Accused

We call the defendant, Laura Broder.

Please raise your right hand.

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,

and nothing but the truth?

Ma'am?

Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth

and nothing but the truth?

Truth, for Plato, is absolute.

It's objective.

It transcends physical forms,

indifferent to us mortals.

Truth doesn't need us to believe it.

It just is.

Thanks, guys.

We'll see you all next week.

Here's the updated syllabus with the new dates.

You know, if you want, I can make the midterm revisions myself.

- No. No, I got it. - Okay.

I think it's amazing that you're teaching.

Well, it is my job.

No, yeah, of course.

I, I just...

it's only been two months since your son passed.

Right. Well, he didn't pass exactly.

He was gunned down. Along with eight other children.

I'm...

I'm sorry.

Hey, bud.

How are you doing?

It's just weird.

Seeing his name.

I don't know if I'm supposed to like...

delete it or what.

Yeah. I don't know.

You don't have homework?

What about your History essay?

No one's really gonna fail me right now.

Okay.

Well, if you wanna brainstorm, I'm happy to.

Or you can, you can... you can talk it out with your mom.

Look, I know she's been tough to reach lately,

but she's here for ya, okay?

She's picking me up.

We're supposed to be at the studio at 5:30.

We should be back by 7.

She's doing another interview?

Well, it's something she feels she need to do.

She's just tryin' to...

make sense out of all this, you know?

Jonah?

Yeah.

Fine.

- Hi. - Sorry, I'm late.

We've got time.

I snapped at my TA for no reason

then I insisted on buying him a coffee. Hm.

How was your class?

Uh,

used to be they were all staring at their phones.

Now they're staring at me like I've got three heads.

How's Jonah?

Maybe you should ask him.

What does that mean?

Nothing, just...

he's still got some assignments overdue

and he might need your help.

Maybe you could try to spend some time with him?

I have been meaning to.

- I know. - I don't know why it feels so hard.

Joining us now via satellite

Professor Laura Broder,

whose 12-year-old son, Liam,

was one of the nine children killed

when a fellow student opened fire at Park Ridge High School

in Lake Forest, Illinois.

She's calling on the State Senate

to pass two pieces of gun safety legislation

currently being debated.

Professor, thank you for speaking with us today.

Thank you for having me.

Before we go any further, what can you tell me about your son?

Well. He was a very special kid.

When he grew up,

he wanted to split his time as a marine biologist

and a professional ice-cream maker.

You were kind enough to share a photo.

I understand he was quite the expert on turtles.

Yes, turtles were his favorite.

Even when he was little.

He would pull out fun facts

mostly to bargain for more screen time.

"What's five more minutes?

Turtles live 150 years."

This is obviously an immensely difficult time.

But yet you've chosen to speak publicly and lobby for action.

Yes,

shootings like these

aren't natural disasters.

They're preventable. There are things we can do.

And Senate Bill 83 would close the gun show loophole

and reinstate the ban on assault rifles.

Look, I...

I can't bring back my son

but I can do everything in my power to prevent another one.

So that no other parents have to go through

a nightmare like this.

And to those who deny it happened altogether?

I assume you're aware of the hashtag "ParkRidgeExposed"?

Professor?

Sorry, I...

This was posted by a Joanna Pierce.

One of the most vocal deniers.

Yes, I have seen the so-called footage with my own two eyes

and you can see... you can obviously see,

when the kids start running out of the building, the tape doubles back.

Twice.

Like it's been doctored.

And no one is talking about that! No one!

And lemme tell you, these people who have hijacked our country,

the globalists, uh, pedophiles, child traffickers,

they have tentacles in every pocket of the government, media

and don't think for a second

they wouldn't have staged something like this, 'cause they would.

So they can come into my home

and confiscate my guns and violate my Second Amendment rights?

Uh-uh.

Because these kids didn't die.

None of this is real!

None of it! It's not real.

As of this morning, it has nearly a million views.

Any response to her claim?

That was a total ambush.

We were supposed to be talking about the legislation.

I know, but you handled it as well as you could have.

My God, it really is everywhere.

Lo, there's a reason we didn't look.

What the hell is she doing amplifying this crap on national television?

I mean, it's completely irresponsible.

Listen to me. It's done.

I'm proud of you. I'm really upset about it too

but there's nothing we can do about it.

Look at this.

I understand the platforms aren't liable,

but there are still laws against defamation, right?

Mom. Food's here.

- I'm sorry, could you repeat that? - It's gonna get cold.

Just start without me, okay?

Yeah.

First she wants to rewrite the Second Amendment,

now she's gonna sue Mark Zuckerberg?

She was blindsided.

You can understand that, can't you?

Well, thanks to Article 230,

apparently none of the social media companies are responsible

for any of the content on their sites.

He did say that if they... use Liam's image,

we can flag that as a copyright violation.

Well, that's something.

So it's our job to go through this crap?

It's illegal to use his image

but saying that he never existed, that's fair game?

This is what they do, Mom.

These Covid truthers, vaccine truthers.

- Can we not call them "truthers"? - Call them whatever you want.

Maybe check Twitter before going on national TV.

- Alright. Just take a breath. - What's that supposed to mean?

I mean it wasn't exactly a secret.

Wait, you knew about this? And you didn't think to tell us?

- I knew you'd do this. - What?

"This?" What, what am I supposed to do?

Ignore it, Mom, like... like a normal person.

This is how the internet works.

Yeah. I get that, Jonah.

Okay. I'm not naive.

But this is your brother.

This is his memory.

This is what comes up when you search Liam's name.

Yeah, well somehow I don't think he cares.

I'll talk to him.

No. I'll, I'll, I'll do it.

I just... I need a minute.

It's like they're killing him all over again.

Jonah!

We need to be in there.

We need to be strong for her.

No, this... this is so messed up.

I... this is my fault.

Shh... shh... Okay. It's alright.

- I'm gonna be sick. - It's okay.

Look... look at me.

We all made mistakes. Okay?

All of us.

I'm having a hard time...

with all the uh, noise, I guess.

How do you mean?

All these lunatics online

claiming the whole thing was staged.

That no one really died.

- That's disgusting. - Unbelievable.

It's hard enough accepting...