The trigger lamented that everybody was putting the squeeze on him ... "
Alec Baldwin
Liliputins. What, the heck, is this?
http://stihi.ru/2021/11/24/7101
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Letitia James Puts the Squeeze On Donald Trump
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Maureen Callahan
Alec Baldwin blames the victim in sickening interview
By Social Links for Maureen Callahan
Updated Dec. 3, 2021, 9:39 a.m. ET
Just when you think Alec Baldwin can’t go any lower, he blames Halyna Hutchins, the woman he shot to death, for getting shot to death.
“Everything is at her direction,” Baldwin told a sycophantic George Stephanopoulos during a jaw-dropping, hourlong interview that aired Thursday night.
“I’m holding the gun where she told me to hold it,” Baldwin said, “which ended up right below her armpit. Which is what I was told — I don’t know.”
There was so much Baldwin claimed not to know.
And Stephanopoulos, his longtime friend from the Hamptons — not that the average viewer would know that — was only too eager to pitch softball after softball.
Yes, one of ABC’s leading journalists — I use that term loosely — hardly challenged Baldwin when he claimed, repeatedly, that he never pulled the trigger, that the gun just went rogue.
“I would never point a gun at anyone,” Baldwin said — despite his earlier assertion that Hutchins had told him to point the gun at her, so he did — “and pull the trigger at them. Never.”
“The bullet striking and killing that woman came out of the barrel of the gun pointed directly at her,” says retired FBI Agent Bobby Chacon, who now works as a writer and on-set consultant in Hollywood.
Alec Baldwin cries during his interview with George Stephanopolous on ABC.
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Alec Baldwin cries during his interview with George Stephanopolous on ABC.
ABC News
“Bullets don’t curve. He isn’t in ‘The Matrix.’ The trigger would still have to be pulled.”
“I’m not aware of any gun firing itself,” says Steve Wolf, a Hollywood firearms and special-effects expert since 1994. “I’ve never seen a gun self-discharge. A single-action revolver like this” — the Colt that Baldwin fired — “can be discharged very easily, with minimal input required … The trigger still must have been pressed.”
George Stephanopoulos had the first exclusive interview with Alec Baldwin following the deadly shooting on the set of the film 'Rust.'
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George Stephanopoulos had the first exclusive interview with Alec Baldwin following the deadly shooting on the set of the film “Rust.”
ABC via Getty Images
Wolf is also outraged by a larger concern. “It’s really important to discredit anyone who claims that guns fire themselves,” he says. “If this becomes an acceptable defense, there goes any accountability when it comes to shooting people. We can’t have this kind of ‘guns shoot themselves’ thing. They don’t.”
Perhaps — perhaps — Baldwin is in denial. That’s the generous interpretation, but it’s hard to feel generous toward him when he and his wife have been behaving so deplorably.
Halyna Hutchins
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Halyna Hutchins was shot and killed by Alec Baldwin on the “Rust” set.
Getty Images for SAGindie
There was the jaunt to Vermont immediately after the shooting, shopping at Ralph Lauren and buying out a local tavern, sitting right in front of the window where paparazzi could get unobstructed pictures.
Alec Baldwin is seen putting luggage in the back of the car with wife Hilaria.
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Alec Baldwin is seen putting luggage in the back of the car with wife Hilaria.
Elder Ordonez / SplashNews.com
Then came the bizarre roadside press conference in which Hilaria yelled self-righteously at the press while angling to get in every camera frame. All quickly followed by the gross Instagram posts on Halloween and after, raving about how happy their children are, while Hutchins’ son, only 9 when she died, was so traumatized, he couldn’t speak for two days after her death.
On Thursday morning, hours before this interview aired, Baldwin was photographed going for coffee and loading up his car — en route to the Hamptons, no doubt — while his gross fraud of a wife, Hilaria, strutted around in metallic leggings, four-inch heels and a gold $1,900 Moncler vest.
Thursday’s little gambit, Baldwin attempting to elicit sympathy while pointing the finger at everyone else, was an epic miscalculation.
He truly believes we’ll feel sorry for him — Alec Baldwin, one of Hollywood’s biggest bullies and rage monsters, attempting to squeeze out tears as he laments how this has ruined his love of moviemaking.
Stephanopoulos is equally to blame here. This was an embarrassing line of questioning.
Baldwin denied he was to blame in his interview with Stephanopolous, saying “I would never point a gun at anyone.”
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Baldwin denied he was to blame in his interview with Stephanopolous, saying, “I would never point a gun at anyone.”
ABC via Getty Images
Alec Baldwin is seen on set before the fatal shooting.
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Alec Baldwin is seen on set before the fatal shooting.
Serge Svetnoy/Facebook
“What was it that drew you to this project in the first place,” Stephanopoulos asked, “to ‘Rust’?”
Who cares? What is this — an episode of “Access Hollywood”?
"Rust" director Joel Souza
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“Rust” director Joel Souza was also shot on the set.
Getty Images
“People who are watching this show,” Baldwin said — meaning people like you and me, the little people — “you have no idea how unique a motion picture set is … the amount of care …”
Care? That’s rich given what we know about this set, the seven crew members who walked out that very morning over documented safety concerns, at least two accidental gun discharges, one accidental special-effects explosion and a young, inexperienced armorer — but, hey, sure, let’s go with “care.”
“I looked at all these people, and I see how hard they worked and they’re so conscientious” — unbelievable — “and you’re part of one of the great collaborative processes in the world: moviemaking.”
Here’s the essence of this tragedy: It was just a movie. A fast, cheap and out-of-control production that cost a young wife and mother her life.
Ignore Baldwin’s excuses. Everyone from Chacon to Wolf to George Clooney and others has said safety protocols on set are specific, simple, exact, rigorous and to be followed to the letter every time.
Every. Single. Time.
SEE ALSO
Alec Baldwin insists he’s not to blame for fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins on ‘Rust’ set
In speaking to me a few weeks ago, Wolf presented an interesting hypothetical: “If that scene required [Baldwin] to put the gun to his head and pull the trigger, I’m sure he would have taken a look inside the gun. Wouldn’t you?”
If only Stephanopoulos had asked that question.
Instead, we learned that Baldwin now has nightmares (poor him!), feels no guilt, and fully expects Hutchins’ widower, Matthew, to sue — but is feeling pretty confident that he won’t be charged criminally and that Matthew won’t come after him personally.
“Someone is responsible for what happened,” Baldwin said, “and I know it’s not me.”
After this interview — and Baldwin’s callous demeanor these past few weeks — Matthew Hutchins, especially, might feel differently.
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Halyna Hutchins' Family Attorney Criticizes SAG-AFTRA's Defense of Alec Baldwin: "The Case Will Be Decided On its Merits"
01/27/24
An attorney for the family of Rust cinematographer Halyna Hutchins said this week that SAG-AFTRA's defense of Alec Baldwin amid new potential charges flies "in the face of common sense and the law."
Baldwin was indicted in the fatal shooting of Hutchins earlier this month, after a grand jury presented with a new investigation recommended charges. He had previously been charged with involuntary manslaughter in January 2023, before the charges were dropped in April 2023 upon discovery of new evidence that demanded investigation. New Mexico District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies said on CNN last week that the new indictment comes on the basis that Baldwin, as a producer, had a duty to "make sure that the set was safe," and that as an actor, "he should have checked that gun, checked those projectiles."
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Following news of the new charges, SAG-AFTRA called the comments "wrong and uninformed."
"An actor's job is not to be a firearms or weapons expert," the union's statement read. "Firearms are provided for their use under the guidance of multiple expert professionals directly responsible for the safe and accurate operation of that firearm." The union also argued that it is an employer's responsibility to provide a safe working environment.
"The notion that an actor is not responsible if that actor holds a gun, points it at someone on a movie set, and discharges the weapon flies in the face of common sense and the law," Gloria Allred an attorney for Hutchins' family, told The Hollywood Reporter. "Safety protocols may be considered at trial, but they are not the law. This indictment was the result of a careful assessment by the grand jury of all the facts and the law."
Related video: NEWS OF THE WEEK: Alec Baldwin is indicted again in 'Rust' shooting (Cover Media US)
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Cover Media US
NEWS OF THE WEEK: Alec Baldwin is indicted again in 'Rust' shooting
The Rust shooting occurred on Oct. 21, 2021, when an old-fashioned revolver held by Baldwin fired while he was practicing drawing the prop firearm. Though assistant director David Halls told Baldwin the weapon did not contain live ammunition, the gun discharged in the direction of Hutchins, who was killed, and director Joel Souza, who was injured. Five live rounds were found on set following the shooting. It remains unknown how they ended up on the set.
Allred's statement this week continued, "It is important to respect the grand jury's decision to indict, and to allow the criminal justice system to proceed to trial where the case will be decided on its merits." She added that "we look forward to the jury having the opportunity at trial to decide who should be held accountable for Halyna's untimely death."
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