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Erin Burnett Outfront
Harris Denounces Trump's "Hate" In First Interview After Debate; Justice Speaks Out About Impact Of Trump Immunity Ruling; Town Under Threat As Trump Repeats False Pet Eating Claim. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired September 13, 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:
Harris rails against Trump's hate and division as the former president doubles down on a false claim the Haitian immigrants are eating pets, running a conspiracy theorist who's racist tweets about Harris are so offensive that Marjorie Taylor Greene is up in arms.
Plus, Springfield, Ohio, the town that Trump won't stop spreading rumors about is under siege tonight. Bomb threats have happened. Schools been shut down now for the second day. Mayor of Springfield will be OUTFRONT.
And the country Trump is obsessed with, painting El Salvador is to blame for the border crisis, and criminals coming into the U.S. So, CNN went there and what we found -- well, we'll share it with you.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, hate and division, that is a quote from the Vice President Kamala Harris, who is taking on Trump and his rhetoric.
In her first interview since the debate, Harris saying, quote, I think people are more willing now in light of the hate and division that we see coming out of Donald Trump to say, hey, lets put country first. And I think that just makes us stronger and more healthy as a country. Let's stop with the division like enough of that.
Well, this new interview coming as Trump speaks out about controversial right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer. Now, Loomer has been by his side quite constantly recently, including traveling to the debate with him and just before the debate, Loomer says -- said that if Harris wins the election, quote, the White House will smell like curry and White House speeches will be facilitated via a call center.
Well, now, Trump is saying -- just coming out and making a comment, writing, Laura Loomer doesn't work with the campaign. She's a private citizen and a longtime supporter.
Kind of sounds like he's trying to distance himself, but actually know he's trying to have it both ways because he continues to write: I disagree with the statements she made, but like the many millions of people who support me, she is tired of watching the radical left Marxists and fascists violently attack and smear me. He disagrees, but -- well, Loomer, of course, was with Trump before the debate, where the foreign president again brought up that migrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio. That is a baseless claim that Trump is still tripling down on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: The mayor of Springfield, Ohio, the police chief, the Republican governor of Ohio all debunked this story about people eating pets and now there are bomb threats at schools and kids being evacuated. Why do you still spread this false story?
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, no, no. The real threat is what's happening at our border because you have thousands of people being killed by illegal migrants coming in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right, I]m going to speak to the mayor of Springfield in a few moments, which is now dealing with bomb threats, school has had to be canceled for two days because of the story about eating pets.
Meanwhile, Vice President Harris today taking the fight to Trump in the must-win state of Pennsylvania.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let us be clear: someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States of America should never again stand behind the seal of the president of the United States, never again.
(CHEERING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Harris just wrapping up a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and that location is important to note, is a county that Trump won in 2020.
Priscilla Alvarez is OUTFRONT. She's in Wilkes-Barre.
And, Priscilla, you've been learning more about Harris's strategy moving forward and she has been spending, what, six of the past seven days in Pennsylvania and I know from where what you were seeing today, you got a taste of the strategy we're going to see in these future days. PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Erin. Sources have been telling me that the vice president is expected to up her travel to these more rural and red counties in an attempt to peel off voters from former President Donald Trump.
And today is a glimpse of that. The vice president going to two counties that Donald Trump won in 2020, and won by double-digits. Now, we saw something similar a few weeks ago when the vice president also did a swing through south Georgia, again hitting those rural red counties.
Now, campaign officials telling me that they're trying to up her support in these areas and that all of it is a reflection of how close they see this race, that even if they can peel off a few voters in each of these counties, that that can really help them come November.
[19:05:09]
Now, of course the campaign has been looking for multiple pathways to those 270 electoral votes, but each time, Pennsylvania is critical to that. And we know that from the vice president's travel, as you mentioned, over the last several days with a majority of her time has been spent in this state.
Now, while she was here in her remarks, she specifically focused on job opportunities and yeah, pretty next is adviser told me that was intentional. The idea of trying to appeal to some of those voters who perhaps are not diehard Democrats, but they're also uninterested in former President Donald Trump in trying to make an argument here on the economy.
I will also note that it was a Republican who introduced the vice president and that has been part of the campaign narrative as well, that she is trying to appeal to Republicans, independents, and Democrats. So, clearly trying to make a play here in this county that voted for former President Donald Trump.
Now, of course, the campaign knows that they need to look at multiple strategies to try to clinch a victory in November. That also includes trying to forego some of the traditional media so big remarks and speeches about policy rollout and also try to find other opportunities to continue the energy of this campaign -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Priscilla, thank you very much in Wilkes-Barre tonight.
And everyone here with me now.
So, David Urban, you know, the context of what you see Trump doing, you know, he's tripled down on conspiracy theories about Springfield, Ohio, and migrants there obviously also talking about the border. Harris has been focusing on saying, well, this is hate and division, that's what it's about. Is he helping her make her case? We do think this is hurting him right now or not?
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, I'd like to see the president focused more of his time on the issues that people are telling everybody that they care about, right? The economy, homeownership, things that keep pulling very high and not focused on things like, you know, missing -- missing geese and stray dogs.
I think, you know, it's kind of laughable, Kamala Harris is talking about division. But at the same rally, she's up there talking about it's basically lying, spreading disinformation about President Trump's Project 2025. He's going to take your abortions away -- right to an abortion away, all things which President Trump, Erin, as you know, has disavowed, has said on the record numerous times, I won't -- I won't send -- I won't sign an abortion ban, Project 2025, I disavowed.
It's everywhere. You know, there are good people on both sides. She continues to say the same old lies over and over again. And nobody is checking her.
And the thing that she's not talking about, Erin, in these counties that she goes too, which is which I applaud her for going to -- going to Luzerne, Lackawanna County and Wilkes-Barre there and then go into Cambria County and Johnstown today, because she needs -- people need to see her, they need to hear from her. And once they do hear from her, she's going to lose by even worse because she gave an interview today to or maybe it was yesterday to an ABC affiliate in Philly, when asked what she's going to do for the economy, he talked about growing up as a kid.
She shouldn't answer the question. She hasn't answered anybody's questions.
BURNETT: Ashley?
URBAN: She needs to start answering questions. I agree. I agree with Jim Clyburn. Get up there and answer questions, talk to people.
BURNETT: Ashley?
ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VP HARRIS: I mean, speaking of not answering questions, I don't think David actually answered your question, which is, you know --
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: I said Trump shouldn't do it.
ETIENNE: Do what? What's the -- he should not be doing, stoking the flames.
URBAN: He shouldn't be talking about missing cats and dogs. Shouldn't keep talking about cats and dog.
ETIENNE: It's actually the effect of what he's saying. See, I mean the reality is that Trump's words are incredibly powerful. We've seen this before when he came down that escalator and he called Mexicans rapists. And then he became the president and, you know, he signaled to white nationalists, he -- you know, racial tension was at an all time high. And people across America were feeling threatened by what the president was saying. Their lives were feeling threatened by what the president saying. And that's what we're seeing right now.
And I think the sad thing is it's a silence of Republicans. They're not rebuking with the president saying they're not disavowing with the presence saying and the effect of his words. That's what's sad about this.
And I think that's what the vice president was talking about today is the question that's before us now is do we want to live in that Donald Trump America? Do we want to go back to a time where we were -- your neighbors, your family, your friends were feeling very threatened, their lives feeling threatened by literally and figuratively by the president's words.
BURNETT: Abby, you know, one --
URBAN: But --
BURNETT: I just wanted -- I just want to ask you something about the Springfield issue first, though, Abby, this is when he does go beyond the pets. He tries to make the point that Springfield has been overrun and Springfield has had an incredible influx or a third of the increase in population because of immigrants. And he's trying to hone in on this issue.
So this is what he said today at that press conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: In Springfield, Ohio, 20,000 illegal Haitian migrants have descended upon a town of 58,000 people, destroying their way of life. They've destroyed their life.
[19:10:01]
So people don't like to talk about it because -- even the town doesn't like to talk about it because it sounds so bad for the town.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Does that resonate?
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST, NEWSNIGHT: I think it resonates with some people. The problem is, first of all, what he's saying is also not true. The idea that they're all in his words illegal, it's not true. I mean, they're here on a temporary protective status which is a legal status because they are fleeing unrest in Haiti.
But secondarily, I mean, Trump talks about these things in very oblique ways. They are destroying their way of life. There are real challenges that this town is facing. The Republican governor of the state of Ohio has said, you know what, this is a real issue. Here's what we're going to do, we're going to bring support to this town. But Trump -- rather than dealing with it in a real way, is trying to stoke this idea that they're changing how you live your life. They are not like you. They never will be like you.
And that is at the core of his -- I don't even like to call it really an immigration message. This is a nativist message. That's how he sees the immigration issue. If it were just about who's here legally and illegally, he'd be talking about visa overstays, from all over the world, which is not just from people in the southern part of this hemisphere.
But that's not what this is about for Trump, and that does work for a lot of people who are very susceptible to arguments that other people are coming in taking things that belong to them, changing their way of life.
BURNETT: So, David, do you think they move beyond this? But this is actually lasted several -- longer than most things do in the news cycle. David, this issue of Springfield, and it's not going away. Does that -- do you think that that edge has some sort of staying power?
URBAN: Yeah, I'm not quite sure why the former president continues to fixate on it.
Listen, if you want to talk about real problems, talk about Laken Riley, ask Mayor Eric Adams, use his own words --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Who is, of course, killed while she was jogging in Atlanta.
URBAN: Yeah. I mean, there are real problems that come about because of, individual cases that you want to -- you want to highlight and talk about problems you can use those cases.
Mayor Eric Adams has said it's tearing New York City apart. They can't do it. Cities are busting at the seams by taking in all these illegal immigrants that it's tearing communities apart, big communities, big cities, small cities.
So the president could do so without focusing on Springfield. I think he at this point should probably move on.
BURNETT: Ashley, do you think at this point, you know, we had a five- point lead for Harris in the Reuters/Ipsos poll that came out last night. And you go through a whole lot of polling, some of which we use on CNN, some of which we don't, but very easy to build a case and polling right now that maybe there's -- she's within the margin of error, but she's up not everywhere, but in a lot out of places, enough to win, all right, easily.
Do you think that that's the way this really is right now, or do you think that she truly is the underdog, as she again and again, describe herself as well?
ETIENNE: Well, I mean, I think, you know, Donald Trump typically overperforms in an election than he does in the polls. So there's always some secret sort of Trump voter that's out there, that's being -- not being completely upfront when it comes to the polling.
But I think the most important thing is if we get back to Abby's point like it is working, but its not working with that 1 to 2 percent of the population that he needs to actually help win this election. That's why he's hit a ceiling in the polls. That's why he's stubbornly at 48 percent.
It does work with some Americans, but definitely not those that he needs to bring to the table. He continues to isolate them with this type of rhetoric.
And there's a way in which we can talk about solutions without demonizing people, without alienating people, without undermining the very fabric of our nation. And that's what the president continues to do. It continues to go down this path of division rather than uniting the party.
And that's partly why -- that's partly why Kamala Harris is really hitting momentum, $500 million she's already raised. That signifies that the country does not want a third season of Donald Trump. They're over this kind of rhetoric.
To your point, everybody's ready to turn the page, except for that 48 percent. Well, that's a problem.
BURNETT: Well, it's -- and it's a big, it's a big number, too, because it does show that margin of error.
ETIENNE: It shows where we are a nation.
BURNETT: Right.
Abby, obviously, the outcome of this race, everything is at stake for Trump right? If you lose loses, he could be going to jail, everything is on the line. I mean, in various - everyone -- people may feel that for their own reasons, but today, you had a chance and incredible interview that you had to sit down with the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, and she spoke to you about that incredibly important and controversial immunity ruling that could mean everything for Trump.
And I just wanted to play part of your conversation with her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: In one of your dissenting opinions, this is on the presidential immunity case, a major decision by the court. You characterize the majority's opinion as a five alarm fire. That is pretty dire language. Why did you specifically use those words?
[19:15:03]
JUSTICE KETANJI BROWN JACKSON, U.S. SUPREME COURT: Well, my dissent in that opinion was secondary dissent. Justice Sotomayor wrote the primary dissent, with which I fully agreed and I wrote that in my opinion. I wanted to highlight some of the consequences that I foresaw as a result of this particular decision.
This was a significant case. I think everyone -- everybody recognized that and I thought it was important to make clear to the American people, at least my view of what the potential consequences were.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What stood out the most to you about what she said?
PHILLIP: Well, look, I mean, the use of that language, five alarm fire, obviously its nothing in these opinions are accidental or put in there flippantly. This is her version of underscoring, underlining how dire she thinks the consequences are of this decision to create a form of immunity for presidents that was as broad as what the majority did.
And that concern went beyond even what the other dissenting justices, Sotomayor and Kagan had to say about that issue. So I think it really shows there and she's very careful person, Erin, as most justices are yet, but it shows there that there was a level of concern that went above and beyond even what she concurred with.
And she doesn't go into a great deal of detail about what those consequences could be. But she believes clearly that it was a mistake to create this category of immunity for presidents because of the consequences that it could be for the entire country.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Abby, thank you very much, of course. Ashley and David, thank you.
And please, don't miss Abby's full interview with Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, that is on "NEWSNIGHT" tonight at 10:00.
And next, Springfield, Ohio, the town of the false claims about immigrants eating pets is under siege, literal siege, bomb threats, schools have been closed now for two days. Kids haven't been able to go to school. The city's mayor is next.
Plus, Laura Loomer, not the only conspiracy theorist who's been associated recently with the Trump campaign. We've got new details about who next.
And Trump pending the border crisis this on this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Iran, El Salvador. El Salvador. El Salvador.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, we went to El Salvador to see if Trump's claim adds up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:22:03] BURNETT: Tonight, bomb threats in Springfield, Ohio, led to evacuations of several schools for the second day in a row. This is Trump triples down on his rhetoric against immigrants in the area.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio, large deportation. We're going to get these people out. We're bringing them back to Venezuela?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Springfield Mayor Rob Rue.
And, Mayor Rue, I appreciate your time. I know this has been a difficult few days for your town. I just want to ask you, we know that there has been bomb threats in school that -- that led to the evacuations of schools have had to be closed for a couple of days here.
What more can you tell us about those threats and when you're going to be able to reopen those schools, if you, if you even feel you'll be confident have to do that next week?
MAYOR ROB RUE, SPRINGFIELD, OHIO: Well, thank you for having me on. These first have come through emails and so, you know, we have, of course, any threat you receive, we have to research it. We have to be -- we believe and hope that will be back to school on Monday, but when they come in, we have to research and but they are coming in through emails.
BURNETT: They're coming in through emails. So, you know, when you hear the former president you just heard him a moment ago promising to deport migrants from Springfield. He's saying to Venezuela, I don't know if there's migrants in Springfield from Venezuela. You would know more than I do about that.
We do know that there have been about 15,000 Haitians who have come to your area in the past several years, which obviously choose significant. You had a city of 60,000, you get 15,000 people coming in. That's -- that's a big thing. It's a big difference.
But when it comes to deporting them, is that what the city wants? Does that -- is that fit with what you're hearing from people who live there?
RUE: I mean, there's certainly some folks that would like to see that happen. You know what we would like to see is peace in our community. You know, we have a beautiful city. We have a city that is resilient than wants to move forward together.
We were an economic decline ten years ago, over the last ten years, have 8,000 new jobs in our community. So we're very resilient and we will come through this time.
BURNETT: So, you know, the rumor or the eating pets issue, obviously, has taken a life of its own as you're well aware.
Senator Ted Cruz tweeted out a picture. It had a blatantly racist caption on it: Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don't eat us. There were some cats on it.
Elon Musk gave the story oxygen on X. He just tweeted out a picture of a baby duck, duckling and a kitten. And outside of social media, their headlines pushing it on several Trump's supporting outlets, which I'm showing right now.
Tonight, we are learning though, Mayor, that law enforcement went through nearly a year of calls received in Springfield, nearly a year. None of them received another -- those calls received concerns pets being eaten, but they had to go through a year of calls, right, to try to fact-check. Did this happen or not, people calling about their pets being eaten?
[19:25:04]
All right. You're sitting there as a matter of Springfield and you do have serious issues, right? You've got issues with -- you've got problems right now that you're dealing with.
Are these rumors out there about eating pets, diverting crucial resources that you need?
RUE: Well, let's talk about pets first. I just want to clearly say as pet lover, your pets are safe in Springfield, Ohio. And it's odd that I even have to tell the national media, that that's a fact, but it is a fact. We're beautiful, beautiful city. So, you know, we, like you said, we have problems in when anytime a population grows 25 percent in three, it's going to be a concern and we've heard infrastructure concern.
We've asked for state help. Our governor Mike DeWine to stepped in. He's helped us with coordinated effort state highway patrol to focus on reckless operation. He's not sent troops to Springfield.
We have an effort with the state patrol that has come together and helped our city police department in county sheriff. And that's been -- that's been valued.
In the same time, we've also had two and a half million dollars over the next two years that the state is committed to help our health care system with basically translation services. These folks are here. We don't see them leaving anytime soon. We want to get our arms around the situation and be able to communicate with those that are here right now.
BURNETT: So, you know, I don't know what your politics are, doesn't matter what your politics are. You're the mayor.
Trump is --
RUE: I'm a nonpartisan elected official.
BURNETT: Nonpartisan mayor.
So I asked you this in that, in that capacity, just you managing it as a mayor. Trump's floated the possibility of campaigning in Springfield. Would that -- would that be okay? Would that be something that could -- could happen that you would be able to handle in Springfield?
RUE: I would say within the last two days and the amount of overtime and the amount of stress that's put on our law enforcement and help we've had. And also the threats we've had to make sure that are there credible, but yet aren't real, that we have to look at that.
So it'd be a strain. So it would be -- it would be definitely a strain to have any at the one of the candidates come to Springfield, Ohio.
BURNETT: Mayor Rue, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much for coming on and talking to me.
RUE: Thanks for having me on. Thanks for having me on.
BURNETT: All right. And next vaccine skeptics and election deniers, there's new reporting tonight on the controversial conspiracy theorists that right now are sort of in that inner circle of the Trump campaign.
Plus, Trump claiming El Salvador is to blame for the border crisis. So CNN went there and ask the question, and went on the ground to see our droves of migrants really trying to flee for the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: But in the past three to four years, this country has seen a radical transformation. Locals tell us that they finally feel safe and up to be outside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:07]
BURNETT: Tonight, quote, a free spirit. That's how Donald Trump has described far-right conspiracy theorists, Laura Loomer, use those words today. Here's some of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Look, I can't tell you Laura what to do. Laura is a supporter. I have a lot of supporters.
She is a strong person. She's got strong opinions and I don't know what she said, but that's not up to me.
She is a supporter. She brings a spirit to us that a lot of people have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, Loomer has been by Trump's side. She traveled with him to Tuesday's debate and was with him to commemorate September 11. And she's not the only conspiracy theorists that Trump is talking to right now.
Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRIS: Kamala Harris --
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Right before the debate began. There he was, former President Donald Trump calling into a social media war room set up by his campaign.
TRUMP: You guys are more than I am actually because you get the word out.
FOREMAN: According to "The New York Times", the room connected roughly 18 conservative influencers set to pound out repost to Ms. Harris's every utterance while vigorously defending Mr. Trump.
And they did. Among them --
ROGAN O'HANDLEY, CONSPIRACY THEORIST: I am just telling the truth about current events.
FOREMAN: Vaccine skeptic and election denier Rogan O'Handley, who gave his nearly 3 million Instagram followers and image to suggest the moderators carried Harris through the whole night.
TRUMP: Get around.
FOREMAN: Chaya Raichik, known for conservative campaigns over school curriculums.
CHAYA RAICHIK, CREATOR, LIBS OF TIKTOK: We're up against a weaponized system, or nothing is out of bounds. The only option is to keep fighting back.
FOREMAN: She reinforced the Trump trope that Joe Biden is furious over having step aside.
TRUMP: And you know what? I'll give you a little secret. He hates her. He can't stand her.
JACK POSOBIEC, RIGHT-WING ACTIVIST: This is the regime that we will overturn.
FOREMAN: And Jack Posobiec, who has openly talked about ending democracy, wade into suggest the uproar over Trump saying pets are being eaten is just laughable.
LAURA LOOMER, CONSPIRACY THEORIST: I'm with the greatest president ever, President Donald Trump. FOREMAN: None of those folks seem as close to Trump has influenced
Laura Loomer, who has been seen with Trump a lot lately. She has also drawn fire for conspiracy theories, and frankly, racist ideas.
TRUMP: You're a very opinionated lady. I have to tell you that, and in my opinion, I like that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: And, yeah. As you note, Erin, he's pushed her aside a little bit, but only a little bit. Why does he like all these people? Because they give him access to millions of fans without going through traditional news agencies like us and the fact checks that we bring -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Tom, thank you very much.
So I want to go to Marc Caputo now from "The Bulwark". He's got new reporting about Trump's relationship with Laura Loomer.
So, Marc, you heard what Tom said, you know, he's been trying to distance himself maybe just a little bit of what we heard, but not fully. He obviously traveled with her to the debate.
[19:35:02]
Loomer was with him in New York and Pennsylvania on September 11th. What can you tell us about their relationship? How much time her has been spending with her?
MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE BULWARK: I can't say the full amount of time that Trump has spent with Laura Loomer, but on numerous occasions, he's invited her to fly along with him because he really likes her spirit, as he said and he loves the facts that not only is she a Trump defender, but she is a Trump attacker.
That is anyone who criticizes President Trump or especially on the Republican side, anyone who is not vociferously in favor of him, she just decimates. I mean, she will take a flame thrower to them.
BURNETT: Yeah.
CAPUTO: If you look at her Twitter feed, it's pretty caustic stuff.
BURNETT: So, it is -- it is -- caustic would be an understatement. People can look for themselves.
CAPUTO: Yeah.
BURNETT: Here's the thing though, Marc, Trump almost hire -- almost hire her on the campaign last year and then his team stepped in to make sure it didn't happen. So you've got many of his closest allies now denouncing her.
I mean, it's certainly we all heard what Marjorie Taylor Greene said this week. I'll play it again for anyone who didn't. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): I have concerns about her rhetoric and hateful tone. To me, many of the comments that she makes and how she attacks Republicans like me, many other Republicans that are strong supporters of President Trump, I think they are a huge problem, and that doesn't represent MAGA as a whole.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, you talk to sources in Trump's inner circle how, how is -- how are they, how is Trump's campaign responding to her presence and influence on Trump right now?
CAPUTO: I mean, there are some people who don't like her being around former president Trump. And some of those people kept her from getting a job with a campaign as he had mentioned.
But otherwise, they view Marjorie Taylor Greene as suddenly the keeper of etiquette, clutching their pearls and needing her fainting couch, and the smelling salts as a bit much. I mean, the reality is there's a personality dispute between her and Laura Loomer. That doesn't mean that she's not right about this, but this is the Jewish space lasers woman after all.
So, they're just keeping their distance from it. Lindsey Graham has also criticized Laura Loomer, but Lindsey Graham has also gone off script a number of times and not given the Trump campaign message as well.
So between the three of them, Donald Trump is obviously closer to Laura Loomer. I mean, that's why he's had her fly around with him.
BURNETT: Yeah.
CAPUTO: And even after there was a considerable amount of blowback, he barely distance himself from her me. He really likes Laura.
BURNETT: He really does.
Now, there's been discussion about what role she played. There had been somebody said, oh, she was the one that they gave him the migrants eating pets line. What are you learning about where Trump got that line?
CAPUTO: We saw it publicly, he got from J.D. Vance, his vice presidential running mate, the Ohio senator. J.D. Vance was the one who really kind of mainline this into the Trump campaign and then Trump saw it. He saw the social media activity from the far right and celebrated it. And he sort of ran with it.
It wasn't Loomer who brought that there. Now, don't give me a wrong. Loomer kind of joined in. But the idea that Laura Loomer is really an adviser of Trump, that's not quite the case. She is someone there to sort of lend support that he likes being around and he likes her spirit and energy, as he said. BURNETT: All right. Well, Marc, always great to talk to you and thank
you.
CAPUTO: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, Trump repeatedly blaming El Salvador for much of the U.S. border crisis. But the numbers right now are that fewer people from El Salvador crossing into the United States. So how come?
Well, our David Culver went to find out.
And he's a bestselling author, economic adviser to presidents on both sides of the aisle. So what does he think of Harris's plan for the economy?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:43:12]
BURNETT: Tonight, a country Trump can't stop talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: El Salvador murders are down by 70 percent. If you go to El Salvador. You take a look at El Salvador. Iran, El Salvador. El Salvador. El Salvador.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Trump, claiming migrants from El Salvador have been flooding across the border to the United States. Now as we showed you last night, our David Culver went to El Salvador and for the second part of a special report tonight, he is going to show you the truth of how many people are actual leaving El Salvador right now.
Here's his report that you're seeing first OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the U.S. southern border, we've seen the desperation and determination of folks trying to get into the U.S., often fleeing the unimaginable.
DIEGO MORALES, IMMIGRANT: Sometimes you go to sleep, you never know if you're going to wake up.
CULVER: Diego Morales dreamed of a better life, escaping the horrors of El Salvador's brutal civil war.
MORALES: I like United States. We're here for most 30 years. So I can say, also, this is my country.
CULVER: Hey, I'm David. Nice to meet you.
He's made Houston, Texas, home, starting a business and a family here. But Diego now noticing fewer Salvadorans following his path. MORALES: And always safe, you know, so people stay in over there.
CULVER: Less than a decade ago, El Salvador was labeled the murder capital of the world. Gangs were essentially in charge.
But in the past three to four years, this country has seen a radical transformation. Locals tell us that they finally feel safe enough to be outside.
Which may explain the sharp drop in migrants from El Salvador attempting to enter the U.S.
CBP data shows a 36 percent decrease in Salvadorans crossing the southern border from 2022 to last year, with numbers expected to fall even further this year.
[19:45:08]
But the data only tells part of the story.
We meet Blanca Flores and Victor Bolanos. They fled El Salvador in 2003, leaving their three college-age sons behind.
From all the people you worked with, planning to eventually bring them to Colorado, at least that was the plan.
They were able to get their kids through schooling and everything through their work in the U.S.
And after 15 years, the couple lost their asylum claim and was forced to accept a so-called voluntary departure back to El Salvador.
It's a lot of work, returning just ahead of the country's pivotal 2019 presidential elections.
That 37-year-old Nayib Bukele won in 2022, declared a controversial state of emergency that is still in effect.
Arresting within 81,000 people and counting, he's consolidated power, tightened his grip of control and essentially eliminated any political opposition.
And yet Blanca says Bukele more like a concern father.
Two years ago, the Bukele administration introduced financial incentives for citizens looking to return to El Salvador. The government reports nearly 19,000 Salvadorans have moved back under this program.
And you think the economy will get better because security is better.
VICTOR BOLANOS, EL SALVADORIAN: Yeah, immigrant can stop. We have our job.
CULVER: Human rights groups, though, question Bukele's tactics in cracking down on gangs, alleging widespread abuse and claiming that many innocent people have been swept up in the mass arrests.
But the government stands by its actions as does nearly everyone we meet here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can imagine how afraid I was that one of my sons were going recruited for the gang member or here.
CULVER: And you think President Bukele save them from that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right.
CULVER: In some places, the millennial leader and his social media posts, or seemingly revered and good for marketing, attracting locals and folks visiting like.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This can't be the same country. There's no way.
CULVER: This is your families.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is my aunt.
CULVER: Jessica left as a child with her parents during the civil war. This is her first time back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm like kind of sad that I've lost so many years and now have seen my family for like 30-something years.
CULVER: Investors also seeing the potential here. We meet up with one of them, a familiar face.
Diego, how are you? What a place you have?
Diego Morales in town with his family, checking in on his boutique hotel, which opened a year ago on the land his parents once worked, but could never afford to buy. Now, he is the owner.
MORALES: But here, they can stay here alone. Everything is safe, you know?
CULVER: While some locals make it clear, their land is not for sale, the surging prices along the coast are too good for others to pass up.
This used to be gang lookout basically, they would have scoured to keep their eyes.
MORALES: Yeah. They called it post, you know, having people were hid over there, you know?
CULVER: But now it's potentially the sight of luxury and relaxation.
MORALES: Yeah, just totally different now.
CULVER: During a period of time, the noise that we would hear there would be say, gunfire, gunfire, but now its construction noise.
New roads, luxury homes and resorts all coming soon. Diego is not the only one in his family who sees the possibilities
here.
You can see building the future here?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.
CULVER: His son, Jairo (ph), born and raised in the U.S., an American now, looking south for his Salvadoran dream.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: David, I mean, it's incredible what you found there and you have been to so many of the countries at the center of the U.S. border crisis, right? Whether Haiti, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, you've been to all of them reporting in these recent years and months.
So when people and leaders from some of those other countries, some of which are not at all in the same situation as El Salvador, right now, do they look at El Salvador and say, this is good, we can do this too, we can sustain this?
CULVER: You get a couple of different perspective. It's interesting -- interesting you mentioned those countries because we went to all those countries before we went to El Salvador. And in each of those countries, Erin -- I mean, I was shocked how many folks came up to us and would at sometime mentioned President Bukele, not even their presidents. Someone say, oh, we want him to be our president.
Now officials and even some military commanders from those countries behind closed doors. They tell us, we don't believe it. We're skeptical of what Bukele is allegedly done and they're critical of it.
So, now, the argument from Bukele's team is that that's because there are envious.
[19:50:01]
That aside, the folks of El Salvador, you see it there, most of them say they're happy with what's happened. To sustain it, to answer your question, they said the economy needs to follow.
BURNETT: And we'll see.
David Culver, thank you so much as always for such important reporting. Thank you.
And next, he's advised multiple presidents. He was at the White House today and tonight, he's got a very specific idea for Kamala Harris. John Hope Bryant is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:55:06] BURNETT: Breaking news, Vice President Kamala Harris, moments ago making a direct economic pitch to Pennsylvania voters in a county that Trump won by nearly 15 points.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRIS: When I've talked about building an opportunity economy, it is grounded in that foundational belief that when given an opportunity, people excel every day, every day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, John Hope Bryant. He's an entrepreneur, a leading expert on personal finance and best-selling author, including for the book "Financial Literacy For All".
And he has advised Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.
And today he was at the White -- at the White House today for a meeting on President Biden's remaining economic agenda.
So, John, you know, as you're in the center of this moment here, one of your areas of expertise is housing, which is now a core to the Harris campaign. She's made it a priority. She just talked about it tonight at her rally in Pennsylvania. She says she's going to make housing more affordable and she focuses in on a couple of things.
One is she's going to build more housing units, 3 million more, she says and then she's offered up to $25,000 in government paid down payment help for homebuyers and a $10,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers. I know though, John, that you think there's another idea that she needs to include in her plan and it is specific. It is a 40- year mortgage.
How come?
JOHN HOPE BRYANT, ENTREPRENUER & AUTHOR, "FINANCIAL LITERACY FOR ALL": Yeah. Well, in 1930, when 30-year mortgage was created, we lived about 59-years-old. So it was about half of your life? And now were living at about 80 -- 80-years-old, 81 or better with wellness. And so, a 40 year mortgage time to upgrade the software on it.
The benefit of it is if you run it through the federal home loan banks system and for first-time homeowners, you get a three-and-a-half to four-and-a-half percent rate, subsidized rate, you have say by $500 a month on a $300,000 mortgage, which is a game changer for people with too much month at the end of their money.
So you got to, in the short-term, give people a chance to get into houses before the three main homes gets built, because it takes some time for the private sector to do that. And we should note, it's a private sector is going to build homes, not the government, and so, the down-payment assistance that has to go through Congress. These other things have to go through Congress. This is something that can happen pretty much right now. And it allows
you to get be affordable now. And a three-and-a-half to 4.5 percent mortgage is also becomes an asset parallel to the asset itself. If God forbid you pass on, you can give the sheer child the home and the benefit of the three-and-a-half to 4 percent assumable mortgage because after five or ten years is the preference would burn off. So it moves with the person.
BURNETT: All right. Now, I know you've always -- you're an unabashed capitalist and yet you're talking obviously about a subsidized rate and part of Harris his plan, right, is that she says it will incentivize homeownership by this $25,000 tax incentive, right.
So the criticism of this is when you put out a subsidy on interest rate or you put out $25,000 of an incentive, you know, you give someone that to buy a home, they don't get the benefit. It just pushes up the asset price.
One economist said, I think it's a bad idea. The ultimate beneficiary of that credit is not going to be first-time home buyers. It's going to be people selling homes, right? So on the $25,000, I'm going to give you that then they just jack up the house price by $25,000, right?
Do you think that's a fair criticism? Do you have hesitation about an incentive like that are a subsidy on the rate?
BRYANT: He's absolutely right unless he's wrong. He's right unless you don't expand the inventory of homes. So if all you do is provide the $25,000 incentive and you don't change supply and demand, then he's right.
But what she said was at a more holistic way and this is why I liked the way she thinks, an opportunity economy, expansive economy, let's incentivize the private sector to create more homes, which creates more supply, that then drives that harmonizes demand. So now you're the seller, you can't just determine whatever rules you have. The road, how much going to sell your house where you get compete whether people who are buying and selling homes.
BURNETT: At the -- you were at the White House today, as I mentioned. President Biden was there. And at that event, he slammed Trump on this issue of Haitian migrants eating pets that he's talked about. Obviously, it is not true that did not happen.
He has continued to repeat this though. Here he is just last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Recording of 9/11 calls even show residents are reporting that the migrants are walking off with the town's geese. They take in the geese. And even walking off with their pets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: This has been debunked. He keeps saying it. But when you take a step back, I know you see a bigger problem with this beyond this moment and what kind of division that might cause. What does it?
BRYANT: In 1972, you couldn't get a bank account because you're a woman. In 1972, you couldn't get a credit card. Your husband have two would have to qualify for a loan for you, guarantee it. In 1872 to 1972, we got beyond that stupid moment.
We're now, a quarter, sorry, a third of the entire economy is women. We have got to figure out whether were better together and you cannot demonize people and expect for us to work together if you became president for all of us to aspire and come up together. We're one America.
America as a country is an idea. We can make it whatever we want. And that is not demonizing people. It's a dog whistle and it needs to stop.
BURNETT: All right. Well, on that note of hope, John Hope Bryant, thank you very much for being with me tonight. Have a great weekend, John.
And to all of you as well, thanks for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
