Return to Transcripts main page

Erin Burnett Outfront

GOP's Last-Ditch Effort To Seat McCarthy's Picks For January 6 Committee On Track To Fail On House Floor; Interview With Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD); Florida Hospital Director Warns Of "Exponential Rise In Patients: "This Could Be Over If People Got Vaccinated"; V.A. Becomes First Federal Agency To Require COVID Vaccine; Trump Ally, Tom Barrack Please Not Guilty; Trump Takes Big Lie To Arizona, Praises Sham Election Audit. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 26, 2021 - 19:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Our deepest condolences to their families. May they rest in peace and may their memories be a blessing.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next the breaking news, Republicans demanding Pelosi seat McCarthy's picks for the January 6th Select Committee as McCarthy lobs insults at Republicans Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for joining the investigation. Insults they are calling childish tonight.

Plus, the first federal agency mandating vaccines after the nation's largest city and largest state announced vaccine requirements. Is this just the beginning?

And 'somebody is going to get killed'. That's a chilling warning coming after Trump's former National Security Adviser said he might use a new semi-automatic rifle on 'someone in D.C.' Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight the breaking news, House Republicans demanding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seat Kevin McCarthy's picks for the January 6th Select Committee. This coming just hours before the Committee's first scheduled hearing tomorrow morning.

The two Republicans Pelosi had vetoed include Jim Jordan who has repeatedly defended Trump's actions on the day of the riot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): The facts are how do you incite a breach of the Capitol when it was already planned. How do you incite a riot that when the breach happened before the president completed his speech?

I don't think there was any kind of language from the president that provoked them or got them or incite incitement in any form whatsoever.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: And Jim Banks who said after he was tapped to the Committee,

"Make no mistake, Nancy Pelosi created this committee solely to malign conservatives and to justify the Left's authoritarian agenda."

OK. Now, just to be clear, the move to force Pelosi to seat Banks and Jordan is on track to get voted down, could happen any moment here. But it's a fitting end to a day of shenanigans and ugliness surrounding this committee. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy lobbing insults at the two Republicans; Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who are joining the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Some Republicans have been saying that the GOP should play ball with this committee. You could get (inaudible) with three.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Really? Who's that? Who's that, Adam and Liz? Aren't they kind of like Pelosi Republicans?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So let's just be clear, McCarthy, of course, is the highest ranking Republican in the House, resorting to name calling, because Cheney and Kinzinger aren't afraid to investigate the deadly insurrection. And tonight, they're fighting back against their leader in the House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We have a very serious business here. We have important work to do and I think that's pretty childish.

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): It's childish. We're doing big things right now. We're getting to the answers of the worst attack on the Capitol since the war of 1812.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Childish. Well, McCarthy has been playing games ever since the days that followed the deadly insurrection. Because just to remind everybody how far we've come, this was an insurrection that McCarthy once squarely blamed on Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCCARTHY: The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Kevin McCarthy said it. He said it on the floor of the House. He said it. And during Trump's second impeachment trial, we learned that Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican, said she was told by McCarthy that when he talked to Trump on the phone on the day of the insurrection, he tried to get him to understand how bad it was. While these scenes were playing out on televisions across the country, she says McCarthy pleaded with Trump to forcefully denounce his supporters there that day.

She says McCarthy told her that Trump claimed that the people that were antifa. Now, McCarthy who, of course, was inside the Capitol responds to Trump quote, "No, they're your people call them off." Trump refused, conversation continues. Herrera Beutler confirms to CNN that Trump says then, "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."

And as the rioters were pushing deeper into the Capitol, McCarthy again there on the scene responds, "Who the f**k do you think you're talking to?" Standing up to the president, yelling at the president, telling him the truth and telling the whole world from the floor of the House that he was responsible. But then things changed so quickly.

McCarthy then turned it into a love fest, doing everything he could to get back in Trump's good graces. In fact, he voted against impeachment on January 13th and about a week later, he tried to get Trump off the hook for whipping up his supporters and then unleashing them on the Capitol over, of course, the months that Trump talked about a rigged election.

McCarthy telling reporters about Trump's role in the insurrection, "I don't believe he provoked." Days after that, McCarthy goes down to Mar-A-Lago. He also voted against creating a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the riot.

[19:05:02]

One that would have had an equal number of Democrat and Republican members, equal subpoena power, all of the above.

And just before tapping five Republicans to the Select Committee, including three open supporters of Trump's big election lie, McCarthy went to visit Trump at his golf resort, which brings us to tonight. We are just hours from the start of an historic hearing to investigate the insurrection.

A day that will be emotional for the first time, four police officers who were there that day will detail the horrors they witnessed and suffered and they will do so under oath. They include Michael Fanone, an officer who was dragged into the crowd beaten and suffered a heart attack.

Officer Daniel Hodges, he was crushed between a set of doorways trying to keep the mob back. Officer Harry Dunn said he was called the N word while trying to protect the Capitol. And U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who is beaten and had his hand sliced open.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AQUILINO GONELL, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE SERGEANT: And I could hear them we're going to shoot you. We're going to kill you.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: Sources also telling CNN there will be video that has never

been made public of the deadly riot tomorrow as well. It is an important day, unfortunately one that is now also at the center of partisan bickering, name calling, childishness that is an insult to all of us.

Manu Raju is OUTFRONT live on Capitol Hill. And Manu, McCarthy doing all he can to minimize the Committee to distract from it before it even begins.

RAJU: Yes, trying to discredit this investigation and try to undercut it as well. And just moments ago, the House voting down this McCarthy resolution to essentially call into question and criticize the Speaker for rejecting his two of his selections to the Select Committee. Those selection is Jim Banks and Jim Jordan over concerns Pelosi had that they would undermine the investigation themselves.

But this resolution that McCarthy put forward rejected on a 218 to 197 vote. Two Republicans did join with Democrats to vote to kill this resolution. Those two Republicans, Adam Kinzinger, Liz Cheney, the same two Republicans were the only ones who voted to create this select committee to investigate what happened here. And also, of course, the same two Republicans who agreed to be appointed by Nancy Pelosi as part of this investigation.

McCarthy will move forward in other efforts to try to undermine and distract and discredit the investigation over the weeks ahead. But they don't have subpoena power, even if they were to have hearings on the Republican side, they lack what the Democrats have, which is subpoenas and we can expect Democrats going forward if they don't get what they want to move forward with subpoenas and lots of hearings as well, Erin.

BURNETT: Right. And by the way, I do want to make a point again that Kevin McCarthy could have had that subpoena power. He requested it and Pelosi granted it, everything that he wanted, including that subpoena power but he rejected that committee and that's why we're here.

So Manu, what is the latest you're hearing about Democrats calling McCarthy or other Republicans. McCarthy, I just was detailing Jaime Herrera Beutler's quotes from his phone call with the President of the United States on the day of the riot. I mean, he could be a very important witness.

RAJU: Yes. Democrats and the two Republicans on the Committee are open to calling Kevin McCarthy and as well as the Republicans who had conversations with the White House, with Donald Trump, the Trump White House in the run up to January 6th. Adam Kinzinger, the new addition to the Committee, I asked him today if he's willing to call any of the Republican members to testify and he made it clear he is.

He said we wouldn't do it to embarrass them, but we would do it to get answers. But after tomorrow's hearing, then the Committee will lay out a roadmap for its investigation going forward and looking at different areas that they want to dig into and also try to get documents as part of its investigation here. So a long way till we get to that point, but certainly an issue that's not off the table, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Manu, thank you very much.

And I want to go now to Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin who is one of the members of the January 6th Select Committee. Congressman, I'm really grateful for your time tonight and I know you're hours away from the first hearing of the Select Committee.

It's going to be an important and emotional one and yet you have Republicans introduced a resolution where Pelosi would be forced to seat McCarthy's vetoed picks; Banks, Jordan, for the Committee and now they're planning a dueling press conference to overlap with your hearing to try to minimize it all as much as possible. What's your reaction to all of this?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, they're desperately trying to obstruct and derail a real investigation into what happened. And you know that from the basic fact that we gave them everything they wanted in terms of five-Republican, five-Democratic independent outside 9/11-style commission with equal subpoena authority on both sides and they blocked that. They just don't want an investigation into what really happened.

And I mean, it's almost getting absurd and comical all of their little diversionary antics here to try to distract the country from watching what we're doing. I think it's having the reverse effect.

[19:10:00]

I think the country realizes that they've got a lot to hide and that they don't want us to get at the truth. But we're going to get to the truth and we have a very strong bipartisan committee right now and we're going to kick it off with law enforcement, which to me is like the moral center of gravity of the whole thing, because these were hundreds of our officers on the Capitol force and the D.C. police force who were being beaten with baseball bats, and Trump flags, and Confederate battle flags and engaged in basically medieval style battlefield tactics to try to save the democracy and to prevent them from overthrowing the election, which was their purpose.

So the truth is going to come out and this is a democracy and you can't have a democracy without the truth. And so, they can attack their own colleagues in the Republican caucus. They can attack Democrats, but they're not going to stop us from moving forward.

BURNETT: So you were the lead impeachment manager for the former President Trump's second impeachment trial. Now, Republicans are using that against you and your party regarding the Committee. Here is Jim Jordan and Kevin McCarthy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORDAN: We know what this is, this is impeachment round three.

MCCARTHY: She appointed Adam Schiff and Raskin. This is a impeachment committee. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So what are you going to do to make sure tomorrow doesn't look like another impeachment hearing?

RASKIN: Well, now remember, the second impeachment was about one person, Donald Trump, and one crime, incitement to violent insurrection, which robust bicameral, bipartisan majorities found the president engaged in. So we already have as a constitutional fact that the president engaged in incitement to violent insurrection.

But we're looking at something much bigger than this, which is who planned it, who organized it, who mobilized it, who paid for it, who benefited from it and where are they now and what are they planning to do next, because that's the real issue here.

They want to essentially disarm us from protecting the republic against right wing domestic violent extremism and that's obviously not something we're going to accept.

BURNETT: So let me ask you about Congresswoman Liz Cheney. Obviously, she and Adam Kinzinger are Republicans on this committee now. I know she is going to be playing a very significant role, a source tells us that she'll be giving an opening statement after the Committee Chair Bennie Thompson.

Look, there are a lot of issues politically where you and she do not see eye to eye, many in fact. But I know you've talked about a recent phone call where you and she formed a bond about your families, what did that tell you? What does that tell you about Liz Cheney's character?

RASKIN: Well, I like Liz Cheney for a long time and I think she's a woman of extraordinary integrity and character. We do disagree about a bunch of policy issues. But fundamentally what we're looking for in America today is a coalition of constitutional patriots.

That is people who will stand up for the constitutional order, for elections, and for Democratic norms and the rule of law against this new form of domestic violent extremism and Donald Trump's authoritarian politics, which are outside of the constitutional order.

They don't accept our elections. They don't accept our constitutional rules. They're trying to overthrow it all. So I think we've got a salute and embrace Liz Cheney, and Congressman Kinzinger and all Republicans, Independents, greens, Libertarians and Democrats who will stand up for American democracy.

BURNETT: All right. Congressman, I appreciate your time as always and I thank you.

RASKIN: Thanks for having me.

BURNETT: All right. And next, the first federal agency mandating vaccines. Is there going to be more from the Biden administration?

Plus, Trump's longtime ally, Tom Barrack breaking his silence after being charged as a foreign agent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOMAS BARRACK, DONALD TRUMP'S LONGTIME ALLY: The system is working as it should and over time we'll all see that I'm 100 percent innocent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And two police officers on a break grabbing a bite to eat jump into action lifting a car off of a baby trapped underneath. The officer speak out tonight about the heart stopping moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible), we got a baby under the vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's lift it up. Let's lift it up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:08]

BURNETT: Tonight, a Florida hospital warning it's bursting at the seams with coronavirus patients and is in urgent need of help. Florida now accounts for nearly a quarter of all new coronavirus cases in the United States more than any other state. Daily average case counts tripling from two weeks ago.

The virus spread, in fact, is so extensive that each of Florida's 67 counties is now experiencing high levels of community transmission - transmission, I'm sorry, according to the CDC.

OUTFRONT now, Chad Neilsen. He is the Director of Infection Prevention at the University of Florida hospitals in Jacksonville. He issued the warning about his hospital being overwhelmed with COVID patients. And I'm sorry to be talking to you under these circumstances, Chad, but I hope that your speaking will help because I know hospitalizations in Florida have surged along with cases.

You've been begging for more help from the federal government, from the state government, can you tell me what you're seeing in your hospitals that is different that's unlike anything you've seen in the pandemic so far?

CHAD NEILSEN, DIRECTOR, INFECTION PREVENTION, UF HEALTH JACKSONVILLE: Yes, absolutely. We had a previous surge in cases back in January of 2021 and we thought it wouldn't get worse than that, particularly with the vaccination coming out. But as of this point, we are seeing near cases doubling in just a week's time in our hospital. We're seeing an eight to 10 percent rise almost every single day in new COVID-19 case admissions and it's really starting to overwhelm our staff and our resources.

BURNETT: So major medical groups, American Medical Association, American College of Physicians, they are calling on health care providers to mandate COVID vaccines for their workers. And I know right now when you go across your hospitals, 79 employees have tested positive, 31 I know you're still awaiting results or at least as of when we came to air you were and 90 percent of the infected are unvaccinated. And these are people working, obviously, in hospitals. Do you support calls for a mandate?

[19:20:00]

NEILSEN: Absolutely. I think what you'll find is hospitals that are mandating vaccines for their employees are really doing two things. They're trying to protect their staff members from exposure and they're also trying to protect the patients in the hospital. That's what this is all about.

We mandate vaccines for hospital employees all the time, whether it's the flu, MMR, Tdap because we're trying to protect our patients. So I'm 100 percent mandating these vaccines for our workers.

BURNETT: Now, one thing that others on the ground have been lamenting and concerned about now with this latest surge, obviously, of many older people who are vaccinated. So you're seeing younger people in the hospital, younger people without underlying conditions. Are you also seeing similar in your system?

NEILSEN: Yes, we are. So in our previous surgery in January, there were very few pediatric or under 18 patients, very few 20s and 30s. However, this time around with a number surging past our January peaks, we are seeing an increased number of not only pediatric but patients in their 20s, 30s and 40s, in some cases with no comorbidities.

So the age trend for this latest surge we're seeing here in Florida, in particular in our hospital in Jacksonville, is a younger patient population.

BURNETT: It's deeply concerning. So the Miami Herald editorial board criticized the Governor of your state, Ron DeSantis, for suspending local COVID restrictions. They say he's acting as if the pandemic is over and a quote from the editorial is, "Burying Florida's COVID-19 stats is the Governor's MODEL, as it was throughout 2020.

So if anyone asks, Florida has beat the virus. Sure, more than 38,000 Floridians have died since the beginning of the pandemic. But let's just call that a footnote." The Orlando Sentinel also criticizing Gov. DeSantis in a similar editorial.

Do you think it's fair to put some of this blame on the Governor?

NEILSEN: Well, I certainly think there's things we could be doing as a state differently. Really, it comes down to mitigation factors on the ground, I'm glad to hear that we're hearing state leaders and local leaders talking about vaccines. But that's only half the battle. What we really need is the ability to do mitigation efforts in our local communities and that has to be decisions made by those local communities and not stopped by our state. So for instance, masking guidelines have just gone live in Palm Beach

County and we need that ability to do these things on a local level, because we really have two different ways we need to stop this pandemic right now.

BURNETT: All right. Well, I really appreciate your time. I'm sorry for what you're going through. But thank you very much for speaking out to raise awareness for us.

NEILSEN: Yes. Thanks for having me.

BURNETT: All right. I want to go to Dr. Jonathan Reiner now. You know him, of course. He advised the White House medical team under President George W. Bush. Dr. Reiner, first, just a reaction to what Chad Neilsen is talking about there, a surge, he wishes for more mitigation factors, younger patients, some without comorbidities, a surge in patients and a change in the patient profile.

JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Right. So we've done a very good job in the United States in protecting the most vulnerable population, the elderly. Almost 90 percent of people over the age of 65 in the United States have had at least one shot. So we're not seeing those folks being hospitalized now. But one of the largest demographics in the United States not to be vaccinated are people between the ages of 18 and 29.

And in many places, those are the kinds of otherwise healthy people who we are now seeing in the hospitals. So we're seeing a younger demographic and a very sick demographic because the Delta virus, the Delta variant replicates very rapidly and the viral loads in these patients are quite high and as a result, these patients are real sick. So that's why our hospitals in the south and south west and up to the mid west are being are being filled now really at levels similar to what we saw in January.

BURNETT: So you heard Chad also saying - we're talking about the people who work in the hospital who are infected, that there are people who work in the hospital who are not vaccinated and they are the bulk of the infections. The Department of Veterans Affairs is now mandating many of its frontline workers get vaccinated, which is a major step for the Biden administration. They had been reluctant to support mandates at the federal level, so this has now changed. Just listen here to the Surgeon General and the Head of the CDC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: We're not counting on vaccine mandates at all.

DR. VIVEK MURTHY, U.S. SURGEON GENERAL: But I think you won't see is a requirement for the federal government to have people get vaccinated.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: That's not the role of the federal government. That is the role that institutions, private sector entities and others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OK. So that's what they said then and some of these we're not long ago and now things have changed days later, at least from Veterans Affairs. So do you think this administration is going to start doing more?

REINER: Well, they clearly are. So this is a big move. Well, with the V.A. This is a vaccine mandate for about 115,000 frontline health care workers that work in the 150 V.A. hospitals and 1,400 V.A. community medical centers and it's a very positive step.

[19:25:01]

What I'd like to see happen next is I'd like to see the federal government mandate that all employees who work on federal property are vaccinated. I'd like to see a simple step in the White House announce that all workers at the White House are vaccinated to protect each other and the President of the United States.

And then finally, a big step will be to see the federal government mandate that all 1.4 million active duty soldiers in the United States, military soldiers, aviators and sailors are protected.

BURNETT: All right. Well, let's see if that happens. I certainly hope that there'll be more of these mandates everywhere. Dr. Reiner, thank you very much.

REINER: My pleasure.

BURNETT: And next, Trump's longtime friend, Tom Barrack pleading not guilty as we're learning more about the extraordinary steps prosecutors are taking to make sure that he doesn't flee.

Plus, one Congressman warning that someone could get killed after Michael Flynn says this about his new semi-automatic rifle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Maybe I'll find somebody in Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:00]

BURNETT: Tonight, breaking his silence, longtime Donald Trump ally and the chair of Trump's inaugural Tom Barrack, speaking out after pleading not guilty to charges of illegal foreign lobbying for the UAE.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BARRACK, LONGTIME ALLY OF FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP: The system is working as it should and over time, we'll see that I'm 100 percent innocent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Paula Reid is OUTFRONT outside the courthouse.

And, Paula, despite the bail agreement, prosecutors still seem to be worried about Tom Barrack being a flight risk.

I mean, can you tell us about some of the extraordinary steps because that seems to be the accurate word here, extraordinary steps that they're taking to make sure he doesn't flee the country?

PAULA REID, CNN SENIOR LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, prosecutors have argued that Barrack poses a significant flight risk based on his enormous wealth, his vast global network and the fact that his co-dependent in this case fled the U.S. in 2018 shortly after being questioned by the FBI. So, he is out, but he's out on $250 million bond. As part of this agreement, he has to wear a GPS monitor and he has to abide by certain restrictions.

Though I will note for some people who are not billionaires who's having their own jets, some of these restrictions may not seem that restrictive, but he is limited. He has to fly commercial. He can't have any private jets.

And when he does travel, he has to submit his itinerary in advance. Now, he's limited in terms of where he can travel. You can come to New York where his case is being tried, Colorado, where he has a primary home, and southern California, where he has family.

Now he also cannot transfer any money overseas and any money transfers here in the U.S. has to be less than $50,000 unless it is going to his attorney. He's also barred from speaking to his codefendants.

Now, as you heard, his lawyer noted that he spoke with the FBI back in 2019. He says he is cooperating with the Justice Department a few years ago, that the FBI has accused him of not being truthful when he was asked about whether he was a foreign agent. Now, he's expected to remain free as long as he abides by these restrictions leading up to it we expect, Erin, will be a trial.

At this point, my sources say that there's no indication he's going to cooperate or enter a plea deal with the government. He says he's not guilty and he intends to fight these charges all the way.

BURNETT: All right. Paula, thank you very much.

I want to go to Laura Coates now, our senior legal analyst.

Laura, you know, it is extraordinary here. Prosecutors, these restrictions that Paula is detailing that they're putting on Tom Barrack and if he violates the terms of his release, he loses up to $250 million, a quarter billion dollars. His son, his ex-wife, his business partner would all lose properties if he violates the terms.

It does seem extraordinary. LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: I mean, this is an

extraordinary amount of money we're talking about and having three sureties. And as Paula pointed out, you have a co-defendant in this case who's already fled several years ago after being interviewed by the FBI. So, there is cause for concern about him perhaps fleeing in terms of the other co-defendant. Also, compare the other co-defendant who remained in the U.S.

I think he had $5 million. You're talking about $200 million compared to $5 million, you're talking about the extraordinary wealth difference here. And also, something else to me, Erin, the person who has maybe the most to lose versus the person who has the $5 million bond, imagine what the leverage we're talking about in terms of who might be willing to cooperate against the other.

They can't talk to each other by court order so you can expect pressure put on the co-defendants in this case.

BURNETT: Well, look, here is one thing I can say, you know, knowing Tom Barrack over many years. He knows everything about Donald Trump. He also knows a lot about Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and business dealings that I know that have been under investigation.

He knows a lot, and yet, so far, no indications of cooperation. How do you think that plays out?

COATES: Well, you know, the more you know, the more impactful it can be on your plea bargaining leverage here. We already have an indictment. It's not necessarily going away.

Just because somebody is charged in one case does not mean their cooperation is limited to the case they're actually charged in. There might be other cases including at the New York level, of the Manhattan D.A., maybe the A.G.'s office. Remember, there's also the SDNY investigations. All this orbit around the Trump world might be things that are cause for concern if he knows information that could be useful in those cases.

Now, of course, that same notion, of course, reminds people that they will be able to accuse these different entities, New York A.G., the Manhattan D.A., the EDNY, of this political witch hunt perpetuation. But in reality, they are entitled to use the cooperation in any case as long as there is a common thread here and that might be here available.

BURNETT: So let me ask you one other thing on this issue of registering as a foreign agent, lobbying for a foreign government. I spoke to the former U.N. ambassador, John Bolton, the night Barrack was indicted.

[19:35:02]

Despite, of course, being Trump's former national security advisor, Bolton, of course, very critical of Trump and those of his inner circle.

Here is part of what he told me that night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: I will say just as a lawyer myself, I think the Foreign Agents Registration Act is a very poorly worded statute.

BURNETT: Yeah.

BOLTON: And people should know it was written in the late 1930s. It's been changed since then, but it was written in the late 1930s to deal with Nazi agents in the United States. So, it could stand some updating, to say the least.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Does he have a point, Laura?

COATES: It could stand some updating. I'm sure it is the enforcement provision. Remember for a long time, we hadn't had many cases up until in recent years, I think we've had seven in the period of 50 years. That's because there hasn't been a big enforcement wing about the Senate converts into almost an honor system without penalties.

However, it's still on the books. The argument about Bolton might help at a congressional review, but not in a court of law where the law is on the books, it's quite clear they found an indictment so far, the allegations of intentional obstruction of evidence -- obstruction of justice, excuse me, lying to the FBI. Those two later claims they alleged don't have a lot of updating to do. Either you did it or you did not.

BURNETT: All right. Laura, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

COATES: Thanks.

BURNETT: And next, Michael Flynn talks about trying out his new semiautomatic rifle may be on, quote, somebody in D.C., Washington, D.C., to be clear.

Plus, Trump goes on a rant about routers in Arizona.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: The network routers. We want the routers. We've got to get those routers. The routers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: What is he even talking about?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:57] BURNETT: Somebody is going to get killed. That's Congressman Eric Swalwell warning tonight about Michael Flynn, talking about using a semiautomatic rifle on, quote, somebody in D.C. Comments have been viewed by Flynn over a million times. And it's not the first time, of course, the Trump's former national security advisor made inflammatory remarks, remember the coup?

Alex Marquardt is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEXANDER MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was in a church that the latest disturbing turn of the Michael Flynn story came.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were trying to come up with the rifle that we thought was appropriate for a general. So we went with an old school woodland camouflage.

MARQUARDT: In Yuba City, California, after Flynn was gifted a semiautomatic rifle, he said this.

MICHAEL FLYNN, TRUMP'S FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR: Maybe I'll find somebody in Washington, D.C.

(LAUGHTER)

MARQUARDT: Laughs on stage and in the crowd and this clip of the even that surfaced after the retired general jokes about using the gun against someone in the nation's capital, the same capital that earlier this year saw the violent insurrection by supporters of Donald Trump and Flynn spoke to the night before the riots, spouting lies about a stolen election.

FLYNN: And the entire world knows, everybody in this country knows who won the election on the 3rd. Who won the election on the 3rd? Donald Trump.

MARQUARDT: Flynn riling up the crowd less than 24 hours before the historic assault on the Capitol building.

FLYNN: Tomorrow, we the people are going to be here and we want you to know that we will not stand for a lie.

MARQUARDT: Flynn was Trump's first national security advisor and pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI, before being pardoned by Trump, weeks before January 6, he called for martial law, to use the military to overturn legitimate election results.

FLYNN: He could order the swing states if he wanted to, he could take military capabilities and he could place them in those states and basically rerun an election in each state.

MARQUARDT: He has embraced the farthest fringe of the MAGA movement, including the QAnon conspiracy theory, appearing on QAnon podcast, selling QAnon merchandise and taping himself with the group reciting the movement's catch phrase.

FLYNN: Where we go one, we go all.

CROWD: Where we go one, we go all.

MARQUARDT: A few months ago, he attended a QAnon conference and said there was no reason a military coup couldn't happen in the U.S. like the violent and deadly one unfolding in Myanmar.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: I want to know why what happened in Myanmar can't happen here.

FLYNN: No reason. I mean, it should happen here. No reason.

MARQUARDT: A furious backlash followed and Flynn claimed he wasn't calling for a quo.

But it was clear he believed the big lie.

FLYNN: Trump won. He won.

(CHEERS)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUARDT: Now, we tried to reach Michael Flynn today about these latest troubling comments but we're unable to. After what he said there about the Myanmar-style coup happening in the United States, the Pentagon said they would not be investigating him but they are reviewing whether he had approval for money that he has received after retiring from Turkish and Russian entities with ties to those governments. If not, financial penalties could be imposed.

Remember, Erin, this is a guy who as a three-star retired general is still getting taxpayer-funded retirement benefits?

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Alex.

And next, Trump tonight clinging to a wild conspiracy theory about routers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They don't want to give up the routers. They don't want to give them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, I'm going to talk to a top Republican Trump was just saying they, they don't want to give it up, one of these Republicans, so he can respond and explain.

Plus, two police officers telling their story tonight after they lifted a car off a baby.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:48:52]

BURNETT: Tonight, former President Trump heaping praise on the Republicans behind the sham audit in Arizona's most populous county which has turned the state into ground zero for Trump's lie about the election. And while he was at it, Trump offering a greatest hits of his election lies, while speaking at what was actually called "A Rally to Protect Our Elections".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're gathered here in Phoenix to show support for election integrity and for the brave and unyielding conservative warriors in the Arizona State Senate.

We created a movement all over the country. As everyone here fully understands, the 2020 election was a total disgrace.

When they steal it from you and rig it, that's not easy and we have to fight.

There's no way they win elections without cheating. There's no way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: No way they win elections without cheating.

Well, OUTFRONT now, Bill Gates. He's the Republican vice chairman of Maricopa County's board of supervisors.

And, Supervisor Gates, I know it's hard to hear this, you know, to hear to these sorts of things being put out there and being fed to audiences who believe it. The speech lasted nearly two hours, down in Maricopa County, where of course, the lie about the election is playing out in this months-long sham audit.

[19:50:10]

What did you think when you heard that speech?

BILL GATES (R), VICE CHAIRMAN, MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS: Well, Erin, thanks for having me on the show.

Very dispiriting, but frankly, not surprising. We know that the president, the former president, and those around him have continued to push this lie, this claim that the election was stolen from him. And yet, time and time again, it's been confirmed that that didn't take place. But he's not letting the facts get in the way.

BURNETT: So, one point in the speech, and I played a moment ago some of the -- he's talked about a router. He went on a rant about subpoenaing the network routers that were used by Maricopa County's election division to verify county election machines were not connected to the Internet on Election Day.

Here's parts of what he said, Supervisor. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The county has, for whatever reason, also refused to produce the network routers. We want the routers, Sonny. When do we get those routers, please? The routers. Come on, Kelly, we can get those routers.

Those routers, you know what? We're so beyond the routers. There's so many fraudulent votes without the routers (ph).

But if you got those routers, what that will show -- and they don't want to give up the routers. They don't want to give them. They are fighting like hell.

Why are these commissioners fighting not to give the routers?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So your board has said the machines were not connected to the Internet. Yet, Trump's rant is feeding a wild and broader conspiracy theory that Italian satellites from Italy were used to change votes from Trump to Biden, I guess using routers, these routers.

He's specifically calling out you and your colleagues. You're not handing them over.

I mean, what do you say to the former president?

GATES: Well, first of all, we have had two independent audits here at Maricopa County from election experts that have confirmed that our machines were never connected to the Internet. But he continues and the folks out in the State Senate continue to demand these routers.

The reason that they have not been turned over is because these routers essentially provide a blueprint for someone who gets them for sensitive information at Maricopa County, so that includes law enforcement information. And our sheriff, Paul Penzone, has spoken out very strongly and said that if these routers are turned over, it's going to put sensitive law enforcement activities in question and at risk, in addition, there is other personal information on there.

But I can tell you the former president and the state Senate is not giving up, because right before I came on here, the board of supervisors received another subpoena from the State Senate ordering us to turn over the routers in addition to some other information. And they threaten us in these papers that if we do not turn those over, by August 2nd, so that's next Monday, then we could be held in contempt.

The problem with that is the last time they tried to hold the board of supervisors in contempt, they couldn't get a majority vote out of the state Senate. Now, just over the weekend, another state senator, Republican state senator, Michelle Ugenti-Rita, has spoken out against the audit for the first time, saying that it's a farce.

So they're getting backed into a corner and they're getting desperate, but the reality is the good people of Arizona know that this audit is a sham audit, and that it's time to move on.

BURNETT: Yeah. Supervisor, thank you very much for explaining all this, and I know it's got to be painful to say it again and again, but it's important to do so. And I appreciate your doing so. Thank you.

GATES: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, a mother and baby get hit by a car. And then the baby pinned underneath. Tonight, the two officers responsible for the dramatic rescue speak out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:58:00]

BURNETT: Two police officers speaking out after rescuing a mother and her baby, run down by a car that crashed into a store front. It's an incredible story.

Here's Brynn Gingras on the heroic rescue. And we do warn you, some of the video is graphic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got a baby under the vehicle.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's lift it up.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Quick thinking and a heroic rescue unfolding in a New York barber shop. An 8-month-old baby trapped underneath a car which seconds before slammed through the storefront.

OFFICER ROCCO FUSCO, YONKERS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Mom was in a state of shock, understandably, and she came to right away and told me, she pointed under the car that the baby was underneath the car.

GINGRAS: Yonkers Police Officers Rocco Fusco and Paul Samoyedy were eating nearby when this surveillance video released by authorities shows a car make a sharp turn, hitting parked cars and then barrel toward the mother holding her daughter in the street.

Inside the shop, you can hear as the officers and others use their strength to free the mother and the little girl.

FUSCO: We weren't going to be able to move the car off of the baby, so the only way to get her out was to try to lift it up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got the baby.

OFFICER PAUL SAMOYEDNY, YONKERS POLICE DEPARTMENT: I was just glad we were able to react. As a father of four kids, it was really intensified the situation for me when I saw the baby under there and the arms moving, and not able to move any other direction away from the car. GINGRAS: The baby covered in motor oil, finally freed. She is

suffering from a skull fracture and burns. She and mother are still in the hospital, but expected to be okay, and possibly even released later this week.

Behind bars right now, the driver of the car, 43-year-old David Poncurak, arrested for driving while intoxicated and vehicular assault. His attorney did not respond to CNN's request for comment. The dramatic video proving these two veteran officers, each with more than a decade on the force, are heroes.

FUSCO: I think the both of us in our careers have experienced some horrific scenes. I'm sure most of the bystanders and the people in the community haven't. But there was absolutely no hesitation. Everybody there did something to help.

GINGRAS: Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And thanks so much for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.