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Erin Burnett Outfront
Pentagon Preparing For Trump's Threat To Deploy Military In U.S.; Democrats' Bright Spot; Elon Musk's Big Bet. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired November 08, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:31]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, bracing for Trump. We are learning there are active discussions inside the Pentagon tonight over how to respond if Trump tries to deploy the military inside the United State, as concerns grow over how Trump will make Iran pay after news of another assassination plot.
Plus, she's a bright spot for the Democrats, flipping a House seat in New York. Laura Gillen joins me here for her first TV interview since her victory. What did she do right?
And cashing in. Elon Musk bet huge on Trump. And now Musk is getting richer by the day. We have a special report.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight: bracing for Trump's return.
CNN learning tonight the Pentagon officials are now holding discussions about how to respond if Trump follows through on campaign threats. Officials have been gaming out various scenarios based on explicit things Trump has said, like suggesting he would use the military to handle what he calls the enemy from within.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we have some very bad people. We have some sick people radical left lunatics, and I think they're the -- and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary by National Guard or if really necessary by the military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So National Guard and military for radical left people, political rivals. That's one group that he has said he would use the U.S. military against. The other is using U.S. forces to carry out what he says will be one of his first orders as president. That is, of course, a mass deportation of migrants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Under my leadership, we will use all necessary state, local federal and military resources to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That's been very clear. He has been explicit about that. Now, just to give context here, there are estimated to be 11 million people in the United States illegally, give or take 11 million. Okay. Well, the context here that that's relevant in what he's saying is that the United States only has 1.3 million active duty personnel, 11 times more migrants than active duty military.
That's the sort of demand that could plunge the Pentagon into a state of chaos. And the U.S. military could be facing chaos well beyond the streets of American cities.
We are learning tonight of another assassination plot against Trump, this one at the direction of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps. Now, we've obtained this indictment from the Department of Justice. It says Iranians were focused solely on killing Trump, putting aside all other assassination projects, just Trump they focused on. In fact, according to the documents that we have, the Iranians gave their assassin just seven days to come up with a plan to take Trump out.
Well, what that could mean bigger picture here is a much bigger war for America and American soldiers. If you believe what Trump says, because he's actually talked about this very specific threat he had found out about another Iranian assassination plot back in September. That was the first one. And he said if there was a second one, he would blow Iran off the map.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We've been threatened very directly by Iran. You do any attacks on former presidents or candidates for president, your country gets blown to smithereens.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT to begin our coverage in West Palm Beach Florida tonight.
And, Kristen, you also have some new reporting tonight on a call that Trump was on today with foreign leader, President Zelenskyy of Ukraine. It was Trump Zelenskyy and Elon Musk.
What are you learning?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. So we had already learned that Elon Musk was on the call. But there was a lot of questions about the circumstances around that call.
Now, obviously this is incredibly notable. Just given what Donald Trump has said about Ukraine, one of the promises he has made is that he would end the war in Ukraine by somehow getting Putin and Zelenskyy to agree on something, but he never gives any more details to that. And obviously, it's also notable just given the fact that Elon Musk was on the call.
Now I was told that this was purely circumstance, that Musk happened to be at the club when Zelenskyy called and that Trump put him on speaker. He was congratulatory. A source describing the call as cordial, as positive.
But they also noted that Zelenskyy thanked Musk on the call for his help with Starlink. Musk has been a pretty essential in bringing communications to Ukraine using Starlink during the Ukrainian-Russian war.
But again, interesting dynamic here given the fact that Elon Musk is just an outside now at this point adviser, not part of any sort of government, and certainly not any kind of foreign engagement adviser.
[19:05:12]
Now, I was also told that this call was only seven minutes and no policy was discussed. One thing we know for certain, Donald Trump and Zelenskyy met roughly a month ago. At this point, they sat down. They both came out of this talking very positively about each other.
And I was told that part of the reason that you heard a little bit of a change in tune from Donald Trump was that Zelenskyy spent a lot of the meeting praising Donald Trump, reminding him that they worked well together. And we know that flattery goes a long way.
Erin, just one brief mention here, a lot of these foreign leaders are trying to get ahead of Donald Trump on the world stage. And I am told that a lot of these calls are, quote/unquote, positive. A lot of them are flattering, and that Donald Trump himself has been reveling in what he believes is the respect and recognition he deserves.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Kristen. As we said in West Palm Beach.
All right. David Axelrod, let's just start about what were hearing here. Pentagon officials are holding these discussions these gaming out scenarios about how the Department of Defense would respond if Trump issues orders to deploy active duty troops domestically whether it be for enemy within or for the very explicit promise he has made about deportations. I just put that number out there to make the point, Eleven million illegal migrants, 1.3 million active duty military.
Okay, what do you make of this?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, there are legal strictures against that, against the deployment of the U.S. military on American soil. And I think that for the military, the question is, are they getting a legal order here?
And, you know, you heard some of this bubble up in the last iteration of Trump. So it's -- it's concerning and I think it must be deeply unsettling for the leadership of the military to kind of, you know, you get an order from the commander in chief. But what if that order violates law?
And I don't know how -- you know, I presume they'll resolve it by following their oath. But --
BURNETT: These are things they do have to figure out. I mean, he has been very explicit that he will do that. Now, whether he starts with people, criminals, you know, with criminal seemed, he might -- I mean we don't know. The point is, you just don't know.
You know what he's said, what he's promised to do, Mondaire.
Do you fear what were going to see?
MONDAIRE JONES (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, we should take very seriously what Donald Trump says. He says he wants to terminate the Constitution. Let's not forget about that. Let's not forget about the fact that he tried to overturn the last presidential election, which led to the deaths of a number of people and injuries for over a hundred more.
So this is someone who I'm concerned about and Americans should be concerned about, because they are not going to be the kinds of guardrails that exist at the last time he was in office. He is going to make personnel decisions that are going to result in people who submit to him being in the White House and being cabinet secretaries.
So a whole of government approach led by people who are obsequious and who are going to do his bidding and who are not going to care about those legal strictures that that Axe just referred to.
BURNETT: Machalagh, how is that outcome avoided? I know that that's something you also want to avoid. I mean, you want to get good people in government.
MACHALAGH CARR, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO SPEAKER KEVIN MCCARTHY: I mean, what a ridiculous position to take that anybody who goes in to work for the president-elect does not believe in their oath to the Constitution, that the strictures will not be there? I'm sorry. I have perhaps a little bit more faith in the United States Constitution than you do, but the strictures will be there because its called the United States Constitution and it very clearly lays out a separation of powers.
And one of the things that it clearly lays out is that there are three branches, including the executive branch, for which the commander in chief and the executive, who is elected by the people, is in charge of the executive branch.
So to act as though anybody who goes in to work for him is going to -- to bend the knee, or to be some sort of subservient in some sort of scheme is offensive. It's condescending, and it's that kind of campaign rhetoric that frankly, led us to exactly where we are right now. The people that go in to serve will be doing so, and they will take an oath to the Constitution, and they will be trying to put forth the policies that the American people just resoundingly said they wanted for this country -- a safe, secure and prosperous America. And I think you should hope they succeed.
BURNETT: OK.
AXELROD: Well, let me just say I appreciate that. But I actually took civics, so I don't really need to be refreshed on it. The reason that there are these concerns is because of what the president -- the president -- the president-elect has said that he would do that fly in the face of that and all the reports of the things that he asked people to do that they refused to do because they were committed to the Constitution.
BURNETT: Or someone like Bill Barr, who eventually left.
AXELROD: Yes.
[19:10:00]
Or how about Mike Pence?
JONES: Or his longest serving chief of staff, John Kelly?
CARR: Yes, many, many great examples of the institution holding, well done.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: I mean these are people who clearly speak to Donald Trump's instincts. And we all have seen what Donald Trump himself has tried to do, in addition to the things that he has explicitly said. So the gaslighting is inappropriate, obviously.
AXELROD: But, Machalagh, I really hope as an American that the institutions will hold. I think we have, you know I have great reverence for these institutions, but -- they have been tested before and they may be tested again.
BURNETT: So --
CARR: And you have a Supreme Court of the United States that's overturning precedent by the day like when it gave this president carte blanche in the form of presidential immunity.
BURNETT: All right. So --
CARR: All right. But they did not give him -- that's just not true. You read the opinion that is simply not true. They gave him immunity on things for official acts --
BURNETT: For official acts.
CARR: -- and they gave him immunity for unofficial acts.
BURNETT: Which, by the way, has not been fully adjudicated of what that means because he won. And Jack Smith is going to going to pull those cases.
You know, when you talk about though, the moment that were sitting in, David, okay, were sitting in this moment for a whole variety of complicated reasons. One of them may be decisions made by the Democrats. Many of them may be decisions made by the Democrats. But one specific decision which is how this ticket came to be.
Nancy Pelosi spoke to Lulu Garcia-Navarro, who, of course, we know well, she's on here all the time. They did an extensive interview and Lulu just shared something that Pelosi said, which is incredibly revealing about how this ticket, this Democratic ticket came to be.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race. The anticipation was that if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary. And as I say, Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don't know that. That didn't happen. We live with what happened, and because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: You know, there was reporting at the time, right, that Pelosi and Schumer, even though they had wanted this to happen sooner when it did happen, wanted some sort of a quick primary.
Biden came out, 30 minutes later. He endorses Harris. This appears to cement that reporting that that is not what Pelosi wanted that even at that moment, she wanted something else.
Biden made this decision, maybe because he was angry at them, you know, for forcing him out.
AXELROD: I can't -- I can't speak to his motivations. Let me say there were some people and I was one of them who, uh quite a bit earlier, like the previous year said --
BURNETT: The previous year you said it.
AXELROD: Said that perhaps the president should consider stepping aside and I said then it was an actuarial issue, not a political issue that we've now seen come into play. If he had done that, there would have been a full primary campaign and we -- and maybe the vice president would have emerged from it. I think she overperformed expectations in, you know, as a candidate here.
But, maybe she wouldn't have and maybe, maybe a candidate would have emerged who wasn't so tied to the administration that they could credibly critique the whole picture.
BURNETT: The border, which gets to the other issue.
AXELROD: Yeah.
BURNETT: So, Mondaire, on that, you lost your bid to return to the house. Okay. Your districts won massively to the right. It was a district that Biden won easily ten points?
JONES: Yeah, massively.
BURNETT: Massively. And now, now, GOP. How much of that is due to Harris-Biden?
JONES: Well, look, ballots are still being counted, but a district that Biden won by ten points may well have been won by Donald Trump a few nights ago and it speaks to the fact that the Democratic Party's brand is in shambles in the suburbs because of the issue of immigration.
I've criticized my party on this. We waited way too long to be tough on the border, to take seriously the migrant crisis and to act to secure the border, and we are paying the price, and we are seeing that all throughout the United States, in House districts around the country, and it was too late by the time Democrats at the top of the ticket took this seriously and said, lets pass this bipartisan border security bill, which we all know sitting at this table, that Donald Trump has been blocking when he told Republicans in Congress to block it from going into effect.
BURNETT: But while they was blocking, they -- they had the opportunity to do things which they chose not to do on executive order that that did come into this to play in this campaign.
Machalagh, which just leads me to when I was laying out what Trump has promised to do, to use U.S. military, National Guard whatever it might be, for mass deportations.
Do you expect that that's something that could really happen? I mean, do you expect that that's really the -- I mean, he's going to probably start with criminals. I mean, I'm making that assumption here as a citizen. That's what he's going to start with.
Or do you think? No, he's going to go for the whole thing, all 11 million?
CARR: Well, no, he's said clearly that there's priorities. I think it's important to remember that deporting illegal immigrants is something that every administration does. This administration has done it. The previous administration has continued to do it. We wouldn't be in this situation if we had been having a tighter border from the beginning.
[19:15:02]
I think it's important to remind people that while there was a bipartisan bill, it wasn't introduced until three and a half years into the administration.
So yes, there is an absolute rallying cry to get the border under control. And for those people that are in the country illegally and who have committed crimes, I think that getting them out of the country is a good first step.
BURNETT: So, David, I want to ask you one thing before we go and this context of these crucial conversations, there are things that happen that are beneath these conversations. And yet hugely relevant to whether Donald Trump actually wants to seize the opportunity to unite, wants a chance. And that is how he talks, right? Not just how he walks, but how he talks.
Today, he called Gavin Newsom Gavin Newscum, right? That Newscum. Okay, those are the things some might laugh at and say, oh, that's just Trump. Is that just Trump? Do those things matter at this point when it comes to getting the country behind him?
AXELROD: Listen, if I were advising him I would say you won, act like a president. Try and bring the country together.
But I don't think Donald - Donald Trump is Donald Trump. He's gotten pretty far with this brand.
BURNETT: Yes.
AXELROD: I don't think he's going to change now. I think were going to see a lot of this.
The real question is, does he spend his time seeking retribution against his political opponents, or does he focus on the concerns of the American people? That's the question were all waiting to see the answer to.
BURNETT: Right, and we don't know.
All right. Well, thank you all very much. I want everyone to know I mentioned Lulu, her interview. Lulu Garcia's full podcast with Nancy Pelosi, their extensive conversation. You can tell, it's going to be excellent from what you just heard there that releases tomorrow.
And next, we've got breaking news, more congressional races actually being called right now. Do Democrats still have any chance of taking the House?
Plus, more breaking news. Trump ally Peter Navarro remember him? He went to prison because he wouldn't sell Trump out now, looking for a top job in the Trump administration.
And dramatic and chaotic, images of Chinese soldiers invading Taiwan. The scenes from a new TV show. Could it presage reality?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:51]
BURNETT: All right. Breaking news Republican Jeff Hurd right now projected to win the house seat in Colorado against Democrat Adam Frisch as the balance of power in the house is still up for grabs at this hour, its a crucial question because that would be a clean sweep if Republicans take it. Republicans -- Democrats right now have 202 seats. Republicans have 213. You need 218 to get the majority.
But the way this would work for Democrats, this is a really, really heavy lift. Democrats need 16 seats. So to eke out a win, they have to hold ten that they currently have that are still outstanding. And they have to also flip six. Republicans much, much easier path. They just have to hold five and it's theirs.
So let's go to Harry Enten at the magic wall.
Harry, what this math boils down to is that there are still 20 uncalled House races to watch. So how much narrower is a potential path for Democrats getting?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah, it's getting late in the day for them.
You know, you know you mentioned that CNN has projected 213 seats for the Republicans, 202 for the Democrats. We can also add in the seats where Democrats and Republicans are ahead at this point. And this is simply put, going in the wrong direction for Democrats when we were looking at the data last night, Republicans were ahead in 222 seats. Democrats were ahead in 213 seats, and Republicans are now ahead in an extra seat.
So let's take a look at some of those uncalled races. You know, one of the reasons right now that Republicans actually have gained a seat in terms of how many seats they are ahead, and well go into the great state of Arizona. We'll go down to the southeast corner in the Tucson suburbs.
Look, this is a flip from yesterday. Kirsten Engel was ahead yesterday. Now she's behind by nearly 1600 votes. So again this is a seat that's going in the wrong direction.
We can go to the great state of California right this is a place that obviously a lot of uncalled races at this particular point and one of the seats I was looking at yesterday was this one outside of San Jose. And what we see here is the Republican was ahead yesterday. The Republicans still ahead today. The margin really hasn't shifted very much.
Another one. This is one I always look at the 22nd district because the ballots get counted. It takes a very, very long time in California. David Valadao oftentimes we're waiting on days, weeks, sometimes even nearly a month after the election. Look, we've got more of the vote in than we had yesterday. We're now up to 55 percent. His lead has actually gone up a little bit, Erin, gone up a little bit.
And then finally you know, you go out, let's say were going to go all the way up to the northwest part of the country. Although in this particular diagram, it's just off the map, Alaska.
This margin really hasn't shifted at all right. Mary Peltola, who's the Democratic incumbent, trailing. Now, as I mentioned yesterday, there's instant runoff voting that goes on in Alaska. So if you don't reach 50 percent, then well redistribute the third party candidates.
But the bottom line, Nick Begich, awfully close to 50 percent at this hour. It's getting very late for Democrats, Erin.
BURNETT: Getting very late.
All right. So also Senate races that haven't been called, we do know the balance of power in the Senate but those seats and who gets them can be so crucial. So where do things stand?
ENTEN: Yeah. Let's start off in Pennsylvania, right, because we haven't called it. But Dave McCormick has obviously been leading Bob Casey here. His lead right now, again, it's higher than it was yesterday. It's higher than it was yesterday.
You know, we've been waiting on votes from Philadelphia now were up to 92 percent of the vote in. And Bob Casey, simply put, this is not the type of margin Bob Casey needs to win. Of course, if the race is within half a point, you can have an automatic recount there. So that's part of the reason we haven't called it there.
Let's go to some good news for Democrats. We'll go out to Nevada. Look, Jacky Rosen, the Democratic incumbent, despite the fact that Trump is leading in the state, she does have a lead right now, a pretty significant one, a little bit more than a percentage point, with 97 percent of the vote in.
Finally, let's go to Arizona, down here in the southwest. Ruben Gallego has consistently led Kari Lake. But here's the thing, that lead has gotten consistently smaller. So if we go back and we go back a little bit long ago when 52 percent of the vote is his lead was six points, then we go in and we look, okay, 55 percent of the vote. His lead was then about a little less than five points.
And then we look right now and what do we see? His lead is down to just a little bit more than a point. This is a race that I thought Gallego was going to win. I still think he's going to win, but the bottom line is, there's a reason we haven't called it because that margin has been shrinking and shrinking and shrinking, Erin.
BURNETT: Wow, that is incredible. And -- and you also think about how much ticket splitting was going on in so many places where people were willing to do that and what that really says it really underscoring Trump's victory.
All right. Thank you so much, Harry.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, one of the few Democrats who did flip a seat in the House, Congresswoman-elect Laura Gillen of New York.
[19:25:05]
Now, she beat incumbent Republican Congressman Anthony D'Esposito by two percentage points and this is her first national TV interview since being declared the winner.
So, Congresswoman-elect, I appreciate your taking the time.
You know, you hear Harry lay out where we are right now in terms of the House, we still don't formally know the balance of power. Why do you think, though, that you were able to do what so many other Democrats running failed to do tried and failed to do, and that is to flip a Republican seat?
REP.-ELECT LAURA GILLEN (D-NY): So, look, I have deep roots in this district. I grew up here. I'm raising four kids here. I know the people of this district.
I listen to them and I talked about the issues that they cared about, like the border, you know, that was a big ad that I ran nonstop throughout the campaign because this is something that people on both sides of the political aisle cared about deeply in this district.
So you meet voters where they are. You talk about the things they care about. Yes they cared about reproductive freedom, but they also cared about the economy. And you could say, well, we recovered better than Europe. But if people are still feeling pain in their pocketbooks, you have to talk about how you're going to tackle those problems.
BURNETT: All right. So you -- all those things are obviously hugely relevant. But you mentioned immigration, that you ran ads on it that you made it core to your campaign and you did. Let me just play one of your closing campaign ads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GILLEN: We're 2,000 miles from Mexico. But we're feeling the migrant crisis almost every day. So I want you to hear me loud and clear. You send me to Congress I will work with anyone from any party, to secure our southern border.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What I'm most curious about is whether you ever talk to anyone in the Harris campaign about the border. Did you ever tell them why you felt that taking this position was so crucial for voters? Was there sort of any feedback on that? Or are you just did that essentially on your own?
GILLEN: Look, I -- I criticized the Biden administration when 40,000 migrants were bused to New York and our mayor was asking for help, and they said they were going to send guidance.
We didn't need guidance. We needed resources. And I -- and I called them out on that. And I wrote a letter to the Biden administration saying that we needed to send more border patrol agents. There we needed to send more resources there and we needed to secure the border.
So I did reach out, but this is something that I knew I had to talk about in this district. You can't run away from an issue because you think it might be a more Republican issue. You have to talk about the issues that the people in your district care about. And so, I think in this district also, I, you know, I was an elected official here in the past and I was able to get things done in a bipartisan manner. And I think that people trusted that that's what I would do in Congress.
BURNETT: So you mentioned mayor, meaning Mayor Eric Adams. Your district borders New York City. He frequently also called out the Biden administration over the migrant crisis, right? I mean, he -- and then today or just after Trump won, Adams announced that New York city is going to end a program that was giving migrant families prepaid debit cards, right, a program that the city has reportedly already spent more than $3 million on. Obviously, something that American citizens don't get.
Adams did this within 48 hours of Trump winning. I'm curious, Congresswoman-elect, whether you think this is just the tip of the iceberg.
GILLEN: Look, I think that -- I think that New Yorkers have paid an incredible amount to deal with the migrants that were sent here. In the campaign, I criticized my opponent because when New York was asking for help, he was on, you know, Newsmax saying blaming it all on Biden, instead of trying to bring relief here.
In my letter to Biden, I said that New Yorkers should be reimbursed for the costs we've had to expend to clothe and feed and house people who are sent here. We can let them freeze and starve to death on our streets. But this is a federally created problem, and New Yorkers should not bear that cost alone.
BURNETT: So --
GILLEN: So I agree that this is something that I think we will continue.
BURNETT: So your -- your party is now in -- obviously, lost control of the White House and the Senate. It very likely to remain out of power in the House. If that scenario does happen, I am just wondering as you're walking in here, you're going to be a member of congress. Who do you believe is going to be the leader of the Democratic Party right now?
GILLEN: Well, I mean, Hakeem Jeffries is the leader of the Democratic Party. He will continue to be the leader of the Democratic Party. And I think that this is an issue, the border is an issue that he recognizes is very important to people, again, on both sides of the aisles.
Democrats care about this. Democrats from my district work in New York City. They -- they go past the Roosevelt Hotel, and they get concerned about what they see there. So they want this problem fixed.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Congresswoman-elect, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much for joining me on this Friday.
GILLEN: Thanks, Erin. BURNETT: All right.
And next, we have breaking news. Peter Navarro, he served his time and now he wants a top job in the Trump administration.
[19:30:03]
Plus, a mad dash for the border. There is a caravan of migrants now coming to the United States Mexican border. They are coming with the hopes of crossing before Trump gets in office. Is it possible another border crisis is in the offing?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: All right. The breaking news, we are learning that Peter Navarro, who went to prison for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House January 6th Committee, is looking now for a top job in Trump's new administration, hoping to lead the National Economic Council.
And we're also learning that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who was first a Trump rival. But then on his VP shortlist and a very reliable surrogate, is under consideration for energy czar. Czar is being the word used.
It comes as Elon Musk's stock rises -- I mean literally, figuratively, both true. So what does he stand to gain from this second Trump presidency? I mean, he's already the richest man in the world.
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: A star is born, Elon. It's true.
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Cheers for the president-elect, and the richest man in the world who helped get him there, Elon Musk.
[19:35:02]
ELON MUSK, CEO OF TESLA: As you can see, I'm not just MAGA, I'm dark MAGA.
CARROLL: Musk spent some $119 million to help get Trump elected. The return on that investment is already paying off.
Tesla shares have soared 29 percent since the election. Musk's stake has gained more than $30 billion. Investors betting that Trump's win will boost the electric vehicle company because of his closeness with Musk.
Remember, there was a time not long ago when Tesla wasn't looking so great with reports of sagging profits.
MAX CHAFKIN, BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK COLUMNIST: When you look ahead -- I mean, there are definitely opportunities for him to make money.
CARROLL: Max Chafkin is a senior reporter at "Bloomberg Businessweek" who covers Musk.
CHAFKIN: SpaceX, Musk's other main company, is a major defense contractor. It's most important customer is the U.S. government and Trump, on the campaign trail talked about, you know, handing Elon Musk new contracts.
TRUMP: What a great guy. And he'd rather be making rocket ships because he'd really rather do that.
CARROLL: SpaceX is a privately held company, so it's tough to put a hard number on how much Musk stands to gain. The same can be said of his other privately held businesses, such as the brain implant company Neuralink.
TRUMP: He's a special guy. He's a super genius. We have to protect our geniuses. We don't have that many of them.
CARROLL: Musk could receive a position in the Trump administration running what he has called a Department of Government Efficiency.
TRUMP: Take over, Elon. Just take over.
CARROLL: Where he could roll back government regulations and cut what he determines is wasteful spending.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much do you think we can rip out of this wasted $6.5 trillion Harris-Biden budget?
MUSK: Well, I think we can do at least $2 trillion.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah!
MUSK: Your money is being wasted. And the Department of Government Efficiency is going to fix that.
CARROLL: Whatever happens, Musk is gloating in the wake of Trump's victory, a political bromance brewing. Musk pictured with Trump on election night with his family and with Caitlyn Jenner.
Musk posted this image showing him carrying a sink into the Oval Office, saying let that sink in, a throwback to when Musk bought Twitter and posted this video of him carrying a sink into the headquarters.
MUSK: You can't help it. That's okay.
CARROLL: With promises to shake things up on the social media platform.
Though it should be noted, Musk and his co-investors bought Twitter for $44 billion. One recent accounting has it valued at less than $10 billion.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: I mean, Jason, it's just amazing to watch all that. But, of course, it's not just the contacts or the role in an administration that could work to Musk's advantage here.
CARROLL: Right. When you think about all of these investigations that are floating around, you know, the Department of Labor, Department of Justice, the Department of Transportation has these investigations into, you know, Musk's various businesses. Tesla, for example, SpaceX, but now, you have to wonder, do all or some of these investigations now go away that certainly would be a boost for business as well.
BURNETT: It sure would be in addition to the new business.
CARROLL: Yeah. We'll see.
BURNETT: All right. Jason, thank you.
And now, "The Bulwark's" Marc Caputo. He has reported extensively on the machinations inside Trump world. That's a fun word to say.
So, Marc, you just saw Jason's report, right? Musk now attached to Trump for now in Trump's family photo on election night.
I mean, what more are you learning about the true extent of his influence on Trump?
MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE BULWARK: I think they have influence on each other. Elon Musk likes being around from what I'm told, Donald Trump, because Donald Trump is this kind of fascinating historical figure and vice versa. Donald Trump.
He would say in his rallies frequently, he would go off in these sort of long tangents about how fascinated he was about rocket ships and how the rocket ship landed. And they're just like, mutually sort of infatuated with each other.
One thing I think should be clear is it's not as if Elon Musk is really going to come into the administration and get a job. He's going to be in one of these sort of czar like roles that is, or he's probably going to be in one. Nothings been set yet where he's going to have an interagency authority similar to like Operation Warp Speed that had wrapped together or roped together these different agencies.
Same thing with RFK, for instance. He's probably going to do that on the health side. That's at least the chatter that's happening.
BURNETT: All right. So you know, I know that there are maybe some in the business world, you know, who think, okay, if Musk is involved with the way he's run his companies and he cuts wasteful spending that could be a good thing. Okay, fine.
My curiosity, though, is you just used the word infatuation and often infatuations, you know, they don't end so well, right? They turn into they flip to the opposite side of things. And we've seen this before.
Remember, Steve Bannon when he was seen as potentially too powerful and influential in the White House?
[19:40:05]
So what's your sense of the depth of the relationship and whether it's going to last, the Musk-Trump one?
CAPUTO: Oh I have no idea. But there's a lot of similarities between the way Donald Trump runs his administrations, his campaigns, and like professional wrestling. You know, you have characters that are allied and then they fall out and they disappear and then they come back. You know, Steve Bannon is back in good graces with Donald Trump for instance.
So what can happen next? Who knows? I mean that's part of the secret of how Trump presses on. Is everyone kind of watches and sees what's next.
BURNETT: All right. So you obviously knowing so much about Trump's inner circle and knowing Florida politics so well. You've known Susie Wiles. It -- well before she came into the role. She was with the Trump campaign and now, of course, as chief of staff.
So how is she? How is she how is she going to run it and turn that into something with longevity?
CAPUTO: I think in the same way that she ran the campaign, which is she puts the principle first. She doesn't put herself first. She is non-confrontational, doesn't try to take credit, make sure others do. She has good selections, good picks and empowers people to make those decisions on their own and sort of rules or makes decisions by consensus.
You didn't hear any stories really leak out of internal drama at the Trump campaign surrounding Susie Wiles or her trying to manage the candidate, something she doesn't do, and that worked and Donald Trump really appreciated.
You don't really hear Donald Trump thanking people a lot, but on election night, he made sure to go out of his way to thank her and bring her up on stage, along with Chris LaCivita, who was the campaign co-manager with her. But he gave extra attention to Susie Wiles for a for what she did so far, and he believes that she's going to do a good job going forward and considering her track record, which is a lot of wins in Florida, he's probably made a pretty good bet.
BURNETT: All right, Marc, thank you very much. Always good to see you happy. See you on Friday.
CAPUTO: Thanks. Appreciate you.
BURNETT: All right. You, too.
And next, people in one border town voted for Trump fully knowing his mass deportation plan. Perhaps because of it. So do they think that he will actually follow through on that promise now? Plus, dramatic images of a major economy collapsing, the U.S. rushing
to evacuate its citizens. China launching a full scale invasion. It is all part of a television show that Beijing does not want us to see.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:46:28]
BURNETT: Tonight, a caravan of more than 1,000 migrants moving through Mexico and trying to make it to the U.S. before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. It comes as some of Trump's most ardent voters came from border areas. He won 12 out of the 14 counties in South Texas. And just to show you how massive that change is on the left of your screen is 2020, and you can see all that blue on the southern part of Texas along the border and on the right. You see all that red.
Those voters lured to Trump by promises like these.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.
We are going to have to do a very large deportation because you can't -- you can't live like that.
On day one of my new administration, the invasion ends and the deportation begins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. OUTFRONT now, Mayor Victor Trevino is from Laredo, Texas. That's in Webb County, which flipped red for the first time in more than a century, first time in 112 years.
And I want to ask you, mayor, about these promises from Trump in just a moment. But first, what I began with that caravan which I'm showing on the screen more than a thousand migrants heading towards the United States right now. Some of them have told us that they decided to do this, and they got in this caravan as soon as they found out Trump won because they want to get into the United States before he takes office.
And, obviously, you're sitting right now, your town, at one of the largest border crossings in the United States of America. Are you concerned that you're going to see another surge in crossings before January?
MAYOR VICTOR TREVINO, LAREDO, TX: Well, thank you for having me, first of all.
And I do see that even though the great amount of people are coming, it won't be something that we haven't seen before. And as a matter of fact, our city, Laredo, Texas, is the one that has the least amount of illegal crossings. We get the migrants referred to our city for processing. But you know, when I see these things that people maybe want to think that before, President-elect Trump goes into office, they can -- they can come in.
So that -- that is unfortunate because there's a lot of dangers, there's a lot of difficulties and it's not so easy to cross like before.
BURNETT: All right. So to that point about not being as easy, you know, if Trump comes to you, or Trump says he's pushing forward with his plan for mass deportations, right. He said he's no matter what it costs, he's going to do it.
So, today, Republican Congressman Jim Banks, who was just elected to the Senate, he told us, Mayor, that every single those words -- every single undocumented immigrant has to go. Let me just play how he put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLPI)
SEN.-ELECT JIM BANKS (R-IN): The American people spoke loud and clear on Tuesday. They gave this president and Republicans a mandate to do everything that we can. The goal should be to deport every illegal in this country that we can find.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, Trump has talked about doing exactly that, Mayor, but he has in the past made promises, whether it's the wall or locking Hillary Clinton up, that he did not keep. I'm curious from how you see it, are voters in Laredo expecting him? In fact counting on him to do mass deportations?
TREVINO: Well, one of the things that that we just have to listen to their opinions, but, you know, to do a mass deportation, first of all, who's going to work those jobs? What's the economy going to do with people that fill those jobs that the American people don't want to take? These are people that are working jobs that keep the country going.
[19:50:02]
They're going out to fields. They're doing the jobs, the cleaning of restrooms, to assisting in restaurants. All those jobs. If you get rid of all those people, immigrants or not, documented immigrants, I think that that would be very, very dysfunctional and it's not reality. This is just a -- I think -- I think it's just one of those things that he's saying, that he's been saying for years. And probably it's not the thing that would be functional. I think that that's the way it would go.
BURNETT: So, South Texas overwhelmingly flocked to President-elect Trump. So your county I mentioned first, first flip Republican 112 years. Trump went from 22 percent of the vote in 2016 to over 50 percent. I mean, this is incredible. We've never seen a swing like that.
Ed Lavandera who, of course, lives in Texas, our reporter -- he's been talking to Latino voters who supported Trump. And here's how one of them explained his vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORGE RIVAS, LATINO VOTER: The man loved this country. As someone who came from El Salvador. I have seen the destruction. I have seen the result of people abusing the system. I have seen death and destruction and pain and poverty up close.
And what he wants for this country is the opposite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Mayor, we spoke several times during the campaign. You had a chance to be with the Harris campaign. I know you had supported her but when did you see and hear this sentiment at the level that it turned out at the ballot box in recent weeks before the election?
TREVINO: No, you know what? We just saw the will of the people being exercised. But I think the people chose between a -- they didn't choose between a Democrat or Republican. I think the choice was between two people.
People chose President-elect Trump, the good and the bad, and they made a decision that the good they saw was going to outweigh the bad. So these are things -- I think it's a personal choice, in the individual choices, you know, the majority of Latinos voting for Trump and dislike that despite his rhetoric, the elections really made a mandate for what the Latino community had been saying for years.
Don't take the Latino vote for granted. And that's what we saw
BURNETT: Yeah, well, certainly, certainly did not -- certainly sent that message.
All right. Mayor Trevino, I appreciate seeing you. Thank you.
TREVINO: Thank you very much.
BURNETT: All right. And next, no food, no water, no power, chaos on the streets. It is the scenario playing out in a new show about a Chinese invasion. We'll tell you about it and its chance of reality
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:22]
BURNETT: Tonight, Taiwan cozying up to Trump as Taipei faces the real threat of a Chinese invasion, the government of Taiwan appealing directly to Trump. Taiwan's top diplomat, quietly delivering a letter during a private lunch with Trump's former national security advisor, Robert O'Brien.
The fear over an invasion so intense in Taiwan, there is even a television show now all about what a war between the two countries will look like.
Will Ripley is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): I'm a temple in southern Taiwan on the set of "Zero Day".
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Action!
RIPLEY (voice-over): In an upcoming 10-part series dramatizing for the first time in Taiwan's response to a looming invasion.
So why are we in a temple with a table full of money?
CHENG HSIN-MEI, SHOWRUNNER, ZERO DAY (through translator): Many Taiwanese temples have close relationships with China. So these money illustrate bribery in local elections.
RIPLEY: "Zero Day" begins a few months after Taiwan's general election. Producer and showrunner Cheng Hsin-mei says Taipei is distracted with a presidential transition.
How much research went into this?
CHENG: It's quite a lot.
RIPLEY: "Zero Day" shows how quickly daily life in Taiwan could crumble before a single shot is fired.
China's Peoples Liberation army cuts off the island by sea and by air.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): Major news networks from the U.S., Japan and Korea are reporting the Taiwan Strait crisis as headline news.
RIPLEY: Within days of Beijing's blockade, the financial system collapses. The United States and other foreign governments rushed to evacuate their citizens.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How the United States will break through the Chinese blockade to evacuate them will be a major challenge.
RIPLEY: The island's vulnerability is exposed every day. Conveniences collapse. Water electricity and communication systems fail, supplies run out.
Food and fuel shortages create total chaos. The world is watching but hesitant to intervene, leaving Taiwan on its own.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): OK, let me ask you. You think we could win?
RIPLEY: Day by day, fear spreads, chaos unfolds, divisions deepen, democracy crumbles as PLA soldiers set foot on Taiwanese soil.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (translated): Raise your hands high. Show you're not armed. Please report to the PLA if you know any hidden pro- independence activists.
RIPLEY: In a lot of these scenes, even though they're fiction, producers say they are based very much in real life.
The crew was allowed to film inside the presidential office and on board a warship, leading to accusations from China's state-run tabloid "Global Times" the project is propaganda for Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party.
It's a very sensitive topic, so taboo, in fact, that the crew, the actors, the directors, they all take a risk of never being able to work in the Chinese market.
The U.S. believes China aims to have the ability to invade Taiwan by 2027. That doesn't mean Beijing has decided to invade.
What was the scariest part for you as you divided these potential scenarios in the lead up to a Chinese attack?
CHENG HSIN-MEI, SHOWRUNNER, ZERO DAY: When the panic happened, the whole society would be in disorder.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
RIPLEY (on camera): And it could happen very, very quickly, even before a single shot is fired, Erin, and that is the point that these producers of this show are trying to make especially now with Trump's return to the presidency and this potential shift in U.S. defense policy on Taiwan. His comments about you know, Taiwan needing to pay the U.S. for protection.
This is a transactional approach that they are keenly aware here raises a lot of doubts about whether the U.S. would actually intervene if China were to attack.
BURNETT: All of this now, something we may we all live through and see how it goes.
Will, thank you.
And thanks so much to all of you as always.
Anderson starts now.
