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Erin Burnett Outfront
Obama to Critics: Come Up With A Better Nuke Deal; Ayatollah: Some Players in Iran Talks "Not Trustworthy At All"; CNN Goes Inside Drug Lord's Escape Tunnel; Drug Lord's Beauty Queen Wife May Be Key To Capture. Aired 7-8:00p ET
Aired July 15, 2015 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:12] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT tonight. President Obama daring his critics if they don't like the Iran deal, come up with something better. My guest, presidential candidate Lindsey Graham.
Plus, CNN going inside El Chapo's tunnel to freedom for the first time tonight. You're going to see it. Every bit of it. And a special report on the drug lord's beauty queen wife who is likely in the United States right now. Does she know where the brutal fugitive is tonight?
And Pluto like you have never seen it before. We have new images coming in that are shocking scientists. Wait until you see them. Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, the President fighting back. Confident, aggressive, at times angry. President Obama confronting reporters and critics today. He says his Iran deal is as good as it is going to get.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I'm hearing a lot of talking points being repeated about this is a bad deal. What I haven't heard is what is your preferred alternative?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: His sales pitch ran on for more than an hour. He was impassioned when he got questions and it wasn't about Iran, he said, I have more I want to say about Iran. This comes on the same day that the supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Khamenei made a rare public appearance warning that the United States is not trustworthy. Jim Acosta begins our coverage from the White House tonight.
And Jim, we saw an impassioned, energetic, angry, confrontational president today eager to call out his critics.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He didn't want the news conference to end. And neither did we, Erin. President Obama came out swinging, blasting his opponents even scolding a reporter he thought was out of line as he insisted his nuclear deal with Iran was never designed to solve every problem with Tehran, only the big one, stopping one of the world's most dangerous regimes from getting the bomb.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OBAMA: Please, have a seat.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Sounding supremely confident, President Obama brushed aside all of the criticisms of his nuclear deal with Iran, demanding that opponents in Congress simply read the agreement.
OBAMA: You will hear some critics say, well, we could have negotiated a better deal. Okay, what does that mean?
ACOSTA: Even though he is under fire, the President relished the opportunity to answer his detractors.
OBAMA: I really am enjoying this Iran debate.
ACOSTA: Mr. Obama praised the agreements convoluted inspection process, dismissing doubts that Iran would get away with cheating.
OBAMA: Suddenly, something is missing on the back end, they got some explaining to do.
ACOSTA: And he insisted that the agreement is more than just postpone Iran's nuclear ambitions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: None of us are holding out hope that they will change their behavior.
OBAMA: No, look, I'm always hopeful that the behavior may change for the sake of the Iranian people as well as people in the region.
ACOSTA: But one pointed question did get under the President's skin, why four Americans detained or missing in Iran were not freed as part of the deal.
MAJOR GARRETT, CBS NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Can you tell the country sir, why you are content with all the fanfare around this deal to leave the conscious of this nation, the strength of this nation unaccounted for in relation to these four Americans.
OBAMA: The notion that I am content as I celebrate with American citizens languishing in Iranian jails, major, that's nonsense. And you should know better.
ACOSTA: But slamming reporters won't silence his critics which includes some Democrats.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D), NEW YORK: Look, this is a decision that shouldn't be made lightly. And I am going to just study this agreement before I -- and talk to people before I do anything else.
ACOSTA: The deal's biggest skeptic is really Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is blasting the agreement inspection process which could take 24 days to look at suspicious sites. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a long time. You can flush a lot of
evidence down the toilet. It's like telling a drug dealer, we will going to check your meth lab in 24 days. We will put you on warning.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: Besides the Iran deal, the President raised an eyebrows when he conceded he won't defeat ISIS or settle the Syrian civil war while in office. And when President whether he would revoke the presidential Medal of Freedom for Bill Cosby, the President said, he did not have that authority but Erin getting back to this issue of those missing or detained Americans in Iran, I did hear it late today from a White House official who said the larger point that the President was trying to make their -- is that it would have been more complicated to make their fates part of the deal and that they are working mightily to get those Americans released everyday -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jim Acosta.
And the deal, of course, isn't just dependent on Congress signing off. The supreme leader of Iran, the Ayatollah has to buy in. And at this point, his plans are anyone's guess. He actually came out on this today.
Elise Labott is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[19:05:05] ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As President Obama was defending the deal, Iran's supreme leader was sending mixed signals. In a series of tweets, Ayatollah Khomeini said the agreement still, quote, "needs scrutiny." Although he wasn't at the negotiating table, the supreme leader loomed large in the talks. Today, President Obama's acknowledged the Ayatollah's final say over Iran's foreign policy.
OBAMA: During the course of these negotiations over the last couple of months, every time the supreme leader or somebody tweeted something out, for some reason we all bought into the notion. Well, the Obama administration must be giving this or capitulating to that. Well, now we have a document.
LABOTT: Indeed, the Ayatollah has used social media to lay out his redlines for the nuclear talks and stay true to the message that Iran would never give in to the U.S. who he calls the great Satan. Warning, quote, "The U.S. should know that people of Iran wouldn't submit to bullying." During the last round of talks in March, the Ayatollah was caught to a rally shouting, "Death to America" to the Iranian people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the supreme leader vetoed this deal --
LABOTT: Karim Sadjadpour, a leading expert on Iran says Khomeini's hatred for America runs deep.
KARIM SADJADPOUR, SENIOR ASSOCIATE, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT: He always been profoundly distrustful of the United States and the supreme leader's bases are hardline forces in Tehran who had been attending Friday prayer sessions chanting "Death to America" for decades.
LABOTT: Last week, as the talks reached a critical phase, the Iranian negotiating team refused to compromise on key points. And in the heated exchange, Iran's foreign minister was asked whether the Ayatollah was ready to do the deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have a mandate to negotiate following your trip --
MOHAMMAD JAVAD ZARIF, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: I didn't go to get a mandate. I already have a mandate to negotiate --
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LABOTT: And the supreme leader is believed to already have signed off on the deal. Before the Iranians agreed to it in Vienna. He will have to respond carefully now that the deal has been made public, juggling the reaction of hardliners who opposed any deal with the west with many Iranians who were hopeful that the agreement will improve the economy with the lifting of sanctions and end Iran's international isolation -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Elise, thank you very much. And OUTFRONT now, let's go straight to the 2016 republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham. The senator also sits on the Armed Services Committee.
Senator, good to have you with us tonight. You just saw the Ayatollah making a rare appearance --
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Thank you.
BURNETT: -- saying it's the United States that he doesn't trust. What do you think of the Ayatollah?
GRAHAM: I think he would be dancing. He just doesn't believe in dancing. You know, they took us to the cleaners. Look at our friends in Israel. Here is what we have been able to achieve. We have given the Ayatollah and his regime more money and more weapons without requiring them to change their behavior. Instead of dismantling their nuclear program, we have locked in an industrial sized nuclear program that through the mere passage of time can grow as large as they would like. We have put every Sunni Arab country in a box. Because now they think they have to get a nuclear weapon. And this could be a death sentence for Israel and it could come back to hunt us. So, this is a lousy deal negotiated by an incompetent commander in chief who screwed up the Mideast and the next president is going to have a mess on their hands.
BURNETT: All right. You say it's a lousy deal, that the President isn't competent. Today though he was confrontational, he was confident. And he says Senator, the burden is on you. He says you are the one who has to say why this deal doesn't work. GRAHAM: I will be glad to.
BURNETT: Let me play exactly how he said it. And then you can take him on. Here he is.
GRAHAM: Okay. Sure.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: I'm hearing a lot of talking points being repeated about this is a bad deal. This is a historically bad deal. This will threaten Israel and threaten the world, threaten the United States. I mean, there's been a lot of that. What I haven't heard is what is your preferred alternative.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Senator, answer the question, please.
GRAHAM: I would be glad to. My preferred alternative would be not to give the Ayatollah $100 billion in sanction relief unless he agreed to stop destabilizing the Mideast. Not preferred alternative would have been not to lift the U.N. weapons embargo that was not even part of the original negotiation so that five years from now he can buy more weapons to destabilize the Mideast, share it with terrorist organizations who could come here. My preferred alternative would be to have dismantle the nuclear program like we all wanted, rather than leaving in place an industrial size nuclear program that after the passage of time can be as large as the Ayatollah would like. My preferred alternative would have been not to require the Sunni Arabs to get a nuclear weapon to counter which now is a certainty in their mind that the Ayatollah will have a nuke. My preferred alternative would have been not to give Israel's chief antagonist, the people who chant "Death to America, Death to Israel."
BURNETT: So, yes --
GRAHAM: The ability over time to destroy the Jewish state.
[19:10:13] BURNETT: I have to say, one of the strangest experiences in my life was being at one of those "Death to America" rallies and how nice people were treating me.
GRAHAM: Yes.
BURNETT: I mean, that it was an issue about the country, not the individuals.
GRAHAM: Yes.
BURNETT: But the point -- the question I want to ask you though, is you know, you talk about the sanctions really, Senator. And I hear you on that. But, you know, I was in Iran a few years ago. I met British businessmen, French businessmen. They were there. They shouldn't have been there. They were there.
GRAHAM: Yes.
BURNETT: And then, I was there again during the presidential elections.
GRAHAM: Right.
BURNETT: And I went to a Mercedes dealership, BMW dealerships. I saw European businesses. And sources are now telling me the President is right on this one key point, that the sanctions are going away because of the rest of the world who does a lot of business with Iran is not willing to keep them in place. So, the U.S. could choose to not do a deal with Iran, but you are not going to keep the sanctions.
GRAHAM: I could just say this, that a weak American president creates chaos for the world at large. This is the guy that said, ISIL was the jayvee team. This is the guy that drew a red line against Assad and did nothing about it. So, at the end of the day. Here is what I would tell the rest of the world. As to America, we're not going to agree to give the Ayatollah any more money until he changes his behavior. We are going to keep our sanctions in place. And if you do business with Iran, you are not going to do business with America. You choose.
BURNETT: And you think that would really work, that they would make that choice?
GRAHAM: Yes. I think --
BURNETT: I mean, you know, it's one thing to say that. It's another to say we're not going to buy German made products.
GRAHAM: No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying if you are a German company doing business in Iran, you are not going to business with American banks and you're not going to do business in America. You know what I tell the Ayatollah, if you want a nuclear power program for peaceful purposes, you can have it. You will not going to get it done until you change your behavior. You'll not going to get more weapons until you stop destabilizing the Mideast. And if you want a war, you're going to lose it as to the rest of the world, America is going to stand up to the Ayatollah who is a religious fanatic. And we're not going to allow this regime to become stronger on my watch as president. Because I think it will affect us. I know it will affect the Middle East in general and threaten Israel for the rest of my lifetime.
BURNETT: Right.
GRAHAM: This is a lousy deal. And it's unnecessary. It's a resolved of an American president being weak and everybody else taking advantage of it.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Senator, I appreciate your time as always. Thank you.
GRAHAM: Thank you. BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, never before seen video. Tonight,
for the first time, we will going to go inside that unbelievable tunnel that took a drug lord to freedom. We even found a grill for cooking.
Plus, stunning new numbers on Donald Trump. His polls and his wealth on the rise. Is he really worth more than $10 billion?
And then, we'll show you this. This is the terrain rugged, mountainous -- this is where 16-year-old Autumn Veatch crossed when her small plane crashed and burned. How did she survived? Our guest tonight, two of her closest friend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:16:49] BURNETT: Tonight, for the first time, we will go inside the dangerous drug lord El Chapo's tunnel to freedom. CNN actually walked that tunnel today. It's deep. It's dark. The air was thick with the smell of gasoline. And we also have new video of the drug lord's final moments in captivity. This is El Chapo. He is in his cell. He walked all the way to his shower, ducks down and disappears. The tunnel of course connects directly to that shower.
Our Nick Valencia got a look inside that tunnel and here it goes.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the closest that we have been allowed to get to El Chapo's tunnel. The tunnel he used in his brazen escape on Saturday night. It is by all accounts a magnificent feat of engineering.
Let's come on in and see exactly what El Chapo here had in store. This is a small little exit, just a couple feet wide and a couple feet long. You see with the ladder maybe about ten foot, 15 foot ladder that leads down into that tunnel. The roof here is nothing to brag about. It's empty. Full of cinder blocks. You can see these containers full of dirt here, these wheelbarrows full of dirt. Here we go.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
Okay. Here is another ladder leading down into another part. A deeper part, a deeper section of the tunnel. It's always down. You can see here, this is the modified motorcycle that investigators showed us images before. This is on a track. See that? There's buckets left behind. Look at this. Left behind oxygen tanks as well in order for them to survive down here. It's a very tight space. I can't even stand up. I'm about 5'10." I can't stand up all the way. It's just a remarkable feat of engineering. The tunnel stretches for more than a mile. Carved out earth here. This modified train track for that mini-motorcycle.
You see here, electricity lines. It's very difficult to breathe down here. A lot of dirt, dust. This here for the ventilation system. Tight, tight space down here. But for a man known as El Chapo, I'm sure he had more than enough room to work with. This motorcycle was on a track here. This is the bike that El Chapo used to ride out of the prison. It still has gas in it. You can still smell the gas. It's an overwhelming odor of gas in this tight space. It really is suffocating.
BURNETT: Nick, that's incredible to watch. You are talking about the suffocating, it was stifling. I mean, how did it feel to be in there?
VALENCIA: It was incredible access. And if you are claustrophobic, that's certainly not the spot that you want to be in. Also something that we noticed there Erin, is that there seemed to be people living there. We saw dirty dishes on the stove, Christmas lights hang outside, an empty beer can tossed on the ground which is a very interesting point to note, because up until now, Mexican officials have said that no one was living there. But that's not the story that we're also hearing from local farmers who said that in the months leading up to El Chapo's escape, they saw two middle-aged men coming and going from that residence. They kept to themselves. They would wave as they drove down that dirt road. But, you know, the Mexican officials saying, no one lived there. That's not what we saw there -- Erin.
BURNETT: Incredible. I mean, and just that grill alone, just the image of that, that it can conjure up when you talk about and seeing those video images. Thank you so much to Nick.
And I want to bring in Joe Garcia now. He spent years investigating tunnels that El Chapo built. And he was in charge of U.S. Homeland Security investigations.
All right. Joe, we are looking at this tunnel for the first time. I want to pull these pictures back-up. I mean, Nick is talking about it being stifling, smelling like gasoline. But he saw a generator, electricity, there is the lights that are going up over top of him. Was this state-of-the-art or just thrown together?
JOE GARCIA, FORMER INTERIM SPECIAL AGENT, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS: It's pretty typical of the sophisticated tunnels that we have seen here in San Diego. It has ventilation, it has electricity. The one big difference is, we don't usually have a gas generator or a gas-powered vehicle, because it is such a close space. But since this tunnel was only made for one purpose and one trip for the principle, El Chapo, they weren't too concerned about that.
[19:21:36] BURNETT: I mean, it's amazing. Right? Because the tunnel is so incredibly narrow. As Nick was saying, it's hard to breathe. There's dirt. But we're told that El Chapo used the motorcycle, which is what Nick is showing here, used the motorcycle and drove the whole mile length of the tunnel instead of walking. I mean, imaging navigating something this narrow with a motorcycle at speed is frankly pretty incredible. Why would he use the motorcycle? Was time that much of the essence?
GARCIA: Right. When any time even for somebody of his stature being in a closed space like that and walking where you are hunched over or anything like that, a mile is an incredibly long distance to try to cover. So, yes, speed was of the essence for him. And he wanted to get through quickly as would anybody. Normally, what we have seen in the past in tunnels that were discovered here in San Diego and other places along the southwest border would be a type of a mining cart or electrical mining cart or a push mining cart. So, I think this was just another way that they did to expedite his movement over the mile-long trip.
BURNETT: Pretty incredible. All right. Thank you very much, Joe.
And as they're desperately trying to find the drug lord, many have said he has now disappeared for good. But one way to find him could be through his beauty queen wife. She met El Chapo when she was 17-years-old. He was about 50-years-old.
Miguel Marquez is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: She's El Chapo's beauty queen wife. They have twin daughters born in California. Now the whereabouts of Emma Coronel Aispuro subject of debate.
HECTOR BERRELLEZ, FORMER DEA AGENT: She resides half of the time in Palmdale. She has relatives there. And she comes and goes between Mexico.
MARQUEZ: The Mexican stunner caught El Chapo's eye in 2007 when competing for -- in Gualo Festival Queen in the state of Durango, Mexico. That according to the influential and anonymously written Norco blog. At the time, she was 17-years-old. He was in his 50s. Coronel is one of at least five women in El Chapo's life. He has a total of eight children, some of which have been killed by rival cartels. Others arrested. Coronel appears holds a special place in the drug kingpin's heart.
IOAN GRILLO, AUTHOR, "EL NARCO: INSIDE MEXICO'S CRIMINAL INSURGENCY": He seems to be dedicated to her to an extent. One clue to try to catch him might be following her.
MARQUEZ: Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Coronel were married the year after they met, the day she turned 18.
GRILLO: She comes from a very similar background to El Chapo Guzman. From these communities in Sinaloa state in the countryside who have grown up around -- among drug traffickers.
MARQUEZ: Their daughters born on August 15, 2011 in Lancaster, California, just north of Los Angeles, the same area where Coronel may now be living. On the birth certificate, the mother is listed as Emma Modesto Coronel, the father's name blank. At the time there was a $5 million dollar reward for information leading to the arrest of El Chapo. When Guzman was arrested in February 2014 in bed by his side in this modest condo in Mazatlan, Mexico with Coronel and their twin daughters. Two pink suitcases displayed on the bed where el Chapo and Coronel slept.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MARQUEZ: One question for investigators right now is whether or not there's any worth, investigative worth of keeping eyes on Coronel right now. Some saying that he may try to get to them to reunite with her and his children. Others saying, no way. There's no way that he would put them in harm's way -- Erin.
BURNETT: Hmm. Miguel, thank you. Something so disturbing about the fact that he waited until the day she turned 18 to actually marry her.
Well, OUTFRONT next --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm really rich.
BURNETT: And that's no lie. Donald Trump today releasing his financials on the same day. A shocking new poll breaks on the Donald, that's next.
And more breaking news, volunteers reaching what they believe is the wreckage of the plane that crashed in Washington. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:29:44] BURNETT: Tonight, Donald Trump, the $10 billion man. The presidential candidate today filing with the federal election commission. And he said, frankly, that the financial forms couldn't handle a man of his massive wealth because basically once you get over $50 million, you just check a box that says more than that. Well, $10 billion obviously doesn't really the category. This comes as two new national polls tonight show Trump's popularity is skyrocketing.
Dana Bash is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's an unbelievable company, far greater than what -- I built that. I built it.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new financial disclosure puts Donald Trump's net worth at more than $10 billion, and made more than $362 million last year alone, staggering figures released to prove --
TRUMP: Way ahead of schedule.
BASH: -- Trump told CNN that he is serious about his presidential run.
And it seems the more GOP voters see Donald Trump --
TRUMP: The silent majority is back and we're going to take the country back. BASH: -- the more they like him.
His favorability rating among Republicans, a key indicator for any candidate, more than doubled from just 23 percent to 57 percent in a new ABC News/"Washington Post" poll. Four in ten still say they still have an unfavorable view. Still, these latest numbers may indicate that unlike flash in the pan GOP candidates who surged in 2012 --
HERMAN CAIN (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Nine, nine, nine.
MICHELE BACHMANN (R). FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: God bless you, everyone!
BASH: Donald Trump may have some staying power.
TRUMP: They are killing us at the border. They are killing us in trade.
BASH: But Trump is tough, at times politically incorrect talk is mainly resonating with a certain segment of the Republican base.
In a Suffolk/"USA Today" poll that showed Trump for the first time leading the large GOP pack, those who identified as very conservative view Trump most favorably, 47 percent. Those self- described very conservative voters are unlikely to support Jeb Bush in the GOP primary, and he is now trying to use Trump as a foil to appeal to more moderate Republicans.
JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Whether it's Donald Trump or Barack Obama, their rhetoric of divisiveness is wrong. A Republican will never win by striking fear in people's hearts.
TRUMP: How about Ted Cruz and Ben Carson and how about others that say what Trump said is exactly right? You have to mention them, too.
BASH: Those Republican candidates are embracing Trump. In fact, Ted Cruz who has gone out of his way to compliment the billionaire is even meeting privately with Trump today in New York today.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Now, on Donald Trump's net worth, Erin, we should really underscore that what he made public was a press release. The actual financial disclosure with the details of his vast financial holdings have not yet been released.
But that said, he also argues that he had a gain in stocks of more than $27 million. He also claims that when it comes to that show "Apprentice", that he was on for 14 seasons, all told, he made more than $213 million -- Erin.
BURNETT: I bet you that number is going to turn out to be correct when it comes to that, at least. All right. Thank you so much, Dana.
OUTFRONT now, the former political director for President Reagan, Jeffrey Lord, now a contributing editor at the "American Spectator". He is a supporter of Mr. Trump's. Also with us, former Romney campaign adviser and press secretary, Kevin Madden.
OK, Kevin, the Gallup poll, 56 percent of Republicans say Donald Trump would do a good job handling the economy. Best score. The poll that Dana just referenced, ABC News/"Washington Post", 57 percent of Republican voters have a favorable view of him. That number has doubled.
He is clearly resonating.
KEVIN MADDEN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, you know, there's a sliver of this electorate right now that -- what they want more than anything out of a candidate is somebody who is extremely confrontational, whether it's confrontational with Hillary Clinton or Obama or just politicians in general.
This idea of an anti-politician businessman who is speaking truth to power and confronting the status quo, that is what -- I think at the heart of why you're seeing some of those numbers go up. But --
BURNETT: OK, but, Kevin --
MADDEN: -- one of the big risks he has, his unfavorability ratings are still pretty high.
BURNETT: Right. And I want to ask Jeff about that. But let me ask you first, because you -- the operative word I heard was sliver.
MADDEN: Yes.
BURNETT: But 57 percent of favorable view is not a sliver.
MADDEN: Well, I think they are reacting to media coverage you are seeing right now where it's Obama criticizing -- I'm sorry, Trump criticizing Obama. They love -- voters love that. They're seeing Obama -- I'm sorry, Trump criticized Hillary Clinton. They love that.
He is very hard on the immigration issue. So many of the base voters, they respond to that rhetoric right now.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff, I know you are more optimistic on Donald Trump. But what about Kevin's point about unfavorability? Which a lot of people think is important than favorability, because it's harder to move it. Sixty-one percent of the general public view Donald Trump unfavorably, 45 percent view Hillary Clinton unfavorably. That's people -- that view her as not trustworthy.
So, how can Donald Trump overcome that?
JEFFREY LORD, AMERICAN SPECTATOR: One quick thing, Erin, as a writer for the "American Spectator", we don't endorse candidates. [19:35:01] So, I just want to be clear about that.
Favorability ratings can change. A matter of fact, I saw something the other day where his favorability numbers jumped 20 percent from June to July.
BURNETT: Yes.
LORD: So, certainly, I think that this is a very changeable situation and fluid as we move along here. I don't think there's any doubt about that.
BURNETT: All right. So, Kevin, let's talk about the wealth numbers, because these are pretty incredible, and granted, we don't have the full disclosures. We don't have the full forms, all right? And these boxes, once you are over $50 million, it's anyone's guess, OK?
He says, though, in his filing, his net worth is greater than $10 billion. He has been saying he's rich all the way along.
I would like to play for you and our viewers Donald Trump saying this, because he says it much better than I do.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Here is the good news: I'm very rich.
I don't need anybody's money. It's nice. I'm really rich.
I'm the most successful person ever to run.
Fortunately, I'm very rich.
So, I have a total net worth and now with the increase it will be well over $10 billion.
I'm not doing that to brag because you know what I don't have to brag. I don't have to, believe it or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. Kevin, he is the wealthiest person to run for president in the history of the United States. He makes your former candidate Mitt Romney look like a pauper. In fact, Trump told "The Des Moines Register", quote, "I have Gucci store that is worth more than Romney."
MADDEN: Yes.
BURNETT: But Mitt Romney was viewed out of touch because he was rich. It was the biggest problem. How is Trump not facing that problem?
MADDEN: I expect that he will. Look, I think the bigger problem is not only the way he talks
about his wealth, but that was a world record right there for the use of the word "I." And voters right now, they want to know what you're going to do for them.
So, I think this is where you're going to see the numbers start to come back down to earth after the initial boomlet of all the coverage of the announcement is Donald Trump continuing to talk about himself. Donald Trump, with a very egocentric campaign, a very celebrity-driven campaign. The fact that he's going to have a problem connecting with voters -- look, the big events that he's had that have been public in the last few weeks have been at a golf course and a winery. Not exactly the best way to connect with a lot of Middle Americans.
BURNETT: Jeff, do you think the numbers will come down earth, or no? Will they keep defying --
LORD: Well, you know, this gives the old Washington saying a billion here and a billion there and soon it adds up to real money.
MADDEN: Right.
LORD: I think that he's going to do very well here. He has this incredible ability to connect with regular folks. Some of it is because he is a New Yorker. He is also not ashamed of his money. He is very proud of it.
BURNETT: Yes.
LORD: So, I have been with him walking on streets where the crowd just goes crazy. This is before he announced he was running for president. These are regular folks, giving him high five and all of this kind of thing. So, I don't really think he will have that problem that Governor Romney unfortunately did have.
MADDEN: I would disagree with Jeff there. I think they like it when it comes from a celebrity. They're not going to like it when it's somebody who is supposed to be looking out for them as president.
BURNETT: All right. Well, we will see. And we'll have you both back. Thank you very much both Kevin and Jeff.
MADDEN: Great to be with you.
LORD: Thanks.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, breaking news with searchers in Washington reaching what they now say at this moment is the badly burned wreckage of that plane. The sole survivor, 16-year-old Autumn Veatch. Two of her best friends OUTFRONT next.
And striking new pictures of Pluto tonight. Mountains, 11,000 feet high. We can actually see them. What are we learning tonight?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:42:19] BURNETT: Breaking news tonight, searchers locating
the site of the plane -- the crash that was survived by 16-year-old Autumn Veatch. She is the sole survivor of that crash. Authorities telling CNN that the wreckage they found is still smoldering. Two bodies have been recovered.
The 16-year-old sole survivor was flying with her grandparents, emerging from the mountains two days after the plane went missing.
Dan Simon is OUTFRONT from where Autumn finally found help in Mazama, Washington.
And, Dana, authorities say they have found the wreckage, which they had been hunting for and hunting for for days.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. They found it a short time ago in a very steep, difficult area to get to. They said it was still on fire, if you can believe that. They called the U.S. Forest Service to come there and put out a small brush fire.
They said that the plane was badly burned, as you can imagine. They did, of course, find the bodies. And they did remove those two bodies.
At this point, Erin, it seems like it's up to the NTSB to determine a cause. We know prior to the plane going down, Autumn said there was turbulence. She said there was some bad weather in the area. And radar, in fact, confirms just prior to the plane disappearing from radar, there were some thunderstorms moving into the area -- Erin.
BURNETT: And, Dan, you actually went in the woods that Autumn Veatch hiked through to get to safety. How hard would that trip have been?
She's 16 years old. She was alone. She didn't have training. She didn't have any supplies.
SIMON: You know, that's the first thing you think of when you go into a place like this. We're talking about very thick, dense vegetation. I myself wouldn't want to go there n there without boots, without the problem equipment. You would want to have a map, a compass.
She didn't have anything. All she had were the clothes on her back. Here she is in the middle of nowhere.
And the other thing that makes an impression on you is that it's significantly colder there. It's about 20 to 25 degrees cooler at that elevation. And, you know, it can get really cold at night. That was one of the challenges.
The other challenge was just figuring out where to go. So, perhaps the smartest thing she did was to follow the water. She followed the stream going downstream. That eventually put her on a hiking path which ultimately took her to the highway where she was rescued by those Good Samaritans.
But I have to tell you, pretty amazing after walking through there knowing what she had to go through -- Erin.
BURNETT: Incredible story of resilience for anyone, never mind someone who didn't have that experience who had been in a plane crash, 16 years old. Incredible. Thank you so much to Dan.
I want to go right now to two friends of Autumn Veatch, Chelsey Clark and Sara Esperance. They just visited Autumn.
[19:45:00] Thank you both for coming on and talking to me.
Chelsey, you saw her. How is she?
CHELSEY CLARK, FRIEND OF TEEN PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR : She's doing well. She's eating and resting up still.
BURNETT: Eating and resting up. I know she needs that.
I mean, Sara, does she truly understand what she has survived and endured? I mean, she must still be in shock.
SARA ESPERANCE, FRIEND OF TEEN PLANE CRASH SURVIVOR: Yes. She's still in shock. I'm not sure that she really understands all of it at this point. She's still processing it.
BURNETT: I can imagine it's going to take a long time, to go through something so terrifying and horrific.
I mean, Chelsey, before taking off in this plane this weekend on Saturday, she posted a picture of herself on the plane. This is Autumn on the plane. We'll show everyone so they can see it.
Had she ever flown on a plane like this before?
CLARK: Yes. She's flown on commercial flights, but never a smaller aircraft like this before.
BURNETT: This is her first time on a title -- this was a tiny plane I understand.
Sara, what did autumn tell you about what happened on the plane, about the weather?
ESPERANCE: She talked about how it was cloudy and really hard to see. You couldn't see much in front of you.
BURNETT: So, there was bad weather as this was happening?
ESPERANCE: Mm-hmm. Yes.
BURNETT: Chelsey, you know, her father, David -- I don't know if you heard our reporter, but he was talking about how temperatures could be 25 degrees colder up that high, how remote it was, how impossible to find food, right? Her father David said that he and Autumn used to watch survival TV shows together.
Do you think that that actually helped her though in this ordeal?
CLARK: No, I definitely think it helped her. But I do want to say, I think she would definitely -- would have survived without those shows. She just -- the willpower, strong will power that that lady has I think got her out of those woods as well as the knowledge from the shows. She can put her mind to anything and she can do it. So --
BURNETT: What is it about her -- I was talking to the sheriff yesterday. He said she was like a super hero. What is it about her that makes her so resilient? I mean, I understand she's in shock, of course, but so calm.
CLARK: Yes.
ESPERANCE: I would say, you know, Autumn has just always been like that. It's just a part of who she is. She's very self- determined to do what she really puts her mind to. And she just makes things happen.
BURNETT: She sounds like an incredible young lady. Obviously, the miracle of her survival, something so many are just in awe of.
Thanks to both of you.
And OUTFRONT next, even more amazing images of Pluto. These have just been beamed back to Earth. Think about it. You are looking at an image that came back from 3 billion miles away. We're going to show you some incredible mountains.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:51:50] BURNETT: OK. We've got new pictures tonight from Pluto. And these are as good as you can get.
The New Horizon spacecraft at its closest point to Pluto. Icy little Pluto got some close-ups of the area they call "The Heart", because that's sort of the shape of it.
But, anyway, they found you. May think these are warts. They're not. They're 11,000 foot mountains.
And the shocker that's on this planet, there are no craters, or former planet whatever you want to call it. You get my point. Unlike earth which is littered with them. That could be hugely significant. What does it mean?
OUTRONT now, Mike Massimino is back with me, the former NASA astronaut, professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University.
I mean, this is pretty incredible.
MIKE MASSIMINO, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes. BURNETT: We saw a spectacular update. Originally, we were
looking at Pluto like someone who desperately needs glasses, right?
MASSIMINO: Right.
BURNETT: It was blurry in the Hubble space telescope.
MASSIMINO: Right, exactly.
BURNETT: Then we got -- that's on the left. Now we have this new photo, and now, today, we are able to look at 11,000 foot mountains.
MASSIMINO: Some detail, some real detail and close-ups. It's really exciting stuff, a whole new world, a planet or dwarf planet whatever you want to call it, that we knew very little about.
We had not very good images you have shown earlier. Now, we have some really great detail about it.
BURNETT: And so, what are we going to learn? When you say, OK, now, there is 11,000-foot mountains on little tiny Pluto? What does that mean?
MASSIMINO: Well, one really cool thing about is what are these mountains made out of. So, we thought it was frozen nitrogen. To have mountain that high, it is probably not nitrogen. And they're pretty sure --
BURNETT: Could be real rocks.
MASSIMINO: Could be water, which is even cooler. So, if you have water, that is sort of a building block for life. They're pretty convinced that it's a big ice mountain. They'll get more data.
BURNETT: If it's water, then all of a sudden --
MASSIMINO: That's huge.
BURNETT: -- you're looking at multiple planets in our solar system alone that have water and i.e., the potential for life, which would suddenly mean, you know, everyone you find, the odd of there being lots of life out there go up.
MASSIMINO: Life that we could recognize. Life for us, water is the most important thing for life, even more important than food, even more important than CNN television. It's very important.
So, if water somewhere else in the solar system, it's a good thing to know.
And the age that, not having the craters, that gives the clue that it is a fairly new planet. About 100 million years old, which sound pretty old to us, but the solar system --
BURNETT: It's a little baby. MASSIMINO: It's a baby. The solar system is like 4.5 billion.
This thing is like 100 million years old. So, we can get a lot of clues we think --
BURNETT: The bottom line, now the spacecraft keeps on flying out.
MASSIMINO: Yes.
BURNETT: But it might see something we don't even know.
MASSIMINO: Right. So there going to keep their eyes open. They're trying to decide what they might target for it to go to. Just limited amount of fuel, if they can find a target. It's hard to get a target. This thing so far away. This is so far out there. Stuff is so dim. It's hard to find a good target.
But if they can get a good target, they will redirect this thing. They'll find something to look at, and maybe more than one thing. We'll see what they can come up with.
But they're going to, on the way out there. Hopefully get more images. It's going to be sending data for another year and a half. Scientists are going to be very busy and hopefully entertaining and educating us over the next couple years.
BURNETT: Finding the life out there.
MASSIMINO: That would be great.
BURNETT: It would be incredible. That would be incredible.
As you were saying on the commercial break, everyone, what if it could happen in our lifetime?
[19:55:00] Thank you, Mike.
MASSIMINO: That would be awesome.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, how the pilot of this small plane outmuscled some Jersey drivers. Not easy to do. Think about it, guys. Chris Christie is from this state. We'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Here is Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know when you are driving down the highway and you see a plane landing in your rearview mirror.
OK. It's not exactly the miracle on the Hudson. This was, sort of the miracle on Route 72, huh?
MICHAEL BARBATO, PILOT: No, I wouldn't call it a miracle. MOOS: That's pilot, Michael Barbato, whose excellent emergency
landing in traffic was captured by a traffic cam in Stafford, New Jersey. The skydiving plane carrying the pilot, two instructors and two first time jumpers lost its only engine.
Did you consider jumping? Because you all had parachutes on, correct?
BARBATO: Yes, there was no chance I was going to be jumping out of that airplane, because once you leave the airplane, you have no control over where it goes.
MOOS: Besides an altitude of 4,000 feet is low for jumping. The pilot came in at all most 100 miles an hour. Touched down on the pavement and immediately steered over to the median to avoid hitting cars.
A motorist shot the skydivers, leaping and hugging in relief. The only injury, a cut on the instructor's arm from the plane's wings hitting road signs.
TADAS SIMONIS, INSTRUCTOR, SKYDIVE EAST COAST: The landing itself was soft. Just like landing back at the airport.
MOOS: They don't give you a ticket, do they?
BARBATO: No, no. I said sorry about the road signs.
MOOS: Like the one crushed under the plane reading, "Keep Off the Median", talk about plain English.
The pilot wants that as a souvenir.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Thanks for watching.
Anderson is next.
