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Erin Burnett Outfront

New Hantavirus Case Confirmed With More Suspected; New Details On Iran Leader; Trump Makes Deal To License Name For "Trump International Airport". Aired 7-8p ET

Aired May 08, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:27]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

Breaking news, a new case of hantavirus confirmed this hour, as the mystery deepens over the origin of the deadly outbreak. We're going to speak to a passenger on that ship. And our doctors are standing by to take your questions.

Also, breaking, new details about Iran's new supreme leader. He still has not been seen in public since he took over since the war began. But sources say he is playing a critical role in Iran's war strategy. Even as we are learning from sources the extent of his severe burns and injuries.

And you're looking at a new gold logo. It is a gold logo for the Palm Beach Airport, which is about to be named the Trump International Airport. How much money could Trump be making from all of this?

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

And OUTFRONT tonight, we begin with the breaking news. A new confirmed case of the deadly hantavirus, which brings the total number of known cases to six. And there are two more probable cases we are aware of at this hour. All of these developments are coming in the context of a deepening mystery as to where the virus originated, when it came to first in this outbreak in humans.

Health official says that it is a quote, almost nonexistent possibility that the man who died on the cruise ship, the first known death, was infected where the ship departed. So then that actually raises very serious questions. Where did he get the deadly virus which took his life, and who did he come into contact with? Does this change the profile of where we are now?

What we know for sure, though, is that 10 days after the ship left Argentina, that man died. So, obviously, for those ten days, he was on the ship. Incubation period, as we said, is -- can be prolonged here. So, it was 15 days after he died, right? It was another 15 days, more than two weeks that his wife died. She

had gotten off the ship and flown on a commercial flight to one of the busiest airports in Africa.

And tonight, more states in the United States are monitoring people. New Jersey officials have at least two people being watched after they came into contact with a passenger who was on that cruise ship. The cruise ship all in had about 150 passengers and crew. It is right now headed to the Canary Islands, and we understand it also may be carrying the body of the third person who died on board, so that body may be on board right now because officials have not confirmed to us that that body was ever removed.

But let's show you the port where this ship will be arriving. We understand within 24 hours, a little bit less than that. We expect the CDC dispatching a team to meet the 17 Americans who are on that boat still, including an American from Oregon named Dr. Stephen Kornfeld.

We spoke to him last night. He was a crucial player in all of this, helping care for sick passengers, including the ship's doctor, who was evacuated. So, Dr. Kornfeld really then sort of stepped into that role. He will join me in a moment with more details from the ship tonight. The Americans on board will eventually be brought to Nebraska on a charter flight, and officials there have told reporters they have 20 spaces in a quarantine unit, a quarantine unit that is in the state of Nebraska, that they are ready for the 17 passengers.

Melissa Bell is OUTFRONT live in the Canary Islands to begin our coverage. That's where the ship, of course, will be arriving. We expect in less than 24 hours.

And, Melissa, what is the latest you're learning about what really happens next here?

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, a great deal of care is going to be taken in getting these passengers and crew off the ship, including those 17 Americans. We understand they're going to be the first to be taken off the ship from Spanish authorities.

But there are a great deal of worries here. We've had protests from dock workers. There's been wrangling between local authorities here and the authorities in Madrid about whether this ship should be allowed to dock here at all. Erin, because of the fear there is of contagion.

So, a great deal of effort is being made by Spanish authorities to say that this is going to be very carefully dealt with and the sort of orchestrated maneuvers of the ship and its arrival and the disembarkation of anyone who comes off it here in Tenerife will be very carefully monitored, so much so that they say that there will be no contact cases possible.

Now, this of course, after what we've seen, you mentioned a moment ago, those 15 days before we learned that the virus was on the ship and after that first person died, all of those people that got off, of course, in Saint Helena that went on to south Africa, that went on to the United States.

[19:05:01]

All of those contact cases that are now emerging tonight in Spain, two more that we've learned of who happened to be on a flight from South Africa. Those people had left the ship, Erin, before it was known there was a virus. This time, what Spanish authorities are saying is that no expense and no care will be spared to make sure that those on board are taken off safely and onward to their next destinations without potentially contaminating anyone here.

BURNETT: Yeah, it's going to be an incredible process. Thank you so much, Melissa Bell in the Canary Islands tonight.

I want to check in now with Dr. Stephen Kornfeld. He is on the hantavirus infected cruise ship. He took over from the doctor on the ship when he got sick.

Dr. Kornfeld and I spoke yesterday. He\s back with us tonight.

We have heard from so few people on board that ship, but obviously you are all there together, Dr. Kornfeld. What are you being told on board right now about when and how you'll be getting off?

DR. STEPHEN KORNFELD, CARED FOR SICK PASSENGERS ABOARD HANTAVIRUS-HIT CRUISE SHIP: Well, things do seem to be a bit fluid, but we will be docking -- well, we'll be arriving at Tenerife Saturday evening. We're not allowed to dock, so we will anchor offshore.

Local health officials and international health officials probably in full protective gear will come on board via Zodiacs or other small boats. We will all be evaluated and then over Sunday, depending on when different repatriation aircraft from different countries arrive, we will be escorted to the shore on a bus to the airport, and then we will leave the airport.

And I understand that until each country's planes arrive, we will not be able to leave the boat. We will not have any contact with any local citizens.

BURNETT: Right, which is obviously, as you point out, not allowed to dock at the port, right, that you're going to have to anchor offshore. I mean, that's all part of this. Now, several questions here, Doctor, but one of them is I understand that the Americans on the ship, there will be a plane and that all of you will get on it together to go to Nebraska.

Do you have any idea what happens there and how long they could hold you there in quarantine?

KORNFELD: I do not, and I don't because I don't think they know. We've gotten a lot of recent information about what's going to happen. And an honest assessment that until the local CDC and other physicians evaluate us, it's impossible for them to determine. Now anything as far as where and how long will be isolated in a facility versus home isolation. BURNETT: So, I understand you're talking about all of these

international health officials. You're talking about them boarding maybe via Zodiac in full protective gear, as you anticipate over the next day or two, once you're finally at Tenerife. But I know that there are some international health officials already on board. Youve told me about them, and I know you said they were interviewing everyone on the ship. Okay.

Can you just tell us about that process? And you know, I guess what they were wearing, what they were asking, how do you go through a process of interviewing everyone on board?

KORNFELD: They're wearing masks. They're wearing good masks, but they're just wearing masks because. The feeling is, is that this is on our ship. At one point, a very contagious process. But in general, it's not that contagious. And it's well-controlled by mask wearing.

So, we were appropriately distanced, but they were wearing masks and we all went through an interview process about our contacts and our health and how were feeling.

Our temperature was taken, our medications were reviewed, and that's kind of helping them piece together what happened and to help them predict what might happen in the future based on exposures. I think after we dock, their job is sort of much over there, pretty much on board to assess what happened and make sure that if any of taken care of. I think they'll be handling all the other duties over to the other health officials when we get to port.

BURNETT: Right. I know obviously you're doing that and so much hopefully is going to become clear over these next 48 hours. I guess if it's just under 24, where you'll be putting that anchor down. And then we see from there.

Doctor, thank you very much. We'll be talking again soon. And as I said, stay well and we'll look forward to hopefully getting good news in these next days.

[19:10:00]

KORNFELD: Thank you for your time.

BURNETT: All right. OUTFRONT now, Gustavo Palacios. He is one of the world's foremost experts on this strain of hantavirus. He helped solve and piece together how the virus moved from person to person. He's also part of a group of experts advising on the ongoing cruise ship outbreak.

And also with U.S. Dr. Peter Hotez, the infectious disease expert and dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College.

So, I appreciate both of you.

Gustavo, I began the program by saying we have another confirmed case now. It's unclear exactly where that case is. I don't believe it's on the ship, is the point I'm making. It's -- but it's related to this somewhere else.

But do you think we'll see more cases on board this ship?

DR. GUSTAVO PALACIOS, VIROLOGIST ADVISING OFFICIALS ON CRUISE SHIP OUTBREAK: Well, one of the characteristics of this of this virus is that it has a very, very long incubation time. So, until we identify exactly what is the time of the original or the original contact, it's going to take a while to figure out exactly when the six weeks that normally --

BURNETT: Because that's a mystery. And Dr. Kornfeld said to me, actually, as we were talking, you know, before we started rolling the cameras, you know, that that he himself, he's still in that period. You know, he's very well aware of that, especially as he was -- he was treating people.

PALACIOS: Yeah. I mean, the average is two weeks to six weeks in terms of the time that it will take for, for the disease -- to disease onset. So, during that period, obviously, a lot of the -- a -- we are just in the middle of considering that is April 1st was the time where all the people aboard the ship. Right? So, we are until the middle of May to have those six-week period.

BURNETT: Right, right. And of course, I guess at what point did you get it in that time? We know that there wasn't a death until the, you know, this is all happened in recent days.

Dr. Hotez, how concerned are you about the passengers going home? And you know and again, I'm also curious what your take is on now that there is another confirmed case?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, INFECTIOUS DISEASE EXPERT: Yeah. I mean, you know, pretty much everything we know about person-to-person transmission was really discovered with Dr. Palacios' paper. Before this, we always assumed that all of the cases would occur directly from what we call zoonotic spillover, from -- in this case, rodents to people. So that paper in New England Journal in 2020 was the first to show that there could be human to human transmission.

The hope is that the level of human-to-human transmission is not as high as something like a coronavirus, like COVID-19 or influenza. Certainly not measles. And, you know, even though -- and again, from the paper, even though the incubation period goes up to six weeks, it also shows that most of the cases were after three or four. So -- and the fact that this has been going on since the end of March or early April, I have some optimism that we're not going to see this sudden massive surge in the number of cases.

But of course, with an unknown pathogen or a little known pathogen, you can't say that with total confidence.

BURNETT: So, Dr. Palacios, obviously, we now have this mystery of where this started. There had been an assumption that it put out there that it was -- you know, that there were birds in a garbage area, that there would also be rats. And that that's where it happened. And now that has been called into question. They do not think that is

what happened. I know that you are involved in the efforts to figure this out, which is going to be so crucial. What are you learning?

PALACIOS: Well, I mean, the real investigation here is to have a good granularity on where is the where is the virus distributed in the country? Where are the, the rodents that are infected and ones that we have the sequence information from the cases, we will be able to match to where those variants are, are circulating in Argentina or Chile that are or in South America, where the sources of the -- of the contacts could have happened, could have happened.

BURNETT: Yeah.

PALACIOS: I mean, there is experience already for other hantaviruses where, where this was the way to identify the origin we call active surveillance. That is essentially sequence the virus on the -- on the -- on the patient. Then go and look where are the closest ancestors in the rodent populations in the area and then go to match it and go and to do active surveillance, go to that area, pick up rodents, identify positives and characterize the virus.

And that way we are able to do, for example, for hantaviruses in Korea with my colleagues at Korea University, we have done work to match exactly where fighters were exposed to the virus.

BURNETT: And, so, Dr. Hotez, you know, obviously, there's another confirmed case of this particular hantavirus. And so, you know, we don't know what we don't know about where this goes from here. But I know that you've called this event a wake up call in terms of whatever might end up being when there is another pandemic of some sort of virus.

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And, you know, obviously, everyone is still in a in a state of PTSD and trauma from COVID-19, globally, politically, and in so many ways. Is the United States more or less ready, I guess, especially given that what I just said it masks is a four letter word to a lot of people in this country. Vaccines are a four letter word to more people in this country than they were before COVID-19.

Is America more or less ready now?

HOTEZ: We're less ready, Erin. And here's why. You know, this this virus is occurring through what's called zoonotic spillover. That is transmission from an animal to a person. COVID-19 occurred through zoonotic spillover, in this case, from bats to a secondary intermediate animal host, whether it was a raccoon dog still remains to be clarified.

The original SARS, you know, COVID 19 is caused by SARS, too, the original SARS back in 2002 was zoonotic spillover, again from bats to, in this case, civet cat.

The Ebola virus was zoonotic spillover from bats eventually to people both in 2014 in West Africa, in Congo, in 2019.

So, there's a pattern here. We are seeing now this consistent serious epidemics in some case, pandemics through zoonotic spillover from animals to people. And so, we know where this is heading.

This is accelerating most probably because of climate change and animals seeking out new habitats, coming closer to the people together with deforestation and urbanization of people coming closer to the animal reservoirs. And we have to recognize that this is our new normal of pandemic and epidemic threats, zoonotic spillover. And the problem now is we have a head of Health and Human Services who is dismantling a lot of our vaccine infrastructure. He is nixed several key efforts to prepare new vaccines for emerging pandemic threats.

And so that weakens our biosecurity. Weve seen what's happened with some of the dismantling of the Centers for Disease Control and, of course, pulling out of support for the World Health Organization at a time when zoonotic spillover events are increasing.

So, the timing is terrible. And this is a time when we should be accelerating support for virologists like Dr. Palacios to do his -- to do his work at Mount Sinai. And we're going in the -- and were going in the wrong direction.

BURNETT: Dr. Palacios, we've gotten a lot of questions from people and obviously many of them are about, you know, where this goes from here. And I know, you know, we have this extra case, an additional case now and there's more being monitored. But people are also worried about interactions with animals, right?

And in particular, in this case, rats. Rats are everywhere. I mean that's more rats than humans in the city that we're living in right now. So, we got a question from one of our viewers, Gretchen Weaver. And let me just play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRETCHEN WEAVER, VIEWER: My question for the experts about the hantavirus is if you're just simply cleaning out your garage and you come across a lot of rat or mice feces, we don't have any in our house. Very clean house, but I'm just concerned when my son -- adult sons getting ready to clean out his garage and he's not good about wearing masks and stuff, do I need to tell him and remind him? Please wear a mask and gloves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Dr. Palacios, what do you say to that?

PALACIOS: Well, there is a reason why rodents are a species that are -- you know, we kind of dislike and it's because they are the source of a lot of diseases, not only hantaviruses, but in the specific case of hantaviruses, you know, the excreta, the aerosol excreta that normally you need to inhale to take the disease from that case is it needs to be in a kind of special environment with the -- with the dry time, you know, that's why it flourishes in, you know, in the four corners area in North America and in the area -- in Epuyen and El Bolson in South America.

So, yes, it's true. Obviously, if you can mask and if you know that you are in an infested area that could -- you could have a lot of aerosol generated by dust in that area. Yes, definitely. There is no pain in using a mask. And, but it's a special environment, special environmental environment that you need to ensure that that you that you take care of the rat population.

BURNETT: Right, right. All right. Well. Dr. Palacios, Dr. Hotez, thank you both very much. I appreciate your time.

And of course, any additional questions about hantavirus. Please send them to us OutFront@CNN.com. And as Gretchen did, you can also record your questions as well.

All right. OUTFRONT next, we have breaking news, new reporting, just coming in to CNN about Iran's supreme leader and his state, his condition, and actually how powerful he is right now, even though we have not yet seen him. That is coming up after this.

Plus, the UFO files, the Pentagon is releasing what it calls never before seen files. Why now? Trump's friend, his former friend Marjorie Taylor Greene, has a guess.

And search operations are still underway tonight for the bodies of three hikers who were killed after a massive volcanic eruption.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news, CNN is learning that Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not yet been seen in public since the war started and the rest of his family was killed.

[19:25:04]

He is playing a critical role in shaping Iran's war strategy. That is, according to multiple people familiar with the U.S. intelligence assessment. Khamenei sustained serious injuries at the beginning of the war. We now are reporting, including burns to his face, his arm, his torso and his leg.

All this CNN reporting this hour, and it comes as an American fighter jet shot at two Iranian oil tankers today as they tried to evade the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

Zach Cohen is breaking this reporting on the supreme leader. And he's OUTFRONT.

And, Zach, I mean, obviously this this this list of the extent of the injuries and where the burns were. All of your new reporting and all of this, the questions in so many in Iran, I've heard, you know, they think maybe is he dead? Well, you're learning obviously not the state of his condition.

And I know you're learning a lot more about how involved he actually is in the war. Right? As you know, he -- is he comatose or is he a core player? What are you finding out?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY & PENTAGON REPORTER: Yeah. Erin, we're learning from multiple sources that Iran's new supreme leader has been keeping a very low profile since sustaining those injuries in the early portion of the war, has remained heavily involved behind the scenes, helping to shape Iran's war strategy and the U.S. intelligence community believes that he's likely involved in helping manage Iran's responses to the U.S. demands, in this ongoing negotiation back and forth.

And look, this is really the first time were hearing about Iran's new supreme leader since he replaced his father in that role. Obviously, his dad was killed in those early airstrikes as well by the U.S. and Israel as the Operation Epic Fury launched, first started.

And Khamenei, though now, assuming this mantle of this powerful position within Iran, the supreme leader is looked to as the sole power source within that country. But at a moment when we've heard President Donald Trump and senior top officials, U.S. officials say that they believe the Iranian government is fractured, and that's why negotiations have been difficult to come by. This is evidence that the man who has been chosen to replace the former supreme leader is still alive, is still involved in engaging in conversations about the war and about the strategy going forward.

BURNETT: All right. Zach, thank you very much. All of that new and obviously so crucial.

OUTFRONT now, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, along with Brett McGurk, who served as senior national security official for multiple presidents of both parties and has been in the room for many Iran negotiations.

So, you know, Brett, this new reporting, obviously, there's a lot of detail here. Okay. First of all, there's the extent of the injuries that Zach was going through the burns to the torso, the neck, the arm and the leg. There -- Zach is also reporting that Khamenei is -- there's no devices anywhere around him, none of any kind. And he's communicating with people during courier.

But, also, all of that would seem to imply that he's kind of very removed from things in the decision-making process. But Zach is saying that he is very involved. So, what do you read into this intelligence assessment?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think, Erin, I read into it, it's kind of confirmatory, I think, of what we're seeing. So, assuming he has a role and there's a great quote in that report, it's kind of a mix between "Weekend in Bernie's" and when -- "Wizard of Oz".

So, assuming he has this role, I always ask in a situation like this, who really has the power in a foreign capital? And the power in Tehran is the Revolutionary Guard. And the Revolutionary Guard is commanded now by Ahmad Vahidi, who we've talked about before in this program. So, he is probably the most powerful country in the -- in the -- in Iran because he has the power -- he has the power of the forces in the Strait of Hormuz. The people launching those missiles.

He can order anyone in the country to basically go to someone's door, knock down the door and detain somebody. So -- but this just makes it so difficult, Erin, about where we are and trying to get a deal. These guys are the dyed in the wool ideological revolutionaries. And Iran is in a sustained conflict now, going on 47 years with the United States to drive the United States out of the region and eliminate Israel as a sovereign Jewish state.

That is their ideology. That's what these guys believe. And therefore, when you're trying to think about where we are, we can maybe hope. I know that the prime minister of Qatar was in Washington today, saw the vice president. They're working on an MOU to try to open the strait for 30 days, allow negotiations to succeed. We might see that in the run up to the president's trip to China.

But we are nowhere, Erin, strategically in a new direction for Iran, which I think is unfortunate. But this is where we've been for decades. And that's why whatever happens here over the coming days and this reporting is very confirmatory. It's the same guys of the same mindset making the decisions in Iran.

And so, it's the Iran we've always known. It might be a little weaker, but ideologically it is intact. And these are the guys who are going to be making decisions.

[19:30:00]

And I don't see them doing a big deal with us.

BURNETT: Yeah.

I mean, Colonel, you know, all that is really, really incredible. And it also just, you know, this reporting coming out as an intelligence assessment with the conclusion being that he is playing an important role. Okay? And General Vahidi from the IRGC may be the ultimate power player, but the supreme leader is playing an important role.

That's significant in the context of the fact that yesterday the Iranian president, Mahmoud Pezeshkian, said that he actually had spent a couple of hours with the supreme leader, which is the first time that anybody in power has even acknowledged seeing him.

So, it's as if his profile is suddenly being pushed up purposefully.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, I think that's correct, Erin. And, and the way I look at this is the profile is being pushed up because they need a representative for the state that is going to be a -- you know, one of the basically, as the name implies, supreme leader, he's going to be the supreme authority for that state.

Now, will he do all of the dirty work? No. Will he do all of the thinking behind some of the strategy? Probably not. But he will decide with the help of the others, especially the Revolutionary Guard people. He will decide exactly what they're going to do with the help of the commander of the IRGC and a few other people as well. BURNETT: Right, right. So, you know, Brett, the back and forth in

this war, is not a ceasefire, even though they're saying the ceasefire is, you know, whatever. I guess the word doesn't mean anything, but there's still a ceasefire, even though there's firing going on. But Trump then said something today about this -- about what a broken ceasefire, as he called it, would look like. It was a very specific threat.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If there is no ceasefire, you're not going to have to know. You're just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: One big glow, Brad. I see you shaking your head. I mean, we all know what that's a threat of, right? It's a threat of using nuclear weapons in the context of a guy who threatened to wipe a civilization off the map, right?

So, Brett, since you know, so many of these guys in Iran, do those words and threats like that at this point mean anything to them?

MCGURK: They really don't, Erin. I mean, if you go back to the June -- the 12th day June conflict, Iran was in a very weak position coming out of that. I think actually now, they feel pretty emboldened.

And if you remember back on April 17th, President Trump said, we're going to have a ceasefire and the precondition for the ceasefire he said the Strait of Hormuz will be wide open. It's not wide open. It is shut because Iran is shooting at ships trying to go through. And then we have our blockade.

So, the precondition for the ceasefire is not in place that we had demanded. And the Iranians know that.

So, I really think whatever we get back from the Iranians, Erin, they're not going to put that much on the table. And they're going to try to continue to control that strait. That is what they want. And they got it. They got a big grip on it.

BURNETT: And the CIA intelligence assessment, "The Washington Post" and now CNN reporting 70 percent of Iran's missile capacity is intact.

LEIGHTON: Yeah. That's right. And you know, what it tells us is that none of this was destroyed. What we have here is a system that is resilient, and the Iranians are going to use it as much as they can. They've got a bit of leverage here. We destroyed a lot of what they have. But 70 percent is a lot more than 50 percent, which was the previous estimate. And that is a huge, huge deal.

BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely.

All right. Thank you very much both. I appreciate you.

And next, a brand new report revealing exactly what the U.S. government knows about UFOs. And let's just all admit, it's fascinating. You're going to click. You're going to want to read it. Of course, we all do.

But that's the point. Why release it now? Why? Is it to deflect from the war, to deflect from rising gas prices? Is it to deflect from, as one Republican said today, the Epstein files?

Plus, the deal to rename Palm Beach Airport to Trump International Airport. How much money will Trump bank on this?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:39]

BURNETT: Tonight, the Pentagon releasing what it calls never before seen files on UFOs, including this video. Okay. This video is from 2013. It's a star shaped object with arms of alternating length that was observed, they say, from a U.S. military platform.

And then this, which is an infrared image of an unidentified object flying over the western United States last December. Now, President Trump took a victory lap when these came out, said that previous administrations have failed to be transparent on the subject. He wrote with these new documents and videos, the people can decide for themselves. All caps, what the hell is going on? Have fun and enjoy!

Well, I think a lot of people in this case might say, okay, sure, I get it. But one of Trump's allies, Marjorie Taylor Greene, former ally, says she knows what is going on. She said, quote, "The most transparent administration in history still hasn't released all the Epstein files or arrested anyone, but rolled out some UFO files today. So, you would get so excited that you forgot you're paying over $4.50 a gallon because they are fighting another foreign war they said they would no longer fight. Happy Friday, everyone."

OUTFRONT now, Jamal Simmons and former Congressman Adam Kinzinger.

All right. I appreciate both of you.

Jamal, as I said, this is fascinating. We all look -- you and I were talking, okay? We all look.

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Absolutely.

BURNETT: But I know that you are absolutely shocked that Trump might be doing this to draw attention away from other things that are of serious present danger to Americans.

SIMMONS: Yeah. This is classic old school Trump, really, right? Like, this is the kind of Donald Trump that I think people thought they were voting for. He was going to get elected. He'd go to Washington, he'd tell us all the secrets. He wouldn't buy any --

BURNETT: For sure. There'd be no wars or anything.

SIMMONS: There'd be no wars.

BURNETT: We could talk about the UFO files.

SIMMONS: The wars, gas would be like low prices, and the economy would be flourishing.

The problem is, though, that that's not what we got. For the most part, we've got war that nobody really understands. We're ending up with these gas prices and other prices that are higher than everybody wants. The president doesn't have a plan, and so maybe he's using this very rightfully interesting phenomena to just distract everybody from the stories that he doesn't want us to talk about.

[19:40:04]

BURNETT: And, you know, Adam, it's interesting because Tim Burchett, Republican congressman, praised Trump over the UFO files. He said, "Remember, the feds told us these files didn't exist. And Trump stood up to the deep state. The first drop will be big, but in comparison to what is coming, there will be a drop in the bucket. I would say, holy crap is coming."

By the way, if were going to talk about drop in the bucket, that would be the current released pile of Epstein files compared to the total number of Epstein files. So I guess we can make that point.

But Burchett's comments came just one day before he was on Joe Rogan's show talking about this, and I wanted to play for you Joe Rogan's take.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE ROGAN, PODCAST HOST: The Iran war is not going very well. American public is very upset. A lot of people don't think we should have ever been involved in that in the first place. And we need some good news.

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I think we -- some --

ROGAN: We need something to distract us. We need something to take our focus off of --

BURCHETT: If I was going to do it, now would be the time I'd do it.

ROGAN: Yeah, yeah.

BURCHETT: But I don't think Trump really even cares. I think he just wants to get it out there. I mean, no, I mean, I don't think he cares about -- about trying to get everybody off -- off target, you know, by disclosing UFOs. I think he cares about all of it.

ROGAN: If someone's going to do it, do it. You want to leave a legacy. Be the guy who releases all these files.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, Adam, how do you see it? Who's reading the room, right?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think, I mean, I think this is clearly an attempt to distract now, you know, look, Trump felt like he was upended because Barack Obama said he believed or some version of that. And I think Trump was like, I got to get out in front of him.

I'm a skeptic, by the way. I'm just going to throw that out there. So, look at it through that lens. But it's always been amazing to me because people like Tim Burchett and some other members of Congress always go on these shows and act like they've seen things and they need to release it, because I got to tell you, I've seen some things. I'm sorry. I hate to burst the bubbles. Congressmen don't get to see stuff like that. They always just kind of pretend like they do, or they talk to some dude that may think that he saw a UFO once.

But, I mean, you know, is there something to it? Sure. A lot of the ones I've even seen now have been, you know, some -- I don't want to say debunked, but there's been theories put behind what they are. But I think this is clearly an attempt right now to try to take our eyes off -- I mean, this is probably the first time we've talked about Epstein in a month, which is crazy because there's so much going on.

BURNETT: So much going on. And as I pointed out, the files such that we have are not the full files. That's just one basic thing. And no one's been held to account yet.

I mean, Jamal, there's also the big the big stuff going on right now. Yeah. Okay. In addition to things like war and gas and Epstein's, and all of these things. But in Virginia today, a big move, the Virginia Supreme Court rejected the read on House map. So, people had voted in Virginia, and they voted in a way that would give Democrats all these extra seats.

And that was crucial because of all that's been going on, all the different states. If Democrats got those, it was sort of, okay, you've had this war and you're going to both emerge equal except for the court ruled against him. So, they lost those, which means Republicans have a huge advantage when it comes to these redistricting.

So, what does this mean for Democrats if they don't get those seats? If this is how you go into the midterms?

SIMMONS: Yeah. First of all, I want Kinzinger to do his research. Do your own research, Adam, on these UFOs. UFOs are real.

(LAUGHTER)

SIMMONS: But listen, more importantly, when we talk about what happened in Virginia, I think the Democrats are going to be okay because the wave that is coming is one that's going to be big enough that its going to sweep a bunch of districts in that people aren't really expecting, and Democrats are doing something they haven't done in the past, which is putting a name in every slot. They want somebody to run for every seat, because if you're going to catch lightning, you've got to have a bottle, which means you've got to have candidates who are out there who can actually win these races.

I'm much more concerned about what's happening with the redistricting races around the Callais decision in Louisiana, the fact that these African-American districts are being torn apart in Tennessee, they're going after them in Alabama. We're hearing rumblings about perhaps South Carolina, although I hear there's some resistance in South Carolina about Jim Clyburn seat.

Those matter a lot more. They're existential. Those states never wanted to pass the 14th and 15th Amendment after reconstruction in the first place. They've been resistant ever since. That's why we had to have a Voting Rights Act.

And it turns out they're still resistant. And when you now have an all-white Republican Party and a mostly black Democratic Party, you say race doesn't matter. But now, party's a proxy for race. And when they say were going to have a Republican, a Republican legislature, it means there's going to be a white legislature.

BURNETT: So, Adam, do Democrats have any room for error now, when it comes to the house? I mean, does all does this loss in Virginia? And I know, obviously what Jamal is talking about in other southern states as well. But does this mean that what has become conventional wisdom, which is that when it comes to the House, this is an easy flip for Democrats?

[19:45:03]

Has that changed?

KINZINGER: Yeah. I mean, I think it is going to be a wave election. But I think this could maybe in hindsight, be a blessing in disguise in a way, because it forces Democrats to refocus on persuasion. The old art in politics, persuasion. Get more people on your side, turn out more people.

I think it's going to be a wave election. I think the Democrats will win the House, certainly, probably not by as big of a margin as they would have otherwise. But I don't think this is the great savior that the Republicans think it is.

BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you both.

I will say, by the way, Adam, I know you just finished a book so that we got a good topic for the next one, UFOs. But the one that you have just come out with. So, congratulations. It's called "That's What Heroes Do". It is Adams' new children's book, and congratulations on that, Adam.

KINZINGER: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, this is the new gold logo for Trump International Airport in Florida. So, is this a way for Trump to make more money off the office of president? Plus, incredible video tonight of a volcanic eruption. And tonight,

search operations are still underway. This video is just incredible. Search operations are underway though for survivors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:50:35]

BURNETT: Eric Trump unveiling the official new gold logo for the Palm Beach Airport. It will soon be called the Donald J. Trump International Airport. He congratulated his father, writing, "There is no person more deserving of this incredible honor than Donald Trump. Looking forward to seeing flights landing at DJT very, very soon." DJT being what they are going to a lot there as the three-letter call sign for the airport.

That trademark name is now part of a highly unusual licensing deal negotiated by the Trump Organization, and that has the potential to line Trump's pockets even more, according to our next guest.

And he is Josh Gerben. He's OUTFRONT now. He's a trademark lawyer who has reviewed the licensing agreement.

So, in that, you know, all the details and you say that this agreement is highly unusual, Josh, especially for a sitting president. And the fact that this is a public airport.

So, what stands out most to you?

JOSH GERBEN, TRADEMARK ATTORNEY: Sure. Well, what stands out most is it looks more like a business deal than an honorary naming. And what I mean by that is that typically when you have an honorary naming of an airport, the individual that's being honored has not gone out and registered trademarks that are then getting licensed back to the airport.

If you look at JFK in New York or Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington, D.C., or even Harry Reid Airport out in Las Vegas, none of those families owned trademarks that have been licensed back to the airport for use.

BURNETT: And that is actually -- that is so important that you said that because, yes, there is JFK, obviously, and now, we've got DJT.

Trump Org did put out a statement defending the trademark, Josh. They said, to be clear, the president and his family will not receive any royalty, licensing fee or financial consideration whatsoever from the proposed airport renaming. And then they stressed that the Florida bill requires a license agreement from the Trump Organization. So basically saying, well, we had to do it. And these concerns are not legitimate.

You say that this is not the whole story, though. How come?

GERBEN: Well, they didn't have to register these trademarks in the first place. The naming could have happened without Trump Org having filed trademarks that then required the licensing agreement to exist in the first place. So that's something they didn't necessarily have to do, but decided to do.

From a legal perspective, I completely understand it. It's actually a good legal maneuver from Trump Org, and I do take them at their face, you know, statement here that, hey, look, we're not trying to make money off of the airport itself. I think one of the things that when you look, when you read through the licensing agreement, it is a non- exclusive licensing agreement with Palm Beach County. If it was an exclusive agreement, that means that Palm Beach County is the only one that will be able to use these trademarks, the airport name and logo and so on and so forth.

But because it's a nonexclusive agreement, Trump Org could theoretically keep the ability to use the trademarks itself off premise. So maybe merchandise sales that are not at the airport or even licensed the name and logo to other people again, for anything that's going on off the airport premises.

BURNETT: Which obviously changes the potential here magnificently.

Now, Trump has made promises about the airport. And let me just play them here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a lot of things in store. I know that a lot of tremendous elements are going to be added to the airport, making it bigger and better, and it's really going to be I don't think there'll be anything as good as your airport will be anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world. So --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, Josh, here's what's amazing. The agreement allows Trump Org to approve or reject the wording, branding and imagery associated with the airport. And that includes -- okay, Josh, I know you know this, but people watching may not know this. It includes Trump's expression in the pictures on the wall of the airport. Okay, how he looks and that and that, by the way, his picture is going to be there, which is, something I've seen in many other countries I've reported from that are, that are not like this one.

How excessive is that

GERBEN: Well, it's unusual. You know, again, at these other airports, we don't have the families controlling what images are used or what words are necessarily used to honor the individual that the airport is named after. President Trump does have a history of being very tightly controlled with his brand.

You know, I grew up outside Philadelphia in the '80s, and if you went to Atlantic City, his name was plastered all over the place.

[19:55:00] And this is just another, you know, a continuation of that brand strategy, you know, quite frankly, in all likelihood but that ability to control exactly what images, the wording that requires Palm Beach County to run everything by Trump Org before they use it, that is unusual for sure.

BURNETT: All right. Well, thank you very much for laying all this out. I think it's important. We all understand it. Thank you. Josh.

And next search operations are underway after a massive volcanic explosion killed at least three people.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight. Just look at this video we've just gotten about this volcano. This is the volcanic eruption in Indonesia. It's just -- it is enormous. The power, huge plumes of smoke and ash dramatically rising above Mount Dukono.

The eruption left 20 climbers stranded, including a local mountain guide named Alex, who talked to CNN and said, I saw the small rocks and gravel sliding down because of the tremors. I told my clients, we have to run down.

He then filmed this incredible video.

(BERGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEX, LOCAL MOUNTAIN GUIDE: There are still many local tourists. Oh my God. Oh my God.

Oh -- it's -- I hope they're alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Incredible. I mean, 17 hikers have been safely evacuated. Three tragically were killed in the eruption. Their bodies remain on the mountain. Search operations resume tomorrow.

Thanks for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.