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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Musk Calls Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" A "Disgusting Abomination"; Gaza Humanitarian Foundation Closing Aid Distribution Sites For 24 Hours After 3rd Deadly Shooting Near One This Week; Ukraine Strikes Bridge Connecting Russia And Crimea Days After Drone Attack On Aircraft; Trump Privately Complains About Supreme Court Justices He Nominated; NY Times: Justice Dept. Investigating Claims Of Discrimination Against White Men By Harvard Law Review, Key Witness Works In White House; Opening Statements In Mike Lindell Defamation Trial; George Clooney To Star In Live Performance Of His Play Saturday Night At 7PM ET On CNN. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired June 03, 2025 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Erin, the Governor is now the one that will ultimately decide what happens with this bill, but it's not clear what he's going to do. He has until June 22nd to decide whether or not to veto the bill. We reached out to his spokesperson, who simply said that the governor will, "thoughtfully review the legislation sent his way." But the politics around all of this, Erin, is incredibly complex right now. You have liberal Democrats who support the ban, you have conservative Democrats who voted against it, so the pressure is mounting on the Governor.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Yes, absolutely right. Ed, thank you very much and thanks so much to all of you, Anderson starts now.

[20:00:35]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, just days after leaving the administration, Elon Musk, weighs in to the President's so-called Big Beautiful Bill. Why he's calling it now a disgusting abomination and how the White House and Congress are reacting.

Kara Swisher and Anthony Scaramucci join us.

Also, tonight is Trump turning on Supreme Court justices he himself nominated? His new war of words on the court. Best-selling Supreme Court biographer, Jeffrey Toobin is here for that.

And later, opening statements in the MyPillow guy's trial for defamation. What he's got to say about the lawsuit he's facing and his 2020 election conspiracy claims, which landed him in court.

Good evening, thanks for joining us.

We begin tonight with $1 trillion question. Is the President's tax and spending legislation now before the Senate a big beautiful bill or a disgusting abomination? The first is how the President describes it. In fact, it's literally the bills title, H.R.1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

The second is how Elon Musk described it today in a social media post that reads: "I'm sorry, but I just can't stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it. You know you did wrong. You know it."

A few hours later, he added this about midterm elections, "In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people." This came just four days after his DOGE going away party at the White House in the Oval Office, standing beside the President, who seemed open to any future advice he might have to offer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Elon is really not leaving. He's going to be back and forth. I think I have a feeling.

ELON MUSK, ENTREPRENEUR, OWNER OF TESLA AND SPACEX: Well, I expect to continue to provide advice whenever the President would like advice.

TRUMP: I hope so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, whether he's happy, how that's turning out isn't yet clear. He hasn't said a thing about Musk's post so far. Elon on camera, off camera, online. However, a number of White House officials told CNN they were surprised by the criticism, and White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President already knows where Elon Musk stood on this bill. It doesn't change the President's opinion. This is One Big Beautiful Bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Late today, White House Budget Director Russell Vought also weighed in, saying he understands where Musk is coming from. But and these are his words, "I don't think there's any way you could possibly suggest this is not a fiscally responsible bill."

Now, keeping them honest, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office does not make such value judgments one way or another. The CBO does, however, say that the bill's tax provisions would add $3.8 trillion to the deficit from 2026 through 2034. And budget hawks, most notably Senator Rand Paul, are not pleased.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Once conservative Republicans vote for this, there is no conservative opposition, there is no -- they will own it. The debt will be owned by the Republicans. There's no more pointing fingers at the Democrats and saying, oh, they're the big spenders. It will be all on Republican shoulders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, late today we learned that some of those Republicans, members of the Senate Finance Committee, will be going to the White House tomorrow to try and hammer out issues they have with the bill.

Meantime, as you might imagine, Democratic lawmakers are eating this up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Breaking news Elon Musk and I agree with each other. The GOP tax scam is a disgusting abomination. Every single Republican who voted for the one big ugly bill should be ashamed of themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Senate Minority Leader Schumer agreed, saying if Elon Musk, who is Trump's buddy, says the bill is bad, you can imagine how bad this bill is. Now, Elon Musk has had little but good things to say about the President, he didn't directly criticize the President in his post today, just members of Congress who voted for the President's bill.

However, House Speaker Mike Johnson today offered a hypothesis about why Musk might be doing this, pointing out the bill phases out tax credits for buying electric vehicles like Elon Musk's Teslas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Elon is missing it, okay, and it's not personal. I know that the E.V. mandate is very important to him. That is going away because the government should not be subsidizing these things, but for him to come out and ban the whole bill is to me, just very disappointing, very surprising in light of the conversation I had with him yesterday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Just a short time ago, Speaker Johnson said he's reached out to Musk by phone and text, saying, "I look forward to talking with him."

Let's kick things off tonight with Kaitlan Collins in Washington. How big a surprise was this to the White House?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I don't think it's a surprise that this is how Elon Musk felt. I mean, he was just joking the other day that he didn't know if a bill could be both big and beautiful, Anderson. But I think what surprised them the most about this post today is -- one, it came in the middle of the White House press briefing as Karoline Leavitt was defending this bill against Republican skepticism, from some senators that we've seen on Capitol Hill saying that they were wrong in their estimation of what this bill is going to do if it passes as it is, but also in just how far he went out there with his criticism. I mean, it wasn't just this one post.

[20:05:27]

He went on to criticize it, to say that Congress was going to bankrupt the American people and the American government. He threatened to essentially try to fire any of these lawmakers who voted for this come next November, during the 2026 midterms. And so, he really went in on this and then was quoting Thomas Massie, one of the only House Republicans who voted against this, saying that he agreed with him that it is just simple math, that this is not a good bill.

And obviously, you have to look at, yes, he's not directly criticizing President Trump here, but look at what President Trump has been saying about this. He's touting it. He's saying the Senate should get it done and have it on his desk in about a month from now. And he's been trying to work over the Senate Republicans who have had concerns about exactly what Elon Musk is talking about here. How many trillions of dollars this could potentially add to the deficit, which the White House is saying it's not going to add anything to the deficit. They've been criticizing the congressional scorekeepers up on Capitol Hill over their estimates over this.

But obviously, Anderson, it's not just that. And also, you have to look at this, you know, from that moment in the Oval Office just on Friday, this is quite a far cry from that and where that stood right then. The question is whether or not this helps embolden any of those Republican senators who right now are saying that they're not prepared to vote for this the way it stands.

COOPER: Kaitlan, thanks very much. We'll see you at the top of the hour.

Joining us now, a longtime reporter on all things Musk, Kara Swisher, CNN contributor and co-host with Scott Galloway, "The Pivot Podcast," also with us, former not longtime trump White House Communications director Anthony Scaramucci, co-host with Katty Kay of "The Rest is Politics: U.S. Podcast."

Kara, you said back in November that the Trump-Musk alliance would not end well. You said there can only be one and that's going to be Donald Trump. Do you -- I mean, is it -- is that where we are tonight, or do you think this is just kind of a baby step?

KARA SWISHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, no, it's clear that this is where he's headed. And, you know, what's interesting is disgusting about abomination is a big word. He knows big words, but he actually knows math. And I think this is sort of at the heart of what he's talking about and actually is making some sense is this deficit issue is what he was trying to fight at DOGE, presumably. And so, to do this, this bill is probably an insult to him.

At the same time, you know, he could he could get worse and worse. And this is what its' like outside the tent with Elon Musk outside the tent, which is not a good place for the Trump administration to be because he has a huge platform.

COOPER: Anthony, do you think Speaker Johnson is right that this is about the electric vehicle mandates?

ANTHONY SCARAMUCCI, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Listen, I don't think he's right. I mean, there could be a small issue that Kara would know that better than me, but I think it's more related to the massive trajectory. I think Elon Musk is looking at the growth of spending, and he's recognizing that that's going to outpace the growth in the GDP, which is long term unsustainable. And so, it's just irresponsible. And the three of us no longer go, we put guardrails up with the pay as you go legislation in the 1990s. That's something Elon Musk would like to return to, this does the opposite of that.

And I actually applaud him for speaking out about it, because I think it's direct and its honest, and its letting the American people know that this sort of swamp, this whirlpool that were all in, these guys are going to do this even though they claim fiscal conservatism, they're actually not that.

COOPER: Anthony, to Kara's point, having Elon Musk on the outside upset or angry, potentially, from a communication standpoint, I mean, is certainly a volatile, you know, life force out there.

SCARAMUCCI: Listen, I think the biggest mistake that the Democrats -- among many mistakes that they made in 2024, was letting him out of the party. He was a longtime Democrat. His car buyers are mostly Democrats. And so, I think you're going to find a more independent streak Elon Musk. And he said very publicly that he doesn't want to be involved in these campaigns anymore. But he's switching again, saying, hey, if these guys are not going to do the right thing for the country, maybe he'll be part of an agent for change, an entrepreneurial change in political leadership in the United States, which is sorely needed.

You know, we have to fix this problem, guys. Everybody knows that. But this current crop of politicians is just not capable or willing to do that. And, you know, there's a lot of hypocrisy in what Mike Johnson is saying tonight, trying to find something in the bill to pick on. He knows this is an abomination. It's a big, ugly superstar spending bill and they got to corral it somehow.

COOPER: Kara, do you think Johnston is right at all that this has anything to do with electric vehicles, no?

SWISHER: No, if Donald Trump said green, he would say green if the sky was blue. This guy just says whatever it takes to please Donald Trump. And in this case, the electric vehicle thing is ridiculous. We should just ignore it completely. I mean, it's a good thing for Elon Musk, but I think the bad thing is the deficit. And he's always been -- that idea about government spending and the overspending of government, he's said it a lot.

[20:10:16] There's few things he sort of sticks to, but this is one of them is

math, you know, that it really -- even if it benefits billionaires like him, which these bills do. I think he realizes this is a real -- this is a freight train heading toward very problematic things at the expense of the working class.

And so, you know, listen, I don't agree with Musk on a lot of things, but in this case, anybody could do the math. And to pretend that it's not going to do exactly what it does, because Donald Trump's, you know, the history of Donald Trump is deficit spending compared to every other President. And, you know, on some level, Musk has to acknowledge that. And he's not going to go along with everything.

And now that he's outside and they sort of kicked him on the way out with getting rid of the NASA administrator he wanted I think he doesn't care and of course they don't realize he doesn't care, I've told them that, like he'll do whatever he wants and not follow the rules --

COOPER: So Kara, you think this is actually, I mean you think he -- obviously a lot of Democrats would like him to turn on the President and be vocal about it. I mean, do you think that's actually possible? I mean he doesn't seem so much invested in this.

SWISHER: I think he turns on everybody. No, Elon Musk is willing to take any risk whatever it takes, you know, the kind of -- he's there is no loyalty there for many of these tech people. He's just sort of the more emotional connotation of it but if, like I said, if Kamala Harris won, Elon Musk will be calling himself they/them.

I don't know -- just, like whatever it takes to get what they need, they do. And in this case, I do think he was committed to cutting, found a lot less problems in the government then they couldn't find stuff actually to cut and did some real damage to his reputation as we've talked about.

COOPER: Anthony, does Musk coming out against the bill get him covered to more Republicans on the Hill to do the same?

SCARAMUCCI: I think on the margin it does, what I think that Speaker Johnson and President Trump are right now doing everything they can to corral them and to get them on side on the bill. But what I do think it does is it exposes the hypocrisy, and it does present an opportunity again, for potentially entrepreneurial politicians to step in here and offer themselves up as agents of change.

COOPER: Kara, it is interesting the degree to which the promises Elon Musk made, you know, I think it was $2 trillion at one point. He was --

SWISHER: Two, yes.

COOPER: -- saying on a stage that he would do, then it was one and, you know, and then it's like 100 billion something doesn't take into account --

SWISHER: Now it's less.

COOPER: Yes and it doesn't take -- that doesn't even take into account like, you know, lawsuit money spent on lawsuits for people who were fired, you know, allegedly for cause that there was no cause and all the kind of the ripple effects of it.

SWISHER: Right.

COOPER: Is this cover for any of that? I mean, is it a ploy to put daylight between himself and the administration, given how much this has kind of hurt him in the public eye and certainly among buyers to Anthony's point of his cars?

SWISHER: Yes, I think so. I think he was a heat shield for Trump. I've said that a number of times to you and others and I think that he's tired --

COOPER: Yes, you said Trump was using him as a heat shield.

SWISHER: Totally. Right, and then as he was going out, they kind of loaded all kinds of stuff onto him and of course, he's been taking more of the hits, some of them deserved by the way, if you're if selling cars to sort of Democrats really, or people who are interested in climate change and then calling them idiots, it's not really a great way to sell a car to someone.

So, a lot of this is his own self-inflicted wounds. But in this case, you know, he's someone who really probably wanted to make these cuts. And then he realized Washington was exactly what he thought it was, and he couldn't -- you know, he's one of these people used to saying, jump and he gets high and here he got a lot of -- he got tarnished really badly, both personally and professionally. And so, he's just going to do what he wants now, which is the way he likes to be and which is what he's returning to at his companies.

COOPER: Anthony, what do you make of the administration at this particular juncture? I mean, there was a lot of speed in the beginning, a lot of obviously headlines, you know, flooding the zone, whatever you want to call it. Now, a lot of things winding their way through courts.

SCARAMUCCI: Well, I mean, as a stock market investor, a longtime asset manager, I like it. I think it's a -- its proof that the system is sort of corralling the worst instincts of the administration. And so, I will say this, though, Anderson, the bond market does not like the spending bill. And so, they want to put that through. There's a freight train coming in the bond market. And if you see rates back up 100, 150 basis points, be terrible for the economy, terrible for housing. And remember, our small businesses are connected to housing, 60 percent of them and that's where all the job growth is.

So, that that bill could be a potential cataclysm out there and I think the bond market is telling people that. But I do like to slowdown that the courts are doing to this administration.

COOPER: Anthony Scaramucci, Kara Swisher, thanks so much. Good to talk to you both.

Coming up next, more than two dozen people killed after yet another shooting near an aid distribution site in Gaza. Tom Friedman of "The New York Times," joins us.

And later, Donie O'Sullivan on the start of Mike Lindell's election conspiracy defamation trial.

[20:15:33]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: This must be the first trial ever where the jury pool was selected based on what pillow they slept on.

MIKE LINDELL, CEO OF MYPILLOW: That's good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:20:07]

COOPER: For the third consecutive day, shooting broke out as Palestinians approached an aid distribution site in Southern Gaza. According to the Palestinian Ministry of Health and Nasser Hospital, at least 27 people were killed and dozens more wounded when Israeli troops open fired near the distribution site in Tel al-Sultan in Rafah earlier this morning. Israel's military confirmed that their troops had fired their weapons, saying in a statement, "The troops carried out warning fire and after the suspect failed to retreat, additional shots were directed near a few individual suspects who advanced toward the troops."

Now the death toll, which has not been independently verified by CNN, would bring the number of Palestinians killed near this aid site to more than 60 in the past three days. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is the group that now runs these distribution sites, has announced they will close all locations on Wednesday for logistical preparations to handle the massive number of people and for the Israeli military to make preparations to access to on access routes.

I want to bring in "New York Times" foreign affairs columnist and bestselling author Tom Friedman. He's the author from Beirut to Jerusalem, among many other remarkable books. Tom, I mean, when you see the shooting, the situation with these shootings near the same aid station on consecutive days, what does it say to you about the distribution of aid right now and the lack of ability to get verifiable information?

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN, FOREIGN AFFAIRS COLUMNIST, "THE NEW YORK POST", AUTHOR, "FROM BEIRUT TO JERUSALEM": It says, Anderson, the whole thing is just a disaster. Israel under Netanyahu decided to resume the war, rather than do what the majority of Israelis want now, which is simply say to Hamas give us our hostages back and all the dead bodies and we'll end the war and well deal with you down the road somewhere, but we will end this war. That's the only way out of this, Anderson. Otherwise, you're going to

get these stories every. Whether it's a shooting in Boulder, Colorado as people are outraged there or whether it's clashes between Israelis and Palestinian civilians, it's Hamas intimidating Palestinians so they can stay in power. This war has gone on way too long. It's being run by really, really bad people on both sides -- Hamas and Netanyahu. And this is a case where I'm rooting for Trump actually to step in and knock heads and bring this thing to a close.

COOPER: I mean, Hamas still clearly has enough control that they are still a force, which is was the prime objective, I guess, on this from the beginning, in addition to getting out the hostages. How much for Netanyahu is this about domestic politics?

FRIEDMAN: It's all about domestic politics, actually. It's not even about domestic politics. It's all about his survival politics. Because Netanyahu knows that, when this war is over and the hostages are returned there's going to be a real reckoning inside Israeli politics. There will be an election, I believe. And there'll be a demand for a Commission of Inquiry about his own decisions before and after the war. He's already on trial in three other cases on corruption. And I think he sees the end of his political career coterminous with the end of the war.

And so, he's keeping it going. I've actually never seen a situation where one man's personal interests are driving so many bad decisions for a whole country.

COOPER: And the distribution sites that were seeing, which are going to be closed on Wednesday, there's this new organization which is backed by the U.S. and by Israel. It's been criticized by -- this whole thing has been criticized by the U.N., which has criticized by Israel about how they handle aid. What do you make of this Gaza Humanitarian Foundation?

FRIEDMAN: You know, I really don't know that much about it. It's shrouded in a lot of mystery. I know they had to set this up because basically when Israel was sending food in, Hamas was then taking it all using it, selling it basically, and using the distribution of food to ensconce itself in power.

Anderson, it all goes back to, I think, the original, terrible decision Netanyahu made when he decided to invade Gaza with no plan for the morning after. No, plan of who he would turn authority over to in Gaza. So now we have three options. The one that may be the most likely is Israel just stays forever and tries to push Palestinians down into a quadrant basically near the Egyptian border and hard on the Mediterranean.

Second option is that you bring in the Palestinian authority that's governing the West Bank. Netanyahu refuses to do that. And the third option is that it becomes not the Riviera on the Mediterranean, but Mogadishu on the Mediterranean, just to kind of game land, where Israel goes in and out, in and out. And I think the most likely scenarios are some combination of one and two, permanent Israeli occupation or basically going in and out but not allowing any other authority like the Palestinian authority to take over there, prove its bona fides, and possibly be a partner for a two state solution. That is the absolute thing that Netanyahu wants to avoid.

COOPER: Tom Friedman it's depressing. Thank you for joining us, though, I appreciate it.

FRIEDMAN: Pleasure.

[20:25:28]

COOPER: Now to Ukraine, another attention grabbing strike against Russian targets. The latest example just today, Kyiv claiming responsibility for this underwater explosion, which it says damaged part of the road and rail bridge to Russian occupied Crimea. This follows the stunning drone strikes on nuclear capable strategic bombers deep inside Russian territory, and raises all kinds of questions about the future not just of this war, but warfare in general. I want to talk about it with retired four-star Army General Stanley McChrystal who has a new book out "On Character: Choices that Define a Life."

I want to ask you, General McChrystal, about some of the choices in your book and the lessons in your book, because there are many about leadership and about character.

I do want to get your reaction first, though, this extraordinary drone attack against Russia, deep inside against the strategic bombers, did it surprise you that they could pull something like this off? And what does it say about the future of warfare?

GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET), AUTHOR, "ON CHARACTER": Well, it didn't really surprise me. Because the Ukrainians have been pretty innovative. But the future of warfare is the ability to do this kind of thing very, very deep. And I think what they've done is they're raising the cost for Putin. There are about a million Russians have been casualties already. They're raising the cost in strategic assets. And I think they're just trying to convince him at some point this is not worth the effort.

COOPER: I know the U.S. is learning a lot about this new form of warfare by what's happening in Ukraine. But is the U.S. Military ready for this form of warfare?

MCCHRYSTAL: Well, if we get very honest with ourselves, think of the places we have bombers parked, access around airfields. Think of what it would take to do this in the Continental United States, or some of our forward deployed locations. We are pretty vulnerable by the nature of the way we have fought wars for about the last 80 years. So, we have got to be going to school on things like counter drone operations, but also controlling the entire area around it, because you see around those airfields in Russia, in fact, all they had to do was get tractor trailers in the vicinity, and it became almost impossible to stop those. So, it widens the spectrum of the threats you've got to deal with and we've got a lot of high value assets that are extraordinarily expensive. COOPER: We learned tonight that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has

ordered the renaming of a naval vessel, currently named after gay rights pioneer and Navy vet, Harvey Milk. We've also reported about banning books at military academies to talk about diversity or Black history scraping of DoD websites. I'm wondering what you make of those efforts.

MCCHRYSTAL: Yes, I think they are a distraction from the really important things Secretary Hegseth needs to focus on. That's strengthening our military, getting into the next generation of weapons. I think reforming our defense acquisition completely from top to bottom. I think almost everyone agrees with that. I think the idea of who puts on a uniform and defends the United States or sexual orientation, or any things like that, is a mistaken issue because we need every bit of talent we can get, no matter who they love or how people think about them.

You have a chapter in the book. "Does character still matter?" And as someone who has two little boys, a five-year old and a three-year old, I certainly want them to grow up in a world where it does. But there are fewer and fewer representations I see of that on T.V. and the public sphere. At least they don't garner the attention that they should. You write, if we watch people of poor character win elections, accumulate riches, or achieve unprecedented popularity, the obvious question is whether character ultimately matters. And did it ever? How do you answer that?

MCCHRYSTAL: Well, unfortunately to young people, I'm not sure because we have to example -- we have to answer with our example. And if we normalize people who do things which are in many cases despicable, and we allow them to do that, then we are sending an unspoken message that says, this is okay. And I think we've eroded our values and norms tremendously over the last few decades, and we are going to reap what we've sown unless we take a really great effort to have a national conversation on character, put it back on the table, judge people by their character, and they don't all have to be exactly the same. I'm not talking about corseting everyone, but I'm talking about getting some understood norms of what's right and wrong in our country.

COOPER: And, I mean, you write the chapter on patriotism, you said you ask, can someone be simultaneously truly patriotic and a poor character? And you answer that with, I don't believe they can. You also write, our nation isn't great simply because we proclaim it loudly. It is based on what we do and the people we are, and all of those of those choices.

To young men who are listening out there and there's a, you know, a crisis among a lot of young men of direction and where they feel they belong. And there's a loneliness crisis in this country. What do you say, as somebody who has lived a life based on character and service?

MCCHRYSTAL: I say that your character is the essence of you. It is measured most effectively in what you actually do, not what you say or whether you wear a lapel flag pin or you protest something. It's actually how you treat people, how you respect people, the values that you stand up for, the willingness you have to sacrifice your own personal gain for the better of the good. Those are the things that will carry you through an entire life.

I'm at an age right now when I can look back and I can feel badly about some things I've done, but realize the most important thing has and always will be, the character that I represent.

[20:30:51]

COOPER: General Stan McChrystal, thank you so much.

I'm really enjoying the book. It's a book you can -- I have it by my bedside, and you can pick it up, open it up to pretty much any chapters. They're super short, and in three pages, you kind of come away with some questions and some answers and something to think about, and it's been really helpful to me. The new book is, "On Character: Choices That Define A Life".

General, thank you. I appreciate it.

Coming up next, why the President no longer seems to be a fan of Amy Coney Barrett, the Supreme Court justice he picked, whom he once called a woman of towering intellect.

And later, Mike Lindell on trial, accused of defamation over the kind of election claims which have already cost one defendant hundreds of millions of dollars.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:36:14]

COOPER: Behind closed doors, President Trump has reportedly expressed virus remorse over his own Supreme Court appointees, complaining that they have not sufficiently stood by his agenda. Sources tell CNN the grievances are wide-ranging, but the President has directed particular ire at Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

The President's anger has been fueled in part by allies telling him that Barrett's rulings have not been in line with how she presented herself in interviews, they say, before he nominated her to the Supreme Court in 2020. Back in March, when Barrett voted to reject the President's plan to freeze nearly 2 point -- or excuse me, $2 billion in foreign aid, his supporters took to social media calling her a, quote, "DEI, higher and evil".

To be clear, Barrett voted in lockstep with the two most Conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, more than 80 percent of the time in the previous term. That's according to data compiled by the Empirical SCOTUS blog.

Now, the private complaints come as the President wages an increasingly public battle with the conservative legal establishment over other unfavorable court rulings checking his agenda. He's attacked the Conservative Federalist Society, which helped him pick many of the judges that he appointed during his first term.

The President claiming recently on social media they were under the thumb of a real sleazebag named Leonard Leo, a bad, excuse me, "a bad person who in his own way probably hates America and obviously has his own separate ambitions. He openly brags how he controls judges and even justices in the United States Supreme Court. I hope that's not so, and I don't believe it is."

Joining me now, Former Federal Prosecutor and Bestselling Author, Jeffrey Toobin. Does it surprise you to hear this from the President?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, you know, there's a long history of presidents complaining about their Supreme Court justices. Theodore Roosevelt complained about Oliver Wendell Holmes. Dwight Eisenhower complained about Earl Warren. So the complaints about justices are not unusual.

But what's unusual with Trump is that it's always transactional with him. He doesn't think about their judicial philosophy. He thinks about the fact that they owe him, in his opinion. I gave you a Supreme Court seat, you give me decisions. That's how he thinks about this and --

COOPER: And that's how they're feeling, even though she's voting with the most Conservative justices 80 percent of the time.

TOOBIN: And if you look at that, she has been on his side on virtually everything. And the really big things like abortion, like, you know, the cases that, you know, would define a Supreme Court legacy. She has been a down-the-line Conservative. But you've got to be 100 percent with Trump, and he's unhappy. He can't do anything about it, but he really has very small grounds to complain.

COOPER: I also want to ask you about some of the reporting in The New York Times. The DOJ is now investigating the Harvard Law Review over claims of discrimination against white men. And the key cooperating witness in the case has now been hired by the White House as working under Stephen Miller. Obviously, this is part of a wider war against Harvard.

TOOBIN: Well, it just shows how obsessed this administration is in trying to punish Harvard in any way it can, including the Harvard Law Review, which is a student publication that has a separate legal existence from Harvard University. It is -- it draws its students, its editors, from the university, but it is a separate legal entity.

And the other point that's so ridiculous about this is, you know, yet again the administration is deciding that the most oppressed group in America is white men. And they are not getting their published -- their articles published in the Harvard Law Review as much as women and people of color. Not true objectively.

There are lots of white men published in the Harvard Law Review. And also, you know, the idea that you can punish a magazine, which is what it is, for the -- for what's in it, is yet again the administration trampling on the First Amendment in an egregious way.

[20:40:10]

COOPER: I mean, is there evidence that white males are underrepresented in the legal profession?

TOOBIN: Not that I'm aware of.

COOPER: At the top law firms, corporate law firms?

TOOBIN: At the top law firms, you know, they still manage to have a majority in the United States Supreme Court, although, you know, it's less -- it's certainly less than it used to be. But if you look at the top partners at law firms, if you look at most federal judges, and if you look at Donald Trump's appointments to the federal bench, they are overwhelmingly white men, very different from Joe Biden's appointments.

But, you know, whether it's South Africa or anywhere else, this is an administration dedicated to protecting the rights of white men.

COOPER: Jeff Toobin, thanks very much.

Still ahead tonight, our Donie O'Sullivan talks to President Trump's loyalist and MyPillow founder, Michael Lindell, as he faces a defamation trial that got underway over his 2020 presidential election claims.

And actor George Clooney on his play, "Good Night, Good Luck," which will be broadcast live on CNN Saturday night.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR: What's fun about doing the play is it reminds people that, you know, that we have been through difficult times, challenging times, and that we survived it as a country, and we do find our better angels along the way.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:46:05]

COOPER: In Denver today, opening statements in the defamation trial of MyPillow CEO and President Trump loyalist Mike Lindell. He's being sued by a former executor for Dominion Voting Systems, who said he faced death threats after Lindell spread false conspiracy theories about the company in the 2020 election.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan is at the courthouse, spoke with the defendant. Here's his report.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MIKE LINDELL, MYPILLOW CEO: Pretty good, huh?

O'SULLIVAN: So you're going to live on Bannon now?

LINDELL: Yes.

You guys, what we decided at MyPillow because we really do need your help.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): This is Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy, doing a live promotion for his pillow company on the steps of a federal courthouse in Denver.

LINDELL: We put everything back up there. The MyCrosses, you save 50 percent. We're turning that into resources for this trial.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Lindell is here to stand trial in a defamation lawsuit brought against him by a former Dominion Voting Systems executive.

O'SULLIVAN: So even when you're fighting in court, you're still doing the day job promoting pillows?

LINDELL: Yes. I have to. That's my job.

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

LINDELL: You know, MyPillow has been attacked. I got to do commercials every day.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Lindell, one of the country's best known election conspiracy theorists, is being sued by Eric Coomer.

LINDELL: How dare him come and sue MyPillow? He's a scumbag for doing that. Put that in there. Scumbag, S-Q-U-M bag.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Coomer and his former employer, Dominion Voting Systems, have been the target of election conspiracy theories dating back to 2020.

ERIC COOMER, FORMER DOMINION VOTING SYSTEMS EMPLOYEE: I have been in hiding in a in a secure location. I have not been able to return to my normal life since all of these baseless accusations came out.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): A right wing podcaster made a baseless claim that he had heard Eric Coomer on a supposed Antifa call talking about rigging the 2020 election.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so then Eric responds, you know, keeps speaking, and then someone interrupts and says, "What are we going to do if f-ing Trump wins?" And, he responds with, and I'm going to paraphrase this because, obviously, I didn't write exactly what he wrote, right? Is, "Don't worry about the election. Trump is not going to win. I made f-ing sure of that. Ha-ha-ha!"

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Coomer strongly denies being on the call, and there is no evidence that he was. But still that baseless claim spread throughout the MAGAverse, and eventually, Coomer got on Lindell's radar.

LINDELL: You've been part of the biggest crime this world has ever seen, Eric Coomer.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Coomer sued Lindell in 2022, saying that he had faced death threats and harassment as a result of Lindell's conduct. The moment Lindell was served with legal papers, caught on camera.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is this? Sir, sir, what is this?

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Now Lindell is facing a jury for the first time.

O'SULLIVAN: If this jury sides with Eric Coomer, will it give you pause? Will it give you a moment where you say, hmm, maybe I'm wrong about this election stuff?

LINDELL: Never. I'm not wrong.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Pillows are everywhere in this case. Coomer alleges Lindell used viral online conspiracy theories to drive traffic to websites that in turn advertised his pillows.

O'SULLIVAN: In the lawsuit it says that MyPillow, I think, made something like $2.5 million through promo codes to do with defaming Coomer and pushing election conspiracy theories. Is that true?

LINDELL: No, no, we didn't change any of our business model that I've been doing for 15 years. There's tens of thousands of promo codes out there.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Pillows came up in Lindell's deposition.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm not asking about the lumpy pillow calls.

LINDEL: No, they're not lumpy pillows. That's not what they call on, OK? When you say lumpy pillows, now you're an asshole. You got that? You're an asshole is what you are.

Like, no, he's an asshole. He's an ambulance chasing asshole.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): Pillows even came up in jury selection.

[20:50:03]

O'SULLIVAN: One of the questions for the jury was if they had bought a MyPillow --

LINDELL: Right.

O'SULLIVAN: -- and some people had.

LINDELL: And they eliminated those. Each side can eliminate people.

O'SULLIVAN: This must be the first trial ever where the jury pool was selected based on what pillow they slept on.

LINDELL: Yes. That's OK (ph).

(END VIDEO TAPE) O'SULLIVAN (on-camera): And Anderson, Mike Lindell might take the stand here in court as soon as tomorrow. And look, this is his first time facing a jury. Many observers pointing out potentially his first time really facing real consequences for spreading election conspiracy theories.

But Anderson, I know today's your birthday. We're going to try to bring you back a MyPillow. But some people are saying they're pretty lumpy.

COOPER: I'm good. I'm good on my pillows. Thank you. I appreciate it. On my pillows, not MyPillows. I'm good with what I got. Thank you, Donie O'Sullivan.

This afternoon I got a chance to sit down with George Clooney on the set of his Broadway play, "Good Night, and Good Luck". The focus of the play is Edward R. Murrow's famous battle with Senator Joseph McCarthy. Here's some of what we talked about.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

CLOONEY: What's fun about the play is although McCarthyism was bad, it wasn't anywhere near as pervasive as it is right now. The kind of fear that you see kind of stretching through law firms and university --

COOPER: You think it's worse now than McCarthy's time?

CLOONEY: I do think it is worse now, although there is one caveat that kind of gets ignored when people talk about this, which is when I was a kid, we did duck and cover drills. So overriding all of this was the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Very big deal. I mean, we were pretty sure we were going to all die of a nuclear bomb somewhere along the way. So that always kind of rode on top of the McCarthyism of it all. But McCarthyism, what's fun about doing the play is it reminds people that, you know, that we have been through difficult times, challenging times, and that we survive it as a country.

And we do find our better angels along the way. It takes a minute. We always do. We always have.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Clooney stars in a special live broadcast of "Good Night, and Good Luck" right here on CNN. You can catch the Tony-nominated play Saturday night, 7:00 Eastern. It's streaming also on CNN.com.

Next for us, more embarrassment for me, it seems. Harry Enten is here, only because I haven't had a chance to stop him. I was actually unaware he was about to appear on the broadcast. Something about my birthday, unfortunately. I dread.

Love you back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [20:57:20]

COOPER: So we have a rundown plays out the show. They had something else in this rundown, so I didn't realize this segment was going to be Harry Enten joining me for a segment, which I guess is about my birthday, because every year I'm surprised my birthday. I don't know why I should be surprised, but I was tricked again.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: You know, you've been tricked again. This one, you know, was on Kara, your EP, who had this genius idea to futz with the rundown a little bit --

COOPER: Yes.

ENTEN: -- and fool you a little bit. Look, Anderson, this is something I do every year, the last few years, and I've been trying to plan it out. And ultimately, we decided on this little gift for you --

COOPER: OK.

ENTEN: -- because someone who's known you far longer than I've known you. Cousin Marc, take it away.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

MARC SEDAKA, NEIL SEDAKA'S SON: Anderson Cooper, it's your old friend from Dalton, Marc Sedaka. I think the last time we really connected was back when I made your campaign videos for Dalton High School president.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Wow.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

M. SEDAKA: And FYI, you implemented no tariffs that year. And the class is still very proud of you for it. My cousin, Harry Enten, asked me to make a birthday video for you, which I am more than happy to do. But I think I'm going to leave the singing to my father, Harry's uncle, Neil Sedaka.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Wow.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

M. SEDAKA: And as a special added surprise, I'm going to throw in my son, Michael Sedaka. So happiest of birthdays. And take it away, guys.

NEIL SEDAKA, HARRY ENTEN'S UNCLE: Hi, I'm Neil Sedaka. And you're going to hear my grandson singing a birthday song for you, Anderson. Here we go.

(SINGING) MICHAEL SEDAKA, HARRY ENTEN'S NEPHEW: Wishing you a happy birthday, Anderson. Hope it's the best.

N. SEDAKA: Happy birthday, Anderson. Many, many more. We love you on CNN.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

COOPER: Aw. I went to high school.

ENTEN: You went --

COOPER: Yes.

ENTEN: You went to high school --

COOPER: Yes.

ENTEN: -- with Marc --

COOPER: Yes.

ENTEN: -- my cousin.

COOPER: Yes, yes.

ENTEN: I believe he actually ran your student council campaign.

COOPER: Yes, I guess I had forgotten that. But, yes, that's true.

ENTEN: He and I always talk about it.

COOPER: Yes.

ENTEN: And they just did a fantastic job, and they did on very short notice. That was --

COOPER: Yes, well, I appreciate it.

ENTEN: I was --

COOPER: And Neil, I still can't get over Neil Sedaka. This is your uncle.

ENTEN: It's amazing.

COOPER: Yes.

ENTEN: He is 86 years old and looks fantastic.

COOPER: He looks great.

ENTEN: He looks fantastic for 88. Look, beyond that, I wanted to give you, I have some giant balloons here for you.

COOPER: Thank you very much. ENTEN: There you go. You can --

COOPER: Yes. My kids will love these.

ENTEN: There you go.

COOPER: Yes. Got it.

ENTEN: I also have a --

COOPER: Wow.

ENTEN: I have a cake for you.

COOPER: Wow, do you bake that?

ENTEN: Bake the cake.

COOPER: Thank you, Harry Enten.

ENTEN: And in case you're wondering --

COOPER: OK.

ENTEN: -- I also have a pie for you --

COOPER: Wow.

ENTEN: -- as well.

COOPER: Look at that. That looks like that crack pie.

ENTEN: So on behalf of everyone here, Anderson, happy --

COOPER: All right.

ENTEN: -- birthday, my dear friend.

COOPER: Thank you, Harry Enten. Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it.

That's it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.