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Erin Burnett Outfront
U.S. Launches New Strikes Against "Multiple Targets In Iran"; Trump Calls Graham Platner "An Outright Pig" After Primary Win; Former CIA Official Speaks Out Against Pulte As DNI. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 10, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:00]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, the U.S. launching new strikes against Iran as we speak, as some of Trump's biggest supporters tonight are calling him out over the war.
Plus, he worked in the CIA's clandestine service for 28 years, and tonight he's speaking out, saying Bill Pulte serving as the DNI is dangerous. John Sipher is OUTFRONT.
And the nationwide battle over A.I. data centers is getting ugly and violent, as more and more Americans are saying, "No, not in my backyard." We have a special report tonight.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news -- strikes are underway. As we speak, right now, the U.S. is attacking Iran at this hour. Iranian state media says explosions were heard in two locations in the south of Iran near the Strait of Hormuz.
The Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, says, quote, "Key Iranian facilities will be bombed."
And we've just got this just in, we'll show it to you. Iran's semi- official news agency is posting photos, we'll show them when we get them, of a drinking water reservoir that officials say was destroyed in a missile strike.
And they're also showing munition fragments that experts are telling us appear to be from a U.S.-made bomb, one of the largest categories of precision-guided munitions.
Now, we can't independently confirm those details. We'll show you the images when we have them, but that's what's coming out from Iranian state media.
And it comes in the context of this, Trump levying threats against Iran earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to be attacking them and attacking them very hard. We hit them hard yesterday and we're going to hit them again hard today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Those strikes, Trump says, are in retaliation for an Iranian Shahed drone which brought down a U.S. helicopter, a drone that cost a few thousand dollars, bringing down a helicopter that could cost more than $40 million. Quite a feat, considering this claim Trump has been making for more than two months now. Listen to him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We've wiped every single force in Iran out very completely.
Wiped out their military in every aspect.
We've decimated them as a military.
They have no military left.
Iran's military is decimated.
We have totally destroyed their military.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, the facts obviously show otherwise. And -- well, it's not just the fact that the facts don't add up, and it's not people who are criticizing Trump who are calling out those inaccurate statements. It is now some of his biggest cheerleaders who are taking issue with that.
Listen to Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAURA INGRAHAM, FOX NEWS HOST: We keep hearing their military is destroyed, obviously, but if their military is destroyed, how are they continuing to hit us?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Okay, fair, accurate. And that coming just a day after Trump said a peace deal is imminent and he claimed to be in the final throes of what will be a very, very good deal, something that his cheerleaders are also taking issue with.
Here's Fox News host Jesse Watters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JESSE WATTERS, FOX NEWS HOST: He keeps saying we're very close. We're days away. And I don't know what that means. We've heard that for a very long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Oh, he's right about that. No one knows what that means. In fact, Trump has actually made that claim at least 38 times since the war began. Well, today, Trump gave this explanation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We were really close to a deal, but they keep tapping us along. They keep playing us for suckers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And thanks in part to Trump's war with Iran, which is now in its 103rd day, Annual inflation rose to a three-year high of 4.2 percent in May, led by rising costs for energy. In fact, energy costs accounted for 60 percent of the increase, energy costs that have surged because of the war in Iran.
Trump, though, tonight, said this about that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I love it. The numbers were great. You know what I really love? I love the inflation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It's such an odd thing to say I love the inflation, but the comment is actually consistent for Trump. Remember this the other day?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: To what extent are American financial situations motivating you to make a deal?
TRUMP: Not even a little bit. I don't think about American financial situation, and I don't think about anybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: He actually went back and started the sentence with the predicate. You know, when you teach someone to, you know, restate the question in the answer, he actually did it there.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT at the White House.
Kristen, Trump authorizing strikes on Iran for the second night in a row. We know this is happening as we speak. We talked about some of those images coming out of Iran now.
What are you learning about where this is going, this escalation? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's certainly what we're trying to get to the bottom of, Erin, because what we've seen from President Trump, we've seen this before. He's used this kind of rhetoric. He's even used strikes to essentially go all the way up to the line where he says he's going to obliterate a civilization, only to back down or extend a ceasefire, in some cases.
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And we know that he has been trying to stay away from any kind of military action because he wants this war to be over. He wants to have some kind of diplomatic off-ramp. And that's likely why you're seeing the language you're seeing from CENTCOM, which is the U.S. Central Command, who put out this language about these strikes, saying that they were additional self-defense strikes, even though it is still a day later.
And yesterday, we had been told by U.S. officials that this was going to be limited in scope in response to the downing that helicopter and also saying that it was in response to Iran's unwarranted and continued aggression. They're clearly trying to frame this in a way that this is still defensive strikes, not offensive strikes. So it gives you some idea of where this could be headed.
But the other part of that that doesn't really line up with what we saw today was the fact that President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth were previewing this all day long, saying that they were going to strike again. So it is not as though they have been bombarded by Iran and now are defending once again, but they are categorizing it as such.
The other question about this is what does this mean for those negotiations? We are clearly not in the same place we were two days ago when President Trump said a deal was coming in two to three days. You could hear his frustration today. This idea that Iran is tap- tapping the United States along, something that, by the way, experts had told the United States and President Trump would happen in these negotiations because it's something that they have done before in the past.
But at this point, you're seeing a level of frustration and level of trying to figure out a way to bring the Iranians back to the table. The question is, do we go further, do the United States go further than these strikes the second night in a row and enter back into a new phase where we are in a full-on military combat operation with Iran, or are they going to actually just try to pull back and get Iran back to the table? We just don't know the answer.
BURNETT: Right, right, and of course, there's another player that can determine the answer to that, and that's Iran.
All right, Kristen, thank you very much. Kristen, with new reporting from the White House.
And as I mentioned, Iran's semi-official news agency has posted photos of what they say is a drinking water reservoir that they say was destroyed in a missile strike. So we've got these images. Take a look at what you're looking at.
They now also are showing images of munition fragments that experts tell CNN appear to be from a U.S. large precision bomb.
Now, these are the images that we're showing you here. We can't independently confirm the details. Geolocation may add up, but obviously, we don't know for sure when this was taken.
I want to bring in Fred Pleitgen because he is OUTFRONT on the ground there in Tehran.
And Fred, explosions heard tonight, multiple locations in Iran, much of it in the south along the strait with those new U.S. strikes. What more can you tell us about what's actually happening on the ground there?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Erin. You're absolutely right. The Iranians are saying that a lot of those explosions, or what people believe are explosions, are happening around that Strait of Hormuz area. One of the places that this seems to be focusing on is a little port town called Sirik, which seems to have some military elements there. Another place that we heard that there might be anti-aircraft fire is a place called Assaluyeh, which is actually one of the main energy hubs here in Iran. It's part of the Pars II gas field, which is very important for the Iranians, but again, not confirmed that there's any impacts there.
There were some reports of some possible anti-aircraft activity, however, going on there. One of the things that we heard just a couple of minutes ago, and this comes from Iran's strait broadcaster, is that the Iranians are saying that the Strait of Hormuz, as far as they are concerned, is now completely closed down by the Iranian military and that any ship trying to cross that strait will be targeted by the Iranians, whether it's an oil tanker or anything else.
So that could be a significant development going on.
I was able to speak to a senior commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps earlier today, and they vowed that there would be a harsh response if there were more strikes by the United States. So that's certainly something that we believe could happen. in the not-too- distant future, the Iranians saying there would be immediate strikes.
And one of the things that the Iranians, by the way, Erin, have also been reacting to is what President Trump has been saying about them tapping along. The Iranians are saying, look, as far as the negotiating process is concerned, one of the things the U.S. needs to take into account is that because the U.S. and Israel targeted so much of Iran's leadership before, the security protocols that are in place right now just make it very difficult for the leadership to communicate here, and that just makes the process that much, Erin.
BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely. All right, Fred Pleitgen, thank you very much. Live in Tehran for us. Thank you. OUTFRONT now, Congressman Jim Himes. He's the top Democrat on the
House Intelligence Committee. And I appreciate your time tonight, Congressman.
So what can you tell us about these new strikes as you understand what's happening?
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Yeah, yeah, well, it's part of a larger, very dangerous game, right?
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So the Iranians are viewing this conflict as one big conflict. So when Israel bombs in Lebanon, as they are, they regard that as a violation of the ceasefire. And I don't know all of the circumstances, but when an Apache, a U.S. Apache helicopter goes down we retaliate, you know, you're into a world where they of course are also going to retaliate.
The reason that's a scary thing is because they have the ability they have thousands of missiles thousands of drones and they don't necessarily have the ability to do a lot of damage to the United States military in the area although we worry about that, but they have the ability to basically destroy the energy infrastructure in the UAE and in Qatar.
They have the ability to ask the Houthis to close the straight through which oil is flowing right now in the Red Sea is the Bab-el-Mandeb the Houthis can close that they have a lot of cards to play and all of those cards point in one direction which is gasoline prices going very, very high -- a lot higher than they are right now for the American people.
And that's why you're seeing -- for all of Hegseth's bluster -- that's why you're seeing these statements about how we're being defensive and proportionate and everything because they know that Iran can make the situation a lot worse for the American consumer than it is today.
BURNETT: I want to ask you about those gas prices in a moment, but first, what you said about the Iranian military, right? Trump has said, and we were just playing some of it, over and over and over and over and over, that Iran's military is decimated, obliterated at the bottom of the sea, right? Pick your choice on any given day.
But obviously, it's not. And according to a CIA assessment seen by "The New York Times", Iran still has 70 percent of its missile launchers, 70 percent of its missile pile from before the war.
And by the way, those numbers from the CIA assessment are several weeks old. So if anything, those numbers have gone up rather than down in the past few weeks. I'm just curious, Congressman, when you take a step back, what has Trump accomplished from the war?
HIMES: Well, I mean, it's there for all to see, right? We took a bad supreme leader, killed him, and replaced him with a much worse son who is probably more inclined to pursue a nuclear weapon who is much more ideologically out there. We showed the Iranians or I should say the -- you know, the Iranians were shown two things that they didn't know before number one can their regime survive a U.S. military attack. We know the answer to that question today is yes, and something that had never been tested before can the Iranians close the Strait of Hormuz well now we know the answer to that question, too.
So the achievements here and Americans feel this every single day as they fill up their gas tanks at $1.50 a gallon higher than they did before President Trump, without consulting Congress, wandered into this war, the results are there for all to see.
And the problem is -- there's two choices right now. You know, Pete Hegseth can pound his chest and say, you know, we're going to obliterate, somehow obliterate more of the military. And you're exactly right. They still have the capability to do what they need to do to create a lot of pain.
Or the president can take a bad deal. And that's an ugly statement because the deal that the president is going to eventually take, and make no mistake, he's going to take that deal, is going to be a really bad deal. It's probably going to be far short of the deal, the nuclear deal that the Obama administration was able to negotiate back in 2015.
BURNETT: And I guess at some level, any deal starts with opening the Strait of Hormuz, which was the status quo prior to the war itself. And to that effect, Trump is now saying that the U.S. military has been involved in what he calls a, quote/unquote, "secret" mission supporting oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. He says that has resulted in more than 100 million barrels passing through.
Obviously, if you look on shipping and watching ships go, you don't see that. And then he also said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I can say it now. Something you didn't know. You know, we've been taking out millions of barrels of oil. Nobody knows it. You know who doesn't know about it? Iran until right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: He's employing millions of their barrels that they are selling at, obviously, hugely inflated prices to finance the Iranian regime. What do you know about what he's saying there, about that Iran didn't until right now know we're taking millions of their barrels of oil and this 100 million barrels that Trump says he's actually helped get through the strait?
HIMES: Yeah, well, look, a lot of that is just flat-out untrue, right? And remember the record here, right? This war was going to be over in a couple of days. For the last three months, the Iranians have been two or three days or maybe a week or two weeks away from striking a deal.
So let's just agree that the president has precisely zero credibility on anything that he says about the Iran war. But look, you don't need to be an intelligence expert to understand that in the Strait of Hormuz, you're not moving anything in secret. With a good pair of binoculars on either coast, you can see what's happening, set aside the satellite imagery that people have access to.
So, now, where he's not wrong, and I'm just back from Ukraine after a week and a half, is that the president decided to let the Russians sell their oil. And so, you know, the Russians are now selling oil that otherwise would not get sold, taking those dollars to attack the Ukrainians who are sending people to the Gulf to protect our folks because they know something about drone warfare.
So, I mean, this is just a -- you know, I can't think of an unprofaned way to say it, but it is I really --
BURNETT: I'm thinking of a certain word, too, that describes what you just described. I guess it starts with cluster and it's not --
(CROSSTALK)
HIMES: Dumpster fire. That's safe for families.
BURNETT: Congressman Himes, I appreciate your time and thank you very much.
HIMES: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: And next, Trump trashing Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He's just an outright pig. He's like a pig.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, how much of a threat is Platner to Republicans? Any road to the Senate for Democrats runs through Maine, and a top forecaster with a "Cook Report" next, with new details.
Plus, freak out over the Epstein files. New details about a rare Situation Room meeting without Trump, without the president, because other White House officials were so alarmed about what could come out in the files, they had a meeting without him to talk about it. One official calling Epstein Trump's Iran-Contra.
And Republicans out with a bizarre new A.I. deepfake ad of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesus Christ was a radical feminist. He helped me reckon with my whiteness, my masculinity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't make eye contact with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Will those fake ads actually work?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:45]
BURNETT: Tonight, President Trump unleashing on Graham Platner just hours after the Democrat won his party's Senate primary in Maine.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I watched that thug that's up in Maine. He's a thug. And they're trying to make excuses for him.
I mean, he's worse than any human being that's ever run your office, probably, because he's just an outright pig. He's like a pig. I watched him a couple of times. He's like a pig. That's what he reminds me of.
You know, I come up with good names for people. I don't want to stick him with that one, although I think pigs would be very upset about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It's no surprise Trump is taking on Platner, who is dealing with a growing list of controversies and allegations, because, really, this is an important seat. If Platner can flip Republican Susan Collins' seat, Democrats could end up controlling the Senate. It is crucial. It could come down to him, and it certainly requires Maine.
Let's go to Dave Wasserman. He is the senior editor and elections analyst at the Cook Political Report, one of the nation's top most respected election forecasters.
All right, Dave, so let me just ask you. Platner, when the vote has come in in Maine, he's gotten more than 70 percent of the vote here. We're at 72 percent with almost all the votes in, a few more to be counted. And that is in the context of people knowing about the Nazi tattoo, the sexting, all of it.
And you're looking at this race right now. You see these margins there, and now looking ahead to the face-off with Susan Collins, what do you see coming?
DAVID WASSERMAN, SENIOR EDITOR & ELECTIONS ANALYST, THE COOK POLITICAL REPORT: Erin, this is going to be a toss-up all the way through election day, and Democrats can't take control of the Senate without winning the bluest state that's on the competitive board, which is Maine. And the polls that we've seen since Graham Platner has had arguably the two worst weeks of his campaign show that Susan Collins is still less popular, has higher unfavorables than Graham Platner.
And Maine is a small state. Trump is built in person. And if word back in Maine were that Graham Platner was a menace to women, then I think you would see, given that voters are only a few degrees of separation from both candidates personally, that he would have received a smaller share of the Democratic vote. The fact that he got 72 percent, even though Governor Janet Mills was
hinting but not so subtly that she was still on the ballot, indicates that Democrats are still fairly united behind Graham Platner. The big question is how independent voters are going to react to the kitchen sink being thrown at him, arguably it already has, but particularly older women who dislike Donald Trump but have voted for Susan Collins in the past.
BURNETT: Right, a crucial demographic. Okay, so all roads to Senate go through Maine. Another road that Democrats are not counting on but very hopeful about actually goes through Texas. And a pro-Trump PAC called Citizens for Sanity has just dropped an A.I. deepfake ad about Democrat James Talarico in his Senate race, which is against the controversial Republican Ken Paxton.
Here's a clip from it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jesus Christ was a radical feminist. He helped me reckon with my whiteness, my masculinity.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Don't make eye contact with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Again, A.I., that's not actually James Talarico, but the same group also released another A.I. deepfake ad that shows an image of Talarico in a dress singing my favorite things from "The Sound of Music" with revised lyrics about trans kids.
So when you see deepfake ads like this, Dave, being used five months ahead of the general against Talarico, what does that say about this race?
WASSERMAN: Yeah, you know, the interesting thing is that this is not some anonymous content creator on the web. It's the official arm of Senate Republicans who have engaged in this tactic. And in Texas, there are pretty stringent regulations against deepfakes, but they only apply 30 days before the election.
And most voters are going to know one way or the other how they're going to vote well in advance of 30 days. The race is on to define James Talarico here. Ken Paxton is already very well known to And Republicans, they are going to portray him at every to define James Talarico here. Ken Paxton's already very well known to voters.
And Republicans, they are going to portray him at every opportunity as a crunchy Austin liberal who is woke and out of touch with the majority of the electorate.
[19:25:06]
And so Talarico and Democrats really have to get out there and make the case that that's not who he is and put the focus back on Ken Paxton quickly. This is going to be a race to the bottom of probably the most scorched-earth Senate campaign of the decade.
BURNETT: Wow, and that is saying something when you had someone else just calling someone a pig and a thug -- a thug and a pig, pig times four or five there. I didn't even count how many times the president used the word.
All right, Dave Wasserman, thank you very much. It's always great to see you.
And now, former Democratic Congressman Max Rose.
So you hear what Dave says about me, that that's going to be a toss-up all the way, but when he looks at those margins, that he sees that Democrats or if there was a time to make a statement about how you felt about Grant Platner, you could have done it and he still would have won yesterday.
MAX ROSE, FORMER DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN: A hundred percent.
BURNETT: And they didn't. So, you know, he thinks that this is a toss-up all the way. What does that say to you?
ROSE: It says that this is competitive. It also says that we should not deny Platner's political power. He was running in this primary against a sitting governor in a very small state. Janet Mills knew everybody. And she conceded before the election. That is not easy.
But the other thing that Wasserman touched on, which I think really hit home, was everybody already knows about the Platner story. There's no negative ad that's going to teach them anything new. But the mistake that we have made in terms of running against Collins in the past is we've tried to run Susan Collins light, not really attack her record, be very diplomatic.
This election is a referendum on her horrific record, on her record of supporting Trump, on ripping health care from millions of people, on supporting forever wars, and on practicing zero oversight over Trump corruption. That's what this is about. And I think Maine voters realize that.
BURNETT: That the kid gloves are off in this.
Okay, now, you heard some of Trump's attacks on Platner, right? The thug and the pigs. Here's another thing that he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Even his business, you know, he's not a businessman at all. His parents supported him. Guy's a loser.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You know, there are just moments like this you do have to point out, you know, that Trump himself got started with a million dollar loan from his father. So I guess sometimes we recognize things in others that are in ourselves. But that does us nothing compared to Kellyanne Conway.
Kellyanne Conway went on Fox News within minutes of the polls closing last night. And I just got to play for you what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KELLYANNE CONWAY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: They stood by this misogynist. They stood by his boorish behavior. He has a troubling relationship with the truth. He can't tell the truth.
His entire persona is contrived. Dad gave him money for the house. That would be fine, except he presents himself as just like you, and you should like him for that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: She wasn't talking about Trump. Just to be clear, she was talking about black.
ROSE: Right. This is the funniest thing. Look, all of us New Yorkers know that Donald Trump was a joke of a businessman who was funded by his father, never let into the real estate board, never had a seat at the Regency, nothing. He was a total joke.
So it takes -- I mean, this is crazy that they think that that's a critique, but what you're watching with both of those comments It's just a -- they're grasping for straws because they don't know what to say because when you're running against Susan Collins, and you look at this record that she has of literally going --
BURNETT: They probably would have expected that a guy with all these scandals to come out against Susan Collins would be really hurt. Susan Collins is a woman. She's been a moderate Republican, right? But somehow it didn't work.
ROSE: She hasn't been a moderate. Her record is horrific. Voting against health care for millions of people, voting for the war in Iran, refusing to ever stand up against Trump for this corruption. That's no moderate.
And Maine residents, Maine voters are realizing it. So they're trying to talk about his oyster business and his daddy and this and that. When you juxtapose that with Collins' horrific record, I mean, there's no comparison here.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much. I appreciate it. Max Rose, it's good to see you.
ROSE: Good to see you.
BURNETT: And next, a 28-year veteran of the CIA's clandestine service who says Bill Pulte is not only unqualified to be DNI, that his appointment is flat out dangerous to America. John Sipher is speaking OUTFRONT.
And Seattle, now the biggest city in America to ban A.I. data centers, as the fight in this nation over those A.I. data centers is getting physical and ugly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are asking you, please, stop this theft and rape now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:34:01]
BURNETT: The breaking news, President Trump defending his controversial decision to name loyalist Bill Pulte to be the director of national intelligence by touting his experience as a federal housing executive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He's done a great job at Fannie Mae. I always say I'd rather have smart than experience, but experience is good, too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Pulte's experience when it comes to DNI, while nonexistent, he does have experience, though, in the homebuilding industry. He's a third-generation homebuilder who launched an investment firm with his grandfather's money. He does not have national security experience and is still going through the process of obtaining a security clearance to access highly classified information.
Trump's praise, though, comes as our next guest, a 28-year veteran of the CIA's clandestine service. is warning in a new op-ed, quote, "With Bill Pulte, Trump is sending a dangerous message. And John Cipher is OUTFRONT now, former senior executive in the CIA's National Clandestine Service. And John, 28 years. is sending a dangerous message."
And John Sipher is OUTFRONT now, former senior executive in the CIA's National Clandestine Service.
And, John, 28 years in that unit at the CIA. You rarely speak out here.
[19:35:02]
Why do you feel it is important to speak out now publicly about Pulte?
JOHN SIPHER, FORMER CIA NATIONAL CLANDESTINE SERVICE SENIOR EXECUTIVE: Well, you know, frankly, this whole thing is not very complicated. You know, we've seen with the Trump administration, personnel is policy and this guy is wholly unqualified. Secondly, it sends a disastrous message to a large and professional workforce that does really important work.
But the bigger issue really is this is weakening national security. The president clearly is not interested in professionalism. He's not interested in an intelligence community that tells truth to power. He wants them to just cherry pick information so they can create conspiracy theories or he can use it to go after his enemies.
And so, you know, national security and intelligence work is serious work. And this shows that he's not taking it seriously.
BURNETT: So when Trump says, you know, that Pulte, that there's experience and I guess he's referring there to Fannie Mae and, you know, he says Pulte's done a great job with Fannie Mae to cite that as, well, this is why this guy should be DNI. What do you say to that?
SIPHER: Well, you know, he knows better than that. He -- national security usually involves experience, it involves training, it involves having a serious security clearance. These issues are complicated. The danger around the world now with the war going on in Iran, what's happening in Israel, China, Russia, Cuba, these kind of things. It's not a play thing.
And so, there are plenty of people with the kind of experience and personality that can do this kind of job, and it sends a signal that he's not interested in that. He sees professionalism as disloyalty, and it looks to me like he just wants to have his own detective agency in the intelligence community, and that's just really, you know, add to the people who work there.
BURNETT: So can I ask you, when you say his own detective agency, right? Trump has actually said what he wants Pulte to focus on as the leader of America's intelligence community. And it actually does come down to what you said.
Take a listen to Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He's a very smart guy, and he may find out some things about the rigged elections, et cetera, et cetera.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, John, how can Pulte interfere in the midterms in this role, if that's what Trump wants him to do?
Yeah, I mean, frankly, foreign intelligence has nothing to do with our, quote/unquote, "rigged elections". It's about outside of our borders, dealing with foreigners, dealing with foreign threats. The concern is, and he's shown this before and his comments make it clear, that he wants someone there that can cherry pick information to help create these false narratives that he uses to attack his enemies. He wants to probably weaponize that information. And the problem is tough here because the work is complex. It's all hidden behind classified boundaries.
And so therefore, if someone who is a partisan working for the president goes in there and takes classified information out without context, he can use that information to make it publicly and then create these false conspiracies and things to use, and there's really no way to get around it because it's classified information and journalists like you and others aren't going to be able to put it back in context. It's --
BURNETT: And you can't -- it is -- when it comes like a fire hose that you like that right you can't every single day debunk every single thing that's been said, right? It becomes overwhelming, the sheer onslaught of it.
Can I just ask you something else, John, since I have you just came in. This is breaking news that we're getting in as I speak now.
Fox News reporter Trey Yingst, who's based in Tel Aviv, just spoke with Trump, okay? And he said something about his conversation that I want to play for you. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TREY YINGST, FOX NEWS REPORTER: President Trump told me that Iran called him tonight. Top Iranian officials and President Trump spoke directly, according to the commander-in-chief tonight, as the president was sitting in the Situation Room, and he told me that the Iranians asked them to stop bombing. And the president said to me, the bombing will stop shortly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: John, so Trump says he spoke directly to Iranian officials. What do you say to this report that you're hearing?
SIPHER: Well, the problem is we've seen a pattern. The president will say whatever he wants to say to make it look like he's moving forward or that he's taking things seriously. You know, I don't take the stuff that he says seriously anymore. You know, I would like to. He's the president of the United States.
But when you put someone like Bill Pulte in charge of the intelligence community, it shows that you're not working with your institutions. You're not going to the State Department, not going to experts, not going to the intelligence community, essentially are winging and talking to non-professionals.
So he's talking to the Iranians. Who's helped him? Who's behind him? These are complicated and complex issues.
And so, you know, I hope what he says is true, but so far, the pattern has been it's not.
[19:40:00]
BURNETT: Yeah. All right, John, thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight. John Sipher, as I said, about 30 years in CIA.
And next, Bill Gates testifying in the House about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Stunning statement that a few years ago you wouldn't expect to hear. Gates says Epstein tried to use his extramarital affairs against him. Top Democrat in that committee joins me next.
And the revolt in America against A.I. It's bipartisan and it's playing out across this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're opening a Pandora's box that can't be closed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:12]
BURNETT: Breaking news, quote, "freak out". Explosive new details about the crisis inside the White House over the Epstein files and unsubstantiated graphic allegations involving President Trump.
"The New York Times'" Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan revealing in their upcoming book that last year, before the Epstein files, or the Epstein files that we've actually seen came out, and they write, quote, "Behind the scenes, the Epstein crisis was paralyzing the Trump administration to a far greater extent than the public knew. It was consuming the highest ranks of the administration as no issue had for the president's team since the Russia investigation in his first term."
And so then Haberman and Swan go on to reveal a series of Situation Room meetings, which, we're talking about the Situation Room, so you get the level of gravity there. And then they report that those meetings were convened without Trump being present. And Vice President J.D. Vance reportedly was there, sitting at the head of the table.
They report that at these meetings, talking about Epstein, the then Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino warned everyone, quote, "This is going to be President Trump's Iran-Contra."
Joining me now, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia. He is the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and he is OUTFRONT now.
And Congressman, 2-1/2 million documents, OK, 2-1/2 million documents, almost half, I know, as you have said, of the DOJ Epstein files have not been released, 2-1/2 million. And many of the pages that we have seen are covered in black. They are so heavily redacted.
So, when you read accounts like this in this new book by Maggie and Jonathan, members of the Trump circle saying that this to be as Iran- Contra in their reporting. Do you believe that there are bombshells still hidden in the Epstein files?
REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): There is no question that there are bombshells still in the Epstein files. It's why essentially half of the files have not been released. We have more information to gather from the Epstein estate, numerous other interviews from witnesses and those around Epstein's circle.
But what is stunning about this reporting, and honestly, I read it, and the one thing that took me really by surprise rise is how President Trump's chief of staff was at all these meetings, but also Vice President Vance. And the fact that the vice president sat himself at the head of the Situation Room, a room that is designed, as we all know, for incredibly important classified national security type conversations, they're meeting in the Situation Room multiple times. We don't know exactly how many, with the vice president of the United States leading these meetings with the chief of staff to president involved in these meetings.
This is a White House cover-up, and it's the first time we begin to understand that the vice president has actually played a role in this cover-up and is an Epstein investigation. We did not know that the vice president was giving suggestions, was talking to the FBI, was having conversations with the chief of staff. And so, it is stunning. And I am convinced that we need to talk to every single person that had these meetings in that Situation Room.
BURNETT: And I mean, it is stunning to think about it. And Haberman and Swan also report that last summer, speaking of J.D. Vance, that, quote, Vance had also floated to colleagues an extraordinary PR gambit that the White House enlists Tucker Carlson to interview Epstein's longtime girlfriend and co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell in prison. It might help the president if Maxwell was willing to state that Trump had not been part of any wrongdoing with Epstein.
Pretty incredible that they report that, because then that actually happened. It was just someone else who did the interview. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who went and did that interview and got all of that out of it.
So, everything Vance suggested happened. It just was with Blanche and not Tucker Carlson. That's pretty incredible when we try to kind of look back to see how that Blanche meeting happened.
GARCIA: Look, and that suggestion was crazy to read through that reporting. Look, I think the fact that the vice president is clearly been so engaged in directing what's going on at the White House, the messaging, what the strategy should be around the Epstein files is actually really significant. The fact that Susie Wiles has clearly been more involved in this cover-up in the way that the White House has rolled out the Epstein files, the directions being given to Bondi, to Patel, I think is pretty stunning.
And so, what it -- what it does for us is it really, for me, ensures that we have to fight to get all of these folks in front of the oversight committee. The vice president has a lot of questions to answer. Susie Wiles has questions to answer. Clearly, members of the FBI at every level have to provide us with more information.
And look, the former AG Pam Bondi, when we had her in front of us for an interview not that long ago here within the last couple weeks.
BURNETT: Yeah. GARCIA: She said she wasn't involved. She didn't know what was going on. That's also clearly not true. She was involved in some of these meetings sometimes by telephone and is also a central figure in this reporting.
[19:50:02]
BURNETT: Right. And I think everyone should be pounding the table wanting to get all the Epstein files and take out the redactions of everything except for the names of the victims.
That, you know, as we've all said from day one, shouldn't be an issue. I will note that the President -- the White House put a statement out, I'm sorry, which repeated Trump's claims that he did no wrongdoing, saying that he was innocent in all Epstein-related matters. So, of course, I will note that.
But when you talk about wanting more people to testify, some of whom were in those meetings as reported by "The New York Times", one person who did testify or appeared before your committee was Bill Gates. He did so voluntarily behind closed doors about his ties to Epstein. And he said, if I understand correctly, Congressman, he said that Epstein blackmailed him, that Epstein found out that Bill Gates had affairs and then used that to blackmail him.
Do you believe that Bill Gates in any way was a victim as such an allegation seems to suggest?
GARCIA: I don't think Bill Gates was a victim. I mean, look, I think -- I think that Bill Gates also made the decision after he knew that Jeffrey Epstein had committed a horrific act had essentially pleaded guilty of that act against a minor. He chose to have a relationship, he chose to attend meetings, he chose to essentially continue to work with Jeffrey Epstein and try to get additional support for his foundation.
Now, look, Mr. Gates obviously regrets that, but it is a decision that we see over and over by these powerful men. They understand and know what's happening, they hear things about Mr. Epstein, they saw what happened with this trial, and it's, to me, disgusting that people choose to continue to interact with him.
BURNETT: All right, Congressman, I appreciate your time and thank you very much.
And next, the ugly A.I. battle now spreading across America over the data centers. So Seattle has now come out, biggest city so far, to ban new A.I. data centers, as really it is becoming a battle and one that is uniting Americans across this country against A.I.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:55:42]
BURNETT: Tonight, a fierce fight unfolding across America over A.I. data centers, and Shimon Prokupecz has this special report OUTFRONT. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RON GIBSON, INDIANAPOLIS CITY-COUNTY COUNCILOR: One, two, three, four.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Ron Gibson counts the bullet holes in his front door.
GIBSON: Twelve, 13, 14, 15. And it was a sign that someone conveniently put up under the Indianapolis Colts mat and said that no data center.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Gibson is an Indianapolis city councilor targeted, he says, for supporting a data center in his community.
GIBSON: At some point that night after midnight, we heard a loud banging on glass and glass breaking. I didn't realize that my house had been shot up until daylight, and I saw this door and I could see through the door out. I mean, I could see daylight was coming through the door. Really touching to me was my son's Lego set was on the dining table. The bullets went around and I think about it when he'd have been in that that space at that time of night, scary stuff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You better vote no! You better vote no.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The political backlash to data centers has been fierce nationwide, aided by the rise and fear of artificial intelligence.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We don't need it. We need water.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): In Utah, residents are fighting a proposed 40,000-acre data center that when combined is twice the size of Manhattan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe this decision should be made after the election.
PROKUPECZ: So meetings like this in Union, Missouri, are happening all across the country and really showing the fear and concern.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The burdens would stay local. The profits would leave town. We are asking you, please, stop this theft and rape now.
PROKUPECZ: What could a data center do to a community like this?
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): To find out, we traveled 850 miles from Union, Missouri, to a place already familiar with data centers.
Loudoun County, Virginia, outside D.C., this is Data Center Alley. Just in this area alone, there are over 200 buildings that contain data centers, some 50 million square feet, enough to fit eight Pentagons.
BUDDY RIZER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOUDOUN CO. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Having even one data center can double the amount of tax revenue. We've been able to build 30-some schools and 15 fire stations and six libraries.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): But not everything went right.
GREG PIRIO, LIVES NEAR DATA CENTER: It is like having constant jet airplanes flying overhead.
PROKUPECZ: Because you can hear it right now, right?
PIRIO: Yeah.
PROKUPECZ: Like, take a listen here, right? This is --
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): That hum you hear, that's coming from this, a massive data center just feet from these homes.
PROKUPECZ: What's it like when you're trying to sleep?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like a July 4th fireworks going on.
HARI DOUE, MOTHER AND HOMEOWNER: Last night, my son Lucas got up in the middle of the night and said he couldn't sleep and came into our room. So it is affecting their sleep and they have to go to school.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): There's another problem.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If it was a southern wind today, all that would be blowing right over this -- our houses.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Diesel backup generators, when they're tested, they pollute.
PIRIO: Those are the days in particular that I feel irritation in my throat.
PROKUPECZ: How do you respond to that?
RIZER: It's a very unfortunate situation because when it was built and approved, it was intended to be on the grid. Then in 2022, we had -- Dominion tell us, well, we're out of power. They had already built and leased the building and so the only solution for them was the gas turbines.
It is a temporary situation. Eventually, the power will be delivered to the site, but that doesn't help them tonight when they're trying to get to sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're opening a Pandora's box that can't be closed.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Back in Missouri, they're fighting two proposed new data center campuses in Franklin County.
Bill Hubbard's (ph) century old farm is next to one of them. Recent reports about a Georgia data center draining water from nearby farms has Hubbard worried.
BILL HUBBARD, RESIDENT: They say they're not going to drill wells, all these guarantees. You know, 737s weren't supposed to crash.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The company behind one of the campuses says they won't tax local resources.
ROMAN PASEWICZ, PROVIDENT DATA CENTERS: We're developing a closed loop water system so it conserves water. We believe we could develop them in a conscious way, getting feedback from the community.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Most here are like the Hubbards. They worry because the land is their life.
HUBBARD: This is home. There's no amount of money that could get me to sell this. No amount of money.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Union, Missouri.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Thanks for joining us.
Anderson starts now.
