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Erin Burnett Outfront

Fed Appeals Court Strikes Down Trump's Sweeping Tariffs; Sources: Major Trump Immigration Raid In Chicago Days Away; White House Defends RFK Jr. Amid CDC Chaos: "Crown Jewel" Of Trump Administration. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 29, 2025 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[19:00:18]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

The breaking news, Trump's tariffs rejected. A federal appeals court moments ago striking down most of the president's sweeping tariffs as Trump's revenge campaign was on full display today in court.

Plus, a Chicago showdown. The Trump administration on the verge of a major immigration crackdown in the city. State officials, though, are telling Trump to stay away. But is there anything they can do?

And the, quote, "crown jewel" of Trump's administration. That's what RFK, Jr. is being called as chaos consumes America's health agencies. Obama's former health and human services secretary is OUTFRONT.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

And OUTFRONT, we begin with that breaking news. A major legal blow to President Trump late on this Friday. A federal appeals court striking down Trump's punishing tariffs, calling them illegal.

The court writing that Trump does not possess the power under the law to impose taxes on nearly all imports into the United States. But as of tonight, those tariffs are still in effect. So, despite being ruled unlawful, the court is giving Trump until October for the Supreme Court to weigh in.

And just moments ago, the president himself, responding, posting and I quote, if these tariffs ever went away, it would be a total disaster for the country. It would make us financially weak, and we have to be strong. Now, we're going to have much more on this in a moment. Obviously, an incredibly crucial ruling, but it comes as the administration is bracing for another major legal decision that could determine whether Trump has the power or not, to essentially control the Fed, which is an independent body.

Today, lawyers for Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, appearing in court making their case that Trump does not have the right to fire Cook. Now, the administration and Trump has accused her of mortgage fraud, an allegation for which she has not been charged. It's still unclear how the judge might rule, but Cook is someone who had voted not to cut interest rates and had 12 years left on her term as a Federal Reserve governor, right, a long, long time.

And if Trump gets rid of her, he'd have a majority on the Fed who agree with him, right? So, this is a crucial position for Trump. So, whatever you think of this situation, the judge's words are worth repeating. The judge today saying, quote, the Fed should be an independent body that is not supposed to be responsive to any type of political pressure. In fact, it is the independence of the Fed. That is the reason that American markets are the greatest in the world.

But since Trump took office, the Fed has been under immense political pressure personally from Trump, who has disparaged the head of the Federal Reserve as not smart. He now has an army of attack dogs whose sole mission is to oust anyone standing in the way of Trump's desires.

Now, last night we told you about Bill Pulte. He is the man who dug up these mortgage accusations against Cook. And now over at the Justice Department, I'm going to show you the man leading the crusade there. His name is Ed Martin, and it may be a familiar name to you. Ed Martin is someone who praised an alleged Nazi sympathizer, has appeared on Russian state media and has denigrated officers who defended the Capitol on January 6th.

Now, that was a bridge too far for plenty of Republicans and for so many that it ruined Martin's chances of leading the U.S. attorney's office in Washington. His nomination got pulled because Republicans weren't going to vote for it. But now he has a new title.

And that title is this special attorney addressing mortgage fraud by public officials. Mortgage fraud. This is a specific charge, and it is Trump's new weapon being used against many enemies, a way to penalize or remove, perhaps even jail them, because Cook is not the only one now facing allegations of mortgage fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Adam Schiff, they have him 100 percent on mortgage fraud. Letitia James, who's the attorney general of New York state, it seemed. I'm not involved in that at all. But it's -- it's major fraud mortgage documents and fraudulent everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Look, if anyone commits mortgage fraud, they should be held accountable. That's important to say. It's right. But Schiff and James haven't been charged with fraud, either. And what is crucial here is that these allegations are being brought exclusively against people who have criticized, challenged, or stopped Trump from getting what he wants. Not going -- after looking at some wholesale thing. You see Democrats and Republicans, no. It's only people who have criticized Trump or stood in his way.

I mean, take Chris Christie as an example. The former governor of New Jersey, an early supporter of the former president, now he's being taken on all because Christie took Trump on a week ago.

[19:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), FORMER NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR: Donald Trump sees himself as the person who gets to decide everything, and he doesn't care about any separation. In fact, he absolutely rejects the idea that there should be separation between criminal investigations and the politically elected leader of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, Trump didn't like what the governor had to say. And so, then, he threatened to reopen a 13-year-old closed investigation into the former New Jersey governor for political scandal involving the George Washington Bridge, an investigation which actually had been closed exonerating the governor.

Then what else is happening? Going after perceived enemies. John Bolton, home and office were raided a week ago. Jack Smith, who led the classified documents in January 6th investigations, he is now being accused of violating the Hatch Act.

And then there are moves like canceling Secret Service protection, which could have serious consequences today. Trump ended that protection for the former Vice President, Kamala Harris. Biden had actually extended that protection for a year because Harris faced threats throughout her time in office, which obviously rose as she ran for president, according to "The New York Times". Trump ended that protection today.

Now, of course, Trump, when his time came around, had extended protection for his own children after his first term, something as a courtesy Biden had let stand.

Now, that cost taxpayers nearly $2 million. But Trump did it. He extended it. Biden honored it. Thats how it worked.

But not this time around. And Harris isn't alone. Hunter Biden, Ashley Biden, Dr. Anthony Fauci, John Bolton, Mike Pompeo, all of them have lost their Secret Service protection. Again, you should only have it if you need it. You should be challenged on mortgage fraud or classified documents if you did it wrong. But it's only people that got in Trump's way or that he doesn't like or have criticized him, that he is going ahead and charging for these things and accusing of them.

The administration claims that these actions are driven by the law, not by politics, but of course, common sense and the facts suggest otherwise.

Alayna Treene is OUTFRONT live outside the White House to begin our coverage tonight.

And, Alayna, I know you've been speaking with your sources there. You just spoke to a few moments ago. What is Trump's thinking on this after the hearing today with the Federal Reserve governor?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah. Well, actually, Erin, I just caught up with the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, and she told me that the president actually didn't monitor this hearing today with the judge. Of course, over Lisa Cook and her attorney challenging her termination.

But Karoline Leavitt told me that even if he had, he stands by his decision, essentially saying, no matter what happens in this legal fight, the president believes that it was within his right to fire Lisa Cook or at least attempt to fire her, and also that he believes that she should remain outside of the Fed. And essentially, I think what's so important to keep in mind here is why the president, Erin, is doing this in the first place. We know that he citing these allegations of mortgage fraud, ones that people, other Trump administration officials have brought directly to him.

You mentioned Bill Pulte. He's one of those who had brought these allegations against Lisa Cook directly to the president himself. But another, bigger reason for all of this is, of course, how the president wants to leave his mark on the Fed.

When I've talked to my White House sources about this and others throughout the administration, they told me his fixation with the Federal Reserve boils down to a key point, which is that he does not like not having control over an agency that can really sway the economy. He believes that he talked to voters on the campaign trail and promised them a thriving economy. And he really does not like that. They are not doing what he's telling them to do in lowering interest rates.

And so, this kind of provides him with an opportunity. When he heard about these mortgage fraud claims, he saw there was an opportunity in a potential legal justification to try and oust Lisa Cook.

BURNETT: Yeah. And of course, as you point out, she's only two years into a 14-year-term, so getting rid of her would have major implications.

Alayna, I want to ask you about the other breaking story here tonight. I know you were talking to your sources that appeals court, federal appeals court ruling that the tariffs don't hold the Trump unlawfully leaned on emergency powers, which was his justification for the tariff trade war.

Obviously, not pulling them back yet. They're giving him until October. Possible Supreme Court ruling, but ruling them unlawful. What are you hearing about that?

TREENE: Yeah. What I think is so interesting is, as you said, they're not saying he can't impose tariffs. They just said he can't impose tariffs the way that he did in the start of his administration, which was declaring this national emergency and saying there was a national security issue regarding illegal drugs and using that to impose these sweeping tariffs. Look, I actually think the implications of this could be pretty big

because we've now seen the president move on a number of different issues way beyond these tariffs on using emergency declarations to try and push the bounds of his executive power.

Now, in my conversations with people at the White House, we also saw the president post on social media after this decision, they are going to fight this. There's no question. We've seen him hit kind of legal roadblocks when it comes to these tariffs.

[19:10:03]

He said tonight he wants to take it all the way to Supreme Court. We'll have to see how this plays out. But I think this is a major ruling. And we'll have to see how the Court of International Trade decides whether these actually should stand as they are.

BURNETT: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much. New reporting from the White House.

And let's go now to the former Trump White House attorney, Ty Cobb.

So, Ty, I want to ask you about all of these cases tonight, but just starting where elena left off with her reporting on the tariff ruling and executive powers, you're not surprised by the courts decision here, but how significant is it that this happened? What now?

TY COBB, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE ATTORNEY: So, I think it's very significant. The, you know, the judges who have considered this issue and there have been three or three courts have all ruled that this is just not consistent with the law under the IEEPA statute that Trump invoked, you know, which was, silent, never mentioned the word tariffs, had nothing to do with tariffs. And given Article One of the Constitution, which puts tariffs within the purview of Congress, it's pretty clear that it was unlawful throughout and even under IEEPA, Trump contrived another controversy, just like he did with Lisa Cook, you know, these alleged emergencies that he relies on for everything.

So I'm not surprised that the decision -- it's very -- it's very important, though, because it certainly will put the Supreme Court in a difficult position. Given their, you know, quick retreat from, you know, from the -- from the, you know, multiple opinions that they have used to expand the president's power.

You know, they're going to have to stand firm, I think. But I think they will, because I think legally, this court was so clearly correct.

BURNETT: All right. So, you mentioned Lisa Cook, and I want to ask you about that. Our other top story here, Trump's trying to fire her from the Fed. But based on everything you heard from that courtroom today, you know, her attorneys, Abbe Lowell in there.

Do you think that the judge is going to side with Trump or Cook?

COBB: So, I don't have a crystal ball on this, and it's a very difficult, legal decision for her. Not because of the facts, but because of the issue of the extent of Trump's Article Two powers. But I do believe that she will, you know, find a remedy for, Ms. Cook. I think she did say at one point in the hearing that she is, you know, keeps coming back to the issue of the importance of the independence of the Fed, as she considers these issues.

And I think that that consideration is very important. The Supreme Court has made it clear that the Fed is different from the many institutions where they have allowed Trump to fire people willy-nilly. You know, a power he enjoys. It's a thrill to him. He let go most of the EPA. People who, who had the had the courage to criticize, some of the life-threatening moves that Trump is making. They were let go late this afternoon.

So, this is -- this is about power to him. And I don't think -- I don't think he's going to prevail, at least with regard to Ms. Cook.

BURNETT: So what about Ed Martin's role here, right, who couldn't even get Republican support to be U.S. attorney because of how he has spoken about January 6th?

But now he's got a new title, special attorney addressing mortgage fraud by public officials. What do you think of Ed Martin?

COBB: I think -- I think that's the wrong title. I mean, seriously you know, his title should just be President Trump's enemies executioner. That's his only role. I mean, this this man is a clown.

It's tragic that he has a job in this administration. It's tragic that he can impact other people's lives. This -- this is nothing other than an official recognition within the Justice Department that retribution and vengeance are the order of the day.

BURNETT: Ty, thank you so much.

COBB: My pleasure. Nice to be with you.

BURNETT: All right. And Bill Kristol and Max Rose are here.

So, Bill, you just heard what ty had to say of Ed Martin's role being involved in this, his title, that he should be President Trump's executioner. What is -- what message does it send that Ed Martin is in there doing what he's doing, making charges of mortgage fraud against people who Trump doesn't like or have criticized Trump?

BILL KRISTOL, EDITOR AT LARGE, THE BULWARK: I mean, it's of a piece with what Pam Bondi is doing and what Kash Patel is doing and what the Trump administration as a whole is doing.

[19:15:02]

So Martin is a particularly bad actor, I suppose the one who couldn't get confirmed by this Republican Senate that's been otherwise totally compliant to Trump, totally acquiescing to Trump's abuses of power, honestly. But -- so the fact that Martin is now a key player, I guess, is maybe particularly brings home how much we are just simply now in an administration. It's not that the rule -- that's not just, you know, not so respectful

of the rule of law. It's not just the rule of law is crumbling a little bit. It's under real assault. And it's and the assault is sustained and its across many different fronts, as you've been saying, you know? It's -- and it's all on the for the service of giving Trump personal power over everything the executive branch does and getting the executive branch to do some things it shouldn't be doing.

BURNETT: I mean, Max, I guess maybe to the point, I don't want to put words in your mouth, Bill, but in a sense, Max, it would appear to be the case that if Ed Martin weren't around, given the behavior we've seen, there'd be someone else who was really willing to do this.

MAX ROSE, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Of course, this isn't about the law. This isn't about precedent. This is about Donald Trump pursuing his political enemies.

I actually think the secret service issue encapsulates this. For four years, Joe Biden and his administration provided a Secret Service detail to Mike Pompeo, a man who literally campaigned against Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election. But they looked at the threat landscape, and they decided to put people's lives over politics.

Donald Trump and this administration, though, has absolutely no limits to how far they will go to pursue not just their political agenda. That's not what this is about. It's to go after their supposed political enemies and to make a point.

BURNETT: And it's ahead of a book tour, Bill.

KRISTOL: It is. And, you know, yeah, it's -- look, it's terrible. And just on the Fed though at one point that I would stress that didn't quite come out before, though it's been an excellent discussion. I mean, it's not just that Trump has a general preference for certain policies at the Fed, which he does low interest rates. It's not just that he kind of, in principle, would like to control more and more things, which he certainly would use.

Having control of the Fed as you go into elections is very useful, right? I mean, if you want to juice the economy, if the economy maybe is floundering a bit, if its early 2028 and you're running for reelection or you're picked heir is running, you control the Fed, Fed loosens money supply and lowers interest rates, and you get a short run sugar high in the economy.

So, this is very much of a piece not just with the exertion of power today, not just with controlling every aspect of the government that's been insulated somewhat from politics in the past. But it's of a piece with his agenda for 2028.

BURNETT: Yeah, and, Bill, and now on the Secret Service, just this issue, Max, was bringing up right about Mike Pompeo and that Biden had extended that because of the threats to Mike Pompeo, even though Mike Pompeo was a political rival. That Donald Trump had extended Secret Service protection for his own children, and Biden honored that. But that's the precedent of how these things usually work. But not now.

KRISTOL: No. And I mean, but again, it is so much of a piece with everything else, and it's so petty and so, of course, mean-spirited and so dangerous, conceivably, to former Vice President Harris and as was, incidentally, removing the protection from John Bolton that the Biden administration had extended because of the threats from Iran.

So, yeah, it is -- it is really of a piece. And I just want to make this point that people sometimes talk about what's at risk, the rule of law, any idea of impartial execution of justice by this administrations at risk, but its more than at risk. I mean, we are under its under serious assault. And again, what strikes me about this administration is they might lose some of these court cases. They may not, but they're not going to stop.

I mean, this is what they want to do. This isn't like oh, they stumbled into a couple of overreaches, you know?

BURNETT: Yeah. No, Max, I mean, that's the thing. It's an onslaught.

ROSE: It absolutely is. And look, there are some issues that they're looking at, which in some ways I can understand the impetus for it. I understand the argument in many ways against Fed independence, right? I mean, there are these unelected bureaucrats making these decisions of significance. I could see how that could anger people.

But there's a place where that conversation is meant to be litigated, and that decision made. It's called Congress. It's called pass a law. We have a system for this.

So what you're seeing in the end here is that the president is not enough for Donald Trump to powers provided to him in his administration, the Constitution are not enough. And no rule set of values or precedents will stand in their way.

[19:20:02]

So, we'll have to see, as the Supreme Court stands up here. But all we would ask is please don't treat the American people like they're idiots.

A mortgage case? That's not what this is about. And everybody knows it. It's about extending his powers for as far as they possibly can go.

BURNETT: Thank you both very much. I appreciate your time.

And next, a major immigration raid on the verge of coming to Chicago. And that is on top of the threat of National Guard troops. And we're learning tonight, this could literally be days away. The lieutenant governor of Illinois is next.

Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: Secretary Kennedy has been a crown jewel of this administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Yet America's health agencies are in turmoil tonight. Top officials gone over fights over vaccines. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is OUTFRONT.

And Eric Trump making a bold prediction tonight, one that if true, if Eric Trump is right, it will cause Trump's net worth to explode.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:32]

BURNETT: New tonight, the countdown to Trump's takeover of Chicago, a large-scale operation with ICE and Customs and Border Protection is likely to start within days. The plans include using a military base, a navy base near the city as a hub for the crackdown. This operation is on top of Trump's threats to set the National Guard to Chicago to address crime.

Now, the governor of Illinois, J.B. Pritzker, today slamming Trump's anticipated actions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: The intentions here are clear. They want to inflame something that is what they want. They look at what they did in Los Angeles. Again, people with masks walking around or showing up, driving up in vans and grabbing people off the streets and throwing them in the back of a van. That's not the United States. Again, it's un-American to do something like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, the lieutenant governor of Illinois, Juliana Stratton. She is also a candidate for the U.S. Senate there and born and raised in Chicago.

Lieutenant Governor, I appreciate your time and, you know, our understanding from our reporting here is that this is all going down within days. Is that your understanding? And is there anything at this point you can actually do about it?

LT. GOV. JULIANA STRATTON (D-IL): Your question is, is this something that we can see as being productive?

BURNETT: No. Is this something you can stop? Is there anything you can do to stop it from happening?

STRATTON: Yeah, I mean, I don't know that there's anything that we can do to stop it from happening. I mean, clearly, Donald Trump wants to make this a manufactured crisis. He wants the chaos to come to a city like Chicago and a state like Illinois. What we can do is not take the bait. And that's what I've been talking about. And that's what the governor has certainly been talking about. You saw that earlier this week. The governor and I stood with

stakeholders from the faith community, the business community you know, community-based organizations and other elected officials to show unity and strength that we are saying collectively that we do not want federalized troops here in Illinois. We do not want them to come to our state. There's no emergency.

And today, I was in Lake County, where the naval station Great Lakes, where they're planning to start this immigration enforcement effort. Purportedly, we don't have any details directly, but that's what we're hearing. And so, we went there and stood with leaders to say we are showing strength and unity, that we don't want this to happen.

So, I don't know if we can stop them from coming. But what I can say is we are going to speak out. We are going to show our unity, and we're going to make sure that as people of Illinois speak out, they're going to do so peacefully and not with any level of violence, because we know that violence will only hurt the people that we are trying so hard to protect.

BURNETT: So, Trump's border czar Tom Homan came out today. He had some very strong words for the Chicago mayor, who has also said that he does not want this presence of ICE, Customs, Border Patrol and the National Guard.

Here's what Homan said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: Get out of the way, because we're going to do it. I would think he'd be shoulder to shoulder with us, but it's disgusting that he's not. But we're going to be there anyway. So, if you don't want to help get out of the way, we'll do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: What do you say to that, Lieutenant Governor?

STRATTON: Well, I mean, he asked the question, do you want to help? And this is not about helping. If the federal government, if Homan or Trump wanted to help, then they would coordinate with the state.

We did not ask for their presence. We did not get any information. We did not get any coordination. So, what are they helping with? There's no emergency right now.

Do you know that the last time that federal troops are -- National Guard, quite frankly, were federalized against, you know, for a state and sent to a state was in 1965 when troops were sent by President Lyndon B. Johnson to protect protesters who were marching from Selma to Montgomery, protesters like my father, Henry, who is now 92 years old, who marched for voting rights.

That's how it was used to protect rights. And now here we are seeing President Trump federalize the National Guard to crush rights. That is not helpful. [19:30:06]

So, we didn't ask for it. We don't want it. The people of Illinois don't. And the people of Chicago don't want this to happen. It's a manufactured crisis.

And here's what they want to do. They want to get -- say it's about immigration. They want to come out here and they want to start snatching people off the streets. And any decent human being who has a heart is going to see that, will be upset, and then people will want to. And we encourage people to peacefully protest.

But once they get out there and start raising their voices, they want to start saying, oh, look, things are getting out of control and now we need troops. That is not the case. And again, I'm urging everyone to make sure we peacefully raise our voices and show our power through our peaceful protest.

BURNETT: So, you know, you talk about how they didn't consult you, they didn't ask. There's no emergency. And I understand all that. That may be why former police Superintendent Garry McCarthy this week said he's got reservations about what happened. What you know, the national guard specifically is what he was talking about.

But then lieutenant governor, he went on to say, I would not look a gift horse in the mouth. I think the deployment of the National Guard in a city like Chicago could help with the smash and grab on Michigan Avenue and places like that. I just wonder in that context, is there any reason to take a deep breath and say, even though the whole way that they went about this is wrong and you don't like it? But to use it for good?

STRATTON: I often have to take a deep breath, even with a question that would even bring up could this be for good? We are seeing the rise, if not the rise, of authoritarianism. We are seeing the classic playbook, a page out of the playbook of authoritarianism. And that's what's happening.

It can never be normal that we would walk down the streets. I have a nine-year-old and it's not normal for my nine-year-old to go to school and to see a tank or an armed guard walking down the street. It's not normal for our business owners to try to attract business to their restaurants, their cafes, their small businesses and know that they're going to be guards walking up and down the street, potentially armed in full uniforms.

It's not normal to know that people are being snatched off the street by masked people who are putting them into unmarked cars and taking them, who knows where. Stomping on the Constitution, overlooking the rule of law, stomping on due process. That is what's not normal. So, if that's the kind of help that they are offering, we don't want it.

If they want to help release the $800 million of violence prevention funding that's owed to the state of Illinois, make sure people have access to quality health care and housing. Make sure people can put food on their tables and feed their children. If they want to help Illinois, do what they're supposed to do as the federal government and lead. We're not seeing leadership out of Washington.

I'm going to lead here in Illinois. Governor Pritzker and so many others are going to lead in Illinois. And the people of Illinois will never roll out the red carpet for a wannabe dictator.

BURNETT: Lieutenant Governor Stratton, we appreciate your time. And thank you.

STRATTON: Thank you for having me.

BURNETT: All right. And next, RFK, Jr.'s changes to vaccine policies now having real effect. Major drugstore CVS now not offering COVID vaccine in a lot of states. Is this the tip of the iceberg?

Plus, crypto has made Trump a lot of money. And tonight, his children say it's all just getting started.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC TRUMP, SON OF PRESIDENT TRUMP: Buy right now. Shut your eyes. Hold it for the next five years and you are going to do terrifically well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:38:10]

BURNETT: Tonight, RFK Jr., a crown jewel. Those are the words of top Trump official Stephen Miller, defending HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. amid a purge at the CDC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: Secretary Kennedy, one of the world's foremost voices, advocates and experts on public health, is working hard to restore the credibility and the integrity of CDC. Secretary Kennedy has been a crown jewel of this administration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Miller's words come after Kennedy forced out the CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez, over vaccines. In fact, we've got new reporting tonight because we have learned that Monarez was repeatedly pressed by Kennedy to agree to new potential vaccine restrictions. One person present for those discussions is the man Kennedy picked to replace her, his deputy, Jim O'Neill. All of it pledging America's premier public health institution into chaos.

Kathleen Sebelius is OUTFRONT now. She is the former health and human services secretary under then President Obama. Also, the former governor of Kansas.

So, Secretary Sebelius, you come at public health from both of those perspectives. You just heard top Trump aide Stephen Miller call Kennedy a public health expert and a crown jewel of this administration. What do you say to that?

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, FORMER HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Well, Erin, thanks for having me. I think that Secretary Kennedy, described it best himself when he said no one should take his health advice. I think that those were very wise words. This is a man who has spent a career making money over suing vaccine companies, trying to assert facts that just are not backed up by any scientific evidence and mixing science with really quack theories in a way that can be dangerous for American families and American children.

Secretary Kennedy has wholesale fired the vaccine advisory committee. People who were volunteered, vetted, carefully, made sure that there were not conflicts of interest, are known for their expertise, they're just gone and maligned by Secretary Kennedy on the way out the door, suggesting that they were riddled with conflict, which is just blatantly false and now has replaced them with a handful of folks hand-chosen who have already begun to assert really dangerous theories in the vaccine committee. The firing of the CDC is just totally dangerous and uncalled for.

Susan Monarez is a long-time public health official. She refused to sign on to dangerous guidelines, and she refused to follow directives to fire her top leadership. And for that, she was removed so, you know, to your point about the vaccines and the danger here Secretary Kennedy says he has a report coming out very soon that's going to show that, quote, certain interventions are causing autism.

BURNETT: It's an incredible statement, obviously, because the science on the subject has not yielded any such thing. But when you say certain interventions, people may say, well, what does that mean? Well, just to be clear here, Secretary Kennedy in the past has been very clear about what interventions he believes causes autism.

Here's him, in his own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., HHS SECRETARY: I do believe that autism does come from vaccines, but I think most of the things that people believe about my opinions about vaccines are wrong. I -- you know, all I've said about vaccines, we should have good science. We should have the same kind of testing, placebo-controlled trials.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And he went on in another interview to say that there was 45 peer-reviewed studies that show that the autism epidemic is coming from those vaccines. All right. Thats a quote from RFK Jr.

What's at stake here?

SEBELIUS: Well, I think, Erin, at stake is the health and well-being of American families, the health and well-being of children parents. Want to follow good advice to figure out how to protect their children from dangerous infectious diseases, from diseases like polio, which was really eradicated in the United States from measles, which can cause blindness and death. That's something that I think every parent, Republican, Democrat and a red state and a blue state wants to do be a good parent.

The problem is that the vaccine advisory committee are the ones who recommend the guidelines, who should get a vaccine. How frequently? What age groups are most at risk? And then state and state governments across this country adopt those guidelines.

If the guidelines from the outset are suspect, if they're not based on real science, it leaves parents in a total quandary. And I would say the best advice is talk to your own doctor, make sure you're getting the best advice. And unfortunately, you may have to just stop following what the CDC is saying.

BURNETT: Which is a pretty horrible situation to be in. Just as a country, I think everybody can agree with that. Nobody wants to be in that situation.

Secretary Sebelius, thank you so much. I appreciate your time tonight.

SEBELIUS: Good to be with you.

BURNETT: Next, the president's son with a surprising prediction, one that could make him and his dad a lot more money. And two of the world's most powerful strongmen joining forces with North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:08]

BURNETT: Tonight, $1 million, Eric Trump making that bold prediction about how much he says bitcoin is going to be valued at. It's a stunning number, making the comments at a Hong Kong crypto conference as he delivered an effusive sales pitch for bitcoin as his family is profiting big time from crypto.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

E. TRUMP: It is the greatest asset in the world, I really believe in the next several years, bitcoin hits $1 million. There's no question.

Buy right now. Shut your eyes. Hold it for the next five years and you are going to do terrifically well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: That's a 10 times return. I mean, right now, Bitcoin is at $108,000, which is already stratospheric. But he's talking about a million.

Hong Kong is far from where Eric Trump's sales pitch will end. He and his brother Don Jr., they've been in the Middle East. They've been to other places. They're expected to go to crypto conferences in South Korea and Singapore in coming weeks. And the Trump family is profiting from all of this. OUTFRONT now, senior editor for "Forbes", Dan Alexander.

And, Dan, you've actually looked at the numbers on this.

And, Donald Trump, how much money, how much money has he made? Has he cashed in because of crypto and his sons, you know, all out embrace of crypto.

DAN ALEXANDER, SENIOR EDITOR, FORBES: Yeah. Well, so far, he's conjured up about $1.5 billion from new crypto projects. And he's also taken his most valuable asset, a $2 billion stake in the Trump media technology group, and turned that toward crypto. So, if you add those two things together right now, you're looking at about $3 billion, $3.5 billion tied to the crypto industry of his roughly $6 billion fortune.

BURNETT: That is incredible. I mean, it's actually really stunning. Never mind that he used to say crypto was bunk. I mean, just the amount of money that they're making and that his sons are out there, sales and marketing on it, and he's profiting.

How much -- you know, when you look at how much money he's made, how much money are his kids making off of this?

[19:50:02]

ALEXANDER: Well, his kids are making a lot of money, too. But in Trump fashion, you know, he hasn't shared the majority with his kids. He still is getting most of the money in these projects. The meme coin, he has what looks like 100 percent of the family stake in World Liberty Financial. He has 70 percent. He shared 30 percent with the kids, presumably with Eric, Don Jr., and Barron.

All of those guys have done pretty well though. Just on selling the tokens alone, there are probably roughly $40 million and there could be much more coming down the line.

BURNETT: It's truly -- it's truly stunning. And what's also interesting about this is that, you know, we all know Don Jr. was -- was running the Trump Organization, right? Ivanka had had a role too at one point. But Eric had never seemed to really make the cut in some ways for Trump. But you say that that his embrace of crypto and Eric's being a leader on that has, in fact impacted his relationship with his father?

ALEXANDER: Well, it's interesting. You know, I was talking to Eric in 2017, and he told me at the time that he didn't think that his dad would have been able to be president four years earlier because he wouldn't have felt comfortable sort of handing the keys to his kids at that point.

But in his first term, he was. But they were really more sort of asset managers. You know, they weren't doing a lot of entrepreneurial things. What you're seeing now here in the first year of Trump's second term is that not only do they have the keys to the car, but they're allowed to drive it as fast as they want. And what their steering toward is bitcoin, cryptocurrencies. And it's made tons of money not just for their father, but also for them.

Surely giving him a lot of confidence, giving him a reason to sort of its kind of a coming out party. He's an entrepreneur in his own right now.

BURNETT: Right, right. This has proven that to his father.

All right. Thank you very much, Dan. Appreciate you.

ALEXANDER: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, Putin, Kim and Xi together for the first time, looks like a team, in an effort to upend the world order.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:39]

BURNETT: Tonight, the death toll in Ukraine rising to at least 25 people following Russia's enormous attack on Kyiv, the second biggest since Putin's war began. It comes as Putin is about to travel to China to meet with his ally, Xi Jinping, who's putting on a massive military parade in Beijing and another crucial Putin ally, Kim Jong Un, has been providing tens of thousands of soldiers to Putin in the war, will also be there, and it marks the first time that those three strongmen ever have been seen in public together.

Will Ripley is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two of the world's most powerful strongmen, China's Xi Jinping and Russia's Vladimir Putin, greeting each other in grand, opulent pomp and ceremony.

President Xi once whispered they were driving history's change together. A rare glimpse into how both men see themselves, toasting a vision of a new world order, one less dominated by the United States.

Years earlier, they were flipping pancakes together. Xi gifted Chinese pandas to Russia. They marked Xi's birthday with ice cream and cake.

Sometimes the more reserved Chinese leader even went in for the hug. Just this spring, she was in Moscow watching Putin's military parade.

Now, the roles reverse. Putin heads to Beijing for Xi's massive parade across Tiananmen Square, side by side once again.

What must this moment be like for Vladimir Putin?

JILL DOUGHERTY, FORMER CNN MOSCOW BUREAU CHIEF: I think he's happy. I think he's happy that he is out on the world stage. He is now with his friends.

RIPLEY: But this time, Putin is not just shoulder to shoulder with Xi. Now, North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un joins the picture. Putin's newest partner. They signed a defense pact in Pyongyang. Kim has supplied weapons and thousands of troops for Putin's war in Ukraine.

There is a real value to having the three of them together face to face, isn't there?

DOUGHERTY: It's crucial to be in the same room. Just that idea, here we are, you know, against the West and the West is doing terrible things, and we're going to undermine them. I think that brings them together, kind of bonds them in many different ways.

RIPLEY: For Putin, Kim provides vital military support. For Kim, it's cash and validation. And now, a rare seat at the table with two of the world's nuclear superpowers, appearing together in public for the first time.

And looming over all three, U.S. President Donald Trump. He's been praising the strongman for years.

TRUMP: Putin, very smart. President Xi is a brilliant man. How smart is Kim Jong Un?

RIPLEY: Today, the stakes go far beyond flattery. With trade, Ukraine and nukes causing tension, Xi, Putin and Kim are closing ranks. Their shared mission chip away at Washington's dominance, challenged the U.S.-led order that has defined global power for decades.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): Wouldn't you love to be, Erin, a fly on the wall when they're behind closed doors, having conversations about Donald Trump, who they've all met individually? You know, what pressure points does he respond to? What's he going to do next? I don't think they even know what Trump's going to do next. I'm not sure that Trump himself knows.

And so that unpredictability almost certainly is going to be a topic of discussion behind the scenes as they all prepare to stand together, remarkably, on the very same stage for the first time, Erin.

BURNETT: I mean, it's remarkable that it's for the first time, I hadn't realized that it's truly incredible just to imagine what it would be like to be there and to hear that.

All right. Thank you so much, Will.

And thanks so much to all of you.

"AC360" starts now.