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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Says He Won't Debate Harris Again; Harris Makes A Play For North Carolina, Mocks Trump's Debate Answers; Trump Repeats False Claim About Immigrants Eating Pets. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired September 12, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:46]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, Trump says no more debates with Harris, as a new poll shows the majority of voters think Harris won the debate. Her campaign revealing for the first time the money, what that meant for how much money she raised in the hours after that face off with Trump.
And MAGA mayhem Republicans on the attack, slamming a controversial far right activists who has attached herself to Trump. Our Elle Reeve knows Laura Loomer. She knows her. She spoke to her today. And she's OUTFRONT.
And an OUTFRONT special report tonight, CNN with rare access to a prison full of gang members in El Salvador. The crack coming amid fewer illegal crossings at the southern border.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, no more debates. Trump making it clear moments ago that he will not face off against Kamala Harris again. Here's what he said, just moments ago at a rally in Arizona.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So because we've done two debates and because they were successful, there will be no third debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Yet moments after the debate ended, it was a totally different story. Trump was open to another debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Would you be inclined to say yes?
TRUMP: Maybe if it was a fair network.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: But now, it's a hard no out in the rally stage saying no. Trump is obsessed about that debate with Harris.
Tonight at that rally in Tucson in Arizona, he spent 20 minutes -- actually a little bit more than 20 minutes going over every question- answer from the debate, re-litigating it. And there's a reason for this obsession. The first debate poll is out. No doubt he's seen it.
It finds 53 percent of voters, say Harris came out on top. That 53 percent is notable in U.S. politics. But what stands out the most is the 24 percent, only 24 percent say Trump won.
And when asked, who stumbled or didn't appear sharp, more than half, 52 percent said Trump which may be because of remarks like this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating -- they're eating the pets of the people that live there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
And it is, you know, you look at the debate numbers. Here's the reality. This appears to be more than just the debate, because now when you look among registered voters and the actual support who they're going to vote for an Election Day, 47 percent support Harris to 42 percent for Trump. That is a five-point advantage.
Yes, it's tight. It comes to down to the swing states, but five points in American politics is a chasm.
And as for Harris, she is doubling down on surprisingly on whether she wants to have another debate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Two nights ago, Donald Trump and I had our first debate.
(CHEERING)
HARRIS: And I believe we owe it to the voters to have another debate.
(CHEERING)
HARRIS: Because this election and what is at stake could not be more important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, when it comes to what matters the most in politics, being money, that was a big moneymaker for Harris. Her campaign told CNN tonight that she raised $47 million in the 24 hours following the debate, $47 million in 24 hours. They say that includes donations from 600,000 individuals. Just to be clear, this is the second biggest one day haul for Harris
since she actually entered the race in July and now, she wants to build on that momentum. She just held another rally in North Carolina. You see her there.
Eva McKend is OUTFRONT at the Harris rally in Greensboro.
And, Eva, you're learning more about Harris's strategy now when were starting to see how voters saw that poll, starting to see he, how it affects in this moment in time, the national likely vote. What are you learning?
EVA MCKEND, CNN NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, Democrats believe that North Carolina is really in play this cycle for a number of reasons. And that is why you see her here doing to rallies and investing here. They are encouraged by the momentum around early voting.
[19:05:01]
We heard the vice president addressed early voting tonight, 160,000 people in this state requesting early ballots. They believed that the Republican candidate for governor is especially weak, and they think that he will drag down the entire ticket.
They also see more than a dozen or around a dozen rather history currently black colleges and universities in this state. I was speaking to some young women from Bennett College here in Greensboro, and there is a lot of organizing support in those spaces.
And then, of course, the issue of reproductive rights, Erin, the vice president mentioned health care tonight up on that stage. They believed that issue is particularly resonant in this state and they can appeal to those undecided voters. Voters that may be traditionally don't vote for Democrats in there its southern state, based on the strength of that particular issue.
And so, keeping the strategy is competing here, say if they don't win in Pennsylvania, for instance, they can still capture North Carolina and other states and still get to that critical 270 -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Eva, thank you very much, at that rally site in North Carolina.
All right. Everyone's with me here.
David Axelrod, Trump now saying on the rally stage there won't be another debate, okay? So -- and Harris obviously wants another debate.
Now, we understand very clearly what people think, people think she won and he did not win. But who is hurt more between the two of them if there's not another debate?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, obviously, Trump has decided that he would be hurt more if there was another debate and she is decided that she could advantage herself. I think that that was such a decisive outcome in that debate. And if I were in Trump's team, I think I'm not sure I want to put them on that stage again.
If you're Harris's team, you're saying another event like that could be real boost because were still a distance from the campaign. And another debate closer the campaign could be very advantageous.
BURNETT: Right, although sometimes it's nice to just -- you got to win, take your win.
AXELROD: Cash in your chips. Yeah. But you know what? I don't really buy these polls.
BURNETT: Yeah.
AXELROD: I mean, I think that this is a very close race. If you look at polling averages, she's probably got a point and a half maybe a two-point lead nationally. But in these battleground states, they are as tight as a tick.
And I just think that this thing -- I've gotten chastise before for saying this, there's no room for irrational exuberance here. People should be really pleased with that debate. It was a big step forward. But this is going to be a close race from start to finish.
BURNETT: So, Erin, let me ask you, you know, you heard Harris today again calling Trump to agree to another debate that he owes it to voters is what she's saying. David Plouffe, a senior campaign adviser now for Harris, called Trump chicken man today, right? They're trying to bait him into doing it.
Do you think, Erin, that this is a hard and fast no at this point or could he suddenly change his mind?
ERIN PERRINE, FORMER DIRECTOR OF PRESS COMMUNICATIONS, TRUMP 2020 CAMPAIGN: The likelihood he changes his mind a few more times is pretty high knowing Donald Trump and his history. If polls start to move, there seems to be an opportunity, if they continue to goad him, his response very likely could change to yes, I want to have the debate and then go back to no when negotiations move or whatever happen.
But however that shakes out, the debate regardless of if Donald Trump does that or not, we're in the homestretch now. And as their crisscrossing into all these battleground states, what we saw come out of that debate right now, we're seeing maybe marginal movement, but you've got to get into these battleground states now and have these conversations with voters, not only at rallies and at debates and on those big TV moment, but at the doors, via text message, on their emails because now it's turnout time and they cant be wasting it, arguing over debates.
BURNETT: So, Lulu, let me ask you, you know, obviously there's this issue of how close this race is and it's close, it's also in Harris's interests to say that it's close. She needs to turn out right. And she needs to win by a real margin nationally in order to make sure she gets there into 270 on the Electoral College.
Today, she said that she's the underdog. Let me play it
OK, sorry. We don't have it. What you said is okay. All right. We'll play it. Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: Ours will be a very tight race until the end, okay? It's going to be a tight race until the end and we are the underdog. Understand that. We are the underdog.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And obviously, Lulu, anybody understands why she's saying that. You don't want to say, oh, we've got this right. But she's saying and emphasizing and emphasizing it, it would seem because when you do that and I hear what David just said, looking at the national average, right? But you've got a poll out today with a five-point lead, that doesn't look like an underdog.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It doesn't look like an underdog. And I think the reason she's doing it is because Democrats have PTSD from 2016 when Hillary Clinton thought she had it in the bag, when she didn't visit key swing states, when they weren't really doing retail politics in the way that they're trying to do right now.
[19:10:03]
And they don't want to make that same mistake again, they don't want to underestimate the opposition, and the headwinds on the economy and other issues.
And so, they really are trying to push, push this message that every vote counts and they're trying to gin up that enthusiasm and that's why you're seeing them going to these swing states, but not just going to the areas that they classically go to, but going to rural areas, going to areas where they're just trying to push up the margins because it is indeed he to turnout election.
So, David, let me ask you about the money and I said, you know, money matters and it does, right? But can you just having been in the center of this, put some meat on the bone? $47 million in 24 hours. That's the second best haul for her numbers, right?
AXELROD: Yeah.
BURNETT: They add up to incredible numbers and adds up to more than two times greater amount of money to spend than Trump has. So what does that actually mean? Running a campaign right now, what does that mean when you can throw money around like that?
AXELROD: Well, obviously, the one people think of immediately is television advertising and that's going to matter, but it also helps fuel organization and the kind of get out the vote activities that are going to make the difference in this race. I think this is going to be half a point way or another in these key
states. She's in North Carolina today. My sense is Pennsylvania is still state she has to win, but if she doesn't, she needs to make up for it somewhere, and it is going to take a lot of resources, both in terms of media, but especially in terms of getting out the vote, paying for the organizational activities you need to need, to make -- to make this come home.
I think that this is a an advantage for her but Trump was outspent last time and he closed fast and that's what they have to worry about. They have to worry about what happened in the last two elections where he closed fast.
BURNETT: Erin, one thing that the Democrats are doing is making a big push right now on the issue of age, mental acuity, right? And in that poll I just shared, you know, "The Post" -- "The Post" poll that where people said that Trump lost that debate, 52 percent of voters in that "Reuters"/Ipsos poll said Trump was not sharp and that he said adding that he stumbled.
Do you think, Erin, that this is now an issue for him? That the 20- year age gap that that there sort of turning this that worked on Biden then on its head and pointing it at Trump could be effective?
PERRINE: I don't necessarily think that that will be effective because people already have the baked in notion about Donald Trump, his name ID. People there believe in him, where he stands, people have a really firm understanding of that. And with that comes his age.
The only reason then it could be a detriment or it could work in Kamala's favor is if she somehow begins to pull away the mantle that she is the change candidate, that she is the one that will be the change vote in the election because right now, even with Donald Trump being older, voters are saying and polling that they believe he is the change candidate.
At that point, if she becomes the change candidate maybe you can start making the argument about age that she's -- as she's saying, the new generation of leadership.
But at this point, the American people see him as the change. So I don't think that that necessarily is going to work for Democrats as an argument right now.
AXELROD: Yeah, I don't -- I have to say --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I disagree, I disagree.
AXELROD: Yeah.
BURNETT: Go ahead, Lulu.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. I disagree. I think Republicans are now in the position that the Democrats were in when they had ahead of the ticket that really couldn't prosecute the case. And I think the real implications of this last debate is it for the first time, you saw these two candidates side by side, and one was able to very articulately argue the case for Democrats, and really prosecute the case for Democrats, which is something they'd been craving. Donald Trump was simply unable to do it.
And so, I really think that people are now seeing a different Donald Trump. Donald Trump is in decline and age only goes one way. You don't get sharper with age, unfortunately. And so I think this is something that Republicans are going to have to come face to face with.
BURNETT: David?
AXELROD: No, I just think she did look like the change candidate on that stage. And I think age was part of it. He looked old and he looked -- he looked like yesterdays news and I do think this is working in favor.
And I have to say, you can get all kinds of outcomes based on how you ask polling questions you've say, who represents change from Biden? Of course, she's not going to poll well. If you ask the question, who represents change? She polls better. So I wouldn't put too much credence on that one poll.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I appreciate all three of you. Thank you very much, Lulu, Erin, David.
And next, Trump trolling Taylor Swift with his own merchandise inspired by the singer's world tour. The youngest state party leader, the head of the North Carolina Democrats Taylor Swift, wears for friendship bracelet, is OUTFRONT next.
Plus, she is a far-right conspiracy theorist trading blows with Republicans tonight, including Marjorie Taylor Greene. But she has been incredibly close to Trump in recent days. Who is Laura Loomer? How much influence does she have over Trump?
[19:15:01]
Our Elle Reeve spoke to Loomer today. She's OUTFRONT with a special report.
And we'll take you inside a massive prison inside El Salvador where thousands of gang members are now being locked up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can actually see just over where we are, there's row after row after row.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: How much is this crack down of a prison in El Salvador, keeping illegal border crossings into the United States down?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, Kamala Harris hammering Donald Trump in the key swing state of North Carolina, blasting Trump's debate performance just a few moments ago in Greensboro.
[19:20:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: On Tuesday night, I talked about issues that I know matter to the families across America, but that's not what we heard from Donald Trump. Instead, you know, when I called it at the beginning of the debate, it was the same old show, same old tired playbook we've heard for years, with no plan for how he would address the needs of the American people.
Well, folks, look, it's time to turn the page.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, the Harris campaign is putting pressure on Trump in North Carolina, a state he won by just 1.3 percentage points in 2020, but in -- you know, there was -- there was wide margin compared to other states. It's a state Biden didn't think was competitive, but for Harris, it is, and the latest poll in the state actually shows Harris ahead head by three points. Again, in American politics, that's a lot.
Before Biden dropped out, he was behind Trump by four points, a seven- point swing.
Dianne Gallagher is in North Carolina for tonight's Voters OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Are we going to do this North Carolina?
CROWD: Yes!
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Vice President Kamala Harris back in battleground North Carolina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm feeling a lot of hope now, which I wasn't feeling before.
GALLAGHER: Fresh off a debate performance, her supporters believe will help flip the state blue in November.
AMY STEELE, REGISTERED DEMOCRAT: Races are won or loss on the margin in North Carolina, I think she did enough to convince people who were on the fence to go toward her way.
RAKI MCGREGOR, REGISTERED DEMOCRAT: She came out on top. It wasn't close, head and shoulders.
GALLAGHER: Republicans here say criticism of former President Donald Trump's debate showing is overblown.
MARIA ELENA CONWAY, REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: It was three against one.
GALLAGHER: And won't matter come November. CONWAY: I think Trump loves this country and loves people in the country. I think he wants the best for us. He wants to fight.
GALLAGHER: But in this critically close state --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was nothing in the debate that helped me make the decision that I need.
GALLAGHER: Not everyone has made up their mind.
You are an undecided voter.
JIBRIL HOUGH, REGISTERED DEMOCRAT: Undecided who is strongly looking towards third party.
GALLAGHER: Did the debate change anything for you?
HOUGH: No, it didn't.
GALLAGHER: Jibril Hough says he'll only vote for a candidate who supports an arms embargo on Israel and ceasefire in Gaza.
HOUGH: It's more important than the economy. That's more important than health care, that's more important than so many other things because we have to stop this genocide.
GALLAGHER: Others want more specifics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There wasn't a lot of policy that was talked about, just kind of like aimless plans and vibes honestly.
GALLAGHER: Naomi Hernandez Hall, registered Republican who voted for Trump in 2020, has not been swayed by Harris but remains frustrated by the former president.
NAOMI HERNANDEZ HALL, REGISTERED REPUBLICAN: And I was just really just disappointed because he hasn't shown and proven himself like he did with the first campaign.
GALLAGHER: Especially on reproductive rights.
HALL: He kind of deflected on it. He didn't really speak like I wanted him to when they kept asking if the bill came to his desk, would he be veto it or would he ban it?
GALLAGHER: With 50 plus days to decide, Hall says she is going to take her time.
HALL: I'm going to continue to look to see what they're going to say for the next couple of weeks, so kind of way it out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GALLAGHER (on camera): And undecided voters like those really will make a difference here in North Carolina, where polling shows that Trump and Harris are virtually tie. Both campaigns have already spent millions of dollars here with millions more in ad reservations through the election.
It's no coincidence that the first post-debate stopped for Harris, a pair of rallies right here in North Carolina where every vote truly does count.
And, Erin, as you can see, there are still some votes up for grabs here.
BURNETT: Yeah. It's amazing, fascinating those voters that you spoke to.
Dianne, thank you.
And OUTFRONT now, Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party. She's the youngest state party leader in the United States in an election where young voters are becoming increasingly fired up and more engaged.
And, Anderson, I'm so glad to talk to you again.
So, let's just talk about those voters that Dianne spoke to, undecided, two Democrats, one disaffected Republican. They're saying, you know, they're still figuring it out. The Harris didn't do anything during the debate during their support.
You know, do you think that she should have a message specifically to voters like them or do you think that right now in North Carolina, this is to just about turnout for people who already support Harris?
ANDERSON CLAYTON, CHAIR, NORTH CAROLINA DEMOCRATIC PARTY: I think we have to make sure that we're going after every voter this year across the state and that still means people that are taking the next 50-some odd days, right, to be able to decide who they're going to the polls to show up for this year.
And so, we take everybody seriously on the ground. Everybody is somebody worth talking to win this election, and in particular about Vice President Harris's plan to make sure that young people have a future in this state, which is what we've been doing across college campuses this last week and the last two weeks.
[19:25:04]
And also since school has been back in session, hiring and making sure we have over 30 plus organizers that are really prioritizing the youth vote here in North Carolina this year because we know it's what led Barack Obama to that groundswell win in 2008 here in the state.
BURNETT: Right. And he was the first Democrat to win North Carolina, the only Democrat to win in more than 40 years. I know, Anderson, you were with Harris today at one of her rallies, and you met with her before she became the Democratic nominee. There's a picture of you together right now.
And she's investing a lot of time and money in the state. Now, obviously, Barack Obama won, Trump won in 2020. Since then, and, Anderson, I just wanted to share these numbers with you because your take on this is really important. Voter registration among North Carolina Democrats since 2020 when Trump won is down more than 216,000.
So down voter registration, Republican voter registration is up 47,000. OK, so that looks really bad. But then, Anderson, there's this unaffiliated category, registered voters as unaffiliated is up by nearly 420,000.
What do those numbers say to you?
CLAYTON: It means that everybody again is somebody worth talking to. I think that especially when you're looking at new voters and young voters this election cycle, you know, they're turned off with politics. They think that both parties don't represent them right now, and it's our job to be at the doors and to be on these campuses emphasizing to them why the Democratic Party aligns with their values and what they're choosing to fight for at the ballot box this year.
And what we've been hearing across these campuses, and not just on college campuses, but amongst young people, a new voters in general is the fight that they want to make sure they have the opportunity to own a home in North Carolina this year, and the opportunity to fight for fair wages in our state and the right to be able to the own and operate their own body, how they choose to, which is something that our Republican state legislature restricted last year in 2023.
You know, when Barack Obama won our state in 2008, we had a Democratic state legislature in North Carolina, and in 2010, we had Republicans come in and take control of our state and our state legislature. And I think that's what because honestly prevented Barack Obama for being able to win this state again, and we're making sure that we're chasing after those voters that feel like gerrymandering has disenfranchised them in North Carolina over the last six election cycles in our state this year.
BURNETT: So, Anderson, obviously , Taylor Swift has endorsed Kamala Harris and the Trump campaign has now sent out a tweet which they have directed at, quote, Swifties for Trump. And they're selling a t-shirt with different photos of Trump designed in the style of the Eras Tour, popular Taylor Swift tour, obviously going on.
I want to play for you what one of Swift's fans who actually supports Trump told CNN the other day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE JEFFRIES, TAYLOR SWIFT FAN AND TRUMP SUPPORTER: It's easy for Taylor to endorse Harris Taylor has food on her table. So for the majority of Americans, I think we're done listening to what celebrities and people in Hollywood are telling us to do, we're doing what we need to do for ourselves and our family.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And, look, I know, Anderson, know obviously you're a Swiftie. Your office says Harris has actually wearing a friendship bracelet you made and those are very popular amongst Swift's fans.
What do you think about her endorsement? And you know, it just you're honest view, you know, and I know you love Taylor Swift, but when you're on college campuses, you are on one today, do you think its actually moving votes?
CLAYTON: I think the most popular hot item that we had on a table today was a friendship bracelet that we were making. And so yeah, I mean, I think it matters and I think that every voter has the chance this year to do what Taylor Swift asked them to do, which is just do your research, make sure they are looking into all the candidates on your ballot this year. And her choice is clear in this election, she's going to fight for someone that champions reproductive freedom, like we know Vice President Harris is going to continue to do for women across this country. And she's behind that. So we're excited for it this year.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Anderson, it's great to talk to you again. Thank you.
CLAYTON: Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. Next, she has celebrated the deaths of Muslim migrants. She's pushed 9/11 conspiracy theories. Marjorie Taylor Greene now says she's crossed the line. So who is Laura Loomer? Our Elle Reeve just spoke to her and she's next.
Plus, Trump listing off the countries he claims are sending dangerous migrants to the U.S. southern border.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This is in Honduras alone, and Guatemala, El Salvador.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So our David Culver went to El Salvador to see what's really going on. And you will see it here first an OUTFRONT special report.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump doubling down on the baseless claim that Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating people's pets.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: There's a place called Springfield, Ohio, that you've been reading about. 911 calls even show residents are reporting that the migrants are walking off with the town's geese. They take into geese. You know, where the geese are in the park, in the lake, and even walking off with their pets. My dog's been taken. My dog's been stolen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Trump's comments coming just a day after Ohio's Republican governor, Governor DeWine came out and said that there is zero evidence to back these claims.
One of the first people to push this story before Trump or Vance though, so we know how did it get started? Well, right-wing activist Laura Loomer.
She notably flew to Philadelphia with Trump before the debate that she was with him, and she's now taking a lot of heat from Republicans, accusing her of feeding Trump conspiracy theories.
Elle Reeve has this piece you'll see first OUTFRONT
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAURA LOOMER, CONSPIRACY THEORIST: The official drink of America first.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is far right activist Laura Loomer and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, cheering to --
LOOMER: To the hostile takeover of the Republican Party.
NICK FUENTES, WHITE NATIONALIST: Absolutely.
REEVE: And they're not wrong. Both met personally with Donald Trump.
I first met Loomer in 2017 at an event for manosphere influencer, Mike Cernovich.
At the time, Loomer was an activist who'd celebrated the deaths of Muslim migrants, but she was being harassed by white nationalist trolls because she's a Jewish woman.
Since then, she's taken a strange trajectory with years somewhat in obscurity because shed been banned from so many social media sites like Twitter. When Elon Musk took over Twitter, she came back. She does stunts like ambush interviews.
LOOMER: Frank, why aren't you supporting President Trump? I'm a successful investigative journalist.
REEVE: Loomer recently told CNN she's not anti-Muslim. Now, some might dispute that she's entered the mainstream, but she's reached the former president's elite inner circle, flying to the presidential debate on Trump's plane, and to New York as he observed the anniversary of 9/11, a notable appearance since Loomer has pushed the false conspiracy theory that 9/11 was an inside job.
She's been seen with Trump a lot.
LOOMER: We're here at Bedminster and with the greatest president ever.
REEVE: After rumor circulated among right-wing Twitter users, including Loomer, that Haitian immigrants are eating people's pets in Ohio, Trump repeated the claim in the debate. TRUMP: They're eating the dogs, the people that came in.
REEVE: I spoke to Loomer before the debate. She told me she's attacked as a childless woman who devotes all her time to a man who will never pay attention to her, meaning Trump. But Trump does pay attention to her and reads her reports.
TRUMP: Laura, how are you? You look so beautiful as always. You don't want to be Loomered. If you're Loomered, you're in deep trouble.
LOOMER: Good morning, everybody. My name is Laura Loomer.
REEVE: She ran for Congress twice and lost. But she told me she built a constituency among the very pro-Trump voters in the Villages, a retirement community that's important in Florida Republican politics.
She called them Boomers for Loomer, and they were paying attention when she began attacking Governor Ron DeSantis for having the temerity to run for president against Trump.
LOOMER: You are never going to be president of the United States of America.
REEVE: Loomer told me one of her donors let it slip that DeSantis was running for president in 2021.
So, on the first stop on the DeSantis book tour, she stood in front with a Trump sign and a T-shirt.
Despite her new closeness to the former president, some pro-Trump Republicans are very against her.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): Her rhetoric and her tone is -- does not match the base, does not match MAGA, does not match most Republicans I know and I am completely denouncing it. I'm over it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Elle, saying that is something, right? I mean, as loyal and big of a MAGA as it gets.
Lindsey Graham today called her comments disturbing. Does she carry influence with others in the Republican Party? And what do they think about her right now, seemingly incredible closeness to Trump?
REEVE: Well, she told me that when she met J.D. Vance, he hugged her even though she was in her words, a childless dog lady.
Now, she also thinks that she's been held on the periphery of the MAGA media world, doesn't get those prime speaking slots and conservative conferences but her work is reaching like regular people.
Last year during the presidential primary, I talked to this man in his 70s who proclaimed Laura Loomer has destroyed the DeSantis campaign almost with a touch of pride.
BURNETT: Wow, it is really incredible to watch -- to watch all of this and obviously in her wanting to have conversations with you.
Elle, thank you so much.
REEVE: Thanks.
BURNETT: All right. Next, a special report. We're going to take you inside a sprawling prison full of gang members. It is in El Salvador this crackdown that you're seeing this prison is taking place as illegal border crossings in the United States are plunging. Are those two things related?
Plus, what is the one comment that Trump made during the debate that is now dominating Google searches.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:38]
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump hitting Harris on the border, just wrapping an event in Arizona repeating without claim is that -- without, you know, his claim without evidence that migrants are pouring across the border from prisons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This is in Honduras alone and Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico. This is all over the world.
And they're coming from prisons and they're coming from jails. We're not going to let this happen to our country.
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BURNETT: Trump specifically has pointed on this issue to El Salvador, once called the murder capital of the world and controlled by gangs for decades. Crime is now plummeting in El Salvador, reported crime as a the U.S. seized hundreds of migrants at the border each day, which has led Trump to make this claim.
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TRUMP: In El Salvador, murders are down by 70 percent. Why are they down? They're down because they're sending their murderers to the United States of America.
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BURNETT: So our David Culver went to El Salvador. He took Trump's claim directly to the country's security minister.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is that true?
GUSTAVO VILLATORO, EL SALVADOR SECURITY MINISTER: No, no, this is -- the problem with that is you don't have fact, you don't have evidence of that. Instead of that, we have evidence where we put our terrorists.
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[19:45:02]
BURNETT: So, David said, well, show me, let me see the evidence.
And he got a very rare look inside El Salvador's prisons for this piece, you'll see first OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER (voice-over): We're layering up to walk through a notoriously gang infested part of El Salvador's capital. The country's defense minister is our tour guide.
And this area, especially -- he said, go back three or four years. And the folks who lived in this area didn't even want to look police and military in the eye.
RENE MERINO, EL SALVADOR DEFENSE MINISTER: If the bad guy look at some civilian people say hi say hi to us, they'd kill them,
CULVER: For decades, gang violence suffocated nearly all aspects of life in El Salvador but now, walking these once deadly streets with the defense minister feels more like a victory parade -- handshakes, hugs, photos, even carrying babies. For some, even asking about the past brings out tears.
Only God knows what it was like here before, she says. Less than a decade ago, El Salvador was labeled the deadliest country in the world. Murders have since plummeted according to government data from more than 6,600 in 2015 to 154 last year, life has seemingly returned to these streets.
Now I feel a little bit silly, even having to wear this. The biggest threat is a slowdown and going to where you need to go because have taken photos and saying hi to people.
But how did it all change so quickly?
Most crediting Nayib Bukele, the country's president.
In 2019, he came into office. His actions controversial, consolidating power, tightening his grip of control, and essentially eliminating any political opposition.
Under a state of emergency, more than 81,000 people arrested. Bukele, even boasting that El Salvador now has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The government says the most hardened gang members end up here at the terrorism confinement center, government images from inside have been widely shared on social media. But most of those arrested are actually kept in facilities like these, a side of El Salvador's prison system few have seen. You can actually see just over where we are, there's row after row
after row.
This facility alone holds roughly 30,000 inmates prisoners are put to work, tasked with rehabilitating themselves and their country.
You can see there's a police vehicle that they're working on.
We tour another facility where inmates are making government uniforms and building desks for local schools. Some inmates are sent it to communities to help heal the nation by erasing parts of a painful past.
President Bukele ordered the inmates to shatter gang tombstones.
So this is one of them here and you can see this is all broken off. They're still buried here and they still have a plot. But any mention of their past gang affiliations and nicknames destroyed.
Driving through the Capitol, we see kids playing, parks packed with vendors and families, and lots of traffic. It all might seem normal but local stress to us, this is all new to them.
It's calm. Before, nobody would visit here. Not even your own family.
Though feeling safer, this woman tells me the drastic changes have come at a devastating cost.
She's saying her son who helps her normally financially is in jail. So, for her, yeah. It might be safer here, but economically, it's no better.
She says her son is being held at one of the work prisons we visited, but that he is innocent and has not been given the opportunity to defend himself. It's a claim many have made against the government.
But the Bukele administration is adamant that they've taken lawful and necessary steps to liberate this country. We meet this woman who says she's been able to move in thanks to the changes.
So for her to be here in this space now, to have a little business, she says has been a blessing.
Keeping the gangs out has meant military patrols at all hours, though now, even the sight of armored trucks with flashing lights surrounded by heavily armed soldiers no longer intimidating for residents, so much as fascinating.
[19:50:09]
They're just curious and wanting to take a picture and video the inside of some of this military equipment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President says, this is a miracle, he says. This is a miracle. CULVER: And perhaps like a miracle, El Salvador's transformation has
its skeptics and doubters, but most everyone we find here -- for now at least developed believers, hopeful this change will last it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURENTT: It's absolutely incredible and to be able to see what's going on in those prisons, David.
And as part of your reporting, you also met with migrants but not the kind that Americans think of you're talking about people who left the United States and cross the border to go south to El Salvador. Who are they?
CULVER: And I feel like most of the time, you and I, Erin, are talking about immigration, I'm usually at the border and talking about the people who are trying to get into the U.S. You're right.
This is the other direction we're talking about. Two different things that we're looking at. Okay? You're talking about the folks who are deciding not to leave and are staying in El Salvador. And it's interesting because we pull the numbers from Customs and Border Protection. If you go back to the start of that controversial state of emergency in 2022 and you go one year out, the number of people crossing the southern border from El Salvador dropped 36 percent, is on track to drop even further this year.
Is it causation? Is it correlation? Too early to see, but certainly coincidental with the start of that very, very aggressive crackdown under President Bukele.
The other part of this is, as you say, people who left El Salvador years ago and who are now going back, some of them to start their lives a new within their home country. And others like this woman we met, who are just visiting after having left as young children and getting to re-know their homeland.
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JESSICA DOS SANTOS, U.S. RESIDENT VISITING EL SALVADOR: This can't be the same country. There's no way, because I don't see that. I feel super safe and now I'm like kind of sad that I've lost so many years and I have seen my family for like 30 something years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CULVER: So, we met several folks who had a similar response to that. I mean, I think that was really eye-opening for us and we really struggled, Erin, to find people who didn't feel safe for there. Yes, there are a lot of questions over the tactics here. There's a lot of concerns and human rights groups have raised these concerns, but the people there have a very, very adamant firm stance that they feel safe or in tomorrow night around this time, I'm going to share a bit more about the folks who have returned to El Salvador.
BURNETT: Which is -- I mean, a fascinating part of the story and totally untold.
David Culver, thank you, and I want everyone to know, as David said, part two of this incredible reporting, well be here tomorrow night OUTFRONT with David and we'll see you then.
And next after the debate, what is the one thing that people are googling about Trump? Harry Enten knows and he will tell you.
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[19:57:49]
BURNETT: Tonight, Gen Z weighing in. Kamala Harris is running laps around Donald Trump on TikTok. A new analysis showing that a whopping 71 percent of the top performing its about her in the past week on TikTok or positive. As for Trump, the situation was reversed, 72 percent of the top post mentioning him were negative.
So Harry Enten is with me to go beyond the numbers.
All right. So, Harry, when you look at that just as a general proxy for youthful enthusiasm and exuberance, you see it. She's riding high. This obviously could still be though a very tight race. So does the energy match the reality?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I mean, look, we have a new "Reuters"/Ipsos poll that came out after the debate. It has Harris up by five points, but that's in fact not much of a change from where we were last month when it was Harris by four.
I think the general picture looking out in the polling here is yes, Harris is doing better than she did when she gone in the race. In terms of post-debate versus pre-debate, I think there's been a little bit of movement across the different metrics that I'm looking at. But the bottom line is not that much movement, which I guess it's not so surprising to a 50/50 country, right?
BURNETT: Right, now that would make, that would make sense. But again, you start with two, you get to four and five.
ENTEN: That's good, that's better.
BURNETT: Those are big moves.
ENTEN: Relatively speaking, right?
BURNETT: So, all right, so in the debate, Trump made his waves not for the reasons that his campaign wanted him to write. They wanted him to lay out policy, but you did some digging and found out what is actually breaking through that he said, what people are looking at.
ENTEN: What are the rising things that people are googling along with Donald Trumps name? It's not what Donald Trumps campaign would necessarily want, right? It's eating pets. It's eating dogs. It's eating cats. Obviously, that was Donald Trumps moment on the debate stage. Of
course, that's a fugazi story. It's not real. It's fake. Yet he went after it.
This is a disaster, who the heck, if you're running a presidential campaign that you'd want your name being Google with eating pets, eating dogs, eating cats. My goodness gracious.
BURNETT: Well, I mean, maybe he thinks it's a win.
ENTEN: I hope he's wrong.
BURNETT: All right. So he is shutting down the possibility of another debate, maybe because even though he says he won, he seen that Reuters/Ipsos poll. He's seeing what people think.
All right, so he could change his mind. Erin Perrine was saying he will change his mind again and we don't know what will happen, but is it better for him as you look at the numbers to do another debate or not.
ENTEN: Well, Republican voters believe that he in fact should do another debate because perhaps they feel like he can't do particularly worse than he did in that debate against Kamala Harris.
Interestingly enough, Democrats actually do not want another debate, just 35 percent want another debate. That, of course, makes sense as well, because I think a lot of those Democrats feel like, hey, Kamala Harris beat Donald Trump. Let's run off the field right now.
BURNETT: But that's what I was saying to Axelrod. Why not just take your chips and go? And he said, well, sometimes you really want to make sure you get the win.
All right. Thank you, Harry Enten.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And thanks so much to all of you for joining us.
It's time now as always for Anderson.
