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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Says Economy "A+", Consumer Sentiment Near Record Low; Schumer: Hegseth Dodging On Releasing Full Boat Strike Footage; Trump Unloads On Europe: It's "Decaying" And Leaders Are "Weak". Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 09, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:25]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, Trump's roadshow. The president speaking right now after giving himself an A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus on the economy. Do Americans buy that?
And top Democrats say Hegseth is dodging on releasing video of the controversial boat strike in the Caribbean. I mean, they could have put it out any time. They haven't. So, is there a cover-up?
And Trump calls it a fat drug, but are the weight-loss drugs that are so popular right now too good to be true or not? The CEO of Eli Lilly, they make Zepbound, is my guest. They've got a pill coming out.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, Trump on a roadshow in the United States. Weve got live pictures where Trump is about to speak any moment. He is just arriving in Pennsylvania, Mount Pocono, where were told he plans to sell up an economy that has Americans giving basically I mean, close to record, low consumer sentiment marks.
The rally is taking place at a resort that used to be called Mount Airy Lodge that is familiar to some as a you know, as a place people went when, you know, the Americas economy was a very different sort of place, one of the biggest and busiest resorts in the Northeast when our economy was different, commercials like the one you're looking at here used to blank at the airwaves.
Now, though this is an area struggling, higher than average unemployment, rising costs. And the people at this rally, presumably, these are obviously Trump supporters that are going to the rally. They are looking for relief.
Yet, if you listen to Trump in a new interview today, he is missing the moment. Just listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: I do want to talk about the economy, sir, here at home, and I wonder what grade you would give the economy.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A-plus.
INTERVIEWER: A-plus?
TRUMP: Yeah, A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And he wasn't even -- I mean, he wasn't joking, okay? Just to be clear, A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus is five pluses.
Now, a recent Fox News poll found that three-quarters of Americans view the economy negatively. Okay, that's not good. It is up from Biden's presidency. You look at the consumer sentiment numbers, as I said, those are close to record lows.
OUTFRONT viewers have a lot to say about this. We, you know, reached out to people to try to get some feedback here. Just a few things that I think may be representative of what many feel, Harmon Davis in Philadelphia said on Facebook, "I went grocery shopping last night, and I noticed I paid a whole lot -- a whole more than usual. Frankly, I'm personally forecasting a recession the first quarter or second quarter of next year. More inflation, more deficit spending, higher healthcare costs, and most of these trends started after Trump took office."
And then we got this from Anne Kirkbride: "If the economy is so great, then why do I find myself going to my savings in order to buy food? I'm 74, and every time I go, things haven't gone up a few cents, but 50 or more cents."
And that's really the affordability issue, right, which is part of the reason why Zohran Mamdani won in New York. Affordability, that word connected with people. Yet when people bring these issues up and that word specifically up, that word that has resonated across this country Trump does not like it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The word affordability is a con job.
They use the word affordability. It's a Democrat hoax.
Look, affordability is a hoax
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Of course, it's not a hoax. And when you look at things like consumer sentiment and consumer confidence, these things are all consistent in how Americans perceive the situation, which is that there is an affordability crisis in America. And of course, Trump made a promise about affordability when he was
running for president. And these are all promises that now are well, they're sounding really loud. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Starting on day one, we will end inflation and make America affordable again, to bring down the prices of all goods.
Starting on day one of my new administration, we will end inflation, and we will make America affordable again, because the prices are too high.
Starting on day one, I will quickly defeat inflation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You know what's really interesting about that, right, is that word affordable -- he had actually connected to it a long time ago, then he completely dropped it. It was someone like Zohran Mamdani, who made affordability that word that is now resonating.
[19:05:01]
Alayna Treene is traveling with the president tonight in Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania.
And, Alayna, I know as we're waiting for him to speak on this, right? This is obviously in stark contrast to the meetings, to the public appearances to the travel that he has done as of late, all of which has pretty much been focused on overseas issues.
What you're seeing tonight is very different and you've had a chance ahead of his arrival to speak to Trump advisors, to speak to voters there in the swing district in Pennsylvania where he's speaking about the economy. What have you learned today?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: First, Erin, I'll peel back the curtain a bit on how the president views a lot of this because I've had a several number of conversations with multiple White House advisers, senior administration officials about this issue. And the number-one thing is the majority of them recognize they have a problem when it comes to the high cost of living in this country, when it comes to the economy, when it comes to inflation, when it comes to this issue of affordability, which, as you said, has really become the buzzword. They know they need to fix it.
There's a reason he is in Pennsylvania today. And I note it's not just Pennsylvania. Mount Pocono is a swing district. And so, there's a lot of reasons why he's coming here after really not doing a lot of this type of domestic travel.
I'm also told that he's expected to do a day trip, maybe once a week. That's at least the hope that the White House has, starting early next year to really continue to talk about this. Now, of course, one of the issues and I hear this in my conversations
with people at the White House is that the president is frustrated about this. He also thinks it's a problem. But his frustration is more that he thinks there's a perception issue. He thinks that his team is not talking about the economy and the way that they should be, about all of the different policies, things like the lower price of eggs, about Trump accounts, about the tax cuts that they signed in that bill over the summer. All of those things you're going to hear the president talk about tonight.
But then, you know, you actually go out and talk to people in some of these places. I went out today and talked to people going in out of the grocery store, and I asked them, I actually played that clip you shared of this A-plus-plus-plus grading he gave the economy.
BURNETT: Yeah.
TREENE: And every single one of them, Republicans and Democrats alike, said they disagreed with that, that they were hurting some of them did blame the Joe Biden administration saying it was an inherited economy. That's something Trump likes to say. Others said that this is wholly the Trump economy, all to say everyone has said -- every single one of them said that they are struggling right now, particularly as we head into this holiday season -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Alayna, thank you very much.
All right, and my panel is here as were waiting to see what Trump said after that A five plus comment earlier in the day.
So, Max, you know, when he says the economy is A-plus-plus-plus-plus- plus. I actually have to count them off my fingers. Okay, what is the significance of saying that? You know, when Alayna was talking about people that she spoke to at a grocery store right before she came on the air, she was telling us that one of them said to her, okay, I disagree. I don't think -- but I don't think its terrible id maybe give it a C. Okay?
When that's someone who's trying to find the positive in it, that's a grim place to be.
MAX ROSE (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Well, there's a few reasons why this is happening, why are you saying this, and none of them are good. One possibility is that literally everyone talking to Donald Trump right now believes the economy is going great because it's going great for them. Remember, this a five-pluses judgment for the top one, top two, top three percent of America, that's actually true. They're the folks that don't really care what their groceries cost. Don't really care what the price of heating is or clothes or any of the other necessities.
But the second element to this is that Donald Trump is just going on naive offense. That's why he calls it a hoax. He's falling back on his safe space, which is the language that he used for Russiagate.
The only problem is, is that this is not about the collusion of his campaign with a foreign government. This is about something that is undeniable, which is the affordability crisis. And that's why this counterargument that he's making is just not sticking.
BURNETT: Yep, Peter, it was the other day, I was in a bagel shop, and they had a sign. The credit cards weren't really working well, and everybody was waiting because nobody has cash anymore, right, to their whatever digital. And there was a sign that said, we take $100 bills. And I said to the guy, why? You take $100 bills. And he said, what's $100 anymore?
He said, what self-respecting bagel shop wouldn't be able to cash 100 right now. And I thought it was an incredible reflection just of where we are, the frustration people have it. They feel that they're working so hard, and yet it doesn't count for very much. It's sort of both sides of that equation that have caused the way people feel right now.
PETER TUCHMAN, TRADER AT THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE: You know, look, there's -- it's hard to look at it because look, the market has had 48 record closes this year. We made it through November, right? November is the most robust month of the year, although this November was a little bit difficult, right? We had that spike down on the probability of an interest rate cut down to 15 percent, and then it spiked back up.
The reason that we are getting a cut in December has to be because the economic data that we've been a little bit gaslighted about must be poorer than we think, right?
[19:10:07]
I mean, why else would he be cutting? Because at some point --
BURNETT: The stock market is the A-plus-plus-plus market.
TUCHMAN: The stock market is roaring and the stock market are -- they're in two totally different lanes, right? People who are investing in the stock market trading the stock market are not people living paycheck to paycheck. People who are struggling, that is reflected in the fact that we have to cut interest rates now because you're seeing numbers on CPI, PPI, a non-payroll jobs, all of that stuff, and we're getting and consumer confidence. You talked about it when we were here last week.
The consumer confidence that it was mid-November was the worst that we've seen all year since February, March, April, which was when we were in the middle of that middle of the mini craft.
BURNETT: The mini crash, right? Just fair. I mean, Gretchen is interesting. And Trump is just coming on the stage live, so were watching this to see what he'll really say.
But Marc Short, who worked in the Trump White House, was pointing out some of -- you were going through some of the issues when you talk about PPI, producer prices, consumer prices. But he noted that, you know, Trump actually came in and said, he is the tariffs are going to shrink the deficit and revive manufacturing. Those are the two things, right?
We're going to solve our financial issues vis-a-vis China and everybody else. We're going to save the dollar. We're going to bring all this manufacturing back home.
The deficits up 23 percent this year.
GRETCHEN CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Mm-hmm.
BURNETT: And Mark pointed this out. Manufacturing activity, I looked it up. I mean, essentially, you're in a recession. Nine straight months of contraction and manufacturing in the United States of America.
How long can that continue politically? Especially in the context of what Peter talked about? A stock market that's hit, what, 43, 46?
TUCHMAN: Forty-eight records.
BURNETT: Forty-eight records this year.
CARLSON: Even if the tariff plan worked, it wouldn't happen overnight. I mean, we wouldn't expect to see manufacturing subtly booming.
BURNETT: Right.
CARLSON: If the plan works.
BURNETT: Even though he said he'd do it on day one, but, sure.
CARLSON: Well, yes, he also said the same thing about grocery prices, and we've seen it with eggs, but nothing else.
So, look, Trump is about bluster. He sort of makes up things about everything, and a lot of big issues that passes with the American public. The economy, to your point, Max, is very hard to get around because there are hard and fast numbers, and people feel it. They feel it in their heart. They feel it in their soul. They feel it in their pocketbook when they go to the store.
If you talk about immigration or something else like that, maybe they're not experiencing it as personally. But they are experiencing the economy. So, this is one thing that I think tonight, he should tell the truth about.
He could nuance it. He could easily say, hey, folks, I know that we came into this administration with high inflation. We had a lot of work in front of us. We've accomplished a lot. Gas prices are down. But we have a lot more work to do, and I'm here with you to help you get through that.
He's probably not going to say that but if I were advising him, that's what I would tell him.
BURNETT: Because, Max, I guess the question I have to say is, what and I'm not trying to ask you to put your mind, specifically in the mind of this president, but the people around him who know what's really going on.
ROSE: Sure.
BURNETT: When you're -- whatever you want to call it, your person. So, their person. The president of the United States goes out in the actual interview, and he says, I'm going to play it a second. He says this to Dasha Burns, who asked the question, right? She was just letting him say what he was going to say.
He walked into it, made this big pronouncement. I want to -- I just want to know what you think is going on in their minds. Let me just play again the question and answer of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: I wonder what grade you would give the economy.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A-plus.
INTERVIEWER: A-plus?
TRUMP: Yeah, A-plus-plus-plus-plus-plus.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I mean, she sort of pauses there to continue thinking, okay, he just said that. And then he triples actually. What do you call it?
CARLSON: Quintuples.
BURNETT: Quintuples down. He quintuples down, Max.
But, I mean, what do you say when you're -- when you're watching that and you're Scott Bessent or you're any advisor around him? You're the people around him who know that not only is that not true for voters? But that that's a sound bite that lives.
ROSE: Yeah, well, Donald Trump just filmed the principal negative ad for the House and Senate midterm elections. That the juxtaposition is as clear as day. You can see the commercial. We could make it right here, a-plus-plus-plus-plus, and then the price of supermarket goods. And then the price of cars and then the price of everything that people not only hold dear, but they connect to the American way of life and the American dream.
So, if you're this treasury secretary, you're thinking, oh, good God, this is going to be a hard couple of years and a hard election. But the unfortunate thing then, and this goes, this applies to Trump's entire cabinet. The second thing they always think. After that is how can I kiss up to the president and lie to him?
They don't think, how can I go tell him a hard truth? How can we go have a hard discussion? They think, how could I preserve my job and kiss his behind?
And that's why we're seeing such dysfunction here. CARLSON: It's really not about the cabinet members, though, because we
know that's what they're going to do, and we've seen enough cabinet meetings at this point that they're -- it's fruitless.
Who he should really be listening to are the senators and the members of the House who are up for reelection in the midterms because they are the ones that are going to pay the price for this a-plus-plus comment.
[19:15:01]
And from their voters who back to what I said earlier emotionally are feeling the pinch.
So, he should be listening to them. Now, whether or not they're going to go and tell him the truth -- eventually they are.
BURNETT: Well, they're going to have more filibuster votes and more Epstein votes and I mean, you know, how do they separate from him? I guess is going to be a crucial question.
TUCHMAN: His whole experience as president is just exemplatives, and none of them are really truth. Theres no truth behind it. You know, if you believe a lie enough, it's no longer a lie. That's kind of the -- that's kind of the idea.
I mean, they all stand and hold that ground until the end of the earth, right? They do not want to go home and face him sitting in that cabinet room and him, you know, address them down, right? So, they will really -- excuse -- kiss his butt as much as they have to.
But he just makes up things that it's amazing. You know, and he's not being spoken back to by even people who are suffering. That's kind of the funny part. It's almost that, you know, he rules by a heavy hand, almost sort of mafia-ish right? People are scared to just say what's going on.
It's clear that I think middle America is struggling. We know that from consumer confidence numbers, we know that from a lot of different reasons. If we're going to start cutting rates now aggressively, afterwards seem like maybe we wouldn't, right? There were a million layoffs. Challenger came out with you.
BURNETT: You may think that's because he said, cut them or else right?
TUCHMAN: Why do you think it took about a month for us to get that data? And we've still even haven't gotten the data that was held back from us while the government was down, we haven't seen any of that stuff.
BURNETT: Yeah.
TUCHMAN: That is stuff that's -- those are the truths that you talked about.
CARLSON: Yeah. TUCHMAN: Numbers don't lie.
CARLSON: But the members of Congress are going to start hearing the truths from the voters. They're going to go home to town halls, and they're going to say, enough is enough. So, if there's going to be a crack in the system anywhere. It's not with the cabinet members. It's going to be with the members of Congress.
BURNETT: All right, thank you all very much.
And next, breaking news, the top Senate Democrat gets a briefing from Hegseth and says the defense secretary is dodging on releasing the video of that controversial boat strike. So, is Hegseth hiding something? I mean, the videos there. They put the first strike video out, like, immediately, so this isn't hard to do.
Plus, it's not just a sports story. It's a sign of the times. A 44- year-old who's also a grandfather returns to the NFL as -- the second part actually, that stuns me.
(LAUGHTER)
BURNETT: I was -- I had a very young toddler. Harry Enten is going to tell us something we don't know.
And the moment police find CEO killer Luigi Mangione at a Pennsylvania McDonald's. This video and what he told officers when they confronted him, we just have this, actually on tape, and we'll show you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:21:42]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will not commit to letting Congress see the full footage of both September 2nd strikes on the alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. Now, that includes the double tap strike, right, the one that has really been at the heart of the current conversation in which, after the first strike, there were survivors clinging to the side and then they were killed in the second strike.
Now, this update comes from the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who just got out of a briefing with Hegseth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): His answer, we have to study it. Well, in my view, they've studied it long enough, and Congress ought to be able to see it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. Well, those comments come as President Trump says that he has seen the second strike that killed the survivors. And he says he still stands behind the strike.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Have you watched the video?
TRUMP: I'm going to be stopping -- I watched everything. Yeah, I watch everything. I see a lot of things.
INTERVIEWER: And do you believe that that second strike was necessary?
TRUMP: Well, it looked like they were trying to turn back over the boat, but I don't get involved in that. That's up to them. The admiral that that was a highly respected, as you know, a highly respected man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, the Democratic Senator Elissa Slotkin. She's on the Armed Services Committee, and as one of the Democratic lawmakers who recorded that video, reminding members of the U.S. military that they can refuse to follow illegal orders.
So, Senator, I appreciate your time. Just to point, out of the 22 or 23 known strikes out there, this administration has been very quick to release video. In fact, in the middle of this entire embroglio over this double tap specific strike, there was a strike in the Pacific where they released video within hours, right? So, they're happy to put the video out when they want to. In this case, the second strike, they have refused to put it out. Why do you think that is?
SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Well, and they did put out part of the video from this very strike. You know, they've been very liberal with putting out, you know, putting out video almost all these strikes. I mean, I think, look, they know that it's controversial. They know that, you know, it probably doesn't look good in front of the American people. And so they're -- they're claiming that they have to study it or look at it instead of just releasing it.
They already put out video on all these strikes. People who, you know, are familiar with the military will understand what kind of weapons systems are being used and kind of the nature of the strike. So, they don't really have a, you know, something to hide behind operational security. And I think at this point, it's just a political thing and a fear of what the video might look like to the American public.
BURNETT: Yeah, I mean, obviously, if they're standing behind the second strike, then that would mean they wouldn't need to study it to see. I mean, the explanation simply don't seem to add up to state the obvious.
But Leader Jeffries suggested and actually Congressman Jason Crow flat out, said on this show a couple of days ago that there is a cover-up. Are you willing to go that far -- I mean, to use that specific word?
SLOTKIN: I mean, I think at this point, you know, they're showing the video to people and small handful of lawmakers. They should just be transparent. I think the way that you get this off the news and you know, get this on to a different topic is just by the secretary of defense owning up to what happened being transparent with the public. That is not his strong suit, whether it's Signalgate or these strikes
or what's happening in our cities with uniformed military. But it's the fastest way to end this conversation is to put that video out. And if he stands behind it and he's, you know, punching about how, you know, how this is, you know, an important thing that this should be doing. Just release the video, and this will -- we can move on.
BURNETT: Well, he has also, of course, said things in the past that appear to be quite hypocritical versus what he says now. Andrew Kaczynski of our KFILE has been uncovering a lot of Hegseth's previous comments, including comments that you also, Senator, flagged on X, where you know, you were pointing out that Hegseth reminded the military that they can refuse to follow illegal orders, which maybe was confusing to you because that's the exact same thing you said in your video that he's now going after you and other Democrats for, there's investigations. It's been called seditious conspiracy, all sorts of things.
Hegseth, though, went even further than saying, you don't have to follow illegal orders. Back in 2016, he called out Trump directly. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: He says, big blustery things that people want to hear after seven years of mom jeans from Barack Obama, who refuses to fight the enemy and frankly, has restrictive rules of engagement that hurt our men and women on the battlefield. But he goes way too far. And then when the military says, we won't follow illegal orders like torture or killing families, which is not loosening the rules of engagement. He suddenly realizes, wait, I might actually be commander-in-chief.
And the problem here is, is that voters don't know whether you get the bluster Trump, or you -- which is the armchair tough guy, or you get the one who walks it back on a statement now and says, no, no, no. I'll follow the law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And, Senator, I wanted to play one other thing that Hegseth said about Trump in the past.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEGSETH: Here's the problem with Trump. He says, go ahead and kill the family. Go ahead and torture. Go ahead and go further than waterboarding.
What happens when people follow those orders or don't follow them, it's not clear that Donald Trump will have their back. Donald Trump is oftentimes about Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What's your reaction to hearing that from Pete Hegseth? SLOTKIN: Yeah. I mean, you know, some of that we found with like a
Google search.
BURNETT: Yeah.
SLOTKIN: You know, I think that it sort of reinforces this idea that I've just taken over our politics, which is, you know, no one just has, like, a certain values that they respect. It's like if my adversary is saying, you know, apples, I'm going to say oranges. If Pete Hegseth in 2016, he's going to defend, you know, the military and say that they should not follow illegal orders if they are given them. But then when he's the secretary of defense and he's been told to do things, he's going to salute and say, no such thing as illegal orders, nothing to see here.
There's no center of gravity for people in sort of internally. And I think the hypocrisy of it, whether it's him or Pam Bondi, you know, the secretary has said things stronger than what the six of us, the lawmakers that put out that video said in our video and the president has called for us to be arrested and investigated and hung for sedition.
The FBI has begun what seems like an inquiry. I mean, you know, it is and yet his own cabinet members have said the exact same thing and more. So, I think the hypocrisy people see through it and again, the -- I'm glad that the 2016 version of Pete Hegseth seemed to understand the law. I'm sorry that the 2025 version who is secretary of defense doesn't seem to care.
BURNETT: Senator Slotkin, I appreciate your time and thank you so much.
SLOTKIN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, breaking news, Trump seemingly blowing up America's alliance with Europe, giving Putin a big boost tonight.
Plus, CNN has obtained new video of the moment but the accused CEO Killer Luigi Mangione, was arrested at a McDonald's?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POLICE OFFICER: What's your name?
LUIGI MANGIONE, ACCUSED KILLER: Mark.
POLICE OFFICER: What is it?
MANGIONE: Mark.
POLICE OFFICER: Mark?
MANGIONE: Yes, sir.
POLICE OFFICER: Mark, what?
MANGIONE: Rosario.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:18]
BURNETT: Breaking news, President Trump and a gift of Vladimir Putin -- well, attacking it seems the U.S. alliance with Europe criticizing Europe from its immigration policies and predicting that many European countries will cease to exist. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Europe will not be, in my opinion, many of those countries will not be viable countries any longer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, that comes in the context of Putin of Trump. Again, aligning himself with Putin and sharply criticizing the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Which country right now is in the stronger negotiating position?
TRUMP: Well, it can be no question about it. It's Russia. It's a much bigger country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Garry Kasparov, founder and chairman of the Renewed Democracy Initiative, publisher of the next move on Substack, as well.
Garry, of course, is a well-known Russian political dissident outspoken opponent of Putin. And I appreciate your time tonight.
So let me just ask you, Garry, when Trump says these things about Europe, that Europe, you know, many of the European countries won't be viable countries any longer. And just comes out very clearly in a black and white way and says Putin is in a stronger position because it's a bigger country.
What is the significance of that? What is the actual meaning of all of that to Putin?
GARRY KASPAROV, FOUNDER AND CHAIRMAN, RENEWED DEMOCRACY INITIATIVE: The significance of this is obvious. Trump is arriving with Putin because Putin's goal in this war has stated many times and is being repeated by Russian propaganda, now 24/7, it's not just to destroy Ukrainian statehood, but it's a war against Europe.
[19:35:00] And the war would not end until Europe is defeated, almost like direct quote of top Putin's propagandists on Russian TV. And as we could see, the Trump's new national security plan basically calls for the destruction of Europe. Putin believes that E.U. and NATO, they're standing on his way of rebuilding the world where might is right, and Trump very much aligned with his view because he sees the world as being divided between America and the Western hemisphere, Putin, Europe and Xi Jinping in Asia.
This morning, front lines of Freedom Conference are organized by RDI. I was on stage with General Ben Hodges and Ambassador John Bolton. And I asked this question whether NATO would respond to Russian aggression against native members. There was no answer because we all know its America is no longer in the game and as long as Trump is sitting in the Oval Office, I believe that Putin would definitely try to cross NATO borders, and it will happen pretty soon.
BURNETT: That's a pretty stunning thing to say to think that that could happen soon, and something I know, Garry, that you're not alone. I mean, I know that Macron has been saying this in France and saying that young French men and women should be prepared to fight and to die if necessary, in a war with Russia, which was a stunning thing to hear. And yet here we are.
Jared Kushner was sitting at the negotiating table recently in Moscow with Putin. And obviously, what came out of that is Putin doubling down and this new shift in policy and all of this, but he was sitting there. He is not in the government right now, and yet he's suddenly central. He's the one sitting at the table, not the first person to hold the dual titles of national security adviser and secretary of state since Henry Kissinger, okay? Marco Rubio's not there.
"Washington Post" today, Garry, has a headline about Kushner saying, describing him as Trump's indispensable second piece envoy. Obviously, Witkoff is the other one who was at the table. And in that article, they quote Ukraine's deputy foreign minister saying that Kushner's presence was a shift and that unconventional means and forms is necessary.
Garry, what do you think it means? And I guess why do you think Jared Kushner is at that table?
KASPAROV: Look, the whole notion that Russia has a better negotiating position because its bigger. It just doesn't stand a simple fact. NATO is much bigger than Russia. When you look at a combined forces of NATO, the population, the GDP, the military, much, much bigger.
And also, we can recall that 250 years ago, American colonists attacked or just, you know, the rose against the most powerful empire in the world. And, of course, you know, by Trump's logic, you know, their chances to win this war were slim to none. So, what is happening now with Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, it's a deal, but it's a deal not about America, not about Ukraine. It's still about Trump's personal interest.
Same, I believe with Trump's decision to lift the sanctions on China about most advanced A.I. chips. Trump believes that every city he controls is for sale. That's Trump's logic. That's what he did for the entire business of his life. He bangered at six companies, and why you think he will act differently when he is in charge now of the largest enterprise in the world called U.S. Inc.
BURNETT: Yep. Us. Inc. And, of course, you're referring to that incredible Nvidia deal, right, of you. Okay, you can have them as long as you give us some money back.
KASPAROV: Yes.
BURNETT: You mentioned where you are right now, Gary. Front lines of freedom conference, which is the biggest gathering of the top political dissidents in the world. You got more than 100 from 40 different countries, and you published the speech on sub-scot -- I'm sorry, Substack that you just delivered, Garry. In which you said the great political battle now is the battle for the narrative. Dictators are reaching across borders to silence their critics in the supposed safe haven of the United States.
And you go on to say the instrument of political control will be a podcast, not a push. It is interesting. I thought, perhaps your adjective supposed more than anything else there, in the supposed safe haven of the United States.
KASPAROV: Absolutely.
BURNETT: You came from Russia. I mean, you don't use that word lightly.
KASPAROV: Look, it's not just me. It's many, many of my colleagues. Many of people who bravely fought they their oppressive regimes and had to leave the country as myself, facing imminent arrest or even worse. So, they believed America was a safe heaven.
Yeah, I grew up in the world where America was the bigger of hope. The impenetrable forces or forces of freedom. And now, nobody knows. Nobody is confident anymore that America would not play along China, Russia, or other dictators. And we believe it's time, actually, for Americans to hear our stories because it's not in our fight for safe heaven here. It's happening in America as well.
And the freedom cannot be divided. It's one continent, another continent, one country, another country. It's part of the global fight between forces of freedom and tyranny and it's tragic to see that this administration is taking the other side.
BURNETT: Garry Kasparov, thank you so much. It is always good to talk.
KASPAROV: Thank you for inviting me.
BURNETT: And another breaking news, we have just obtained new body camera footage showing the moment that the accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione was arrested, bringing an end to that five-day manhunt that had captivated and shocked the world after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot, killed, assassinated in Midtown Manhattan. This was one year ago today. They found him there in McDonald's
sitting alone in a booth.
Let me play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here you go.
POLICE OFFICER: Yeah, sure.
Appreciate it. Thank you. Okay.
What's your name?
MANGIONE: Mark.
POLICE OFFICER: What is it?
MANGIONE: Mark.
POLICE OFFICER: Mark?
MANGIONE: Yes, sir.
POLICE OFFICER: Mark what?
MANGIONE: Mark Rosario.
POLICE OFFICER: Someone called and I thought you were suspicious.
MANGIONE: Okay.
POLICE OFFICER: You got an ID on you?
MANGIONE: Yeah, yes, sir.
POLICE OFFICER: Thanks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Incredible just to actually see that moment that we've heard describe before. Mangione, of course, now faces the death penalty. He has pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges for that murder.
Well, next, it may do more than help people lose weight. It could help you live longer. That is one of the claims, and it's not just related to the weight loss, right, for broader swaths of the population. I'm going to talk to the CEO of Eli Lilly. They make Zepbound, and they're about to produce a pill version of the drug.
Plus, it's the story that has everyone talking. A 44-year-old and he's a grandfather coming out of retirement and returning to the NFL. And as Harry Enten tells us, this is not just a story about football.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:46:07]
BURNETT: Tonight, a story that everybody is talking about, a 44-year- old grandfather returning to play quarterback for the NFL. The Indianapolis Colts just signing Philip Rivers again, according to "The Associated Press". And if he gets back in the game, he would be tied as the fourth oldest player to appear in an NFL contest.
But this story is perhaps a sign of the times beyond the sports world.
Harry Enten is here to tell us something we don't know. I love how everyone's talking with this guy as a grandfather.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.
BURNETT: His picture comes up, and I'm like, wait a second.
ENTEN: I'm way behind.
BURNETT: Okay so, you know, we say everybody's talking about this story. How do you measure everybody talking about Philip Rivers?
ENTEN: It's literally the top google trend of the day. Searches for Philip Rivers are up 1,000 percent before, all of a sudden he decided to make the rest of us who aren't even 44 yet look bad and look like, hey, we're out of shape.
BURNETT: Okay, so he's 44. I'm just looking at this. Okay. Tom Brady was 45 when he retired.
ENTEN: Correct.
BURNETT: Tom brady still looks, you know, like he's -- it's not right.
ENTEN: Yeah.
BURNETT: It's just not right. And he probably doesn't even need Zepbound or Ozempic or any of those businesses.
All right. Aaron Rodgers is 42 with the Steelers. Brett Favre was 41. And he was considered geriatric, at that point in time in the day. I mean, what are the numbers? I mean, this is good. This show is athletic prowess is edging up in age.
ENTEN: Yeah, it turns out there are a lot more quarterbacks starting games now who are over the age of 40. I mean, look at this trend line over the since 1997, there have been 160 games with starting quarterbacks over the age of 40 from 1920, the start of the NFL through 1996, George Blanda started one game, and, or Earl Moral started one game. There were only two and then they're well north of 100 now.
BURNETT: Okay, you already told me a whole bunch of things I don't know, including this 44-year-old is a grandfather.
ENTEN: Yes. BURNETT: So go ahead and tell me something else.
ENTEN: This is -- Erin Burnett, I will tell you something else you don't know. This is part of a larger, larger phenomenon in the U.S. workforce. Take a look here, the percentage of the workforce that is 55 or older. In 1994, it was 10 percent. Now, Erin Burnett, it is 24 percent.
Quarterbacks are part of -- the older quarterbacks, they're part of phenomenon of the workforce getting older.
BURNETT: That's incredible. It was only 10 percent.
ENTEN: It was only 10 percent. Sure. My father was one of them.
BURNETT: Yeah. And that's more than a correlation with increase in Social Security age just to state the obvious.
All right. Harry, thank you.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, those weight-loss drugs are they too good to be true? Should everybody be taking them? Maker of Zepbound is about to make a pill version. A pill. The CEO of Eli Lilly is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:52:46]
BURNETT: Tonight, America's weight loss drug craze. Eli Lilly just announcing a new us plant to produce its highly anticipated pill, an oral version of its weight-loss drug. At least 12 percent of Americans. So that's one in eight Americans have said they've tried one of these types of drugs. This is the third U.S.-based plant that Eli Lilly has announced this year. Eli Lilly, of course, makes Zepbound.
And it comes after Trump threatened the pharmaceutical industry with tariffs. If they didn't turn around and build more facilities in the United States. And Trump has taken a big personal interest in weight- loss drugs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I caught the fat pill or the fat drug.
The fat loss drug.
Let's call it the fat drug, the fat drug. F-A-T for fat people. Anybody uses it at the table? Don't ask.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Joining us now for an out-front exclusive, Eli Lilly CEO David Ricks. And, David, I really appreciate your time tonight. You know,
obviously, Eli Lilly and you're talking Zepbound, one of the most popular people know Ozempic and Zepbound. Zepbound, of course, is Lilly.
How many jobs are going to be created with your new factory?
DAVID RICKS, CEO, ELI LILLY: Yeah. So, we're announcing this $6 billion investment. This is a third this year, as you mentioned at the beginning, and this site will employ about 3,500 people, 3,000 to build it, and then about 500 to run it eventually. And it's -- you know, it's going to be making the active ingredient for many of our medicines, but including the oral GLP-1 orforglipron, which we hope to launch next year.
So, part of our expansion efforts and first time we've been in Alabama, so that's our setting foot in southern United States, and we're excited to get this announced today.
BURNETT: All right. So, your announcement comes just a few months after Trump warned, and I'll quote him, we will be imposing a 100 percent tariff on any branded or patented pharmaceutical product. Unless a company is building their pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in America. Well, obviously, that's about as direct as a threat gets. Something that he has been threatening for months. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to be doing tariffs on pharmaceuticals. They're going to be tariffed at a very, very high rate, like 200 percent.
[19:55:01]
I'm putting tariffs on pharmaceuticals unless they're made here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And obviously, you're talking about these plants you're going to be making more here. I mean, "The Wall Street Journal" had called this, their editorial board, called what we just heard Trump say, quote, a form of political extortion. They did not mince words.
Do you see it that way? And do you feel comfortable saying that tariffs are off the table now because of the plants that you built?
RICKS: Yeah, it's an important issue, and, you know, over the last 40 years, a lot of the industrial base for pharmaceutical manufacturing has moved out of our country, but it's not because we didn't have tariffs. It's because of our corporate tax rates. So, one policy that is addressed now is making permanent lower corporate tax rates, which allows us to invest equally in U.S. versus abroad. A lot of countries with lower, lower tax rates to get our plants, and the U.S. rate was one of the highest in the industrial world. So that's now equalized and not such an issue.
Lilly's in a little bit different position, Erin, because we already had a pretty big us presence, but we really hadn't built anything in four decades. We're now -- this is our ninth plant in the last six years. The third this year, as you mentioned. And that's in part because the tax rates lower, but it's also in part because were just growing. So, I think it's a combination of those two things, and were happy to invest in the U.S. and great jobs here --
BURNETT: And you say it's going -- it predates Trump. It sounds like you're saying multiple plants over a six-year frame, right? I mean, it's not so --
(CROSSTALK)
RICKS: Yeah, we started in 2020. Yeah, I mean, it's driven by technology first, but making the tax rate permanent very important. I know not everyone agrees with that, but it's certainly for us businesses and advantage and gives us a chance to build here at home. And we start in 2020 in North Carolina. We built two big plants there, and Wisconsin and Indianapolis, Indiana.
So, yeah, it's been a rollout we've been undergoing, but were happy to keep building the U.S., and it's certainly helpful to have the support of the administration and whatever were doing. They're helping in other ways, too. It's hard to build in our country. That's a story that needs to be told. These alter large projects are complicated, and we don't have enough tradespeople in many cases, so we need the help of state, local, and federal government really move America to get the, you know, these mega plants built. So it's good to have their cooperation, and were aligned on this point.
BURNETT: So, you know, you're talking about a new weight-loss pill that you've said you just said, is coming out next year.
RICKS: Yeah.
BURNETT: And, of course, so many know Zepbound, the injection that you have made, you know, cheaper. And I want to get to that in a moment.
I want to ask you, though, about all these headlines out there all the time. You people say, okay, well, when it's a pill, more and more people are going to get on it. And already, you have so many Americans who have tried this. But there are a few headlines recently that might have given people pause. And let me just share a few of them.
Here's one weight-loss jabs, age, body by a decade. That just came out the other day. Hundreds of weight loss and diabetes job users report pancreas problems. And then this one, life and beige, are GLP-1s worth a life devoid of pleasure in which the article says, by altering their desire for food, some people say they've lost their desire for everything else and what's left is a long-lasting state of meh, bleh, numb, flat. Take it or leave it.
Do you feel that you know enough to not be worried about any of those things?
RICKS: Yeah, well, that's a select for headlines. I tell you what, you know, I'll address the question directly, but, you know, one of the pleasures of my job is people send me mail, including before and after pictures. And it's incredible the number of people who were changing, not just the way they look, but their health status in this country and around the world.
So, I think most of the evidence is on the other side of this argument. You know, in terms of aging, I don't know where that's coming from. Most of the data we've collected shows that actually these drugs extend life. And they do it through preventing diabetes, which shortens your life, preventing heart attacks, and preventing other serious maladies that come with being overweight and obese, particularly as people age.
So that's, you know, I think the data and the facts that's in our FDA approved label and published in famous medical journals.
In terms of, you know, making people feel flat -- I think people some people do report that and I think particularly people who've found a lot of pleasure in eating a variety of foods. And one of the effects of these medications is to curb your appetite. And so, it makes you feel full faster, makes you feel more satiated, but also desire food less.
So, I think people do report if that was a big part of their life, that that changes for them, I guess so you'll have to weigh that versus the health benefits.
BURNETT: Yeah.
RICKS: But what's important is this factory will make products like Zepbound, which we have today but also the new pill, which can expand access to -- for so many people. Some people don't want the jab, as you said in that reporting. And that can open up access. But also, it can make them abundant.
BURNETT: All right. Dave Ricks, thank very much. I appreciate your time.
RICKS: Thanks a lot, Erin. Good to see you.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks so much to all of you for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
