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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Takes First Flight on Qatari-Gifted Air Force One; Interview with Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY); President Trump Puts Himself at Center of America's 250th Celebration; Trump Shrugs Off Concerns He's Profiting Off His Presidency; Two People in Custody After Scaling Empire State Building; Sources Say Taylor Swift Wedding to Take Place Inside MSG on Arena Floor. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired July 01, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden. There is a lot going on in New York City. I am sure, this was not something that was anticipated by the NYPD reacting frequently as we know.
Anyway, Jason, really appreciate it. Thank you.
Thanks to all of you for joining us tonight here on Erin Burnett's Out Front.
Stay tuned. AC 360 starts right now.
[20:00:26]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening from the Newsroom. We begin tonight, keeping them honest with the President heading home on the maiden flight by his new plane, a 747 he got from a foreign potentate. The one he will be taking with him when he leaves office, purportedly for his presidential library, which, by the way, will not be ready for years, but Mr. Trump will have the plane.
This is the plane he acquired because the two presidential 747 already in the Air Force fleet were simply too old for him, and he just could not wait for a younger model.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: This was a gift from a country that's treated us very well. I went to Qatar. I said, I'd like to use it for a period of time because the other ones, as you know, are under construction. They will be here in two years.
And because, you know, the plane is 35 years old. So I said, I'd like to use it and the Emir, Tamim, who is a great gentleman, he said, no, no, I'd like to make a contribution to the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That is so Emir. Wanting to make a contribution to the country. The plane that the President will take with him in two years. That contribution is estimated to be worth about $400 million. Now, I want to be clear, because the President has made it very clear it is not a gift to him, and shame on anyone for asking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It is not a gift to me, it is a gift to the Department of Defense and you should know better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It is shocking to even think that the President would accept such a gift for himself, and he keeps claiming it is free.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They are giving us a free jet. I could say no, no, no, don't give us. I want to pay you a billion or $400 million or whatever it is or I could say, thank you very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Or as the trojans might say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Keeping them honest, though, it is not a gift to this country and it is not really free, as the President suggests. Again, he is taking it with him when he leaves in two years. So at best, it is a loaner to The White House and the country, meaning American taxpayers are paying plenty for it, just like with the ballroom.
Several hundred million dollars to bring it up to Air Force One standards, according to the Pentagon. Taxpayers get the bill for a loaner, and the President gets a keeper from Qatar, which I seem to recall him once having very strong feelings about, allegedly.
I want to go back to 2016 in one of his debates with Hillary Clinton.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Saudi Arabia giving $25 million, Qatar, all of these countries. You talk about women and women's rights. So these are people that push gays off business -- off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly and yet you take their money.
So I'd like to ask you right now, why don't you give back the money that you've taken from certain countries that treat certain groups of people so horribly? Why don't you give back the money?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The donation from Qatar, he was so offended by, allegedly, was a million dollar donation to the Clinton Foundation in 2011 while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and a reported $10 million to $25 million donation from Saudi Arabia over the years, dating back to 1999. Secretary Clinton at the time acknowledged that some donations may have, "slipped through the cracks on one or two instances," but also insisted that the foundation had practiced, "overwhelming disclosure."
Whatever the case may be, it certainly did not look good and then candidate Trump knew it. He knew that even the appearance of impropriety matters. What is more, he seemed to understand back then that gifts to public servants do not come with no strings attached.
Here he is in 2015, talking about his campaign donations and what they bought him as a citizen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I gave to many people before this. Before two months ago, I was a businessman. I give to everybody. When they call, I give. And you know what? When I need something from them two years later, three years later, I call them, they are there for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: At the time, that openness about buying future favors from elected officials was seen by many as refreshing honesty. Lately, though, when he is on the receiving end of a gift worth far in excess of any that he himself ever gave anyone, the President wants us to believe that he is not like all those other politicians that he criticized for all those years.
And look, maybe he is right, maybe he alone cannot be tempted by a fancy 747 or a UAE linked firm buying a 49 percent stake of his family's cryptocurrency exchange, paying $500 million, according to "The Wall Street Journal." That and other crypto ventures have made him $1.4 billion in 2025 alone.
[20:05:03]
Perhaps he can't be swayed by smaller tokens like the $130,000.00 gold bar that Swiss businessmen presented him, or the golden Rolex clock that came with it, or the so-called Peace Prize that FIFA created for him because he was sore about not getting the Nobel Prize.
Virtually any country, company or individual wanting something from this administration has come bearing gifts -- literal gifts, golden gifts often -- and even the appearance this creates is staggering when compared to his predecessors, Republicans and Democrats.
Jimmy Carter put his family peanut farm in a blind trust during his presidency to avoid potential conflicts of interest, peanuts.
In 1988, then candidate George H.W. Bush wrote to his son, George W. Bush, warning him about all the so-called new friends who might try to cozy up to him in anticipation of his father becoming President. Quoting from his letter now: "As we move closer to November, you'll find you've got a lot of new friends. They'll ask for things. Do you know anyone at Commerce? Can you call Joe Dokes at State?" He went on to say, "My plea is this, please do not contact any federal agency or department on anything. A call from a Bush will get returned, but there is a great likelihood that it will be leaked, maybe deliberately misrepresented." He adds, "If there is a legitimate inquiry, call my office. It is certainly appropriate to contact your own government, but let's do it through my office so no one can accuse any of the family of trying to use influence."
It seems like a long, long time ago.
During the Obama administration, ethics czar, Norm Eisen did not even let him refinance his home mortgage to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. This has been the norm for presidents in both parties for decades -- for matters involving a whole lot less than a $400 million jumbo jet. And again, it is possible that this President cannot be moved even by such absurdly valuable gifts.
You might believe that. Yet, if that's what he is asking the country to believe, he is asking them to cast aside all the same suspicions that he himself has raised, all the insinuations he has made, and all he has said about any politician not named Donald J. Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Look at the money they make. They are full time politicians, Pelosi and all of these people, Waters, Obama.
I expected to lose a lot of money. I lost billions. I expected that. I was okay.
These people made money being President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: "They made money being President."
Well, he now knows of what he speaks.
A lot to discuss, joining me now is New York Democratic Congressman Ritchie Torres. He sits on the Financial Services Committee.
When you see the President in this jumbo jet, what message do you think it sends to America and the world? That he is riding around in this plane that he gets to take with him when he leaves office?
REP. RITCHIE TORRES (D-NY): You know, it sends a message that the presidency is up for sale. And Donald Trump is willing to auction it off to the highest bidder, including a $400 million bid from Qatar.
For me, the greatest scandal is not that Donald Trump is avoiding the appearance of corruption. The greatest scandal is that he is not even trying.
You know, there is nothing new about corruption in the American presidency. What is new is the nakedness, the sheer shamelessness of Donald Trump's corruption. It is out in the open. He is unapologetic about it.
You know, he famously said that he could murder someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, and so he is acting with impunity and what I find disheartening is there are so many Republicans who are indifferent or desensitized to Donald Trump's corruption, and it is a sign of how far the Republican Party has fallen and how profoundly our democratic norms have broken down.
COOPER: You hear George H.W. Bush writing to his son, you know, look, you have the last name Bush. Don't reach out to anybody in the Commerce Department or some friend of yours calls up. I mean, there is no way anyone could imagine this President of the United States writing such a letter to any of his sons, who he is in business with, who are open for business in Kazakhstan, the sons of Witkoff, the negotiator, are in business in the cryptocurrency stuff.
I mean, it is completely -- the idea of this President writing that letter to his sons is -- it is incomprehensible.
TORRES: Look, Donald Trump ran for President, promising to drain the swamp, instead, he has become the swamp. And, you know, he has received the largest illicit foreign gift in the history of the American presidency, a foreign gift that's expected to be transferred to his presidential library for personal use the moment he leaves the presidency.
TRUMP: And that presidential library, which, I mean, that's a whole other story. It is going to be in Miami. It I going to -- you know, the Obama Library just opened up so that library is going to be down the road. Meanwhile, he has got this plane. I mean, I don't think anybody can doubt he is going to be using it.
TORRES: And he is not only breaking his promise to the American people, he is violating the law. I mean, the Emoluments Clause prohibits any elected official, including the President, from accepting foreign gifts without the consent of Congress.
[20:10:08]
You know, we are about to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States. The notion of an authoritarian president receiving a $400 million gift from a foreign monarch would have been utterly horrifying to the Founding Fathers who sought to protect our government from corrupting foreign influence.
COOPER: Is there -- I mean, Democrats talk about launching investigations if they regain control of Congress. But I mean, if the President's allies don't cooperate, which there is no reason to believe they would, it would just be referred to the Justice Department and there is no evidence that this Justice Department, under this President would do anything.
TORRES: Look, we are going to exhaust every means of holding the President accountable. But, you know, we refuse to stand by idly and allow Donald Trump to corrupt the American presidency because in the end, the presidency is not his personal possession. It belongs to the people and we are going to defend the integrity of the federal government.
COOPER: This plane, though, will be his personal possession and I mean, through his library, I guess technically.
Congressman Torres, I appreciate it.
TORRES: Always a pleasure it.
COOPER: Ritchie Torres.
I am joined now by presidential historian, Doug Brinkley.
Doug, I mean, there is no precedent for a president of the United States accepting something like this on top of all the other things he has accepted. What does it say about where we are in this moment in time that this is moving forward? That this has happened and you know, everyone shrugs their shoulders.
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, CNN HISTORY COMMENTATOR: You know, we are about to celebrate America 250, July 4th and Benjamin Franklin really warned about this kind of activity, about a despot that the people don't stop them from garnering personal wealth and using influence, you know, to control the presidency in a sordid way.
I don't know what American can applaud the idea of Kuwait gifting a plane like this $400 million to Donald Trump for his personal use.
COOPER: Qatar.
BRINKLEY: Yes, I mean, Qatar and then having it at the presidential library. So it is just -- it really does feel like The White House has a for sale sign and that you can influence peddle and, you know, your segment was amazing, showing George Herbert Walker Bush, you know, 41 warning about this and all presidents, you know, think about immediately the blind trust second term Trump is going a hundred percent in a different direction and people have to scream foul.
There are going to have to be lawsuits because we just don't have the guardrails to know what he is doing and who he is getting these gifts from and they claim they are protecting the American public from corruption. But boy, does this sort of reek of personal benefit when you're earning over $2 billion, you know, suddenly in the last year.
COOPER: As we mentioned, the President flew on that Qatari jet to visit the Teddy Roosevelt Presidential Library today, which sounds like a great, really cool place. I want to visit it. I want to read something that President Roosevelt said in his 1903 State of the Union Address, "There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate one law, while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law."
What do you think he would have made of this plane? The deals that President Trump and his family have been involved with in his second term?
BRINKLEY: I've written a lot about Theodore Roosevelt and studied him my whole life. There is nothing he would have loathed more than these people peddling gifts to the President.
Gold bars to put on his desk -- it is so anti-TR. Theodore Roosevelt was police commissioner of New York. He was against corruption at any time. He never cared -- he used to say even to Wall Street, my administration knows no ticker tape. I don't care what stocks do. I don't care who has money or not.
COOPER: And didn't he reform the Civil Service and like, get corruption out of the Civil Service?
BRINKLEY: That's all Theodore Roosevelt was about, it was getting corruption out of Civil Service. And yet, as we saw, Anderson with the Supreme Court, with Trump -- the Slaughter decision, we are taking away watchdogs, guardrails in our agencies and we are at a time of the maximalist president. And you have Donald Trump who is realizing that he can get more fabulously wealthy by just being a second term president.
It is exactly the opposite of what he said he would do when he went down the elevator so many years ago. People thought he was already rich, so he didn't need to have lobbyists or payoffs or foreign governments influence him. But, greed, it hits people and we have a problem now and I am glad your show is pointing it out.
We can't just sweep this under the rug. The American citizens have to know how he earned that $2 billion and really talk about it because the crypto part of this, to me, is mind boggling how he can be playing these games with it.
COOPER: Doug Brinkley, always a pleasure, I appreciate it. [20:15:05]
Coming up next, the sparse crowds at the President's Great American State Fair on The Mall, the air conditioning failures they face today, and the possibility that many more won't be seeing Fourth of July fireworks until late Saturday night because Mr. Trump wants to make what he is calling a, "really long speech" before the fireworks.
Later, two social climbers with a skyscraper to scale and what they did when they got to the top of it. Incredible!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: The sign reads "Closed Temporarily due to AC not working." The location, one of several state booths at the Great American State Fair on The Mall in Washington, where the air conditioning conked out.
With afternoon highs approaching a hundred degrees, that would be a big problem for a lot of visitors, except there haven't been a lot of visitors. Attendance has been sparse You can see it there.
[20:20:08]
As uncomfortable as it may have been today for those who did show up, things could be worse on Saturday when more expected to see the fireworks. CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice over): He flew on his new plane and for the first time as President, he rode on a train.
Donald Trump is making a splash heading into Independence Day, a celebration of America's 250th anniversary and himself.
TRUMP: On July 4th, it is going to be approximately 107 degrees out, and I am going to go and I am going to make a really long speech just to show that I can do anything.
ZELENY (voice over): He visited the Badlands of North Dakota today. His motorcade, escorted by Rough Riders on horseback.
He toured the new Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, seeing tributes to the 26th President and offering himself one.
TRUMP: It is a part of the country that I love, and I think they love me because I have the all-time record in presidential voting.
ZELENY (voice over): This year long grand celebration of America has often felt like more of a presidential vanity project, placing the Trump imprint far beyond the normal trappings of the office.
While the president has long wrapped himself in the flag quite literally during this memorable moment at a conservative gathering in his first term, America 250 has taken things to a new Trumpian high.
He commandeered planning for the celebrations, bypassing the bipartisan America 250 organization enacted by Congress a decade ago in favor of Freedom 250, a separate group he and his allies control.
His renovation projects have sprouted up across Washington, and his face now adorns many government buildings. At this moment of American history, Trump is placing himself at the center of it all, to the delight of his admirers like Tiffany Polgreen (ph), who came from Fargo to see him today.
TIFFANY POLGREEN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: Best president in the world of our time. And what he stood up for and what he has done for this country and what he has been up against. I mean, the man is incredible.
ZELENY (voice over): From a UFC fight on the South Lawn of The White House to a visit Friday to Mount Rushmore, reprising a stop he made in 2020.
TRUMP: There could be no better place to celebrate America's independence.
ZELENY (voice over): Trump's handling of the semi-quincentennial is a far cry from the nation's bicentennial in 1976, when President Gerald Ford took pains to remove partisan politics from an American celebration.
In his autobiography, "A Time To Heal," Ford wrote, "Rarely in the history of the world had so many people turned out so spontaneously to express the love they felt for their country." Trump has taken the opposite approach, making himself the star of the show.
Yet as the weekend finale approaches, the modest attendance at the Great American State Fair is sparking anxiety inside The White House.
TRUMP: Then, on July 4th, we will have the greatest show of all on the National Mall. Your favorite president will be speaking, so please show up.
ZELENY (voice over): The President's words offered a telling window into one of his biggest fears, a small crowd.
TRUMP: Because if we have two empty seats, you know what's going to happen? The fake news is going to say he didn't fill out the arena.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZELENY (on camera): So the President is making his way back to Washington after spending the day here in North Dakota and there were large crowds here today, but a worry for The White House, will they be there on Saturday on the National Mall?
Now, one challenge here for the President is making this all about him means that he also owns the size of the crowds. And we know over the years how sensitive he is to them, particularly on the National Mall -- Anderson.
COOPER: Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.
Joining us now, CNN political commentators Scott Jennings and Xochitl Hinojosa. Scott was at the Roosevelt Library today for the President's visit.
Xochi, the President is obviously still very popular among Republicans, given he has tried to make the country's 250th birthday celebration, you know, very much about himself, why do you think these events have been relatively sparsely attended so far?
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, for exactly that reason, the 250th birthday is supposed to be something that we are all celebrating and proudly so. The President should have made this a bipartisan event from the beginning. But when he displaced the commission, when he had his Cabinet Secretary, Transportation Secretary had terrible rhetoric, whenever he is out there talking about himself and not America, he is making this it seems like his birthday party instead of America's birthday party.
And so this is a missed opportunity. This could have been an opportunity to really bring the country together for a wonderful event. And the President has had many opportunities to do that over the last year, and has failed to do so at every step.
[20:25:01]
And so it is not surprising that now, these are not well-attended. These are not bipartisan and it seems to be more of a celebration of him than it is of our country.
COOPER: Scott, you were at the event today at the Roosevelt Library, which looks -- the library looks awesome.
How -- why do you think, you know, this thing in Washington has not been well attended? The reflecting pool, the renovations. How do you think 250 is going compared to what the President wanted it to be?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, if I first just may say a word for the Teddy Roosevelt Library, it was well-attended today. The President spoke to several hundred people at the library, and then he had a huge crowd in the amphitheater here, which, if you've never come to Medora, it is one of the most unique and interesting places in the United States.
But there was a huge crowd. There were people everywhere turning out to see the President. And I sometimes think the difference between Middle America and the coast or the urban areas is on full display when the President is able to go out to Middle America, which, people love it when he does.
Look, I think America 250 is a great thing for our country and I think the President is right to lean into it and I think there is a very simple explanation about some of the attendance and it is because -- and you can see it in the polling, don't take my word for it. Ask the Gallup poll, ask NBC News poll.
We have the patriotism gap in this country. Republicans love this country. They are patriotic about this country, and Democrats aren't. They just aren't. They are not proud to be Americans, and therefore, they're not interested in celebrating America's 250th birthday.
And I don't think it is all about Donald Trump. This has been a steady downward trend for the last 25 years and it is sad that we've got two parties in this country, one loves it, and one appears to be hating it more and more by the year and I think that is a sad thing.
We live in the greatest country in the world. The President proclaims that message all the time, and that's something that ought to unify all Americans, but Democrats just can't seem to get behind him.
COOPER: But Scott, isn't the President proclaiming his face all the time? I mean, it is up on front of the Justice Department. You know, he is remaking Washington in his image with his name on things. I mean, isn't that part of the issue? I mean, you're saying its hate of the country. I don't hear a lot of hate of the country from, you know, from people who, who are Democrats in in D.C., it is dislike of the President.
JENNINGS: Well, I would encourage you to listen to some of the interviews that have been given by the Democrat candidates who have recently won primaries and I would encourage you to read the polling that's come out just this week, in the last few days from the Gallup organization about the patriotism gap that exists.
I am sorry to tell you, Republicans love this country and they always love it, no matter who is in charge. And look, yes, Donald Trump has put his picture on things, I hate to break the news he is the President of the United States, and he is going to be part of things going on with our government and our government should be doing things to celebrate the country's 250th birthday and he is the President, and he is going to be part of it.
And the fact that they cannot accept that, or that they would use that as an excuse not to celebrate this country, is pretty sad, in my opinion.
COOPER: Right. I mean, I was at the bicentennial. I don't remember it being like Jimmy Carter's bicentennial celebrations and Jimmy Carter being on, you know, commemorative coins. But Xochi, you're a Democrat. How much do you hate the country?
HINOJOSA: I love the country. And, Scott, we should not be making this some sort of partisan thing. The reality is, is that both Democratic and Republican administrations going back decades have both been -- there has been a love for our country and the difference between this presidency and Republican and Democratic presidencies is the fact that in other presidencies besides this one, the Cabinet and the administration always believed that they were serving the American people, that their boss was every American out there.
This President believes there is some sort of loyalty -- that there must be a loyalty test when it comes to his Cabinet and everybody serving in his Cabinet. And with that, that means that his Cabinet is not serving the American people. What they are doing is that they are serving him.
They believe that first and foremost, they must protect him and that is the difference and you're seeing it on display with the 250th anniversary here today and that is why it has become partisan.
COOPER: We've got to leave it there. Scott, Xochi, appreciate it.
Next, more on the money the President has made so far in office. Former White House Ethics czar, Norm Eisen joins us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:33:27]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST OF "ANDERSON COOPER 360": The president downplaying concerns that he is profiting from the presidency, a day after financial disclosure forms revealed he made billions in his first year back in office. He was asked about that as he was boarding the new Air Force One, which is a gift from Qatar estimated to be worth $400 million, which he's going to take with him when he leaves.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: You know why I'm profiting because the stock market is going up. Everybody is profiting. I'm profiting because I have a lot of money and a lot of cash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, not everybody is profiting because from some of his crypto profits, he is profiting and his family is profiting, but other people are on the losing end of that deal.
While the stock market has gone up, that's not the source of his very lucrative first year in office, among other income streams, he made $526 million from cryptocurrency sales. That was after rolling back Biden-era crypto regulations once he took office.
Former Obama White House Ethics Czar, Norman Eisen joins us. He's currently involved in approximately 50 active cases against the Trump administration, and New York Times investigative Reporter, Russ Buettner. Russ, we spoke, I think it was last January, after the Times estimated that President Trump's earnings in its first year would be around $1.4 billion. It's hundreds more million than that. Were you surprised by these new disclosures?
RUSS BUETTNER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I don't know how you couldn't be shocked by these new disclosures. We've never seen anything like that. $1.4 billion just from crypto currencies. And it's amazing because he describes himself as a businessman, but this is really not a business for him. It bears his name, but he invested nothing in it as near as we can tell.
[20:35:00]
He does no work for it as near as we can tell. And he has no stake in whether the thing succeeds or fails. He just takes the money out as it comes in. So I don't know what there is there other than people betting that because he's involved they're either going to get his favor or he'll succeed because of that.
COOPER: And his children benefiting because they have other businesses, other directly involved or other businesses they create around things like deals in Kazakhstan, even the negotiator Witkoff's kids.
BUETTNER: Yeah, it's incredible. They still call themselves developers, but they haven't started a new piece of major construction in like 15 years now. And all of this stuff is really just benefiting from their name, their prominence at the moment, and it seems their access to the president of the United States and his ability to change things.
COOPER: Norm, is it true you wouldn't let President Obama refinance his mortgage, because of the influence the president can have over American banking regulations? Is that -- I mean, in retrospect, in hindsight, that just seems like a long time ago.
NORMAN EISEN, EXECUTIVE CHAIR, DEMOCRACY DEFENDERS FUND: Anderson, it is true. It was during the Great Recession and Americans were suffering. The president was regulating the banks. Refinancing his modest family home in Chicago would have saved him a few hundred dollars a month on interest. And the president shouldn't do that. Of course, President Obama wouldn't do that.
I remember another conversation I had with him when we were writing the very tough rules for his administration, Anderson, and I wanted to allow some modest gifts. And he said to me, Norm, I don't want Eric Holder even accepting a pencil from a lobbyist. That was a lobbyist gift.
So what you have today with these massive profits, monetizing the presidency and these crypto businesses, profound conflicts of interest, foreign government-linked firms investing money, some of these crypto businesses are losing substantially for investors, hundreds of millions of dollars, while Trump and his family and his cronies and associates gain.
And meanwhile, the American people pay the price for that, Anderson. Someone needs to absorb those losses. It's just wrong. And I think it's reflected in Trump reaching Nixon-era lows in the polls. These were the polling numbers that Nixon had when he was bottoming out over his corruption.
COOPER: Yeah, Russ, I mean, you know, in cryptocurrency, the president and his family profit. Investors are on the losing end of some of these Memecoins.
BUETTNER: Yeah, they've done very badly. On the Memecoin, which is just basically a cartoon illustration of him in an electronic version, he took home $636 million last year from that.
COOPER: $636 million?
BUETTNER: Million dollars. Investors, people who bought it, betting they would go up, a few who sold early did OK. They seemed like they could be insiders or have inside information. Everybody else, hundreds of thousands of people, got wiped out when it dropped precipitously after that. The World Liberty Financial token has gone down quite a bit in the last year, about 25 percent.
If you would have purchased an S&P 500 fund a year ago, it would be up 25 percent. So --
COOPER: So what he says, it's the stock market, everybody is doing well. The people who actually invested, bought these coins, did not do well.
BUETTNER: They're not doing well. And it's really reminiscent of what has happened to investors in his businesses and banks who financed his businesses for much of his career, right up through the old post office hotel.
COOPER: Russ Buettner, appreciate it, as always. Buettner, Norm Eisen, thank you as well. Up next in less than 24 hours, the Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce wedding festivities are supposed to kick off. All the new details that we're learning coming up.
And later, two climbers scale the Empire State Building to the tippy top. Why they did it and why they are -- or what they're charged with now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:43:17]
COOPER: King Kong now has competitors, two of them today who climbed their way to the top of the Empire State Building over 1,400 feet above the street. New York City police officers responded, took the pair into custody. Joining us now is CNN's John Miller, former NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism.
So who's this couple? What was the story?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So this is what they do. They have been together for a long time. He's on Instagram. He's on Facebook. She's on Instagram and Facebook. They have a joint social media account. Their real mark, I think, was their Netflix documentary, which was "Skywalkers: A Love Story."
So part of this is urban adventure, and not just in New York City, cities across the world. Part of this is monetizing it which, of course, from the documentary and other things, they've profited. But what happened today is -- what actually happened yesterday. They went to the Empire State Building as guests. They bought the tickets. They went up with the other tourists.
And then at closing time, they managed to find a way to hide. After it was all closed at 11 p.m., they then re-emerged. And from the video cameras, from the cameras inside the building, what you see is they -- she comes out of a hatch out of the floor from where they've been hiding.
There's a specially secured door that's locked and meshed, and there's wires going through it. They seem to cut that. She slips under it. He gets in. There's another door with locks on it. They cut those. And then the first 911 call comes in at 12 noon and 48 seconds that there are people climbing up the tower.
[20:45:00]
COOPER: Yeah. It's amazing. It reminds me of Philippe Petit, who did the World Trade Center.
MILLER: He walked on a tightrope between the two buildings in the old World Trade Center.
COOPER: Yeah. Yeah. There's a great documentary about it. You were on the news desk back then.
MILLER: Yeah, I know. I remember that morning when it was first reported by, you know, the helicopter pilot.
COOPER: I love the reaction of New York cops to this, too.
MILLER: Oh, yeah.
COOPER: They're like two geniuses are walking -- are up on the Empire State Building on the radio.
MILLER: Well, they've been here before.
COOPER: And he proposed to her, allegedly.
MILLER: And she said yes.
COOPER: Well, I would imagine. I would imagine.
(LAUGH)
MILLER: It was the one where you didn't want to drop the ring.
COOPER: Yes. We're also going to talk, obviously -- that's the proposal apparently there. We're also going to be talking about the wedding that's coming up, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce. We're going to talk about that more after the break.
But Madison Square Garden, have there been -- there have been weddings before there? There's Sly Stallone.
MILLER: Sly Stone.
COOPER: Sly Stone?
MILLER: Right. Sylvester Little or Sylvester Stone, he got married there in front of a massive audience. I was there. But it's a venue that Taylor Swift chose because of the relationship with the Swift Organization to Madison Square Garden and the fact that because of the layered security program and the NYPD in Madison Square Garden, you could make it hermetically sealed.
No drones could fly over. There's no windows you can see in. And they could control access to just the people that they wanted to have there.
COOPER: Yeah. We're going to talk more about it. John Miller, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
We'll talk more about the Swift and Kelce wedding festivities coming up at Madison Square Garden and also look at the last celebrity wedding there from Geraldo Rivera along with John Miller, who was there. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:50:55]
COOPER: Excitement is building here in New York. Madison Square Garden preparing for the wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, according to sources. We are learning new details about when and where the ceremony will take place, the massive celebration afterwards, and the elaborate precautions being taken to keep the festivities and star-studded guest list under wraps.
Brynn Gingras has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Easter eggs keep dropping all across New York City.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel so excited.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are expected to tie the knot in Madison Square Garden with a rehearsal planned for Thursday, a source tells CNN. It's being held in the theater section of MSG. Roughly 100 people are expected to attend.
And then Friday, the main event. A source tells CNN the wedding is expected to take place on the arena floor at 5:30, with the party lasting into the morning hours.
Preparations for the two-day event underway, as workers, this one spotted wearing a Swift Carpenters t-shirt, working through the night to transform the iconic venue into what reportedly will be a garden wonderland. Tarps have been put up at MSG's loading dock, trucks are being parked in precarious ways, a tent is expected to be erected soon.
And sources tell CNN 500 vehicles are expected to drop off wedding guests inside the world's most famous arena, all out of the view of the public eye.
GINGRAS: What are we so excited about for Taylor?
GRACE KILLEA, SWIFTIE: I want to see what it's going to look like on the inside. Like, I've never pictured a wedding being at MSG ever, because there's no natural lighting and stuff, so I'm very curious of what it's going to be like, how they're going to decorate. I'm sure it's very over-the-top, like it's unlimited, so.
STEVIE NICKS, AMERICAN SINGER-SONGWRITER: Hi, how are you?
GINGRAS (voice-over): Stevie Nicks expected to perform, according to published reports, in front of roughly 8,000 guests. Among them, we know will be San Francisco 49ers star and Kelce friend, George Kittle.
GEORGE KITTLE, TIGHT END, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS: Yeah, we'll be there. (Inaudible) I'll be there. I'm wearing a blue suit, so that's all I got. I'm expecting there to just be a jumbo jet on a runway and they put us on a plane somewhere.
GINGRAS (voice-over): The New York Times reports it will be a black tie affair, and no phones or cameras are allowed inside. It appears Taylor may already be in town. Her private plane arrived at a nearby airport Wednesday. The future Mrs. Kelce's big day is happening in the midst of New York City's summer madness, the World Cup, the Knicks' recent championship win, a heat wave, and, oh, celebrations for America turning 250. Security is expected to ramp up in Midtown.
JESSICA TISCH, COMMISSIONER, NYPD: The NYPD will, of course, have a detail in place, but I am not going to go into more specifics on that.
GINGRAS (voice-over): As for the Swifties, no doubt they will continue looking for clues. Many of them already gathering outside MSG.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If I was having the biggest wedding of the century, I would do the same. I want to pack as many of my close, cool, famous friends in as possible. Why not have everybody in the most famous arena? Hello?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GINGRAS (on camera): And Anderson, I heard you and John Miller talking about why MSG? The layers of security that are possible here, well, we are already starting to see NYPD police officers stationed around MSG. We're also hearing, it's possible, they might shut down either the entire or parts of 31st and 33rd Streets. Those are the main streets around Madison Square Garden as we get into the two days of festivities.
One more thing I could bring your attention to are these giant trucks behind me. As I said in the piece, they are precariously parked. That is because they are continuing to block what is happening behind them. The setup continues, like I said, into the evening hours as we get into the big day. Anderson?
COOPER: All right. Brynn Gingras, appreciate all the details. Thanks very much. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce aren't the first celebrity couple to hold their wedding at Madison Square Garden, as John Miller mentioned. 52 years ago, funk legend Sly Stone and actress Kathy Silva also tied the knot at the world's most famous arena in front of more than 20,000 people. It was both a concert and a wedding.
Geraldo Rivera essentially became the head usher that night and interviewed the couple just days after.
[20:55:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GERALDO RIVERA, NEWSNATION CORRESPONDENT-AT-LARGE: How in the world did you plan a wedding in Madison Square Garden? I mean, usually people have a little, you know, like a little orb or someplace, a little garden with some tulips and some roses and about 20 close friends. I mean, 23,000 close friends is quite an extravaganza.
SLY STONE, AMERICAN MUSICIAN AND SONGWRITER: Yeah, it's fun. And so we just kind of enjoyed it and shared it with a lot of friends. You know, sometimes people are not aware of the friends that they really have. I felt like we had 23,000 friends in Madison Square Garden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And Geraldo Rivera joins me now. This is so wild. I can't believe you were the usher there.
(LAUGH)
COOPER: So, first of all, what went through your mind when you heard that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were getting married there, given that you actually know what it's like to have a wedding there?
RIVERA: Oh, it was been there, done that.
(LAUGH)
RIVERA: You know, what else is new? No, it was really, it was great. 1974, I was cool then. I was friends with them. They came up with this idea and it just kept evolving and it turned out to be a blowout party in the garden.
COOPER: So how did you become an usher that night?
RIVERA: Well, I didn't plan on being an usher. We had agreed that, you know, I would be able to chronicle the happy nuptials before the tens of thousands of people. But then, as show time came, there was no Sly Stone. He didn't -- he wasn't coming up to the stage to begin the services.
So I heard he was in the men's room. I went into the men's room and he was hanging out with this, this character looked like Oddjob, had a little satchel with him.
(LAUGH)
RIVERA: They were in one of the stalls in the men's room.
COOPER: Oh, OK.
RIVERA: I said, Sly, come on, you got to go out there. There's all these people waiting.
(LAUGH)
RIVERA: So I kind of ushered him out and then I just -- I became the head usher and I led the naked, nearly naked showgirls with their golden pom forms. It was a great party. Everybody was there. Andy Warhol was there, Halston, Diane von Furstenberg, you know, all people that you know in later life.
But it was a great time. A great time was had by all. She was the only marriage he ever had. He passed last year. But he was a great guy. He was fun, a fun couple, and a good time was had by all, Anderson.
COOPER: I'm not going to question what he was doing in a stall at Madison Square Garden with Oddjob. (LAUGH)
RIVERA: With Oddjob.
(LAUGH)
COOPER: Yes, that you had to drag him out of there from to be married. So 20,000 people were at this wedding. What was the energy like? And with 20,000 guests, I mean, the minister could be opening a can of worms when he asked, does anyone here have, you know, object to this union?
(LAUGH)
RIVERA: You know, it was -- it wasn't that -- that wasn't any tension. Everybody wanted it to be a good show. Things were evolving kind of ad hoc. There was chaos everywhere.
(LAUGH)
COOPER: I can imagine that.
RIVERA: I know that Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift have a much more organized, you know, and rigidly controlled event.
COOPER: Yeah. I don't think they have the same party planner.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: This was anarchy.
(LAUGH)
RIVERA: Maybe Oddjob is available. We should --
(LAUGH)
RIVERA: We should check. It's only 52 years ago.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: And so was the -- so did they put on the concert after the wedding? Like, was the marriage and then there was a concert?
RIVERA: Right. There was the -- I think the wedding came first and then the concert. I may be wrong about that.
COOPER: OK.
RIVERA: But the concert was a blast. It was -- he had a very high energy. He was the number one act in the country at that time.
(LAUGH)
RIVERA: You know, everybody wanted them to be successful. He had very high energy. (CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yes.
RIVERA: Higher, higher.
COOPER: Yeah.
RIVERA: You should have gotten those people from the Empire State Building.
(LAUGH)
COOPER: And how did you like, how did you know Sly Stone? Just from being you?
RIVERA: I was kind of -- I was -- like I said, I was cool then 52 years ago. I styled myself as the rock and roll reporter.
COOPER: Sure.
RIVERA: I had a program called "Good Night America." We've got a second generation TV news magazines on it at 11:30 Eastern Time, every other Thursday night. And, you know, I interviewed everybody. Jagger and John Lennon did a concert for me there. John Denver, Stevie Wonder -- so that's how I knew all the rockers.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: So you had actually done concerts at Madison Square Garden with artists for a foundation of yours?
RIVERA: Right. "One to One" John Lennon did the first one, a wonderful concert. John Denver did the second one. Stevie Wonder was in there too. This one, Sly's wedding wasn't a benefit though. It was just a concert and an event that kind of was very spontaneous. The marriage stuck. So maybe other party planners should use this formula, the chaos and anarchy, and let it all hang out.
[21:00:00]
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: Yeah. So this was what, '70 -- this was '74? Wow. I mean --
RIVERA: '74. 1974.
COOPER: New York, 1974, the days of like, right before Studio 54 --
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: Crazy.
COOPER: All that. Crazy, crazy, crazy.
RIVERA: Right. COOPER: Geraldo Rivera, you're in the middle of it, I love it. Thank you so much. You take care.
(CROSSTALK)
RIVERA: OK, Anderson, good seeing you.
COOPER: All right. That's it for us. The news continues. "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" starts now.
