During an exclusive CNN interview, actor Alec Baldwin said he was “concerned for the only time” about the aftermath of the deadly shooting on the “Rust” movie set after former President Donald Trump weighed in on the tragedy.
Baldwin hinted that his physical safety was in jeopardy, claiming that Trump “directed people to commit acts of violence” on Jan. 6 and now he’s “pointing the finger at me.”
CNN’s New Day Friday aired Baldwin’s interview with CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas, in which they discussed the aftermath of the tragic shooting on the Hollywood set of the movie Rust.
Baldwin claimed during his interview that he didn’t pull the trigger, telling Melas, “I never said — never — that the gun in my hand would go off automatically. I always said I pulled the hammer back, and I pulled it back as far as I could. I’ve never taken a gun and pointed it at someone and clicked the thing.”
Baldwin also noted that he hired his own private investigator to investigate the alleged accident, who was assured by the sheriff’s department that he would not be charged in the “Rust” shooting.
Alec Baldwin told CNN that the gun in his hands went off automatically. AP/Jae C Hong
“This private investigator, as you probably know, had no trouble gaining access to the staff of the sheriff’s department, and this person told us, quote, unquoted, ‘We have known in the department since January that Alec has not been charged with one crime,’” he explained.
Melas spoke to Baldwin’s attorney, who insisted it would be a “huge miscarriage of justice” if Baldwin were charged with a felony over the shooting.
CNN claimed Trump angered the actor, declaring “but the then-president fanned flames against him.” (Though Trump had been out of office for almost a year at this point.)
Alec Baldwin’s private investigator claimed the sheriff’s department hadn’t charged him with a felony, AP
Baldwin described Melas being bullied by Trump over the shooting. “The former President of the United States said, ‘He probably shot her on purpose.'”
He then implied that Trump was physically endangering him for allegedly doing the same thing to his political enemies on Jan. 6.
“Me [that] was the only time I thought I needed it—that I worried about what was going to happen. Because here was Trump directing people to commit acts of violence, and he pointed the finger at me and said I was responsible for the death,” Baldwin said.
Deadline Hollywood reported last November that Trump narrowly stopped accusing Baldwin of shooting Hutchins on purpose, openly musing “maybe he loaded it.” As noted by The Hill, the former president added, “He had something to do with it.”
Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died on set after being shot by a prop gun used by Alec Baldwin. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Alec Baldwin was concerned Donald Trump would physically harm him after speaking about the shooting via Getty Images
As Fox Digital reported, during filming on Oct. 21, “a gun that Alec Baldwin kept fired during a rehearsal for the film, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.” Since the shooting, Baldwin has maintained that the shooting was an accident and that the alleged prop cannon had fired live rounds without him pulling the trigger.
Last December he stated: “The trigger wasn’t pulled. I didn’t pull the trigger.” However, an FBI investigation found that “the gun used on the New Mexico film set could not have been fired without the trigger being pulled.”
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the gunsmith of the “Rust” set, was closely investigated as to why Baldwin was handed a live ammunition gun during filming. Gutierrez-Reed has since sued Seth Kenney, “the man who supplied the prop ammo used by the production team.”
Gutierrez-Reed’s attorneys have criticized the Santa Fe, New Mexico, Sheriff’s Department for not clarifying where the live rounds came from. It made “a conscious decision not to pursue this issue at all by refusing to ask the FBI to test any of the rounds for fingerprints or DNA,” they said.