Transcripts For KGO This Week With George Stephanopoulos 202

With president ial candidate cory booker live from iowa. And our powerhouse roundtable. And al gore takes on Climate Change and the 2020 candidates. Well break down the politics, smoke out the spin. The facts that matter this week. Announcer from abc news, its this week. Here now, chief anchor george stephanopoulos. Good morning, and welcome to this week. It has been a week packed with news punctuated by the shocking revelation that Jeffrey Epstein facing the prospect of life in prison on sex trafficking charges was found dead in his jail cell from an apparent suicide on saturday. The death has sparked outrage from his accusers, and raised questions. It has also spawn a series of conspiracy theories online. Some now circulating if not surprisingly by the president himself. Our chief justice correspondent Pierre Thomas tracking all the latest developments. Pierre, this is a federal prison. The a. G. Responsible in the end. Hes ordered an inquiry. George, this is one of the most highprofile prisoners in the system. This cannot happen. This should not happen. The attorney general said he was appalled that it happened. He says it raises serious questions. The fbi immediately launched an investigation, also, the Justice Department Inspector General launched an investigation. The big question, why wasnt he on suicide watch given what happened two weeks ago . George, the man was sent to the hospital with abrasions or something on his neck under suspicious circumstances. He was placed on suicide watch. Then six days later, he wasnt on suicide watch. The question is why . How did that happen as well . We also know that the guards didnt complete all of their rounds on friday night into saturday morning. Supposedly security cameras in the prison we should know what happened, right . By now they should know what happened. We dont know yet what the footage shows. Do they suspect foul play . George, right now, based on my conversations it could be anything. And until we know more about the specifics, until they have transparency, and i think they need to come out quickly and say, theres Surveillance Footage to show he took his own life. The attorney general is demanding answers. Lets broaden out our conversation. Tom llamas, our chief national correspondent. And our chief legal analyst, dan abrams. Tom, this comes on the heels of friday, massive cache of documents implementing many people in the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. The timing is so suspicious, this comes one day after those documents were unsealed. 2,000 pages of Court Documents that were previously sealed in a Defamation Case against one of epsteins accuser and one of epsteins former associate, ghislaine maxwell. Now what we know in these documents some major boldfaced names came out. Now, we know all of this, these men have denied this. Saying this is not true. These names came out. She also said, we heard so much about the massages with epstein, she said that was code for sex. But the pressure was clearly on. The pressure was on. Were also hearing from the victims. Michelle licata. Lets take a listen. I really wanted justice. I really wanted him to be put in jail, or in prison, to think about what he exactly did to so many people. Kimberly, this is one of many victims, accusers, i should say, who are outraged. Absolutely. They wanted to see him go through that court process. They wanted to see that conviction. They wanted to see him taken to task for everything he had done to them. Now theyre not going to see that. Thats one of the things that victims that do come forward, they want to see it carried out to the end. And they feel like it was cut short. As you point out, including in this case many years ago, sometimes these cases are hampered because of reluctant witness. It can be reluctant witnesses and a victim credibility gap. Jurors sometimes dont understand, because these victims can go back to their families. They can go to school. They can act in ways that make them seem consenting participants. So, they sometimes behave like consenting participants in whereas theyre true victims. The criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein is over. But the u. S. Attorney, the same office that filed the charges against epstein is making it clear that theyre continuing to investigating the conspiracy. Meaning, if you read the indictment of epstein, even there it mentions three other employees who were assisting in some way, shape and form. Its clear theyll continue to investigate the conspiracy aspect, who else might have been helping epstein all this time . And there still could be additional charges and the facts that will be never heard come out in public. Also see civil cases against the estate . Thats right. People are asking, what happens to all his money . Et cetera. Just because he dies doesnt mean that various people cant sue his estate. Remember, any new cases still face statute of limitation questions, particularly in the state of florida. Where some of this allegely happened. You got a reall issue there like in 2004, 2005, 2002, you can have problems in filing new lawsuits in that state of florida, but civil lawsuits will definitely continue on the whole against the epstein estate. You mentioned the conspiracy, lot of conspiracy theories on line. One propagated by president himself. Retweeting one suggesting that bill clinton was somehow complicit in the death of Jeffrey Epstein. It shouldnt go without remarking kind of stunning that the president of the United States is accusing one of his predecessors in complicity of murder. Tom, epstein had relationships with both bill clinton and donald trump. These conspiracy theories have no proof. The logic of that tweet was, bill clinton had a relationship with Jeffrey Epstein so he may be behind this. President trump also had a relationship with him, going back 15 years. They were friends, they socialized. They did have a fallingout. Bill clinton traveled many times with Jeffrey Epstein, took long trips to asia, europe, africa, while working with the clinton foundation. Bill clinton said he had no idea about these terrible crimes. I do want to make another point, george. We have been investigating this case for years now, Jeffrey Epstein the suicide may shock us but people who know Jeffrey Epstein said he lived like a prince. Right . He traveled in private jets, he had his private island. Wear shirts once and discard them. They said he was going crazy likely in that concrete cell and probably wanted to take his life. He talks about his wealth. Conspiracy theories whether someone tried to do this to him or engineered this himself using his money. Right. Whats going to be clear, i think, is that there is going to be some kind of assistance that he got, does it mean someone turned away . Does it mean someone turned off a camera . Does it mean . We dont know. He could have simply, i dont think, killed himself without any kind of assistance in some way, shape or form from someone at the jail. That doesnt mean however that there was a murder. That someone ordered an assassination on him. Two very different things. One is the possibility of just negligence at the jail. Which i know people are going to find this hard to believe. There are problems in jails, even in james like this. There are issues that arise, et cetera. But i think the notion to take that and say, this must have been a hit . Thats a totally different level. All the more reason for the Justice Department to get to the truth here. George, at this point no one is ruling anything out. When i talked to sources yesterday, normally people are telling me, pierre, be conservative in this area, dont jump to any conclusions. They said this could be anything. Precisely this is the exact kind of man who should have had eyes on him all the time. Period. End of story. The question is, why werent eyes on him . We have this remarkable situation where the president is basically at odds with his own Justice Department. How does the Justice Department respond to the president of the United States . Theyll ignore it and move forward. But i can tell you precisely because of the conspiracy theories already out there, there was an interest in the Justice Department of this man to be safe and go through the process of justice. When we come back the Mass Shootings transformed the campaign trail. Were live from iowa next. Ansformed the campaign trail. Were live next. Youve done a lot of good for the world. But i feel like you have the potential to do so much more. 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Reporter good morning, george. Amid all the fun and fried food here at the fair, were seeing a very real shift in this campaign. The Democratic Candidates determined to keep up the pressure, are now having a serious debate on to tackle this rise in violence and demanding new gun reforms. Descending on this key state. How are you . Reporter the president ial hopefuls snapping selfies, playing carnival games and flipping burgers. I think i can also flip republicans. Reporter but dominating the conversation gun violence. We need reasonable gun safety laws in our country including universal background checks and a renewal of the assault weapons ban. We need gun reform in the United States of america. And we need it now. Reporter and theyre taking on trumps rhetoric. Lets call this what it is. This is white nationalism. This is White Supremacy. Reporter the candidates greeted like rock stars at a Gun Safety Forum on the sidelines of the fair. I come to you i know with these latest shootings in el paso and dayton, at a time of sorrow in our country but a time of real determination. We are going to make change, were going to pass gun safety laws in this country. Aks, ars they have no place in our neighborhoods. In peacetime in the United States of america. They are for war zones. Reporter the days emotions coming to the surface. I have 6yearold and 3yearold boys i was imagining i was imagining it was one of them that got shot. Reporter back in washington under increasing pressure, the president is publicly pushing for stricter background checks. Theres been no president that feels more strongly about the Second Amendment than i do. However, we need meaningful background checks so that sick people dont get guns. Reporter and he says he can get republicans and even the gun lobby on board, but in iowa the candidates are skeptical. Quick to note that trump has made these calls before only to backtrack days later. Do you believe the president when he says he wants to see some kind of meaningful reforms . I find that fascinating when he says hes going to check with the nra. Reporter republican leader Mitch Mcconnell is signaling hes interested in legislation but hes not calling congress back to washington to tackle this. Do you get any sense this time around things are different . Mitch mcconnell is starting to feel the heat, democracy is starting to show a little muscle out there and i think Mitch Mcconnell is getting a little bit worried. My view is, he ought to be a lot worry. Reporter voters here say they want to see action on this issue. Trump supporters even saying theres time for a change. The challenge for Democratic Candidates and voters is keeping this issue in the spotlight. Keeping up the pressure, of Course Congress isnt back in session for another month. George. Okay, mary bruce, thanks very much. The Democratic Candidates are united around more action. And a growing numbers of americans, even gun owners supporting background checks and other measures. Does this mean the country is reaching a Tipping Point on gun control . We asked nate silver, do you buy that . So historically, the pattern had been support for stricter laws temporarily rises after Mass Shootings and then fells. That was the case after columbine. But since sandy hook in 2012, theres been an overall upward trajectory. Gallup found 61 of americans favoring stricter gun laws. Down from the peak of 67 just after the parkland shooting last february. But if you want to be frank, that might be because these Mass Shootings are never that far from the news this day. Since december 2015, ten incidents that killed ten or more people. More than there were in 30 years from 1982 to 2011. Five of the ten deadliest Mass Shootings have all happened in the last five years. At the same time, how much the partys prioritized the issue has shifted. Classically an issue to motivate republican voters. In the 2018 midterms democratic voters in the exit poll ranked guns as the number one issue. 70 voted democratic for the house. While the public overall might want gun control, it might be hard to pass in the senate. States that rank in the top 30 in gun ownership represent only 36 of the u. S. Population. But 60 of seats in the u. S. Senate. Do i buy that Public Opinion has shifted on gun policy . There are some signs of it shifting. I dont know if we can be sure about the longterm trajectory. Thank you, nate. Up next, cory booker joins us live from iowa. Trajectory. Up next, cory booker joins us live from iowa. Can i get some help. Watch his head. Im so happy. Whatever they went through, they went through together. Welcome guys. Life well planned. See what a Raymond James Financial Advisor can do for you. Beauty editors have tried everything in search of a whiter smile. Their choice . Crest 3d whitestrips. 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