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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Claims He's "Ending The Inflation Nightmare" Amid Trade War; Trump Admin Labeled International Students As Criminals Without Evidence; U.S. Turning To Hungary? Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 29, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:22]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Team Trump playing games with tariffs, claiming there's a big trade deal, but refusing to say who it's with -- as Trump forces Amazon's Jeff Bezos to cave and fast.
Also breaking this hour, Trump's administration designated thousands of international students as criminals, even though they never charged them. They have been told to -- been told to stop going to school, some leaving the country. Incredible new reporting coming into OUTFRONT tonight.
And the authoritarian takeover that we may be witnessing. A warning tonight from the former U.S. ambassador to Hungary. He says Trump is following Viktor Orban's playbook, and he'll explain exactly why. He's our guest.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news: Trump moments ago claiming America's inflation problem is over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're ending the inflation nightmare. The worst that we've had, probably in the history of our country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Only as you're about to see, that nightmare is far from over. Because today, team Trump was laughing when pressed on whether they're making progress on trade deals with countries around the world.
Here's the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: We have every country in the world, just like Donald Trump has said, who wants to do a deal with us? Now, here's the point: I have a deal. Done, done, done, done. But I need to wait for their prime minister and their parliament to give its approval, which I expect country shortly.
HOST: What country?
LUTNICK: I'm not going to tell you what country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I mean, as if it's like a, you know, playing a game of chicken. I'm not going to tell you what country. I mean, it felt very flippant, right. As if this were a game. But of course, this is incredibly serious business. The effects of Trump's trade war are already being felt.
You know, we got this report today from longtime retail price expert Dana Telsey. Carl Quintanilla at CNBC had posted a clip of it. So, we went and got it from Dana because it's amazing what it goes through with the prices.
Dana is in the business of tracking prices, and here's what she's already seeing happening. If you just look at these prices, these are week-on-week prices. As she was looking. Barbie up 42.9 percent. If you were to buy a Barbie doll, a DKNY puffer, these are just the items that she's tracking week in and week out.
So, DKNY puffer, 37 percent increase. And a drill kit, you know, one of those ones where you can put all of your drill equipment and screwdrivers and stuff on the side from tractor supply, up 3.8 percent.
So, prices are rising now sporadically, some things not at all. And some things, as you can see, a whole lot. And today we are learning that Trump was not okay with the ideas that Americans might find out just how much more they're paying, where the tariffs are impacting them.
So, this morning there was a report that came out, said Amazon is going to show the price of an item. And then next to it, they're going to break out the tariff so that a consumer would understand exactly where a tariff is hitting exactly why a price is going up, and by how much.
So, Trump finds out about it. And then here's what happens. So first his press secretary goes out and calls it a hostile act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This is a hostile and political act by Amazon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, Amazon being transparent with consumers about tariffs is hostile and political. Thats how it started. Just to be clear, transparency is hostile and political. So, then what did Jeff Bezos do? Well, Amazon retreated and really
quickly. In a statement, the company wrote: the team that runs our ultra low cost Amazon haul store considered the idea of listing import charges on certain products. This was never approved and is not going to happen.
They didn't even want to use the word "tariff". They're import charges.
Well, maybe its not going to happen because Bezos got a call from Trump, who, according to sources, was so angry that he did call Bezos directly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Great. Jeff Bezos was very nice. He was terrific. He solved the problem very quickly, and he did the right thing. And he's a good guy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Okay, he did the right thing. It is worth saying again what the right thing is. In Trump's view of this, the right thing was to prevent consumers from seeing the cost of tariffs on items they are buying on Amazon. The right thing to do was to hide the tariffs.
So now why is Trump doing this? Because up until now, his team has said, sure, price hikes are happening. Don't worry about it. They are a small price to pay for Trump's MAGA agenda.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN (R-OK): As American people ready to get the country back on track and do what it do, what it needs to do, what it takes to make that happen, absolutely. We're going to have to adjust some prices for it.
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: Access to cheap goods is not the asset -- is not the essence of the American dream.
TRUMP: There'll be a little disturbance, but we're okay with that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right, that little disturbance is quickly turning into anything. But especially after Trump just fired back tonight at China.
[19:05:02]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, nothing's going to happen.
INTERVIEWER: You know business. I want to ask you. I want to ask you.
TRUMP: I do know business.
INTERVIEWER: So, 145 percent tariffs on China. And that is basically an embargo.
TRUMP: They deserve it.
INTERVIEWER: It'll raise on everything from electronics to clothing to building houses.
TRUMP: You don't know that. You don't know whether or not China is going to --
INTERVIEWER: It's mathematics.
TRUMP: China probably will eat those tariffs. But at 145, they basically can't do much business with the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Right. Eating the full cost of that, not something that any economic model would show is -- is reasonable. And as for Chinas point, they're coming out now and saying they won't eat it. They are not backing down in Trump's trade war, neither side making any sort of move to do that. Although Trump, of course, did slash his own tariffs on China last week without negotiating with them.
The Chinese leadership, though, seems to be more emboldened. Just take a look at this new video. It comes from the ministry of foreign affairs. The communist government vows in this to quote, never kneel down in Trump's trade war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench thirst. It only deepens the crisis. All bullies are just paper tigers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Okay. I mean, and it goes on for this. As in two minutes. I mean, it's -- there's no ambiguity. You might sometimes say, oh, well, you know, the Chinese, they be a little bit, you know, ambiguous about what they want. No, no, it's very clear there. You don't actually see Trump in it, but it is clear that they are directing this directly at him.
And the video is now resonating with people across China. If you look at some of the posts on Chinese social media, and we do do this every day, no kneeling. This video brought tears to my eyes. The whole world is uniting against the bully. China will never kneel or back down. And then this. Show them the sword.
Jeff Zeleny is live in Macomb County, Michigan. That's where Trump is speaking right now on his 100 days in office to -- to celebrate that.
Jeff, how worried is the White House right now about the economy, these prices?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Erin, there's no doubt that that is one of the central challenges facing the president and the White House. You wouldn't necessarily know it, though, by listening to the first hour of the president's remarks here. He's still behind me on stage calling up supporters of various stripes.
He's talking more about his last act than his next act. But the economy, no doubt, is front and center, in all of these challenges. His administration is trying to work toward a budget and tax plan. Now setting a deadline of July. And that is what his presidency indeed could hang on.
Mr. Trump has rarely barely talked about that here tonight, or tariffs. I mean, tariffs also are part of the confusing -- you know, pattern of the first 100 days. But I've been spending some time here talking to voters in Macomb County, the surrounding area, that sent him to the White House. And, yes, President Trump supporters largely still support him.
But, Erin, one thing I detected in conversation after conversation was that economic anxiety. They remember that the president campaigned here and elsewhere on bringing prices down. It was that simple. So, the owner of a diner not far from here, Erin, summed it up perhaps best in a conversation I had with him.
He said, look, it's too early to give the president a grade. He said if the economy improves, if tariffs work, he'll be a success. If not, he said, it will not be good.
He doesn't look at polls. He looks at who's in his restaurant and consumer confidence is down as we head into the summer months here. So yes, the economy is front and center.
The president, though, has barely talked about it here tonight -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much. And everyone is here with me.
You know, Peter, to this point of consumer confidence and uncertainty, you had one of the, you know, an American bellwether, backbone of America company, General Motors, come out, here in the past day and say, sorry, I know we were supposed to report earnings. We can't. We need a couple more days to even do it.
I mean, it's an unprecedented thing to even think about a country, a company like General Motors coming out and doing that. Is Wall Street scared about stuff like that?
PETER TUCHMAN, TRADER AT THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE: You know, I think the longer this goes unresolved, for the first thing we saw was that people started not giving guidance. That was the first thing that really sort of harked back to COVID, right?
BURNETT: When Southwest or American Airlines, yeah.
TUCHMAN: Exactly, where they -- they could -- they do not have enough certainty or enough information because literally we do not know anything more than we did on liberation day about any of these actual numbers and what countries and whatnot. Each day keeps going further and stays unresolved.
The companies are going to try and come up with some way to sort of either postpone the delivery of earnings and guidance in some way. And this is -- this is tranche number two. The first was not to give guidance.
And now, it's actually hold back earnings and guidance altogether until they get some kind of information, right? Because it's a 50/50 play here. You know they may know tomorrow what the numbers are going to be and be able to give a good number or down the road maybe people's focus.
You know, we all have sort of ADD in a way there. You know, every day, we're being given something else to either worry about or be positive about. And so, a couple more days off, maybe we wont think about what General Motors did.
ALEXIS GLICK, FORMER MORGAN STANLEY EXECUTIVE: I think this is really big, and especially for Mary Barra, she is one of the most highly respected Fortune 500 CEOs. She has been in the auto industry for 30 years. She represents not just the big auto makers, but the entire supply chain. She was on a dais at a summit last week, and she had there were so many quotable moments there.
But the first thing that she said, I wrote it down because it's -- it's staggering. She said, I need clarity and then I need consistency. And then she continued, from there to talk about -- it takes 5 to 6 years to manufacture a car. And what's at risk here is not only shareholder equity, but of course, all those folks who are employed in the entire supply chain.
Now, I think they dialed back because the administration also pulled back on some of those levies today in reaction. So, some of this is competitive, but it's kind of like saying you're going to go to the DMV, and you're going to go take a driver's test, and you're going to drive down there, and we're not going to tell you the rules. We're not going to tell you, do you need to parallel park or do you need to stop at the signals? Right.
What she's basically saying is stacking levies on levies for different auto parts. I don't even have clarity what that looks like. I need a line of sight. I need a freedom to operate.
This was a very big thing for her to come out and do this.
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, and not -- I mean, as you point out. And she is very respected. Very she has had a solid relationship with Trump.
TUCHMAN: Right.
You know, I'm also to this point of prices and Trump. Okay. And today's whiteboard just simple because we talked about Dana Telsey's report. So, it's one thing in here that really stood out, Paul. And it was -- she's tracking these pans, okay, on Williams-Sonoma. So here's, one frying pan and here's another frying pan. They're both Williams- Sonoma.
So, these are high end pans, okay. They look very high. Should I put a little -- a little egg in here? The egg prices are down for the egg.
GLICK: Stock that's going up, it's her drawing capability.
BURNETT: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no, we definitely -- definitely not.
TUCHMAN: Doing that on the weekends.
BURNETT: OK. So, this is the green pan by Stanley Tucci. All right. And prices for this pan are up 30 percent. I'm sorry. Yes, 30 percent. No, it's $30 -- $30 or about 17 percent, $30 or about 17 percent, okay, for this pan.
Now this pan, okay, is also Williams-Sonoma. It's their signature thermo clad. Okay. And prices for this are up zero, okay. It's flat.
TUCHMAN: Right.
BURNETT: So, the point is that it's -- it's spotty right now. It's not as if it's everywhere yet, Paul. It's some places. And these are both sold at Williams-Sonoma, one's up 30 bucks, the others up --
PAUL HICKEY, CO-FOUNDER, BESPOKE INVESTMENT GROUP: Just a matter of where they're made and where they're coming from.
BURNETT: Yeah, yeah.
HICKEY: And so, I mean, what's really amazing is that in March, we saw CPI, PPI and import prices all decline on a month. So, there was actually deflation in March. It was the first time that had happened since COVID.
That's not likely going to be the fact going forward in the months ahead. So that's a -- so that that's the issue where there's such this dichotomy between current expectations, current conditions and expectations. The consumer confidence report this week, today, current conditions were in the 73rd percentile of historical readings.
So, I mean not too bad. Higher than average expectations were in the third percentile of historical the third percentile of historical --
BURNETT: The third?
HICKEY: Third. So, the only times expectations were lower was during the Arab oil embargo in 1974. In 1980, during the Iran hostage crisis, and then you had during the financial crisis. And then in August 2011, when we had our debt downgraded. So, I mean, those are all --
BURNETT: These are not moments you want to be.
HICKEY: They're not moments you want to be in. And so, you have to ask yourself, is this period going to be as bad as what those other periods were? Nobody knows the answer to that. And it all depends on how things progress and what the markets have
been telling us is the first half of April, the market responds to the reciprocal, and liberation day was a big smack in the face and saying, get your stuff in order, because these tariffs are unbearable. Business can't be done.
They've walked it back. The market has rebounded a little bit, has rebounded a lot actually, and has come back. And so, the market is actually looking at this and saying, hey, maybe were going to were not going back to that ludicrous level of April 2nd, and we're going to go back to some more normal levels, not -- not back to where we were.
BURNETT: Just to be clear, 145 percent was ludicrous on China, but 75 percent isn't. I mean, talk about --
HICKEY: Yeah.
BURNETT: -- somebody that's been whipped so much that their standards.
HICKEY: It's still crazy. But I think what the markets expecting is that, you know, we're going to stay at this 10 percent level for the other countries. And China is the big wildcard. Where do we go there.
BURNETT: And, Dan, Dan, just get you in here -- you know, in that context. You know Trump tells Jeff Bezos cut it out.
[19:15:04]
You can't show the increase the cost of the tariff on your site. That to do so as his press secretary said, you know, is -- is, you know, it's un-American.
HICKEY: Hostile.
BURNETT: Hostile, right? Hostile act.
DAN IVES, GLOBAL HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: I mean, I mean, they they're not stopping this because the reality is, we've talked about you got two weeks, the price storms come into consumers, and whether they break it out or not, that's something that you cannot deny that that's coming, whether it's Amazon, what you're going to see across retail and ultimately what you're going to see across cars.
I mean, when you look at these auto tariffs, the reality is the average car is going to go up between $5,000 to $10,000. Even U.S. made cars because.
BURNETT: And that's even with whatever these complicated set of adjustments were today that Alexis was referring to Dan, that that they kind of backed off some of them and shifted some of them, even with that.
IVES: The reality is, I mean, you want to use Costanza from yesterday, but the reality is 5,000 increase is now, what, 4,500, 10,000 increase is now 8,800. And that's the rate for Barra, for GMM, for Detroit. You could cheer it, but the reality is that's -- that's that category five storm that's coming to Detroit in terms of the big three. And that's what we're seeing here, is that despite all the antics, this storm is coming from a price perspective, and you cannot deny it.
TUCHMAN: You know, what's scary for me is because I spend a lot of time with Dan, and Dan is not a catastrophist in any way.
BURNETT: No.
TUCHMAN: Right? And when he describes to us what -- what he sees coming out of China, these boats that are stopping at only 40 percent of the ports and that we are looking at empty shelves coming down. Let's -- let's think back for a minute what it was like during COVID, right, where people were standing on line to get paper towels and toilet paper and all that kind of stuff.
If any of this is reality, I mean, think of where -- we're trying to where -- we're being told by the administration, you know, nothing to see here, right? When they started focusing today, when they were talking about, you know, that we're in the midst of the commerce secretary, we're in the midst of the greatest industrial revolution of all time in the auto industry. Just wait, in three years, we may have some new factories that are going to be built.
I mean, we're just -- we're being diverted -- our attention is being diverted from the reality not being given any -- any facts at all.
Go ahead.
IVES: And, Peter, I was just going to say just -- that's a great point. I was saying 4 to 5 years to build a factory. Let's talk reality. Its not snap of the fingers. And that's the issues that Barra, Farley and every other automaker is dealing with. And that's just for -- those are the facts.
BURNETT: And, Alexis, I guess the thing is, we don't know what we're looking at. Like, I go through Dana's report and, you know, you see one pan up and one pan, not at all. And you see that with pants at Abercrombie & Fitch. You see it across the board.
So, you could look at that and go, well, does that mean this could all settle out or are we all going the direction of these massive increases? And right now, it's like you're looking into a black room. You can't see.
GLICK: You know, to sum it up, right, everybody is anxious. There is just such enormous anxiety.
It's interesting. My uncle has been sending an email to all of us in the family, giving a recap each day to help us understand what's happening, because people need information and it's like what Mary said. I just want clarity and then I need certainty.
And folks, really right now are kind of -- they don't know what's coming next. When you look to the conference board, right? And you looked at the information, it was actually the forward forecast for six months from now, that was the most disconcerting. If you looked at that conference board data.
So, if I'm the administration right now, it's like, okay, we've got to pivot. We've got to start talking about growth, tax cuts. What is the agenda? Where is Congress in all of this? That's number one.
The second thing is, you know, when I was sitting down looking at some of the tariff deals, if you look, for example, at India for a second, India on average, when you import products to India, on average, their tariff is about 17 percent. Ours is like 3.3 percent.
You look at their agriculture. The average tariff import is about 39 percent. Ours is about 4 percent. So, there are inequities in these trade deals.
So, if we can show some victories here with a couple of these, there will be momentum behind it. And so, I believe that is in the coming. We've just got to -- we've got to make sure that we -- we get some resolution.
TUCHMAN: We're not seeing any urgency by -- any urgency by the White House to --
HICKEY: Talk about the shortages and the potential for shortages. The trade balance report that came out today, it showed the front loading of consumer goods was up 40 percent versus the levels in 2023.
BURNETT: So, them just buying a bunch of stuff to get in before the --
HICKEY: So, yeah --
BURNETT: So in other words you don't see it on the pan yet.
HICKEY: But there's some optimism, too, that these shortages may not like -- there's a lot of inventory gives us some time. So that's -- that's the, you know glass half full.
BURNETT: Yes. Well, let's try with that.
All right.
IVES: Paul -- and Paul, I think at this pace, Paul, we're going to have to order more whiteboards before the tariffs hit.
(LAUGHTER)
[19:20:02]
BURNETT: Cost of my -- the cost of my expo is going up.
But, all right, well, thanks very much to all of you. And I will be speaking to the CEO of Ford, Chris Farley, tomorrow morning at 8:30. So we will continue that conversation on the auto -- of the auto companies with Mr. Farley.
And next, breaking news, CNN uncovering that the Trump administration designated international students as criminals. They did this designation without providing any evidence for it. A special investigation next.
Also breaking tonight, President Trump just asked if he has 100 percent confidence in his embattled Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: You have 100 percent confidence in Pete Hegseth?
TRUMP: I don't have 100 percent confidence in anything. Okay? Anything. Do I have 100 percent? It's a stupid question.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Canada's new prime minister has Trump to thank for his win. Nearly half of those who voted say that Trump was a major factor in their decision.
And Canada is not the only country where Trump is having an outsized impact.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:25:32]
BURNETT: Breaking news into OUTFRONT, the Trump administration designating thousands of international students in the United States of America as criminals and making this designation without checking for evidence or putting out actual charges. Now, this is according to an extensive CNN analysis of court records.
Now, the students designated as criminals were then instructed by their schools not to show up to campus anymore or to work. Some of the students have now even left the country. And a judge tonight is calling out the Trump administration for what they say is a blatant violation of due process.
Shimon Prokupecz broke this story, did all of this analysis is OUTFRONT. I mean, this is incredible.
So, what more are you learning from going through all this? Do we hear a story about someone here or someone here? But you have gone through and put it all together?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, through all the court documents and I've looked through now dozens and dozens court documents, I've spoken to probably about a dozen attorneys now that are representing many of these students.
But it's -- it's hard to explain just how horrific and terrible this has been for foreign students, 1.3 million foreign students became the target of this administration. They took all of their names, put them through a criminal database, and if they got hits for them, they basically then did without really any kind of investigation, without any kind of work. They essentially sent notices to them, saying that they would basically -- were losing their status as students in the --
BURNETT: And this could be, first of all, they didn't have to prove anything. It could be like a speeding ticket.
PROKUPECZ: In many cases, it was speeding tickets. In some cases, there were people who were actually arrested for shoplifting, DUI, things that, you know, college age kids may do. But what happens is, almost all of these cases, there were no formal charges or in some instances they were even dismissed.
But they're not removed from the NCIC, which is the National Criminal Information Center, where all this data is scooped up.
DHS has access to this. And so, they ran their names. They did not a whole lot of investigative. In some cases, it was just within minutes where they send information back and forth and then were told, okay, terminate these students.
BURNETT: And now these students are gone or terminated or --
PROKUPECZ: What is so horrible is for the students who left, students who were so scared because as this was going on, remember, it was during the time when Homeland Security and ICE officers were out making arrests, out searching for students on college campuses. All of this is happening at the same time.
So, the foreign students who got these notices freaked out, and they left because they were afraid they were going to be detained. And now what happens? They have no recourse since they left the country. They can't get back in. They can't fight.
And many of them spent years, years paying into this education system, years learning this education system, hoping to pay back. They can't.
BURNETT: And is the Trump administration backtracking on any of this?
PROKUPECZ: No, again, they are.
BURNETT: I mean, you're saying some of this can't be undone.
PROKUPECZ: But they realized that they were getting really hit hard in the court system, and judges were demanding to know what was going on here. And today, they released a new policy. It all started last week. On Friday, they said they were reversing some of this today in court. They released more information.
But really, for the first time, we got to see exactly how this worked and how it unfolded. And it's just horrific.
BURNETT: It's really -- it's such important reporting because again, we hear about a name here from tufts or something at USC. And now to put it together.
Shimon, thank you very much, actually going through all of those court documents to bring that important reporting to light. I want to go now to the Democratic governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey.
And, Governor, your state is -- is really on the front lines of this. You have 80,000 international students, the fourth most in the country. Harvard, MIT, Boston university, tufts, among many others. So, when you hear this reporting, you know, what do you make of it? What are you going to do about an administration designating, you know, so many of these students as criminals, some have left the country now have no recourse to come back. What happens now?
GOV. MAURA HEALEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: Yeah. I mean, this is what we've seen over the last 100 days. You know, we can talk about the economy and the terrible job that President Trump is doing. We can also talk about how many wrongheaded, misguided, illegal, unconstitutional actions that he's taken that have hurt our residents, have hurt our states, have hurt our economies.
This is an example of this, Erin, and I am a governor today. But for eight years, I was the attorney general of Massachusetts.
[19:30:00]
I'm a prosecutor, and I know something about the law.
And the judge was correct in the order. It's outrageous. We've had students who have been scared away from campuses in Massachusetts, who've gone back to other countries. And those 80,000 -- it's about 80,000, up to 100,000 students who come here every year, Erin. They study, they do research, they pioneer new treatments. They start companies. There are entrepreneurs. Some win Nobel Prizes right here out of Massachusetts.
And so, the idea that Donald Trump has done things to scare away that talent for a person who talks about onshoring or reshoring talent, I'll tell you the effect that he has had by doing this. He's scaring away valuable talent from our states, from our country. China and other countries are looking to scoop up and recruit those folks, and he's making us less competitive, and he's making us less safe.
See, what today's ruling reveals and reporting is that this was never about public safety to begin with. And this is, again, an instance where he's violating fundamental due process of law.
BURNETT: So, Governor, I'm curious, you know, Trump just wrapped up his rally in Michigan, and as you know, that's where he was for his 100-day celebration. He spoke for well over an hour.
But when he got there, he was welcomed by the Democratic governor there, Gretchen Whitmer, a real star in the Democratic Party. She was waiting -- waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. And, you know, she got into the car with the president and she defended her appearance with Trump.
And she wrote, and let me just quote from Governor Whitmer. She said, I'll work with anyone who's serious about getting things done, but I'll never compromise on what I believe. You know, I've spent time with her over the years. She's -- she's very thoughtful and very pragmatic, Governor.
What do you think of her decision to -- to make her point of view clear? But to meet him, to stand at the bottom of those steps to -- to get into The Beast with him as he celebrating with his past -- what he's done over the past 100 days. Do you think it was the right thing to do?
HEALEY: Erin, you know, all of us have a job to do in our states. We represent our states. We need to be advocates for our state. I certainly am for the state of Massachusetts.
I also have been clear, and I think governors have been clear, that when Donald Trump does things that hurt our state, that hurt our economy, that hurt our businesses, that hurt our residents, we need to speak up about that.
I'm cutting taxes. He's continuing to do things to raise costs, including by imposing these crazy tariffs on everyone. I'm building more housing. He's making that more difficult by taxing the lumber from Canada and the gypsum from Mexico.
I'm investing in kids and schools and health care and veterans. At the same time, he's taking away funding for all of those folks.
And so, you know, as governor, I have the opportunity to talk about what's happening in my state in real time. And that's what Americans need to understand. And that's why you see more and more people speaking up.
BURNETT: So, I just ask you one more thing. As I know you are a graduate of Harvard yourself. You know, in terms of what -- what has been happening at Harvard, you know, there have been criticized because of renaming the DEI office there. And obviously, you know, many had applauded Harvard for standing up to Trump on some of the things he had demanded. Obviously, the deal he did with Columbia as an example, they stood up on that.
But they are now announcing that they're renaming the DE office -- DEI office, I'm sorry, the community and campus life office.
So as somebody who not only is the governor of the state, but also a graduate of Harvard, how do you see this? Are you comfortable with it or do you think that it is? It is a cave on a slippery slope.
HEALEY: No, I think that what Harvard is doing by standing up to the Trump administration is so important, and I know that Harvard is going to continue to make sure that it values diversity. I know that all of our colleges and universities will, because at the end of the day, Erin, whether it's in the classroom, in a boardroom, C-suite or in the military, diversity is a strength. It's not a flaw, you know.
And excluding women and people of color from the table, that doesn't help anyone. It hasn't made us stronger as a country to -- to do that. So, you know, I'll tell you what is important about Harvard. And it's not limited to Harvard. Okay?
I was on the campus of the University of Massachusetts last week, also subject to the same cuts. They've had to furlough faculty, rescind offers. And again, these are people who are researching cures to cancer and Alzheimer's and all of that. So Harvard standing up for academic freedom, standing up against the weaponization by the Trump administration and, frankly, further attempts by Trump to silence is absolutely the right thing.
BURNETT: Governor Healey, I appreciate your time. And thank you.
HEALEY: Good to be with you.
BURNETT: And next, a former U.S. ambassador sounding the alarm, talking about authoritarianism in America, he says Trump is following Hungary's Viktor Orban's playbook to a T, and he spent a lot of time in Hungary.
[19:35:01]
The ambassador is next.
Plus, is Trump making liberals around the world great again? Because it's not just what we saw in Canada. He's now having a major impact on races around the globe. We take a look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, a warning, a former U.S. ambassador saying the U.S. is at risk of an authoritarian takeover by President Trump, comparing Trump to the authoritarian prime minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, who is known for, among many other things, cracking down on gay rights, immigrants and the press. And he knows because David Pressman, my guest, was the U.S. ambassador to Hungary, and he was there for several years, 2002 until just recently.
And tonight, he's warning President Trump is following Orban's playbook, says that the parallels now are undeniable, and that people need to be honest with themselves about this. Now, let's just go to what Trump has said.
[19:40:00]
Hungary, as you know, has been front and center for Trump. And he's very -- has a lot of admiration, making no secret of what he thinks of Orban.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Viktor Orban, who's a very strong man and very respected.
And Viktor Orban, one of the toughest leaders in the world, a strong people. The press hates him. They say he's a tough leader. Well, you know, sometimes you need a tough leader, but highly intelligent guy, very strong person from Hungary.
Theres nobody that's better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orban. He's fantastic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, David Pressman, the former U.S. ambassador to Hungary and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Security Council, also right now a partner at a law firm currently in litigation against the Trump administration. As such, you aren't able to talk about that.
But here on the 100 days as Trump is celebrating 100 days in office, you know, looking at Hungary is so crucial, right? And he has said Orban is the best leader. Theres no one smarter. He's a strong person.
What is the reality?
DAVID PRESSMAN, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY: Weah, well, I think I think President Trump has been sold a bill of goods because the reality is that Viktor Orban is a leader who has fundamentally held himself out as being a bulwark against these woke liberal ideologies that he, he proclaims, are attempting to invade Hungary to undermine Hungarian-ness.
But in reality, what Prime Minister Orban has led is a government that is effectively, for the last 15 years, taken a country that was really the shining star of the post-communist period and had so much hope and turned it into a country that has one of the poorest economies in Europe, the most corrupt country in the European Union, and continues to distract from real problems by virtue of pointing to fake ones. And that's really dangerous.
BURNETT: So, so let me ask you about that, because, you know, CPAC, the well-known conservative conference, right? They've celebrated him. They even had a CPAC in Budapest.
PRESSMAN: Yeah.
BURNETT: Hungary has become this shining star. Tucker Carlson took his show there to say, let me show you the truth about Hungary, right? And they -- it is then portrayed in those contexts as a conservative beacon. You know, a very much the opposite of what you're describing economically.
So, you say that what's happening in Hungary, though, is not conservatism. It's actually corruption.
PRESSMAN: It is.
BURNETT: So, so, so, explain.
PRESSMAN: Well, well, what Orban has done is he's constructed a system of rewards and punishments. And the rewards -- he rewards those who are loyal to him quite handsomely. And you don't have to look very far.
So, for instance, the prime minister's best friend from childhood, who ten years ago was a plumber, is now a billionaire. He's the richest person in Hungary.
The prime minister's son in law is on track to become the richest person in Hungary. This is not, you know, difficult fact finding. It's quite obvious. And for those who are opposed to the prime minister or not even
opposed -- for those who exhibit any voice of independence, they feel the force of all state resources going after to target them and penalize them. And it's not just politicians, it's churches, it's universities.
I'll give you an example, Erin. There was a university that refused to -- to limit its academic freedom and limit its studies and kowtow to the Orban administration. Viktor Orban went after that university's accreditation and effectively forced what was the most prominent regional university degree accrediting university out of Budapest. And meanwhile, a purported university that is run by Orban's own political director receives $1 billion in funding, largely from Russian oil deals. And so, it's very clear, if you want to exist in Viktor Orban's Hungary, what you have to do.
BURNETT: And obviously, when you talk about universities, the context that we were just talking about with universities, I mean, it -- it rings also, you've talked about the media.
PRESSMAN: Indeed.
BURNETT: And how freedom of the media has been repressed, and it sometimes does not have to be done in overt, clear ways of you can say this or you can't say this. It's actually much easier than that.
PRESSMAN: It's much easier. I mean, this is the thing, the lesson that I left Hungary with that was sort of the most chilling is just how easy it actually is.
So, in the media context, you know, there's a conservative newspaper called "Magyar Hang," and it's an independent newspaper, but a conservative one. And "Magyar Hang" is not able to find a single printing house in Hungary that is willing to print its paper because it's an independent voice, even if it's a conservative voice.
So, every week, they drive across the border to Slovakia to have their newspaper printed, and they bring it into Hungary. And the reality is the printing houses are not being told you cannot print "Magyar Hang's" newspaper. They just know that if they do that, the tax authorities will come after them, that they will be targeted, that they will be humiliated.
And the use of the media ecosystem to go after people personally to scare them is remarkable. And actually, we're beginning to see echoes of that in the United States as well.
BURNETT: OK. So how loud are those echoes right now?
PRESSMAN: Yeah. Well, I think one of the things when I look at where we are in the United States that I'm stunned by and concerned by, is just how timid people who should know better, institutions that should know better are being.
[19:45:04] And I think that there's an element of -- there's so much happening in this country, and we need to be strategic in our response to how we deal with it. Candidly, it reminds me of Viktor Orban coming to power in 2010 and the opposition looking at all of these crazy proposals, rewriting of the constitution that he was proposing in Hungary at the time and saying, well, well deal with them as time goes by.
But the reality is, when you're dealing with a leader like Viktor Orban, who's intent on capturing all aspects of public life, not just government aspects, even universities, culture, theater, that if you let it go by, if you wait, if you try to be too strategic and too slow, you lose, you miss.
BURNETT: Right. And as we saw changes in the Kennedy Center board today, the Holocaust Memorial Museum board, I mean, the echoes are here.
PRESSMAN: And remember, in Orban's Hungary, the artistic director of the national theater was fired. The head of the drama school was removed. I mean, these were -- there are direct parallels to what we're beginning to see in this country, I think.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Ambassador, I really appreciate your time. And thank you so much.
PRESSMAN: Thank you for having me.
BURNETT: And next, liberals are thanking Trump tonight because they say he's helping them at the ballot box and not just in Canada where that was clear. Harry Enten has something for us we don't know.
Plus, President Trump pressed on whether he has faith in Pete Hegseth tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Only a liar would say I have 100 percent confidence. I don't have 100 percent confidence that we're going to finish this interview.
INTERVIEWER: We will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:51:12]
BURNETT: Canada's new prime minister says President Trump called to congratulate him about his victory today. It is Mark Carney though who should thank Trump for his big win. Forty-eight percent of voters who supported Carney, the liberal candidate, said in the recent poll that Trump was a major factor in why they passed that vote.
And Republican Congressman Dan Bacon also telling "Politico" and I quote him, the liberals in Canada were losing big until our president kept mocking Canadians, our neighbors and close friend, he made Canadian liberals great again.
And Canada is not the only country where Trump is having a massive impact.
Harry Enten is OUTFRONT to tell us something we don't know.
I mean, Harry, so it's not just Canada. The other country closest to the U.S. just -- just go with geographically.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.
BURNETT: Is Mexico. How is Trump impacted Mexico since the election?
ENTEN: Yeah. It's not just north of the border. It's south of the border as well. The Mexican president. Look at her net approval rating. Look how much it has risen since the November election here in the States.
Hello. Up 28 points since November. Claudia Sheinbaum approval rating. And I will tell you this. More than that, look at her overall approval rating. It is now north of 80 percent, north of 80 percent.
Well, who was the last president who had an approval rating north of 80 percent in this country? Was it George W. Bush after 9/11? She has had a massive rally around the flag event and her net approval rating and her overall approval rating way up since Donald Trump took office.
BURNETT: That is incredible. Now let's go with some other allies. Theres an election coming up soon in Australia. What do you see there?
ENTEN: Yeah. Okay. So, if we went south, let's go way to the east or way to the west, depending on which way you want to go. Right. And what we see there was the labor party there, looked at, looked like an underdog when Trump took office, right?
But then all of a sudden what happened? You see Trump takes office and hello, the odds that they win the lower house in that election. Look at that. Up to 89 percent right now. That's an over --
BURNETT: Up from 38.
ENTEN: Up from --
BURNETT: They were losers.
ENTEN: They were losers. They were losers.
And Trump has turned them into winners. And why is that? Because the conservative coalition in that country tied themselves very much to sort of the wokeism type, wokeism is bad.
And then the labor were able to say, you know what? The tariffs are bad. Donald Trump put the tariffs in, you can trust us, and we will make sure that Donald Trump doesn't beat us up.
BURNETT: All right. So I didn't know a lot of this. You've already told me something I don't know. But please tell me something else.
ENTEN: I will tell -- I will tell you something else you don't know. We're taking a little spin on the segment here, and I'll tell you, this. Ipsos poll, 29 different countries before the election and after the election, and asked them whether or not the U.S. would have a positive influence on world affairs.
And guess how many of those countries said that there was a decline after Trump took office? Get that, believe the U.S. will have a positive impact declined in 26 out of 29 countries polled after Trump took office, only three countries either saw their level stay the same or go up. But the vast majority said the influence the U.S. would have went downward. Trump dragging us opinion down throughout the world.
BURNETT: Right. I mean, it's really incredible to see that and so many different places. I like that you pick Mexico to Australia, right? I mean, to show just the breadth.
All right, Harry, thank you so much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, wait until you see how this interview with Trump takes a turn. When Terry Moran pressed him about his confidence in Pete Hegseth.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:59:10]
BURNETT: Breaking news. President Trump refusing to say he has 100 percent confidence in his defense secretary. That's when an interview with ABC News went downhill. It had been sort of going along. And then all of a sudden, it really turned.
The question from anchor Terry Moran comes amid internal chaos at the Pentagon and reporting that Hegseth shared detailed military plans on two Signal chats, including one with personal friends and others, including his wife and his brother.
Trump just telling ABC that he recently spoke to Hegseth. He called him a very good defense secretary, says he hopes he'll be a great defense secretary. And then this happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRY MORAN, ABC ANCHOR: You have 100 percent confidence in Pete Hegseth?
TRUMP: I don't have 100 percent confidence in anything. Okay? Anything. Do I have 100 percent? It's a stupid question. Look --
MORAN: It's a pretty important position.
TRUMP: No, no, no. You don't have 100 percent. Only a liar would say I have 100 percent confidence. I don't have 100 percent confidence that we're going to finish this interview.
MORAN: We will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And they did. And that is that, an odd turn.
And thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it. See you here tomorrow.
Anderson starts now.
