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Erin Burnett Outfront
First On OutFront: Exclusive Interview with Trump; Obama's Emotional Moment; DOJ Helping Musk? Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 18, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:21]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next;
Breaking news, Trump -- defiant, defensive, and in denial of reality. We have the first clips from his exclusive interview with "Axios". You're going to hear them here. And Marc Caputo, who pressed Trump on Iran, is our guest.
Plus, the Obamas taking center stage. Michelle Obama moving her husband to tears at the opening of his presidential library. Both of them taking Trump directly on, on that public stage.
And Trump's DOJ, in a very unusual move, is now getting involved in a lawsuit to help Elon Musk. How come?
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, an exclusive interview tonight with President Trump. "Axios's" Mark Caputo just sitting down with the president in Trump's first interview since he signed that agreement with Iran about 24 hours ago.
Here's some of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARC CAPUTO, AXIOS WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There are no limits.
CAPUTO: No?
TRUMP: No, not -- I haven't learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but, you know, there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily. I did a naval blockade where not one ship was able to get through. Some tried. They didn't -- you know, it didn't last very long. CAPUTO: And it certainly brought Iran to the table more than before. However, beginning of the conflict, you had talked about you only wanted unconditional surrender. And --
TRUMP: Well --
CAPUTO: -- the MOU doesn't look like unconditional surrender.
TRUMP: Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender.
CAPUTO: It is?
TRUMP: I think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You heard the incredulity in Marc's voice. We've got much more of this.
I mean, Mark went on to question the president about his claims that there's been regime change in Iran, and Trump responded to him in that case. He said, quote, "I actually think it's regime change if you want to know the truth." Now, Caputo responds to Trump, "How is it regime change if you had" and then Trump jumps in on him and says, "Because they're different people."
Caputo responds, "But you have Khamenei, Jr. You have still a lot of IRGC officials there." To which Trump responsible, "They're different people, all right? Khamenei Jr. is different from the father."
It's almost like that's a late-night skit, okay? There's a lot more news from this headline-making interview, and we're going to be talking to Mark Caputo in just a moment. We've got more for you.
But you've heard the president make a number of claims in the interview. For example, this whole issue of regime change. Well, look, Iran's new regime, when he said they were different people, yeah, one was the father, now it's the son. Mojtaba Khamenei is a different person than his father, who was killed in the U.S. air strike, which began the war. That may be about where the differences end.
Just listen to what Karim Sadjadpour, our global affairs analyst, told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, Karim, is this a new regime that's much more reasonable and less radicalized than the two prior regimes over the past four months -- or four weeks, I'm sorry?
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: That's false, Erin. It's the same regime. It's new personnel. It's the same ideology. It's a 56-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei instead of an 86-year-old Ayatollah Khamenei. And their fundamental worldview hasn't shifted one iota.
So I don't think there's any indication that it's a new group of men with a different ideology.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That sort of just makes the whole point. And as for Trump's claim that the U.S. totally defeated Iran militarily, he has said this, frankly, many times, even during the war itself.
But as we have said, when you look at the facts, the reality is that that is not true. Iran's nuclear material, of course, is still there. And we know from Seth Jones and the Center for Strategic and International Studies that Iran still has about 70 percent of its pre- war missile stockpile and 70 percent of its launchers.
OUTFRONT now, Marc Caputo, the White House reporter for "Axios", who sat down exclusively with President Trump and shared that clip first with OUTFRONT.
I mean, Marc, it's really an extraordinary conversation that you just had. I just want to emphasize, this is the first time Trump has spoken since signing the agreement with Iran, right, the memorandum of understanding. He certainly comes off as defiant and defensive in the conversation with you.
CAPUTO: He's proud. He thinks the deal, or he's projecting that the deal that he has agreed to or the memo that he signed is great because of the stock market and oil prices. That's what he's really fixated on.
BURNETT: So, let me play again a little bit more here of where you were pressing him, Mark, on the agreement with Iran that he just signed. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPUTO: What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?
[19:05:00]
TRUMP: There are no limits.
CAPUTO: No?
TRUMP: No, not -- I haven't learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but, you know, there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily.
CAPUTO: Beginning of the conflict, you had talked about you only wanted unconditional surrender. And --
TRUMP: Well --
CAPUTO: -- the MOU doesn't look like unconditional surrender.
TRUMP: Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender.
CAPUTO: It is?
TRUMP: I think so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It's the -- it is, which is the incredulity in your voice, Marc. I mean, you know, we just a moment ago laid out the fact that, you know, saying that they have no military, it's just not true.
And as you point out, maybe with your incredulity, $300 billion of a reconstruction fund, unfreezing of assets of $100 billion. The U.S. agreeing that it's going to withdraw or somehow do something that's unclear to its forces in proximity to Iran and the region, those things are not unconditional surrender.
I guess the question for you, as you're sitting there face-to-face with him, do you think that he really believes what he's saying to you?
CAPUTO: That's one of those enduring questions about Trump, is that when he says what he says he believes, does he really believe it?
The reality is, is he stayed relentlessly on message with this. His view is, is that their military has been crushed. And let's give him that, is that by and large, it's true. I mean, you know, navy has been seriously damaged, their missile capacity and the like.
Yes, there are some reports indicating it's not as destroyed as Trump says it is, but Iran really took a whipping from the United States. However, the reality is, as a lot of experts predicted at the time, The Iranians are tough, and they're resilient, and they had war games for this, and they were able to take the whipping and still survive, and were in no mood and were unlikely to unconditionally surrender. And those folks are right. The Iranians have not surrendered unconditionally.
BURNETT: And what about the whole thing on regime change, when he was looking you straight in the face and saying it's regime change because it's a different person?
CAPUTO: Yeah, that's why I said, well, are you sure about that? You have Khamenei Jr., Khamenei Jr., you have IRGC officials. They said, well, they're different people. OK.
But the reality is the Iranian military and the IRGC structure, their government structure, had anticipated one day the United States and Israel or its enemies would launch a decapitation strike and as a result they came up with something called the Mosaic doctrine, which essentially said that there'd be a mosaic a different patchwork of different leaders who could step in when other leaders were killed and that's what happened.
BURNETT: Yeah, it's just I find it interesting as you say that it's the question is does he really believe what he's saying? But that that your takeaway from talking to him was that he was remarkably on -- but he stayed consistent with what he was saying. CAPUTO: And he is -- I mean, he only had two hours of sleep. He flew in from --
BURNETT: He does sound like he's got a cold, or so he did sound a little --
CAPUTO: But he was, in the interview, yeah, he did have a lower energy level than he normally does, but his overall presentation was pretty positive, and he just -- loves the idea that gas prices are coming down, oil prices are coming down, and the stock market is going up. That's what he's really fixated on.
And that's sort of the sub-headline of this entire thing, is that Trump had had enough of this war, he'd had enough of people talking about high fuel prices, and he wanted it to end. And this is the way he brought about an end.
BURNETT: Yeah, it's fascinating. And it does raise so many questions given what he said to you about, you know, is this what really people around him are telling him? Is this the bubble that he's in or not?
You also asked him about Netanyahu, and obviously, that was at the core -- their relationship was at the core of this war to begin with. And now it's -- the fraying of that relationship is core to how this war is ending, or at least how this agreement has proceeded. What did he say about Netanyahu?
CAPUTO: He said -- I asked -- I asked him about the relationship with Netanyahu. He said, Bibi's fine, the relationship's fine. He said, but we need to keep him sane. He used that word sane.
The implication is that Netanyahu had gone a little nuts. And I asked him, how are you going to keep Israel from attacking Lebanon? And the subtext of that was, and sort of messing up this deal with Iran, something that Trump had lost his temper with Netanyahu Over a few days or a few weeks ago, I've lost track of time.
And Trump just said, they'll do what I say, that Israel loves me and what I tell them to do, they will do. So we're going to see if that sticks.
BURNETT: Well, right, we'll see if that does stick.
All right. Marc, thank you very much.
And, everyone, be sure to check out Marc's full interview, just shared with us those exclusive excerpts. But the full interview with President Trump releases tomorrow morning on "Axios". And we will all see it there.
Marc Caputo, thank you very much.
And I want to go straight to Robert Kagan, top foreign policy expert who's argued in a series of articles in "The Atlantic" that Trump's endgame in Iran would amount to surrender.
[19:10:04]
So Robert, you just heard the clips from the interview and you heard Mark talking about Trump's demeanor and He's mean in the -- in the interview. He -- Trump says he got unconditional surrender, that it's regime change because it's different people.
And even when presented with facts and incredulity, he stuck with it. He repeats it again and again.
ROBERT KAGAN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Well, he's all about the big lie, and this is going to be his big lie. I just don't think that even he, who is one of the great con artists of all time, can sell the American people on this being anything other than an American surrender.
You know, there's an easy tell about this when you think about this war, which is that the one thing we're confident of is happening is that Iran is going to get billions of dollars, tens of billions and possibly hundreds of billions of dollars --
BURNETT: Yeah.
KAGAN: -- in return for nothing.
Now, that that's called reparations. And if you look at history, Reparations are paid by the loser to the winner, you know? In World War I, Germany paid reparations to Britain and France. If Germany had won the war, Britain and France would have paid the reparations. So that's -- that's how you know what happened in this war.
Trump essentially paid the Iranians to give him a fig leaf that would allow him to come home and tell the Americans that everything is fine. So I don't think that -- I don't think that looks and they gave up nothing in order to do that.
BURNETT: So the memorandum of understanding also talks about the Strait of Hormuz, which obviously was at the core of why Trump needed to do the deal, as he saw it, that that had to open. The MOU says that Iran will use its best efforts. By the way, when they put best efforts in a legal contract, you know you have a problem. It's completely unenforceable, just to state the obvious.
However, it was to allow the safe passages of vessels toll-free for only 60 days. So -- and I'm being serious about this best effort. It is true. It means nothing. It just makes you feel better.
So you believe the strait has been irrevocably changed by the war. In what specific ways, Robert?
KAGAN: Well, it's very simple. Before the war, it was an international waterway. Nobody paid tolls going through it, and no one was blocked from going through it, even when there were wars in the region. For instance, the two Iraq wars, the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz was not closed. It was international water.
As a result of this war and codified in this agreement, Iran is in charge of the strait from now on. It's under new management, you know, Iranian management.
BURNETT: Yeah.
KAGAN: And while people are focused on whether people are going to pay -- whether nations are going to have to pay fees to Iran to transit the Strait of Hormuz, which they definitely will, the more important aspect of this is the leverage it gives Iran over every country in the world that depends on access to the Strait of Hormuz. It's going to completely change the geopolitical situation, both in the region and globally.
BURNETT: So Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's new book, obviously, is about to come out. It's on Trump's second term. And according to their reporting, Trump was furious with Vance after the American strikes on Iran nuclear facilities last summer. And the reason was because Vance did not say at the time that Iran's program was, quote, "totally obliterated". All right?
So according to the book, I don't know if you saw this, Robert, but I'm going to give you the quote. According to the book, Trump told one associate, I'm quoting now from Maggie and Jonathan, "Everyone needs to say effing obliterated. That's the word. Everyone just needs to copy what I say. Obliterated. Obliterated."
Obviously was not obliterated 'cause then we had the war that we just had. But what's your reaction to that when he's starting throwing expletives around and saying everybody needs to say the word?
KAGAN: Well, I think that answers the question that you asked of your previous guest. Does Trump believe any of this stuff? No, he doesn't believe it. He knows it's a big con. And that's why he has to tell people to get on the right page. And now everybody who is going to be a toady of the administration will talk about what a great victory this is for the United States.
But fortunately, I think there are enough people who have been supporters of Donald Trump and were supporters of the war who are pointing out that the opposite is true and that the United States has suffered a catastrophic strategic defeat in the region. But Trump, yeah, he'll be on message. I just don't think he's going to succeed this time.
BURNETT: Robert Kagan, thank you very much. I appreciate talking to you, as I always do.
And next, the Obamas back in the spotlight. The former first lady taking a very, it seems clear, dig at Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: You were doing the people's work, rescuing our economy, expanding health care, winning a Peace Prize.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, Trump's Justice Department stepping in to help out Elon Musk, an incredibly unusual move that could protect Musk from what could be an incredibly costly lawsuit.
[19:15:06]
And a new book claiming President Trump claimed he was more powerful than some of the most feared and ruthless leaders in history, including Mao, Stalin, and Hitler. Jamaal Bowman, S.E. Cupp, are next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, an upcoming new book about Donald Trump revealing that he once compared himself to some of the most feared and treacherous leaders in history, including Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler.
[19:20:08]
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan writing in their new book, "Regime Change," that they asked Trump about his power as president and his place in history during an interview conducted in March. They say that Trump asked an aide during this interview to go fetch a copy of a document, brings document back. They look at it.
The document argued that each of those leaders, quote, however fearsome in his day had no global reach. Their power was local, but Trump's was not.
And then they say that Trump proudly showed them that the letter quote reciting the names and then the letter, quote, "recited the names of some of history's most powerful figures, explaining how each fell short of his own power as president."
Now Trump told them that the writer of the document was a historian, but the authors say the document was actually written by the longtime caddy for golfer Gary Player.
Former Congressman Jamaal Bowman and S.E. Cupp are both here with me on set.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I saw -- I saw you stumble over that just a little bit as you should. It's insane.
BURNETT: And you know what? You can be a caddy and historian. You absolutely can. But I'm just saying that that he was a caddy and not an --
CUPP: Yes, that famous crossover, caddy and historian.
BURNETT: So, S.E., what do you make of the fact that Trump was in multiple ways comparing himself to these leaders, he wanted their names out there and was saying that he's more powerful.
CUPP: Well, Trump is not. Trump is a lot of things. He's not a student of history. Students of history would not want to be compared to these guys. These were the bad guys in all of the history books, right? Hitler killed himself in a bunker rather than face the tribunal that
awaited him. Stalin was poisoned by his own members of his own inner circle. Napoleon died in exile. Like, you don't want to be these guys, but I think Trump would rather be compared to these guys than like a Lincoln or a Churchill.
And I think that's very revealing about the kind of power, the kind of leader he wishes he could be. I don't think he wants to be president of this country. I think he wishes he were president of Russia or Hungary or North Korea, where he had unlimited powers, and he wasn't hemmed in by the constrictions of, like, the Constitution.
BURNETT: Well, the time when they were talking about Hitler's generals and how they listened to Hitler.
CUPP: And he had a propaganda arm. I mean, all the things that Trump seems to want.
BURNETT: I mean, Jamaal, the authors write that Trump said that the leaders, quote, maintained power through fear, and that Trump then says to Maggie and Jonathan in an interview, who would ever do a thing like that, right?
I mean, what does this tell you about Trump? Again, the specific thing he brings up, right, that they maintain power through fear.
JAMAAL BOWMAN (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Yeah, I mean, this is Donald Trump, who at the end of his first presidency, when he lost, pushed forward a big lie to the point where he incited an insurrection, an attack on the Capitol that I believe he wished was way more violent so that he could remain in power and just completely besmirch and step on the Constitution and the norms in this country so he can actually lead as a dictator.
He has always uplifted Putin. He has always uplifted dictators, both today and historical, and so this is who he wants to be, but history will never remember him as powerfully as he wants history to remember him as.
BURNETT: Isn't it interesting, though, that he -- he never -- is not an introspective person, okay? But he reveals himself in these conversations --
BOWMAN: Yeah.
BURNETT: -- with journalists who are writing a book about him.
BOWMAN: Yeah, I mean, but what's crazy about it is -- what's crazy about it is, we sit here, we talk about him, and-and we criticize him, and rightly so. But he's president for the second time, right?
BURNETT: Yeah.
BOWMAN: So he actually won twice.
BURNETT: Yeah. BOWMAN: So that that's, you know, that reminds him or tells him that what he thinks about himself is true, that he is that powerful. He won in real estate, quote/unquote, "won in real estate". And now he's leveraging the White House to continue to build his own wealth and power for himself and his family.
So he believes -- look what he did with DOGE. Look what he did with the Voting Rights Act. Look what he did with the Supreme Court.
Look what he did with ICE and immigration. Look what he's doing with Iran. He believes and he's behaving in a way that reinforces this belief that he is super powerful.
BURNETT: Well, it's interesting in the Marc Caputo interview, right? The unconditional surrender and it's regime change because it's a different dude. Whether he believes that or not.
S.E., okay, another thing happened today at Vice President Vance. So he just wrote a book about faith and his conversion to Catholicism. And he just sat down for an extensive interview with Ross Douthat from "The New York Times", who is Catholic.
And Vance talks at length about how Christianity impacts his personal life. And then there was this exchange. Let me play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSS DOUTHAT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: How does Christianity work in the Trump administration? What is Christian about the second Trump administration?
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I mean, I think that we have pursued a series of economic policies.
[19:25:04]
I would say, you know, certainly the tax policy, that if you look at it, the distributional effects are much more focused on the middle than they are on the top compared to previous Republican administrations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Interesting that, okay, the fact that he said compared to previous Republican administrations.
CUPP: Uh-huh.
BURNETT: Okay, I was kind of interested in the laugh at the top.
CUPP: Yes.
BURNETT: What's Christian about it? Was that laugh the reveal of a self-aware person?
CUPP: I think he thought -- Ross Douthat's a great interview, and he's, you know, comes from muscular Catholicism, so I love his conversations, and I think maybe he thought Ross was, like, goading, like, baiting him, like, this preposterous assumption.
But I think Ross was --
BURNETT: Like a conversation about ICE tactics or something like that.
CUPP: Yeah. Or like, you know, what's Christian about this administration? He laughed as if it was like the whole premise was a joke, because it is. But I think Ross was serious. And, it's really interesting because Trump has pulled off an incredible feat. In addition to getting conservatives to drop the conservatism, he really convinced Christianity, Christians, evangelicals in particular, to kind of drop the Christianity.
He convinced a number, a large number of evangelicals, that pursuing unnecessary wars was just, that rounding up kids and grandmas and immigrants was just, that a man who had cheated on every wife and paid off porn stars was pious and moral, that selling Bibles was a pious and okay thing to do.
I mean, that is incredible and impressive.
BURNETT: And he is selling Bibles.
CUPP: But that is impressive.
And J.D. Vance is not good at this, not just because he's new to Catholicism.
Paul Ryan, a muscular Catholic, was very good at explaining how conservatism, and especially economic conservatism, was informed by Scripture and by Christian dogma. J.D. Vance is not good at this, and I don't he gave a great answer, but it's a really interesting conversation.
I wish that on this book tour, everyone would ask J.D. Vance about being Christian in Trump's America and Trump's administration. It's a really interesting line of questions.
BOWMAN: He literally laughed out loud probably thinking to himself, we are not Christian at all as an administration.
BURNETT: What a ridiculous question.
BOWMAN: It's a ridiculous question because we are not governing in alignment with the values and the teachings of Christianity at all. The Christianity that I'm aware of that I know that I follow is all about supporting the poor and uplifting the poor. It's about protecting the least of these and the vulnerableness and healing the sick. Jesus Christ, please -- Peace be upon him, is literally called the Prince of Peace, trying to help humanity move forward from the ground up.
This administration is all about power. It's all about being heavy handed and suppressing and enriching themselves --
CUPP: And taking away.
BOWMAN: -- and taking away --
CUPP: Yeah.
BOWMAN: -- from the American people. And so that's why he laughed out loud to gather himself and try to find something to say.
And he pointed to an economic policy that concentrates wealth in the hands of the 1/10 of 1 percent at the expense of everyone else.
BURNETT: All right, thank you both very much.
CUPP: Thank you.
BURNETT: There's so many more things I wanted to get to. I had a lot on here tonight, anyway.
All right, next, Michelle Obama, nearly bringing her husband to tears. There was an emotional tribute at the opening of the presidential Obama Center.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER U.S. FIRST LADY: Barack --
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Yes.
M. OBAMA: You got to look at me.
B. OBAMA: No, I'm not. I'm going to look down.
(EN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, the NAACP suing Elon Musk over its mega A.I. data center in Memphis that powers Grok. So why is Trump's DOJ suddenly getting involved in this bizarrely unusual move to side with Elon Musk?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:58]
BURNETT: Breaking news, live pictures of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. And we'll show you some behind-the-scenes pictures of Presidents Barack Obama, Joe Biden, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. They were all celebrating the opening today. They were all there. President Obama used his special moment today to urge Americans to fight for democracy.
Jason Carroll is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And our 44th President of the United States --
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): He rose to political prominence on a message of hope, and today, a reminder from former President Barack Obama of what can happen if that message is lost.
B. OBAMA: When we lose faith in each other, when we stop believing that voting matters, that citizenship matters, that our collective voices matter, that how we treat each other no longer matters, and we give away our power to decide our own futures.
CARROLL (voice-over): The speech delivered at the dedication ceremony of the Obama Presidential Center, a 19-acre campus on Chicago's South Side, a project a decade in the making with a price tag of $850 million.
Beyond the replica Oval Office and the former First Lady's dresses, the sprawling campus includes a museum, garden, basketball court, and a new branch of the Chicago Public Library. It's located in the same neighborhood where Obama got his political start and met the woman who became his wife.
M. OBAMA: Because I'm going to take a little time to do something that I know my husband will not do today, and that is to fully sing his praises.
Barack --
O. OBAMA: Yes.
M. OBAMA: You got to look at me.
B. OBAMA: No, I'm not. I'm going to look down.
(LAUGHTER)
B. OBAMA: The exhibits in the center are not meant to evoke nostalgia for some gauzy bygone era, some unattainable past that we can dream about and say, "Oh, we miss you, Barack."
[19:35:11]
They're meant -- they're meant to remind us of who we can be.
M. OBAMA: You've proven that a lasting legacy isn't an award, or a name on a building, or a number of zeros in a bank account, but the difference we make in one another's lives.
CARROLL (voice-over): In attendance, all the living U.S. presidents, except one. President Donald Trump was not invited to the ceremony. Obama never mentioned his successor by name, but his message, at times, was clear.
B. OBAMA: There will be no kings or lords, no serfs or subjects, but only citizens. CARROLL (voice-over): A number of world leaders, lawmakers, and celebrities were on hand to hear not just speeches, but also a star- studded lineup of musical guests.
(SINGING)
CARROLL (voice-over): Those without tickets to the formal dedication ceremony gathered at a park across the street.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's so exciting. You know, this feels like the 2008 election night because I was here in Chicago and just the vibe, the excitement. I feel like people have hope.
CARROLL (voice-over): And while the music got some on their feet, it was the words of the former president that really moved many of them, including these two who drove up from Florida for the ceremony.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We drove --
CARROLL: From Daytona?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah. We was not going to miss this for the world. I was here when he got nominated for president.
CARROLL: OK.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so I knew that I had to be here for this historic moment.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: So Erin, a lot of key emotional moments throughout the day, but you know that message of hope, that message was there as well. And in fact, the center actually handed out fans to some of the people who are out there and it read a message saying "A home for hope" -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, thank you very much, Jason Carroll, there at the Presidential Center in Chicago.
Now, while celebrating President Obama, Michelle Obama also delivered a clear political message in this moment, urging Democrats to choose hope, and she said, vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. OBAMA: Y'all, hope is all we have, because hope is the essential spark that lights the fire of change. But hope is a choice. Whether or not we use our voices to speak up is a choice. Voting is a choice. Being a decent human being is a choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now is Bill Burton. He served as Deputy White House Press Secretary in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011.
Bill, it's good to talk to you again, and I know you were there today, you're there. And you worked with the Obamas for years. Obama never used Trump's name today. But much of what he was saying was about what America is right now, politically, when we talk about decency.
And much of his speech was directed at Trump when he used words like "ruthless" and "most careless" to "no kings". Obama also mentioned and highlighted two Republicans that Trump disdains, John McCain and Mitt Romney.
Obviously, none of this was an accident in this moment.
BILL BURTON, FORMER OBAMA SENIOR ADVISER: Well, can you imagine any other president or former president talking about their political opponents at a moment where they're celebrating what the legacy of their presidency was? I think what President Obama was doing was two things today. One was talking about where is this country going? What are we capable of? What do we know about the DNA of this nation and what we can keep going to do?
And then second is, what's the story of America? As we approach the 250th birthday for our country, President Obama, you know, talks about how our history is complicated. You know, there were hard things that we made it through, but part of that is like what's so wonderful about our country, right?
Yes, there were like very troubling times, but we made it through it. We made it through every single time. And when he talks about the moral arc of our country, it does bend towards justice. And I think that what he was trying to do was put like real meat on those bones.
BURNETT: So Michelle Obama today obviously spoke, we just played some of what she said she brought him to tears. And she also had some -- you know, she was going through what he was saying, and then she also had some lines. It really got a lot of laughs. Let me play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. OBAMA: You were doing the people's work, rescuing our economy, expanding healthcare, ending a war. You were doing the people's work, rescuing our economy, expanding healthcare, ending a war, ordering the bin Laden rate, saving an auto industry, winning a Peace Prize.
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:40:13]
BURNETT: Okay, her delivery of the joke about the Peace Prize was obviously expertly done and got a lot of laughs. I'm curious, Bill, as to whether you think at this moment, as we're coming into the midterms, this is the beginning of her being much more present. You know, she's already been doing her podcast. She's not been afraid to shy away from anything, but much more present politically.
BURTON: Well, I think that, you know, I think that they are very direct when they say that they don't want to be the leaders of the Democratic Party or the progressive movement, or really in the country right now. They want to move aside so that a new generation of leaders can. can rise up.
And, you know, so I don't suspect that this is a signal of a new Mrs. Obama or a new President Obama. But, you know, that joke is like so many things today has two different layers. One is like, of course, President Trump has been trying to get a Nobel Peace Prize, hilariously failing at it. And then number two, when President Obama was called by Robert Gibbs early in the morning to alert him that he had won the Nobel Peace Prize, his first words were, "Are you effing kidding me?"
And so it's funny on a whole bunch of different levels. And so I think for folks who were there for the early days, it was just so awesome. Mrs. Obama gave an awesome speech and I think was really such a star of the show today.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you so much, Bill. It's good to see you.
And next, a very unusual move. Trump's DOJ is getting involved, trying to protect Elon Musk, urging a judge tonight to drop a lawsuit against Musk's A.I. company for what me to be the most supercharged important A.I. data center in America.
Plus, an incredible sight here in New York City. Millions united as the Knicks celebrated. And our chief Knicks correspondent, just kidding, chief Knicks fan, Shimon Prokupecz, was there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:46:17]
BURNETT: A highly unusual move from the Trump Justice Department, they're siding with Elon Musk in his legal battle over his A.I. data center in Memphis.
Congressman Frank Pallone, who is the top Democrat on the House Energy Committee, posted on X, "Trump's DOJ is stepping in to help a Musk- owned data center run dozens of gas-burning turbines without a permit or pollution controls."
Now, this is a data center of all data centers. Musk's data center is the world's largest A.I. supercomputer, okay? And it's in Memphis, Tennessee. It helps to power Grok.
Now, if you've been on X, you know what Grok is, Musk's A.I. assistant.
Now, the NAACP sued Musk's company, xAI, amid overwhelming outcry from local residents, writing, A data center should not be a potential death sentence. These companies are following a shameful, familiar pattern, asking black and frontline communities to bear the toxic brunt of, but they have a quote, innovation.
But the DOJ says the lawsuit should be thrown out because the data center is vital to national security. OUTFRONT now, Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson. He lives
just a few miles from xAI's data center in Memphis. He's now running for Congress as a Democrat.
And, Representative, I appreciate your time.
So, you know, I mean, just to be clear, as we're saying, this is the world's -- the world's largest A.I. supercomputer, right, is being run out of Memphis. That's what we're talking about here. What's your reaction to the DOJ's, you know, highly unusual, close to unprecedented move in getting involved in this case?
JUSTIN PEARSON (D), CANDIDATE FOR U.S. REPRESENTATIVE FROM TENNESSEE: Yeah, it's unconscionable and unbelievable that the Department of Justice is using its influence and power to the benefit of the world's first trillionaire in order to allow them to continue to operate illegal gas turbines.
Not only have they done this in Memphis, but also in South Haven, Mississippi, where this lawsuit is, where they have 59 gas turbines in complete violation of the Clean Air Act, and they're asking the court to allow them to illegally pollute the air that we breathe, kill people prematurely, disadvantaged communities in particular. Also, they can make more money.
And the Department of Justice is helping them to do this. It's unbelievable.
BURNETT: So why do you think the Department of Justice is doing this? I mean, do you think this is because of Trump's close relationship with Elon Musk?
PEARSON: Absolutely. I mean, billionaires are going to take care of one another. They do not care about the life of the people in South Haven, the people in Memphis. They don't care whether or not you or I live, breathe or die are able to be healthy or not. This is about them making more profits and putting all of the risk on the communities where they are operating these data centers, which is why I've been an extreme supporter of Bernie Sanders legislation for moratorium because they are going to go at all costs to destroy our very lives, our land, our water for their own benefit.
They're using nearly a billion dollars of drinking water to cool these plants. And now you have the Trump administration helping the private company violate the Clean Air Act just so they can make more billions of dollars. And their lame excuse is that this is for the Iran war, which this administration says they just want.
BURNETT: OK, so let me ask you about that, because that is what they're saying. They're made -- they're saying this is about national security, right? That they need this data center, as I said, the world's largest A.I. supercomputer to be in Memphis, Tennessee, for national security reasons, because that is Grok.
So in the court feeling -- a filing, Representative, what they say is, quote, "Grok provides critical support for the Department of War's military operations." That's what they call the Department of Defense.
Now it may be true that Grok is providing critical support for military operations, even though what most of us see with Grok is obviously inane, lazy requests of Grok. Can you put a skirt on this person, or can you change somebody's hair on Twitter?
[19:50:00]
So, what do you make of the DOJ making the argument that this is about national security?
PEARSON: I mean, this argument in and of itself is dangerous because what the Department of Justice is asking to be done is that the health of citizens and people in this country be put second to the interests of a chatbot, to be put second to the interests of billionaires and to this organization and to this one man, Elon Musk.
This is a dangerous abuse of power and authority that is seeking to destroy our ability to access the courts, to be able to get protection against the pollution that they are creating in our communities that is antithetical to the Clean Air Act, all for the benefit Again, people to be able to make racist post and Mickey Mouse as a Nazi.
That's what Grok is doing. It's a racist tool. It has shown horrible images of sexual assault victims. This is not something that the federal government should be invested in anyway, but to ask that our rights be violated, that our constitutional protection and our human right to clean the air be taken away for the benefit of a billion dollar corporation is insane.
BURNETT: So when you're talking here about pollution and you're saying it can be deadly, you're talking about clean water and clean air. So do you have a full set of data in the case of this particular, as I said, supercharged A.I. data center to show that?
PEARSON: We do. So we were fortunate to have the Southern Environmental Law Center and Doctor Michael Kirk out of Harvard University to produce research about the consequences of these illegal gas turbines. In addition to that, we were able to find out that three to four people would be prematurely killed because of this illegal pollution and the consequences will be $30 million to $44 million economically. That's conservatively because they use the wrong number with PM 2.5, particulate matter 2.5. The more likely estimate is $300 million worth damages, and dozens of people prematurely killed due to the illegal pollution from xAI due to comorbidities, the increases in nitrogen oxide, and the increases in formaldehyde in DeSoto County and Shelby County.
BURNETT: All right, Representative Pearson, thank you very much. And I do want to note, we did reach out to xAI. They did not respond to our request for comment.
Representative Pearson, thank you so much for your time.
PEARSON: Thank you so much, Erin. I appreciate you. BURNETT: Next, the biggest city in the country coming together in a way that, you know what? You just -- you don't see here. And it was to celebrate the Knicks. And our chief Knicks fan was there, as he has been at the games in the middle of it all today. He's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:55]
BURNETT: Tonight, quote, "A city overcome by happiness. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani declaring, New York has been united as the Knicks celebrate their first championship parade in five decades.
More than two million people turned out for the parade today. One of them was Shimon Prokupecz, CNN's chief Knicks fan, who was there to see it all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): It was a party 53 years in the making as the New York Knicks marched in their first ever ticker tape parade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Euphoric.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had to be here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was dope. It was magnificent.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The NBA champions danced and cheered as they rode down the famous Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan. An estimated two million emotional Knicks fans packed the streets and surrounding buildings, screaming for starters, Karl Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, and loudest of all, the NBA Finals MVP, Jalen Brunson.
Some fans even camped out all night on the parade route. Others arrived early this morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seeing this right here, this is just once in a lifetime opportunity. That's why we all out here right now at two o'clock.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The NYPD says it deployed more than 10,000 officers. Viewing areas were filled before 7:30 in the morning.
PROKUPECZ: You've been here since what time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Four a.m., baby. Four a.m. for my Knicks.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The festivities lasted more than three hours.
PROKUPECZ: We saw the mayor on the float with OG. Just an incredible moment to take in and to see and to watch the pure joy and happiness that people are experiencing at this moment.
Many former Knicks joined the parade, Patrick Ewing and Larry Johnson and legend Walt Clyde Frazier, who played for the last Knicks team to win a title in 1973. Knicks center Mitchell Robinson waved from the top of his custom pickup truck.
Celebrity Knicks fans also took part.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a hype video moments before the parade.
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: You are New York City.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, your 2026 NBA champion, New York Knicks.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Mamdani presented the team symbolic keys to the city.
MAMDANI: For 53 years, we watched. For 53 years, we waited. Now, we've won.
JALEN BRUNSON, NEW YORK KNICKS: Damn. We really did it, dog.
PROKUPECZ (voice-over): While Alicia Keys closed out the emotional day with her iconic New York theme song, "Empire's State of Mind."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PROKUPECZ: What a just wonderful few weeks it has been covering this story and being in this city and. just seeing such happiness.
You know, this is a city, Erin, as you well know, that has been through so much with 9/11 and the pandemic. And we usually get together during times of sorrow and grieving. And it was just such a beautiful time to be here and to see the joy that people had in just celebrating something so great.
BURNETT: Yep. And really, as you say, it's usually such large crowds for sometimes sadness or fear. But just to have something be joy, wonderful.
All right, Shimon, thank you. It's been a special few weeks for Shimon, that's for sure. He got assigned to go to one of the Knicks' games.
Anyway, thanks for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
