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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Lashes Out Over Epstein Case: "Hoax," "Total Bullsh*t"; Inside Epstein's Home; Farm Workers Play High-Stakes Cat And Mouse Game With ICE. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired August 06, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:29]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, Trump unhinged, moments ago, lashing out, calling the Epstein story a hoax and bullshit -- those are his words -- as his vice president appears to be taking a lead role in damage control. So, what happened to the J.D. Vance, who once very vociferously demanded answers on Epstein?
Plus, tonight inside Epstein's home. "The New York Times" tonight with a report of previously unseen photos of Epstein's Manhattan townhouse. You'll see them. Pictures of Trump, Bill Clinton and other world leaders. The reporter who obtained these images will be OUTFRONT.
And a high stakes game of cat and mouse. Hear firsthand the great lengths that farm workers are going to, to dodge ICE raids.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, we begin with breaking news. Trump losing his cool over Epstein. When asked about CNN's reporting that Vice President J.D. Vance was planning to hold a strategy session tonight on Jeffrey Epstein damage control, here's what the president of the United States said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Look, the whole thing is a hoax. It's put out by the Democrats because we've had the most successful six months in the history of our country. And that's just a way of trying to divert attention to something that's total bullshit.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Bullshit and it's a hoax. Those are the exact words that he just used there.
Of course, the Jeffrey Epstein situation is not bullshit or hoax, right? There are thousands of girls who were sexually assaulted and abused while underage. That's not BS or a hoax.
And that's not partisan, right? You can say that as a Democrat. You say that as a Republican, and certainly as the MAGA base, which has not let up on this issue tonight.
And it comes as J.D. Vance appears to be taking on a central role when it comes to the Epstein investigation. Sources are telling CNN tonight that Vance's role is to essentially act as a middle person, a middleman between the warring factions inside the Trump administration because there are warring factions over what to do with the Epstein files.
On one side now, the attorney general, Pam Bondi. She now says there's nothing more to release. On the other end, FBI Director Kash Patel, who had long wanted transparency on Epstein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENNY JOHNSON, PODCAST HOST: Why is the FBI protecting the greatest pederast, the largest scale pederast in human history?
KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Simple. Because of who's on that list.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Vance, though, was once in lockstep with Patel, wanting all the files, wanting any lists or whatever euphemism but lists to know who was involved, pounding the table for answers. Vance wanted them.
In September of 2021, Vance wrote, quote, remember when we learned that our wealthiest and most powerful people were connected to a guy who ran a literal child sex trafficking ring? And then that guy died mysteriously in jail. And now we just don't talk about it.
A few months later, Vance responded to a post claiming the DOJ and Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyers made a deal that her so-called little black book would never be made public. To that, Vance responded, I quote again, what possible interest would the U.S. government have in keeping Epstein's clients secret? Oh.
And here he is last year, speaking to right wing podcaster Theo Von.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. That -- that is an important thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, it would be important. Now, though, Vance has very little to say publicly about Epstein. Occasionally he has tossed some red meat at the MAGA base by blaming the media for Epstein reporting, specifically "The Wall Street Journal" when they had that birthday book. In fact, Vance's tune, other than being quiet, has changed so much when he has said something that Theo Von has called Vance out. Theo Von actually reposted a clip of that interview with Vance and added, quote, "Yeah, what changed?" And that is a question that many are asking, including Epstein's victims and their families, who obviously know that the Epstein allegations and underage child sex abuse is not a hoax or bullshit. In fact, they are increasingly calling out Trump and the administration as they want transparency.
Virginia Giuffre's family saying in a statement after Maxwell was suddenly moved to that cushy, lower security prison in a residential neighborhood right after she met with Trump's deputy attorney general, quote, "This move smacks of a cover up. The victims deserve better."
Well, the attorney for another victim, Annie Farmer, who says Epstein and Maxwell assaulted her in 1996, slammed the DOJ for lack of transparency, writing, "It smacks of a cover up".
And Alicia Arden, who claims Epstein assaulted her in 1997, telling NBC News, quote, "There's a cover up of some kind going on."
And of course, people talking about a cover up, because why not put out all the information when for years your team was out there saying this information should be there for everyone to see?
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT live outside the White House, beginning our coverage this -- this night.
Kristen, Trump clearly angry that these questions are not going away about the Epstein case. You know, to kind of lose his cool there and to swear in that room members of his cabinet, CEO of Apple, all standing there show a real level of frustration.
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Erin. That's right. And it's not surprising because what we're hearing is that what we're seeing from Trump publicly is also what's going on behind the scenes, that he doesn't understand why this won't just go away.
One of the things that President Trump is good at is essentially avoiding certain stories, letting things die out and moving on. And this just isn't going away now. Of course, as you mentioned, some of his strongest supporters are the ones who are perpetuating this story, who continue to bring it up and ask for more transparency.
But I will tell you that while President Trump wants to not talk about the Epstein files, he gets frustrated with these questions, there are those around him, particularly within the White House, who understand that the White House needs to take control of this narrative. They have been largely on the defense for several weeks now since the Department of Justice memo. And that's why, or at least part of why it was important for J.D. Vance, the vice president, to have a sit down with the top people who are part of that response. It's not just the public response, but it's also making sure that all the team players are on the same team.
I will remind you, the last time we talked about a sit down meeting between Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, the head of the FBI, Kash Patel, and the attorney general, Pam Bondi, the deputy director of the FBI stormed out of that meeting after he was alleged to have leaked information about Pam Bondi, and it was not even clear if Dan Bongino would come back to work after that.
There are clearly warring factions here, and if they are going to take control of the narrative, they are going to take control of the optics, they have to be on the offensive and they have to be working together as a team. So, this idea of them talking about strategy, it's not just how they're going to respond, it's making sure that everyone is on the exact same page as they do issue their response.
One of the things, of course, we've been reporting is this idea that they are debating and leaning towards releasing at least part of that transcript of the interview with the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, and Ghislaine Maxwell. That, of course, is a big decision to make. They're going to want to make sure that all the key players who are going to be held responsible, that includes Kash Patel, Pam Bondi, are aware and on the same page as that information potentially comes out.
BURNETT: All right. Kristen, thank you so much.
And Kristen, of course, with all that new reporting from the White House tonight.
I want to go to James Marsh because he's a lawyer who has represented about a dozen Epstein accusers, including Maria Farmer, who we have spoken to here on this program.
Also with me, Mimi Rocah, a prosecutor. She was a prosecutor in the Southern District of New York and Westchester County district attorney.
And Barry Levine, of course, back with us, former editor of "The National Enquirer", extensive reporting on Maxwell and Epstein, author of "The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell".
So, Barry, you know, Trump, as you can see there, very agitated, right? He's in a room. He's got some of his economic team around him. CEO of Apple is standing in there and he is asked about Epstein and loses his cool. Calls it a hoax, calls it B.S.
And the thing about it is, Barry, is that he could just do the most basic thing that would make all of this immediately go away, which would be to release all the files and let people actually read what is in them.
BARRY LEVINE, FORMER EDITOR, NATIONAL ENQUIRER: Well, Erin, there absolutely -- listen, they're in a pickle right now. And you know, his comments continue to be a betrayal to the -- to the victims. I mean, he has never been an advocate for victims. He himself has had numerous allegations of sexual misconduct lodged against him. He's denied each and every one over, over multiple years.
But we're in a situation here where they have to do something. They also have the lawmakers on both sides who have requested the Epstein files to review before they begin questioning these individuals that they put out under subpoena. Former President Clinton and so many others.
So, they have to make a decision in terms of, are they -- are they going to going to allow Pam Bondi and her Justice Department to turn over those files?
[19:10:02]
The files should be turned over to the lawmakers. And then we as an American public should see the files, particularly, so the victims can attempt to get some closure here. It's just a horrible situation.
BURNETT: Right, to be a victim and to know who abused and assaulted you and have those be the protected people, which is the situation as it exists.
Mimi, as a former prosecutor in a D.A., you look at this from a specific lens, and I know that the fact that CNN's reporting that Vance was going to be hosting a meeting and the meeting was about the Epstein fallout, that that specific event looks and smells really bad to you.
How come?
MIMI ROCAH, FORMER SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK DIVISION CHIEF: Yeah, Erin. Exactly. I mean, I have to look at this through the lens and keep reminding people of what the Department of Justice is supposed to be doing. It's in the name. They're supposed to be investigating cases, protecting victims, you know, interfering with terrorist attacks, et cetera, et cetera. We could go on.
What they are doing here through Bondi and now Todd Blanche to an extreme, is acting as the fixer law firm for the president's political crisis. That is not what our Department of Justice is supposed to do. It is an embarrassment to the hardworking people in the Department of Justice and to the victims, and to all of us who served there, and understood what the mission was.
And, you know, whether this meeting happens with Vance or not. But having Vance at the top of this coordination, as was said earlier. Right? He's the one coordinating the strategy. They have a right to coordinate a political response to this 100 percent, and DOJ would have the right to investigate something if something new came or decide whether to release materials.
But the coordination between the two is what is just --
BURNETT: Yeah.
ROCAH: -- we can't lose sight of how wrong that is. Remember when it was a scandal that a president and an AG met for a few minutes, you know, on a tarmac, and rightfully so. People raised questions about it.
And this goes so far beyond that. It's a real corruption of the DOJ.
BURNETT: I mean, and, James, you know, it -- there's just so many pieces of it. You know, for example, if Congress was going to be subpoenaing anyone who's names in the Epstein files, then go ahead and do that, you know? But instead, they pick one former president and not another who's also the current president, whose name is also in the Epstein files as he knows and we know.
So, Epstein victims, including Annie Farmer, one of your clients, James, has said that the way that Trump is acting looks like he's covering something up. That's why I brought up the subpoenas. Why subpoena one and not subpoena the other? It just doesn't look good, if not anything else.
What more are your clients telling you tonight?
JAMES MARSH, ATTORNEY FOR MULTIPLE EPSTEIN ACCUSERS: Well, you're absolutely right. And I think we've gone beyond, you know, it smacks of a cover up to a full-blown cover up. And it doesn't -- it's not even a very well executed cover up because it's happening on national news and in the newspapers every single night.
I can tell you from my clients -- comments by the president that this is a hoax, that it's made up. These are incredibly hurtful and insulting comments. And regardless of whether this is for politics, whether this is because he's angry, he's in the files, he's not in the files, that doesn't matter to the victims.
They're hearing someone who's a very powerful person in our country, in the world, basically saying that what they experienced is not true. Not only not true and in fact, a hoax and not only a hoax, but a hoax made up for political purposes.
And in all the years that I've represented victims and all the years that I've represented these victims, nobody has ever seen this in a political light. And by making it political, by turning it into a, quote/unquote, hoax, by executing a cover up in plain sight, this is incredibly painful, triggering and really, like, disarming for the victims.
BURNETT: No. The definition of gaslighting.
Barry, in your book, you write specifically about something -- a glowing testimonial about Jeffrey Epstein, and it was attributed to Maxwell, which is important in the context of discussing whether she's going to testify now and whether she's going to be pardoned, and the fact that she was, after meeting with Todd Blanche, number two, at the DOJ, almost immediately transferred to a minimum security prison, which is close to extraordinary, as Ryan Goodman said, an extraordinary thing doesn't happen. But it happened now.
So back in 2007, she writes this glowing testimonial that you write about her friend, Jeffrey Epstein.
[19:15:00] She writes, "My experience of Jeffrey is of a thoughtful, kind, generous, loving man with a keen sense of humor and a ready smile, a man of principles and values, and a man of his word. If he made a promise, he would always follow through."
Honestly, it makes me sick to kind of even read that. Barry, to be honest. But, but, but you see, in that statement that she wrote about Jeffrey Epstein parallels now to how she is approaching President Trump. In what way?
LEVINE: Well, and, Erin, in what way? We heard a leak the other day that she apparently told Todd Blanche that Trump didn't do anything that was concerning in terms of her experiences with Jeffrey Epstein, and that seems to be what her theme is going to be as she attempts to get President Trump to pardon her or to or to have the department, Department of Justice lessen her sentence.
I see a parallel in the sense that this is how she acted back in 2007, when she was sucking up to Jeffrey Epstein. At the time, he was going through his non-prosecution agreement, she wrote this glowing, you know, disgusting testimonial, praising him as a generous, loving man. And it was simply done at the time.
We found out at the time of her arrest that Jeffrey Epstein then sent her $20 million in offshore bank accounts into her accounts. Now, some of that money over the next four years was returned to Jeffrey Epstein. But it shows that she is willing to say and do things for the sake of her, you know, saving herself. And I see parallels here between what happened back in 2007 and what's happening now.
BURNETT: James, do you think that we will ever see the Epstein files? And when I say that, I don't mean -- will we ever be handed 100,000 pages of paper that are essentially all black because they black out any of the perpetrators names, alleged perpetrators names, or anything that would help identify them.
I mean, for real, are we ever going to know who committed these acts against the more than 1000 women we know are in these pages, knew about the acts? Are we ever going to know?
MARSH: That's a really good question. I mean, I think you're really boiling it down to the question of why, right? We know some of the people that were involved. We know some of the names of the people that flew on the planes, the clients. My clients certainly knew the men that they were surrounded by.
But nobody really has addressed the issue of why that why is in these files. I know that that my client, Maria Farmer, her file, we got it. It's 90 percent blacked out. And it's not just a couple of pages. It's very extensive.
BURNETT: Wow.
MARSH: So, there are answers in these files, and no one is really doing anything to release the important files, which is not a list of names or a little black book. It's what is being held by the FBI and federal law enforcement and the federal government today, records that date back 30 years.
And so that is what our clients are seeking, which is called transparency and accountability. Maybe some of these people are dead. Maybe some of these people are long out of office, but the answers exist in these files. Now, will we ever see them?
Like I said, it's a poorly executed cover up because what we typically see in litigation, I'm sure Mimi knows this. You know, they give you ten documents, they give you 30 documents, they give you 50 documents, and they pretend that that's all there is.
To give no documents must mean there's something really significant in these files. I think ultimately, we will see these files. There's an incredible amount of pressure.
And the people that I deal with in the evangelical Christian community and the conservative community, this is a very important issue for them that transcends Donald Trump and all of the other things, good or bad, that he's done. And they are not going to let go.
BURNETT: And it should transcend all politics as well as you all have pointed out.
Thank you all so very much.
And next, never before published photos of Jeffrey Epstein's townhouse in Manhattan that show that dark side. And also, the rich and famous people he surrounded himself with, including Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. I'll speak to the New York times reporter who obtained these images and was inside that townhouse.
Plus, "South Park" ramping up its feud with Trump. A new episode taking on Kristi Noem. Tonight, the administration responding.
And their shades are down, lights are off and they are filled with fear every time the phone rings. Our David Culver tonight OUTFRONT with an incredible firsthand account of how immigrants now who are working on Americas farms are forced to live in hiding. It is a story you will see first here, OUTFRONT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:24:27]
BURNETT: Breaking news, President Trump just moments ago saying he has not been briefed on what Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, told Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche during those two days of discussions in which we're told she mentioned 100 names.
It comes amid the release by "The New York Times", now of previously undisclosed images and descriptions of the interior of Epstein's Manhattan townhouse. And these are important details. It was a 21,000 square foot home decorated as "The New York Times" describes in Epstein's eccentric style.
[19:25:02] There was a sculpture of a woman in a bridal dress clinging to a rope suspended from a ceiling. A taxidermied tiger lounging in Epstein's office, and the infamous massage parlor connected to Epstein's bedroom.
"The New York Times" also shows photographs at Epstein's -- Epstein displayed at his apartment of himself, with some of the most prominent people in the world. Okay? And we're not using that word lightly. A photo of -- from 2000 of Donald Trump with his then girlfriend, Melania Knauss. Sure, that's one person.
Bill Clinton and Epstein and another, Epstein with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman. That picture also there, just to name a few.
OUTFRONT now, Steve Eder, investigative reporter for "The New York Times", who obtained these photographs.
And, Steve, it's incredible reporting. I mean, the famous people that Epstein had on display came from vastly different worlds, right? There was politics, entertainment, tech. I mentioned a few, but really only a few, because I know that, you know, there were others when we talk about some of the most important people in the world that were photographed with him and shown in his apartment, who else?
STEVE EDER, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah. Well, first of all, thanks for having us, having me here to talk about the piece.
Yeah, it's a real collection, as you said, of powerful people of business, people of people in entertainment. So, you had, you know, anyone from Steve Bannon to Mick Jagger to Elon Musk, a pope, you know, mixed in there.
And I think, you know, if you look at the photographs and think about this, it was, you know, an attempt by Jeffrey Epstein to sort of show the degree of people that he could acquaint -- you know, be acquaintances with, to be friendly with and to have them in his life and that he had that access.
BURNETT: Right, to show that access. Obviously, many of those pictures weren't taken, actually, in the townhouse itself, but they were displayed there, right, so that people would come through, would be awed by him and impressed by him.
So those photos are there. And then, you know, you've been through this actual massive, massive townhouse in Manhattan. What was it, 40 rooms. And you've been in perhaps one of the most horrible ones. Definitely one of the most horrible ones there. The massage room, located in a suite of rooms connected to Epstein's bedroom.
That massage room where Epstein was said to have assaulted some of his victims. And, you know -- look, in light of what we have now learned, that room, I'm sure you having been in there is unfortunately very meaningful.
What did you see?
EDER: Yeah. Well, just to clarify, through the photographs, you know, we were able to get a view into the home, not through a -- through a tour of the home of some sort, but just, you know, what we did see.
So, on that floor that you're referring to, this is part of a 21,000- square-foot home. And you know what we learned through, you know, through the through this is, you know, on the third floor, you know, there was basically this, this like suite that included Epstein's bedroom. It included bathrooms. But there was also, you know, the massage room that we found, you know, through the photographs that there were multiple cameras that had been mounted.
And these adjoining rooms, not necessarily that we could tell in the massage room itself, but the massage room, you know, there were there were paintings of naked women for, you know, for example, a silver ball and chain or, you know, were among the kinds of things that we could see that were visible.
BURNETT: And just all of that to think what happened in that actual room.
And 40-room townhouse -- I mean, it's a mansion. He renovated it fully. He redecorated it. And what you have described in your report, Steve, is an eccentric style. What stood out to you?
EDER: Yeah. I mean, I think in a word, creepy. I mean, I think that there are things that you would look around and you would see -- like you mentioned, at the top of this, you know, the taxidermied tiger, you know, for example. There was the sculpture of a woman wearing a bridal ground -- a bridal gown and clutching a rope in the central atrium of the home, framed prosthetic eyeballs lining an entryway, just sort of a general strangeness, creepiness, you know, to the home, you know, throughout leopard print chairs, you know, for example, were among the things that we could we could detect and included in our report.
BURNETT: It's pretty incredible. I hope everyone will read it in full. Look at the photos that you are able to obtain and share. So important in light of everything we're learning now.
Steve, thank you so much. And of course, I will note none of the people that Steve and I were just talking about whose photographs were on display in Epstein's apartment. None of those individuals have been accused of wrongdoing in the Epstein case.
Next, "South Park" trolling team Trump again tonight, teasing that they're going to take on Kristi Noem. They're teasing ahead to it. And the White House is responding already ahead of it.
Plus, our David Culver with this incredible report tonight on how undocumented workers are trying to dodge ICE agents. Wait till you see this. Even talking in code.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:34:09]
BURNETT: Tonight, MAGA loyalist, Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace just wrapping up a town hall in South Carolina. And this event came after Mace promised answers to the American people when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY MACE (R-SC): And I voted to release Epstein files, by the way. And part of have co-sponsored the bill to do that as well. And, you know, we want to make sure that the American people have answers, and we're going to be asking a lot of tough questions when these people come before our committee to be deposed and hopefully testify.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, former Representative Adam Kinzinger, along with Van Jones.
I appreciate both of you so much.
So, Congressman Kinzinger, you hear Nancy Mace, she promises that she will make sure the American people have answers, her exact words on Epstein.
She's not alone. You know, we heard that from Mike Flood in his town hall just the other night in Nebraska. You hear it from more and more Republicans in Congress.
[19:35:03]
But saying it can be different than doing it. Do you think Republicans are going to keep this promise?
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No. I mean, like, I think their hope right now is that August, everybody kind of forgets about it. They're not going to forget about it. They'll come back in September. And depending on whether this coordination, for the first time we ever remember between the president and his team and the DOJ, depending on how that comes out, if we come back in September with unanswered questions, there's going to be a lot of pressure to release it or to vote on some resolution to release it.
So, I ultimately think they might be forced into a corner here because there's just enough Republicans that are actually willing to take the vote.
But there's way more Republicans that are willing to say in a town hall that they're for it, but not necessarily take the vote when they have to go on record.
BURNETT: Which is sort of amazing when you think about it, that anybody could just take a step back. I mean, this is just a pretty simple moral thing, right? That anybody who was aware of or participating in pedophilia or sexual assault of underage girls should be held to account, right? It's not a complicated thing. It's not a political thing. And yet
somehow it is?
VAN JONES, CNN SNEIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it is because Donald Trump is not releasing this information that his whole team said they were going to release, for reasons that seem sketchier and sketchier and sketchier.
You're going to break out the etch a sketch pad for Donald Trump. It's just sketch city all the way over there. He's hiding something. There's something bad happening, you know, and you can tell the politics at the grassroots are different than the politics inside the White House.
Why is Nancy Mace jumping out here with all the stuff she's jumping on here? She's running for governor, and she knows she can't survive even this town hall tonight without having done an awful lot of, you know, kind of pretending that she's going to do a whole bunch on Epstein.
Now, there was a time when Donald Trump said, jump. Everybody said, how high to which planet? Which moon? Tell me, sir.
On this one, the grassroots on the right is so inflamed that a Nancy Mace, who is a complete MAGA loyalist, has broken with him, and she is still honking the horn about it because she cannot survive her governor's race without being loud and proud about release the Epstein files.
BURNETT: Same with Marjorie Taylor Greene. I mean, Congressman, is this -- is this suddenly the line that just some people couldn't cross?
KINZINGER: No, I mean, this isn't going to be the thing that breaks MAGA up or, you know, people vacate the president. No, but it's a crack, right?
I mean, ultimately, MAGA is built on quite honestly, the promises Trump's made have been lies. Many of them are -- they contradict each other. But he's been able to get by by this deflecting peoples anger towards the left. Thats what unites MAGA is anger towards the left.
So yeah, I mean, I think ultimately this won't be the line, but it will do some damage and that's what's important. Keep in mind, this Epstein thing, it's not just an issue. This really is a religion among some people within MAGA.
It is -- it was until this point a stand in for an attack on Democrats. Every Democrat was a pedophile. Every Democrat was on the Epstein list. I've been accused of being on the Epstein list. Anybody MAGA doesnt like is on the Epstein list.
And this this, by the way, is part of the whole QAnon thing. The whole pizzagate thing. This has been going on for a decade.
So, it's very tough to all of a sudden, you know, turn the corner on this. BURNETT: Yeah. No, it is.
All right. So, Van, you know, "South Park", which Harry Enten pointed out is a show that's very popular among Republicans as well as Democrats. So they're getting ready for another brutal roast of the Trump administration tonight. This time, the target is the DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.
And they're teasing it. They're saying, were doing this. They've released a preview, I'm showing it, which portrays Noem at a photo op holding a gun up in the air.
And they're also going to show Trump with Satan again, as they did in the season premiere. Okay, okay. I'm -- all I'm doing is describing it. It did go viral online. I mean, it literally shows up as a top search.
And Harry did point out just how popular "South Park" is with Republicans.
So, Van, what do you make of them doing this again?
JONES: Well, look, Trump is MAGA. They are now the establishment. The thing is, their whole shtick is we're the anti-elite. We're the anti- establishment, we're the outsiders.
No, they are running the entire government. They run the White House. They run the Senate. They run the Congress. They've run the Supreme Court into a ditch.
They are the establishment. And what happens when you have power is that comedians and comics and artists come after you, and unfortunately, with these guys, it's easy. You know, you've got somebody who's most famous for shooting a dog, who's in charge of the Department of Homeland Security. I mean, so the thing, the thing writes itself.
BURNETT: All right.
[19:40:00]
Well, and I should say the "South Park" also had the episode has an ICE raid, which the DHS retweeted saying, you know, as if this was something to join ICE as a recruiting tool. "South Park's" response is, what? So we are relevant, which I found amusing because obviously when Satan appeared in bed with Trump, Trump said, you know, it was an irrelevant show that had not been relevant in decades, but now they're retweeting the ICE raid on the show.
All right. Thanks both. Appreciate it.
And next, our David Culver, he is traveling to parts of the country where, since I'm talking about the ICE raid on "South Park", the fear of ICE is running so deep that workers are now speaking in code.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have our own ways to communicate that we don't disclose, or, you know?
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You won't tell me some of those ways.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We won't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, just into OUTFRONT tonight, these rare photos, candid photos of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s wedding to Carolyn Bessette.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:05]
BURNETT: All right. New tonight, we're looking at ICE and border patrol agents launching a surprise raid in a Home Depot parking lot. This particular Home Depot parking lot is in the state of California.
Agents jumping out of unmarked Penske trucks. They were hiding in the trucks. Then they jump out. President Trump is now defending the use of undocumented labor on U.S. farms. He says that the workers doing that labor are, quote, naturally built for the job.
I don't want to paraphrase this, so just listen for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: People that live in the inner city are not doing that work. They're just not doing that work. And they've tried. We've tried. Everybody tried. They don't do it.
These people do it naturally, naturally. I said, what happens if they get it to a farmer? The happens if they get a bad back. He said they don't get a bad back, sir, because if they get a bad back, they die.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: As I said, I didn't want to paraphrase that.
David Culver is in southern California with this story that you'll see first OUTFRONT.
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DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are any of them still salvageable or not?
IAN CHANDLER, FARMING FACING WORKER SHORTAGE: No. There's not really anything you can do with them at this point.
CULVER: You've got more than 30 acres of this farm with rotting fruit. I mean, these are cherries that at one point were pretty appetizing but right now were more than two weeks past their prime. CHANDLER: It's also lost revenue for the workers that would have been
able to pick them had they been here.
CULVER (voice-over): Oregon farmer Ian Chandler says about half his usual crew didn't show up this season.
You're calling them, I assume, individually and saying, what's going on?
CHANDLER: Yes.
CULVER: And so, what are they telling you?
CHANDLER: Well, in the beginning of the season, it coincided, unfortunately, with a lot of really strong immigration enforcement down in southern California, where our workforce comes from.
CULVER: While Ian says his workers are hired with what seemed to be a valid I.D. and work papers, fear of ICE raids kept many of them from traveling north this year.
To understand why, we head south to central California.
So, we're hoping that one of those farm working families will actually talk to us here and give us a sense of what life is like in hiding.
I think you're good. No names or anything there.
Behind closed doors, making dinner with her mom, we meet Lisa.
"LISA", MIGRANT FARMWORKER IN HIDING: Like, every single summer. We would go up there. My parents or myself. We will pick cherries. But this year, we decided to stay home just to be safe.
CULVER: Because you're living essentially as though you're going to be targeted at any moment.
LISA: Yes.
CULVER: You've got to buy food.
LISA: Yes.
CULVER: You've got to go shopping. Do -- you do leave for that?
LISA: Yes, I have to. I mean, someone has to in the house.
CULVER: Lisa's here under DACA, a program that gives temporary protection to people brought to the U.S. as children. Her three young kids, all U.S. citizens.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: This is my new avatar.
CULVER: You can tell they get kind of bored, like cooped up inside, spending hours in front of the TV and on their phones, tossing a frisbee with himself. UNIDENTIFIED KID: It says life is good.
CULVER: Life is good.
Lights stay off to keep cool. Shades down for privacy. Her husband and dad are undocumented, but working to keep money coming in as they're out.
Is that your phone?
LISA: Yes, that's my phone.
CULVER: Go ahead if you want to get it. Every alert from her phone sparks a brief panic.
LISA: It's okay. I'll call him back.
CULVER: But it's her mom she thinks about most, still picking crops in her 60s.
LISA: I would like to point that out my mom is not a criminal, and it hurts. I'm sorry.
Back in 2020, when the whole pandemic happened, my parents were being considered essential workers. And now they have to hide.
CULVER: Back north in Oregon, farm manager Manuel Nava (ph) also noticed several no shows this year.
MANUEL NAVA, FARM MANAGER: Last year, we probably have like probably five families coming from California. They just do the picking and we miss them.
CULVER: They didn't show up.
NAVA: They don't show up.
CULVER: Others continue working. One woman, 75 years old and determined to keep working even once the hour has stopped asking, can I just collect two more buckets?
She says she doesn't find the work too difficult compared to jobs she had in Guatemala. Workers here earn about $5 a bucket and average anywhere from $15 to $35 an hour.
KATIE BOLTON, FARM OWNER: And we hire them just like any other employee. We have an I-9 and W-4 filled out for every employee.
CULVER: Are they paying taxes?
BOLTON: Yes. All of that is taken out of their checks.
CULVER: While some may be using false IDs, others here have legal status. But it doesn't matter. Fear runs deep.
Katie started to post more and more signs, making it clear this is private property. This one even requesting that anybody who comes on to property, visitors and vendors must go through the office here to sign in.
[19:50:09]
She's done this as a way to reinforce to her workforce that they're in a safe space to try to protect them and to be a barrier of anyone who might come in and target them.
NAVA: Right now, you can see there's 84 people watching. What's going on.
CULVER: Manuel says WhatsApp is just one piece of a growing underground network that many migrant workers rely on.
Francisco Aguirre is one of the voices behind those warnings. From the basement of a Portland church is getting the word out.
FRANCISCO AGUIRRE, ACTIVIST, ASYLUM SEEKER: We are okay with the government enforcing the law and detaining those who come and do bad in the country, but that's not what is happening. We are detaining families who sustain this country.
CULVER: I was noticing on my Ring app that there are now notifications about where ICE may or may not be, and then people on Waze, the app, will even choose icy conditions on the road to signify that there's some sort of federal operation going on.
AGUIRRE: We have our own ways to communicate that we don't disclose, you know.
CULVER: You won't tell me some of those ways.
AGUIRRE: We won't (ph).
CULVER: Franciscos lived in the U.S. undocumented since the mid '90s, fleeing violence in El Salvador. Despite prior arrests, he says he's not interfering with ICE, but rather trying to clarify what's really happening amid rumors and fear. And he is not hiding.
AGUIRRE: I mean, I am afraid. I would lie if I say, no, I'm not afraid, you know, but I'm trying to do the right thing.
CULVER: What do you say to folks who say, just by you talking about this, you're attracting potential ICE attention?
AGUIRRE: Well, they are part of our community. Just like my arm is connected to my body, they are part of us. So it's not just a matter of just like cutting them off and be like, all right, see you later. If we lose them, we lose part of who we are as well.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER (on camera): Before we left Ian's farm, Erin, he pulled us aside and he said, just so you know, this goes well beyond impacting agriculture. He explained to us that his workers and many of the other farms nearby, their workers, move on to other industries that go into construction. They go into landscaping up there. They go into making Christmas wreaths for the holidays. Some of them even clear brush for the wildfires. He says if they're not coming up for the base industry, which is agriculture, then they're not going to be in place to help those other businesses, he says. You're going to start to really see the impact, if not this year, most certainly next year.
BURNETT: Oh. All right, David, thank you very much. Just incredible reporting. So important.
And next, those rare photos just in to OUTFRONT of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
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[19:55:04]
BURNETT: Tonight, personal, never before seen photos from the private wedding of John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette.
Carole Radziwill, one of their closest friends, was married to JFK Jr.'s cousin. She's my next guest and she's sharing these candid photos with OUTFRONT.
I mean, for the first time, right? This is before iPhones, and now were seeing JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette as she saw them, a rare and intimate look at one of America's most storied couples. It's part of a new CNN docu series, "AMERICAN PRINCE: JFK JR."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAROLE RADZIWILL, FRIEND OF JFK JR. & CAROLYN BESSETTE-KENNEDY: He wanted to maybe break some rules, an then he did. It sounds silly, but like he moved downtown to Tribeca when his whole family lived on the upper east side. And it just was like, in these little ways, you're making boundaries and you're creating independence, and you're creating this other life.
LEAH WRIGHT, RIGUEUR, AUTHOR: There is no such thing as a private normal day in the life of John F. Kennedy Jr. He is repeatedly a focus of not just tabloid fodder, but also fawning public adoration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNTETT: Really the closest thing to royalty America has ever had. I mean, nearly three decades after his tragic death and his wife Carolyn is on that plane, the worlds fascination with John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette has not faded.
Joining us now, Carole Radziwill, the dear friend of the couple, JFK Jr.'s cousin by marriage, she was married to the late Anthony Radziwill.
And, Carole, I really appreciate your time, and I know that you know you actually you were so close with them. But you don't talk about them. It's not something that you've gone around and you know, for this documentary, you're choosing to speak.
And you know, you talk about John wanting to break some rules. What did that mean for him to break the rules when he lived a life where he could not walk out the door without a bunch of photographs?
RADZIWILL: It does. It does. It does seem like that. But honestly, John, especially before he was married, when they became a pair, that the scrutiny was a little more intense. But he kind of was able to live a pretty under the radar life like he wasn't -- he wasn't as hounded, you know.
So like I think, you know, I think so many times we -- Anthony and I would hang out with him, you know, it was just a regular, like, I don't think people can understand, like because they were seeing these snapshots of, like, him running from paparazzi and getting photographed shirtless in the park and all this, but he had this whole other life, too. And in fact, when Carolyn and him were just dating and they were not -- she kept it really under the radar. You know, she easily could have had a big Hyannis Port wedding, but she wanted to keep it really private. And she did.
BURNETT: And so, on that wedding, obviously, your husband was the best man.
RADZIWILL: Yeah.
BURNETT: And, you know, it was I mean, I talk about them as American royalty, right? This was the wedding. Everybody wanted pictures of. Everybody wanted to know what happened. But she did choose to go the private route that she protected that so much.
And you're now just sharing some of your photos from that day. Some of the photos, you know, they -- in the context that you're giving --
RADZIWILL: Yeah.
BURNETT: -- do seem to show them in a way people like me, I would just gobble up any picture I could get of them, right? I mean, they were -- they were the royal family, really. So, they're peering over what may be the ring bearer's pillow in one of the pictures you have. She's holding a napkin.
RADZIWILL: I mean, I was -- I'm not a good photographer.
BURNETT: Well, these are just candid. Right there he is on a on a bed. She's --
RADZIWILL: There's a rehearsal dinner.
BURNETT: Right. That's the rehearsal dinner. Yeah. She is greeting someone. And of course, she's so elegant and graceful. I like this one.
RADZIWILL: Yeah. That was --
BURNETT: That looks like a dorm room. But -- RADZIWILL: It was a house that was right near the chapel where they
got married. And the owner of the house let him use it to change into his tux, but he couldn't find his shirt, which is one of the reasons why the whole wedding was delayed because he couldn't find his shirt and --
BURNETT: He couldn't find his shirt. So he's sitting there.
RADZIWILL: He's sitting there waiting for someone to bring it.
BURNETT: So, you know, now there's so much speculation and now there's been even books written about it. I mean, about the toll that the publicity and the nonstop invasion of privacy took on their marriage itself, right? And that what really was the status of the storybook marriage that the world wanted on that. Of course, tragic week --
RADZIWILL: I mean, people focus on that. But that's not really what was happening. I think that people tend to want to see, you know, the bad side, a big part of at least that last year was difficult because my husband Anthony was dying. He had been diagnosed with cancer five years earlier. We were dealing with real life and death issues.
And it was a young marriage and they were hounded and John -- see, there's some pictures of -- that was -- that was taken four days before the plane that we were on the beach. That was an earlier one. I think they are.
BURNETT: Right, right.
RADZIWILL: But that's what was really going on.
BURNETT: And everyone is still left wondering. And they still inspire so much wonder and curiosity.
And thank you so much for talking about them. I know, I know you -- you know, you -- you thought long and hard before you decided to do all of this project.
RADZIWILL: Yes, I did.
BURNETT: So, thanks so much, Carole.
RADZIWILL: So much has been said about them. So, if I can insert a little humanity, I'm happy to do that.
BURNETT: Humanity and reality.
RADZIWILL: Yes.
BURNETT: Well, don't miss the CNN original series, "AMERICAN PRINCE: JFK JR." It premieres Saturday night at 9:00.
Thanks so much for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
