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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Doges On China Calling His Claims Of Talks "Fake News"; Veteran Confronts GOP Lawmaker About Hegseth; Trump Envoy Expected In Russia From Meeting With Putin. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 24, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:26]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Home sales plummet. Airlines pull back their travel forecasts out of fear as China accuses Trump of, quote, fake news for claiming there's a deal in the works.
Plus, chaos breaks out at a Republican town hall as a veteran confronts a lawmaker about Pete Hegseth, says Congress has to step it up and do something about the defense secretary, as we are learning tonight more about the man currently on the rise in Hegseth's inner circle. We'll tell you about it.
And Trump's envoy about to meet again with Putin after Trump takes Putin's side with the most jaw dropping comment so far, that you'll have to hear to believe.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, that plunge in home sales, the biggest drop in more than two years. But President Trump, when he spoke about it, seemed to be living in a different reality.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. President, on the economy there was a slowdown. Is that an economic indicator that concerns you about the broader U.S.?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, they had very good numbers on housing today, extremely good numbers. And that's despite interest rates because, you know, if you look at what happened, everyone said, oh, I said I was going to get prices down. I did.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, home prices actually went up. So, it's unclear what he might have specifically been referring to in that case.
But on this issue of housing, Trump also got mortgage rates to go up big time, along with all U.S. borrowing costs. Thanks to his tariff wars. And that is what is now hurting homebuyers. The fallout from Trump's tariffs tonight is now real, not just
theoretical. Even as he is backing off many of them, slicing tariffs on China to still sky-high tariff rates, right? That's what the market likes.
But the tariff chaos now is in the real world. It resulted in American Airlines and Southwest both pulling their financial guidance today for the entire year, because they just don't know what's happening with the economy.
Southwest actually said it's going to be cutting flights because the economic uncertainty and less demand.
And the numbers of companies with the same outlook and concern is exploding. I mean, "The Financial Times" came out and looked at it, did an analysis. This is incredible. The term "recession" has been mentioned on 44 percent of corporate earnings calls.
And Paul Hickey from Bespoke Investment is going to be with us in a moment, says the word "tariffs" is mentioned 90 percent of the time, but recession 44 percent of the time. Now the "FT" compared that -- well, how was it in the last quarter, right? The last time when companies came out with earnings results, 3 percent, 3 percent of companies mentioned the word "recession".
So just to be clear, that is an increase of 15 times of the use of the word "recession", thanks to Trump's tariff crisis. Another warning from tractor supply stood out to us, because it's a company that Trump and his inner circle have praised, today, slashing its guidance, saying since issuing our initial 2025 outlook, there has been a notable increase in uncertainty. In particular, the introduction of new tariffs.
Now, most of tractor supply stores are located in more rural areas. Communities that have tended to lean more conservative. So that's important for Trump politically.
And as for China tonight, the Chinese are calling Trump's words on tariffs fake news. The Chinese government tonight claiming that there aren't any talks going on between the two countries, despite Trump saying the opposite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Can you clarify with whom the U.S. is speaking with China? They're saying it's fake news that trade talks are happening.
TRUMP: Well, they had a meeting this morning. So --
REPORTER: Who's they?
TRUMP: I can't tell you. It doesn't matter who they is. We may reveal it later, but they had meetings this morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: They may reveal it later.
I mean, look, whatever the truth is, the Chinese are having a field day with it so far. I mean, the comments by Chinese citizens online. Trump throws out fake news every day. We're not giving Trump any way out. Well done. America's lies have been exposed, right?
So, this whole kind of anti-American sentiment, it's not about the government. It's about the whole country at this time. It's after the Chinese ministry came out and said this about claims of talks.
Their quote is, these are all fake news. To my knowledge, China and the United States have not engaged in any consultations or negotiations on the tariff issue.
Meanwhile, Chinese manufacturers are trying to take matters into their own hands now, flooding U.S. social media sites hawking cheap products directly to Americans. Like just put it in the mail.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want this?
$2, $3, $2, $2
Here's the largest, best wholesale market in China.
Any style you want is available here.
The price is so low, but the quality is really good. Look at the fabric and details.
No matter where you are, I can ship to you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It's not just clothes and bags there. It's jewelry.
[19:05:00]
And even back to that big home sales drop data today. Houses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All of my jewelry are high quality. If you have high quality customers wholesale from me.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just $10,000, you can buy the Luban Cabin's capsule house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Americans on social media are eager to oblige, even though it's not clear at all whether the products are what the manufacturers claim they are. Maybe that's the house Trump was referring to when he talked about the prices going down. This is part of the growing chaos that is Trump's trade war. Thats the
reality now. And this concern is stretching far beyond American borders.
Moments ago, I talked to Jorg Kukies. He is the finance minister of Germany. He told me this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JORG KUKIES, GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER: German companies are part of the American manufacturing base as an example. The same goes for the chemicals industry and many others, as -- so of course we are worried about a decline in the growth path.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: A decline in the growth path.
Tonight, renowned conservative economist Art Laffer also expressed his concerns. Now, Art Laffer is not just, you know, a person who's been around in economics for a long time. He is somebody Trump personally called brilliant. And you see him there with him. He honored him with the Medal of Freedom.
Well, Laffer told "Axios" that Trump's trade policy is the, quote, most scary influx economic moment of his life. And mind you, this is someone who said this about Trump back in 2020.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARTHUR LAFFER, FORMER ECONOMIC ADVISER TO REAGAN: I think this president and this administration has done a great job on the economy, and anyone who wants that economy to last, this president is probably the best president for the economy I've ever seen. It's just amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Obviously, the sentiment has changed.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT live outside the White House.
So, Jeff, this conversations with China that either are or not or are not happening, right. The fact that they might be happening is giving the markets hope. Okay.
What do you know about what's really going on?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Erin, it is a great question. And it's one of the central questions here at the White House. We asked the president again just a few moments ago as he was leaving the White House to fly out to his golf course in northern Virginia, where he's attending a MAGA dinner tonight. Asked any updates on China, what specific phone calls can you point to? He looked at me, made eye contact, did not answer.
So, look, Erin, the bottom line is, yes, we do believe there are low level conversations potentially going on well below the cabinet level. But beyond that, there is no indication that there are any conversations. The president, as we know, has softened his tone throughout the week toward President Xi.
And he, quite frankly, quite literally is sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. He has said his door is open. He is eager to have a conversation. But, Erin, what's so striking about this? Just a few months ago, the president was eager to sort of have what's described by many as a bromance with President Xi. He was eager to sort of, you know, continue that conversation and relationship and dialogue, that has all but closed.
So, as we enter the 100th day, almost next week of this administration, this relationship is at an entirely different point, but so much more now is riding on that one phone call. But the cards are on the Chinese side.
President Xi clearly has watched the U.S. blink here, but has not picked up the phone. They say their door is open for communication, but clearly. And now the ball is in their court.
So, I wish I had a better answer for you. What calls actually are underway, but as far as we can tell, they are low-level only -- Erin.
BURNETT: It's -- you know, as much as there's a lack of clarity, in some senses, it is a very clear answer in others, right? Trump has said he'll cut the tariffs in half. Negotiating against himself. And still that has not yielded Xi saying let's negotiate. So, obviously, very significant in that sense.
Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
And everyone's here with me now.
I mean, Dan, on this issue, Trump saying there's talks China says no, ministry says no. You hear Jeff Zeleny's reporting. Any conversations are at a low level. But what does that say to you? Trump came out and said what was 145. Now they're 75. And still, Xi Jinping is not talking.
DAN IVES, GLOBAL HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: I mean, I view it as a game of poker. And there look, he's looking at his cards being like, it's not that good of a hand. And the reality is the market is telling you, you got to make deals. You got to move back on China, words -- and we're starting to hear that in terms of -- from the administration.
But you backed yourself into a corner. And the reality is, you got two and a half weeks. Everything we talk about, two and a half weeks until you have the inventory. In terms of all the shortages, the price increases that are coming and everything we've talked about on the show, he's hearing from leaders around the country what's happening. And that's why they know time is ticking.
BURNETT: So, markets going up, hoping that, okay, he's going to back off, deals will be made. Or even if they're not made, we'll pretend they're made, whatever, market wants to move on.
[19:10:01]
But how much space does he have?
PETER TUCHMAN, TRADER AT THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE: You know, I came into the show tonight hoping to be more hopeful. And, you know, because of the way the markets trading. Right. I'm very market centric and I'm watching it.
Usually, the market tells you what it thinks of the situation. And we've had three back to back days of solid buying in the market. Not -- not program buying. I mean, this was just sort of buying with intent.
We're seeing like an 8 to 2, 9 to 1 advances versus declines. And the market is solid. You know were opening up, and it's continuing to go. And even statements this morning at 6:00 a.m. I was -- I did a podcast with Dan midday today, and we talked about that at 6:00 a.m., China said, we're not having any conversations. And Trump was saying, we're talking all the time. And the market sort of fluffed that off.
So, my hope was that, you know, that maybe there is a lot going on, you know, in, negotiating in the back door there and -- but the picture you're painting is a really a dark one. You know, I hate to be that way. I wanted to come in with some hope.
You know, it sounds like maybe the market is going on. Hope. Look, the bottom line is we talked about last, last, last week. We said Sundays got to be a deal. That's what Dan said last week. We got nothing last weekend.
Tomorrow is Friday. We're coming into a weekend. Maybe the market is trying to get ahead of. They can imagine with all that's happening and we get closer to this ticking reality of a real -- of a real possible explosion here, that we better get ahead of it because the deal has to come.
BURNETT: Right.
TUCHMAN: The writings on the wall. We can't go another week without this because then it's -- things are going to start. You just painted a really dismal picture, you know, from deals on the table. So maybe --
BURNETT: And what happen -- when you look at, you know, the FTC saying 44 percent of companies are mentioning recession, how bad is it in terms of the outlook?
PAUL HICKEY, CO-FOUNDER, BESPOKE INVESTMENT GROUP: So with the S&P 500 companies that have reported, I mean, we counted even more. Two thirds of companies have mentioned the term recession in their earnings conference call.
BURNETT: I should have used your number, not the -- HICKEY: But -- so it's such a dichotomy because the results that have
been reported, 80 percent of companies have reported better than expected earnings, two thirds have exceeded sales forecasts. But then you go to what are they?
BURNETT: That's in the past.
HICKEY: That's in the past. And then we're looking at what's going forward. And you tend to see the weakening of economic data, the uncertainty in the conference calls. Knight-Swift today reported or yesterday they reported, they said they cut their guidance 30 percent for next quarter. And they said companies, their customers are just sitting on their hands taking a wait-and-see approach, waiting for the --
BURNETT: The trucking company?
HICKEY: Yeah, fourth largest in the country -- waiting for the bouncy ball to settle on something because there's -- there's no certainty of what's going on. And they said they're expecting a leg lower in demand in the coming weeks. And then you had Fed Governor Waller out today saying that companies are just frozen, given.
BURNETT: Yeah, frozen was word with housing.
TUCHMAN: Well, I think we go back to what Ken Griffin said yesterday. You're talking about one of the most powerful people in finance with presents, you know, as a as a hedge fund and presence on the floor of the exchange thing that the brand is eroding. The U.S. brand is eroding, right? Not buy America, but sell in America.
And that's major. It's worth major concern.
IVES: And even when you talk about housing, Fed -- they can't cut because you have biggest inflationary policy in the last 100 years.
HICKEY: And when they did cut --
BURNETT: In terms of --
(CROSSTALK)
IVES: So, so, that's right. Lumber prices, where they come from Canada. What's the input in terms of from a housing price perspective? So that's -- look, now, the reality of the situation. It's a Jenga puzzle.
And essentially, when you go like this, you can't just be like, oh, no, everything's good, right?
TUCHMAN: It will tumble.
IVES: And so to what Peter was saying before about the back to back to back strong days, the S&P has been up 1.5 percent three days in a row. Thats so uncommon to see that it's only happened ten other times since World War II. On the positive side, the market was up six months and a year later,
pretty much a year later, it was up every time. So, there is a precedent for this kind of strong buying. The market does have some hope that there hopefully is going to be a deal. You need something, but you do need to see results.
I mean, South Korea brought their A game. Does that mean we're going to see -- does that mean we're going to see a deal?
BURNETT: Yeah.
IVES: But we have to have something.
And then you contrast that, you know, the uncertainty. The president was with Norway today talking about how because they have a sovereign wealth fund, we can charge higher tariffs to them, which --
TUCHMAN: He's so disconnected from reality. I mean, you hear the conversations, you present one scenario. We hear him.
He couldn't be just -- there's no good cop/bad cop stuff going on here. He's living in a different reality.
And no disrespect to you, sir, but it does seem like he's just -- he's coming.
IVES: You have a trade deficit --
TUCHMAN: You're saying red, and he's saying blue.
IVES: You have a trade deficit with your dry cleaner. I mean, the point is you charge tariff to the dry -- I mean, the point is that's the problem.
BURNETT: Well, that's what trade is supposed to be about, right? It's the law of comparative advantage. It's Adam Smith's pin factory. Okay. Econ 101.
I want to play some more, though, of what the German finance minister said, because it touches on something so important that Trump has been saying, here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KUKIES: Of course, it's good for us to hear that the confidence in bonds is so strong that essentially the yield increase that we saw after the announcement of our debt program to finance defense and infrastructure has now recovered almost entirely.
[19:15:05]
And we have seen a strong inflow of demand into our sovereign bonds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Basically, Trump announced that this is a boom, right? Obviously, money people choosing okay, go to German booms instead of U.S. treasuries and safety. Now there aren't enough booms to do that.
But what it did was actually have their interest rates go down. So, Trump has subsidized Germany financing a massive infrastructure program, the biggest in a generation, at a lower interest rate because the money left the U.S.
IVES: And the problem is you press this button and, all of a sudden, this happened. And the reality is these other countries, it's what, right. I mean, it's what Paul talked about yesterday.
It's like you look at what's happening around the world. Everyone's recognizing the sell America trade gives them the opportunity from a debt as well as an equity perspective.
HICKEY: What's really fascinating is today the S&P 500 closed around the same level. It was the Friday before liberation day. And the ten- year treasury yield was about the same level. It was the Friday before liberation day.
So, really, not much has happened, so to speak, except the dollar is down 5 percent in some ways. I mean, as -- as someone who holds dollar assets, you don't want to see the dollar lose value. But the administration has made clear in some of their working papers that they want to get the dollar lower and they are achieving that goal, whether it's also hurting our reputation is another problem.
BURNETT: I mean, but that's pretty incredible, Peter, that you could what you just said that you could look before liberation day and you could just take away the -- in between, right, and just do a little dotted line. And here we are and everything's the same. And yet --
TUCHMAN: And we know nothing more than we did.
BURNETT: And yet you're saying, we go from 3 percent to 90 percent of companies mentioning recession and you know, the real-world impacts and these airlines pulling that, I mean, it is absolutely stunning, actually, if you think about it that way, that the levels are the same. And yet the real-world impact has completely changed.
TUCHMAN: Well, remember when Richard Quest said, this is just -- this is economic --
IVES: Vandalism.
TUCHMAN: -- vandalism, right? It's self-inflicted. A self-inflicted wound, right.
And it continues, right?
I was -- I was -- you know, we talked about it. Our kumbaya moment last week. I was trying to manifest that this couldn't be -- this couldn't really be happening. We're living in such a -- in a different reality here and -- but it's continuing.
IVES: Last week, Tuchman was going to almost wear a pink spikes sweatshirt. He was so bullish. TUCHMAN: How could -- how could --
BURNETT: You could buy that sweatshirt.
TUCHMAN: Like I said, the guy on the floor who's a Trump supporter saying, well, you didn't ever expect him to really charge 145 percent. That was -- that was just a, you know, that was just a tactic.
IVES: And we didn't expect --
TUCHMAN: A tactic is taking people's 401K to a 201K. It's taking all the stuff you just described, you know, where there's no guidance. We are going back to COVID without, you know, without having a major global -- a major global health crisis, which we, you know, how did we get out of that? We had to put $3 trillion into the market over four months to get back to even that was a major stimulus to get out of that do.
Is there any looming stimulus to get out of this?
IVES: We talked about -- we talked about that. Yeah. From a corporate perspective, the logistics -- it's going to make COVID look like you're eating sundae and with whipped cream relative to what's happening.
HICKEY: Like you said, if there isn't a deal.
IVES: Exactly.
HICKEY: You know, I mean, that's why I think you have another week or two to get things done, and then you're going to start to see that that those problems play out.
But I think at this point, I mean, you the market is at least telling us that we have a window and there's hope.
IVES: You need to get a deal done --
TUCHMAN: It could be this week.
IVES: -- by this weekend, India, Japan, something on the on the board.
BURNETT: Right, right. And of course, then the big one, the big one with which nothing else matters, fundamentally, it all matters. But then there's --
HICKEY: They go to prom --
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: Thank you all.
And next, the breaking news, tempers flare. A Republican lawmaker is confronted over her support of Pete Hegseth as we're learning new details tonight about the Pentagon secretary's new right-hand man. Plus, Trump tries standing up to Putin, telling him online to stop
bombing Ukraine after the Russian president defied Trump and attacked Kyiv. But then he said something else about Putin's concessions. You'll see that.
And Trump's allies cannot get enough of Trump's book.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The art of the deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The art of the deal.
BROOKE ROLLINS, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: It's the art of the deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Harry Enten tells us something we actually don't know even now about that book from 1987 and what's happening with it now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:52]
BURNETT: Tonight, an angry veteran confronting a Republican congresswoman at a town hall tonight about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VETERAN: If I had done what President Trump has done or what Mr. Hegseth has done --
(APPLAUSE)
VETERAN: -- then I would've lost my clearance and been court martialed.
Yet these people seem to be going on, and they're putting our military in harm's way by doing so. Congress needs to step up and do something.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It comes as we are learning more about the person who started out with Hegseth as a workout buddy, and is now a very key member of his rapidly shrinking inner circle.
Brian Todd is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Good morning. How's life?
RICKY BURIA, JR. ASSISTANT TO SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH: Good, sir.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In a line to greet NATO's secretary general today, a man who's made a rapid rise to become a critical figure in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's shrinking inner circle. He's Colonel Ricky Buria, a marine with several combat deployments who served as a junior military assistant to Hegseth.
[19:25:02]
CNN's sources say in a few short months, Ricky Buria has become one of Hegseth's most trusted advisers, as the secretary has grown more paranoid about leaks. One defense official says Hegseth likes Buria's "Yes, sir" attitude.
Multiple sources tell CNN, Buria has access to Hegseth's personal and government phones. He's been seen working out with Hegseth in photos posted on X, appears in a photo laughing with Elon Musk when Musk visited the Pentagon. And he's even sat in on meetings with foreign leaders when he worked for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during the Biden administration. A former senior Pentagon official says Buria was essentially a body man for Austin, often seen carrying his bags.
Now, CNN sources say, as Buria puts in for his retirement, Hegseth is considering appointing him his chief of staff.
ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER: One distinct problem would be the fact that as a retired colonel, he would be, in effect, outranked by all of the admirals and generals in the Pentagon. And it would make it very difficult for him to undertake the responsibilities of that position.
TODD: Multiple sources tell CNN that weeks before "The Atlantic" reported that Hegseth used Signal to discuss detailed military plans, Buria pushed to get Hegseth, an extra desktop computer in his office, with Signal on it, so Hegseth could text friends and family. Those sources tell CNN that after "The Atlantic" story broke, Buria asked the Defense Department's chief information officer if Hegseth could be granted an exception to use Signal more freely at work, a request that raised eyebrows among senior officials.
It's also surprised a former Trump administration official.
KEVIN CARROLL, FORMER SENIOR COUNSELOR TO THEN-DHS SECRETARY JOHN KELLY: Asking for the authorization was crazy. I mean, why would you put a insecure commercial app that can be hacked by a foreign Signal's intelligence service on any communications device related to the secretary of defense? Especially when he has the most robust communication staff of anybody in the government beyond the president.
TODD: The defense secretary's office is considered a secure space. Cell phones usually not allowed. It's not clear if Hegseth was ever given the exception to use Signal freely, or if he's continued to use it to discuss military planning. He dodged a question on that today.
REPORTER: Mr. Secretary, you're still using Signal for work purposes.
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: (INAUDIBLE) get to work, which is what we do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): The Pentagon's chief spokesman tells CNN the secretary has never used and does not currently use Signal on his government computer, but did not say why. Hegseth had another computer set up with Signal installed on it.
Even during the Biden administration. The government cybersecurity agency said that highly targeted individuals should use Signal to communicate, but Pentagon rules say Signal cannot be used to transmit nonpublic military information.
Ricky Buria did not respond to CNNs repeated request for comment about his growing influence in Pete Hegseth's inner circle, including his role in helping to facilitate Hegseth's use of Signal inside the Pentagon -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Brian, thank you very much.
All right. And next, the breaking news, Trump hyping what he's calling a pretty big concession by Putin to end the war in Ukraine. So, wait until you hear what this big concession is.
Plus, Trump's sudden surge in wealth, his meme coin soaring in value. So, what triggered this spike? A dinner invitation. And we'll tell you why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:57]
BURNETT: Breaking news: Trump today claiming Putin could offer a major concession toward a peace deal with Ukraine. Literally that he says that this concession, this concession would be Putin not taking all of Ukraine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Stopping, taking the whole country. Pretty big concession.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Seriously.
This is were just hours away from Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff latest meeting with Vladimir Putin. Witkoff, a real estate developer with no previous diplomatic experience, is traveling to Moscow. He is expected to meet with Putin. This would be the fourth time since early February. Witkoff recently said, from his meetings with the Russian president that he isn't, quote, a bad guy.
Last time, he just returned to hand deliver Trump a gift from Putin. The portrait you see on your screen there of a bloodied Trump moments after that failed assassination attempt.
Fred Pleitgen begins our coverage tonight. He is OUTFRONT in Moscow.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It was one of the most brutal aerial blitzes since the start of the war. First responders frantically continue the search for possible survivors. Dozens confirmed killed or wounded, Kyiv says. I don't see strong pressure on Russia nor new sanctions packages against the aggression of the Russian federation, he said. President Trump reacting, saying he's not happy about the strikes.
TRUMP: I didn't like last night. I wasn't happy with it. And we're in the midst of talking peace and missiles were fired. And I was not happy with it.
PLEITGEN: But Russian state TV in full breaking news mode, claiming the strikes targeted military infrastructure in locations across Ukraine. These videos show the unsuccessful attempts of Ukrainian air defense to shoot down Russian missiles, the anchor says at the moment there is no specific information about which objects in Kyiv were the target.
The attacks come just hours before President Trump's special negotiator, Steve Witkoff, is expected back in Moscow for another possible meeting with Vladimir Putin.
[19:35:05]
Witkoff recently telling Tucker Carlson he trusts Russia's leader.
TUCKER CARLSON, TV HOST: What did you think of him?
STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: I liked him. I thought he was straight up with me. In the second visit that I had, you know, it got personal. The president, President Putin, had commissioned a beautiful, portrait of President Trump from the leading Russian artist and actually gave it to me and asked me to take it home to President Trump, which I brought home and delivered to him.
PLEITGEN: CNN recently got an exclusive look at that portrait from the Russian artist the Kremlin commissioned to paint it.
He said he was told it could help improve U.S.-Russia relations, as Moscow remains firmly in control of the pace of negotiations towards a possible ceasefire with Ukraine.
The Kremlin saying they want a peace agreement but on Russia's terms.
We and President Putin are in favor of achieving peace while ensuring the interests of our country, the Kremlin spokesman says this is a mandatory condition.
And a senior senator in Moscow tells me Russia's leadership will not be pressured into a deal.
Trump has threatened massive sanctions if this doesn't work out.
ANDREY KLIMOV, RUSSIAN SENATOR: Sanctions cannot change Russian national interests and our possibility to follow our interests. It is not possible.
PLEITGEN: And the Russians believe they have a good chance to get their way, both on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And, Fred, you know, at this point, what sort of outcome does Putin think he can get?
PLEITGEN: Well, first of all, Erin, the Russians are saying they're not going to be rushed into any sort of agreement by the U.S. government. But there's two things that they keep talking about. One of them is, of course, the territorial concerns that they have. And there are some indications that the Russians don't only want to keep the territory that they currently occupy inside Ukraine, but possibly even larger areas than that.
And the second big question they keep talking about is their big red line, which is possible. Ukrainian membership in NATO, which the Russians say is a nonstarter for them. And there on that question, Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, told "Face the Nation" in an interview just now that he believes that President Trump is the only U.S. president who truly understands Russia's position on that issue.
But one of the things that we also have to keep in mind is that for Vladimir Putin, for the Russians, this is about something larger. It's not just about ending the war in Ukraine on terms favorable to the Russians, but also, of course, about a reset of U.S./Russia relations and massive sanctions relief as well, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Fred.
And OUTFRONT now, Vladimir Kara-Murza, and you know him well here on OUTFRONT, one of Putin's fiercest critics, recently released from a Russian penal colony in a prisoner swap. He had been sentenced to 25 years for criticizing Putin's war in Ukraine.
And, Vladimir, I very much appreciate your time. You know, just on the whole NATO thing, I guess it's always important, you know, people who hear that argument. Of course, there is NATO on Russian borders. Finland is a member of NATO. And that has been fine with Putin thus far.
When we spoke a few weeks ago, you said top Trump officials were acting as propagandists for the kremlin. And now today, you know, Trump -- Trump come out and threatened Putin if he doesn't stop attacking Ukraine. He said, quote, things will happen. He posted, "Vladimir, stop" in all caps after the missile attack last night on Kyiv.
Does any of that mean anything to Putin? Does he take it seriously in any way at this point?
VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA, RECENTLY FREED FROM RUSSIAN PRISON AFTER CRITICIZING PUTIN: Well, hello, Erin, thank you so much for having me on your program. No, none of this means anything serious. And all we hear from President Trump towards the Kremlin are words. Words and words and maybe an odd tweet now and then.
But what we've seen the current U.S. administration do with Ukraine over the past three months have been shameful. I mean, everybody remembers the public showdown that Donald Trump gave Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House.
We all remember the so-called pause of U.S. military assistance, including intelligence sharing with Ukraine back in March, which led to hundreds of Ukrainian casualties, including among civilians. We all remember the U.S. vote at the United Nations General Assembly against Ukraine, siding not only with Putin's Russia, but also with North Korea, Belarus, Eritrea and other similarly democratic countries against resolution condemning Putin's aggression against Ukraine.
So, frankly, I think the Kremlin must be running out of champagne by now because they've been opening a new bottle ever since the 20th of January. What we've heard from the American president today, this quote with which you began your report today. I mean, I don't even know whether to laugh or cry anymore after these three months.
BURNETT: It's a pretty big concession you're talking about.
KARA-MURZA: You know, when I was a kid in the Soviet Union, there was a Soviet joke when a tour guide was leading schoolchildren through -- through a museum of Vladimir Lenin. And he said, kids, I'll tell you a story about the generosity and kindness of comrade Lenin.
[19:40:06]
You know, he was once shaving with a razor, and little boy was passing by. He said, hello, comrade Lenin. Comrade Lenin said, hello, little boy, go along. Walk along on your route.
This is how kind and generous comrade Lenin was. And one of the school kids puts up his hand and says, what's so kind and generous about this? And the tour guide says, well, he had a razor. He could have stabbed him.
This is the exactly the same logic that we hear from the Oval Office today. And this is, frankly, mind-boggling.
So, the concession from the kremlin dictator is that he's not going to take over all of the territory of another sovereign and independent country, just part of it. I mean, excuse me, we're living in a 21st century, not in the 17th.
It is not okay to just go and grab another country's sovereign territory. And also, it has been a longstanding U.S. policy, regardless of which party has control. The White House for almost a century, that changes to national borders made by force are not recognized by the United States.
This -- this was a principle that underpinned the Stimson Doctrine back in 1932, after the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, and it was reaffirmed again in the Sumner Welles declaration in June of 1940 after the Soviet Union occupied and illegally annexed the three Baltic countries, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, and for the entirety of the time on these Baltic states, were forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union. The U.S. state department proudly flew their flags in the hall of flags on the ground floor of the United States never recognized this illegal annexation, and in these past few days, we've been hearing several media reports that the United States of America is actually considering officially, formally recognizing Russian sovereignty over Crimea, which was, of course, illegally occupied and illegally annexed 11 years ago.
This is Vladimir Putin's Christmas wish list. He could not have -- he could not have got a better deal from the United States government. And that's -- that's why I say again, that the Kremlin must be running out of champagne bottles by now.
BURNETT: I mean, it is pretty incredible that to say, not taking all of Ukraine would be a pretty big concession. I mean, just to think about the state of the Russian military right now, what it would take to accomplish such a thing by military aims, military methods is something Putin had long given up on. That -- that's not that. That's now a concession. It is -- it is stunning.
You just heard Fred talk about that painting. I wanted to ask you about that. The one that Putin had an artist make. And Matthew Chance got to actually see with the artist before it came over here. Then Witkoff brings it back.
And the Russian artist who painted it told CNN and Matthew that he wanted to show Trump's bravery during the assassination attempt. So, when you look at this painting in the context of Putin gifts that he would give, ways that he would portray a leader. What do you see?
KARA-MURZA: Well, you know, when Vladimir Putin was a Soviet KGB officer back in the day, one of the favorite parts of his job, as he himself admitted publicly, was recruitment. He was recruiting agents.
And the art of recruiting supposes that you sort of, do what your interlocutor wants to hear, right? As your interlocutor likes you. And Vladimir Putin has used his, you know, old KGB, talents, if I can use that word with every American president. It was in the White House during his, his rule.
You know, for example, you know, he knows that George W. Bush is a devout Christian. So, he told him a story about the cross that, you know, his mother had given him and that survived the big fire at his dacha.
You know, Barack Obama was about reform and modernization. So, Putin put up a fake, a puppet Russian so-called President Dmitry Medvedev, who talked about freedom and reform and so on. And that was, as you know, the ill-fated reset with the Kremlin at the time of the Obama White House.
Well, I think Putin decided rightly so, that the, the way to recruit Donald Trump was through personal flattery and caressing his ego. And so, he told Witkoff that story about how -- how he went and prayed for Donald Trump after the assassination attempt and, of course, commissioned that painting.
Look, when, when, when Mr. Witkoff said that this was a painting from a leading Russian artist that was sort of puzzled as to whom he could mean, because, you know, we have many talented artists in Russia, just as we have many talented writers, musicians and other musicians and other cultural figures.
But I have to say that Nikas Safronov, I would never describe him as Russia's leading artist. He's certainly the Kremlin's court painter, no question about that. He always works for whoever is in power. But, you know, his work is really a synonym of tastelessness, of kitsch, of, you know, vulgarity. This is what he's known for.
And so -- well, in a way, you can say that's fitting, because all of these things, I think, go very well with what we know of the taste of Donald J. Trump.
BURNETT: Vladimir Kara-Murza, thank you so much. I appreciate your time.
KARA-MURZA: Always good to be back on your program.
BURNETT: All right. And next, Trump's wealth surging tonight. The reason? Well, he extended an invitation to what is being called a private gala dinner. So, what's going on here?
And Harry Enten tells us something we don't know about a resurging interest in Trump's "Art of the Deal" book.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:49:09]
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump's meme coin surging, closing at nearly $12 a share tonight after the president offered a private gala dinner at his golf club near Washington, D.C., to top investors in his meme coin. So that invitation is on the coins website so you can see it has a real time leaderboard.
A real time -- I'm sorry.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: There you go.
BURNETT: You know, sometimes I just am thinking, is this real life? And it is. This is a, you know, a way to profit from crypto.
So, Harry Enten is OUTFRONT telling me something, I don't know, I suppose that this is -- you are living in reality.
ENTEN: Yes.
BURNETT: This is really happening.
ENTEN: It's not a dream, Erin Burnett. BURNETT: This is not an alternate universe. Or maybe it is, but my
consciousness got stuck in this one. Okay. How much is Trump's coin surging since he announced the dinner?
ENTEN: Yeah, it's up 25 percent. My goodness gracious.
I mean, look, this was a coin that was struggling. It had been struggling, had dropped tremendously since the beginning of the year. And then what do you do?
[19:50:01]
You announce, hey, you know what? Those sellers, some of you might get invited to the White House. You might get invited to a dinner. There you go.
And the result is that his cryptocurrency up 25 percent from Wednesday a.m., one of the largest jumps it's had in recent months.
BURNETT: And that is when the dinner.
ENTEN: That's exactly right.
BURNETT: All right. That is pretty stunning. And it's not just the bitcoin though. His media company is doing very well when you compare it to other companies in the stock market.
ENTEN: You got. You ain't kidding, Erin. I mean, take a look here, over the last month, what has DJT been doing? The stock of course this includes Truth Social.
Look at this up 24 percent in the last month. Youd make a killing on that compared to the baseline S&P 500 which of course is down 5 percent over the last month, in part because of Trump's tariff wars or not. So, tariff wars.
And the bottom line is you would have made a much better decision if you, in fact, had invested in Trump's DJT.
BURNETT: Well, that is amazing in and of itself. So now Trump his allies, they go out. They do remind us, especially since the war trade war started, that Trump is a brilliant negotiator. And they point specifically to his book. Here they are.
ENTEN: Okay.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The art of the deal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The art of the deal.
BROOKE ROLLINS, AGRICULTURE SECRETARY: It's the art of the deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURENTT: "The Art of the Deal," 1987, okay, that's -- it's publish date. Is that impacting sales today? I mean, tell us something we don't know.
ENTEN: I'll tell you something you don't know, Erin Burnett. And it is this look on google right now, "The Art of the Deal". It is at its highest point ever in terms of google searches. Get this up, 525 percent from a year ago. You think that's impressive?
Look at the amazon bestseller list. In terms of biographies. The top 15. Guess what's in it right now? "The Art of the Deal", despite the fact that that book was published before I was born, you go back to December. It wasn't even in the top 80, and now, it's in the top 15.
It turns out it's all about DJT at this moment.
BURNETT: Wow. All right. Harry Enten, thank you very much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, actress Eva Longoria joins me with a fascinating story about how a parasite decimated an entire industry.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:41]
BURNETT: Tonight, Eva Longoria in a new CNN original series "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN", taking viewers to some of the most beautiful parts of that country and doing some really interesting things like eating duck tongue, drinking vermouth and baking bread with family members.
In the first episode there, in Catalonia, where the food is made with volcanic stones, here's a preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
EVA LONGORIA, CNN HOST, SEARCHING FOR SPAIN (voice-over): Made with eels from the local river, this broth is heated with a hot volcanic stone, giving it a smoky flavor.
Wow. Oh. That's beautiful.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LONGORIA: Wow.
(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
LONGORIA: Wow. Everything's so smoky. Yeah. And it, like, goes together and it does represent like a volcano. Like a volcano. Oh my God, this is amazing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Eva Longoria is OUTFRONT now, award winning actress, producer, director and host of "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN". Okay, so I see you slurping that down. What was it like to eat the food made with volcanic stones? Can you describe -- how is it different?
LONGORIA: Oh my gosh. You know, first of all, I loved diving into Spain to see the diversity of food in Spain. People think like Spain is like paella, Jammu and sangria. And it's so much more. You just look at these women that are multigenerational.
That's the mother. The daughter is right next to her. This is their house. Their grandmother started this restaurant in their house, and now it's a Michelin Star restaurant. But it really all -- all of the experiences I had throughout Spain were so obviously delicious, but also historic and steeped in tradition and the art of this amazing level of gastronomy that Spain now has and has worked towards in the past 20 years.
BURNETT: You also visit Cava, where they make sparkling white wine. So, but that was not always the case, I guess.
LONGORIA: Yeah.
BURNETT: All right, here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LONGORIA: This region was originally famous for red wine, but in the late 1800s, the vineyards here were devastated by a yellow parasite called phylloxera. The disease vines were grafted with hardier ones from America, and winemakers crafted a sparkling white. That was the start of a whole new industry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So the champagne of Spain is born there. I mean, do you have a favorite one?
LONGORIA: Yeah. Cava is great to me. I love Cava and I didn't know the history of it, and I did, you know, I didn't know the history of this phylloxera, which was this you know, little bug that, you know, decimated the vineyards in the south of France and in Spain.
And so, for something like Cava to be born of this horrible, event, and now they celebrate this festival, it was so fun. It was so exciting. And there's a lot of pride. Pride in that. This is the region where, you know, Cava comes from.
BURNETT: So, we will look forward to that.
Eva, thank you so much. And I hope that all of you will do that. Don't miss the premiere of "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN". It is Sunday night at 9:00 right here on CNN.
Thanks for joining us. "AC360" starts now.
