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Erin Burnett Outfront
Bondi Blames Blanche On Epstein, Republicans Question Nomination; NYT: Several Women Who Dated Platner Recall "Unsettling" Behavior; Now: New Election Results In Races For California Governor And L.A. Mayor. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 04, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:22]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, Bondi blaming Blanche. The former attorney general pointing the finger at Trump's new pick for the botched handling of the Epstein investigation, as more Republicans are raising questions as to whether Blanche is even up for the job.
Also breaking this hour, live pictures out of Los Angeles. They are still processing the ballots. Trump is claiming falsely that the vote is rigged. The mayor of Los Angeles is now taking him on.
And vanished without a trace. An Alabama college student disappearing while on a family vacation in Japan -- just totally vanished. We have a special report.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, Blanche in a bind. As Trump nominates his former personal attorney to be the next attorney general of the United States, Republicans in the Senate are raising questions. Yes, Republicans in the Senate.
And Blanche's predecessor, Pam Bondi, is blaming Blanche for the Epstein file release fail. Bondi spoke to the House Oversight Committee, and a transcript was just released of that conversation. And in it, she says, quote, "Blanche was in charge of the process and the entire release of the Epstein files." It doesn't get more blatant than that, right? She says he did it.
As for the still unanswered questions about why Epstein's convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell, was transferred to a minimum-security facility days after she sat down privately, one-on-one, face-to-face with Todd Blanche, a still shocking and still unprecedented event, Bondi made it clear that that fiasco was Todd Blanche's from start to finish. In the transcript, she's reported to say, I read about it in the
newspaper or online after it happened. I had nothing to do with that. That's pretty incredible.
At the time, she was the boss, she was in charge. This was a meeting with someone's convicted pedophile, and she didn't know anything about what happened, about the transfer? It's an incredible thing to say.
And we are learning about Bondi's comments as two top Republicans are now refusing to commit to confirming Blanche as attorney general. Senate Majority Leader John Thune was asked if Blanche would have difficulty getting confirmed, and his response was, quote, "This is an environment where nothing is a safe or sure bet." Pretty incredible to say that nothing, safe or sure bet for the president with his own party.
And Senator John Cornyn, who of course was just defeated in a Republican primary after Trump very vocally backed his opponent, said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): You're also supposed to be able to tell the president no, and as the lead lawyer for the country. So we need to talk about that. I'm going to let the process work out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Right, just to state the obvious, Blanche has never, as far as anyone has known or reported, and certainly not publicly, told the president know about anything.
And there's Republican Senator Tom Tillis. He's drawing a line in the sand on one specific issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I don't vote for people just because I like them and I vote for them because they meet my criteria. And one of my criteria is no equivocation on January 6th.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Senator Mitch McConnell also made it clear he's not a fan of what he calls Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund either, because that is the fund, of course, that Blanche signed off on, right, that could give payment to January 6th convicted offenders.
The comment here was by McConnell is, "So the nation's top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops utterly stupid, morally wrong -- take your pick."
Republicans are right to question, though, for sure, Blanche's willingness to stand up to Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: President Trump is an amazing man.
I love you, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Amazing in saying that you love the president. I mean, you know, we all hear the cabinet meetings, but it sounds like that, right?
Blanche doesn't just like Trump. He also sounds like him, too. I mean, here he is on everything from the hush money indictment in New York to the Russia investigation to being targeted by the DOJ. Listen for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNTED STATES: Nothing like this has never happened before. There's never been anything like it.
BLANCHE: At some point, you're saying to the judge, this has never happened before, right?
TRUMP: The Russia, Russia, Russia hoax, which was a total hoax.
BLANCHE: The Russia, Russia, Russia hoax was a complete and total hoax.
TRUMP: This was a vicious weaponization of your government.
BLANCHE: I mean, it was the worst sort of weaponization of not only the government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Blanche has also been auditioning for this role of attorney general very publicly for the world to see. In fact, he supported Trump's push for taxpayer money to pay for the ballroom. He defended the IRS deal to grant Trump immunity from any potential tax crimes for any taxes filed so far by him or his family.
[19:05:08]
Blanche was also behind the decision to indict James Comey for that post of seashells spelling out "86 47", an indictment the top conservative lawyers has said is without merit.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT live outside the White House to begin our coverage tonight.
And, Kristen, I know that you've got some new reporting right now on what the thinking is in the White House about now that Todd Blanche, who everybody knew this was coming in terms of the nomination, but here he is and there's GOP pushback to it. KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and the White House knows that they're going to have an uphill battle. They're going to really have to work for this.
I will tell you about a month and a half ago, I asked a senior White House official if there was any concern that if the acting attorney general was to be put up for nomination, that he wouldn't get approved, that he wouldn't go through the Senate. And they brushed it off. They said absolutely not, that he's already been approved.
But in that month and a half, we have seen a dramatic change. And the White House knows that it is staring down a very different landscape. We've seen gas prices up. The war Iran is still not ending. It doesn't seem as though it's coming to a conclusion anytime.
And because of that, these vulnerable senators, Republicans are being targeted in races that really weren't an issue a month and a half ago, talking about Jon Husted in Ohio, talking about Dan Sullivan in Alaska, Susan Collins in Maine. All of them are very vulnerable and Democrats are targeting them in the Senate.
Now talk about the people who President Trump himself has targeted. That didn't exist a month and a half ago. Cassidy in Louisiana, Cornyn in Texas. They have an axe to grind. And as you mentioned, Tom Tillis, who is retiring -- the first time around, I believe he had not announced his retirement yet when he approved Todd Blanche to be the deputy attorney general. Now, he has less concerns because he is retiring from the Senate.
So all of this now gives you a longer list of Republican senators who, one, need to fight for their own survival, and two, some of them have already faced Trump's wrath and no longer have to worry about it. And this is one of the growing concerns inside of the White House. It's not just about getting Todd Blanche approved, it's also about doing any sort of legislating before January.
BURNETT: All right, Kristen, thank you very much at the White House.
And everyone's here with me now.
So, Lulu, who knows how this ends? Maybe they get it over the finish line. But they're not making it easy for them. And they're fine to give the headline that Trump's getting pushback from his own party. And this is now issue after issue or person after person that we're seeing this. What's the significance of this-- I don't even want to use the word spine, but pushback in the GOP?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, as we've seen before, they grow a spine and then the spine goes away and they, you know, and they wiggle around and then sometimes they get their spine back. You know, I think it's really hard to know.
But this is what I think is different potentially about this moment. Right now, because of Trump's actions, you have a bunch of key senators basically not caring at all what the president wants and beyond not caring at all actually kind of mad at the president. BURNETT: Yeah.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And some of their allies, especially of John Cornyn who was much beloved in the Senate, are also mad at the president they feel like it was a self-owned. And so, it has created this perfect storm of he's very unpopular and people don't really care anymore about his control over them and so they do feel liberated.
BURNETT: It's interesting, Sarah. You know Kristen's talking about the damage that Trump has done to some senators, right? And that now they've got an axe to grind, that there's frustration.
You worked in the first Trump administration. Do you think Trump cares about the damage that he may have? Now they're saying no on the taxpayer money for the ballroom. Well, we know he cares about that. But the fund, a whole lot of things that they wouldn't have said no on if he hadn't behaved the way he behaved.
Do you think he cares that this is hurting his agenda?
SARAH MATTHEWS, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: I don't think he's capable of thinking that long term. I think, look, if I were advising him politically, I would have said that you want John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy in your corner for as long as possible because you're definitely going to lose the House, it looks like. And there's now a growing possibility that they could lose control over the Senate, which is something I wouldn't have said six months ago.
But obviously, we've seen Trump's unpopularity just continue to grow because of things like his war of choice with Iran, rising gas prices, him failing to bring down grocery prices like he said all of these things. And then him focusing on these strange priorities, these pet projects, vanity projects, if you will, like the ballroom, like the reflecting pool that he keeps showing charts of at every single press conference.
And I -- it's so funny because I don't think he's capable of seeing how out of touch it is. And I think that maybe in the first administration, when I was working for him, voters were willing to give him a longer leash than they are now because they looked at things like the economy and they thought, oh, well, my 401K is doing great. No, I don't like mean tweets, but he's kind of crazy, but I like this thing that he's doing.
That's not happening anymore. People are frustrated and that frustration is continuing to grow.
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I agree with both of these things.
[19:10:00]
I think this is a crisis of Donald Trump's own making, whether it be tariffs, whether it be the misplaced priorities, or whether it be his targeting of Republican senators who are now free, like to grow said spine, right? Like, we know that it happens in limited moments in Washington, but now that --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: The profound nature of your words, they are now free.
HERNDON: They are now free to act with clarity.
But I just think in general, like speaking to the point about Blanche, Donald Trump putting his personal attorney in charge of the Justice Department is I think in line with the grip that he has tried to have on the Justice Department, he sees it as a -- as a function of himself, as an extension of himself. And throughout the last couple terms, he's made a point to grow that weaponization.
I think his motive, his love -- Donald Trump's love language is mimicry, is deference, is adulation, and Todd Blanch is providing that, and that matters more, I think, to him than someone who, as the senator said, is acting in the interest of the country.
BURNETT: I mean, I got to say, Jamaal, even Russia, Russia, Russia, hoax, right? They said it three, I thought it was actually kind of -- yeah, there's word repeats and then there's word repeats.
OK, so they're getting the pushback, though, on Blanche. And we'll see, right? That could just be a few people for a short time. Maybe Blanche's attorney general makes it over the finish line.
But Bill Pulte, as the acting director of national intelligence, has faced real problems. So then Trump today to deal with that, and Marco Rubio yesterday was asked, have you ever heard Bill Pulte's name in the context of national intelligence? And Rubio said, in the context of national intelligence? No. I mean, OK, couldn't have been more clear.
But then Trump said something about Pulte today that's really important. Here is what it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's an acting position. It's not a permanent. He's not going to be permanent because, you know, I don't think he'd want to be permanent. But he's a very smart guy, and he may find out some things about the rigged elections, et cetera, et cetera. I think he'd like to do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Jamaal, temporary is -- means that he doesn't need congressional approval.
JAMAAL BOWMAN (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Yeah, yeah. Temporary also means instability. It also is another example of chaos governance and chaos leadership. It's one of the reasons why many people that I meet across the country do not trust and unplug from our politics, because they don't know what the hell is going on in Washington. Donald Trump was this type of CEO. He's been this type of president.
And I hope that Republicans in the Senate grow and keep a spine. But even bigger than that, we all, when we're in Congress, swear an oath to the Constitution, not to a president.
And if we have any chance of recalibrating our economy, recalibrating our democracy towards the direction we all say we want to go, Republicans have to reject Donald Trump, his approval ratings in the toilet, approval rating of all of Congress is in the toilet. When are we going to right the ship and get this country on the right track?
You know the other thing, though? He said the quiet part out loud in that clip. What did he say? He said, "This is the DNI, Director of National Intelligence. You've got all these different agencies, you know, and it's all about, like, protecting the homeland and coordinating amongst all these different agencies."
And what did Donald Trump say this was about? It was about rigged elections. What's happening in a few months? I forgot. Oh, yes, we are having an election, and this is going to be a temporary appointment. I mean --
BURNETT: But that means, even as a temporary appointment, he gets access to --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: He gets access to all this stuff, but why all the things that a DNI could be doing, that has really never been the main thing that a DNI does. But for Donald Trump, it is, which leads one to the very conclusion that perhaps he is being put there because of the elections.
HERNDON: Yeah, it's a feature, not a bug. He wants a federal government pointing at driving these false election claims, and he's bound to have preempted the midterms with using things like the Save America Act as a pretense to do this sort of investigation.
So I think that's exactly right. We should see this as the reason Todd Blanche has been put in place. Things like the Epstein files came up with Attorney General Bondi, but that's a shared failure on this administration's part.
I don't think you can put that just on Blanche. He is acting on the behest of the president. And I think Bondi's failure as well.
And so that was an institutional lack of transparency that I think they saw voters respond to. But I just want to say quickly, I think we should acknowledge that this administration has been humbled in a couple points. You know, the pushback against ICE was real. And I think what happened in Minnesota has changed some tactics.
I think they're seeing increasing --
BURNETT: Massively changed tactics. If you think about that --
HERNDON: I think you see a couple things that show that they are recognizing the attrition that is happening, particularly among independents, particularly younger voters. And I think marginally among their base.
BURNETT: So you mentioned the reflecting pool, right? So when Trump, one of the things he likes to talk about is a reflecting pool, and he had that big poster board where he said the reflecting pool is bigger than all these skyscrapers.
Now, he talks about it almost every time he gets on camera. He said, someone just brought this to me, I just heard about it, but actually we checked and he's actually brought it up a few other times.
Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We call it a reflecting lake between the Lincoln Monument -- nobody's ever said anything like it.
I'm using swimming pool material. It's going to be blue, beautiful blue.
That's your size compared. So those are compared to -- those are among the tallest buildings in the world.
And this is called swimming pool on steroids. So it's great stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What do you see there? As someone who's been around him and know his obsession with certain things, what do you keep hearing there?
MATTHEWS: He's a real estate guy. He loves to build. That's his background. So I think he's looking at these little pet projects, and this is what excites him. This is what gets him jazzed up.
He probably is bored of talking about Iran. He doesn't want to talk about inflation and all of these things. You know, we've seen him say when it comes to affordability that this is a hoax created by the Democrats, even though that's what the American people are actually focused on, is the affordability crisis that he has only exacerbated with his choice to launch this attack on Iran and raise gas prices and with his choice to put these asinine tariffs in place.
And so I think this is what he wants to be focused on, but it couldn't be more tone deaf.
BOWMAN: I mean, I see an episode of "The Boondocks". That's what I see. Like, I wish that show still existed because what I see is a mockery of reality itself. I mean, this is like a clown show to me.
And the Iran war is still going on. Lebanon is being bombed consistently. These ceasefires are not lasting. There's ethnic cleansing happening there. People can't afford to live. You're protecting child sex trafficking rapists, according to the majority of the American people. This whole presidency has been a S-show, and we have to live with it
every day. And my prayer and hope is that November we pivot, but I worry because it's not about serving the working class of the American people. It's about power. And that's not just Trump and his administration has been a problem with both parties for a very long time.
MATTHEWS: I will note, too, that I think it's -- I think it's very striking that if you thought that people wouldn't build monuments to you after you leave office, then you wouldn't feel the need to do this.
But Senator Jon Ossoff brought up this point recently and made the case that Trump is doing this right now because he knows that when he's gone, people won't honor him, people won't want to. And so I think that Trump knows that and feels that, looking at his polling numbers, and he wants to build this legacy. And that's also part of the reason why he's so focused on these little pet projects of his.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much.
And next, breaking news, KFILE with new reporting tonight about Graham Platner's Nazi-linked tattoo. Meanwhile, "The New York Times" spoke to six women who used to date the Senate candidate in Maine, and they have allegations about his behavior.
Plus, our Clarissa Ward is going to take you to the center of the Ebola crisis. She is there. The death toll is getting higher.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Everybody goes in there sick. They don't leave. They come out dead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Live pictures out of Los Angeles where they are still counting. More results are coming in as Spencer Pratt is surging closer to a runoff.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:22:45]
BURNETT: Breaking news, "The New York Times" publishing new allegations against Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner. "The Times" speaking with six women who have dated Platner. Now, three of them described him as a caring partner. But three of them described volatile and toxic relationships, including allegations of infidelity, demeaning behavior toward women, heavy drinking, and in one account, physical intimidation.
Lyndsey Fifield, who dated Platner for about two or three years, 2013 to 2015, alleges to "The Times" that Platner grabbed her by the shoulders regularly, sometimes hard enough to leave marks. She also described an argument with Platner where he twisted her arm behind her back, shoving her into a bedroom and holding the door closed so she couldn't get out.
Again, that's her account. He strongly disputes the claims. His campaign saying the most serious allegations are false and politically motivated.
So I want to go to our KFILE, Andrew Kaczynski, who's done extensive reporting on Platner and of course spoken to him.
And KFILE, alongside these new allegations, I know that you also have new reporting about this tattoo we've heard a lot about, right? Specifically this Nazi tattoo, it's widely recognized as a Nazi symbol that Platner had on his chest.
What are you learning?
ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: Well, Erin, what we're learning tonight is that a woman who spoke to CNN anonymously last year is now going public to "The New York Times" and CNN and directly challenging Graham Platner's explanation about the tattoo. She says Platner referred to the image as "my Totenkopf". That's a reference to the skull and crossbone emblem used by Nazi SS units years before the controversy became public.
She was the same source who previously provided CNN with text messages showing that before Platner said he learned the symbols Nazi associations, She was already describing the tattoo to friends as a Nazi symbol and saying that she learned that from Platner.
Now, her account also lines up with the reporting we uncovered last year from Platner's deleted Reddit post. In those posts, they discussed the Totenkopf and other Nazi-linked symbols, and he argued that some members of the military had adopted them as part of military culture rather than expressions of Nazi ideology.
Now this raises new questions about Platner's longstanding claim that he only recently learned about the symbols Nazi associations last year. And most importantly here, Erin, is this campaign has really offered no explanation as to how his ex-girlfriend could have known about the tattoo before he did these -- these text messages were in August of last year when he -- right when he announced his campaign and Platner said that he learned about it in October.
[19:25:17]
The campaign is standing by their explanation to us, Erin, and they're saying that he did not know about the tattoo until October.
BURNETT: All right, KFILE, stay with me. Obviously, these are significant details. Jamaal, all of these are significant details, right? So you've got "The New York Times" talking to six women. As I said, three of them described him as a caring boyfriend, three of them with these allegations, right? Physical intimidation, and also we've got the sexting, you know, texting women while he was married. And you've got KFILE with this disturbing new report about the tattoo, allegations from one of these women. I guess when you look at all of this, do you believe this adds up to
this is going to cost him the election, the campaign, or not at this point?
BOWMAN: I mean, possibly, yes, absolutely. I mean, the most disturbing allegations that I heard in that reporting was the physical assaulting of a woman and twisting her arm and putting her in a closet or whatever she says happened. That is incredibly disturbing.
The other stuff he may have an explanation for, and he apparently disagrees with that. But yeah, no, this is all very, very problematic, generally speaking, and the voters in Maine are going to have to decide on what they're going to do come November. I mean, he's spoken about his past, he's spoken about some of his struggles with alcohol and mental health and other things, but the voters in Maine are going to have to decide if alcohol and struggles with mental health is enough to look past some of the stuff that's being reported.
BURNETT: Right.
Sarah, you know, "The Times" is talking about one of the women, Lyndsey Fifield, I mentioned her. She dated Platner, who's the one I mentioned, from 2013 to 2015. She is a conservative.
She denies that this has anything to do with politics, but of course, that's what his campaign is saying. She'd said she would speak out about him, whether he was a Republican or a Democrat, right? That's what she says.
Does it matter where the allegations are coming from?
MATTHEWS: I believe that some of the other women who also came forward were left leaning, and that was identified in the article as well. It's just that the allegations from that particular woman I feel like are the most egregious. And so I think that people are zeroing in on that.
BURNETT: Twisting the arm behind the back and shutting the door, yes.
MATTHEWS: Exactly. And so I think that people are saying, oh, well, clearly she has a hidden agenda and she's doing this to help Collins campaign. But I believe from "The New York Times" reporting, they reported that there's been no coordination between the two.
And so, you know, these allegations -- I will say that I think the Nazi tattoo was enough to find him disqualifying, in my own opinion. But hearing these allegations as well, I just think that it's appalling and that we should demand better of our public servants. And I think that goes on both sides of the aisle.
But all of these things coupled together, I think that Maine voters are going to have a really difficult decision because I read that story and I'm outraged because I know women who have been put in situations like that with men. And I don't want someone like that being a senator. I think that we should expect more and hold them to the highest standard, our public servants, instead of constantly lowering the bar, which we tend to do, whether it's Graham Platner, Ken Paxton, or Donald Trump.
BURNETT: Right. So I'm curious, though, Lulu, because you spoke to him, and you asked him if there could be more things coming out. Because the thing about Graham Platner is, the reason people know his name is because there keeps being things coming out. It's just been one thing a couple months ago. In the world that we live in, people would have made their decision and forgotten about it.
But it keeps coming, it keeps coming. So you asked him, is there going to be more coming? I want to just play part of the exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Is there something new you want to get ahead of?
GRAHAM PLATNER (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: No. I mean, look, we've -- I've been -- I've lived my life, like I've been there for the whole thing. And it's, and because of that, like, I -- I mean, I know what I've, what I've been through. I know what I've -- I know what my behavior has been when they dropped the opposition research stuff on us. And the whole time there was always this like, oh, there's more coming.
And I was like, I don't know like what this more is going to be. I don't think anything I've ever done has been outside of the realm of like what people do when they struggle, when they suffer, you know, that kind of stuff.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah. That didn't age well.
Listen, this is what I think. Can you trust Graham Platner? That is the question that I think Maine voters are going to have to, at this point, decide.
He wants to paint a narrative of, like, the redemptive arc, that this was him at a period where he was in a dark place. This has been widely supported that, you know, he was suffering from PTSD after having served many tours in the military.
[19:30:09]
He and I were in Iraq at the same time. It was a really brutal time that he was there. And so, you know, that is one of the narratives.
But the problem is that some of the information that has come out doesn't match up with how he's explained it. The Nazi tattoo, when he knew about it, the fact that he is on this redemptive arc, but he was sexting with women just a few years ago when he was supposed to be happily married and recovered.
So, you know, the problem is not just that these allegations keep coming out, but they are actually coming out, and they're in direct opposition to some of the things that he's been saying. BURNETT: And what said, he just gave a statement saying, "Throughout this campaign, I've been open about what was a very dark period of my life, where I struggled with undiagnosed PTSD, too often self- medicated with alcohol, and a far-from-perfect boyfriend. I take responsibility for all of that and wish I'd been better. Any characterization beyond that is false, and I believe politically motivated. I'm not proud of who I was then, but I am proud of the work I've done since and the movement we're building in Maine."
Andrew, do you think there will be more coming out?
KACZYNSKI: Well, I feel like we're seeing a new story about Graham Platner pretty much every other week. We asked to issue an apology a couple weeks ago, or last week, it was -- it was the sexting story. This week, it's this story.
BURNETT: Yeah.
KACZYNSKI: The thing about those Reddit comments is -- you know, the Republicans have not even really revved up their attack machine on him. So whether more stuff comes out, you know, that is to be seen. But I don't think we're going to hear the last of any of these allegations or the Reddit comments or the sexting or any of this stuff.
BURNETT: And then I think it's interesting what Sarah said, too. There's all of this, and then there's this Nazi tattoo, which, in a sense, it's amazing this all got past go.
HERNDON: Yeah, I think that's worth us gut-checking on. There's been several of these scandals, and we see an electorate that's increasingly willing to look past imperfect candidate on D and R's side --
BURNETT: Yeah.
HERNDON: -- for who they think projects authenticity. So I would say that.
I don't think that what we're seeing these allegations matches up to his narrative, as Lulu said, matches up to his statement about far from perfect boyfriend, things like that. These things are serious, and more of those things come out, particularly as we get to the fall. I think that they really, you know, complicate this campaign.
But the biggest thing I think has happened so far is we haven't even talked about Susan Collins, right? This was supposed to be a race that was about Susan Collins being rubber stamped for Donald Trump, and that was their path to victory here. I think this has become a Graham Platner referendum. And I just think that's a more difficult place for Democrats to be in an already tough race than they were six months ago.
But the last piece I would say is I also think the Graham Platner phenomenon is also because of who the establishment Democrats put up in that race, Janet Mills. For all of -- as much as D.C. or whoever Chuck Schumer may like her, did not move the needle for those people. And that allowed Platner to occupy this space.
And so, I somewhat think that even beyond the questions of Platner individually, which are very real --
BURNETT: Yeah.
HERNDON: -- we need to start -- like, if the kind of establishment lane of Democrats wants to marginalize those left candidates, they need to find people themselves who can energize people and -- because the part to have this conversation was the primary, and they missed that window.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you all very much.
And next, a search underway tonight for an American college student who vanished without a trace on a family vacation in Japan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When he turned off his locations --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Boy, that was really --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- and that was so concerning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, Trump is saying falsely that the election in California is rigged, as they are still counting the votes, which is excruciatingly slow and crazy. But it is the law there. So, by the way, why is it taking so long? Elex Michaelson is there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:38:09]
BURNETT: Breaking news live pictures of the vote counting in Los Angeles as we are just getting new numbers in the two close to call races for L.A. mayor and California governor.
Now Spencer Pratt remains in the number two spot for L.A. mayor tonight to face Karen Bass. Democratic Councilmember Nithya Raman gaining ground against Pratt in the most recent update and that all matters because the way it goes is that the top two finishers, no matter what party they're in, get on the ballot in November. So you got to be in the top two.
The governor's race is also too close to call. Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra lead the pack. But Steyer, Tom Steyer, is seeing a boost in the newly counted votes tonight that we've gotten, and there are thousands of ballots left two days after the election.
Now, Trump is seizing on the delay, which is I guess we just have to be real here. This isn't a delay. This is the way it works in California. This is the law that it takes this long because of how you're allowed to vote and when you postmark things. So Trump is seizing on that, though, to say that there's fraud and
cheating.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You see that's what's happening in California. They're rigging the election. Those numbers are coming down rapidly. They found a lot of mail-in ballots last night, shockingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Elex Michaelson is OUTFRONT, live at the LA County Registrar's office.
And, Elex, the mayor, Karen Bass, is posting, quote, "Trump only says this when MAGA candidates like Spencer Pratt start losing, LA will count every vote."
Now, look, there's no reason to politicize this. The reality of it is, right, is that there are laws. It is unfortunate. California should count more quickly, okay? But there are laws and rules. There's a reason why we're in this position and it isn't gross incompetence.
Can you explain why it takes so long?
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So in a nutshell, California lawmakers have decided that it is more important to provide more ways for people to vote last minute, including vote by mail up until the very last day.
So what we're surrounded by here is vote by mail ballots. About 80 percent of Californians vote by mail. None of these ballots have been counted.
These over here are going into the system. When you send in a vote by mail ballot, you sign it. So what's happening here is signature verification.
The machine is making sure that you are who you say you are. There's a machine aspect of that. There's a human aspect of that as well.
Now, you can send in a ballot to the mailbox, including on Election Day. So if it's postmarked by Election Day, by law, there's up to seven days for that ballot to arrive at a center like this one. So we don't even know all of the ballots that have come in. There could be more ballots that are still to come in. That's part of the law.
Another part of the law is if there's a problem with your vote -- voter signature, you have -- they'll alert you of that, and then you have 10 days to come here and try to fix it. So what we're looking at here is the process of people separating out the ballots, getting them ready to be read.
So it is a process that is designed to give people a lot of options. There are some questions about whether that there should maybe be some policy changes in California to speed it along, but we do not have any evidence, Erin, of any widespread fraud.
BURNETT: No, no. And that's really crucial, right? As you say, it's a policy question. It's a policy decision that was made. It's not a bad system itself in terms of how it's executed.
So in that context, Elex, what I played there the sound bite was Trump saying that they found a lot of mail-in ballots tonight and that that's proof it's rigged -- the election itself. So, fact check this in terms of a lot of mail-in ballots being found. What's being, what are they seeing? What is this use of the word being found?
MICHAELSON: Okay, so it is possible because of what I just said for mail-in ballots to come in. But they have to be postmarked from election day. What is not happening is a bunch of people saying, oh, Nithya Raman is behind by this so many, and then they just show up here and drop a bunch of ballots on the floor that say Nithya Raman.
That is not possible. That is not legal. There's no evidence of that happening.
And when I pressed the White House, when I pressed even the leading Republican candidate for is there any examples of voter fraud happening, they have not been able to provide empty. So again, this is about the policy, but not necessarily about anything illegal happening.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Elex Michaelson. And really fascinating to see that center you're walking around. That place is massive, the vote counting center.
Okay, next, Clarissa Ward, she is on the ground and going to take us to the town at the heart of the Ebola outbreak. And as you're about to see, people on the front lines now coming under attack.
Plus, a mysterious disappearance. An American college student on a family trip to Japan. On a family trip, he's with his parents, suddenly vanished. What could have happened?
We'll take you to the ground next.
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[19:47:37]
BURNETT: Tonight, authorities are searching for an Alabama college student who has vanished without a trace. He was on a family vacation in Japan.
James Weston Higginbotham disappeared six days ago. He was last seen in the Kyoto area on May 29th. And his family tonight is urgently pleading for any clues as to where he might be.
His mother, Nancy, telling OUTFRONT, and I quote her, "The police investigation remains active. Officers are reviewing CCTV footage and following up on leads, and additional police personnel are being deployed today to continue search efforts in the area."
Hanako Montgomery is OUTFRONT in Kyoto at the station where Higginbotham was last spotted.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HANAKO MONTGOMERY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nancy and Keith Higginbotham can only think of their missing son.
NANCY HIGGINBOTHAM, MOTHER OF MISSING YOUNG AMERICAN: Every single second, you think about your kid and then you have the flashbacks of when he was two, when I was breastfeeding him. The birthday parties we've thrown for him.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): The family of four is on a first-time holiday across Japan, but 20-year-old Weston Higginbotham left his parents and brother on Friday night. and they haven't seen him since.
The college student appeared to have switched off a GPS function on his phone and is believed to have taken a train away from Kyoto.
N. HIGGINBOTHAM: It's not unusual for Weston to blow off steam going to, you know, the woods. So, and just exploring, that's his happy place.
MONTGOMERY: But it was unusual that he turned off his location.
N. HIGGINBOTHAM: When he turned off his locations. And that was so concerning because it's so out of character for him. And I just felt it.
KEITH HIGGINBOTHAM, FATHER OF MISSING YOUNG AMERICAN: His mother's intuition, she kept saying something's not right.
N. HIGGINBOTHAM: I said something's not right. Something's not right. I knew something was wrong.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Weston is a keen outdoorsman, a vegan, and an environmentalist. His mother said they had bickered after Weston got upset with her for using ChatGPT because of A.I.'s environmental impact.
Weston was last seen at this train station on May 29th, and since then the Japanese authorities have been searching the woods in this area where they believe she might be.
Torrential rain and typhoon winds have stopped the search at times.
While strangers have reached out to help the family despite the language barrier --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Many of us can't even imagine --
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): -- vigils were held back home in Alabama for a young man described as both popular and caring.
[19:50:05]
The search for him continues, but without any newly held back home in Alabama for a young man described as both popular and caring. The search for him continues, but without any new leads.
K. HIGGINBOTHAM: I don't want anybody to think that we're thinking of him in the past because we're not.
MONTGOMERY (voice-over): Hope that Weston is okay, trapped, or lost in the Japanese forest.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MONTGOMERY: And, Erin, because it's nearly been a week now since Weston Higginbotham went missing during a family vacation in Japan, of course, his family, they're extremely emotionally distressed. Now, the police have confirmed to us that they're continuing their search. They're specifically targeting these forested areas around the station where Weston was last spotted in the hopes that they might find the hiker somewhere in the woods.
And also, Erin, a lot of this has to do with the Japanese citizens coming out to help. They've created these missing person flyers in the hopes spread the word to as many people as possible and to bring Weston home -- Erin.
BURNETT: Hanako, thank you very much, reporting live from Kyoto there at that station, and we're going to continue to follow that story.
Next, Clarissa Ward, going to take you to the center of the Ebola outbreak. She is there. The loss that she's witnessing, unimaginable.
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[19:55:06]
BURNETT: Tonight, CNN goes to the center of the Ebola crisis, where aid workers scrambling to stop the outbreak are coming under attack.
Clarissa Ward is OUTFRONT there on the ground with this special report tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are heading to Mongbwalu, a remote gold mining town deep in the lush forests of eastern Congo and the epicenter of this Ebola crisis.
WARD: From up here, you really get a sense of the challenges in fighting this outbreak, the vastness of the terrain and the total lack of good roads.
WARD (voice-over): The World Food Program now operates a daily helicopter to deliver supplies to the beleaguered community. On this day, they're bringing a much needed mobile testing lab. Days without results here have cost lives. WARD: You can see they've sent security for us. That's because
yesterday, villagers were throwing rocks at a convoy of aid workers.
WARD (voice-over): We drive quickly through the town.
Suspicion of aid organizations runs deep here, with conspiracy theories swirling as the death toll mounts.
We jump out of the car to talk to local journalist Gloar Mumbeza (ph).
WARD: So he's saying that there's a feeling among the community as well that aid workers who are coming here are actually coming here to profit from this crisis, not to help.
WARD (voice-over): He spends his days trying to educate the community about the outbreak.
WARD: So he's saying that the reason he's frightened of this hospital is because everybody who goes in there is sick, they don't leave. They come out dead.
WARD (voice-over): Inside the hospital, a small team is holding the line.
Logistics coordinator Naoufel Dridi is preparing to disinfect another body.
NAOUFEL DRIDI, LOGISTICS COORDINATOR, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS (translated): It's like you're on the front lines, where the bullets are flying. But with Ebola, you can't see it. You can't see it.
WARD (voice-over): That invisible enemy is everywhere here. Workers carry the first body to the morgue. A grim procession disinfecting the path as they go.
A second follows closely behind.
A woman can be heard wailing from inside. "My child, my child," she cries. "I remember my child."
WARD: So he's explaining to me that the two bodies that we just saw being brought in, one of them was an 11-year-old child, and the other one was an eight-month-old baby. And you can hear, we've been hearing the wails of the family. It's just -- it's unimaginable.
WARD (voice-over): The bodies keep coming, six in total this day, each one a family destroyed.
The mayor of Mongbwalu is overwhelmed. His town has never seen anything like this.
WARD: Can we talk about when this all started? When did you first understand that there was something terribly wrong going on here?
MAYOR SESEREKI MANDRO ISRAEL, MONGBWALU, DRC (translated): The date was February 22nd when a body arrived from Bunia in a coffin. WARD: The 22nd of February.
WARD (voice-over): That's more than 11 weeks before the outbreak was declared.
ISRAEL (translated): Two or three weeks later, people started to die here. The deaths in two weeks, there were 48 dead, here in Mongbwalu.
WARD (voice-over): The virus continued to spread, silently, invisibly, through this town and beyond. Healthcare workers are now playing catch-up to contain the outbreak, and the people of Mongbwalu are still paying the price.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WARD: Now, Erin, in terms of how it was possible that the virus spread for so many weeks before an outbreak was declared, the mayor told us that there are high rates of tuberculosis and malaria in his region. Some of the symptoms of those can be quite similar to the Ebola virus.
But beyond that, when they were using test kits to test for Ebola, those test kits were testing for the Zaire strain, which is a different strain of Ebola. Truly, Erin, it was a perfect storm.
BURNETT: Clarissa Ward, thank you so much.
And Clarissa, there on the ground to bring you the story.
Thanks for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
