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Erin Burnett Outfront
Harris Slams Trump's "Hateful Rhetoric": It's Got To Stop"; Vance Gets Anti-GOP Essay Deleted, K-File Found It; CNN: Israel Behind Attack Causing Thousands of Pagers To Explode. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired September 17, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:44]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Vice President Harris not holding back, slamming Trump for his divisive rhetoric as Trump and Vance put the blame to the attempted assassinations squarely on Harris and Democrats.
Plus, the words that J.D. Vance didn't want anyone to see -- any of you, any of us -- taking down the GOP. He went so far as to have this particular thing scrub from the Internet. You thought it was completely scrubbed and gone, but guess what? KFILE found it.
And it was one of Trump's biggest moneymakers. But tonight, we're learning Trump's apprentice was totally different behind the scenes and the people who uncovered it are my guests.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, no holding back. Vice President Kamala Harris calling out Trump, saying that his hateful words are to blame for the divide in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It's got to stop. And we've got to say that you cannot be entrusted with standing behind the seal of the president of the United States of America engaging in that hateful rhetoric that as usual is designed to divide us as a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Harris's words coming just moments before former President Trump is about to take the stage for a town hall in Michigan that you see there.
Already today, J.D. Vance, making it clear that the former president for his part, has no intention of dialing back his verbal attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. J.D. VANCE (R-OH), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Don't lecture Donald Trump about softening his rhetoric after two people tried to kill him. Tell Kamala Harris, tell Joe Biden, tell all of her surrogates who are saying things like Donald Trump needs to be eliminated. They need to cut that crap out, or they're going to get somebody hurt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, Vance obviously putting the blame for violence squarely on Harris.
And in the past 24 hours, he has chosen a very specific and important word to focus on. Listen to it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: We cannot tell the American people that one candidate is a fascist. And if he's elected, it is going to be the end of American democracy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Fascist. So it's an interesting word to highlight as he did and emphasized, because what Vance did not mention is that one person who loves to, quote, call one candidate a fascist is the man on the top of his ticket, Donald J. Trump.
He does in speech after speech after speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We have a fascist person running who's incompetent.
It's a fascist regime.
They're fascist.
One chance to save America from these left-wing fascists. They're fascist, fascist, fascist, fascist, fascist, fascist, fascist, fascist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You got it? Words do matter this election, we know that, and Trump's carry great weight. We're now learning in fact that the FBI is investigating suspicious packages sent to election officials in more than 12 states. It's actual packages coming threatening election workers.
And still, even as that news broke, Trump posted this online, quote, caps: When I win, those people that, caps, cheated will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, which will include long term prison sentences. Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT live in Flint, Michigan. That is where
Trump is about to take questions. We showed you that stage a moment ago.
Kristen, I know you have been talking to your sources in the Trump campaign. Is he planning to address the attempted shooting tonight?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Erin, we are expecting to talk about this summer at the top of his remarks, remember, this town halls, so he's literally answering questions that involved (INAUDIBLE) Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders (INAUDIBLE) in quite a significant time, because Donald Trump is somebody who has shied away from dangerous and incendiary rhetoric but now, he has also said political violence. But talking to his team, he doesn't seem like he's going to shy away from any of that rhetoric, but I will tell you here today, this again being the first event since that second assassination attempt, we can see the extra security on the ground that asked multiple times for my press pass.
I talked to a number of Secret Service agents who said they are based in (INAUDIBLE) or based in other areas, but they just are here essentially volunteering their time.
[19:05:08]
Obviously, they're still being paid, but they asked to come. Others have been assigned here as they are trying to ramp up that security. I also talk to a number of private security agents who are here on the ground trying to help. It's very clear they are trying to beef up the security.
It is unclear how exactly that is going to work long term. Obviously, we know there needs to be a lot of resources. I was also told by members of the campaign staff that some of the security that should ramped up, stuff you can't see, meaning sweeps, checking out the perimeter, longer times with dogs on the ground here.
So, again, we'll see what is possible long term, but clearly, they are taking this seriously as we move forward ahead of November.
BURNETT: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you very much.
And, of course, we're watching the former president when he does address the assassination attempt. If he does, we're going to make sure you hear that. Everyone's here with me now as we're waiting to see what happens here.
Phillip, let me start with you. It is very clear and this is interesting, Kamala Harris is not saying -- she did. She expressed horror at the political violence. She did all the right things. But she is not saying, okay, I'm going to back off on calling out. What -- how I see it, right? She's calling out his hateful rhetoric and saying that he cannot be entrusted to stand behind the seal of the United States, right? She's not backing off at all with what she believes is at stake, even in light of a second assassination attempt. And that's pretty significant. PHILIP BUMP, NATIONAL COLUMNIST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yeah. I mean, I
think its very unlikely, too, that she'll back off from saying that Donald Trump poses a threat to American democracy, right?
BURNETT: Right.
BUMP: And I think are two factors at play here. The first is that she and many on the left and a lot of Americans believed that he does pose a threat to American democracy, right? You heard J.D. Vance say it while you can't just say that about someone.
Well, of course, you can say that if you actually think that they are fascist, who was American democracy which a lot of Democrats believe.
And, of course, the other reason that Kamala Harris is unlikely to back off of that is that she recognizes this is a political ploy, right? There are a lot of people we sincerely believed the Democrats are at fault here, but they're also a lot of people who believe that what's happening is that they can use this issue to try and make Democrats feel guilty about raising this issue in the first place.
And so that's part of it too. And I think Kamala Harris's campaign knows Donald Trump very much wants her to stop making this line of attack. And if they can use this attempt to do so.
BURNETT: They're trying to say, Jamal, that equating Trump as -- victory as a threat to democracy in and of itself, Trump's team is trying to say, that that in and of itself is stoking violence against Trump.
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. Well, there's no evidence that is stoking violence against Trump. It's a political rhetoric has been going on for a long time. Frankly, Democrats been saying this all this, as long as Donald Trump has been on the national scene. Some might argue is not as effective as it should be because Donald Trump has done fairly well.
But, but let me say this we only have one candidate who is running who when violent protesters violent mobsters, attacked an American institution, attack the Congress attacks police officers drew blood, people died. There's one candidate who wants to forgive them, make excuses for them, and perhaps pardon them if he gets reelected. That's Donald Trump.
So when you think about attacks on the institutions of America, Donald Trump wants to coddle the people who are attacking America, but Kamala Harris wants to hold them responsible.
BURNETT: David, I'm curious I asked you this question just for a moment on the Republican side, right, while they are pointing fingers at Kamala Harris and others, right, they say, for stoking this violence.
At the very least, David, let me ask you this, why are Republicans failing to take any blame themselves was a lot of finger-pointing. There's not a lot of ownership of anything either way. But on the Republican side, why does nobody owned up to a lot of the things that have been said and done have not been good and have been involved with violence?
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So specifically, what do you referring to -- tell me, Erin, hold, just back in a second, let me just fact check. Let me let me just fact check, Jamal. Donald Trump didn't say he's going to pardon every January 6 person.
SIMMONS: How many?
URBAN: He said he would look at the cases and he would pardon -- he would pardon some.
I don't think that the people who beat police officers are going to get pardoned. Perhaps people who are let in on the other side of the Capitol by the Supreme Court, who the doors were open. They walked in and now facing stiff jail time. Maybe they get pardon, but he say look at the cases and consider pardoning. So that statement is not correct.
And, Erin, so to your point, what specific -- what statements you're talking about that precipitated violence, to your point.
BURNETT: Well, you could take January 6 as an example. Jamal gave that and that's a fair one.
URBAN: Okay. And so, you -- so I don't believe that Donald Trump's words -- I believe that people responsible for their own actions. I believe that if you're a 50-year-old individual, a 30-year-old individual that your responsible for actions, not some person tells you to go peacefully march to the Capitol and protest, and then, all of a sudden, you break a window, that the person who told you is responsible. You're responsible.
I believe in personal responsibility. I think that's a tenet of America.
BURNETT: Do you believe that leaders bear any responsibility for what they encourage people under them to do?
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: No, I don't think. Would you -- if you're -- Erin, if your kid came home and said that to you as somebody said -- mom, somebody made me do that. What would you tell him, Erin? You'd say, give me a break, right?
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: When I said, march on your school and then they marched on the school, I would see it differently.
URBAN: Right. So, yeah, they marched on the Capitol, right? But Donald Trump didn't say, break down the doors and go in and assault people.
BURNETT: OK. URBAN: He didn't say that. What I do hold them what I do hold them responsible for us. I think he should condemn them more forcefully in sooner. I do think that's -- that's -- that's something he should have come out and done much quickly.
But listen, this is all for Republicans. This is a loser in my opinion because every day we're doing this and now we've done this for almost a week. We're not talking about Kamala Harris and the failed Biden- Harris administration policies. The Harris campaign loves this because she's not having to answer a question about the economy.
BURNETT: So, OK --
URBAN: When asked about her economic plan, she can't answer.
BURNETT: All right. So hold on a second, I'm glad because I don't want to go relitigate all of January 6. I know you'd love to jump in on it, Jamal. I'm just going to move past it for a moment.
SIMMONS: I'm just laughing, but she sat for a long time today with reporters on stage and answer questions about the economy.
URBAN: But she didn't answer it, Jamal. She didn't answer the question.
BURNETT: OK.
URBAN: Jamal, she didn't answer the question. She talked about her middle-class upbringing and lawns again. She didn't give any specifics.
SIMMONS: Donald Trump talks about Hannibal Lecter. I mean, what are we doing here? Come on.
URBAN: Come on, Jamal. Come on.
BURENTT: All right. You know what? What else came? I'm sorry?
OK. Let's just listen -- do you want to -- okay. Let's listen into Trump on this town hall because he's talking about the call he got from Biden about the assassination.
Let's listen in.
GOV. SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS (R), ARKANSAS: I think it's safe to say that this crowd will all be voting for you.
TRUMP: You know, when I think of this state, it's so sad -- years ago, I was given -- thank you very much. But years, I was given an award as like man of the year or something from an area that nobody knew and the press, oh, it would never happened to -- well, it did happen. They found out where it was, that's what it was like 15 years ago, a beautiful area, but nobody remembered it. Nobody remembered at all.
All of a sudden, like through a miracle, they found out it did exist, and it was -- and I had the speech and the speech was don't let them take your automobile industry or why it had taken your automobile industry away and I don't know why -- no, I wasn't a politician. I was an entrepreneur. I was real estate developer doing great, having a lot of fun, doing a much simpler life than this. Who would think that the developers' life is simple, but it's a lot simpler than this.
But I said -- don't let them do that because here I am in Michigan and I was getting an award and are making this speech, I'm saying, what am I going to say? But I just watched common sense. I saw them leaving from Mexico, leaving for China. Do you know that right now? And they weren't building them with me. They weren't building anything in Mexico having to do with cars with me because I said if you build it, we're going to put 200 percent. You're not going to sell one car into this country.
And, but, right now, they're building something some of the largest auto plants anywhere in the world ever built. I have a friend that does that for a living. Very good at, he's the best I think and he's actually a contributor, a supporter, but he builds the plants and I say --
BURNETT: All right. So, this is a town hall in Michigan, Flint, Michigan.
And, Phil, he's actually, -- there was Sarah Huckabee Sanders, of course, talking about the auto industry.
What he said about the call, though, and I just want everyone know, what he said is that Kamala Harris called him vice president. He said it was a very nice call. That's what he said. Crowd booed.
Now, I mean, I understand its a political rally, but this is the moment we're in, right? You can't even say that somebody called me when I was somewhat attempted to assassinate me my rival called and it was nice call, Trump says that, and they boo.
BUMP: Yeah. I mean, what this makes me think of as a last night in a speech in Georgia, J.D. Vance encouraging people in saying that his administration with Donald Trump would be one in which they're focused on loving they neighbor as sort of the precept that they followed, right? And this is from the guy who has spent the past week, week-and- a-half, saying that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets and causing disease and killing kids and so on and so forth, right?
So that that strikes me as remarkable, but also was a reflection of how broadly polarized we are in this moment, that his statement, oh, we should love they neighbor, false flat, even outside of the context of Trump and Vance, simply because Americans are so divided, there's so much partisan division. And I think that's what you see there.
I mean, I think that in this moment it doesn't necessarily matter who it was that what it said that if a political candidate, a presidential candidate said that about their opponent, I think the crowd would boo. I think it's probably true in another side of the aisle. BURNETT: I am curious though, Jamal, it's -- I'm just -- just take aside who's more to blame or the fact that January 6 came first means -- at this moment, when you say talk, call out hateful rhetoric, as Harris did and very calm way, but is it -- does it really help anybody? I mean, you know, her choir already knows and hears what she's saying.
[19:15:05]
Is there any benefit to it now?
SIMMONS: Yeah. I mean, on this point, Phil is probably right. Democrats wouldn't take it a very great at Donald Trump's name came up at a Democratic rally, that's what happens when you're in the --
BURNETT: Right, the boos could have gone both ways, yes, yes.
SIMMONS: But what usually happens when we have a moment like this is everybody condemns the violence, everybody says we have to do better, people maybe even tried to do better for some period of time. That's not what we're getting out of the side.
And I think to go back to Springfield, this issue about what's happening with migrants there, we know it's not true. We know that schools are shutting down because they're nervous. They're closing from periods of times are nervous. We know that people have been salted and people aren't having community meetings.
And yet the person running for president and his vice president will continue to say the same things. So the person who is in charge of creating order in the country, the president, is someone who's now willing to foment disorder as he tries to run and get that job back.
I just think that that's a very dangerous and unfortunate development.
BURNETT: David, Vance was asked today about Trump going to Springfield, right? To -- the Trump has been wanting to go to Springfield. Okay. Here's what Senator Vance said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I don't think he liked -- he liked to go and he said that he would like to go. I don't think there's anything firm just yet, so my attitude towards it is, we want what's best for the residents of Springfield.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, David, given the fact and these are some of the facts, right, schools have been closed, multiple bomb threats have been called in, elementary school kids haven't been able to go to school somewhere, able to go back today, college kids haven't been able to go, town halls been closed, city halls been clear -- I mean, we all know the situation, right?
David, would -- would a visit from Trump be best for the residents of Springfield?
URBAN: Now, listen if I -- if I had anything to do with it, I wouldn't go there. I'd keep doing what he's doing now, focused on issues that matter, pocketbook issues that matter to the American people.
Listen, the more that you focused -- the Trump focused, J.D. Vance focused, that we all focused on Springfield, the more it stays in the limelight and people can't get back to their normal lives. Schools can't get reopened and things can't get back to normal there.
So I think it's in everybody's best interest to move on, recognized, you know, we could do things better in the future and move on from that and let people Springfield tried to get back to normal and the campaigns, right, should talk about the issues that the American people deserve. They deserve to have a fulsome debate on the issues that matter to them the most.
People want to know who's going to make their life better at the end of the day. We have less than 50 days to go until people get the ballot box, and some people are voting -- some people are voting right now. And I would hope that they'd have complete information as to make the best choice possible. And I don't think that's the case on either side. I -- and I -- listen, I think both campaigns could do better. American people deserve better.
BURNETT: But, Philip, I mean, okay, I understand what David saying, but in a sense, you know, Trump threw a grenade in a room and then everyone's been criticized for talking about the explosion.
BUMP: Right. Yeah. I mean, two things id say. The first is that the issue in Springfield goes directly to what David was speaking about earlier about how you know, people responsible for their own actions. That may be the case, but obviously, what happened in Springfield is an offshoot of these false claims being made about the immigrants.
The second thing id say is this is an issue, a campaign issue, someone making those threats in Springfield, that's very, very important to cover.
SIMMONS: Just say, lastly, I have a suspicion Donald Trump knows he can't win on the issues. Donald Trump has an advantage on the economy. David wants him to talk about the economy a lot. He has an advantage on the economy.
But Kamala Harris is increasing in the polls. She's now three or four points up. I think he knows he can't win on the issues, which is why he attacks this (INAUDIBLE).
BURNETT: All right. We hit pause. All of you will be back.
Next, the FBI swarming --
URBAN: We'll see, Jamal. We'll see.
BURNETT: Well, FBI swarming the home of the man accused of trying to assassinate former President Trump on Sunday as his neighbors speak out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Never said a word nothing, no Trump, no -- nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, it's an essay that J.D. Vance wanted wiped from the Internet, literally wiped from the Internet, wrote it said, I don't want anyone to know I wrote this. He thought it was gone forever. But it is not gone forever because our KFILE found it and he is going to tell you what's in it that J.D. Vance did not want anyone to see.
And breaking news, CNN now reporting that Israel is behind thousands of pagers exploding at the same time. As of this moment, we know that 2,800 people have been injured or killed. How did Israel allegedly pull it off?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, the FBI searching the home of Ryan Routh, the 58- year-old man accused of trying to assassinate former President Trump at his Florida golf club.
Now, Routh is the lone suspect arrested so far, but investigators are still trying to answer the crucial question of whether anyone else was involved. And it comes as we are learning a lot more about Routh's history.
Kyung Lah is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Federal agents entered Ryan Routh's home in Kaaawa, Hawaii, executing court authorized search warrants, trying to piece together how a man described as delusional, obsessed with national and global politics, would cross the ocean and the continental us and allegedly attempt to kill a former president.
Neighbors who saw Routh just weeks ago didn't see immediate signs.
RAYMOND CORREA, RYAN ROUTH'S NEIGHBOR: Never said a word, nothing, no Trump, no -- nothing. Never raised his voice, never seen him mad.
LAH: But Routh's criminal history does reveal a decades-long history with law enforcement dating back to the late 1990s. In April 2002, Routh was arrested and later convicted for possessing and explosive described in court records as a binary explosive device with a ten inch detonation cord and a blasting cap.
TRACY FULK, RETIRED GREENSBORO POLICE SERGEANT: But I knew who he was.
LAH: Later in 2002, retired Greensboro police sergeant Tracy Fulk pulled Routh over. He fled and barricaded himself inside his business.
FULK: Because I knew his history with guns are different weapons. I decided not to follow him in and we've set up a perimeter. We call that special response and then we were eventually able to get him out of the house.
LAH: About six years ago, Routh moved to Hawaii and picked up steam on social media, taking on small and large causes like the war in Ukraine, even tweeting at Ukraine's president, I will fly from America and fight with you. Routh kept that pledge to travel there.
With the help of a GoFundMe, he landed in Ukraine in April 2022.
RYAN ROUTH, TRUMP SUSPECT: Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be ended.
LAH: Chelsea Walsh, a nurse, met Routh in kyiv at one of those protests.
CHELSEA WALSH, NURSE WHO MET RYAN ROUTH IN UKRAINE: He was very delusional, but he acted on his delusions. He was dangerous.
LAH: Walsh found Routh's behavior so alarming that she reported his name to Customs and Border Patrol when she returned to the U.S. in 2022 and listed Routh as the most concerning American she met in Ukraine.
WALSH: And I told him that everyone on that list, Ryan Routh, that lived in Hawaii, was the number one person to watch because the he was a ticking time bomb. Something was going to happen with him. Ryan's behaviors were escalating and nobody was stopping him.
LAH: In March of 2023, Routh continued his global travels for the Ukrainian cause, landing in Washington, D.C., visiting Capitol Hill, asking members of Congress to help. Two representatives confirmed Routh showed up at their offices without an appointment, but did not meet him in person.
Then in June of 2023, he tweeted, he travelled to Taiwan and posted this photo from Taipei. He said he went to recruit supporters to defend its sovereignty.
And on March 5th, 2024 records place Routh in Guilford County, North Carolina, where he voted in-person in the Democratic primary election.
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: This guy, I mean, you look at his rap sheet, you look at the things he's been involved in, this is -- this guy had red flags or how the heck did it end up where he's in West Palm Beach in those bushes?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Kyung, just learning all of this, there's so much you've learned and I know so much they're trying to find out as they're searching his homes. What are they looking for? LAH: What we are PIO of the FBI, producer Anna-Maja Rappard is still
outside the house and she's talking to them and they've been there, Erin almost seven hours. They are not giving an nth time how long they're going to be there, and in part, because there's still so many questions that remain about how he was funding his life in Hawaii. How was he funding all of this globe travel, the communications, how we got to Florida, how long was he in Florida as well as where did this gun come from?
So, there are still so many big questions in this investigation that are left to answer, hence, the FBI is still going through that home, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Kyung, thank you very much.
And next, our KFILE uncovering an essay that J.D. Vance went to incredible lengths to hide from the American public. How did scrubbed that the metadata was removed from the internet? Why? What does it say?
And then one of Trump's most prized accomplishments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You wouldn't step up as a leader and you barely contributed as a follower.
Heidi, you're fired.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And tonight, two "New York Times" Pulitzer Prize winners are reporting that "The Apprentice" was a sham.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:12]
BURNETT: Tonight, the words J.D. Vance didn't want anyone to see. A KFILE investigation uncovering an essay that Vance wrote in 2012 slamming Republicans on immigration, say it again, slamming Republicans on immigration. An essay Vance asked former professor to delete when he decided to run for office as a Republican.
Now the professor did delete it but our KFILE found it any way, and in it, Vance writes, quote, Republicans lose minority voters for simple and obvious reasons. Their policy proposals are tired, unoriginal, or openly hostile to non-whites.
Andrew Kaczynski of the KFILE joins me now.
So, okay, there's one very clean operative quote. What else did you find in this essay that J.D. Vance had requested this professor to delete, the professor did delete and J.D. Vance thought was gone?
ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: Yeah, J.D. Vance eviscerating the Republican Party in this blog post, he attack their position on women, minorities, people of color, immigrants, attacked many of the very same positions that he's advancing today. Lets just walk people through one of them.
Immigration, deportation has really been at the heart of Donald Trump's campaign. But take a look here at what J.D. Vance wrote about deportation and 2012, he said a, quote, significant part of the Republican immigration policy centers on the possibility of deporting 12 million people or self-deporting them. Think about it. We conservatives, rightly mistrust the government to efficiently administer business loans and regular food supplies. Yet we allegedly believe they can deport millions of unregistered aliens. This notion fails to pass the laugh test. The same can be said for much of the party's platform. Okay.
And now let's take a look to here.
BURNETT: OK, that's clear. That's what he said about how he viewed the GOP and how other people viewed the GOP.
He said the -- you know, you cannot nominate people like Sarah Palin, who scare away swing voters. You cant alienate every growing voting bloc of the American electorate, Blacks, Latinos, the youth, and you can't depend solely on a single shrinking bloc of the electorate, whites.
[19:35:10]
Yet, four years later, I am forced again to reflect on a party to nominate the worst kind of people like Richard Mourdock, and tried to win an election I appealing to only white people.
Richard Mourdock had made some comments that -- controversial comments about rape in a 2012 Senate race and lost by six points as a Republican in Indiana.
BURNETT: This is incredible, talking about the very policies that Trump deporting, right? As you point out, at the centre, it fails to pass the laugh test. The same can be said for too much of the party's platform. Okay.
So now I understand why he might want this scrubbed from the internet. And he did. He asked his professor to delete it, and they did. So it got deleted.
And yet, you found it. You don't have to share how if you don't want to, but how difficult was it for you to find it?
KACZYNSKI: It was actually not very difficult. J.D. Vance, people might know, he changed his name from J.D. Hamill to J.D. Vance. He took the name of his maternal grandmother who wrote in his book, had raised them. So we searched actually for posts that were written under his previous name. He changed it around 2013.
And we found three of them on the old think tank run by this professor. And we saw that there were three previously that had been shared by the think tank up, but only two of them were still online. And then I looked and the other one was called a blueprint for the GOP.
So, obviously, that got my attention. I reached out professor, I looked on the Internet archives Wayback Machine and I was able to find the entirety of this post which it seems like he hid because of realizing that these views would not have been popular when trying to get a job in Republican politics.
BURNETT: Certainly wouldn't be and interesting that he thought it was deleted. Well, I'm glad everybody can see it because it's important for people to know this information.
You know, to this, there's more where this came from. This is important because it's policy, but when he's talked about Trump, we know he'd been critical of Trump, this whole thing, has been talking about how he woke up and realized he was going to change his mind about Trump.
But you have found more and more instances where he has been highly critical of Trump, things that we have not seen before, including one new example. What is it?
KACZYNSKI: Yeah, and what's really interesting about this is like we knew he was a Trump hater like you said, but this sort of takes it to the next level. He wrote on Facebook in 2016 during the RNC, quote, his very existence helps just credit nearly every idea and belief I cared about. And then he even took some shots at Trump voters, saying they're obviously vile racist at the core of Trump's movement.
Now, other parts of those comments defend Trump's voters, but that is obviously not something that we would hear him say today.
BURNETT: No, you know, who would ever think that anybody who had said all of these things would be Trump's vice presidential nominee and choice. And yet here we are. This is important for everyone to see.
All right. Andrew Kaczynski of KFILE, thank you.
Also new tonight, Trump's squanders $15 million this is money loaned to him from his dad, who bailed him out. Two Pulitzer prize-winning reporters from "The New York Times" uncovering a trove of secret business records and tax returns which show never before known reasons why Trump is so sensitive to questions about his wealth.
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KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I grew up a middle class kid, raised by our hard working mother who worked in saved and was able to buy our first home when I was a teenager. The values I bring to the importance of homeownership, knowing not everybody got handed $400 million on a silver platter and then filed bankruptcy six times.
TRUMP: I wasn't given $400 million. I wish I was. My father was a Brooklyn builder, Brooklyn, Queens, and a great father, and I learned a lot from, but I was given a fraction of that, a tiny fraction, and I built it into many, many billions of dollars, many, many billions. And when people see it, they are even super rise. So we don't have to talk about that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig are now OUTFRONT. They are the authors of "Lucky Loser: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father's Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success", which is out today. And I'm excited to have a copy of it right now.
So, all right, I've spoken to each of you two over the years. It's an incredible reported piece of work that you are now releasing for everyone to see.
So, you reveal Trump's father, Fred, repeatedly bank rolled his son, and then we know he had been given money, but you guys document all the different ways that happened, including a $15 million loan, Russ, that you reveal Donald Trump never paid back, $15 million. Tell me more.
RUSS BUETTNER, CO-AUTHOR, "LUCKY LOSER": So that was to help him with the construction of Trump Tower. Every week as he built up construction costs, he was having problems paying his bills. And so, his father was loaning him money over those -- that period of time and then that just stayed. He was supposed to pay interest back on that. He never did that.
But then years later, when Donald Trump started another building called Trump Plaza, they rolled that money into an investment into Trump Plaza. Well, Trump Plaza was really ill-advised. It was built right as the real estate market was collapsing.
Everyone around him thought this is not a good idea. You're not going to make your money back. He went forth.
[19:40:00]
Guess what? He didn't make his money back.
And his father declared on his tax returns of $15 million loss to write off other income that his father made. His father made a lot of money, that was actually an illegal tax return. They somehow converted that $15 million with a loan from tower into a tax loss, reduced his income on another bill.
BURNETT: All right. So, that's fraud on one level, on another very basic level, that's Trump taking $15 million and turning it into zero, which is another thing that goes totally against the entire ethos and brand that he's put out there, Susanne.
You know what I found fascinating about this as well though, is, you know, you lay all this out, but you also talk about how he talks about he's this real estate mogul. And yet, and that's actually how he gets the apprentice. And yet it turns out from your reporting, "The Apprentice", you got tax returns, you got confidential business documents that no ones ever seen before that reveal he got, what, $400 million in "The Apprentice", that could be biggest success.
SUSANNE CRAIG, CO-AUTHOR, "LUCKY LOSER": It's incredible when we look at the title is "Lucky Loser" because he lived a life, he was born lucky. He was born into a wealthy family and he also had a father with connections in the real estate industry who went into it and he inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from his father. So that's just luck right there.
But the second piece of luck that we write a lot about in the book is "The Apprentice". It's a meeting of Mark Burnett, and at the time that he met Mark Burnett, Mark Burnett was looking to do another reality TV show. He'd just come off "Survivor".
It was red hot and he was looking to do sort of the survivor in the city and he wanted to do "The Apprentice". And Donald Trump was having a lot of things going wrong financially, the casinos is one of them, was not doing well and Mark Burnett actually looked at some moguls that were quite wealthy, including people like Jack Welch, they didn't want to do it and the people that he looked either didn't want to do because they didn't have time or they were not photogenic, telegenic, but there was Donald Trump.
So he was sort of not doing well. And Mark Burnett topped him for the show and that show, you think you're a host of a reality TV show. How could you make so much money? But the genius of it was Mark Burnett that had negotiated with NBC that NBC could keep all the money from the commercials, but they -- Mark Burnett would get the product placements money.
So there's a Coke can on the table. If Coca-Cola has paid for that, Mark Burnett gets the money and "The Apprentice" was this runaway hit with Madison Avenue and all of these corporations were paying huge monies. And we got -- huge money, we got the financial is not just of Donald Trump's tax returns, but of the show. They were paying 2, 3, 4 million dollars an episode to be on that show. And Donald Trump got half of all of that, so he got that rush, and then he got but all these licensing deals after it, it was incredible, so much money --
BURNETT: And it's incredible. At a moment of failure, when things are going to go down and then, all of a sudden, this happens and it becomes, I mean, more than $400 million. I mean, it's impossible to truly comprehend that, what that happened.
You know, Russ, and yet as part of this, the big event, right on "The Apprentice" was who's going to get fired, right? That's what people would tune in to see who is going to get fired each week. It was moments like this.
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TRUMP: David, on the complete opposite side, I don't see that you stepped up at all, David, I'm going to ask you to take the down elevator. You're fired.
Jason, this is a tough one, you're fired.
Heidi, you're fired.
In this case, Omarosa has to go. You're fired.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, Russ, you learned that Trump is so unpredictable with who he was going to fire, and that it was not based on sort of how they perform. They were tasks. I remember judging some of these tasks, you know? And there were -- this is -- it was supposed to be who did the worst on the tasks? But that he sometimes would be so bad about his choice about who he fired that they'd have to go back and edit it to make that personal look bad?
BUETTNER: That's exactly right. The first phase, you showed there was David Gould who had an MBA. He was a medical doctor, I think as really amazing guy who a lot of the producers thought was going to win that whole series, that season. He would just run the whole gauntlet. But Trump fired him all the very first episode. And people in the control and producers are like, oh, my God, what do we do with this now?
But they had this other moment because it was entertainment, not reality, that all, my gosh, this is really great because this is so unpredictable. So those -- that quality that was really bad for him in business was solid gold on the show. Then they would just reedit everything to make the David Goulds look --
BURNETT: Back to the title "Lucky Loser".
All right. Susanne, Trump would call reporters -- this is something I've been just fascinated all these year, this kind of alter ego, bizarre thing when he would pretend to be a guy named John Barron.
CRAIG: Right.
BURNETT: And he would do it when he was talking about affairs or about, you know, how rich she was because he wanted people to think he was richer than he was and get put on the Forbes list and all of these things he pretend to be this guy John Barron.
Here's one conversation that was recorded.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JONATHAN GREENBERG: What's your first name by the way?
JOHN BARRON: John.
GREENBERG: John?
BARRON: John Barron.
BARRON: Most of the assets have been consolidated to Mr. Trump, you know, because you have down Fred Trump and I'd like to talk to you after record if I can just make your thing easier.
[19:45:01] I think you can really use Donald Trump now and you can consolidate it. I think last year, somebody showed me the article and I think he had two hundred and two hundred, and really it's been pretty well consolidated now for the most part.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: I mean, even trying to use a voice changer, which a six- year-old, but tried -- it's very clearly Donald Trump.
CRAIG: He even named his son Barron. So -- I don't even want to go there.
BURNETT: Oh my gosh. Okay. Okay.
But you discovered a long and bizarre history to John Barron and, by the way, the Barron Trump may be part of it too. But the history is something else.
CRAIG: We've always wondered why John Barron and we found out in the book that when Donald Trump was young and he just had first started working with Fred, we went back to old newspapers and we found the name John Barron, where there was classified ads where he would be selling things and it went back to the exchange number for the Trump house. So it was Donald. He was using it as a pseudonym either because they wanted to hire a maintenance worker and one side case, we actually found an ad for his brother who died when he was 42. Fred Trump, his boat. That the family has they were selling, and it was -- it was John Barron was selling it.
So, it was just this crazy origin story of John Barron that we've always wondered where it came from. And we found it in the classified ads of newspapers, old newspapers in New York.
BURNETT: I mean, it is really incredible and that history, and as you point out that his son happens to also have that name.
CRAIG: Right.
BURNETT: All right. Well, thanks so much as I said, is always such a pleasure to talk to both of you with your incredible reporting. This book, "Lucky Loser" out today, by Russ and Susanne.
And next the breaking news, we are learning that Israel was behind the thousands of exploding pagers that were being used by Hezbollah operatives, nearly 3,000 people injured or killed as of this hour. We'll tell you what we know about it.
And live pictures as former President Jimmy Carter is celebrating his 100th birthday. His grandson joins me, what Carter is most hoping in for right now.
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[19:51:05] BURNETT: Breaking news, CNN learning Israel is behind the attack that has wounded 2,800 people and killed nine others as thousands of pagers exploded all at once in the hands of Hezbollah militants. "The New York Times" is reporting, that Israel planted explosives inside pagers that then were purchased by Hezbollah from Taiwan.
And these pagers were embedded with a remote switch to detonate. Watch how it happened.
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BURNETT: And that's what happened, multiplied by thousands in public spaces today in Lebanon.
Jeremy Diamond is OUTFRONT. He is live from Tel Aviv and I mean, Jeremy, it's a pretty phenomenal thing. You're talking about thousands of pages with thousands of people in thousands of different places detonating at pretty much the same time.
How was Israel able to simultaneously do this as you're learning?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's no question that this was a very sophisticated operation, and I'm told that this was actually a joint operation between the Mossad, Israel's intelligence service and the Israeli military, causing thousands of these new purchased pagers in the pockets, presumably of Hezbollah members to detonate at the same time, causing injuries and the numbers of 2,800 people according to the Lebanese health ministry, killing nine people, including we should note one child. Several of the others who were killed do appear to indeed be, Hezbollah members.
You can see actually in one of these videos that it appears that one of the targets receives a message on the pager and then seconds later is when it detonates, and according to "The New York Times", Israel actually managed to please explosives inside these pagers, as well as a detonator, which was then remotely activated when a message was sent to these pagers. And then simultaneously, all of them were indeed detonated.
So a very sophisticated, remarkable operation and one that exploited what Hezbollah thought was going to be something to help them avoid Israeli surveillance, going low-tech, using these pagers instead of using cell phones and clearly that was a vulnerability that was exploited.
BURNETT: Absolutely incredible. They would have that intelligence find the supplier, do that, the whole thing. It also raises the question though. This is a hugely significant, significant escalation and operation. So is Israel expecting retaliation tonight?
DIAMOND: Well, as of now, the Israeli military hasn't changed any of its guidance to civilians, but there's no question that they are bracing for the potential for retaliation and that's because beyond the numbers of people who were killed and injured in this attack, you also have to look at the psychological impact of this attack. Israel was able to demonstrate with this operation that it was able to get at what Hezbollah thought was a way to avoid detection, to try and protect itself. And instead, that indeed became a significant vulnerability.
And so, it's likely that Hezbollah is going to feel compelled to attack because Israel has made Hezbollah look quite weak in this attack. This is the most significant escalation since the assassination of Fuad Shukr, that senior Hezbollah operative who was killed in late July.
Keep in mind though at that time, it took nearly a month for Hezbollah to choose to finally respond. We will see how long it takes them this time -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. And, of course, there are still questions about whether that response is still coming Iran involved.
Thank you very much. Jeremy Diamond incredible tale from Tel Aviv.
And next, breaking news, former President Trump just revealing new details about the attempted assassination at his golf course.
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[19:56:22]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Trump moments ago at his rally in Michigan giving new details about the assassination attempt on Sunday. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This was an AK-47. And he saw the barrel of the gun coming out from a bush, can you believe it? This guy was all set. He was all set to do is number.
And there was no talk. He didn't say hello. What are you doing here, please? And he ends up getting shot himself. He took his gun, started shooting him, and this guy ran, right? I don't know if he's -- where is he? Not here, right?
This guy --this guy's doing great job. Now, they do need more people and they've been complaining about that for a long time, but he did a great job.
But you want to know what another sort of a miracle. So the guy is now running for his life and he's got a car, a block away or whatever. And a woman -- is a woman, not a man, a woman, see, women are smarter than men.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right, talking there about the witness that he says was a woman who saw the shooter get in that car.
We do know that security is ramped up at Trump's event tonight, following this incident where he is, of course, he is now in Flint, Michigan.
And finally tonight, Jimmy Carter turning 100, you're looking at live pictures of the theater where his 100th birthday celebration kicked off moments ago in Georgia, Carter's home state, of course, the longest living president in U.S. history, Carter will officially turned 100 on October 1st. He entered hospice care 19 months ago and he says his goal is to live to vote for Kamala Harris and see her elected president.
OUTFRONT now, Jason Carter, Carter's grandson, and a former Georgia state senator.
So, Jason, your grandfather is just two weeks from his 100th birthday. How is he doing tonight?
JASON CARTER, CARTER CENTER CHAIR, GRANDSON OF FORMER PRESIDENT CARTER: You know, he's -- he's doing well. I mean, he's -- he's been in hospice for 19 months, which were all think is just an incredible, incredible thing to have happen, right? I mean, he's been given the gift of a lot of time and its given us a lot of time to be with him.
BURNETT: So I know when we talk about early voting, it means so much to him and in Georgia, it begins October 15th. How significant is this for him?
CARTER: You know, I mean, we've been talking about as 100th birthday and he's been saying that what he's really excited for is to go cast his ballot for Kamala Harris. And I think he's going to do that if he makes it which we all believe he will.
And, you know, he was only in big time politics for eight years. And the other 92 years he was citizen. And he thinks of that as the greatest title you can have in this country. And one of the things that you do as a citizen is vote. So he sees pumped about it.
BURNETT: What is simple and profound way to put it, 92 years of being a citizen and only eight and national politics, it is incredible to think about it that way, Jason. You know, just before he did leave the White House, your grandfather address to the nation in a way that is so relevant to where we are sitting right now.
I want to play part of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: We know that democracy is always an unfinished creation. Each generation must renew its foundations. Each generation must rediscover the meaning of this hallowed vision in the light of its own modern challenges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, Jason, we're now in a moment. There have been two assassination attempts on a former president in two months, an American city under siege which because of a fake story about migrants eating pets. What is your brand father saying and thinking about all of this?
CARTER: You know, I mean, he's right when he says that, that democracy is a project and we have to take it up every generation.
I do believe, you know, the Carter Center itself and my grandfather himself observed in other countries, over 40 countries, about 100 other elections. And you realized that democracy is a fragile thing, but there are principles that underlie it, and those principles that we have in this country are real. And I think they bring us together. You know, political violence has no place. It's always an outrage.
And so I think once we can really fundamentally get back to those, those principles, we'll have a chance for this generation.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Jason, thank you so much.
CARTER: Thank you so much for having me.
BURNETT: And thanks to all of you for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
