9-1-1, where is the emergency? It's the middle of the night in a small town on the Jersey Shore. Someone reports an abandoned car on a bridge. A search gets underway for the missing driver, 19-year-old Sarah Stern. Is it a missing person? Is it a suicide? At this point, nobody knows. Old friendships, buried cash, and a sinister plot that was once pitched as a movie plays out in real life. I'm Juju Chang from 2020 and ABC Audio. Listen now to Bridge of Lies, wherever you get your podcasts. All right, I am here with the talented, the lovely, the brilliant Sonny Haasden. Hello, Sonny. Hi, Brian. So Sonny is just telling me off-camera that she's losing her voice, which has me very concerned as to A, why have I put her on the podcast, and B, what happens with our precious commodity that Sonny Haasden's voice goes away? It's been so hard for me, actually. So I've been trying. I've been pretending on the show. I've had to really... You've done it. Today I heard it. This is the first day. I've had to really push myself, and that's because I did a podcast interview of Ben Crump who has a new book coming out yesterday. And so I spoke and we did all those, we did View Your Deals and we did all this stuff. So I've been hiding from you the fact that I have laryngeitis. Successfully so. And the doctor said that the way that my, I guess my vocal chords are irritated and the way to cure it is to not talk. And I explained to the doctor that I'm a talk show host. Yeah, quite a good one. All right, so that's concerning, but we have one more show this week after today. And then we'll... Well, I have a speaking engagement on Saturday in Missouri. So... I don't care so much. It's a 45 minute speech. All right, well tune in Monday. As you know, we've been down a host this week. Joy hasn't been feeling great. So she's taking and understandably... My throat feels pretty raw actually. The combo of her having a cold and it being very cold. Yes. So she took the week, but she'll be back. Oh, this is interesting. For those who watched the Weekend View, stay tuned. Whoopi Goldberg moderating the Whoopi... And I think she had a good time. I think so too. I know. I was surprised. I think she kind of... She rose to the occasion. She kind of enjoyed it. Yeah, usually you think lighter topics, not really Whoopi's cup of tea. She had a good time. No, she did good with it. I thought it was great. So tune in on Saturday for that guys in Sunday. All right, let's get into these hot topics if you can. And if it becomes too much for your voice, just give us a heads up. We should get you tea or something. My husband keeps on saying, stop talking when I get home. But you know, I like to talk. Yeah, no, of course. And you'd like to text. You'd like to talk too. All right. I do text too. You do. All right. The latest out of Minnesota. This is just the story is not going to end anytime soon. And there's been so many tragedies. But this new video of what appears to be Alex Pretti kicking a tail light and getting into an altercation with federal agents a week before he was shot. White House officials say this video goes against the story that he was just a peaceful protester. What did you make of this? I just knew it immediately when I saw it. I was... You saw where things were going to head now. I did. I did because I'm in the business. I've been in the business of law for 30 something years now. You know, I think when I look at things, I look at it from a prosecutor's standpoint. And so I look at what I can charge beyond a reasonable doubt all the time. And when I first, when I saw the unlawful shooting and killing in my mind, I immediately thought, OK, there is no defense. Here this was murder. Pure and simple in my mind. But what generally in a murder case, there are no witnesses, right? Especially domestic violence cases. But there are witnesses now because you've got all the videos. But then this new video comes out that shows that he was capable of committing a crime and capable of aggression. And kicking out a taillight, the law enforcement vehicle sort of, I think, sort of raises the stakes of criminality because most people know that you cannot spit on a police officer because that's an assault. And you certainly can't damage a police vehicle because that is a crime. And the fact that he would be, that he was, that he did that tells me that the agents who knew that would treat him differently because he would be perceived as an aggressive person. And so that immediately, and what you're speaking legally right now, as opposed to not your opinion of what happened, not my opinion, no, how they would put the case together. I don't think that the, that the, that his killing was justified. I thought it was, I think it's a murder. But the defense to murder is self-defense, right? It's almost almost the only defense. It's almost, yeah. And it's almost a complete defense, actually. And so if these officers knew that, because he was wearing the same clothes, and my understanding is that Holman was the, the, what's his name? Tom Holman, who was like sort of the borders are, he has a database of agitators, what he calls agitators or protesters that are, can be aggressive and are non-peaceful. And they're taking pictures of them with facial recognition. And they're actually also showing up at some of their homes and they've had their addresses. So if that happened 11 days before, they had time to collect his information. They certainly had time to get his address. And when he was killed, he was wearing the same clothing, some of the same clothing. And so it's a, it's a, it's a foreseeable defense in my mind that a defense attorney or a judge, attorney or defendant would say, I feared for my life because I had seen him be aggressive before. I thought, and whether he did or not, it's a defense he probably would use. I, I believe so. And, and, and that's the, that's so true. Or any lawyer would use. Any lawyer would use it. And so that's unfortunately what I saw, which is what I mentioned on the show today. Because, and Alyssa said to me during the break, she was like, I would never think of that. I wouldn't have either. When I saw that video, my first thought was, oh, it's probably fake because the, the outfit's the same. And I said, what are the odds that he's wearing the same outfit or something else? And that's how crazy AI has gotten. But it's been verified. His family said that he was there. And then my reaction to it then was, well, it still doesn't justify what happened, but it's unfortunate because people are going to weaponize this to, to attack him. Yeah. And, and it is possible because there's been reporting on it that he became part of that database. Yeah. And that the agents shared that information or some of the very same agents were involved and they, they can argue that they fear for their lives. Well, I never would have thought of it that way. And it's another reason why, what you bring is so important to the show. But you mentioned Bordezar Tom Holman. Yeah. He's now in Minneapolis and he says he will stay there until the problem's gone. He's had productive talks with Governor Walz, which is great. And Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, do you think Holman's stepping in will do anything to ease tensions there? I do. Yeah. And, you know, I believe Holman was the border head under the Obama administration as well. I believe so, yes. And remember we used to call the Obama administration the, The Porter and Chief. He was the Porter and Chief. He, he deported more than any other president before, of course, President Trump. So he knows how to do this effectively. He knows how to do this non-violently. And I think he does know how to bring the temperature down. And he's been very successful on the border. We have less people coming in on our border than I think in decades. Yeah. It's at an all time low. So yes, there's no question that he brings the temperature down. My issue is that these agents are not as trained as border agents. These agents are, they're recruiting 18 year old kids, giving them $50,000, you know, bonuses and, and enticing them to take these jobs, not only by money, but by the messaging. Like, you know, you get to make America safe again. You get a badge, you get a gun. They're allowed to wear masks. They have six weeks of training as opposed to three months of training. I just, it just seems to me that it's less about Tom Homan and more about the people that are out in the field now. And I don't know that he's going to be able to control them. I think they need to be removed from Minnesota immediately. And anyone that has come in recently has to be completely retrained. And they should never be allowed to wear masks because that means that there's less accountability. Yeah, no, absolutely. It's, it's puzzling why they are to me. I never understood that. I've never, I've never seen it. I've never seen it before. Your message this week has been that the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretty by federal ages is an inflection point. Yes. I believe that too. It is. It causes people who usually don't speak about politics to kind of speak up and do it. We talked about it on the show today. Martha Stewart shared a text from her granddaughter that said, I'm not sure it's excusable to not be speaking up right now. Correct. You agree with that? I do. And I know Whoopi and I have disagreed on this for a long time. And I remember we had Reba McIntyre on and she was one that said, you know, I don't speak about politics. I want to make people, unify people with my music. And I think it's a real privilege in life to be able to remain disaffected, you know, to say democracy, our democracy is at risk. Amassed men are disappearing. Our neighbors from the streets, you know, 40% of in some classrooms, 40% of the students are not being taught are not being educated because they're afraid to go to school because their parents may be undocumented. It just seems to me that as a human being, especially one with a platform with real reach, it is your responsibility to be engaged. It's often interesting to me that, you know, people will say, well, you know, I don't vote or I'm just not political. I think that's a real stance of privilege to be able to say that. And for me, especially as a woman of color with children who were children of color, I can't, I don't have the privilege of being disaffected and disengaged. It's, I just never have really. No, I've spent my life sort of being engaged and speaking up for people that don't have voices. Your kids both. They both are the same way. That's something that you because it's interesting for me because my daughters are getting older and they have been pretty sheltered from politics. I don't have the news out of my house generally, mostly because I don't want to watch it. I've got my phone and I'm following things, but I kind of keep a bubble there. But now I get they're getting to an age where they're they're interacting with the world. And of course, they need to understand these things. Was that a conscious decision that you made at some point to bring them in? I've brought them in since they were little. Yeah. Well, it's and it's they're going to have different lived experiences than your girls, right? And so as children of color, I, I spoke to them often about and it's also my background in law enforcement. But I spoke to them often about politics, world politics. I wanted them to know about geopolitics. That that was something that we discussed around our dinner table. We made sure that we ate dinner together. And it's something that we discussed with them probably from the age of four, four or five kindergarten, things like that. I remember Paloma actually in first grade, they had to pick a historical figure on the spot to talk about and dress up as and she picked Rosa Parks. So did my daughter. Yeah, see, you see, so they they probably know a little bit more about history. Then they think then you think and I always wanted my kids to learn about geopolitics and the world from an informed place. And so I also had them read the New York Times. That's really great. Pretty early on. That's really good. And I think I would like to engage citizens. Yes. Because they have rights that other people don't have in other countries and they must exercise. They must know them and exercise them. I think that's right. And I think it's a different kind of a privilege as a kid to not have these things affect you in those things. But it's Ryan, we're raising kids that are in a certain socioeconomic space. And that's a real privilege as well. I grew up in poverty. Yeah. And so I think when you have kids of means that come from, you know, that have all these resources, it is a responsibility for them to do community service. To help people that have less than they have and also be aware that there are people that don't have people that don't have, you know, running water, people that can't afford groceries, people that go to bed that are on house, people that are hungry and that they have pretty good lives and they have to give back to the community because of their privilege. Today, I want to tell you about one of our partners, Reathlete. Before I go on, take a moment to check in right now on how your body is feeling. How does your back feel? How do your hips feel? How about your knees? I got some issues. If you sit for most of the day, you might find that your body saves up a lot of discomfort. 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Conditions apply. 11-night minimum stay, outbound only from slated airports for up to six people. Subject to lounge availability, excludes cruises after an atoll protected. Well, being engaged is different than the other conversation we have here a lot, which is about escaping occasionally and allowing yourself joy in finding that. And you still do that. I know that. I definitely still do that. And you have to be informed so you can't... I can't unplug. Unplug, but what do you and Manny do to have fun and escape this little bit? You know, we are movie buffs. We love that and we line dance. So we take line dancing classes. I saw it. Yeah. We do do that. I've seen some video. And we've been doing this for... Let's see, we've been dating... Let's see, 30 years. It'll be 30 years in August. We'll be married 28 years and we got engaged 30 years ago. And we have movie and margarita night every Friday. I think we're doing that tomorrow night. Yeah, right? We do it every Friday. Yeah. And now that they're streaming and stuff, so we do it at home sometimes, but we make drinks at home and we make truffle popcorn and we watch a movie together. And that's something that allows us to unwind. He sometimes likes to see like blow them up, smash them up, dystopian movies. That's not a getaway. I like a rom-com. Sure. So we have to agree on the movie, but we do do that. I will take the movie aside and not watch it if I think it's something we'll both like and I try to save it for those moments. That's what he needs to start doing because he sometimes doesn't do that. I still haven't seen that Kate Hudson Hugh Jackman movie that all of you love so much because Song Song Blue. Which one was that? That was Song Song Blue. That was a good one. And it feels like a date night movie for me maybe. Yeah, you can do that one. And I think another good one is that one's a good one. That one's a good one. That was a good one. Yeah, yeah, see that one. People I met on vacation is on Netflix. Maybe I'll do that. I don't know. We have that kid Tom Bly here. I saw that one. That's great. Okay, she might like that. She's gonna like that one. That's romantic. All right, well, I'll take my shot. All right, switching gears. Tennis player Coco Guff. She lost in the Australian Open semifinal and someone took video of her smashing her racket and frustration behind the scenes. She thought she was having a private moment, but as you know, nothing's private anymore. Nothing's private anymore. What did you think of this as it happened? She was very upset. She talked about it afterwards though. You know, I didn't really have a problem with it and I'm surprised so many people had a problem with it. I don't know if that she's a woman. I will say you see male athletes do this all the time. Male athletes do it all the time. John McEnroe was famous for doing stuff like that. For me, it was, you know, these are elite athletes and fierce competitors. As you know, I am a fierce competitor. I do know that. I'm not an elite athlete, but you know, you're passionate when you're a competitor and so there's nothing wrong with not liking to lose. I often say that, you know, it's so it's, you don't want to be a sore loser, but it's okay to be hard on yourself. And I, what I saw was someone that was frustrating with her, frustrated with her performance, a passionate elite athlete, sort of being hard on herself. Right. As opposed to like attacking someone else or, you know, it's, it's a, oh my goodness. I can't believe I let myself down. I can't believe I didn't do my best. You know, some of our game nights, you know, people have flip tables over. I was that kid. Yeah. That has happened because, you know, if you're a fierce competitor, you're passionate. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. What I loved was Serena's response because Serena weighed in and said, you know, don't worry about it. I'll teach you how to do it in one swing because I think Coco took like seven or eight swings. And that was, I thought that was incredible. It was like, you know, it's okay to be passionate and it's okay to not to like to lose. Yeah. No, I've been in locker rooms with pro athletes that have lost and I've seen a lot of slamming doors and kicking things. I hate to lose as you know. I hate it. I don't like it. I hate that I lost Jeopardy. I hate it to this day. I know, but you won't go back. No, I'm not going to go back because if I lose again, I won't be able to handle it. Yeah, I know. They've invited me back. I know. I want you to go. I can't do it. I don't lose next time. Come on. All right. You wouldn't be able to deal with me if I would be studying nonstop. I'd be a crazy person. That's true. I can't imagine what that's like, Sonny. We had Sarah Shahi on the show today and she told the story. I loved her. She was great. I wish I had more time. She told the story about wanting a role on the show Paradise. So she went around her agents and reached out to the show's creator, Dan Fogelman herself. And her agents told her, never do that again. But she said, you have to be an outlaw for yourself sometimes and invest in yourself if you want something. Have you had a moment like that in your past where you had to fight for something yourself in an unconventional way? All the time. Yeah. All the time. I mean, I generally do it by showing up as my best self. I generally do it by trying to be as excellent as possible, trying to be as prepared as possible, trying to be as read in as possible. But I think that if you cannot be your own cheerleader, who's going to cheer lead for you? I 100% agree. Who's going to do that? I've had moments in my career where I've had to walk in and say, I'm good for this job. Why aren't you giving me more opportunity? I've done it at ABC many times. And it's paid off. And it's paid off for me. I've gone into your office and said, I want to do this. I think I deserve this. Absolutely. I will say, occasionally we'll have kids come in who are in college or talking. The one thing I always say to them is you have to take those opportunities. You can't bluff. I say at least three or four times in my career. Come with it. Yeah, come with it. At least three or four times in my career, I've had to go into my boss and say, I need this to happen. And if it doesn't happen, I'm going to have to move on. And I think two of the times they said absolutely and two of the times said, sorry, we can't do it and you've got to move on. That happens. It does happen. It's got to be. You've got to invest in yourself and bend yourself. And I don't regret any of them. I don't regret even the ones where they said, nice working with you. Yeah. It means it was time for you to go. And I've told my children that self-advocacy is so very important because this world is so hard and it will tear you down. It'll tell you you're not smart enough. You're not skilled enough. That's when I hear this stuff about imposter syndrome. We've discussed that. I don't have that because I know how hard I've worked to get where I'm at. I've had people say, I don't believe you're a real lawyer. You better damn well believe that I worked really hard to get where I am. I don't suffer from that. No. And I think that's a superpower not to suffer from it. I have less of it as I get older, but I've definitely felt it throughout my career. No. You're a damn good producer and that's why you're the executive producer of the view. No one can take that away from you. No one wants it. Well, no one wants your job. I tell you that all the time, Brian. I would not want your job. The only thing about my job is nobody wants it. No one wants his job. No. I mean, dealing with six opinionated, passionate, stubborn women. Who by design don't agree with each other. Who by design do not agree with each other. Yes, but I feel very lucky. All right. Before we go, there was a story on the hot topics list from someone who said this. Anyone who has tempted to start a conversation with a stranger in the elevator, please don't. And now I heard you call this peopleizing. Is that correct? I do. Do you like talking to strangers? You know, it depends on where my social battery is at. I am a people person, so people intrigue me. And so I talk a lot. I talk to all, I know the security, as you know. I know everyone's name in the building. And you know what's going on in their business is pretty much. I know everybody's business. I'm very curious. And so I do, I am the person that may say, oh, where'd you get those shoes from? That's where I've seen you do it. I do. Or I admire someone's jewelry. I do do that. Or I say, you know, you OK today? Like if someone looks down. That's nice. I do do that. But sometimes I get tired of peopleizing. I do. What about when people do it to you? I mean, are you ever not in the mood to talk to somebody? I always talk. I always talk. I think it's rude not to. But there are times when I don't feel like peopleizing. And I actually, you'll get a kick out of this. I have a good close friend who is giving a Super Bowl party. And Bad Bunny is performing. And so I'm not really that interested in the football part of it, but I love the commercials and I cannot wait to see Bad Bunny perform. I have to get you into gambling. I think you'd like that. I know. I may like that, but I don't know. I don't like losing money. Fair. Yeah. But she's having like 30 to 40 people at her house. That's a lot. I don't think I can do that much peopleizing and then also be able to listen to the commercials and listen to Bad Bunny. So I had invited 10 people over to my house. Some fellow Puerto Rican. So we're going to understand everything that he says, that everything that Bad Bunny is singing. And she wants my 10 to go to her house. And I actually texted her and I said, I do not think I can do that much peopleizing. Because what started to happen to me is, especially if people I don't know, they all watch the show. Right. And then I end up peopleizing a lot and I end up taking a lot of pictures on my off time. Yes. And I don't. And I need you watching commercials and watching the halftime shows. Because we're going to talk about it on Monday. Absolutely. You can say, my boss said I can't do it. Exactly. You know what? That's what I'm going to use. Because it's just a lot of peopleizing sometimes. I mean, I think that's what makes you a good talk show host is the actual genuine curiosity you have for people. And I think that's helpful. I have it in spurts also. Yeah. I definitely, my battery runs down. I'll be anti-social in the evenings sometimes if I'm not up for it. Sometimes I come home and, you know, Manny's my best friend and I'm his best friend. So he loves to ask what we talked about on the view because he doesn't watch a show like my kids. How was my day? Like my wife. And stuff like that. And sometimes it's late at night and it's like after I've had an event or a premiere or something like that. And I don't feel like peopleizing with him. No, I get it. I mean, or if I have to go to like an event for my kids and, you know, it's I'm tired. And we, because we peopleize starting at what, 7am? Exactly. And not just with our staff and everything else, but then just like you said, you're talking to the audience, you're in the audience, you're doing all this stuff. Yeah, we peopleize a lot here. Yeah, it's a lot. And it's a privilege most of the time. It's a huge privilege to know so many people and for so many people to want to speak to you. Yes. And that's why I generally do also speak to people because there isn't a place that I go that people don't say to me, thank you for what you do. Well, that's got to be fulfilling. And that's pretty special. Yeah, that's great. That's pretty special. So that's, that's another reason why I'm here. There's not a place that I go where people don't say, how do you do what you do? How do you deal with all those ladies? I know they must. Yeah, they do, but it's okay. And did I ask you things like, is she really? Yes, but I always say like, I mean, the truth is you guys are the same. We're exactly the same. You're really the same. It's such a gift for me to say that. We're the same people. They are the same people. No one's putting on airs. No one's acting. I mean, you know, we're the same people. I get that a lot when people meet me. They go, oh my gosh. Yeah. You're the same person. People tell me you look so much better in person. I don't think that's a compliment. Well, would you rather look better in person or on TV? Right? Correct. Yeah, I don't know. Okay. I guess more people see you on TV. Yeah, but I don't know. I think you look great both places. Thank you. That's a weird thing. And they also say you're so much shorter in person. Really? Not that short. No, you're not. And when you wear heels, I get very uncomfortable. I'm not that short. No. It's weird, right? I know. Maybe TV makes you look like larger than life. I think you're just in someone's house. I mean, it's the same thing like people come in and, you know, they think the studio is so small compared to what they see at home and things like that. Oh, yeah. Exactly that effect. Maybe it has that. Yeah. I mean, you meet people in real life. Do they usually look like they do in your head before you do? Like actors and actresses and movie stars and musicians, politicians? It just looks better in person. Oh, it's been too long since interest has been here. We gotta make a call. Yeah, we gotta get interest to come back. All right. Well, on that note, thank you for joining me, Sunny. That's it for Behind the Table this week, but we're back tomorrow with an all-new view episode and Whoopi's on on a Friday, which will be great. Unbelievable. She'll be moderating in the weekend view. We've got Jason Biggs and Catherine Lanaza, who's on The Pit, which everybody loves. Yes. And we'll see you all tomorrow on Hot Topics, of course. Yes. Thank you. Behind the Table is executive produced by Brian Teta. Supervising producers are Nathan Getty and Summer Shea. Media producers are Emily Darcy and Katarina Alexopoulos. And our editor is Brian Davis. And director of publicity is Laurie Hogan. From ABC Audio, Trevor Hastings serves as senior producer with director of podcast programming Josh Cohen. From 30 for 30 podcasts. Brian Patta, senior defensive lineman for Miami. Gun down. The key to this case, it's Brian. A hour before he died, he was on the phone. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction in place and you're arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now.
