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Interview With Representative Tom Suozzi (D-NY) About High Stakes Super Tuesday And 2024 Elections; Five Children Killed In Odessa As Death Toll Rises To 12; Supreme Court Ruling Due Monday, Trump Ballot Case Pending; Trump Repeatedly Praises Dictators, Criticizes NATO Alliance; Teen Shot By Police Responding To Six Flags Violence. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired March 03, 2024 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:25]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

Tonight we are on the verge of a major political week. Tomorrow the Supreme Court may unveil a decision with major consequences for the 2024 election. The court says it will reveal an opinion tomorrow morning. Right now it's unclear which ruling they will release, but this is notable, Colorado votes on Tuesday. The justices might very well wish to settle once and for all the question of whether Donald Trump is disqualified from that state's ballot and therefore other states where this is a pending question.

And this Tuesday, the Super Tuesday, when voters will likely end the Republican primary, give Donald Trump his party's nomination. That's at least what Trump wants. Thursday, President Biden, he will get a primetime platform to sell his own track record for America. His State of the Union offering a rare opportunity to speak to millions of Americans, try to convince them that he deserves four more years.

It happens as a spate of new political polls show that Biden is more vulnerable than ever with general election voters.

Joining me now to discuss all this, Democratic congressman from New York, Tom Suozzi. He just won a special election in what Democrats called a bellwether district for November.

Thanks so much for taking the time tonight.

REP. TOM SUOZZI (D-NY): Hey, Jim. Thanks for having me on.

SCIUTTO: So I watched your swearing-in speech on the floor of Congress and you said that your election was a message to wake up, that voters want Democrats and Republicans to work together. They don't want so much partisanship. I hear that message. I wonder when you look at these polls, and by the way, they've been consistent, not isolated, that show at a minimum a lack of enthusiasm for Joe Biden in November, do you think these are a wake-up call for Joe Biden and the White House? SUOZZI: You know, I don't think the presidential election has been

joined yet. I think it's going to take a couple more months. The president has got to do a lot to perform. I think Thursday night is going to be a big night for him. He has a tremendous record to run on. But the polls, you know, talk about his age.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SUOZZI: And he can't change his age, but he can communicate more effectively the things he's done regarding infrastructure, regarding creating jobs, regarding addressing inflation better than any other Western country. So the president has done a lot of great things to improve infrastructure and manufacturing, and so much more. But he's got to sell that to the people, and the Democrats as a whole has to help him sell that. So I think that as the campaign joins and it becomes a clear choice between two candidates, things are going to change.

SCIUTTO: You advise the president to do what you did in your race, which was to lean into the immigration issue and say, listen, we got to do something about it. But we Democrats, we tried, we have this bipartisan agreement in the Senate got rejected by the House. Do you believe the White House needs to lean into that line of argument as well? Do you think it would work nationally, not just in New York III?

SUOZZI: Yes. I think the president is doing that already. He's got to do more of it. Every single day quite frankly. And it's not my advice, it's me looking at history, looking at President Clinton. President Clinton used to take the issue they were attacking him on, make it his own, proposed a comprehensive, bipartisan solution. If the Republicans go along with him, hey, we finally move forward after 35 years of not dealing with this issue.

If they don't go along with him, it's very easy for him to point out, hey, you're just playing politics and you're trying to weaponize this issue, which is clear when you hear that President Trump says, let's not pass that bipartisan law because that would give a victory to Biden. I want to run on the chaos. That's just -- as Mitt Romney said, that's appalling.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And look to your point. I mean, listen, Clinton basically took the Contract with America, made it his own, and he won a second term. I do want to ask you this because you look at the general election polling and you and others make the point. Listen, they're polls, votes actually matter, and you ran in a district that was plus eight red just, what, 14, 15 months ago? George Santos wins it.

You win plus eight. That's a 16-point turn in that time period. And I wonder, I know that some pollsters will say the specials aren't really great indicators for a national election. But let's be frank. We've had a batch of these, right, in different places. Do you do look at your district as a bellwether?

[18:05:01] SUOZZI: You know, the thing I looked to with my campaign is to prove that campaigns matter. When it comes down to choosing between two candidates, and the campaigns they run that has a very big impact on the results so if the voters have to choose where the campaign has been joined for real between Biden and Trump, and they're both running on their records and they're both running on their visions for the next four years, that's when people will really start to focus.

You know, you see that President Trump has been underperforming in his polling in the actual primaries. And the Democrats, as a general rule, have been overperforming as far as polling in all these different elections that have been leading up over the past couple of years. So, you know, campaigns matter, issues matter. I think this immigration issue is going to be a very, very big issue. People want us to address it.

If they see the Democrats are actually trying to address it and are proposing reasonable solutions and are trying to get something done, and the Republicans are just saying it's a problem, it's a problem, it's a problem.

SCIUTTO: Right.

SUOZZI: It's a really big problem, and then you say, well, what do you want to do? Well, it's a problem. It's a problem. It's a really big -- yes, but what do you want to do? It's a problem, that's not enough. So that's what happened to my campaign. And I think that the president has demonstrated that he's willing to move. He's willing to compromise. He wants to get something done. And he's being obstructed not only by the House and some members of the Senate, but by former President Trump, who's telling his acolytes not to do anything.

So I think, you know, campaigns matter, issues matter. I think the president has got to really perform on State of the Union.

SCIUTTO: The Biden administration has talked about some executive actions. Your district, the New York area, like many cities, has been hit by an influx of some of these migrants, who've been moved up from the south oftentimes by red state governors. What executive action would you like the president to take that would make a difference in your district?

SUOZZI: You know, I don't know that -- I'd like to get money back to New York state and to New York City so that they can help pay for this crushing burden that we have right now and we need legislation to do that. But I think it's important to note that the system we have now was designed for 400,000 people. Right now there's millions of people that are coming across each year, not 400,000, million.

When they say we need more border agents, we need more immigration judges, we need more detention bunk beds, which were all part of the bipartisan deal, we need to build more wall, fine. We'll build more wall. We need to give more money to the states and the cities affected by this. We need to improve the asylum process so that cases can be processed in a matter of weeks instead of a matter of years. Those will all make a big -- I keep on making this point. James

Lankford is the Republican senator who negotiated this deal in the Senate. You're not going to find a smarter, harder working, more honest conservative than you're going to find in Jim Lankford. He negotiated the best possible deal you could get. Anybody says, the "Wall Street Journal" endorsed the deal. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed this compromise.

The Border Patrol union president was a big Trump supporter endorsed this compromise. Why won't President Trump and others support this compromise? Because they're playing politics. So we just need to keep on making that point over -- can I say one other thing, Jim? Very important. We keep on hearing about the 5,000, the 5,000, the 5,000? Those 5,000, if under this compromise proposal will be processed on a timely basis, 90 percent of those 5,000 will be sent back right away.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SUOZZI: So it will not be 5,000. It'll be 500 or less.

SCIUTTO: And James Lankford, Republican senator, debunked that 5,000 talking point much as you are, repeatedly, but, you know, clearly didn't move Trump.

You mentioned Biden's age. Last night, "Saturday Night Live" spoofed the president's supposedly extraordinarily high behind-the-scenes energy, which we often heard from his advisers. Have a listen. I want to get your thoughts on one thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was with Joe Biden for the past weekend, and he wiped me out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. So you feel he's up to the job?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dana, I was just with him and behind closed doors, he's a dynamo. Joe went into beast mode. He said, we're going to tighten this border. Look how easy I can cross it. Then he parkoured up to the top of the border wall. He front flipped into the Rio Grande and came back up with a fish in his mouth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: I mean, to your point, you can't change your age. Does he have to try to laugh it off?

SUOZZI: Yes. You know, I remember this. You know, I'm 61 years old. I remember this with President Reagan and they used to make fun of him. And he goofed up in his first debate and everybody said, oh, he's too old, you know, he's losing a step. He's falling apart.

[18:10:04]

And he came back for the second debate and he said -- and they brought up his age, and said, Mr. President, your age -- is age going to be a problem for you in his campaign? And President Reagan said, I'm not going to let the youth and inexperience of my opponent affect this race.

I mean, so, yes, he's got -- he can't change his age. He is how old he is. Everybody knows that. We should be pushing the fact that he's accomplished so much, that he's very wise, he's very pretty experienced, and he has an incredibly strong team around him. And he's gotten a lot of bipartisan accomplishments done as part of his administration, from infrastructure to manufacturing through the Chips Act, to things with guns, for veterans. There's so much this administration has done and this president has done.

When the campaign is joined, which I think will happen over the next couple of months, when I made it really, you know, people have to choose between candidates, I think the president has a very strong case to make.

SCIUTTO: Tom Suozzi, always good to have you on. Congratulations on your recent swearing in. And also because I'm a Mets fan, congratulations to your son. I'm wishing him good luck in spring training in the Mets organization.

SUOZZI: He had a double and a homerun today in the scrimmage games.

SCIUTTO: Fantastic.

SUOZZI: So we're very, very excited. Yes, very excited.

SCIUTTO: Excellent.

SUOZZI: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: We'll be looking for him on the roster. Tom Suozzi, have a good weekend.

Still ahead, Vice President Kamala Harris tonight forcefully calling for, in her words, an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We're going to have former Defense secretary Leon Panetta, he joins me next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:16:15]

SCIUTTO: Five civilians were injured in another round of overnight missile attacks on people's homes in Eastern Ukraine. We know now that in a similar strike in Odessa this weekend, 12 people were killed, including five children. Ukrainian officials say new military assistance from its allies could help strengthen its air defenses and help prevent these kinds of deadly attacks.

Nick Paton Walsh reports from Eastern Ukraine.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Another night of airstrikes targeting Odessa, so frequent at the moment and so often deadly towards civilians, particularly troubling numbers amongst the rising death toll here, particularly Timofey (PH), a four-month-old boy, and Mark (PH), a toddler who would have turned three on Sunday.

Hard to tell often if this is the purposeful attack against civilian apartment blocks, like the ones that were hit over that night, or whether this is a mistake by the Russians who think they're hitting something else, or if they simply just don't care. But it's deeply frequent, deeply troubling, as you've just heard them claiming the lives of the very youngest.

It's also potentially a sign of what Ukraine says is one of the first things that will suffer because of a lack of Western aid, and that's air defenses. Now Russia is also fielding huge amounts of drones and aviation bombs at the moment. They seem to have a huge supply of those, and it comes too amongst troubling signs on the front line, particularly around the east near where I'm standing, near the town of Avdiivka, where Russia took that town about three weeks ago now. Ukraine withdrawing from it.

But since then they've been able to apply intense pressure, moving forwards and taking some of the villages to the West of that, three confirmed that we know of. But the area that Ukraine essentially declared its new defensive line now appears to be under intense pressure from Russian assault. Some geo-located drone footage suggesting, in fact, that one of the most important villages that Ukraine thought it would hold onto to defend that front line, or Livka, may now be partially under Russian control, or at least destroyed beyond any kind of recognition.

This is troubling because it suggests Ukraine is not necessarily in control of its defensive backlines, and it may suggest greater Russian momentum than is being discussed publicly by Ukrainian officials.

Also too, the new commander of Ukraine's forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, for the second time berated some of his commanders for poor tactics, saying that they had the staffing, the equipment that they needed, but they simply hadn't done their job, and so now he needed to send advisers in, or in some cases, make personnel changes.

Stark comments, frankly, in the middle of a pitched battle from the key commander here in Ukraine, new to the job after his replacement was taken out by President Zelenskyy. The second time that Mr. Syrskyi has indeed suggested that his commanders are not up to the job in this area, and it comes amid signs that Russia is really on the front foot here on the front lines, with territory changing hands.

Potentially, stark weeks or months ahead here for Ukraine, as Western munitions and aid dries up fast, and they begin to see what that really means on the battlefield.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Eastern Ukraine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: To discuss the situation there in Ukraine, as well as the continued delays in U.S. military assistance, former Defense secretary and former CIA director, Leon Panetta, joins us now.

Thanks so much for taking the time this Sunday.

LEON PANETTA, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: Good to be with you, Jim?

SCIUTTO: So we are learning in the last 24, 48 hours that the House Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican, has at least allowed Republicans and Democrats to discuss another path to approving U.S. Military assistance to Ukraine. Of course, we've been through this many times before, not clear there's a lot of interests from the House leadership in this, and there seems to be outright opposition to it from Donald Trump, the presumptive nominee.

[18:20:03]

Before your time at the CIA and the Pentagon, you served in Congress for a number of years. Did you see a viable path forward through this Congress for U.S. Military aid?

PANETTA: Well, there absolutely has to be a vote on supplemental. That has to happen, and you know, I know there's a lot of talk about some kind of dream package that could come together. But very frankly, when there was an effort to deal with the border situation and a bipartisan effort came together in the Senate, Trump said don't support that and the Republicans didn't support it. And it's going to be very difficult to come up with some approach that everybody agrees to with regards to the border.

I think that's just a fact. Look, the house is burning right now. We need to get aid to Ukraine. They desperately need it.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

PANETTA: And that vote ought to take place as soon as possible. Look, Leader Jeffries, they basically said that the Democrats, if there's a problem with the speaker worried about losing his position that the Democrats could even help him retain his position. I don't think there's any excuse now for the House not voting on the supplemental.

SCIUTTO: Help our viewers understand what would happen if the U.S. indeed abandons its ally here, in effect, and says, no more? What would it mean for Ukraine? What would it mean for Europe?

PANETTA: I've said from the beginning that this is not just about Ukraine defending its democracy. This is about whether or not we're going to protect democracy in the world, in the 21st century. There's a bigger fight going on here with regards to protecting democracy and Ukraine is fighting that battle, and trying to do everything necessary to protect itself from an invader, Putin, who basically attacked Ukraine for one reason and one reason only that he did not believe the people of Ukraine have the right to determine how to govern themselves. He did not believe that they should have a democracy. So that's the

reason the United States and our allies have come together to support Ukraine. If we stand back now and allow Putin to succeed, we are sending an incredibly bad message to the world about the credibility of the United States and the credibility of our allies.

SCIUTTO: And Putin is already speaking openly about slicing off another piece of another sovereign nation, that being Moldova, the area of Transnistria, they may sound far away, but these are parts of countries in Europe and the 21st century.

I want to turn now to the Middle East because we heard from Vice President Kamala Harris earlier today saying phrases she hasn't used before with this level of strength. Have a listen, I want to get your comments on what this means.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The threat of Hamas poses to the people of Israel must be eliminated, and given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Immediate ceasefire. Do you hear a step forward in the administrations push for a ceasefire that you hadn't heard before?

PANETTA: Well, I think it was clear that the effort to try to get a deal that involves a ceasefire, the exchange of hostages, and the delivery of greater humanitarian aid. That Israel has agreed to a framework for that deal and that we're now waiting for Hamas hopefully to agree to the same deal. But, look, we're not going to get a ceasefire unless the parties agree to a ceasefire and so right now the effort ought to be to do everything necessary to try to get that deal done before Ramadan.

SCIUTTO: In the CIA, in the Pentagon, you've been part of negotiations, discussions between U.S. and Israeli leaders, sometimes difficult I imagine, and the public split between Netanyahu and President Biden has been notable on the progress of the war there, attention to the lives of civilians in Gaza. Do you sense that daylight, if that's the right respect between Israeli and U.S. leaders, is unusually wide right now? And do you sense that U.S. pressure is growing to the point where it's actually going to move Israeli leaders?

[18:25:04]

PANETTA: Well, look, you know, I was part of the Obama administration where there was sometimes difficult relationships between the president and Netanyahu. But ultimately, we continue to work with the Israelis. We continue to work together. We continue to try to deal with the threats that they were facing and that we were facing. And I think that's what's happening now, is that we're making every effort to continue to try to work and negotiate to a possible deal that will I think be critical to our ability, not only to get the hostages exchanged, but to provide this critical humanitarian aid that is essential.

I realize that we're now doing airdrops. I think it's important to try to provide that help. But it's a very inefficient way to try to deliver the kind of humanitarian aid that is desperately needed right now in Gaza. The only way to get there is to get this deal that all of the parties hopefully will agree to.

SCIUTTO: We'll see. It's been a long time coming. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, thanks so much.

PANETTA: Good to be with you.

SCIUTTO: And still ahead, the Supreme Court revealed tonight that a ruling is coming down tomorrow. Could it be a decision that could have major impact on the presidential election as relates to that man's name on election ballots. Our legal experts weigh in next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:00]

SCIUTTO: So we've got some news today. The U.S. Supreme Court will release a opinion tomorrow, being seen as a strong signal, it may be on whether former president Trump can appear on Colorado's presidential ballot and therefore the ballots of other states that have raised this issue. The court will decide whether the Colorado Supreme Court was correct when it ruled that Trump is disqualified from running for office based on the 14th Amendment's ban on insurrectionists.

Let's discuss now with folks who know better than me, our panel, Norm Eisen and Shan Wu.

Good to have you both on. So, we're watching this case very closely. Tuesday happens to be Super Tuesday.

Norm Eisen, do you expect that we're going to get a decision tomorrow on the Colorado case?

NORM EISEN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Jim, most court-watchers think that this signals a Colorado case decision.

SCIUTTO: Right.

EISEN: Number one, we have been expecting something before Super Tuesday, maybe not quite this close to Super Tuesday in the same news cycle. But number two, the -- it's unusual for the court to do this. Usually it's some special reasons so that points to the 14th Amendment, and the speed with which they started the 14th Amendment case, got to oral arguments suggests a speedy answers.

SCIUTTO: OK.

EISEN: So more likely than not yes. SCIUTTO: So going back to when we were listening to the oral arguments

coming out of the Supreme Court, it was notable that liberal justices raised questions. They've seemed if not equally skeptical, similarly skeptical as the conservative justices. I want to play one of the questions raised by Justice Elena Kagan during those arguments. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUSTICE ELENA KAGAN, U.S. SUPREME COURT: I think that the question that you have to confront is, why a single state should decide who gets to be president of the United States. In other words, you know, this question of whether a former president is disqualified for insurrection to be president again is, just say it, it sounds awfully national to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Did you read that question, other questions you heard from the liberal justices as this being likely perhaps a unanimous decision or close to unanimous?

SHAN WU, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, I think it's very likely to be a unanimous decision. I mean, I disagree with her analysis of that. I think that the court has been quite comfortable letting states disagree on different topics such as in the abortion situation.

SCIUTTO: I noticed that.

WU: But certainly from the oral arguments it seemed that they were very much leaning towards allowing -- not allowing that case to stand and keeping him on the ballot.

SCIUTTO: OK. Trump's federal election subversion trial by the original schedule was going to begin tomorrow. That's not going to happen because the Supreme Court did decide to hear Trump's argument he's immune from prosecution in this case. That pushes the trial back even further. We don't know when it's going to happen.

When you look at that case, can we expect equal speed in terms of hearing the arguments now scheduled I believe to begin April 22nd, to a decision point or might they drag their feet on that one relative to this one?

EISEN: It's week of April 22nd.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

EISEN: Because they have several days, they have three days there. That's it. They'll now be a test, Jim. That case has moved by Supreme Court standards at a brisk pace, not as brisk as the 14th Amendment case or other comparable historical cases, U.S. v. Nixon. But the Supreme Court can still signal its seriousness. Will they decide the immunity case on the same timetable of less than a month after week of April 22nd? Will we get a decision? If we do, and if absolute immunity is struck down, which I can't imagine how the Supreme Court is going to elevate when all the other courts have rejected it, that case can still get to trial before the November election.

SCIUTTO: It can but it's not guaranteed. And I just wonder, Shan Wu, but it can. And that's a fair point. But speed matters at this point because trials take time, and why would -- listen, I get it.

[18:35:03]

You got to decide the ballot case before Super Tuesday, Colorado has its primary on Tuesday. That makes sense. But the court in the past, if you go back to Bush v. Gore, they were like we have to make a decision on this pretty darn quickly. If you go back to the Nixon tapes case, we've got to make a decision on this pretty quickly.

Would there not be a consistent argument to say, not only do you have to begin a trial prior, but have the trial answered prior to an election when it gets to an issue as central as this, presidential immunity from, well, the way his lawyers' argument from any and all crimes.

WU: Yes, I think it should be of the same time urgency. And I think there's a little bit of a double-standard going on. First of all, delays here in coming down with the Colorado decision so close to Super Tuesday, delay maybe could signal that there's some back-and- forth dissonance among the justices.

SCIUTTO: Right.

WU: Another way to look at it, though, is why is there not equal pressure about the election with regard to immunity as regarding the ballot? And if the justices really --

SCIUTTO: That's exactly my question.

WU: Right. If the justices are really -- were just calling balls and strikes, why should you care that Super Tuesday is on Tuesday? Why should you care when the election is? You're just taking your time to decide the case. But they seem to care a lot more about the ballot issue, having Trump on the ballot than they do about resolving the immunity issue quickly enough that the trial how can start.

And you're right. Trial takes much longer to ramp up than everyone just going and voting on Super Tuesday. So to me raises an eyebrow as to, you know, what's really going on there.

(CROSSTALK)

SCIUTTO: Listen, are you suggesting partisanship on the court?

WU: Oh, absolutely.

SCIUTTO: OK. I just want to be clear.

EISEN: I actually think that they should be held to the Nixon standard of 16 days to get an opinion out that that is the more a posit precedent than the approximate month they've taken what the 14th Amendment. And what difference does it make if they decide before Super Tuesday or not? The Colorado court's decision is stayed. Trump is on the ballot. It has no practical outcome.

And you could even argue that they're inserting themselves into partisanship because they're giving Donald Trump a big legal win the day before Super Tuesday.

SCIUTTO: Right.

EISEN: Do you think he's going to just ignore that or is he going to use that on Super Tuesday?

SCIUTTO: Well, that -- yes, that's probably pretty good bet.

Shan Wu, Norm Eisen, thanks so much to both of you.

And still ahead, Trump will reportedly meet with Hungary's far-right leader, Viktor Orban, at Mar-a-Lago this week. Why? We're going to speak to an expert on strongman about what all this could signal about a potential Trump second administration.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:25]

SCIUTTO: Former President Donald Trump at a rally yesterday mixed up President Biden with President Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And Putin, you know, has so little respect for Obama that he started to throw around the nuclear word. You heard that. Nuclear. He started to talk nuclear weapons today. I was waiting for that to happen. But we have a fool, a fool as a president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: What does he mean by waiting for that to happen? Anyway, it's not the first time he's confused Biden and Obama as both he and President Biden faced questions about their age, their mental sharpness for office. But another takeaway from Trump's remarks here is the bit about Putin having little respect for the president, the insinuation Trump believes that Putin has respect for Trump.

Let's discuss with professor of history at New York University, Ruth Ben-Ghiat. She's also the author of "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present."

Ruth, this praise for and unwillingness to criticize Putin, it goes back years with Trump. While he was president, since he's been president, before he's been president. I've asked numerous of Trump's own advisers how they explained that. They tend to explain it by saying, he envies their power. And I wonder if you feel the same way. Putin's power, Xi's power, Kim Jong-un's power.

RUTH BEN-GHIAT, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY: Absolutely. And my book "Strongman" is the first book, came out in 2020 to have -- Trump is in it as a leader who is following the authoritarian playbook. And Trump has actually been trying to educate Americans to think that authoritarian leaders, murderous dictators like Putin and Xi, and the leader of North Korea, that is a positive model of leadership.

He's worked very hard to praise them at every turn. So we have to see this as a kind of re-education of Americans to think that Democratic leaders, whether it's Biden or Obama, are fools and Putin and Xi are, you know, intelligent and wonderful people.

SCIUTTO: Listen. The disinformation works. I mean, you had someone like Tucker Carlson go there, go to one grocery store and somehow praised the system as superior, ignoring the reality. Trump is expected to, in this vein, meet with Hungary's Viktor Orban at Mar-a- Lago next week. Victor Orban is a far-right nationalist. We should note, he also shares something with Trump, which is an opposition to further NATO military assistance to Ukraine.

[18:45:06]

I mean, the point about this, Ruth, is it's not just about admiration for the idea of these guys, is that he shares their policy positions. He -- again, I've spoken to advisers, people who served Trump at senior roles in his last administration. They believe in a second term he will take the U.S. out of NATO. So it's not just rhetorical, its consequential, is it not?

BEN-GHIAT: Absolutely. And Orban is an important hub in this kind of far-right fascist international that's being constructed. And he, you know, he's always been quite tight with Trump. When he came to the White House in 2019, Trump said, oh, it's like we're twins. And as you say, they're not just twins ideologically. The types of nativist, anti-immigrant, you know, conspiracy theories against George Soros, who is Orban's big nemesis.

All of this has led to extremely repressive policies in Hungary and Orban is a client of Putin. And so they have that in common whatever the nature exactly of their various respective ties with Putin. They are working very hard in what they do with their policies and their speeches to make things easier for Putin. Trump said, we're going to let Putin do whatever he wants and Orban has shown that he seems to agree.

SCIUTTO: Let me ask you this, because not only does Trump praised the Putins of the world, he is loath to criticize them. And you could draw a straight line from his unwillingness to say anything critical about Putin following the death of Alexei Navalny back to that moment in Helsinki, when he wouldn't' even call Putin out for interfering in the 2016 election? Thats sounds a little bit like fear. And I wonder, do the Putins of the world, do they see Trump as strong or as someone that they can manipulate?

BEN-GHIAT: Well, Kremlin propaganda shows have made fun of Trump repeatedly as a kind of useful fool of Putin and so, you know, they see who is the patron and who is the client very well. And we also have to talk about flows of money because one of Trump's sons, before he was running for president, said, you know, we don't need external funding for Trump Organization, his private business, because we have all the funding we need from Russians. So their invocations and flows of money and influence that are not just about Trump admiring Putin, but a whole other universe of ties. And those ties and flows of money are shared by the GOP.

SCIUTTO: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, concerning analysis. Thanks so much.

And coming up this hour, we're learning new details about just a terrifying night at Six Flags outside of Atlanta. We're going to be back in a moment with details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:52:41]

SCIUTTO: Police shot a teen last night, this at Six Flags over Georgia, just outside Atlanta, after 500 to 600 people ran through the park fighting and shooting. A teenager is now in critical condition.

Just have a look at the chaos there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

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SCIUTTO: Semiautomatic gunfire, you can hear it there.

CNN's Rafael Romo is at the park.

Rafael, what happened here and what's the latest on the aftermath?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jim, both the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Cobb County Police Department say the officers were shot at by people, an unknown number of people, in the crowd outside the park here at Six Flags. And it happened during the first day of operation of the season. It started on Saturday, as many as 500 to 600 people were at one point running through the park.

There were fights that happened inside the park and then it became clear to security here at Six Flags that they were going to need help and so they called the Cobb County Police Department. When they showed up, they started helping security and they were trying to escort people out of the park so that the situation would not get any worse. So that it wouldn't escalate.

And as people were walking out, there were for fights that happened outside the park and then at one point, as I mentioned before, somebody opened fire against the police. A police officer fired back and that's when that 15-year-old got shot and is now in critical condition at Grady Memorial Hospital. Today, the park was open and as far as we could see, Jim, it was business as usual.

Back to you.

SCIUTTO: Remarkable after a night like that. Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

Lies, corruption, bribery, prostitution, in the new CNN Original Series, "UNITED STATES OF SCANDALS," CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper dives into some of the most sensational political controversies to dissect the truth from the spin. Here's a preview of tonight's episode.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Tonight we're bringing you the story of Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor who had made his name taking down white-collar criminals called the sheriff of Wall Street.

[18:55:03]

He had been sent to Albany on a wave of overwhelming support from voters, but his time in office was cut short when it was revealed that Spitzer, also known as client nine, had been soliciting sex workers. This it came out through a sting of a prostitution ring.

I talked to members of Spritzer's inner circle, including his former lieutenant governor David Paterson, who offered this insight into Spitzer's thinking.

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TAPPER (voice-over): In a telltale sign of his hubris, Spitzer was so confident he would become governor. He started staffing his administration years before the election.

DAVID PATERSON, FORMER NEW YORK GOVERNOR: One time Spitzer said to me, there's someone I'd like to interview be lieutenant governor, but I wouldn't want to be rejected. Now I realized he's talking about me and he was right I didn't want to be lieutenant governor. And at the time, Hillary Clinton was a junior senator from New York. So I said to Spitzer, if Hillary Clinton becomes president, you pick the new senator. I would be your guide.

And Spitzer said something to me at that point, it was very prophetic. Stay out of trouble and you're my guy. And all I can say to that was, physician, heal thy self.

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TAPPER: Clearly Governor Spitzer should have heeded his own advice. What adds to the hypocrisy here is that one of the Spritzer's very first acts in office was to pass one of the toughest sex trafficking laws in the United States, one that he himself was breaking.

We're going to have more on how hubris and ego took down the man on his way to perhaps becoming president of the United States, tonight on "UNITED STATES OF SCANDAL."

SCIUTTO: And be sure to tune in tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific only on CNN. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)