Return to Transcripts main page

Erin Burnett Outfront

Princess Kate Reveals Cancer Diagnosis, Undergoing Chemo; ISIS Claims Responsibility After 40 Killed Near Moscow; Sources: Trump Furious & Scrambling To Get $464M Bond. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired March 22, 2024 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:02]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And so, Elie, what -- what do you hazard happens on Monday?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: So important to know Donald Trump will still have his right to appeal the underlying case and verdict itself, regardless of the bond. But here's why it matters -- if Donald Trump does somehow get a bond together by Monday, then he does not have to pay the judgment. Then Letitia James can't enforce the judgment until after the appeal is done. If he fails to post a bond, Letitia James can start collecting on that judgment on Monday.

BURNETT: On Monday.

All right. Elie, thank you very much.

HONIG: There we go.

BURNETT: And our special coverage continues now.

And OUTFRONT next, we have breaking news, Kate Middle revealing she has cancer, but leaving major questions unanswered. Our Richard Quest is on the ground in Buckingham Palace on what he is just learning.

Also, breaking, brand new video just in to OUTFRONT of the bloody terror attack in Russia. Forty dead at this hour, well over 100 injured, gunmen storming a concert hall. ISIS is claiming responsibility, and Russia says the gunmen are on the loose.

And more news just into OUTFRONT, our Phil Mattingly reporting Trump is, quote, scrambling and increasingly furious as the deadline to pay half a billion dollars is one business day away. Inside the campaign, some tonight saying it would be good for Trump and his properties were seized.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening and welcome to a special edition of OUTFRONT. I'm Erin Burnett.

And tonight, Kate Middleton has cancer. The shocking announcement from the princess of Wales following more than three months of speculation surrounding her health and whereabouts. Now, Middleton was admitted to the hospital for abdominal surgery related to his still unspecified medical condition on January 16th. And then she disappeared from public view.

Now that eventually sparred the frenzy of rumors and conspiracy theories which were running rife but tonight, a frail looking Kate chose to address the world by herself to the camera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CATHERINE, PRINCESS OF WALES: I want to take this opportunity to say thank you personally for all the wonderful messages of support and for your understanding, whilst I've been recovering from surgery. It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family but I've had a fantastic medical team who've taken great care of me for which I'm so grateful.

In January, I underwent a major abdominal surgery in London. And at the time, it was thought that my condition was non-cancerous. The surgery was successful. However, tests after the operation found cancer had been present.

My medical team therefore advised that I should undergo a course of preventive chemotherapy. And I'm now in the early stages of that treatment.

This, of course, came as a huge shock. And William and I have been doing everything we can to process and manage this privately for the sake of our young family. As you can imagine, this has taken time. It has taken me time to recover for major surgery in order to start my treatment, but most importantly, it has taken as time to explain everything to George, Charlotte and Louis in a way that's appropriate for them, and to reassure them that I'm going to be okay.

As I've said to them, I am well and getting stronger every day by focusing on the things that will help me heal in my mind, body, and spirit. Having William by my side is a great source of comfort and reassurance, too, as is the love, support, and kindness that is being shown by so many of you. It means so much to us both.

We hope that you'll understand that as a family, we now need some time, space and privacy, while I complete my treatment.

My work has always brought me a deep sense of joy. And I look forward to being back when I'm able. But for now, I must focus on making a full recovery.

At this time, I'm also thinking of all those whose lives have been affected by cancer. For everyone facing this disease, in whatever form, please do not lose faith or hope. You are not alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Those words will give solace to many. And that was the full public statement from the palace. And, of course, the Princess Kate delivering it herself. Now, while she is not specifying what kind of cancer she has or what

the surgery was that caused doctors to find it, CNN is learning tonight that she started chemotherapy in late February and Richard Quest is OUTFRONT live outside Buckingham Palace.

And, Richard, what are you learning about Princess Kate's condition?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR, QUEST MEANS BUSINES: We're learning that basically we don't know, as you said, what was the cause for the major abdominal surgery. But medical experts are saying that clearly, she had a raft of tests beforehand which had led them to need to do that surgery.

[19:05:04]

And now, the process again, we're not sure how many weeks or months it will be but we all basically being told not to expect a running commentary that the medical privacy that everybody is entitled to, she is entitled to absolutely as well. And what that means in reality is her saying and this is a significant point of what she did today. She's scorched the conspiracy theorists. She made those who had made such a fuss about the doctored photograph maybe feel a little ashamed of themselves having to deal with all of this while she was dealing with cancer and she's basically said, my family and William, they are the priority to get well.

And doing all of that, she sort of creates a maelstrom for everybody else in a sense, because we now have to make sure that we give her that space, that she requires, requests and demands is entitled to.

The problem, Erin, is not so much the media in the UK. It is, for example, a paparazzi, those who has -- influencers, those social media hounds who will go to any lengths to try and get more information, and those who then consume it.

BURNETT: All right. Now, that's absolutely true.

All right. Richard, please stay with us.

I want to bring in Dr. Karyn Goodman. She's a gastrointestinal oncology specialist at Mount Sinai. And Emily Nash, a royal correspondent at "Hello Magazine", along with Dr. Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University.

So, Dr. Goodman, let me just start off with you. We don't have a statement on what form of cancer this may be. We know she went in for abdominal surgery. We don't know what that was for, whether that was separate. We just -- we just don't know.

We know on the other side of that, they found cancer to be present and that's -- that's what we know.

What does this suggest to you in terms of what this may be that she is dealing with?

DR. KARYN GOODMAN, GASTROINTESTINAL ONCOLOGY SPECIALIST, MOUNT SINAI HOSPITAL: Yeah. So, we really can't say anything definitive based on the limited information, but we do know that she had an abdominal surgery and so that's -- you know, and then in the aftermath of evaluating the findings, they did identify a cancer. We don't know the type of cancer. There are lots of different potential cancers, but she is receiving chemotherapy and she used the word preventive chemotherapy.

So our hope is that that means that the tumor has been removed entirely. And now she's receiving this type of chemotherapy that we call adjuvant therapy, which is used in the setting of somebody having their cancer completely removed.

BURNETT: So, okay, that's interesting.

And that word preventative, Dr. Reiner, did stand out too many, right? Preventive chemotherapy.

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Right. But again, we don't really know the full context of how they using the chemotherapy for the princess. So, for instance, if the tumor could be completely removed, but the microscopic evaluation of the pathology specimen suggested that the tumor was fairly invasive into the -- whatever organ or structure has been affected by the cancer or that some of the blood vessels might be affected, it would raise the specter of a higher risk of a potential for spread and metastasis, which would trigger a more aggressive treatment posture going forward.

So prevented, if I think is used, basically to portray a sense that all is -- well, were just doing this in the interest of caution. But again, I think we don't really have the details and we have really have no way of knowing exactly the extent of the princess's presentation.

BURNETT: No. Not at all.

And, Emily, I want to play the video again where Kate specifically says, I am well, but look, it is clear that she is going through a lot. I mean, she -- she looks -- she looks frail. She looks like she is not well.

And you, of course, have covered the worlds extensively. You have seen her many hey, times over the years. How does she look to you?

EMILY NASH, CNN ROYAL COMMENTATOR: Well, Erin, I think you're right to say she does look frail, looks physically vulnerable, I felt. But that's also partly because very natural. She's not wearing much makeup. She's in casual clothing. She's in an informal setting.

It's very different to the Kate we've seen out on engagements dressed up for official royal events.

But at the same time, I felt that she came across as incredibly strong and courageous. She's very confident in the way she spoke. This is someone who's really struggled with public speaking in the past.

BURNETT: Yes. NASH: She was very clear in her message and that she ended it giving hope to other people. I thought was particularly brave.

[19:10:02]

BURNETT: And, Richard, what do you know at this point about the timing of this announcement?

QUEST: The timing is significant because they wanted to time it took for the end of the school term, the schools are now on holiday for Easter because according to sources, what they didn't want was the children school with everybody talking about it.

If all of this come out earlier in the week or last week, then there have been entire brouhaha within the school yard, of people chatting about the -- Kate's condition. Now by announcing it today, the family has the school holidays and we don't who know whether they've traveled. We don't know whether they're staying at home or what their plans are obviously, but they have a chance to be together in that sense.

One other point, the king today, who, of course, is suffering his own prostate cancer issues the king, King Charles came out and said, how proud it was of his beloved Kate, for the way in which she had handled the announcement. So that is a significant, the royal families coming together in a sense.

BURNETT: Yeah. And, very notable.

BURNETT: Dr. Goodman, Kensington Palace, originally, one thing I think there has caused confusion and they're -- and so much speculation out there that even while, of course, you're entitled to privacy because you are the most photographed woman in the world and going to be the queen, people care.

Kensington Palace previously had said her surgery was not cancer- related. They were actually very specific to say that I'm not saying it's not true. It's just, of course, afterwards then they found cancer.

But what does that say to you? I mean, does that say -- I mean, to say it was not cancer would seem to indicate that it was really about something totally different, not just checking a mass to see if it was cancer.

GOODMAN: Right, right. I think its suggests that they didn't anticipate this going into it and that there must have been some finding or symptom that led to the surgery, but that but this is not uncommon that you have a surgical situation and then in the aftermath of that and doing the pathology, reviewing it under the microscope or collecting the fluid or blood, that there is a identification of a cancer. And so, we still don't know what type of cancer that is.

And it also takes time get those results. The pathology takes some time to come back. And then I would imagine they would have done some something like molecular testing to further characterize the cancer, which again can take some time. So it may have been over a several week period that they really -- that the information sort of came out.

BURNETT: They get to the bottom of it. And of course, she would have, of course, had the ability to avail herself of every single possible thing out there.

Dr. Reiner, when you look at it, you think its unlikely she's an early stage cancer, which is different than the early stage chemotherapy that she talked about. You can talk about what stage cancer she's in, but I know that you have skepticism, but it may be early. Why?

REINER: Well, I think that what we know for certain is that she had by her own description very extensive operation, which the palace said in January would take a few months for her to recover from the should be out of the public eye, not do her duties until Easter, which is which is next -- next week.

BURNETT: Right.

REINER: So we know she had an extensive surgical procedure requiring a lot of rehab. And now we hear that she also needs as Dr. Goodman says, adjuvant chemotherapy, which is really reserved for either tumors that are felt to be potentially very aggressive or have a high risk of spread.

So while I hope and I expect that she did have a very good operation and a very complete surgical procedure, the need now for chemotherapy is very concerning.

BURNETT: Dr. Goodman, is that when you when you look at that, is it possible that that is a concern at this point?

GOODMAN: Well, we don't know the stage and there are certain factors that we take into account when may decide on giving chemotherapy. And also what type of cancer it is. So, it's hard to really speculate exactly what the stage is, or, you know, but she must have some risk that there's potential for this to recur and that's why that they are adding that the chemotherapy, right?

BURNETT: Right. Otherwise, they wouldn't do it if there weren't a risk.

Emily, you know, one thing when you look at this and you talked about how she chose to appear in casual clothes in a more relaxed setting, all of that, obviously, on purpose, every word was thought through in this, she also chose to appear by herself without William, although of course she referenced to support.

What can you tell us about that decision?

NASH: I think it really speaks to her steeliness, you know? I think people underestimate the princess because she's fairly spoken. She's quite reserved. She's naturally very shy person.

[19:15:01]

But she is an incredibly strong and my understanding is that she has a complete agency over this decision. And the way that this announcement was made, and it was absolutely done on her terms. Now, that would have been in conjunction with William. They are very much a team and absolute priority throughout this has been to protect their children.

And lets not forget that William himself experienced what it was like, as a child to have lots of personal family details shared across the media. You know, his mother obviously was the focus of intense scrutiny for many years.

So, the last (INAUDIBLE) have been incredibly difficult for him to. He will have wanted I'm sure to speak out to say something, to silence these awful conspiracies. And she's done that herself in a very elegant way, I think.

BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you all very much. I appreciate it.

And next, we're going to go to the breaking news out of Moscow, which is a developing, as we speak, we have some new video that has just come in to OUTFRONT of a deadly attack inside a concert hall, at least 40 are dead. A number that may climb the injured number has already gone up by 50 percent in nearly 150. There are reports that the gunman are still on the run.

We also have new details tonight on how the royal family is responding to Princess Kate's cancer diagnosis. Our Nick Watt has actually been covering the royals for years, and we'll show you the path of Kate, daughter of an airline pilot and flight attendant, to the princess of Wales.

And our Phil Mattingly with some new reporting -- exclusive reporting to break this hour about how Trump is scrambling and furious as he is in these final hours trying to secure a $464 million bond.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:21:04]

BURNETT: Breaking news tonight, terror in Moscow. At least 40 are dead, well over 100 injured. And that toll is expected to rise tonight.

Gunman storming a concert hall and ISIS is now claiming responsibility for the attack. We have some new video just into OUTFRONT and I want to warn you, it is incredibly disturbing.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BURNETT: Hear the automatic gunfire, as people start to run. You start to see people panicking and understanding that they need to run for their lives just to that person running and falling. Just the terror. The terror there.

What we understand happened at this time and the details are still very foggy, but these are the latest details we're just getting in, that we were four men carrying automatic rifles. They stormed the concert hall. And on surveillance video footage that we're showing you now, you can

see them. See that men there walking across. So you can see one of them. We've been able to piece some of this together. What we do understand from what were getting from Russian authorities is that the government are still at large tonight, least as far as we understand it.

And now, here's another video we want to show you that's coming out also disturbing. This shows them moving inside, you can see the shooters. Look at that gun, just shooting. That man there, moving inside.

There was a band that was about to perform in that room. So then we understand what happened was they went up and were shooting concertgoers at point-blank range. But are they going up and shooting people, murdering them in the head, then tossing Molotov cocktails into the crowd.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

BURNETT: Gunshots, explosions, constant, unrelenting.

People inside say that they were trapped, they were unable to escape because the exit doors were locked.

And then after all of this horror, the terrorists, at least as we understand that that's what they're calling themselves, the concert hall then was set on fire.

So then the roof is engulfed in flames. You see that from the distance there, parts of it start to collapse. And this is why we are so uncertain as to how many people are killed and seriously injured at this hour, of course, well into the early hours of Saturday morning now in Moscow.

Fred Pleitgen is OUTFRONT.

And, Fred, what more can you tell us about this attack as you're starting to get more details in, and who did it?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Erin. Yeah. First of all, absolutely horrendous attack that took place there in the town of Krosnogor (ph), which is actually a sort of a suburb of Moscow, actually used to go there quite regularly.

So these would have been a lot of people who might have lived in the greater Moscow area who were at that venue on a Friday night, obviously, in that case, a lot of people would have been there and you mentioned there was that band that was famous in the Soviet Union that was about to play. That band remained unharmed, of course, as we've learned.

Now, the latest that we found we just gotten some new numbers from the Russian authorities. They say that right now the number of wounded stands at 115. Of course, we've got the number of killed at the moment is at 40, but the authorities do fear that that could rise as well. And you were speaking about just the absolute terror that the people there went through as these gunmen stormed that area. So they some new video of what unfolded that night, because people were trying to take cover as those gunman move through.

You talked about the unrelenting fire that was taking place and then people tried to actually break windows and did break windows to get out of the building because of course, this is a new building with a lot of large glass facades. They tried to get out that way because it was so difficult for them to get out.

[19:25:03]

And, again, there are those reports saying that apparently some of the emergency doors may have been locked.

Now we have not heard from Vladimir Putin tonight, which is quite remarkable considering what a big security event this was the only thing that we have is from his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, coming out and saying to the Russian leader is being informed about what's going on.

But as we speak right now, the Russian authorities do believe that the perpetrators are still large. They believe they may have fled in a white car. And, of course, you're absolutely right, a lot of the operations are still ongoing there to not only trying to continue put that fire out, which has helicopters involved in it.

But again, the authorities not clear if the attackers might still be in that area. And, of course, also, if there might still be people trapped inside that venue, Erin.

BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, they just there's so much that they don't know. Never mind what we don't know, but that that lack of knowledge, of course, is terrifying in its own right. Fred, thank you very much.

So let's go now to the -- to Bob Baer, former CIA operative, and retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

And I appreciate both of you very much.

So, General, can I start with you? Immediately, Russia blamed Ukraine, right, and mentioned Kyiv and, you know, the implication of they did it. And so that's going to maybe justify escalating and enlarging the war. But then ISIS within hours claims responsibility.

What do you make of that?

LT. GENERAL MARK HERTLING (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah. Erin, you have to consider the fact that Russia has a terrorist watch list, just like we do. The United States, they had a terrorist organizations like the Mujahideen Forces of Caucasus, Congress of -- people of Dagestan, al-Qaeda, ISIS and ISIS-K, and recently there have been a lot of comments from ISIS-K. In fact, West Point's Counterterrorism Center published an article a few months ago citing ISIS-K saying that Moscow has Muslim blood on their hands and they have connected with Chechnya, Syria, and Afghanistan in that -- in that Muslim blood.

So, you know, when they first start, when Russia first started saying it was a result of an attack by Ukraine, even just watching the early films on the Internet, I said no, no, no way this is Ukrainian action. They don't do things like this and there's no purpose to this.

But there is a purpose to terrorist organization doing something like that. And being so brazen in terms of going into that Crocus center, which is Fred Pleitgen just said, is not only a theater, but its a shopping mall on the outskirts of Moscow. And it looked like as those film -- as a film progressed, that these were actions of terrorists, very brazen murderers, but shooting, as you said, point blank range.

BURNETT: And I want everyone to understand what you're looking at your screen here, this is not a video, this is live. This is actually what is happening live right now near Moscow, right outside that shopping center in concert venue where this occurred. So you can still see some of the flashing lights but I want everyone to understand that what you're looking at here is live.

So, it's 2:30 in the morning and you've got a lot of -- you got a lot of traffic, you got a lot of cars going by here. And that picture zooming in a bit, you can see still the incredible amount of law enforcement and lights outside.

Bob, the thing about this, and it is hard to have this conversation and not feel a little odd because we are in the context of massive war going on, right? And Ukraine, and yet in that context the United States had told Russia somehow had had communications and told them to expect something like this intercepting intelligence that was specific and spot on, saying that ISIS was determined to attack inside Russia and then the U.S. embassy issued a specific warning last weekend, the embassy is monitoring reports that extremist have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings.

And we understand this was also passed to Russian authorities. I mean, that is as specific and accurate as I've ever seen one of these things to be, Bob.

BOB BAER, FORMER CIA OPERATIVE: Oh, indeed it is. I think it's been picked up from chatter. I don't know if it was actionable by -- but if they didn't know where the concert was, the venue or the time, it would have been nice to have that. The Russians would have paid attention.

But the problem is, Moscow is a big city. It's very vulnerable and these attackers, keep in mind, listening to the gunfire, were very disciplined. They were executing people.

This was not a pick-up team. This is what should worry us and what should also worry about us is what's happening in Afghanistan. Because if indeed this is the Islamic State of Khorasan, which is Afghanistan, they are regrouping there or in the attack against Iran in January, of suicide bombing in Qatar, and Pakistan, it tells me that they are regrouping. BURNETT: And that, of course, has massive implications for the United States as well.

General, the context here is also the war in Ukraine and Putin, silence tonight.

What do you make of his silence? It's Peskov who has come out and said, his spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, that Putin is being briefed, but you have the biggest attack in decades on Moscow, scores dead, and Putin is silent?

HERTLING: Yeah, I'm going to address it, in what you just asked Bob, Erin. You know, the six nations, the six embassies that warn Moscow that this was a coming on the 7th of March through classified channels. There's something called a duty to warn, when countries pick up chatter, like Bob just said, on terrorist activities, even if you're giving the information to a foe or a competitor like Russia is to us, you still have that duty to give that intelligence to their intelligence agency.

I would suggest the reason why Putin has been so quiet right now is he's a bit embarrassed. His intelligence agency has received this information. They knew something was going to happen. It was even as specific to say that it could happen in a concert venue and yet they did nothing about it.

As soon as this attack occurred, then other cities in Russia started to pay attention. They shut down a concert in St. Petersburg hours after this started happening. In other cities throughout Moscow, the same thing started happening.

So I would guess at least one of the reasons why we had heard from Putin is he's a little bit embarrassed that he received information from the West, and he didn't act on it.

BURNETT: Yeah. What is an incredible moment? And to think again what it does mean in the context of the war. Thank you both so very much.

And next, we continue with our breaking coverage. We've got more news out of London, right now. Prince William and his response to what his wife, Kate, had to say and what this means to him, right, thinking about the scrutiny that his mother suffered right up into her death.

Plus Trump, essentially, now, during the New York attorney general to see some of his most prized possessions. Time is quickly running out for him to come up with $464 million. But his inner circle believes this is the winning strategy. We've got exclusive new reporting, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:36:09]

BURNETT: Tonight, King Charles, who is also been diagnosed with cancer tonight saying that he is so proud of Princess Kate and her announcement, and that he has remained in his words, the closest contact with his beloved daughter-in-law. This is a new reaction from a stunt country, is just in two OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just saw it and was very surprising and shocking and we hope she's fine and she got all those treatments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's quite sad really. I feel very sympathetic for the family. First, the king, now -- now Kate, been quite shocked really.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETTT: This comes after weeks of speculation about her well-being as she had disappeared from the public eye.

The reality of it is, is that she is the most photograph woman in the world. The world is so accustomed to seeing Princess Kate as one of the most visible, if not the most visible member of the royal family.

Nick Watt, who has covered the royal family extensively, is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PRINCESS KATE: It has been an incredibly tough couple of months for our entire family.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lady alone on a bench, a princess who will be queen, having to explain her health issues to the world.

KATE: Tests after the operation found cancer had been present.

WATT: How did she get here?

Catherine Elizabeth Middleton wasn't born into this.

She was -- well, pretty ordinary. Born in 1982 outside London. Her dad, an airline pilot, her mom, a flight attendant. Later they launched a party supplies company they made their money. Many among the British upper classes who tend to inherit not earn can look down upon self-made.

Kate met her prince at St. Andrews University, long favored by well- to-do young Brits. William was already a global heartthrob. Apparently, Kate caught his eye modeling in a student fashion show, recreated on "The Crown".

2004, they were spotted skiing together in Switzerland, a couple.

They dated nearly seven years with one very brief break. Kate was disparagingly dubbed weighty Katie. William was often the military. She worked briefly as a fashion buyer. William finally proposed on a trip to Kenya in 2010.

PRINCE WILLIAM: The timing is right now and I'm very, very happy, and I'm very glad that I have done it. WATT: And the wedding in 2011 was actually a fairy tale. The commoner marrying the prince and actually a love match, love was never a priority for some previous royal generations.

Middleton family had to create a coat of arms for the huge step eight occasion, as I said, she wasn't born for this.

In 2012, Princess Catherine gave her first official speech.

PRINCESS KATE: I feel enormously proud to be part of East Anglia Children's Hospices and to see the wonderful life-changing work that you do. Thank you.

WATT: This has been a job ever since along with producing an heir.

(INAUDIBLE)

PRINCE WILLIAM: Very emotional.

PRINCESS KATE: Very emotional and it's a special time I think any parent will know what this feeling feels like.

PRINCE WILLIAM: Very special.

WATT: George, first of the three kids, born in 2013. Kate has suffered the scrutiny and intrusion that these days goes with the job. William has fought for her, spurred by the intrusion his mother suffered right up until her death.

Kate seemingly adopting the late queen's mantra, never complain, never explain. A glaring counterpoint when the Harry and Meghan show played out in public and threatened to pull the royal family apart.

Kate has continued with quiet, smiling service, a good egg, as the Brits might say.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[19:40:01]

BURNETT: And, Nick, you know, as you've covered them so extensively, you've watched this weeks-long international media frenzy that has now taken over and gotten out of control, but possibly in a way that they could not have foreseen.

We understand Prince William is upset about it and for good reason in his own life, he compares it to how his mother, Princess Diana, was treated we're hearing.

WATT: Yeah, listen, I mean, Diana just had to face the old fashion media, the newspaper, the paparazzi. For Kate, you know, there's a social media on top of that and it's frankly the Wild West, it's even harder to navigate.

And, you know, as years have gone by, the royals, I mean, their lives are really a soap opera. That's how people enjoy them. You know, the comparisons with Diana have been from the start. You know, the words demure, beautiful used for both of them. The ring Kate was wearing today, actually, the engagement ring, that was Diana's engagement ring as well.

You know, you mentioned I covered the royals for a long time. I was never a royalist. I would always consult with my mother, who was a huge royal fan, love Diane, and when Kate came along, my mum said about Kate, Kate's the best thing that's ever happened to that family.

BURNETT: And so when you talk about Diana though, she in the context of what were seeing now, she had health struggles of her own and her case she suffered from bulimia and she came out publicly. She then became an advocate for awareness to a condition that so many people suffer from. And she was really groundbreaking on it. Here she is..

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRINCESS DIANA: I have it on very good authority that the quests for perfection, our society demands can leave the individual gasping for breath at every turn. Eating disorders whether its be anorexia or bulimia show how an individual can turn the nourishment of the body into a painful attack on themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I mean incredibly open to talk about something at the time that for many was taboo.

And, Nick, in the context of where we are now, do you expect Kate to become an advocate for her own illness when she chooses to disclose the full details about what she's dealing with?

WATT: Well, listen, I mean, the end of that announcement today, she said she's thinking of the other people suffering from cancer and telling them not to lose hope or faith. But she, the palace, everybody has made it very clear that right now this is going to be a very private issue for her and her family. She's not going to be out there anytime soon advocating as Diana did, a very different stage in her life.

Right now, Kate is dealing with her family and I don't think anyone would begrudge her that and, you know, hopefully people do give her the privacy she needs.

BURNETT: All right. Nick, thank you very much, Nick Watt.

WATT: Thanks.

BURNETT: And next, our Phil Mattingly has brand new reporting on Trump's state of mind tonight. He'll tell you exactly what he is learning from his inner circle as Trump is quickly running out of time to come up with $464 million in one business day.

Plus, a special report tonight OUTFRONT on what Trump can learn from O.J. Simpson and Bernie Madoff. We'll tell you what we're talking about.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:47:23]

BURNETT: Breaking news, scrambling and furious. That is brand new exclusive reporting from our anchor, Phil Mattingly, saying that that is a mood tonight of Donald Trump, as he has rapidly running out of time to come up with $464 million in the Trump Org fraud case.

Trump down to just one business day before he risks watching New York Attorney General Letitia James start to seize some of his most prized assets.

But one top Trump adviser who spoke to Phil basically daring James follow-through, take Trump's properties.

Phil Mattingly is with us now, along with Ryan Goodman, our OUTFRONT legal expert.

So, Phil, in all this reporting you've been doing, you've talked to a whole bunch of people close to Trump. Why? What are they telling you about why they think seizing assets could be good?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Start up top with they don't want this to happen, right? And this cuts to the very core, not just of Trump's kind of political persona, but also his entire career. But the reality is they point to two things. And I think they've got some evidence for those two things.

One is the fact that over the course of 11 months, he was indicted four times, 88 charges, has repeatedly chosen to go to courthouses and to court hearings --

BURNETT: Right.

MATTINGLY: -- even when he didn't have to be there. And almost every time, his numbers in the polling, at least with Republicans, would go up, or at least they said, his fundraising every single time would get a boost. And so, they have seen a political incentive behind that.

The other thing to look at, too, is if you are on their lists and I hope for your email's sake, you're not, but you've been getting emails and text messages repeatedly talking about keep your hands off of Trump Tower. Don't seize Trump.

BURNETT: Keep your dirty hands off, yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: After Trump Tower.

The team behind that, Trump's fundraising team, particular small dollar team, they're not dumb. They're actually quite good at what they do. And if they're doing that repeatedly, they're getting results, they're seeing results. Now the big question right now clearly they can raise money off of it. Clearly, they will make a very big political scene if properties are actually at the process to seize his properties begin.

The big question right now is he's in a general election now. He's not in a primary anymore. That was a very effective strategy in a primary. Will that actually work in a general? They say, look, this is about, our people coming home and voting. That's what's going to turn out this election. That's going to decide this election, but will that actually carry over there? They're on uncharted territory right now.

BURNETT: Right, right? And to your point, you know, you're going to your base and you're not expanding which, you know, both candidates are dealing with that issue right now.

And, Ryan, the context though, around what Phil is saying is this $464 million that Trump has had filings? He doesn't have the money. What it was at 30 or 60. I'm losing track of how many bond companies he tried to secure?

MATTINGLY: Thirty.

BURNETT: Thirty. Okay.

And he couldn't get the money and then, all of a sudden, he goes on Truth Social, his social media website and says through hard work, talent, good -- hard work talent and luck, I currently have almost $500 million in cash.

[19:50:05]

And his lawyers are like, oh, no, he means over his whole career. No, but he said it currently have.

So then he does have the money

Okay. What does this mean for a judge?

RYAN GOODMAN, FORMER SPECIAL COUNSEL AT DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE: So think the issue is that he maybe does have -- let's imagine he has $400 million, he's also saying in court that he needs $1 billion in order to both pay the $464 million and have over a huge amount to run his businesses and they might be other loans in which they actually need them to have cash on hand. So that's quite plausible that he has it.

BURNETT: It's possible that it's all true.

GOODMAN: It's all true, but that also means he is sitting on north of $400 million. And that's exactly what the attorney general can go after. It's easier to go after the liquid assets than it is to go after these properties, also avoid some of the optics of going after the properties. But that's available to her to do.

BURNETT: And just to note, when you talk about the money, what, he needs it for loans for other things, he's also got the nearly $100 million that he'd already pledged for the E. Jean Carroll defamation case. So it adds up well beyond 464.

Bankruptcy comes here.

GOODMAN: Yeah.

BURNETT: And people say, what do you do? Do you just file for bankruptcy?

Now, six times, Trump Organizations and assets have filed for bankruptcy, not him personally. He actually talked about this, I believe, it's Charlie Rose. His fear of it personally. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, THEN-BUSINESSMAN: I think overall, Charlie, it was -- it was an experience that I don't think I want to go through it again, I have to tell you this. I mean, you know, you know what it's like. It's -- you're really in a position where I think that if you had to do it again, I'm not sure you could. I went through a period of two years that was truly tough.

CHARLIE ROSE, TV HOST: Tough in what way?

TRUMP: Well, you know, you have parents and you have people that adore you and you have people that for 15 years, nothing went wrong. And then all of a sudden, the world seems to be coming to an end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So is there any chance he files for bankruptcy and does this whole Truth Social, social media site, but may through a complicated financial process, start trading publicly next week?

MATTINGLY: Don't act like you don't know and understand that complicated financial process.

BURNETT: How does all this play?

MATTINGLY: So two separate things. Both I think have been discussed one more serious than the other, and the former being bankruptcy being discussed more seriously in the sense of as one person told me, no chance, absolutely no chance.

BURNETT: No chance.

MATTINGLY: And the fascinating thing. And I think you made this point, somebody, your team in this point, I thought it was such a great point. There are entire legal strategy up to this point has been dilatory -- delay, delay, delay, push this in a bit very successful at that up to this point, it's been a solid strategy for his legal team.

This would delay things if he files for bankruptcy on the business side when it comes to the collection of his money. The reality is, there's two issues here. There's the personal and you heard it and that's not the only clip. Coming out of the early '90s when he was dealing with the casino and the bankruptcies and really difficult issues that were almost catastrophic for his entire business, almost ended it entirely. That's never gone away. So much of what you hear from Trump is tied to things that he's experienced in his career. People think he's all off the cuff and just making things up.

You can track back most things to something he's already gone through.

BURNETT: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: That personal element here is really important. He was burned and has a visit surreal response to it.

The other is the political. When your entire persona is built around this, I'm a business tycoon and I'm a billionaire.

BURNETT: Right.

MATTINGLY: And think about how hard he would fight about the Forbes list, right? How much money do you have? And he'd go to war over that type of stuff. That's everything to him and I think he's cognizant that there's potential political risk to something that everybody associates with failure.

BURNETT: Right, that's right. The one thing -- he doesn't care about the court, doesn't care about losing in courts, but losing his money. That -- that would be failure, right? So much of it is psychology.

All right. Thank you, Phil. Thank you, Ryan.

And next, special report on what Trump can learn in this context from O.J. Simpson and is Heisman trophy. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:58]

BURNETT: You're looking at live pictures. This is Trump Tower in Midtown Manhattan. Right now, it is the crown jewel of Trump properties, towering over Fifth Avenue. Trump saying he's, quote, married to it. And if Trump can't come up with that $464 million by Monday, he could lose it.

If Trump's properties are seized, he would join an infamous club of high-profile figures who've had their estates publicly seize to pay off their debts.

Tom Foreman takes a look OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Money from his NFL days, his movies, his commercials, it was all in theory up for seizure after O.J. Simpson found not guilty of murder in 1995, was held civilly liable nearly two years later for the deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

In short order, he owed the victims' families more than $30 million.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our family is grateful for a verdict of responsibility which is all we ever wanted.

FOREMAN: But although authorities raced to fulfill the judgment, even seizing and selling off O.J.'s Heisman Trophy, an attorney for Nicole's estate says, O.J.'s wealth was locked up, an untouchable pensions. His car was lease. His house heavily mortgaged and what was left?

JOHN Q. KELLY, ATTORNEY: Rugs, crystal, trophies, golf clubs, expensive furniture and things like that. Those were the only things we could get and you're eventually auction to offer about maybe million and a half bucks.

FOREMAN: Seizing and selling assets in such cases can be complex and moves very slowly. Take the New York Stock Market scammer who saw authorities seize his bank accounts, his homes, his boats, it's been 15 years since Bernie Madoff's guilty plea, but investors only recently announced they've recovered just over 90 percent of what he stole from them, which many experts actually call a big success in this business.

BESS FREEDMAN, CEO OF LUXURY REAL ESTATE FIRM, BROWN HARRIS STEVENS: When someone has an enormous amount of wealth and a lot of assets and a lot of partners, and it's super complicated that makes it -- you know, it drags it out and its unfortunate because you're right, then justice takes much longer and people have to wait.

In Florida, a court just this year ordered the seizure of more than $63 million in assets from a Miami commissioner for engaging in an improper political retaliation, but he's fighting to keep us house, which is slowing the process.

Some cases go faster. In New York, scores of ice cream trucks were seized after the city said owners racked up millions in traffic tickets.

And some cases don't seem difficult at all. A few years ago, a man was accused of looting and selling priceless Cambodian antiquities, but died before answering criminal charges. His family has returned more than 100 relics to Cambodia, and in 2023 agreed to forfeit 12 million and a Vietnamese statue.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOREMAN (on camera): But often the process of seizing property to satisfy a court ruling gets complicated and frankly, a little weird. Years ago, O.J. wrote a very controversial book about how he would have committed the murders if he had done it. The rights to that were seized and they're now considered basically worthless -- Erin.

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

And thanks so much to all of you for joining us on this Friday.

"AC360" takes over now.