing over Sue Gordon for the role of Acting Director of National Intelligence, President Trump has introduced an unnecessary disruption in intelligence functionalities while, over the longer term, potentially leading to the hollowing out of the intelligence community.

As the Principal Deputy, Sue Gordon's responsibilities run the gamut in intelligence. She oversaw 17 component parts of the intelligence community and was really steeped in the inner workings of what they do. But Trump passed her over and, instead, chose someone, Joseph Maguire, the current Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, to serve as Acting Director.

His focus has been much narrower. That means that his learning curve as Acting Director is going to be much steeper. That means that more balls could be dropped during this transition period.

At the same time, President Trump signaled that he didn't want Sue Gordon's experience. Her experience, in his eyes, was a liability maybe because of her time serving under President Obama, disregarding the fact she served under bipartisan presidents from other administrations as well.

And President Trump is signaling that experienced intelligence professionals who do their jobs may be fired, passed over, or worst yet, investigated just for coming to work. And I really cringe to think who's interested in the role of Director of National Intelligence based upon what the President is actually looking for in this role.

CABRERA: You know, one of the areas that this president has clashed with intel officials on is North Korea. What is the state of play given the missile test we saw just a couple of days ago?

VINOGRAD: Well, President Trump is more supportive of North Korean missile tests that threaten Americans than he is of U.S. military exercises that defend Americans. North Korea is quoting President Trump in their own press statements, and he's become a useful propaganda arm for the North Korean regime. And it really begs the question of whose side the President is on.

He is supportive of these North Korean missile tests, which not only violate international law. They allow North Korea to advance its capabilities. North Korea tested a new missile several weeks ago, the K.N.-23, and this latest test may have been of a new missile as well. At the same time, we downgraded our capabilities by paring down these joint military exercises.

CABRERA: Another, I guess, leader the President has complimented is Putin. Putin's confronting protesters again this weekend. We're seeing protests in Hong Kong. What should the U.S. response be?

[19:29:51] Well, that's absolutely right. There are mass protests in Hong Kong against a law that would have allowed for the extradition to the mainland. There are also mass protests in Russia where protesters are demanding more democratic freedoms and protesting against authorities barring opposition candidates from running in local elections.

Russian authorities and Chinese authorities are blaming the United States. The are saying that we are fomenting this chaos. And we should expect both the Russian regime and the Chinese to clamp down on protesters, potentially to use violence and also to point the finger at us.

The United States needs to be on record with respect to the costs of responding to disproportionately to these protests or we could see the Chinese respond with force in Hong Kong, which would violate the law that they signed. And the Russian government move against protesters like they have done in the past.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Sam Vinograd, good to see you. Thank you for bringing us that.

VINOGRAD: Thanks.

CABRERA: The President calls this week's immigration raids in Mississippi a good deterrent while hundreds of families call them a nightmare that tore kids away from their moms and dads.

No, Mr. President, these are not the faces of an invasion.

More next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:34:33] CABRERA: This week in Mississippi, we saw family separations of a different kind where the children, many of whom were born in the U.S., they are American citizens, weren't detained but left behind. Many of them had been dropped off for their first day of school, others were at daycare. Not knowing their parents had been taken. Among the 680 people swept up in immigration raids across the state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[19:35:00] UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Governments, please put your heart -- let my parents be free with everybody else. Please, don't leave the child with crying and everything. I need my dad. My daddy didn't do nothing. He's not a criminal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Eleven years old. Afraid. Desperate. Pleading for her father. Just imagine, this is the memory so many of these kids will have for the rest of their life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He said to my mom, take care of the kids because the immigration has now captured me. I started praying to God to let them go. I hope you come back. And that God protects you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I want to show you another video from Morton, Mississippi, when a child approaches an officer at the scene of the raid.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Please, can I just see my mother, please? Please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: And consider that this happened on the very same day President Trump went to El Paso to meet with the survivors of a massacre targeting Latinos and immigrants. The alleged killer, a white supremacist, actually told investigators his targets were Mexicans, according to the arrest affidavit.

Before the attack, he wrote about a Hispanic invasion echoing a message the President has put out to sell his anti-immigration policies. In fact, since January, President Trump's reelection team has posted more than 2,000 ads on Facebook warning of an invasion and the need for a border wall.

So let me be clear, in this moment, there is no invasion. There is no other. We are all different. That is a fact. But we share a common humanity. Each one of us is a son or a daughter. Many of us are mothers or fathers, sisters or brothers. Sadly, 15-year-old Javier Rodriguez will never play soccer again. He was the youngest killed in El Paso last weekend.

Jordan and Andre Onchondo, they will never give another hug or kiss to their three young children a five, two, and two months old. That baby boy, Paul, again, just two months old, suffered broken bones in that same horrific attack. He met the President and the first lady during their visit to El Paso. But he will grow up never knowing the parents who gave their lives to help save his.

The question now is, what kind of America will help raise him?

Joining us now, CNN Political Commentator and Democratic Strategist, Maria Cardona and Republican strategist and Latino Political and Media Consultant, Luis Alvarado.

Luis, you know, as part of the Latino community, what has this past week been like for you? Do the events of this past week feel different?

LUIS ALVARADO, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: They do. There's a line that has been crossed. You know, in the military, I'm prior service, you've probably seen it in movie movies, go from DEFCOM 3 to DEFCOM 2. And for us as Latinos, we have gone to DEFCOM 1. We are definitely under attack. We are targets and the blood is being spilled at. And the most important thing is that without regard, if you are a

senior citizen, a woman, a child, a man, you know, as long as you are -- the color of your skin is brown, you are a target ideologically and now physically.

Even though I'm a Republican, and Maria Cardona and I have done battle many times on many subjects when it comes to ideology. But I think, Maria, I think on this one, I think you and I are step on step. For me, it's not a matter of being a partisan, it's a matter of being an American, an American who understands that Rudy, the little boy that was just in the interview, he -- if you talk to STEM demographic experts, Rudy is the one we are counting on to lead this nation in technology. That little girl is the one we are hoping is going to grow up to be a doctor to take care of the aging population in this country.

This country will not survive without the 58 million Latinos that live in this country being successful and feeling they're part of this American society.

CABRERA: And Maria, I think about when my, you know, great- grandparents, grand tios and tias (ph) when their generation came to the U.S. the goal really was to assimilate. So rather than openly celebrating their language and their culture, they wanted to become more Americanized. My grandparents, my Abuelos (ph), just not speak Spanish in the home with my dad, for example. They were just so concern that he learned English to be accepted in society. My generation has grown up feeling almost the opposite. We want more of that heritage. We see multiple languages as an advantage.

[19:40:14] MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right. Absolutely.

CABRERA: But now it feels like we may be going back.

CARDONA: I know, Ana. You know, this week, as I'm sure it has been for not just us three on this panel, but for everybody who looks like us, sounds like us, have last names like us, because the shooter was mirroring Trump's language and wanting to go after Hispanics who, in his words, were invading America.

And it has felt different, Ana. I wrote this past week that I have never thought twice about feeling so incredibly proud of my Latino heritage, of my Colombian heritage. My parents did teach us to speak Spanish at home. I speak only Spanish to my children and not just at home, but out in public. But I got to tell you, if I didn't live in Washington, D.C., an incredibly progressive multiethnic, multicultural city, I would think twice about doing that now as well because of exactly what Luis just said. And it is time for us to step up to the plate.

All of us, no matter what party, Democratic, Republican, Independent, because this has gone further than politics. This is about who we are as a nation. This is about our character. This is about our values. This is about why our parents, my parents, your grandparents, Luis' ancestors as well, came to this country because of what it stood for everybody, not just a select few and not just people whose skin were white. And so it's up to all of us to continue to speak out against this hatred and this violence if we want to continue to stand proud as all Americans should be able to.

CABRERA: I want you both to look at this picture again. You know, the President in this picture grinning, flashing a thumbs up in a photo with a baby whose parents were shot dead and we know the baby was only brought back to the hospital because other victims didn't want to meet with the president. Again, look at that picture. Luis, what message does that send?

ALVARADO: I mean, I have been Republican my entire life and the day that Donald Trump came down the escalator and attacked my community, I stood against him. I continue to stand against him. That is why I'm not a very welcome person in my own party at times. But it's because I feel that our President lacks the experience, lacks the insights, and most importantly, lacks the character to sometimes occupy the office.

I think this picture is one of many that demonstrate that our President sometimes lacks the vision to actually be the leader of this nation and that picture to me represents the fact that if he's a democrat, it's not important to me, it's the fact that he doesn't get it. That that child's parents are still being mourned. That children, those family members, are never going to experience being part of that family ever again.

And the President is just divorced from empathy and he's just divorced, from my understanding, that this is a nation that has just escalated this war. And the politics of it has now divided the country even a little bit further.

CABRERA: Maria, your thoughts about that picture?

CARDONA: Yes. I mean, I completely agree with Luis. And that picture, I think, embodies what so many Democrats and critics of the President have known since the moment that he announced his campaign for the presidency is that he is completely unfit for office.

He does not care about public service. He does not care about the wellbeing of the country. He only cares about his own self-image. He only cares about his own ego. He only cares about how is portrayed in the media. He uses people. He hurts. He doesn't console. He is the one who wounds. That's why in this moment, after we suffered three shootings in a row, we were a country in mourning. And we needed more than anything a consoler in chief.

This President is completely ill-equipped and unable to play that role. And in fact, he can't even be given words to say or ways to act to at least pretend that he cares. He was unable to, which is what is exactly he demonstrated in that photo.. Giving a thumbs up in a picture with an infant who is now an orphan because of the shooter that mimicked the President's own words?

I mean, you know, my dearest hope for this nation is that this president is an anomaly, that he is an aberration, but it's going to take all of us to step up to the plate to make sure that that's the case.

In 2020, we have to speak up with our voices. We have to speak loudly with our votes to ensure that we put somebody in the White House that actually reflects American values.

[19:45:16] CABRERA: Maria Cardona and Luis Alvarado, thank you both.

CARDONA: Thanks, Ana.

ALVARADO: Thanks for the invitation.

CABRERA: We will be right back.

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[19:44:19] CABRERA: Fighting words between the President and his former communications director got very public today.

Anthony Scaramucci posting a scathing tweet that said, quote "for the last three years I have fully supported this president. Recently he has said things that divide the country in a way that is unacceptable so I didn't pass the 100 percent litmus test. Eventually he turned on everyone. Soon it will be you then the entire country."

CNN White House Reporter, Jeremy Diamond is in New Jersey with the President.

Jeremy, what is this all about?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well Ana, we know that this is certainly not a president who takes criticism very well. And he certainly doesn't take it without punching back. And so what we are seeing now, the President this weekend firing off a couple of tweets at his former adviser, Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House communications director who has recently been critical of the President.

Here's what the President tweeted to merit that response he said Anthony Scaramucci. He said Anthony Scaramucci who was quickly terminated 11 days from a position he was totally incapable of handling now seems to do nothing but television as the all-time expert on President Trump. Like many other so-called television experts he knows very little about me other an the fact this administration has probably done more than any other administration in its first two-and- a-half-years in existence. Anthony who would do anything to come back in should remember the only reason he is on TV and it's not for being the mooch.

Now, putting aside the fact that Anthony Scaramucci did previously appear on national television before he went to work for President Trump, you know, Scaramucci has recently been critical of the President. For much of the President's tenure in the White House, Anthony Scaramucci has actually been defending the President, supportive.

But recently, he has called the visit to those two cities grieving in the wake of those shootings, in El Paso and in Dayton, Ohio, he called it -- Anthony Scaramucci called the visit a catastrophe. And he also called the president's attacks last month on four congresswomen of color racist and unacceptable.

So what we are seeing here is The president once again breaking with one of his former advisers after they turn critical. As you know very well, Ana, many of the things with this President come down to a question of loyalty. And it seems that's what prompted the president to fire off that criticism today --Ana.

[19:51:34] CABRERA: All right. Jeremy Diamond in Berkley Heights, New Jersey for us, thank you.

From Planet of the Apes to Midnight Cowboy to the Graduates, the 1960s changed the face of Hollywood forever. Remember this moment?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me. Aren't you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: A brand new episode of "THE MOVIES" airs tonight at 9:00 right here on CNN.

We will be right back.

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[19:55:41] CABRERA: A journalist committed to getting the story straight, willing to go where many wouldn't is spending another birthday in captivity. Austin Tice went to Syria in 2012 as a freelance journalist to cover the conflict there to raise awareness about the consequences of urban warfare on children. Today Austin turned 38 years old. His parents say his 31st birthday was the last one they spent with their son, a day that used to be filled with laughter and singing and dreams for the future. Now they are pushing to bring their son back home. Austin was detained on August 14, 2012. He has been held now for almost seven years.

From all of us here at CNN and from one journalist to another our thoughts are with Austin and his family tonight.

We will be right back.

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