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Erin Burnett Outfront
Admin Official: Trump Ready To Take Tax Return Fight To Supreme Court; NYT: Trump Asked McConnell To Fast-Track IRS Pick; Trump To Migrants: "Our Country Is Full. Can't Take You Anymore"; Rep. Will Hurd (R) Texas Is Interviewed About The President Trump's Comments On Migrants; Biden Jokes Amid Complaints About Inappropriate Behavior; Pompeo At Odds With Trump On Mar-a-Lago Security Breach; Rep. Jamie Raskin (D) Maryland is Interviewed About Mar-a-Lago Security Breach. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 05, 2019 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN: We'll watch this together with you, Michelle. Thanks very much.
Erin Burnett OUTFRONT starts right now.
ERIN BURNETT, ANCHOR, CNN: OUTFRONT next, Trump team declaring war over taxes. The President ready to take the fight to the Supreme Court. What is he hiding? Plus, President Trump with a startling message tonight, "The country is full. Turn around now." That's a quote. And Pete Buttigieg's husband always on the campaign trail all over social media. Who his Chasten Buttigieg? Let's go out front.
And Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight, "The Hill team Trump is ready to die on," and those words are from a Trump official who tells CNN tonight that the President will go all the way to the Supreme Court to keep his taxes secret. The battle lines are drawn. Democrats giving Trump only until this coming Wednesday and they say, "That's it. That's your deadline, six years of tax returns by Wednesday."
Team Trump, "Absolutely not," they say. Releasing the letter that you see here. A four-page letter saying the request is nothing more than, in their word "harassment." The President is saying, "I won the election, so the issue of tax returns, it's over."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've seen the letter that your lawyers have sent about your tax returns. Is there anything you'd like to say about it? That you'd like to explain.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nothing whatsoever. Nothing whatsoever? I have nothing to say about it. I got elected. They elected me. Now they keep going. I'm under audit. When you're under audit, you don't do it. But I'm under audit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: First of all, we have no idea if Trump is under audit. The IRS does not confirm who is under audit. But we do know that Trump lied when he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: If I decide to run for office, I'll produce my tax returns, absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Absolutely not? No, that wasn't the next word. No. So he said he would do something and he didn't do it. What is President Trump is so afraid of? If there is nothing fraudulent, nothing wrong, just things that tax experts could argue about like depreciation schedules, then this should not be an issue. But it is an issue for the President and tonight the President is betting that this man, Michael Desmond will protect him.
You may not know him, but Michael Desmond is Trump's handpicked Chief Counsel of the IRS. A man who has done work for Trump Org. According to The New York Times, the President asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to push through Desmond's confirmation earlier this year. Pamela Brown is out front Live in Washington.
And Pamela, what more is the President arguing here? "This Hill," they say they are willing to die on over tax returns.
PAMELA BROWN, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: That's right. They are gearing up for this fight and they escalated this fight today. I'm talking about President Trump's lawyers with this letter sent to the Treasury Department's General Counsel saying that the demand from the House Ways and Means Committee for the President's tax returns for the last six years is a gross abuse of power. It's harassment. That there is no legitimate reason for this demand for the tax returns and that really this is just about politics that the Democrats on Capitol Hill want the President's tax returns because the President is in another party.
That is basically what is laid out here in this letter and they also reference the fact that the President's tax returns are under audit, according to the President and according to his lawyers. But as you pointed out, we don't have independent confirmation of that. But even if they are under audit, Erin, as we know, the tax returns can still be released.
Now, I'm told by a source familiar with the matter that this is something the President's lawyers have been preparing for, for several months. This was expected for the demand to be made to the IRS from the chairman of the committee. But Democrats, as you know, they're also digging in their heels, Erin. They say that this is all part of their oversight responsibility and they too feel like they have solid legal footing here, so this fight is just beginning and administration official telling my colleagues, Jim Acosta, that they expect this to go all the way to the Supreme Court they prepared to, Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Pamela, thank you very much. And I want to go to Harry Sandick, former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, David Cay Johnston, Author of the Making of Donald Trump, and Jack O'Donnell, former President and Chief Operating Officer of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino.
So David, you have been looking at the President's finances for a long time and any issues he's had with courts over them for a long time. We are being told tonight that they're willing to die on this Hill. This is a hill people would be willing to die on, it's the quote from team Trump on this issue. Why? Why, David, are they willing to do this?
DAVID CAY JOHNSTON, AUTHOR, THE MAKING OF DONALD TRUMP: Well, keep in mind that Donald was tried twice for income tax fraud by the State of New York and the City of New York and the judges in both cases excoriated him. Donald's own witness shown the tax return testified under oath. "That's my signature, but I did not prepare that tax return," which is a pretty strong badge of fraud.
This idea that Donald doesn't have to produced them is absurd.
[19:05:02]
Since 1924, Congress has put in place an anti corruption law that says the Treasury Secretary shall produce not only tax returns, but any related information that the government has upon the request of certain members of Congress and one staff employee of Congress. So what Donald really saying is, "Well, I'm President. I'm above the law."
BURNETT: So I mean it just doesn't make any sense, Jack. You've known the President for a long time, so maybe you can make more sense of it because you're very familiar with his businesses with how he operates, how he wants to account for things. What do you think he's afraid of?
JACK O'DONNELL, FORMER PRESIDENT & CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, TRUMP PLAZA HOTEL & CASINO: Well, I mean, there's the ego part, Erin, for sure. Who knows, maybe the taxes reveal that he's not the Donald Trump that he presents which is probably most likely based what we've heard.
BURNETT: Meaning not worth that much money, doesn't have that much income. Sorry. Yes.
O'DONNELL: Yes, I think his net worth it's always been a big deal to him going back to the Forbes days, what is he worth. And so I think that that's a big piece for him. But I think like David suggests, there's probably a lot to hide and that is something that he just might not survive in 2020.
BURNETT: I mean, Harry, the President today was asked about this, I played a little clip of it, and then he went on to commit about whether Democrats will succeed in court on this and here's how we answered that question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That's up to whoever handles it. I don't know. Hey, I'm under audit but that's up to whoever it is. From what I understand, the law is 100 percent on my side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: A hundred percent?
HARRY SANDICK, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: No. The law is not 100 percent on his side, so there's a statute as already been discussed that says the Congress can ask for this information for any person. Now, there are some potential issues. There's a question that's been raised. I think about whether this actually relates to Congress' legislative oversight role, there's a question that's fair about the privacy of taxpayers which is important.
But I think the fact that you have a very specific statute that says that the IRS shall provide this information to the community to the Ways and Means Committee means that at the end of the day, the Ways and Means Committee has the better case. But it could take a very long time to sort that out in the courts.
BURNETT: So David, what do you think that he is so afraid of? Obviously, I know net worth could be something obviously that he is. He's put out numbers that even by his own financial disclosure forms when they had to be signed, obviously, that it was night and day in terms of the numbers. It went way down. But is there anything more than that that he's afraid of than ego?
JOHNSTON: Yes, I think there are a lot of things. I mean, early in his life he was reporting negative income, because he was a real estate developer. In some recent years, he got the star property tax credit which homeowners like I get here in New York and to get it you have to have a less than $500,000 of income. It will show transactions and one of the things I think he may be worried about is once they have some transactions that appear on the tax return, they can be compared with other government reports dealing with money laundering and flows of money across international borders.
And if those don't match up, he could be in very serious trouble not for tax reasons, but other reasons like money laundering.
BURNETT: And Harry, that's obviously a crucial question here because a lot of his real estate deals are overseas. Money Laundering is a crucial thing they look at in real estate deals and Trump's tax returns, by the way, and they didn't just ask for his personal, they asked for quite a few of his businesses. This money goes across several returns.
SANDICK: Yes. And look, this is absolutely a fair basis for congressional oversight. I don't know if Ways and Means mentioned it, but there are issues about the emoluments clause about whether he is receiving money from foreign governments through his businesses. These are things that Congress is entitled to look at and some of the points his lawyers make don't really make much sense.
They said at one point, "Why didn't the committee ask the last few presidents to turn over their tax returns?" And of course the answers going back to the Nixon administration, all presidents have made their tax returns public so they didn't need to make a broader request, so there are valid oversight reasons for this.
BURNETT: So Jack, I mentioned the council for the IRS, this man, Michael Desmond. The President had wanted that nomination to be fast- tracked. He obviously knows this guy perceives that he would be friendly. That's the President's perception. This is someone who had worked on some sort of a tax issue at one point for Trump Org. Do you think that the President things that Mr. Desmond is in his corner? That would be the reason for this.
O'DONNELL: Well, absolutely, Erin. I mean, let's face it, the vetting process for his administration is very simple. It's ask not what I could do for my country, but what I can do for Trump and this is a classic example of that. He knew exactly what Barr, Attorney General Barr, was going to do with the Mueller report. He knows exactly what Desmond is going to do when he's questioned about the legality of releasing Trump's taxes.
[19:10:04]
He will create a smokescreen for Donald Trump and to me that's just very clear, that's consistent with Trump's lifelong idea behind surrounding himself with fixers.
BURNETT: So when you say fixers, I mean, like Michael Cohen. They said Michael Cohen was a fixer and Michael Cohen is going to prison. Harry, how long does this fight go on? If this is a hill they're willing to die on, it doesn't sound like we're going to be getting returns, obviously, next week. I mean I say that sort of facetiously at this point. How long does this fight go?
SANDICK: I wouldn't be surprised that this ran through the presidential election just because there are issues of constitutional law and statutory interpretation. A case takes a long time to go through federal district court, then the Circuit Court of Appeals, and then the Supreme Court. A case that goes to the Supreme Court could take a year from the time when the court decides to hear it, until the time when there's a decision. So it wouldn't surprise me if this run through the election, frankly.
BURNETT: David, one big question here would be given that there had been cases before, as you point out, for which he was excoriated, as you say. If there was fraud in there, would they have found it? I mean do you think he's audited every year and someone is really going through it or could there really be serious fraud in here?
JOHNSTON: Well, Donald won't even release an audit letter. That's an absolutely anodyne document that just says you're under audit and tells us nothing else that he won't produce an audit letter makes me very suspicious and he could be under audit for a gift he made and the value of it to one of his grandchildren, so I think that's not a very good excuse here.
Fundamentally, Donald knows there are things in his tax return that he needs to keep secret, needs to make sure we don't see because they will undo this image he has sold to 10s of millions Americans that is totally inconsistent with his behavior.
BURNETT: All right, thank you all very much. And next breaking news, President Trump on the southern border tonight with a message for migrants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our country is full. Our area is full. The sector is full. Can't take you anymore, I'm sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus Joe Biden making light of the claims he inappropriately touched women.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I had permission to hug Lonnie. I mean we had permission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And the Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, this is a guy who is loyalist as it comes. Completely contradicting President Trump tonight, we'll tell you why.
[19:15:00]
Breaking news, "The country is full. Turn around." That's according to President Trump who is at the border tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Our country is full. Our area is full. The sector is full. Can't take you anymore, I'm sorry. Can't happen. So turn around, that's the way it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That's the way it is. CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins is live at the border tonight. Kaitlan, these are strong words from a President who has said a lot of strong things about the border. We have not heard him be this stark, this aggressive before.
KAITLAN COLLINS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Yes, Erin. It's a pretty blunt message that the President had here at the border today and it seems to be part of his latest effort to convince migrants not to attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Now, we're standing here outside one of the biggest ports of entry.
Actually, the most traffic port of entry in the Western Hemisphere. This is San Ysidro and there's a ton of traffic, not only foot traffic, tourist, shoppers that come through here but also a lot of commercial goods. This is one of the places that when the President was threatening to close the border in over the last week that business officials, Republican lawmakers and even his own economic advisors inside the White House were warning him would be affected if he did that.
They said it was going to be devastating for the economy if the president close ports of entry like this one right here and they were saying that the President could take better moves to stop that and try to stop that flow of migrants coming through the border. Now, today the President kept touting how many people that Mexico is now apprehending at its southern border, therefore preventing more people from trying to cross the U.S. southern border.
And that's really the message he's going with, though he did tour a part of the border today, part of the fencing that is now bearing the President's name, Erin. The White House is touting that as new wall but actually it already existed before. It's a part of fencing and they actually just made it 30 feet higher than it was which is substantially higher than any other section of fencing but still it's not the wall and it's a far cry from what the President promised that wall would look like when he was on the campaign trail saying that is going to be concrete and saying it's going to go from border to border.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kaitlan. I want to go now to Republican Congressman Will Hurd from Texas. His district includes the longest stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border. He's been very clear, he doesn't think wall is the answer. But I want to ask you, Congressman, about what he said tonight, "Our country is full. I can't take you anymore. I'm sorry. Can't happen, so turn around. That's the way it is." What's your response?
REP. WILL HURD (R-TX), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Well, I don't know what he means by that but I can tell you this, there are, border patrol agents, our ICE agents, they are being overrun. I was in El Paso last weekend and seeing what our border patrol agents have to deal with. It actually is a humanitarian crisis that is going on.
And my fear is that in April we're going to see worse numbers than what we've seen in this last month. Last month, in March, we had 100,000 people who come into the country illegally for some contexts. All of last year, there were 400,000 people coming into this country illegally. There's a major issue going on, we know that. We got to address root causes in Central America, specifically, the Northern Triangle, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.
It's not just a U.S. problem. It's not just a Mexico problem. It's a Western Hemisphere problem and we need the entire Western Hemisphere to come together to address those root causes of violence and lack of economic opportunities.
BURNETT: All right, those are the crucial issues. In a sense we could say this is something for our hemisphere that needs to be focused on like Syria, was for Europe when you talk about the number of migrants that you're talking about all of the sudden I just think maybe that's a way to think about it. But the President's response has not been to focus on that part of it at all as you know, Congressman Hurd.
He, in fact, has made this whole thing about whether he's going to close the border or not and that's been very confusing.
[19:20:03]
He said he's going to close the border and then he said he isn't and this is him over the past week. So I start a week ago and I and I end today, here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will close the damn border.
There's a very good likelihood that I'll be closing the border next week.
We're going to them a one-year warning and if the drugs don't stop or largely stopped, we're going to put tariffs on Mexico.
I don't think we'll ever have to close the border.
I never changed my mind at all. I may shut it down at some point, but I'd rather do tariffs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It makes my head spin. Do you know what's going on, Congressman?
HURD: Well, I know what the problems are and I know the short-term fixes that are needed. In some places you have border patrol. Let's just take this last quarter, border patrol spent 78,000 hours at hospitals dealing with migrants that were brought in. Why are border patrol officers doing that? Why aren't they subcontracting that with some of these companies that can deal with that so we can make sure our border patrol agents are in between our ports of entry?
I know that 1950's asylum laws are not going to solve the problem that we're seeing in the Northern Triangle, so we need to be having a conversation about how we streamline that. We need to be making sure that the men and women and - so let's just take El Paso for a perfect example, 2,400 border patrol agents, but they only have 150 ICE agents that are dealing with the people that are processing.
Oh, and by the way, our immigration judicial system is broken. We should be able to get someone through an immigration court within one year, but now we have a backlog of about five years. So there are some long-term fixes that we need to be addressing. There are some short-term fixes and we need to make sure that somebody is in charge and articulating what are those short-term fixes that we need so that we can ensure that men, and women, and board patrol have the resources to deal with this current problem.
BURNETT: I want to ask you before you go, Congressman. the House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal has now formally requested Trump's tax returns from the IRS, citing that statute from 1924 which says that they shall provide it. The President says, "No way." They're saying it's a hill they want to die on. They're taking it to the Supreme Court. Do you think the President is trying to hide something?
HURD: I don't know, but I would think that over the last 22 months of the Mueller investigation that with 14 U.S. attorneys, 40 FBI agents, 500 subpoenas, 500 interviews, I would have thought that at some point in that process they probably looked at those IRS statements and if there was something there, that probably would have came out in the investigation. That's just a hunch. I don't know that for a fact.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. Good to see you.
HURD: Always a pleasure to be on.
BURNETT: All right. And next, did Joe Biden just make things worse with this comment?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I'm not sorry for any of my intentions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And the fight over the Mueller report, my next guest says the Attorney General is holding the report hostage.
[19:25:00]
Tonight, Joe Biden making his first public appearance after a series of accusations this week of inappropriate touching and he made a joke of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: I just want you to know I had permission to hug Lonnie. I mean, we had permission. I don't want you to have to stand all alone, but it's to - by the way he gave me a permission to touch him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Crowd obviously, it was a Biden crowd, they liked it. Biden was then asked though explicitly whether he would apologize to the women and I want to play that exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But for someone who wants to hear directly, "I am sorry," are you sorry for the way that you (inaudible) ...
BIDEN: I'm sorry I didn't understand more. I'm not sorry for any of my intentions. I'm not sorry for anything that I have ever done. I've never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Out front now Patrick Healy, Political Editor for The New York Times, Maria Cardona former DNC Communications Director and Keith Boykin, former Clinton White House Aide. Maria, what do you think?
MARIA CORDONA, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I say that's not cool, Mr. Vice President. Come on. I think he needs to really think about this moving forward. I'm glad he clarified what he said and what his intentions were, but again we go back to this, Erin, it doesn't matter what his intentions are or were for this or were for the actions that put him in hot water to begin with.
He needs to understand that it's not his intentions, it's how they are received. It's the perception of what he does that actually matters. I think his problem is that he has been in public life for so long and for the most part his political instincts have served him well and on this issue specifically he cannot rely on his instincts because it's his instincts that have put him in hot water.
He needs to be very intentional. He needs to be very mindful. He needs to be in the moment and think about what he is doing and what he is saying and not just what's coming out of his mouth, but how it's being received by the public and that's what he needs to do moving forward.
BURNETT: I mean Keith, when that question was asked it was almost as if he wasn't prepared for it which is a little shocking.
KEITH BOYKIN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE AIDE UNDER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: Yes. I mean I feel like the world is changing very rapidly, but it's only changing for some people it seems like. I think Joe Biden is in this situation. It's almost a no-win situation. The people who support Joe Biden are going to continue to support him regardless, I think, of what he does because they know who he is. They understand this is part of his history.
The people who don't support Joe Biden or who have some issue with him, specifically or not exclusively, but because of this they're going to still have problems with it. Nothing he said today is going to resolve those problems.
[19:29:57]
So he's got this whole sort of issue, can he moved forward with that base of people who are going to support him no matter what and still reconcile the people who don't want to support him until he comes to some sort of full recognition of what he's done in the past.
[19:30:09] BURNETT: So, Patrick, here's the thing. The president loves this, OK? He loves it. He's been making jokes about it. Giddy. Here he is today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: What exactly is offensive about Joe Biden's behavior and are you the right messenger for that?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes, I think I'm a very good messenger. And people got a kick out of it. He is going through a situation, let's see what happens. But people got a kick. We got to sort of smile a little bit, right.
REPORTER: Does that mean you see Joe Biden as a threat? Do you see Joe Biden as a threat?
TRUMP: No, I don't see Joe Biden as a threat. No, I don't see him as a threat. I think he is only a threat to himself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Is he right about that?
PATRICK HEALY, POLITICS EDITOR, THE NEW YORK TIMES: I think Joe Biden is a threat to himself if he keeps sort of taking in kind of cavalier approach where it's as if he sort of says like the women and people can't take a joke, everybody needs to lighten up and joke about it. I mean, I'm really struck that Joe Biden and President Trump almost seem to be saying kind of the same thing here. President Trump was saying, we all need to smile a little bit. We all need to take kind of a lighter approach to this, which is what he did with his very own cavalier approach to women's accusations against him of sexual misconduct.
But Biden, you sort of -- you expect something very different from a man who takes pride in passing the Violence Against Women Act, his record, you know, on women's rights. Instead you have him today saying sorry, not sorry.
BURNETT: Right.
HEALY: It's so strange, Erin. I mean, you know, this guy -- you know, didn't run for president in 2015 was thinking about it. And had to be watching Hillary Clinton during the five months when everybody in the world was trying to get her to say "I'm sorry" about using private email server and she wouldn't do it.
BURNETT: She wouldn't.
HEALY: And it accumulated as a big problem for her. Finally, she said I'm sorry. And this sort of sorry and not sorry and joking it's what we expect from Donald Trump not from Joe Biden.
BURNETT: Right. It is. It's as if he moved the goal post and people say -- some people say, Maria, because what Trump did is so much worse.
I have to say let's not set the standard there, OK? Just as a citizen. Like -- but I'm serious because it's a big thing. People just say -- well if you didn't grab them by the -- I'm sorry that -- that's not the bar by which we are going to judge inappropriate behavior. That is -- I personally feel strongly about that.
But, Maria, I want to read to you what liberal activist and director Rob Reiner said today, because I think he's capturing what some people think.
MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Right. BURNETT: He says: Unwanted sexual advances is a needed subject of national conversation. I submit you can't punish both murder and jaywalking with a death sentence. Joe Biden has addressed personal comfort and space. Time to move on and focus on number one priority, 86. The liar.
Rob Reiner, of course, is the same demographic as Joe Biden. But is he right, Maria?
CARDONA: Well, I do think that he is right in what he just said, that doesn't take away from the issue in terms of how this is serious, because this does make women feel uncomfortable. To your point, we shouldn't be judging ourselves by the same standards as Trump and Republicans because they have no standards when it comes to this.
But I will say this, we do need to be careful not to make the litmus test perfection because no one will be able to pass that bar.
BURNETT: Right.
CARDONA: I think Joe Biden said what he need to say in the video, hopefully he will learn by what happened today and he will move forward, because I will say that if he gets through the primary and he becomes the nominee, then he can actually throw down with Trump, not on just this issue but on every other issue because lately, we have Trump not wanting to welcome anymore immigrants, wanting to take away health care from millions of Americans, doesn't even know where his father was born, wanting to shut down the border -- big differences there, Erin.
BURNETT: Let me ask you, Keith, when it comes to the other issues, look, this issue no one expected to happen with Biden. And it did. And there is an issue. And there are other serious as well. And yesterday, I spoke to radio show host Charlamagne tha God and who he interviewed seven exact being candidates on his show he said something about Biden I wanted to play.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLAMAGNE THA GOD, RADIO HOST: I would like to talk to Joe Biden, because I'd be wondering why we love Joe Biden so much. When I say we, I mean, the African-American community, because if you look at Hillary Clinton when she ran in 2016, people were upset at her because of the '94 crime bill. And she was just the first lady at the time. You know, bill is the one who pass that.
You know, people get upset at Kamala Harris because she is a prosecutor and they call her a cop and got so many black and brown people locked up. Well, Joe Biden actually wrote the '94 crime bill. That was his bill.
So, why do we give him a pass? You know because that bill got a lot of black and brown people locked up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Does Biden have bigger land mines ahead, Keith?
BOYKIN: Yes, I mean, I think he's got a lot of issues, the crime bill, the Anita hill hearing, comments from the 1970s.
[19:35:02] And I like what Charlamagne tha God said, too, because I feel like there is a lot of unresolved tension here within the Democratic Party and the double standards that we judge people by. I mean, go back to Hillary Clinton. Yes, she supported the crime bill but her husband signed it. Joe Biden was one of the people who helped write it and Bernie Sanders is one of the people who voted for it.
But none of those people get blamed. We blamed Hillary Clinton for it because of this whole sort of sexist double standard in our culture. Not to mention the fact, remember when Hillary Clinton ran for office, she was in very a similar position to Joe Biden is today.
In 2012, when she first got out of the State Department, she was very popular. There were all the memes about Hillary Clinton with sunglasses on, and the plane and the phone, and her popularity was at 60 percent. As soon as she started running, it tanked.
The same thing may happen to Joe Biden because she was running in a whole different atmosphere from when she was popular, and Joe Biden is going to be running in a whole different atmosphere from the one he knew as well.
BURNETT: You got that. By the way, 60 percent is not where Joe Biden is right now, Patrick, OK?
So, the latest CNN polling, sure, he's at the top. But this is a guy with 100 percent name recognition. This is a guy who has been vice president for two terms, who's run for president, who's been a sitting senator.
I mean, OK. So he is a front runner. But this isn't -- this isn't like it's his to throw away.
HEALY: No, Hillary Clinton started out 40 points ahead of Bernie Sanders. And she definitely came down. Bernie went up. They got even.
But Joe Biden starting under 30 percent and he's been going down in polls. Joe Biden and Beto O'Rourke have been going down. Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris have been going up in Iowa and New Hampshire, some national polls.
So, Biden has to be worried about this. I think that, yes, they probably would choose to have it come out now and deal with it now before he announces and jumps in. But the reality is, is that you got a lot of very credible candidates mo probably are going to gain voters. And the place that they're most likely to take them from is not Bernie Sanders who has incredible devotion from his base, but it is Joe Biden, the soft passive voters going with him because of name recognition.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much. And next, the secretary of state not on the same page as the president
on this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think this tells the American people the threat that China poses.
TRUMP: I think that was just a fluke situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Very different views on the Mar-a-Lago situation.
Plus, could Pete Buttigieg's husband be a secret weapon in a crowded field of candidates?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR PETE BUTTIGIEG (D), SOUTH BEND, INDIANA: You know Chasten, you guys met.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to see you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:33] BURNETT: New tonight, Pompeo versus Trump. The secretary of state at odds with the president over what happened at Mar-a-Lago, the security breach, possible espionage. Chinese woman arrested for illegally entering the property, four cell phones, malicious software on her person.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POMPEO: I think this tells the American people the threat that China poses, the efforts they are making here inside the United States, not only against government officials but more broadly.
TRUMP: I'm not concerned at all. I have -- we have very good control. I think that was a fluke situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Democrat congressman from Maryland, Jamie Raskin, a member of the House Oversight Committee which was briefed yesterday by the Secret Service about the situation. Obviously, there's a big investigation going on, to see if it's espionage.
Congressman, OK, the president says, no problem, I'm not concerned. The secretary of state who is the most loyal lieutenant that the president has basically at this point is saying this is a big deal, and it matters. What is up with them not being on the same page?
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD), OVERSIGHT & GOVERNMENT REFORM COMMITTEE: Well, obviously, the president doesn't want to admit that he continues to left his guard down at Mar-a-Lago. You know, Camp David is in my district up in Thurmont, Maryland. And it would be as if Camp David also doubled as a hotel and spa.
In other words, he uses it as a presidential retreat, the second White House and so on. At the same time basically anybody willing to put down a credit card can get in there and wander around. And there are parties and people coming in and coming out. And this woman was picked up with four cell phones, a laptop and then a thumb drive that was infected with malware that could be a nightmare if it were installed in a computer on the premises.
So I think obviously the president is in deep denial about what he has done. But the Trump administration continues to be just a mess in terms of security.
BURNETT: All right. So the Trump administration obviously in the minutes of the Mueller report. We have members of Mueller's team speaking out. Some of them expressing frustration with the Attorney General. You know, Barr summary of the nearly 400 page, because they had their own summaries and he didn't use them. Some are upset. Some are saying the findings were alarming and significant which they don't feel is the sense that Bill Garr gave at all in the four-page summary.
Do you think Barr is trying to hide something or not? Considering I think he knows if full well we are getting a chance to look at most of this thing.
RASKIN: Well , let's hope he know that is. Let's hope he is certain that it's going to be turned over. Every day that goes by I think we're on day 13 or 14 now, it starts to feel less and less certain.
But, look, if you look at prior cases of independent counsels and special counsels, they turned over not just the report but all of the accompanying and underlying material within a day or two. We're talking about vans coming over with big boxes of materials.
BURNETT: Yes.
RASKIN: Tapes and notes and so on. Instead what we get is this mysterious and inscrutable four-page press release that he continues to edit and update as he goes by amending comments. It's a very disturbing situation.
We believe in Congress that we have every right to the report. And we want it turned over immediately.
[19:45:01] BURNETT: So, when the president says hey you guys are getting your 400 pages and that's not enough, he is right? You're saying I want the report but also want the van full of whatever.
RASKIN: Yes.
BURNETT: Every one of the 500, you know, subpoenas.
RASKIN: Yes. BURNETT: Everything.
RASKIN: Absolutely. We want exactly what Congress has gotten in the past, because we are the institutional body that is appointed to do constitutional oversight over the president. Not the attorney general. The attorney general works for the president. We do constitutional oversight over the executive branch. We want exactly what Congress has gotten before.
BURNETT: All right. So, Congressman, I want to ask you about the former Vice President Joe Biden, a man you know personal who has been accused by women of inappropriate touching over the years. He talked about it today.
Let me play part of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: But for someone who wants to hear directly I am sorry, are you sorry for the way that you --
JOE BIDEN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I'm sorry I didn't understand more. I'm not sorry for any of my intentions. I'm not sorry for anything I have ever done. I've never been disrespectful intentionally to a man or a woman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: A non-apology. Is that the right thing to do?
RASKIN: Oh, gee, first of all, I don't really know Vice President Biden. I can't claim him as a friend of mine.
And obviously he is going to have to decide how he wants to deal with that situation. When you're in politics, at least, you know, the politics that I know -- I'm just in the House of Representatives, but we apologize all the time when we hurt people's feelings, offend them, bump into them.
Politics is a tough business and people get feelings hurt a lot. And so, you know, I'm a middle child. I like to bring people together. So, I'm willing to say I'm sorry.
But I don't know. He might feel like he is being targeted at this point and, you know, people are trying to conflate different kinds behaviors. So, he is in a complex situation. But I think, look, the country is going through a transformation or a consciousness because of what's been raised by feminism. And that's all to the good. I think he needs to demonstrate to people that he is really caught up and he understands that he has offended some people.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congressman Raskin. I appreciate your time. Have a good weekend.
RASKIN: Thank you so much.
BURNETT: And next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
P. BUTTIGIEG: Frankly, he is one of the best things I got going for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: He is the man by Pete Buttigieg's side. Now a force on the campaign trail. So, who is he?
Plus, they may love Twitter but the president is no fan of technology.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:51:25] BURNETT: All right. So, there you see New Hampshire. Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is about to speak to voters in Manchester. Just moments ago tweeting at his husband saying, quote, I think I found us a new hangout. So who is Chasten Buttigieg?
Kate Bennett is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a sea of 17 Democratic presidential hopefuls, one, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, could have a secret weapon. His husband Chasten Buttigieg is fast becoming the rising star of the candidate spouses.
P. BUTTIGIEG: Our marriage just might be the most or only normal thing in my life.
BENNETT: He's just 29 and a former junior high school teacher on leave to support his husband on the campaign trail.
And it's his sense of humor and a penchant for revealing his personal side on social media that has earned him notice.
VAN JONES, CNN HOST, "THE VAN JONES SHOW": What was it about him that stood out to you before you started dating him? What appealed to you?
P. BUTTIGIEG: He has this really quick wit. If you follow him on Twitter, you'll see what I mean.
BENNETT: On Thursday, it was a shout-out to the guys from Queer Eye, asking for sartorial advice. Tweeting from the couple's two rescue dogs.
Buttigieg also sharing poignant words about being gay in America today, tweeting this week, quote: Your time in the closet and your journey to coming out belong to you. You are not required to open healed wounds or write lengthy threads in order to explain your worth to others who aren't willing to see it themselves. You matter first.
P. BUTTIGIEG: He's pretty good at rolling with it, and I'm lucky for that. I mean, frankly, he's one of the best things I've got going for me. I love him but also he's grounded, keeps me grounded.
BENNETT: The couple are newlyweds, having married last June after meeting several years ago on a dating app. Chasten talking about the couple's first date while introducing Buttigieg Thursday night at a fundraiser in Washington.
CHASTEN BUTTIGIEG, HUSBAND OF PTE P. BUTTIGIEG: He said if you do a good job, maybe I'll run for governor. Here we are. So I think it's fair to say I got a little more than I bargained for.
BENNETT: Offering a humanizing portrait of his husband, the candidate.
C. BUTTIGIEG: I think what I love about him, is he's the same person whether we're at home folding laundry together or in a room like this full of supporters. He's the exact same person.
BENNETT: And learning the ropes of a campaign trail as the most modern of political couples try to make history.
P. BUTTIGIEG: Tell me you were in the room when a top tier presidential prospect took the stage, or the pallet or whatever this thing is, after being introduced by his loving husband.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BENNETT: OK, so Chasten is getting a chance to appear solo this weekend. He'll speak at a hum rights campaign event in Houston, Texas. He's one of the keynote speakers. Certainly, it could be a historic White House should Mayor Pete win the big game several months from now.
Back to you, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kate.
And next, President Trump sounds off on the power of technology.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I know more about technology than anybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:02] BURNETT: Tonight, Trump on the border, touting thing an old fashioned wall. I mean, who needs high-tech, right?
Here's Jeanne.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to windmills, President Trump loves to imitate them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've never heard a windmill before, but I'm sure it doesn't sound like a cat in a dryer.
MOOS: President Trump insists on tilting at windmills, Donald Quixote some called him. But attacking without the benefit of scientific facts --
TRUMP: And they say the noise causes cancer, you tell me that one, OK?
MOOS: And this is a president who claims --
TRUMP: I know more about technology than anybody. Nobody knows more about technology than me. I'm a professional in technology.
MOOS: A professional that prefers sharpie on pages, whose desk that appears to be a no computer zone, a guy who struggled to get the speaker phone to speaker.
TRUMP: Enrique, you can hook him up. A lot of people waiting. Hello? Do you want to put that on this phone, please? Hello?
MOOS: He tweeted recently that airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly. Pilots are no longer needed, but rather computer scientists from MIT.
Then there's the new electromagnetic system that catapult planes off the U.S. Gerald Ford.
TRUMP: It used to be steam, steam. Old fashioned.
MOOS: When President Trump visited the ship he said sailors told him they fixed the steam catapult with a wrench.
TRUMP: If the electronics wrecks, sir, we have to send for Albert Einstein.
MOOS: You know, you think the president would be a fan of wind power, one of those tried and true technologies rooted in the past, like some of his other favorites.
TRUMP: They say it's medieval a wall, it is medieval. So, is the wheel. Wheels and walls work, you know, there's something you can't beat.
MOOS: And yet, he keeps beating up on windmills, maybe the president has just had it with wind.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: All right. Have a great weekend. See you Monday.
Anderson starts now.
