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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump: Travel Ban Ruling "Tremendous Victory"; Sanders to Have Secret Service Protection; Ryan Asks Waters to Apologize, Ignores Trump's Language. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 26, 2018 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:05] WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: That's it for me. Thanks for watching. Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT next, Trump's victory lap. What's next after his major Supreme Court win today? And can Democrats do anything to stop him? Senator Cory Booker is OUTFRONT.
Plus, the House speaker demands an apology from Maxine Waters. It's amazing how lacking any such demand has ever been from the speaker when it comes to the president.
And the president calls it a crisis on the southern border. One border town mayor though says it's anything but, and that mayor is our guest.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, Trump's travel ban win. The president is celebrating the Supreme Court's decision to uphold his third version of the travel ban.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE United States: A tremendous success, a tremendous victory for the American people and for our constitution. This is a great victory for our constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The Supreme Court decision was a divided one, 5-4 but the president was on the winning side. Getting one of his signature campaign promises into law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're having problems with Muslims coming into the country.
We have to look at the Muslims and we have to do something. We must find out what is going on. We have to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: All right, now measured by that, this ban is not exactly what the president promised. It's not a full Muslim ban as he so infamously promised. It applies to just five predominantly Muslim countries as well as Venezuela and North Korea. But it is still despised by its detractors as bigoted religious ban.
The Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff says, quote, no amount of repackaging can disguise the fact that the intent behind the ban was, and remains a noxious attempt to ban people based on their faith. And when this third version was first released, the ACLU tweeted, "Trump's third try of the Muslim ban was released and we're not fooled."
Well, a third try was the charm because Trump did get his partial ban. And tonight, he's trying to take this big victory a step further and to do it fast. Second after taking his victory lap, Trump aimed for his next big agenda item as a win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We started the wall. We're spending a lot of energy and a lot of time and started up in San Diego and other places. It's under construction now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The wall. Perhaps the president's single biggest campaign promise. And now he is set on it going into the win column. Because after all, if you heard anything more than a wall, you heard about how the president loves winning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're winning. We're winning like nobody's ever won before.
America is winning. We're winning. And let me take a guess. You're still not tired of winning. Winning is such a great feeling. Isn't it a great feeling?
We're really winning. We know how to win. America is winning again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And when it comes to divisive issues, Trump is talking up some very big wins right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Wouldn't you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say get that son of a bitch off the field right now. Out, he's fired. He's fired.
The NFL cannot disrespect our country. They cannot disrespect our flag or our national anthem.
In my opinion, NFL has to change. Or you know what's going to happen? Their business is going to go to hell. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, guess what? He won. The NFL caved. Mr. Roger Goodell announcing, quote, all team and league personnel on the field shall stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem. So the rules have completely changed, the president won.
And when it comes to Russia, the president has intensified his assault on Robert Mueller.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This witch hunt. Witch hunt. Your witch hunt. Witch hunt. Witch hunt. Phony witch hunt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The president's attacks on Mueller have surged. The word witch hunt has surged in his usage and as it has surge, it's gone in lockstep with the public opinion of Mueller going the other direction. We've been tracking it. The percentage of Americans who approve of Mueller's handling of the Russia investigation is now only 41 percent. That was 44 in May and 48 in March.
And the president is not stopping. He's now trying to turn his biggest promise into another win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're building a wall.
The great border wall. We're going to build a wall. A great, great wall.
And we will have a wall. It will be a great wall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And today, he is even more emboldened. With this win, he wants more money for that wall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[19:05:00] BURNETT: We have $1.6 million, but we're going to ask for an increase in wall spending so we can finish it quicker.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, can anything stop him? Kaitlan Collins is OUTFRONT live at the White House. And Kaitlan, the president obviously seen today as a huge victory and though the ban was not his original one, it is his ban and he did win.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: He did win, Erin. And there is a sense of vindication here in the White House. You heard the president today going after his perceived critics saying, they have been covering this wrong all along, those in the media. And going after Democrats but he was relishing what he saw as his victory today even though this is the same third variation of that travel ban that the president just a little over a year ago said was watered down and politically correct. And he even criticized the Justice Department for changing that travel ban, narrowing it a little bit so it would have legal muster, which is why it was upheld today.
Now the president focusing on this as a victory, saying it justifies his hardline immigration tactics. And what we should watch for now, Erin, is how this propels the president going forward. Is it affects how he has policies going on the U.S./Mexico border, something there's been upgrade debate recently. But for right now, the administration and the president himself certainly touting this as a big victory for them.
BURNETT: And Kaitlan, as this happens, you have some breaking news right now from the White House on the press secretary, Sarah Sanders. What have you learned?
COLLINS: Erin, Sarah Sanders is about to become the first full time press secretary to have full Secret Service protection starting as early as Wednesday sources are now telling CNN. Of course that comes after Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a Lexington, Virginia restaurant recently. And something she tweeted about that the owner came up to her, ask her to leave the restaurant, said she didn't agree with what Sarah Sanders did or with the Trump administration policies. And of course, that small incident has sparked an entire day of backlash and conversations about civility and whether or not the press secretary should be able to eat where she likes regardless of the boss she works for and his policies. But we are now learning she will get Secret Service protection in light of that event.
Now, no other press secretary has had full time Secret Service protection in this way. And the Secret Service didn't comment to this but we do have sources telling us this now and it certainly will continue to spark these conversations about this Trump administration officials and this debate over whether or not they should be confronted in public about their boss' policies.
BURNETT: All right, Kaitlan, thank you so very much with that breaking news.
And OUTFRONT tonight, Democratic Senator Cory Booker. And Senator, thank you so much for your time. You know, you hear the president calling the Supreme Court ruling, his words, quote, a tremendous success, a tremendous victory for the American people and the constitution. What do you say, a tremendous victory?
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: No. I mean, this is a president to me has been trashing some of the most precious ideals in our country that we do not have religious tests. He started out the very clearly, very openness (INAUDIBLE) consider this at all. Here's a person that said, from the very second he said he's running for this office, all the way until he was president, even the early stages trying to figure out how to ban Muslims. He has said that it is going to be a Muslim ban. And now, we have a president who's claiming a victory now, succeeding his attempt to restrict access to this nation based upon people's religious values.
BURNETT: Now, you know, to your point, he did say that early on and then, things changed a bit, right. This is the third version of the travel ban. That first ban is an actually what went through what we now have entry restricted from seven countries to varying degrees, right? Five of them are majority Muslim, two of them of course are not, Venezuela and North Korea. All in, when you look around the world, there's 45 predominantly Muslim countries that aren't on the list now.
So, regardless of what the president said about banning Muslims, because of course it's on tape, we both know he said it. Is the version that we actually have now still what you would call a Muslim ban?
BOOKER: Well, as you said, this is a person that tried to do it once, got denied constitutionally, tried to do it again. Got denied by the courts. I mean, every time he waters it down, tinkers with it, but we still know the root of this poisonous tree was, it's attempt to ban Muslims. And remember, this is actually not going to make us safer, it's going to make us less safe around the world. I know a lot of these nations, sit on the Foreign Relations Committee, this is not actually helping our agenda for safety.
And even more than that --
BURNETT: Why do you think that? Why do you think it will make us less safe?
BOOKER: Well, you have to understand that the -- a lot of the radical world out there is trying to say that this is president -- this is a nation that is trying to have a war on Islam. And this president is somebody whose rhetoric is fueling that. Whose -- his actual speeches are being views by those that want to push that narrative.
And so, instead of coming up with a -- what is logical way -- means of which will protect our country from real threats -- remember, even the countries that worked towards the 9/11 attack, they're not on this list.
BURNETT: No.
BOOKER: So we see people that have been sourcing where terrorists have come from that he's not doing anything about.
[19:10:04] So there's no -- he hasn't (INAUDIBLE) a strategy to deal with global terrorists. (INAUDIBLE) a strategy on Syria. Hasn't support a comprehensive strategy against Iran.
What he's doing now is trying to fulfill a campaign promise, which is why he's pulled us out of the climate change. Why he's done -- attacked ObamaCare. Not because this is what the American people want or even his base wants but because he's doing these things driven by what I think his politics.
And again, trying to move our country to be contrary to our values and create a religious test or religious (INAUDIBLE).
BURNETT: So, when you mentioned though that he's keeping a campaign promise, of course, he is, right, you point out. Sure, it's a watered down version but he is. And today, he says this is a tremendous success and so he's going to try now to fulfill another campaign promise. And that of course is the wall, right? When he gave his opening remarks today, you know, celebrating this victory with the Supreme Court, he said I'm going to ask for an increase in wall spending.
His words, quote, so we can finish it quicker. Is he going to get it -- I mean, eventually and are you guys going to have to pay it?
BOOKER: Not if I have anything to do with it. And I don't care whether it's defending religious freedom. Whether it's defending what I consider moral vandalism, which is not just a humanizing and taking away the dignity of people trying to cross into our country, but assaulting the dignity of all Americans when he insult our values. I will fight him in every single way possible.
BURNETT: When you talk about standing up for what you believe in, standing up to the president and fighting, there are others trying to do that, but people are doing it in different ways. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, of course, you know what she said. Everyone has heard it. Let me just play it again when she called for the public confrontation of anyone who works for the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at gasoline station, you get up and you created a crowd and you push back on them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Senator Booker, Senator Chuck Schumer responded to Waters by saying -- calling for her actions as not American. But the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus today, Congressman Cedric Richmond defended her. His quote was, this is who she is and this is who she will always be and our country is better because of it.
Where do you stand on this? Is it not American to call for that or is our country better because of it.
BOOKER: Look -- you know, I dedicate my life to living a certain way. My heroes are people like Martin Luther King and Gandhi who are some of the most ferocious fighters, for ideals of justice, for those who are being oppressed. And for the highest ideal which I believe is love.
And so, I'm trying to -- and I think we need desperately in this country to create a more beloved community. And I think that often what we say about other people or how we treat other people says more about us than those people themselves. And so my purpose here is to get us back to being a country which sees each other's dignity, which affirms the best in who we are.
It doesn't shy away at all from standing strong and fighting the hard fight for our values and our ideals. But at the same time, we have to be a country that can still find common ground. Still find points of agreement.
BURNETT: Of course everyone seems to be playing to their bases right now, and, you know, Trump has seized on this. You know, the fundraising e-mails come out specifically mentioning what Maxine Waters said.
Also, using the incident you know, where a Virginia restaurant owner asked Sarah Sanders to leave. Mentioning the protests against Kirstjen Nielsen. They are laid out specifically. It is helping the president raise money.
I mean, are all of these things just playing into his hands, the sort of spiral to the bottom that we're all witnessing?
BOOKER: Well, first of all, the hypocrisy -- (INAUDIBLE) that these are folks that were trying to allow for a big (INAUDIBLE) owner to deny someone the ability to come and buy cakes just because that they were gay. I watched on T.V., I wasn't a senator yet during a state of the union speech President Obama was heckled. Talk about disrespecting someone in one of the more important moments of America where millions of non-Americans are watching us. You assault the presidency, not to mention the president. And nobody -- none of these folks were calling for a censure or calling for a person to step down.
And so this has got to be a time where all of us -- I'm not just talking about people in office, have to decide how we're going to conduct ourselves. I do not believe we as a country can drive out darkness with darkness. That we have to be light workers in this time.
It doesn't mean we don't protest. It doesn't mean we don't stand up. Stand strong, but God bless America. We need some patriotism, some love of our country, men and women more now than ever.
BURNETT: All right, Senator Booker, thank you so very much for your time.
BOOKER: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, the House speaker, Paul Ryan, he's calling on Maxine Waters to apologize. But why didn't he ever do that for the president?
And President Trump's description of the southern border today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: A crisis of illegal immigration. The illegal immigration crisis on the southern border. We inherited a full fledged border crisis.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: One border town mayor OUTFRONT saying crisis is absolutely the wrong word.
[19:15:02] And breaking news, polls are closing in several states across the country. It's a big primary night. Could a convicted felon and a former Republican presidential nominee make big comebacks tonight?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, the House speaker, Paul Ryan is calling on Congresswoman Maxine Waters to apologize. Waters of course has drawn widespread condemnation and an insult-filled response from the president who mocked her, what he says is an extraordinarily low I.Q. This after she called for protests against members of the Trump administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PAUL RYAN (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: There's no place for this. She obviously should apologize. When we in this democracy are suggesting that because we disagree with people on political views, on policy views, on philosophical views that we should result to violence and harassment and intimidation, that's dangerous for our society, for our democracy. She should apologize and there's just no place for that in our public discourse.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Of course he has never said any such thing about the president himself. Waters is not taking Ryan's bait. She's actually refused at least thus far to respond to him.
OUTFRONT now, Steve Cortes, member of the president's 20 re-elect advisory council, and the former executive director of the Congressional Black Caucus, Angela Rye.
Angela, Paul Ryan says Maxine Waters should apologize. Just based on what she did, what she said, is he right?
ANGELA RYE, FORMER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL BLACK CAUCUS: Absolutely not. If anyone's offering apologies right now, it should be Paul Ryan for failed leadership.
[19:20:03] For not stepping down sooner. For bringing representative (INAUDIBLE) immigration bill to the floor which miserably failed because it's a horrible piece of legislation. It's divisive.
He should apologize for not engaging Democrats in strategy to ensure that pieces of legislation that are compromised upon are actually brought to the House store. There are number of things he can apologize for including not being courageous enough to take on Donald Trump during the campaign so that we didn't have to deal with this nightmare right now.
The only person out of the two people you just mentioned who should be offering an apology is Speaker Paul Ryan himself.
BURNETT: Steve?
STEVE CORTES, MEMBER OF TRUMP'S 2020 RE-ELECT ADVISORY COUNCIL: You know, Angela, this might surprise you, I agree with you that Paul Ryan should apologize, but for very different reasons. For being an incredibly ineffective speaker who sold out to lobbyists and has the support of the president's agenda is the reason I think he should apologize.
But regarding Maxine Waters and, you know, the question here, the real question. Should she not only apologize, she should resign. She's a disgrace to her office.
RYE: Not at all.
CORTES: She literally called on people who support President Trump to be hounded and chased out of the public square. That is the opposite of what we've ever stood for in America. And here's I think the more important point, Erin is that, really, you know, I think Waters is so ridiculous that she can almost be discounted and to some degree written off. But there are a lot of supposedly respectable people out there who are echoing her sentiments. People like Donny Deutsch on MSNBC. People like Elise Jordan on NBC who have said that if you vote for President Trump, you're a Nazi. And who have said that the ostracism and the social shunning of Sarah Sanders' family was OK.
So it's not just Maxine Waters who quite frankly is crazy, it's a lot of those who are supposedly respectable who are also voicing -- I'm very much disrespecting her, who are also voicing these kind of sentiments.
BURNETT: I always find it unfortunate now that we're in this world where, you know, it's fine to just personally malign people, but that's the world we're in. And Steve, part of the reason we're in this world is because of the man that you come on here and regularly defend. If you're saying that Maxine Waters should resign, fine. Then you also should be saying the president should resign, and here's why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Hillary wants to abolish -- essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way -- and if she gets to pick, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know.
I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they're in a place like this? They'd be carried out on a stretcher, folks. If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: So, Steve, the question to you is, how can you say she should resign, but not he? How can Paul Ryan say she should apologize, but not he? Not him, sorry.
CORTES: OK. Couple key differences. First of all, I don't support political violence of any stripe. I wish the president hadn't said those things. I think it was a mistake. And to my knowledge, he hasn't said anything like that as president.
RYE: What about the tweet to Congresswoman Waters?
CORTES: More importantly, there's a very big difference with when somebody shows up at our event, at a Trump event and causes a problem, there's a big difference when saying they should be treated impolitely versus saying let's go out into the public square and hunt down people who support the president and let's make them unwelcome. Let's make them not be able the get gas, to get food. To participate in American life. That is a crucial difference.
BURNETT: Angela?
RYE: Yes, I think the big difference is what regularly happens to Congresswoman Waters because her words are so powerful and for whatever reason, the Republicans and apparently, some Democrats are threatened by her power and her courage. Her words are not only taken out of context, she's also misquoted.
There was nothing in her statement about hounding people. There was nothing -- though she did say about harassment and I have it written down, they're going to harass them. She's talking about what people will do. She also said create a crowd and push back on them. That is what she's always been about.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: I mean, Angela, she's been called out by Jackie Speier and Chuck Schumer, other Democrats. And tonight, I don't know if you heard the breaking news but she's going to be the first ever press secretary to get full time Secret Service protection.
RYE: I heard it.
BURNETT: Sarah Sanders is going to be. I mean, does that bother you that we're in this place? Do you feel responsibility for that as a Democrat?
RYE: What bothers, Erin, is that people regularly take her comments out of context. She has clarified that she's been abundantly clear about what she's calling for. She is asking for Trump administration officials to be held accountable for what they're doing.
This isn't about some simple policy or political difference, Erin. This is about people who are separating family, more than 2,300 children at this point with no plan to reunite them. This is about policies like the Muslim ban that was just upheld in the Supreme Court today. Steve, I'm not done, I did not interrupt you. Let me finish. My point -- I'm not done. My point is very simple.
[19:25:01] I demand that people stop requiring Congresswoman Waters to be to behave in one way while everybody others can do something else. Nancy Pelosi says make -- let's make America beautiful again. Whose America is she talking about?
Steve, at the beginning of this program said this isn't America. What America are you talking about? Childish Gambino artfully told you what America is and what it looks like. Let's deal with the distinctions that we all see because some of us see a very different America.
The fact that Chuck Schumer called what a black woman said un-American is problematic and this is the reason why Democrats --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: -- because of the color of her skin.
RYE: It has everything to do with the fact hat this black woman is intimidating to some people who can't handle the truth. That's what it has. It has everything to do with it.
CORTES: It has nothing to do with --
(CROSSTALK)
RYE: That's what you wish for, Max. Donald Trump responded to that. Come on, Erin, there's time and time again we can look at Donald Trump's tweets. He's intimidated by Jemele Hill, he's intimidated by Fredricka Wilson. He's intimated by Maxine Waters.
Overwhelmingly and disproportionately so and it has everything to do is race. And that is why I find Chuck Schumer's comments deplorable and offensive. It's un-American, why? It's un-American. Why?
Because what America are you talking about? This is the America of lynch mobs, too. I like to be very clear and she didn't call for violence. Donald Trump did.
BURNETT: Steve, I'll give you the last word as Angela had the first.
CORTES: As a Hispanic and as a minority, I will tell you that Donald Trump not only has our best interest at heart, but has absolutely zero, zero semblance of racism in his heart. I would tell you this. The idea that we don't fight -- if the fight is about policy, which I'd like it to be, the way that we fight on policy is through words, it's through persuasion. It's not through mob rule. It's not through thuggery. And that's what we've seen lately.
And by the way, particularly those women who support Donald Trump, which I find very interesting. So A lot of thuggery, where people show up, intimidate, harass, menace. That's not persuasion.
Let's negotiate in the public square through our words. You know, it's something we tell little children, right? Don't lash out. Use your words.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: And we could start off also, Steve, would you acknowledge that the president not saying on a tweet to Maxine Waters which he sent saying she had extraordinarily low I.Q.
RYE: And she --
BURNETT: Talk about the thuggish thing to do. I mean, obviously (INAUDIBLE) -- it's a downward spiral.
CORTES: She accused the CIA of starting the crack epidemic in Los Angeles in the 1990s. She has low I.Q. I mean,
RYE: No, the truth, Erin hurts.
BURNETT: Oh my God. Did you really just try to defend him saying she had low I.Q.?
RYE: Yes, he did. He did try to defend, Erin. And he used the word thuggery three times in this time. Thuggery. Like where are we?
BURNETT: All right. I want to move on.
The first lady Melania Trump about to take another trip to the border. The mayor of the border town Brownsville, Texas is OUTFRONT next.
And breaking news, a federal judge who rules against Paul Manafort again. This is the big question, is the president's former campaign chairman now out of options?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:31:18] ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: New tonight, 18 Democratic attorney generals across the country are suing the Trump administration over the separation of families at the southern border. They are demanding that more than 2,000 children who were taken from their parents be reunited. It comes as we get our first look inside the facility holding children here in New York. You could see kids faces blurred sitting in what appears to be from our understanding, some sort of a classroom. They're eating meal on paper plates.
This as Trump continues to defend his zero tolerance immigration policy by saying that there is in his word a crisis at the southern border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll not rest until our border is secure, our citizens are safe and we finally end the immigration crisis, once and for all.
A crisis of illegal immigration on our southern border.
The illegal immigration crisis on the southern border.
We inherited a full fledged border crisis.
The border crisis is the worst it's ever been.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Tony Martinez. He is the Democratic mayor of Brownsville, Texas, which is home to 10 facilities for children separated from their parents.
And, Mayor, I appreciate your time tonight.
So, you heard the president, right? He is using this word specifically and repeatedly saying this is a crisis, the worst it's ever been. You've been mayor in Brownsville for eight years. Do you agree with that assessment -- crisis?
MAYOR TONY MARTINEZ, BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS: You know, I can't agree with that at all. I think some of you have asked me to speak out and basically what we have is a crisis that's being manufactured through words and it's totally fiction because I've lived here and I've been here mayor for close to eight years and our streets are safe, our community is moving along as it should be. We have a lot of great projects going on, and none of us are fearful of our lives because of this immigration situation.
These immigrants are coming over here turning themselves in --
BURNETT: Yes.
MARTINEZ: -- because they're fleeing for their lives. I mean, I think it's a bit insidious to say the things that they're saying, but, you know, the discourse going on and the conversation that's going on is very troubling for mayors across the nation.
BURNETT: I'm curious though, Mayor Martinez. You know, according to DHS, more than 50,000 people were arrested crossing the southern border. And that was just last month.
So, when you compare that to May of the year before, it's an increase of 160 percent. So, they're getting close to a tripling in just one year. It's the third month running that we've seen more than 50,000 arrests at the boarder.
When you see numbers like that, it can sound like a crisis to a whole lot of people watching. Why is that wrong?
MARTINEZ: Well, the reason it's wrong is because they're coming over here not as might be indicated by the language and rhetoric they're using to seem like they're coming over here in droves to try to figure out how to get in some gangs, or cartels, et cetera. Most of these people are running away from the cartels and most of them are from Central America.
We've had this issue for a long time and we've tried to deal with it. Unfortunately, politically, it's been unable to be solved, unable to be addressed.
BURNETT: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And I think the American people should know that. I've talked to, you know, people from Honduras, from Guatemala, from El Salvador, and quite frankly, they're fleeing for their lives. Either they're going to die where they're at or they're going to die trying.
BURNETT: You know, last Thursday, the First Lady Melania Trump went to McAllen, Texas. She spent an hour meeting with staff and children at a shelter.
[19:35:00] A spokeswoman said she's going to come back, Mayor Martinez, for a second trip this week, down to the Texas-Mexico border.
Are her visits helpful?
MARTINEZ: Yes -- you know, I welcome anybody to come take a look at it. You know, we've been down here with Paul Ryan and we've had Senator Cruz and Senator Cornyn and most of the people that we've spoken to really -- it doesn't really move the needle. And I don't know why not, because it really does break your heart when you see what's going on down here.
And I think we need a problem and we need a solution and that's the problem that we have, is that nobody -- everybody wants to talk loudly and over each other, but nobody wants to talk about what we really need to do, and that's what we as mayors do in our cities. We have to have a solution for our problems.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Mayor Martinez, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
I want to go now to our senior political analyst Mark Preston.
Interesting, you know, the mayor saying crisis is not the word.
MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
BURNETT: Obviously, not denying the numbers. The numbers are numbers. But saying he thinks crisis is being manufactured by words.
PRESTON: Which is something we've seen since 2015, right? Since President Trump or then Donald Trump was a candidate.
Can we just stop and just take in what we saw from the mayor right there. Very calm, very collected, somebody on the front lines explaining the situation. Not the hyperbole we're seeing in Washington. Not the attacks just because someone's a Democrat or just because somebody is a Republican, somebody who has to deal with it day in and day out. That's pretty admirable.
BURNETT: And yet when we come back to the numbers here, what caused this imbroglio, right, the separation of families at the border, when are they going to be reunited? Obviously, there's not a clear and easy path to that.
PRESTON: Right and the president hasn't shown us a clear and easy path, has he? I mean, in many ways, he has muddied the waters with his rhetoric, which don't necessarily match his actions, which don't necessarily match what we hear from his administration in day in and day out. So, really, the short answer is, for those 2,000 kids, I don't think we have an answer. Quite frankly, we do not have an answer.
I mean, the last thing we heard from the DOJ, Erin, was basically they were going to stay in detention if they could keep them in detention until everything was processed with their parents and their parents were deported back and they would be connected back up again. Clearly, that's not a good situation.
BURNETT: Yes, easier said than done. Then, of course, then you start to have a real time clock ticking of how long that separation will be.
PRESTON: Right.
BURNETT: All right. Mark, thank you very much.
And next, breaking news on Paul Manafort, losing a last ditch attempt to stop Bob Mueller. We got that breaking news.
And President Trump taking on Harley-Davidson, calling out their bluff. So, is he in the right on this one? We are at Harley-Davidson headquarters tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:27] BURNETT: Breaking news: a major defeat tonight for Paul Manafort. A federal judge rejecting the former Trump campaign chairman's request to dismiss his case.
Manafort had argued that special counsel Bob Mueller had no authority to bring financial crime charges against him. Keep in mind, this is the same judge the president praised as quote something special because the Judge Ellis said to prosecutors, quote, you don't really care about Mr. Manafort's bank fraud. You really care about getting information Mr. Manafort can give you that can reflect on President Trump and lead to his prosecution or impeachment. It was a pretty damning call out. So, this appears to be a very big turnaround.
Sara Murray is OUTFRONT.
And, Sara, what does this mean for Paul Manafort now?
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it basically means that Paul Manafort is going to be preparing now for two trials, one in Virginia and one in Washington, D.C.
And as we saw today, this was a judge who has said the most sympathetic things to Paul Manafort and towards his plight out of any of these motions he's made to try to get these various charges and trials dismissed or delayed, and that obviously did not work in Virginia.
You know, I think one of the things that was telling was that it was warranted for the counsel to be looking into this work Paul Manafort had been doing for Ukrainian politicians. Obviously, that's something that the government said was well-worth looking into to see if that could have any ties to the question of whether there was collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russians.
Now, those aren't the charges Paul Manafort is facing right now. He's facing charges relating to foreign lobbying and related to financial crimes. I think the other thing the judge said there that's telling is, you know, basically, warns that people could be looking at this, looking at the notion that the special counsel is using this investigation as a political weapon.
We saw a judge who was very cognizant of how public sentiment could be playing into all of this. Ultimately, of course, the judge decided to 3allow this trial to move forward, but it does give you a sense of sort of the environment that we are operating in and the environment that frankly Paul Manafort has been hoping to capitalize on by making all of these claims that the special counsel is acting outside of his mandate, though.
But for Manafort, at least, who is in jail awaiting trial, this is yet another blow.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Sara.
And, of course, he's been in jail now for many days and has not yet caved to the pressure. At least that we know of.
OUTFRONT now, former counsel to the U.S. assistant attorney general for national security, Carrie Cordero.
So, Carrie, you know, last month, you know, this was a big story. Judge Ellis questioned whether Mueller was overstepping his authority, right, and just trying to get the president, impeach him. Ellis said I don't see what relationship this indictment, referring to Manafort, has with anything the special counsel is authorized to investigate. It's unlikely you're going persuade me. The special counsel has unfettered power to do what he wants.
So they basically said give us the memo. What are you allowed to do, Bob Mueller, and they gave it to him. Judge reads through it. Judge looks at it and now the judge rules against Manafort.
What does that say?
CARRIE CORDERO, FORMER COUNSEL TO THE U.S. ASST. ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Well, the judge's consideration of this issue was the same consideration that a judge in the District of Columbia also gave because Manafort had challenged the same special counsel regulations in the District of Columbia. And his conclusion came out the same as the District of Columbia judge. He found that on the actual merits of Manafort's claim that the prosecution is squarely within the special counsel regulations, that looking into matters that might arise from the Russia investigation is appropriate prosecutorial behavior and so, he did not find any grounds on which to stop the case at this point. He also similar to the D.C. judge, said that the regulations themselves don't confer rights on the defendant.
[19:45:07] BURNETT: Yes.
CORDERO: So, both of those were consistent with the district court judge. What was different about this opinion from Judge Ellis in Virginia was that Judge Ellis has a deep skepticism of the powers of special counsel as Sara was describing earlier and their predecessor, the independent counsel.
BURNETT: So, Carrie, you know, Sara's talking about Paul Manafort, right, he's been in jail and I mean, so far, at least as we know, that has not caused him to cave, to turn to cooperate. But does a ruling like this today add to the pleasure for him to cooperate or say, look, I could be looking at the rest of my life in prison?
CORDERO: Well, certainly, based on the indictments, he is facing very steep penalty, if he were to be found guilty, of his counsel's choosing, he is fighting this case in two districts. That was Manafort's legal counsel and his decision to want to pursue this in two different venues.
So, he now -- he does have to face trial in two different locations. That's a burden. That's difficult. That's expensive.
But he might take that risk. You know, he still has the right to go to trial and be tried and he can take that risk. And he also does -- what's different about this situation is there's always that pardon possibility hanging out there because President Trump has expressed a willingness to use pardons and his lawyer has said that potentially he could do it at the end of these cases, too.
BURNETT: All right, which of course makes him more likely to spend these nights as he's been spending them literally in jail without cooperating.
Carrie, thank you.
CORDERO: Thanks.
BURNETT: And next, President Trump going after Harley-Davidson, making threat against a company he once embraced. So, we went to Harley Davidson today. And you'll see what we heard.
And breaking news. Polls closing, crucial contests in terms of the midterms. Tonight, big primaries and one of the big questions whether a convicted felon is going to actually be able to go back to Congress.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, President Trump's slamming Harley-Davidson for its decision to move some of its motorcycle production overseas, saying Harley is using tariffs as, quote, an excuse. He is mincing no words.
[19:50:00] Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I've been very good to Harley-Davidson and they used it as an excuse, and I think the people that ride Harleys are not happy with Harley-Davidson, and I wouldn't be either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OK. This is after he tweeted early this year the Harley Davidson said they would move much of their plant operations in Kansas City to Thailand. That was long before tariffs were announced, hence they were just using tariffs trade war as an excuse.
Bill Weir is OUTFRONT from the Harley-Davidson headquarters.
So, Bill, what is the truth? Is the president telling it, this is an excuse for Harley?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF INNOVATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually, the president seems to have kind of a thin grasp of really what's happening if you judge it by those tweets.
Here's the -- the true story is is while I bought my Harley-Davidson because I'm from Milwaukee and I like the idea of riding Milwaukee steel, the truth is that Harleys are made in Brazil and they're made in India. They'll soon be made in Thailand and Europe because it just makes business sense for the same reason Trump ties and bed sheets are made in Asia. It's all about profit motive.
About a month after this company got a huge tax break, maybe upwards of $100 million, they still closed the plant in Kansas City, moved a lot of those jobs to York, Pennsylvania, but it's a net loss of about 350 jobs or so.
But if the United States had stayed in the Trans Pacific Partnership, that might have convinced them that they wouldn't need to open that plant in Thailand. But the idea of that tariffs and tough talk from the White House is going to stop globalization even for such an iconic American brand, it's just not happening.
BURNETT: So, Bill, you know, obviously, they're going ahead with this and now there are they're expressing anger at the tariffs too. Up until the announcement though, what's interesting is the Trump loved Harley-Davidson, obviously not someone who rode one like you do, but a big fan nonetheless and here's how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Scott Walker has a wonderful company called Harley-Davidson in Wisconsin, right? Great.
I was with Harley-Davidson, a great company from Wisconsin, who has a Harley-Davidson? A lot of --
(CHEERS)
You know, Harley-Davidson makes great motorcycles. They were in my office.
And this administration, our allegiance will be to the American workers and to American businesses, like Harley-Davidson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I mean, I wanted to play all that, Bill, so people understood it wasn't just a one-off thing. It was again and again and again. Maybe he wasn't aware at the time, but they were making a whole heck of a lot of Harleys outside the United States.
What is their reaction where you are to how the president is talking about Harley now?
WEIR: Well, it's an awful lot like the national polls. You'll hear people who say this is insane. He picked the fight for no good reason. We're going to suffer. it's inevitable that American jobs will be lost.
But here, other people who say, well, he's a good businessman, he knows what he's doing, he must be doing this for a reason, and other countries have been screwing us for years, and they buy into that narrative.
Really until there are layoffs here the way that were in Kansas City will you probably see any change, I mean, there's a loyal following of folks who ride hogs who voted for the president, I'm sure who went for the other side as well. But until they see it up close here as well, a lot of people are not having to choose to their loyalty between Harley0-Davidson or Donald Trump, at least not tonight.
BURNETT: All right. Bill Weir, thank you very much.
And next, more breaking news, polls closing in some crucial primaries tonight. A former Republican presidential nominee on the ballot and a convicted felon both trying to make huge comeback headlines. Polls closing at this moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:15] BURNETT: Breaking news, polls closing on another major primary election night. Voters in seven states in the U.S. casting ballots. We got runoffs and primaries this evening. Among those on the ballot a convicted felony, a former U.S. presidential nominee, a former anchor at CNBC, and a former head of NAACP, just to name a few. It is a big night.
And Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In New York, former U.S. Congressman Michael Grimm is fighting to get his old job back. He resigned in 2015 and was sent to federal prison, after being convicted of tax evasion. In 2014, Grimm also infamously threatened a reporter questioning his campaign finances.
MICHAEL GRIMM (R), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: If you ever do that to me again, I'll throw you off this (EXPLETIVE DELETED) balcony.
CARROLL: Grimm has strong support in his Brooklyn and Staten Island district for his work after Superstorm Sandy.
GRIMM: One the main reasons why I am running for Congress is to forward President Trump's agenda and the pro-American agenda.
CARROLL: Despite Grimm's support of the president, it's his opponent, current Representative Dan Donovan who got Trump's endorsement.
REP. DAN DONOVAN (R), NEW YORK: The president told the people of the 11th congressional district, don't vote for him.
CARROLL: Trump tweeted in May, there is no one better to represent the people of New York and Staten Island, a place I know very well, than Representative Dan Donovan, who is strong on borders and crime, loves our military and our vets, voted for tax cuts and is helping me to make America great again.
Despite that tweet, Donovan was one of 12 House members who voted against the GOP tax plan.
Meanwhile, in Utah, Mitt Romney is vying for his own political comeback, this time in the U.S. Senate.
MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I did not expect to do this after I lost to Barack Obama. Did you know I lost?
CARROLL: The former Republican presidential nominee harshly criticized Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.
ROMNEY: Here's what I know, Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud.
CARROLL: But was considered for Trump's secretary of state.
ROMNEY: I will stand with President Trump if the policies he is proposing is good for the state of Utah, for other states, for the nation. On the other hand, if he were to say something that is divisive, and significant, then I feel a moral responsibility to speak out.
CARROLL: Despite walking this fine line, Romney earns Trump's endorsement. He will make a great senator and worthy successor to Orrin Hatch and has my full support and endorsement, Trump tweeted in February.
And in Maryland, Ben Jealous is vying for governor. The former NAACP president and tech investor is in a crowded Democratic primary. One top target, the president.
BEN JEALOUS (D), MARYLAND GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: As governor, I will confront Trump when he attacks our values.
CARROLL: Also in Maryland, veteran Democratic Senator Ben Cardin is facing a long shot challenge from someone new to politics.
CHELSEA MANNING: We need to actually take the reigns of power from them.
CARROLL: Chelsea Manning. In 2013, Manning was convicted of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of documents and videos to WikiLeaks. President Obama commuted his sentence in January of last year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: So, Jason, I mean, when you go through all of those, it's pretty incredible how many people and fascinating races you have.
Michael Grimm, obviously, you know, after being convicted of felony, serving time in prison, how is he feeling about his chances tonight?
CARROLL: Well, look, they're trying to put all that behind them. I got off the phone just a short while ago with the campaign spokesperson and, look, they feel as though the momentum is behind them, they feel as though the Trump's enthusiasm is behind them. The polls are shifting in their favor as well, they say. So, they feel like the comeback is coming, Erin. And he says when the polls close in just about an hour from now, we are going to see proof of that -- Erin.
BURNETT: Well, it's a big and important night across this country.
And, Jason Carroll, thank you so very much.
Thanks to all of you for joining us.
Stay with CNN as the results come in. Anderson is next.
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