Tonight on 360, there's breaking news. President Trump sparks recession concerns in a market sell-off by what he didn't say, Senator Bernie Sanders joins us to discuss the state of the economy. Also tonight, a Republican congressman complains about Trump's treatment of Ukraine. He wants to return to Ronald Reagan's peace through strength.
We'll hear from Reagan's daughter, Patty Davis. And later, an exclusive, a man accused on the House floor of being a predator by Republican comic-woman Nancy Mase breaks his silence. Good evening. Thanks for joining us.
It is rare for President Trump to not appear in front of a camera, but today he wasn't aware to be seen, which meant reporters couldn't ask him about this. A massive stock sell-off that began the moment the bell rang. The Dow was down on his 900 points. The Nasdaq took the worst beating down 4%.
The Nasdaq's decline was at SINGAS-Bigel, biggest day decline since September of 2022. More than an hour after market closed, the White House did finally put out a statement touting the president's economic agenda and first-term record on the economy. It didn't mention the massive drops today, nor what sparked it. The culprit wasn't a poorly received report of jobs, GDP, or consumer spending.
And as is often the case, it was what the president himself said in this interview aired on Sunday. Well, are you expecting a recession this year? I hate to predict things like that. There is a period of transition, because what we're doing is very big, we're bringing wealth back to America.
That's a big thing. And there are always periods of, it takes a little time. Well, it was a pretty simple question, deserved a straightforward answer, but that was not what the reporter got. He was asked that same question again on Air Force One, and here's what happened.
Are you worried about a recession? The rear-barter-barter-barter-barter-bar asked you, and you kind of hesitated. I'll tell you what, of course he has it, who knows? All I know is this, we're going to take in hundreds of billions of dollars of tariffs.
Well, twice the president of the United States was asked whether he was expecting a recession this year, twice he avoided the question. From markets already spoke by the uncertainty and potential for a higher price surrounding those tariffs on Canada and Mexico, you just heard him mention this was too much, particularly compared to how his commerce secretary answered that same question Sunday morning on another network. Should Americans brace for a recession? Absolutely not.
There's going to be no recession in America. I would never have been on recession. No chance. Well, president seems has no such confidence, which is notable after he spoke so highly of last week's jobs report and after federal reserve chairman, Jerome Powell last week said the US economy continues to be in a good place.
Perhaps it's not surprising he didn't want to be on camera today as the markets crashed after all he has often tied a president's performance as a leader to the stock market. During a brief dip in the markets in late October, in early November, Trump blamed it on Democrats. He said in this online, he said online, you can't play games with markets, Kamala Crash, and in 2015, months after he entered the presidential race, he tweeted this after a market decline. Markets are crashing all caused by poor planning and allowing China and Asia to dictate the agenda.
This could get very messy vote Trump. Well, repeatedly on the campaign trail, Trump warned a Democratic victory would lead to a decline in markets. If Harris wins this election, you will quickly have a Kamala economic crash. You can have a crash.
If we lose, you're going to have a crash, like you wouldn't believe. Oh, he also said the only way to avoid a market crash would be to elect him. In fact, one line he used repeatedly throughout March of 2024. Did you see that?
The stock market crashed when we won. Many people say that the only reason the stock market is up is because people think I am going to win. And we are a nation whose stock markets continue success is totally contingent on MAGA winning the next election. We are a nation whose stock markets continued success is contingent on MAGA winning the next election.
If we don't win the next election, the stock market will crash just like it did in 1929. Much for the possibility of recession, here's former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers earlier today on CNN. On January 1st, no one thought that a recession was a substantial likelihood. And today, market prices and consensus opinions of economists suggest a very real risk of recession.
I think we've got a real possibility of a vicious cycle where weakening economy leads to weaker markets and then weaker markets lead to a weakening economy. I want to start things off as in Chief White House correspondent, Kaitlyn Collins, who also anchors the source at the top of the next hour. What is the mood inside the White House today? Why is the country not hearing from Trump?
It's quite remarkable, Anderson. And just to give people a sense of how this works at the White House, typically they put out the schedule and there will be several events on Trump's schedule that are closed to the press, as was the case today. There were three events on his schedule this afternoon. And more likely than not, one of them at least opens up to the press.
That is often when you see the president behind the resolute desk taking questions from reporters, as he has for the last six weeks or so since he's been back in office. And we were expecting events at the White House to open up today, at least one of them. And then we were later told by the White House that when he was going to sign an executive order, it would not be opening to reporters. That was right around the time that the markets were closing today.
And it was notable because we've often seen the White House times certain interviews or comments to reflect the stock market when it's about to close or how traders are looking at it that day. And it is notable that it was complete silence from the president today, at least in front of the cameras, despite having at least three opportunities to speak to reporters he declined to do so. And it comes, of course, after that interview, where he not only declined to rule out the possibility of a recession, he also talked about his tariff policy overall and pushed back on this notion that businesses need certainty, that they need to know what's going to happen here, that it's not just about the tariffs. It's the fact that they're being threatened and imposed and suspended and postponed for a few weeks or for a month potentially.
That has really raised a lot of the questions for these businesses that they have, about what is actually going to go into place. But in that interview, the president said he does not expect tariffs to go down. He said, if anything Anderson, they might go up. And so that is the real question here of what that's going to look like, because the president's obviously saying that we're hearing the translations from his Commerce Secretary and top aides who were saying they don't believe there's going to be a recession, but obviously also as this comes, as we're expecting more tariffs to be imposed on at least stealing aluminum by the administration this week.
Yeah, Kevin Collins, thanks very much. We'll see you at the top of the hour. Joining now is Senator Bernie Sanders, and depending from Vermont, who caucuses with the Democrats. Senator Sanders, thank you very much for joining us.
Do you think they'll be a recession? Got me, but I think there is so much chaos in the world right now created by, you know, we have a trade war with our two neighbors, Canada and Mexico. You have the president of the United States wanting to take over the Panama Canal, take over Greenland, God knows what else. We are laying off, Mr.
Musk is now laying off, or proposing to lay off hundreds of thousands of federal employees. What will that mean to the veterans administration? What will that mean to social security? What will that mean in terms of unemployment?
So I think all of those questions creates a lot of economic uncertainty. Senator Trump has said many times on the campaign trail that he would not touch entitlements like Social Security or Medicare, which are no priorities for you. Elon Musk, however, seems to be leaning in the other direction. I want to play something he said in an interview today at Fox Business.
The way it's important in entitlement spending, which is most of the federal spending is entitlements. So that's like the big one to eliminate. That's the sort of half trillion, maybe 600, 700 billion a year. That is also a mechanism by which the Democrats attract and retain illegal immigrants by essentially paying them to come here, and then turning them into voters.
So what do you make of his desire to cut entitlement? He says he wants to go after waste and fraud, and the reason you just heard him use? Well, he has called Social Security a Ponzi scheme. They have already laid off 2,500 employees of the Social Security Administration.
And I think I speak for probably every member of the Senate, in that the calls that we get in large numbers are people who are saying, I'm trying to get a hold of Social Security, I've got a disability issue. I can't get a hold of anybody. And the reason is the Social Security Administration today is on the staff. There are estimates out there that tens of thousands of people with disabilities die while they're waiting for those benefits to come to fruition.
They apply, they're waiting, they're waiting. And now if you do, as Musk and others are proposing, not only 2,500 Social Security employees, they want to cut half of the Social Security employees, that will be disaster. That will mean that millions of people who are calling up, they're not going to get an answer. So if you ask me, I think this is a prelude, not only to cutting benefits, but to privatizing Social Security itself.
I think that's in the back of them. If you make the system dysfunctional, why would anybody want to support it? And that's consistent with what Trump said in a state of the union just. Oh, there are millions of people, thousands of people, 200 years old and 150 years old.
What is all that about? It happens to be a lie. It's not true. 99% of the benefits go to people, more than that go to people, who are paid into them.
So why do you lie so much about Social Security? Why do you make it look like it's a broken dysfunctional system? The reason is to get people to lose faith in the system. And then you can give it over to Wall Street.
That's fine, you know. Is there any way to get more transparency about what Elon Musk is doing? I mean, the only thing like the public sees, besides his post on X, are this so-called wall of receipts? And CNN, The New York Times, David Ferranthal, the Times has looked at the numbers that are being posted for the alleged savings that they're making, and a lot of them are phony.
I mean, $8 billion contract for ICE canceled turned out to be an $8 million contract. Well, I mean, two things. I am the ranking member, leader of the Opposition on the Help Committee, Health Education label. I have requested of Senator Cassidy, the chairman of it, to bring Musk before the committee.
I think the American people would like to hear him answer questions from members of the United States Senator. I will tell you, Anderson, just this last weekend, I was in Wisconsin and Michigan. We had, you know, whole lots of people, far more people showing up than I had anticipated, with 9,000 people in Warren, Michigan. And people are angry.
They're confused. They see the richest guy in the world going around saying, hey, we're gonna decimate the Veterans Administration. We're gonna decimate social security. We're gonna be laying off people here and there and everywhere.
And people saying, what is going on? So the idea that we have oligarchs, people with incredible wealth, trashing programs that working people desperately need, is I think unacceptable to the vast majority of the American people. Now they're going after social security. They're going after Veterans Administration.
And obviously in their so-called Reconciliation Bill, they wanna give huge tax breaks over a trillion dollars in tax breaks at the top 1%. And they pay for that by cutting Medicaid by some 800 billion and cutting nutrition programs for children by a couple of hundred billion dollars. So I think the American people are saying, you know what? We're struggling enough right now.
60% live in paycheck to paycheck. Don't get tax breaks to billionaires, got programs that work in people. Don't go after social security. Don't go after the Veterans Administration and the men and women have put their lives on the line to defend us.
Do you see America moving to a kleptocracy where people have loyalty, others if you wanna get a job in the civil service, where pay money, you get access? Well, look, you got, you know, during Trump's inaugural, as you know, the three richest guys in the country, Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg were there, right behind them. What 13 of the billionaires are who Trump had nominated to head major government agencies. So I would say without any doubt that you have a government right now.
You know, Lincoln talked about a government of the people by the people for the people. I think it's fair to say you have a government today of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires. And before I let you go, I just wanna say, Elon Musk, what's something Elon Musk said today about your colleague Senator Mark Kelly, after Senator Kelly posted on Acts about a trip he'd made to Ukraine over the weekend, Musk commented, you are a traitor. It's just, I mean, it's disgusting.
It is absolutely, by the way, Kelly is a military guy, serves his country, went to Ukraine to get a sense of how Ukrainian people are responding to Trump's betrayal of the country, if you like, and you have Musk talking about Mark Kelly as a traitor. I mean, it's really unspeakable, it really is. And I think the American people are sick and tired of the wealthiest guy in the world running the United States government, and calling, in this case, a guy who put his life on the line to defend us a traitor. That's beyond the pale.
Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you for your time tonight. Thank you. So if an accident due strategy by President Trump is unlike any we've seen from a president, Trump's now targeting attorneys at big law firms in Washington, DC, their alleged crimes simply representing people that the president doesn't like. We're talking about attorneys who work for Hillary Clinton's campaign back in 2016, attorneys representing former special counsel, Jack Smith right now.
It's not just retribution, it's also intimidation designed to make any lawyer think twice before helping a client who runs a foul of President Trump or his administration all details on this next. Also tonight, Patty Davis, the daughter of former President Ronald Reagan on this moment in American politics and what she believes her dad will think about what's going on. I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast in terms of service, the idea of writing in a car with no driver can feel daunting.
And this technology raises questions about safety and the future of transportation. That's why I'm here with Nicole Gable, head of business development and strategic partnerships at WeMo. We've always been about safety, no distracted driving, no drunk driving. WeMo follows the rules of the road.
Listen to CNN's terms of service wherever you get your podcasts. So I've got news for your ears, the podcast. I am your host, Michael Ian Black. His latest thing you see this yesterday was he finds the peace talks boring.
I'm talking. Not my favorite guy, but I gotta be honest with you. I know exactly what he's talking. He's not negotiating, he's not in the room.
But how do you think he receives the information? Because I got, sir, because they also, sir, would you like to hear the latest update? They should make like a comic strip out of it. Have I got news for your ears?
Check us out on Apple, Amazon Music, wherever you get your podcasts. You can watch the podcast on Spotify. President Trump's assault on the judiciary by attacking judges and even their families when their rulings don't go his way as well documented. But now as president, he's taking an even more aggressive approach, going after law firms that represent clients like the president doesn't like.
The first, if you'll offer him with Representative Former Special Counsel, Jack Smith. Smith, as you know, is now a private citizen, but his special counsel with the Department of Justice, he brought criminal charges against Trump in two cases. Smith is expecting to be the subject of a number of investigations by Republicans in Congress for which he'll need legal help. Now in late February, the president signed a memo suspending the act of security clerks as a lawyer from a firm called Covington and Burling who represent Jack Smith.
Hold it, this is a good one. Is everybody listening? Deranged Jack Smith. We're gonna quote the deranged Jack Smith signing, or Bill, go ahead.
In some cases, when sensitive materials involved, attorneys need security clerks to adequately represent a client. For instance, Donald Trump's attorneys had security clerks as working on the classified documents against him, in other cases as well. If Mr. Smith's attorneys can have access to sensitive documents, the question is, can he be adequately represented in national security matters by them?
According to legal scholars, it could also violate the First Amendment's right to free speech, the Fifth Amendment's guaranteed due process and the Sixth Amendment's right to effective assistance of counsel. It's not just one firm that's been targeted so far. Another firm, Perkins Cooey, it's called, they've been targeted. They represented Hillary Clinton's campaign which ran against Trump and they hired an opposition research firm which ended up producing the now infamous Steele dossier.
Lawyers at Perkins Cooey are currently working on a case challenging Trump's ban on trans-service members and the president has also attacked them for having internal diversity initiatives. Four days ago, that law firm security clerks is were also suspended and they've been banned from entering some federal buildings. This is an absolute honor to sign. What they've done is, it's just terrible.
It's a weaponization. You could say weaponization against a political opponent and you're looking at about 15 different firms. That or more sir, yes. 15 firms or more.
The question left in the air course is who's next? And that's the question the president likely wants law firms asking themselves. These actions against two prominent firms certainly send a chilling message to other firms about taking on cases that President Trump might not like. Even if individual lawyers may be brave enough to incur the wrath of the most powerful man in the world, the other attorneys at their firm may not be.
The other clients at these firms may cancel their business because they're afraid the president will then punish their companies just by using one of these law firms. That, it seems, is not an accidental byproduct of the president's actions. It sounds like that's the point. Yesterday, in an interview on Fox Business, the president threatened more firms will be targeted.
We have a lot of law firms that we're going to be going after because they were very dishonest people. They were very, very dishonest. They could go point after point after point and we're so bad for our country. And we have a lot of law firms that we're going after.
Well, joining me now is former Ambassador Norm Aizen. He was special counsel to House Democrats and President Trump's first impeachment. It's now the executive chair of the State Democracy Defenders Fund to have a number of pending legal motions against the Trump administration. And just this afternoon, according to this posting by Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard Norm's security clearance was revoked per directive of the president.
I'm also joined by Aaron Mulvaney with the Wall Street Journal, whose latest piece is titled, Fear of Trump Has Elite Law firms in Retreat. So Aaron, can you just walk us through your reporting, what are attorneys at these firms saying, probably not on the record, but about what's going on? I think chill is definitely the right word that you had at the top of the segment. I think there's just a fear of any kind of retaliation, maybe even not of what happened to the first two large firms that you mentioned.
They're a fearful of losing clients, they're fearful of retaliation against their clients. Because other clients who aren't going to have a case against the president or some company that has this firm representing them, they might be fearful that, well, the president will go after this company because they're attorneys, he doesn't like. Yeah, exactly. I think that, and we're also talking about these types of firms are the biggest and most elite, they represent the biggest companies in the world too.
So they go hand in hand. And I think that's why it's a bit alarming that, law firms can step back, everyone can get a lawyer of any kind. And to some extent they do choose their clients, well, they do choose their clients, but it's a matter of, but they're just doing their job. That's what the lawyers would say.
But the idea that Trump is willing and will retaliate against them, if there's a perceived notion that they're coming after him or enemies, I think that's what's alarming. Even the biggest firms out there. And Norm, I mean, you're involved in multiple cases challenging the administration. We mentioned your security clearance getting pulled.
By the way, does anyone notify you? Or did you just hear that through Telsi Gabbard's announcement? My phone started blowing up. Look at Telsi Gabbard's tweet.
And Anderson, President Trump had said he was gonna do this several weeks ago, right after we secured a court order in one of our cases at Democracy Defenders, protecting thousands of FBI agents from retaliation for working on January six cases. So you really have to see this as a kind of a backhanded compliment. We're working on over a dozen cases. And we've gotten those orders in many of the cases in response to illegal behavior by the administration.
And this is more retaliation. Plenty of lawyers are gonna stand up to it. And in terms of the retaliation, it's revoking security clearances. What else?
There are also firms that work with big companies that have government contracts. And Trump is asking to investigate those government contracts and particularly revoke them. Well, so not related to the case they're working on. Just any government contract this firm may have.
Right. I mean, if you read the executive orders, it's very clear that the firms are being targeted, not the work they're doing necessarily. Even the one about Jack Smith is about the firm being the problem. And same, and the second was much more sweeping.
It called for investigations into DEI practices, revoking of government contracts. You mentioned access to federal buildings. It's written a little broadly. So it's not clear if that means federal court houses.
And the second law firm, Perkins Cooey, has said that they see it as patently unlawful, the move and they will challenge. And Norm, I mean, for you, this feels like, I mean, administrations have had contentious relationships with law firms in the past, but this feels like they're pulling levers which have not been pulled before. Anderson, it's illegal. It's a violation of the Constitution.
The first time they try to keep me out of a courthouse will be right in front of a judge within minutes. I guarantee you that judge will have me in the courthouse. You have to understand it in a pattern, Anderson. Donald Trump said he was going to be a dictator on day one.
The essence of dictatorship is breaking the law. And these are uncomfortable- What's illegal about this? Well, it violates First Amendment, freedom of speech. There's no due process at all.
It cuts off my clients right to counsel. If I need and I do security clearances to represent clients, this won't hold up in court, just like so many others of Donald Trump's actions, illegal spending freezes. Mr. Elon Musk and Doge pulling over personal data, the firing of those FBI agents.
I'll be in court this week on an illegal firing of tens of thousands of probationary employees. We've gotten order after order from the courts, myself and our partners, cutting that off. Yes, you need lawyers and law firms to bring those cases, but the retaliation won't work. Perkins Cooey got one of the best firms in the country to represent them.
And I think you're going to see some law firms will be scared, but many attorneys are going to take this as a backhanded compliment. Anderson, you know what? I'm doubling down, and so are my colleagues at the work received. I heard a number of firms turn down, I think of Perkins Cooey, but yeah, they do have a very good law firm now representing them.
Ambassador Norm Eisen, appreciate Erin Mulvaney as well. Thanks so much. Coming up, Ronald Reagan's daughter on her father's aspirations for world peace, and how he might see this moment in the Republican Party. And Congresswoman Nancy Mason, a shocking speech on the House floor last month, accusing a group of men of being predators, Randy Kay has an exclusive interview with one of them ahead.
Our Republican lawmakers, warning the President Trump's position on the war in Ukraine, is undermining America's influence on the world stage. Braska, Congressman Don Bacon, is to say when asked by Senes Pan Brown, if he thought Trump was being too conciliatory towards Russia. We are the leader of the free world, but right now, many countries are questioning, are we still the leader of the free world? Maybe those powerful countries in the world.
We were the leader of the free world, but it appears to many leaders and people all over to include Republicans in Nebraska that this administration is walking away from that legacy that was built by Ike Eisenhower and all these presidents, and really a capstone of Ronald Reagan, peace through strength and building these close alliances. And we are undermining that legacy right now. In his comments, Mayor of the Message for President Reagan's own daughter, Patty Davis, and in an op-ed over the weekend in the New York Times about why her father chose to run for president in his vision. She wrote, quote, I knew he wanted America to be a strong partner in the world, bonding with other countries to defeat tyranny and aggression.
Patty Davis joins me now. She's the author of Dear Mom and Dad, a letter about family memory and the America we once knew. Patty, it's great to have you on again. Thank you.
You write about the night your dad's of your father's first inauguration, and you were staying in the Lincoln bedroom, and he came in and you had a talk, and you said, you write, he said, I really believe I can make this world a safer, more peaceful place. That's why I ran for president. You went on to say, when he left, and the stillness of Lincoln's bedroom folded around me with all of his history and stories, I was struck by the fact that he spoke about the world, not just America. What do you think he would make of this moment in our history?
I think he would be heartbroken. I think he would be grieving. And one of the reasons that I wanted to write this up and is that I don't know about you, but I feel that grief everywhere, and it transcends politics. People who didn't support my father, and listen, I disagree with my father.
I protest on some of his policies. This is beyond politics. This is the relationship between us and our country, which is, it's everybody is profound, it's one's relationship with another individual. And the America that I grew up in, that we all have known, is one that had alliances and was friends with other countries.
And it would go to other countries who were in trouble, who were being tyrannized or invaded, or otherwise suffering from famines, for example. I was thinking recently about 1985, and we are the world to help Africa with their famine. That's the America that we know and that we have been bonded with. And suddenly that America is no longer that.
Suddenly we're hated in the world. It's interesting because for all the political criticism of your father, which as you said, came from you back in the day, I don't remember a lot of people believing, the idea that he would be seeking vengeance or retribution, that would have been kind of impossible to imagine. Well, because it wouldn't have happened. I mean, that phrase through strength, I think we have to define what strength is.
And strength is not, I don't think bullying is strength. I don't think being overly aggressive is strength. Strength is forming alliances. It doesn't mean that you don't hold your ground or you don't take a stand or something like that.
But it's understanding that you need partners in the world. And I just don't think that anybody, even people maybe on the far right, if they're really being honest, would say, oh yeah, this is good. America's gonna be completely isolated and have no friends in the world. This is good.
This is the America we want. I can't imagine anybody thinking that. You mentioned peace through strength. Democratic Senator Lisa Slotkin, and you mentioned her in your piece.
She delivered the response to President Trump's congressional address last week. And she criticized the president for using that famous line from your dad. I just wanna play the clip of what she said. President Trump loves to say peace through strength.
That's actually a line he stole from Ronald Reagan. But let me tell you, after the spectacle that just took place in the Oval Office last week, Reagan must be rolling in his grave. We all want to enter the war in Ukraine. But Reagan understood that true strength required America to combine our military and economic might with moral clarity.
As a Cold War kid, I'm thankful it was Reagan and not Trump in office in the 1980s. Trump would have lost us the Cold War. The moral clarity, I think, is an interesting phrase because I do think that's something that your dad did view things in terms of morals. He did.
I said in my piece that even, despite my disagreements with his politics, his policies, I never doubted his motivations. And I saw my editor at the New York Times sent me a couple of the letters that were in the comments section. I don't read the comment section for my thesis because sometimes they're not nice though. But she sent me a couple of the letters.
And they were both from people who honestly said, I didn't vote for Ronald Reagan. I didn't support his policies. But I miss him. I miss his, I'm paraphrasing a little bit, his vision of America, his understanding of who America is supposed to be in the world.
And like I said, I walk around now with this feeling of grief. Like I've lost the country that I knew and that I loved and that I was taught about from a very, very young age. My father taught me about the Holocaust at a really young age. I mean like eight years old that America was, this force in the world that if another country was in trouble would cross oceans to help them.
Howdy Davis. Well, thank you for being with us. That seemed to be where we are now. Yeah, thank you for being with us.
And I recommend being with you. Thank you. You're up at the time this weekend. Thank you.
Coming from next in exclusive, Congresswoman Nancy Mase, delivered an unprecedented speech on the House floor calling out several men by name and accusing them of being predators. One of them tonight breaks a silence with their Randy K. Plus the new details on the US college student who vanished during spring break of Dominican Republic in the search that's now on for her. Last month on the House floor, Congresswoman Nancy Mase delivered a blistering speech nearly an hour long accusing four men of being quote predators.
Mr. Speaker I rise today to call out the cowards who think they can prey on women and get away with it. Today I'm going scorched earth. One of the accused couldn't be reached by CNN.
The three others have denied any wrongdoing and say that Mase's speech tarnished the reputations and personal lives. One of those three is talking to Miranda K, or is her exclusive report. For the rest of my life when someone Googles, Brian Musgrave, this is going to be the thing that comes up. It's catastrophic.
Brian Musgrave speaking exclusively to CNN for the first time since South Carolina representative Nancy Mase labeled him a predator during a speech on the House floor. These men aren't just criminals. They are predators. And you can see the names and the faces of these predators on this board.
That was Mase last month at the US Capitol. These men didn't just harm their victims. They recorded their depravity as if it were a badge of honor. Have you ever done any of the things that Nancy Mase is alleging you did?
Absolutely not. No. No. Have you ever witnessed any of the things Nancy Mase alleges you were a part of?
No. For 53 minutes, Mase talked about Musgrave and these other men, including Patrick Bryant, Mase's ex-fiance. Mase accused her ex of quote evil crimes, including rape, recording sex acts without consent, and sex trafficking. She accused all of the men of taking part in premeditated, calculated exploitation of women, including herself, and some girls who she said were underage.
One of the first videos I saw was of a woman. She was incapacitated. And she was being raped. Mase said she found more than 10,000 hidden camera videos and photos, but didn't provide any evidence.
The South Carolina law enforcement division told us they are investigating, and we've confirmed that videos do exist, but a source would not comment on the contents. CNN has not independently reviewed any videos or photos. When she made that speech on the House floor, she put her hand on a Bible and swore to tell the whole truth. Did she?
No. Jen Musgrave defended her husband to us. He's nowhere near any of those things that she was accusing him of. He's just a really good man.
We've been together 28 years, married 22 years. He's my best friend. Eric Bland and Ronnie Richter are Brian Musgrave's lawyers. Have you seen any evidence against your client?
We have seen zero evidence of it. They sent this letter to Representative Mase, requesting she either provide evidence that links their client to the alleged acts or retract her allegations against Musgrave and issue an apology. What we want is to put a period on the conversation about Brian Musgrave to try to restore his good name and reputation when she posted that speech on Twitter, on X. It's now at the 1.8 million views.
He's lost 80% of his customers. His daughter goes to college, his son's in high school. They have to answer for your father being an alleged rapist, an alleged predator, and alleged sex trafficker. Mase's lawyer, the House General Council, responded to Musgrave's lawyers with this letter, noting that sled is investigating the matter, and any request for such evidence should be directed to sled.
Musgrave's lawyer, Eric Bland, called that a typical government response, a non-answer. Musgrave, meanwhile, told us he believes Mase named him because of his decades-long friendship with her ex-fiance and the fact they own a vacation rental condo together on Isle of Palms near Charleston. Musgrave says that condo is outfitted with a camera in the kitchen, though it's unclear if that is one of the cameras Mase was referring to. Another attorney for Mase did not respond to requests for comment on Musgrave's accusations.
The camera was placed on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen area to make sure that nobody was messing around with the condominium. The security type of camera, way out in the open. You see it when you walk in the kitchen, you have to put that up for piss you. So we, Brian, hasn't seen it, didn't have access, control over anything.
The most control I could have over that camera would be to unplug it. In their letter to Mase, Musgrave's lawyers made it clear that their client has never hidden any camera anywhere on the property, and that Musgrave is unaware of anyone else hiding cameras within the property. Mase said she brought the case to state authorities. South Carolina law enforcement, known as Sled, told us in a statement it is specifically investigating allegations of assault, harassment, and voyeurism, and the subject of the investigation is Patrick Bryant.
We tried reaching Mase's ex-fiance, Bryant numerous times. Then his representative sent us this statement in which Bryant denied all criminal allegations. I've no Patrick long time. I don't think he's capable of any of this.
Another of the men Mase named Eric Bowman told us in a statement that no wrongdoing has been committed. We were unable to reach the fourth man, Mase named. In her speech, Mase also pointed fingers at South Carolina Attorney General Allen Wilson for not investigating this. But his office told us in a statement that he wasn't even aware of her allegations until her speech on the House floor.
Also one note about immunity. In his letter, Mase's lawyer says her statements are absolutely protected by the speech and debate clause in the US Constitution. Musgrave's lawyers don't argue that point. They are quick to point out though that Mase acted beyond the House floor, saying she posted her speech on social media, and that poster board that showed the men as predators was posted outside her office.
Those lawyers say that those actions were not protected by the speech and debate clause. And that opens her up to a lawsuit. Anderson? Randy Kay, thanks very much.
Coming up next, details on the massive search underway for the US College student who disappeared on spring break from Dominican Republic when investigators are saying about the case. In the Dominican Republic, a search is underway for missing University of Pittsburgh student who vanished during her spring break. Danny Freeman has more than mysterious disappearance. Dominican National Police are leading the search for 20-year-old Sadiq Shah Kananke deploying drones, canine units, and helicopters in the area around the Rio Republic Hotel in Punta Cana, where Kananke was last seen.
Her family has now traveled to the Caribbean nation to help with the search. Her father telling ABC News. My dad said that she is the Indian heart care, spring break, and everything was going OK. And she was really happy.
What's unclear, though, is if foul play was involved, or if there was a terrible accident. Kananke was last seen with a group of seven other people in the early morning hours last Thursday. The group was drinking on resort grounds before heading to the beach around 4.15 AM, according to a law enforcement source. According to law enforcement sources, surveillance cameras showed five women and one man leaving the beach around 5.55 AM.
Kananke is believed to have stayed behind with a young man in his 20s. Those CCTV cameras also showed that man left the beach area around 9.55 AM, about four hours later, with no signs of Kananke. The man who may have been the last person to see Kananke before she disappeared has been interviewed by police. Sources say the young man is not considered a suspect at this time, but one source told CNN that his version of events has changed slightly in three different accounts to authorities.
In every version, he said they were at the hotel beach and went to the ocean, but then he got out after feeling sick and fell asleep on a lounge chair. But he had different accounts of when he last saw Kananke. Cover-up the belonging to Kananke was found on a lounge chair on the beach, and authorities to say there are no signs of violence. Originally from India, the Kananke family has lived in the US since 2006 and are permanent residents.
Law enforcement officials in Loudoun County, Virginia, where they currently reside, are not ruling anything out. I'm not going to rule anything out or rule anything out. Obviously the circumstances are concerning as to what happened down there, and we're looking into it the best that we can. Kananke's father told CNN he wants authorities to investigate all possibilities, including whether this is a case of kidnapping or human trafficking.
For her part, Kananke is a biology major at the University of Pittsburgh, and she's on the board of a South Asian fusion acapella group. Her father, describing her, has a very nice girl, ambitious. She wanted to pursue a career in medicine. On campus, shock and sadness.
It's definitely really concerning. It's definitely something that everyone should be really processing because it can happen to anyone. Now, Anderson, in a post to social media this evening, the Dominican National Police reiterated they're truly doing all that they can to try and find Kananke. That includes re-interviewing potential witnesses and also expanding forensic surveys of the surveillance video that they already at this point have collected.
Anderson, I'll just note the extensive amount of resources that are being used to try and find Kananke. The Dominican Republic says that they're using the Dominican Army, the Navy, and the Air Force, and that's in addition to our own FBI that's on the ground in the Dominican Republic, again, aiding the search as well. And it's a statement, thanks very much. That's it for us.
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