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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Goes Off The Rails At News Conference As Harris Rises; Caught On Hidden Camera; Charges In Perry Death. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 15, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:57]
SARA SIDNER, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Trump goes off the rails. This as he watches Kamala Harris surge. We'll show you Democrats new paths to 270.
Plus, one of the architects of Project 2025 caught on hidden camera talking about Trump and the work the conservative group is doing behind closed doors. It's a special CNN investigation. You'll see first on OUTFRONT.
And breaking news tonight, one of the five people charged in connection with actor Matthew Perry's overdose death just entered a plea.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
SIDNER: Good evening. I'm Sara Sidner, in for Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, off the rails. Trump for nearly an hour-and-a-half started on scripts and then not so much. He spent his time repeatedly insulting Vice President Harris, ranting about everything from Biden to Hillary Clinton, to the 2020 election and what he called unfair judicial system and coming up with strange scenarios.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I say wouldn't it be terrible to put the wife of the president, former president of the United States, into a prison. Now, think of that. Hillary Clinton was secretary of state.
We got millions of more from 10 to 12, 10 to 12 million votes more. Think of that.
I did nothing wrong. It's all crooked politics and really crooked judges.
You'll want to see a bird cemetery, just go under a windmill. You see thousands of birds dead.
I don't have a lot of respect for her. I don't have a lot of respect for her intelligence.
She actually called me weird. He's weird.
We have tapes of her laughing. She's grossly incompetent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: The Harris campaign quickly issued a statement calling the presser, quote, whatever that was.
Well, that was supposed to be an event about the economy. Just look at what his aides set up for him -- tables filled with props, including food, a model home, and charts to show just how much the costs of certain goods have gone up. But that's not all Trump wanted to talk about.
And while he aired his grievances, today, Vice President Kamala Harris appeared alongside President Biden for the first time since he dropped out of the race and endorsed her.
And Harris and that crowd certainly showing their appreciation to Biden, whose decision to step aside has reshaped the race and energize Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's a lot of love in this room for our president. And I think it's for many, many reasons, including few leaders in our nation have done more on so many issues, including to expand access to affordable health care than Joe Biden.
CROWD: Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Folks, I have an incredible partner. The progress we've made. She's going to make one hell of a president.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: You can't deny that energy.
And tonight a new video from the Harris campaign showcasing Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, talking candidly about the election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I talk about it being halftime in America. We're touch down down. But once you start that momentum, once we come out and where we're at right now --
HARRIS: Yeah.
WALZ: -- people want to be part of something think that's winning. They want to be part of something that's good and they want to be part of something that everybody can be a part of.
And I kind of liked the idea of being a little bit behind --
HARRIS: Well, I'm looking at Coach Walz right now. I'm looking at Coach Walz.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Alayna Treene is OUTFRONT live in Bedminster, New Jersey, where Trump was speaking earlier.
Alayna, you were at the Trump event today. Was this what his campaign wanted from him today?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Well, put it this way, Sara, it started off that way and, you know, it was interesting. I've go to many of Donald Trump's speeches. Ive been to these events before, and he brought out a binder with him and he was reading line by line. He didn't just stay on script. He had his finger I noticed marking where he was, clearly trying to stay on message on that point.
[19:05:02]
And look, the economy is really the goal for the Trump campaign this week, that is what they wanted him to talk about. And part of that is because they really do believe if Donald Trump can focus on the economy. But more specifically, try to tie Kamala Harris to Joe Biden's policies. They believe that he will poll higher on that issue and that is a way for him to win in November.
And you mentioned he had those props there. It was very clear that that was the message they wanted to portray. However, once he started taking questions from reporters, you really saw that restraint go out the window.
Now, I did ask him specifically about something that we've been talking about for a few weeks now does that many of Donald Trump's allies, the people who want him to win in November are urging him to shift his strategy. They say that he needs to have a more disciplined message and talk about the issues, including the economy, but also crime and immigration. And he said that, you know, he didn't necessarily believe that he needed to get rid of the personal attacks.
Take a listen to how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think I'm entitled to personal attacks. I don't have a lot of respect for her. I don't have a lot of respect for her intelligence. And I think she'll be a terrible precedent, and I think it's very important that we win.
And whether the personal attacks or good or bad -- I mean, she certainly attacks me personally. She actually called me weird. He's weird. It was just a sound bite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TREENE: So as you could hear there, Sara, I asked him this directly. Do you think you need to stop with the personal attacks? He said no, I think I'm entitled to them and actually makes me very angry.
So very clear that he is not heeding that advice. And I also just want to point out quickly that no, after that, he went on to continue to attack Harris and also kind of, you know, played the victim card. It was the Donald Trump we've seen in the past. The Donald Trump we all know well, where he was saying, now, everyone is out to get me.
They're trying to go after me with these legal cases and he went on for a very long time. So I think it was very clear that despite what he is hearing from his campaign, from his allies about staying hang on message, he doesn't necessarily agree with that -- Sara.
SIDNER: Alayna Treene in Bedminster, thank you so much.
Let's keep this conversation going.
Paul Begala, we heard from both Harris and Trump today. Harris talked about reducing drug prices. Trump talked about reducing the price of goods. Who was more effective?
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, again, I'm a Democrat. I'm going to say Harris. But as a professional, her event, I believe we can, you can't go call what this is, but her event was focused, her performance was joyful, energetic, hopeful, optimistic, and again focused, right?
Political strategists send you out there to say something, you're supposed to hit your mark and say it, right? This is why Ronald Reagan was the great communicator.
Contrast that with Mr. Trump and I mean this as a human more than a political strategist, it was pitiful. I felt pity. It was like -- it was like some rocker from the '80s trying to reboot his career in the 2020s.
He comes out and, you know, he's bloated, and he's bald and he can't hit the high notes and he screws up the guitar, like, forgets the lyrics and I -- you feel sorry for him. But you're not buying a ticket to his next show.
SIDNER: Shermichael Singleton, not buying a ticket to the next. What did you think of Donald Trump's performance, if you will?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: First of all, good to see you, Sara.
I mean, look, did the former president meander a little bit here and there, of course, he did. That's his style. Most Americans are used to that. But there were some substantive things that he said that I think were noteworthy.
A reporter asked him about price control, Vice President Harris essentially saying she's got to use the FTC to control prices. What about supply and demand economics? I guess we're sort throwing that out of the window, I don't think most Americans would actually like that when they realized what the implications are, not only on food, but a whole host of other goods that enter and exit the country.
He talked about the vice president and her position on fracking, being against it, now being for it, and the implications for Pennsylvania workers, the implication on energy, as we look more towards A.I. computing. You need energy in order to expand there.
He talked a little bit about workers without college degrees. Reporter asked him a question there about firing folks. He said, look, companies want to hire the people who work well and workers should also have a good relationship with their company. He gave some credit to Sean O'Brien. So there were good moments if you're looking for substance that if we're being objective here and that's not to I guess ignore some of the interesting commentary that we typically see from him.
But there were parts that I think matter that could move needle forward for the foreign president if he sticks to those issues. And I just want to highlight those things for our viewers.
SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much.
Marc Caputo, you've been doing a heck of a lot of reporting on what's been happening behind the scenes on the Trump campaign. This presser today didn't stay on message. It did start on message.
I want to play one other thing that Donald Trump said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think I'm doing a very calm campaign. I mean, we're here. There's no shouting. Now you'll say he ranted and raved. I'm -- not you, but some of you was he ranted and raved. I didn't rant and rave. I'm a very calm person, believe it or not.
[19:10:00]
If I wasn't -- probably wouldn't be around.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: So, was he right?
MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE BULWARK: If he were as calm as he says he is, his campaign probably wouldn't be beefing up is senior level staff. He's added Taylor Budowich, longtime adviser prior to this presidential campaign and Corey Lewandowski is a long ago campaign manager. But both of them are going to function as people who know only advise president -- former President Trump and have a good relationship with them, but also can work with his current existing campaign managers and senior advisors.
One of the things that you're seeing with Trump at these events is that he doesn't stay on script and there are those who have worked for him in the past, who still advise him today, so that when he diverts from the script too much, it's because he's not fully embracing it. He's not fully feeling it. And so they're bringing in these other people to kind of help bridge that divide.
One of the reasons there's that divide is that the candidate is not calm. He's not very happy with the current position he's in.
There was a very telling comment at the very beginning of this press conference he made off the top of his head and he's made before which is something the effect of, my God. Why did I do such a good job in that debate against Joe Biden? I knocked them out of the race. I shouldn't have done that.
He misses running against Joe Biden and that was apparent because he talked about Joe Biden quite a bit.
SIDNER: Paul, I want to ask you about this. Biden is jumping in on this. He's getting in on attacks against Donald Trump. Here's a bit of what he said today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
REPORTER: Trump says he wants to make America affordable again. Your response?
BIDEN: He ought to get a job.
The guy we're running against, what's his name? Donald Dump, or Donald whatever.
You may have heard about the MAGA Republican Project 2025 plan.
(BOOING)
BIDEN: Let me tell you, what our Project 2025 is -- beat the hell out of them.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
SIDNER: Now, Paul, prices are up 20 percent. Is Biden an asset to Harris on the trail or could he become a liability?
BEGALA: Oh, I think he's an asset. The problem people had with Biden was saying he's too old. That was it. Tat was it.
Inflation is too high. It's true. There are issues that Democrats have to respond to. They did that today.
The prescription drug cost reduction that Kamala Harris and the president and the Congress enacted is the most popular thing I've seen in polling this year. You know, I do advise a bunch of super PACs. We've done a lot of polling.
It's the most popular and, you know, this, Sara, but it's the ten most expensive drugs for seniors and because Medicare has now negotiated, the cost is coming down 50 to 75 percent. It's going to save the taxpayers over $6 billion, save consumers over $1.5 billion. It's actually reducing your cost.
And Democrats need to engage this instead of running away from it. But they used to say is, well, we did such a great job. We have the lowest inflation of any OECD nation and people out there say, well, I can't feed my kids, eggs are up 40 percent.
This is a much better strategy to say, I know costs are too high and we're bringing them down. And that's a much better way for Democrats campaign on this.
SIDNER: Shermichael, to you, I want to play a little bit more of the video that Harris-Walz campaign released with these two candidates. And have you speak to it on the other side?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: They have white guy tacos and like --
HARRIS: Like mayonnaise and tuna? What are you doing?
WALZ: Pretty much ground beef and cheese.
HARRIS: That's okay. Do you put any flavoring in it?
WALZ: Oh, no. Here's the deal --
HARRIS: Oh.
WALZ: No, they said to be careful and let her know this that black pepper is the top of the spice level in Minnesota, you know?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Okay. So, do you think they're out doing Trump and Vance when it comes to sort of hitting on people's emotions with this sort of likability, a little chat here, or do you see something else?
SINGLETON: Look, the vice president is definitely a likable person, so I'm not surprised there. I think regardless of your politics, you can look at it. It's all right. I could probably have a funny conversation with her.
But at some point, vibes go away because people in the middle recognized bills have to get paid there. They recognize the lights have to stay on. They got to put food on the table.
So, it's one thing to feel great and feel excited, but what's the policy propositions that you're proposing to move things forward to reduce that 20 percent increase on the cost of goods writ large. We haven't seen that yet.
And so while I recognized the moment, I recognize is sort of superseded politics has become a cultural thing. At the end of the day, you still got to pay the bills, you still got to get things done. And that's what we still need to see from the vice president and her running mate. And we haven't seen that yet.
SIDNER: Marc, we're expecting this policy on the economy from Harris tomorrow. Have they waited too long to start talking deeply about policy?
CAPUTO: I don't know. And I'm not one for believing in too much emphasis on policy.
In the end, a lot of voters make their decisions based on shirts and skins. I'm red, I'm blue, I'm Republican and Democrat and on cultural and values-related issues.
[19:15:05]
And so policies are touchstones and jumping off points for those.
Now, one of the things that's interesting about Kamala Harris, a super PAC ad, not her campaign, but an outside group is running an ad that is talking about how she used to be a prosecutor, how she even worked at McDonald's. There's no mention of her being vice president. There's no mention of President Biden or even images of him.
And one of the things that you're seeing with Kamala Harris as her sort of running away from Joe Biden without actually be -- without actually be seeing pushing him away. And as long as she can strike that balance, that might be effective. I mean, right now the polls do show that she's marginally moving ahead. And that might actually be a secret to her success, but there's a lot of time to go.
SIDNER: All right. Thank you to our all-star panel. Shermichael, Paul, Marc, appreciate your time.
SINGLETON: Thanks, Sara.
BEGALA: Thanks, Sara.
CAPUTO: Thank you.
SIDNER: OUTFRONT next, the path to 270. For Biden, it was a very narrow path to victory. We'll ill show you what has changed since Harris is now top of the ticket. Harry Enten is going to break it all down for us next.
Plus, caught on tape. One of the men behind the controversial Project 2025 is captured on a hidden camera talking about his secretive work, a controversial blueprint for Trump's second term that he says has Donald Trump's support.
(BEGIUN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been at our organization. He's raised money for our organization. He's blessed it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: Trump has said he knows nothing about it.
And breaking news, Putin now pulling troops from Ukraine to defend his own border as Ukraine has now taken control of Russians, other -- another town in Russia. We will take you to the Ukraine-Russia border. Our reporter is there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:21:22]
SIDNER: Tonight, Kamala Harris, portraying a big happy Democratic family as Joe Biden hands her the torch, even as his aides tells CNN, he's still smarting from how his party leadership pushed him aside. It didn't stop him from putting his full-throated support behind his vice president to the crowd's delight. Here's the two hanging out today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I can speak all afternoon about the person that I am standing on the stage with.
BIDEN: I have an incredible partner. The progress we've made.
HARRIS: There's a lot of love in this room for our president.
BIDEN: She's going to make one hell of a president.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: OK. I've got one hell of a partner here with me. Harry Enten is here with me at the magic wall.
Okay. You're watching the two of them. I mean, clearly, they are making sure people see no daylight between them.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah.
SIDNER: But when you look at the data, what does it look like for Harris versus Donald Trump? Or Biden versus Donald Trump? How do they differ?
ENTEN: It looks like a galaxy between them.
So, let's look at the Great Lakes first, right? This is Biden versus Trump margin based on modeling and polling data when Biden dropped out of the race.
Look, this was the Great Lakes, this is where Joe Biden thought his path to 270 was. But he was behind by five points to Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, three points in Michigan, three points in Wisconsin. He wasn't anywhere close.
Now, however, let's look at what the current polling data looks like. My goodness, gracious, Sara Sidner, what a flipped that we see here. This is Harris versus Trump.
All that red has been replaced by blue. Now, look, it's still a close margin, right, within the margin of error. But instead of trailing in Pennsylvania by five, as Joe Biden was, Harris is up by two. How about in Michigan, we see Harris up by three. How about in Wisconsin? Harris again up by three based upon the recent polling data and modeling.
So, basically, we have seen a complete switcheroo. So we see he this in the Great Lakes. But there's something else cooking here. Let's go down to the Sun Belt, right?
We're talking about states that Joe Biden wants to be competitive in. He last time around won in Georgia, won in Arizona, won Nevada, came pretty gosh, darn close winning in North Carolina.
But when he dropped out of the race, these states weren't even close. Look at Nevada, a six-point lead for Donald Trump. Arizona, seven point lead for Donald Trump. Look at Georgia, a six point lead for Donald Trump. Look at North Carolina, a seven point lead for Donald Trump.
But once again, let's look at where the racist today. Even in North Carolina, Sara, look at that, it's now just a one-point lead for Donald Trump over Kamala Harris, Georgia, one-point lead, and an Arizona and Nevada, look at that, one point advantages for Kamala Harris.
But the bottom line is the sunbelt, which looked like a blow-up before, really too close to call and all four of these states.
SIDNER: I think it's been something like 16 years since North Carolina went down --
ENTEN: 2008.
SIDNER: See, my math is okay.
ENTEN: You're very good.
SIDNER: It's okay.
So, Joe Biden appeared to have a really narrow path when it comes to the Electoral College to 270. What does this look like now with Harris? Has that changed as well?
ENTEN: Yeah. All right. So you know, you talk about that path to 270. This was the path with Joe Biden essentially, right? He was basically losing all over the place.
But, you know, let's just flip some states, right? If this is what was looking like with Joe Biden, Donald Trump, a clear advantage in the Electoral College. Lets just flip up here in Pennsylvania will turn that blue. How about Michigan, will turn that blue? How about Wisconsin, will turn that blue.
All of a sudden, Kamala Harris, where she holds an advantage in these Great Lake battleground states, a close advantage, but advantage nonetheless, that gets her do exactly 270 electoral votes.
How about if we say, you know what? We're going to give these back to Donald Trump up here in the Great Lakes. But she could still do it in the Sun Belt if we turn this blue, we turn North Carolina blue, we turn Arizona blue, and we turn Nevada blue, and she's competitive with all of them. That's another pathway.
This is the interesting different pathway that Kamala Harris has that Joe Biden wasn't even close to touching.
[19:25:04]
She can do in the Sun Belt. She can do in the Great Lakes. Or she could do some combo of the two.
Let's say we turn Georgia back to Donald Trump, but she wins in Pennsylvania, that gets her to 278.
So the bottom line is Kamala Harris has a bunch of pathways to 270 electoral votes, pathways Joe Biden never even dreamt about by the end of the campaign.
SIDNER: What a difference about six weeks.
ENTEN: Oh, you've got it.
SIDNER: What a short amount of time. Harry Enten --
ENTEN: We'll see what happens over the final few months.
SIDNER: We sure will. We'll have a drink over it.
Thanks so much. Appreciate it.
All right. OUTFRONT now a man who knows Joe Biden very well, Biden biographer Evan Osnos. He's the author of "Joe Biden: The Life, The Run, and What Matters Now".
And Evan was in Maryland today at the Biden-Harris event.
Thank you so much, Evan.
Evan today could have been a very awkward situation where the sitting president who is not termed out is now making the case for his vice president's presidential bid.
I want to play one specific part of President Biden's speech for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Kamala and I and all of you in this room are going to keep standing up for big pharma, I fought too damn hard to yield now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: You said that this part of his speech really stood out to you today. Why is that?
EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: You know what I heard him saying was, I yielded in this presidential contest. I heard what you're saying, but I didn't yield on an issue that we know is enormously popular with voters. This question of reducing the price of prescription drugs is some of its popular with Democrats, with Republicans. And here he was saying, look, now that I have removed this question, this incredibly anxious question of whether I'm too old for the job. Let's evaluate what this administration has done, this Biden-Harris administration.
And so, and it was in a sense, his turning of the page from being the candidate to being now somebody who is going to try to make the case that the record these two put in office over the last three-and-a-half years is enough to get to those 270 votes you heard about a moment ago.
SIDNER: Let's talk about Harris. She repeatedly praised Biden when she spoke ahead of him, and many times the crowd responded extremely enthusiastically. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: I can speak all afternoon about the person that I am standing on this stage with.
(CHEERING)
CROWD: Joe, Joe, Joe!
HARRIS: Today, we take the next step -- thank you, Joe -- forward in our fight.
CROWD: Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!
HARRIS: Thank you, Joe!
CROWD: Thank you, Joe. Thank you, Joe! Thank you, Joe!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: We see that smile there, but its there a bit of regret under there?
OSNOS: Yeah, look, it's a very hard moment. There's no way around it. What you heard people saying in that room and it was real gratitude was thank you for the record that we've seen, and frankly, thank you also for stepping aside. I don't think anybody has any illusions about how anguished difficult this was.
His mood these days, Sara, I think you could describe it as disappointed, but as somebody close to him said to me, just the other day, but not depressed. Meaning, look, this from his perspective was not an easy choice, right, to the very last minute, he was deciding whether to stay in or get out. He got out ultimately because he was isolated, isolated within this party. He's always believed you can accomplish anything politically without a coalition around you. He didn't have a coalition and so, that is something that ultimately he was clear-eyed about, but is by no means I think its not far enough in the rearview mirror for him to be anything at peace with it.
SIDNER: I'm curious about one thing that that you were talking about there, which is that Biden is disappointed, not depressed, but there is this tension, if you will, between him and the Democratic leadership that was really pushing him some publicly to get them out.
There's one particular person that seems to be getting a lot of his ire. That's former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
This is what Pelosi said on OUTFRONT about their relationship.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Have you spoke with President Biden since he dropped out?
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): No. No, I have not.
BASH: Do you hope to?
PELOSI: Yes, when -- I hope to.
BASH: Yeah.
PELOSI: We're all busy.
BASH: Is everything okay with your relationship?
PELOSI: You'd have to ask him, but I hope so.
BASH: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Yikes!
What have you learned about how Biden still feels about Pelosi and perhaps Obama and Schumer?
OSNOS: Well, you know, Joe Biden sometimes likes to joke that the only thing that's not Irish about him is that he doesn't keep a grudge.
That fuller fact is that he is a human being and he just went through the probably the most bitter moment of his political career and Nancy Pelosi, the other day said to David Remnick at "The New Yorker" that she -- as she puts it -- loses sleep at night about whether or not their relationship will ever be repaired. She says, I pray for it. I cry for it.
And I take her word for it. I think Joe Biden is often a person who will say about loss that it takes a while, but eventually you will put it behind you.
[19:30:03]
SIDNER: Oh, he's certainly experienced a lot of loss in his life.
Evan Osnos, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
OSNOS: My pleasure.
SIDNER: OUTFRONT next, secretly recorded video of one of the architects of project 2025 talking about what they're really up to behind closed doors. It's a special CNN investigation you'll see first here on OUTFRONT.
Plus, new reporting from KFILE tonight, about 1995, drunk driving incident involving Tim Walz.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIDNER: Tonight, secret video captured on hidden camera of one of the architects of Project 2025. He is also the policy director of the RNC team that rewrote the party's official platform.
In the secret video obtained by CNN, the RNC operative talks about his controversial, conservative blueprint for a second Trump term and that Trump's disavowal of Project 2025 is just politics.
Kyung Lah, OUTFRONT for us tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name --
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are looking at secretly recorded video of Russell Vought, a former cabinet member in the Trump administration.
RUSSELL VOUGHT, FORMER TRUMP CABINET MEMBER: This year has been predominantly now getting ready for a year five of a Trump administration. We've got about 350 different documents that are regulations and things of that nature.
LAH: Vought, the platform policy director for the Republican National Committee, says, he is building the plan for Trump's second term.
TRUMP: I don't know what the hell it is. It's Project 25.
LAH: Trump publicly disavowed Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for his administration if he gets reelected.
But in private, Vought said that's just politics. The details of the real plans are secret and based on Trump's own beliefs.
VOUGHT: Notwithstanding I expect you hear 10 more times from the rally, the president, you know, distancing himself from the left's boogeyman of Project 2025.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, and you're not worried about that?
VOUGHT: No, I'm not worried about it.
And so, I see what he's doing is just very, very conscious distancing himself from a brand. He's very supportive of what we do and know that we have all manner of things that we do that's, you know, even unrelated to Project 2025.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.
LAH: Vought has been a mastermind behind expanding the powers of the presidency. Some of those policy proposals Trump has supported, two sources tell CNN. Trump even hosted a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser two years ago for the group Vought founded, the right-wing Center for Renewing America.
VOUGHT: He's been at our organization. He's raised money for our organization. He's blessed it.
LAH: In this hotel suite, Vought thinks he's talking to family members of a wealthy donor. But one is a journalist or the other, an actor working undercover for the U.K.-based Center for Climate Reporting. The center provided the video to CNN on the condition we blur their faces so they can continue their undercover work.
The conversation covers a host of issues like abortion and how his position differs from Trump.
VOUGHT: He talks about rape, incest, and the life of the mother. Well, I don't actually believe in those exceptions.
I want to get to abolition, but I also got to win elections. And so, I want to get as far as we possibly can.
LAH: His view of who should be an American.
VOUGHT: So I want to make sure that we can say we're a Christian nation and my viewpoint is mostly that I would probably be Christian nation-ism. That's pretty close to Christian nationalism. Can we, if we're going to have legal immigration, can we get people that actually believe in Christianity? Is that something? Or do we have to have we now had to -- you know, have ask questions about Sharia law.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What could we see America looking like, I guess I do in an ideal world?
VOUGHT: In an ideal world, I mean, I think we could save the country and a sense of, you know, the largest deportation in history.
LAH: And even pornography.
VOUGHT: We'd have a national ban on pornography if we could, right?
LAH: But the most striking of Vought's statements has to do with presidential power.
VOUGHT: George Floyd obviously was not about race. It was about destabilizing the Trump administration.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
VOUGHT: It's the left's belief that structures in society are the problem. Pulling society down for purposes of revolution is exactly what they want.
And what you're seeing at college campuses as a part of that as well. The president has, you know, the ability both along the border and elsewhere to maintain law and order with the military.
LAH: A major part of Vought's plan is training thousands of career federal jobs into political appointments, meaning workers could be fired if they're not sufficiently loyal to Trump.
VOUGHT: Eighty percent of my time is working on the plans of what's necessary to take control of these bureaucracies.
I want to be the person who crushes the deep state. I think there's a lot of different ways to do that. It is defunding it. It's impoundment, the ability to not spend money. It's getting rid of their independence.
LAH: Even as Vought talks about the so-called deep state, he claims his group is forming its own to take over on day one.
VOUGHT: We are trying to create a shadow Office of Management and Budget, a shadow National Security Council, and the shadow Office of Legal Counsel. These are the main organs in government that you need outside to create the battle plan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you're not going to publish these?
VOUGHT: No. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They go straight to --
VOUGHT: Yeah, they're very, very close hold.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: Wow, Kyung.
Have Vought or Donald Trump responded to all that was said on this hidden video?
LAH: Well, we are Sara beginning to hear from both the Trump campaign and Russell Vought's organization in response to this video.
A spokesperson for Vought's group is downplaying the video, saying Vought has spoken about these same topics publicly telling CNN in a statement, quote, thank you for airing our perfect conversation, emphasizing our policy work is totally separate from the Trump campaign.
[19:40:11]
And the Trump campaign tells us only President Trump and the campaign represent policies for the second term -- Sara.
SIDNER: Really great reporting. Kyung Lah, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right. Also tonight, we're learning new details about Governor Tim Walz and how his campaign tried to spin his drunk driving arrest nearly 30 years ago. The incident is well-documented by court and public records, but as our KFILE reports tonight, Walz's campaign didn't tell the truth about it when he ran for Congress in 2006.
Andrew Kaczynski is OUTFRONT for us.
Andrew, what did you find out about this arrest and how it was portrayed?
ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: Yeah, that's right. And this isn't really a story just about that DUI arrest. This is a story about someone getting a DUI arrest and then his campaign repeatedly, misleading and giving false statements to the public about it.
So let's just go to the facts of that 1995 arrest first. Okay? Walz was speeding over 95 miles per hour in a 55 mile per hour zone. He failed a field sobriety tests that was administered by a state trooper.
He then admitted in court that he had been drinking. He was transported to a local hospital for a blood test that showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.1 to aid and that was above the states legal limit. He then took a plea deal where he pled guilty to a reckless driving charge.
Now, those are the facts. That's from police records. That's from court records. And that all is completely undisputed.
SIDNER: All right. So that is clear. The idea of what happened. What did his congressional campaign actually say happened?
KACZYNSKI: So let's fast forward to 2006. He's in a tight congressional race. He is running for Congress. This was a Republican held district that he was trying to flip.
And then a local Republican blog puts up that he had this arrest for drunk driving. Now, I'm going to give you the bullets of what his campaigns said about that. They the campaign setting Walz claimed that he had not been drinking and driving. They attributed his failed field sobriety test to hearing loss from his time in the night National Guard, not alcohol that came campaign falsely said that he drove himself to the station, that he was allowed to drive home. They said they said the DUI charges were dropped because they were unfounded and the campaign even faulted this trooper for it saying that he didn't realize that Walz had hearing impairment they claimed a judge actually chastised the state trooper for it.
Now, take a look at just one statement that his campaign put out. They said, he, quote, couldn't understand what the trooper was telling him during the field sobriety test and the trooper refused to speak up. The DUI charges were dropped for a reason, the judge would not have dismissed them if there were anything to them. Tim drove to the station that night and drove home afterwards. I don't think the trooper would have allowed that if there had been a problem.
So none of what they said in that 2006 race was true at all. As we saw and just looking at those details of the 1995 arrest.
SIDNER: Your reporting sort of points that this is an issue of deception. What is the Harris-Walz campaign saying about this situation?
KACZYNSKI: Yes. So, we reached out to them. We asked, how are you squaring with that 2006 race versus what he would actually happened in 1995, they declined to comment to CNN.
Now, Walz did when he ran for governor in 2018, he did own up to this drunk driving arrest. He said it was a life-altering moment for him that he stopped drinking and now his favorite drink, Diet Mountain Dew.
SIDNER: All right. Andrew Kaczynski, thank you so much. Appreciate it.
All right. Ahead, OUTFRONT, breaking news in the investigation into Matthew Perry's death. We're now learning two of the five people charged today, and the actors that have just entered pleas.
Plus, breaking news out of Ukraine. Ukraine pressing even further into Russia tonight and we are at the border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: It says the border service of the FSB, the Russian security services of Russia, bullet hole above.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:48:21]
SIDNER: This is breaking: two people arrested in the overdose death of "Friends" actor Matthew Perry, pleading not guilty, including Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who is tonight facing multiple charges among them, conspiracy to distribute ketamine. This is the same doctor who wrote in a text message, quote, I wonder how much this moron will pay. Plasencia accused of providing Perry with ketamine, despite knowing his history of drug abuse.
Our Nick Watt is OUTFRONT. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATTHEW PERRY, ACTOR: Could I be more sorry?
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two medical doctors, Matthew Perry's assistant, and an alleged dealer known as the ketamine queen, among the five now charged in the death of sometimes sardonic star known as Chandler Bing, on one of the most successful sitcoms of all time.
PERRY: Two-fifteen, coffeehouse.
WATT: Perry had a long history of drug abuse and mental health struggles.
ANNE MILGRAM, U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY: Matthew Perry sought treatment for depression and anxiety and went to a local clinic where he became addicted to intravenous ketamine. When clinic doctors refused to increase his dosage, he turned to unscrupulous doctors.
WATT: Dr. Mark Chavez has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to sell the drug to Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who allegedly would inject Perry and expressed a desire to be his go-to the drugs.
MARTIN ESTRADA, U.S. ATTORNEY, CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA: He wrote in a text message in September 2023, quote, I wonder how much this moron will pay.
WATT: Prosecutors allege those doctors made tens of thousands of dollars from the "Friends" star.
MILGRAM: They supplied Matthew Perry with large amounts of ketamine in exchange for large sums of money. Charging Perry $2,000 for a vial that cost Dr. Chavez approximately $12.
[19:50:13]
WATT: When that became too much, prosecutors say Perry turned to a street supplier. He was 54 when he died last October.
COURTNEY COX, "FRIENDS" CO-STAR: I think he's probably one of the funniest human beings in the world. He --you know, he's just so funny. He's -- he is genuinely a huge heart obviously struggled.
WATT: Cause of death, acute effects of ketamine with drowning, a factor according to an autopsy report. Found unresponsive in the hot tub of his Los Angeles home by his longtime live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, who authorities say admitted he injected Perry numerous times on the day he died. He's pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute ketamine causing death.
ESTRADA: These defendants took advantage of Mr. Perry's addiction issues to enrich themselves.
In the end, these defendants were more interested in profiting off Mr. Perry than caring for his well-being. (END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (on camera): Now investigators say that this went well beyond Matthew Perry. They say that they've uncovered, quote, a broad underground criminal network. They believed that the queen of ketamine has been dealing in north Hollywood since 2019. They say that year she sold ketamine to a young man named Cody MacLaurin (ph), who also overdosed, who also died.
Now, she was in court today, pled not guilty. So did Dr. Salvatore Plasencia. He's allowed to practice, though, just going to put a note on his clinic about the case and he's not allowed to prescribe controlled substances. His trial set for early October -- Sara.
SIDNER: Nick Watt, thank you so much for that well-told piece. Appreciate it.
Coming up next, we take you to Russia's border where Ukrainian troops are now moving in.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:12]
SIDNER: A dramatic shift. This is happening as we speak, Russian President Vladimir Putin moving thousands of troops out of Ukraine and into Russia to defend Russian territory. Ukraine is claiming its troops. Now how full control of the Russian town of Sudzha.
I want to go straight to Nick Paton Walsh who is near the border tonight.
Nick, what are you seeing there?
WALSH: Sara, as Ukraine gets into its ninth day of its offensive into Russia, expanding into now to it seems separate Russian regions. They now say they're 35 kilometers deep inside that territory. The mount they control, gaining, growing every single day.
What is startling than what we saw in rare access towards the exact border point where Ukraine first crossed in is how little sign there is the Russian military, of Russia pushing back towards this extraordinary move by Kyiv.
Here's what we saw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: This is where Russia. It's startling to see that steady flow of military vehicles that probably an ambulance and armor just passing through the Russian border point here.
That is the border posts they've clearly got heavily hit when Ukraine moved in hard over a week ago, Russia's borders here completely undefended. It's also remarkable, the freedom with which Ukrainian military are moving around here. They simply aren't afraid of the drones that have hampered their every move for the past months.
It says the border service the FSB, the Russian security services of Russia, as bullet hole above the rules and bullet holes in the rules themselves.
Now this is what so startling about this offensive was a volume you of Western supplied armor that were seeing parsing back-and-forth. Their passage through here up into Russia impeded. That shell (ph) from Canada.
Did you expect it?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we didn't expect this operation. There's a task, we're doing it, no more, no less. The final result? No one speaks about that now.
WALSH: I've been saying about how frequently going back and forth over the last week or so, and you've got a real sense of euphoria but ultimately to the enduring question is what is all this fall? What is the end game?
Yes, it's a huge embarrassment for Vladimir Putin, but they're sending some of their best equipment deep into Russia. And I'm sure when the back of the minds of these troops as the question of what ultimately are we going to achieve? And we still don't know the answer to that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WALSH: Now, Sara, Ukraine has also said that they've had an extraordinary number of prisoners of war that they've captured as they advanced, particularly until one Russian military base saying that the caption in one day alone, 102, replenishing what they refer to as the exchange fund that they're going to use, these Russian prisoners to exchange him for Ukrainians caught by Russia, a remarkable development there.
You saw at that border, the confidence and the ease in which Ukrainian forces are pushing up into Russia. And I've got to tell you after all the months of seeing drones holding Ukraine back, the fact that they're not a threat suggests some extraordinary technological advantage, frankly, on the battlefield. And I'm sure Kyiv will be exploiting that in the days ahead, Sara.
SIDNER: The fearlessness, extraordinary. Nick Paton Walsh, our thanks to you.
And finally, an OUTFRONT update: U.S. Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina sentenced to 12 years in a Russian prison for donating $51 to Ukrainian charity. Karelina's boyfriend speaking to OUTFRONT tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS VAN HEERDEN, BOYFRIEND OF U.S.-RUSSIAN CITIZEN JAIELD IN RUSSIA: I'm screamed at a mother as she said, within the next 10 to 15 days, she will be sent off to a colony, and she will come away with (INAUDIBLE) will be once they have the information. But it looks like they're going to appeal.
I was a fearful that she would be angry at me and mad that I didn't get it back home. And then I failed. Already to my surprise, is the other way around, she is down more hopeful than ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Wow, her boyfriend, bought her a ticket to Russia for her birthday, where she was arrested while visiting her family and charged with treason.
Thank you so much for joining us.
"AC360" starts right now.
