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Erin Burnett Outfront

Trump Giving Address On Elections After Years Of False Claims; Blanche Meets Epstein Survivors After GOP Senator's Ultimatum; Iceberg Lettuce Sold At Taco Bell Linked To Diarrhea Outbreak. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 16, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:31]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

Breaking news, Trump's obsession with election fraud playing out in primetime tonight. The White House promising the president's speech will, quote, "shock you".

Plus, in danger. Todd Blanche's nomination to be the next attorney general could be in jeopardy as he finally meets with Epstein survivors. Is this 11th hour move enough to save his nomination?

And breaking news this hour, a major breakthrough. We are just learning what may be the source of the parasite that's giving people across the country the explosive diarrhea.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

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

And OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. Trump's election fraud obsession goes prime time. The president tonight expected to address the nation in his speech largely focusing on election security. According to the White House, Trump is expected to address what he claims is new intelligence, which shows at least one foreign country interfered with the 2020 election. That was an election that he lost and has been obsessed about ever since.

The White House, though, is promising major headlines in tonight's speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It will shock you if you have an honest eye listening to the president tonight, and everything he is saying will be backed by -- by facts and by evidence that will be provided this evening.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, Trump has not been able to come up with facts or evidence in the past six years, despite promising it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have so much evidence, we don't know what to do with it.

The election was rigged in 2020. We have all the ammunition, all the stuff, and you'll see it come out. It's coming out in truckloads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Just to point out that those truckloads, so much evidence, we don't know what to do with it. We've never seen a single piece of it.

Back in 2023, Trump posted a large, complex, detailed, but irrefutable report on the presidential election fraud, which took place in Georgia, is almost complete and will be presented by me at a major news conference at 11:00 a.m. on Monday of next week in Bedminster, New Jersey.

Well, that press conference never happened. The president has put his claims of a rigged election, though, front and center on his domestic agenda. On the right side of your screen, you see every post from Trump where he mentions a rigged election since January 1st.

It's just still scrolling. It's still scrolling, and it's still scrolling. It's almost once a week. And it's still scrolling, so I'm trying to make sure it all gets to scroll by,because it's not just online.

Ever since June 4th, when Trump said his acting National Intelligence Director Bill Pulte was looking into, quote, "rigged elections", Trump has talked about rigged elections in at least 19 -- there you go -- 19 different interviews or speeches. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It was a rigged election.

That's how I won three elections. I did very well in the second one, won it. The rigged election.

We had a rigged election.

I say it was rigged, just like the election was rigged in 2020.

It was a rigged election.

The elections are rigged like nobody's ever seen.

What happened was a rigged election.

We have a lot of rigged elections.

Then we had a rigged election.

We have rigged elections.

We have a lot of rigged elections going on in this country.

It was a rigged election.

It's totally rigged election.

A rigged election

And it's a rigged election.

It rigged the election.

It was rigged. It was a dirty election.

The rigged elections, et cetera, et cetera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: As a president who has an approval rating stuck in the 30s and who faces what appears to be losses in the midterms, and we'll see, because an election's an election, people get to vote, he has made it his mission to cast doubt on that upcoming election, right? That's what all those things add up to.

And damage may already have been done. Repeatedly saying that America's elections are rigged and broken and dirty has eroded confidence in the bedrock of American democracy. It has already done damage.

Kevin Liptak is OUTFRONT, live outside the White House.

And, Kevin, what more are you learning about what Trump is going to say about elections tonight?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, we now understand, Erin. There are a few major buckets that the president plans to address in this speech, and one is this question of foreign interference. The president does plan to reveal what he says will be new information about foreign attempts to influence or interfere in U.S. elections, and in particular from China.

Now this is a question that has been relitigated over and over, including in that 2021 intelligence assessment. But the president will say that he has new information on that front.

[19:05:00]

We also understand that the president plans to address this question of election systems vulnerability, including voting machines. Again, an area that has been repeatedly. the subject of conspiracies often fueled by President Trump himself.

You know, the president has talked about this so much and hasn't been able to furnish any proof for his claims. The difference, according to White House officials in this speech, is that he will be providing evidence and that evidence will be provided to the American people. It has been the product of this months-long work by a task force. It was headed by the conservative journalist John Solomon to go through intelligence, find areas that can be classified.

It was fueled along by the new acting director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, who, when he came into this position, worked to find documents that would be able to fuel some of the president's claims about elections.

Now, nothing that we have understood in our reporting about this speech tonight suggests that anything the president says will claim that the 2020 election results will have been different. There's nothing that we have seen in what we have been described that that election would have turned out any differently.

Of course, the real fear is that the president, in describing these vulnerabilities, is just trying to undermine confidence in elections writ large -- Erin.

BURNETT: Right, right. Well, certainly that's the outcome in any country trying to influence foreign elections that wants a weaker U.S. democracy. Certainly, we'll be celebrating to hear the president of the United States speak in a speech like this tonight.

Kevin Liptak, thank you very much.

And I want to go now to voting data analyst Ken Block. He was the man that President Trump hired to investigate voter fraud in 2020. So, Trump hired Ken Block, who then went through and looked at every single claim and debunked every single one. He's now running for governor of Rhode Island as an independent candidate.

Also here tonight is Stephen Richer, also familiar to our viewers. He is the former Maricopa County recorder in Arizona, where he was responsible for voter registration. and early voting. He's a Republican who fought back against Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, standing up for the integrity of the elections there.

I appreciate both of you and having both of you back, although it is unfortunate in many senses that we are all here together again.

Stephen, when you hear that Trump is going to get up in front of the cameras tonight and push all these claims of election integrity, what goes through your mind?

STEPHEN RICHER (R), FORMER MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ RECORDER: That it's Groundhog Day. How many times have we done this? I mean, you just presented all the times that he said we have rigged elections and we have the facts, but he's never presented those. But more than anything, he's presenting a mischaracterization of how elections are actually administered in the United States. He characterizes it as if there's some central mothership, and if you can just penetrate that, then you can affect all elections in the United States.

The reality is that elections are administered by 8,000-plus different voting jurisdictions with Republicans and Democrats running those, and they use closed systems that aren't connected to the Internet, and they use paper ballots that can't be hacked or digitally manipulated. So, when we talk about foreign country interference, we have to keep all of that in mind.

So yes, China might have targeted a website, but that doesn't manipulate a ballot.

BURNETT: I mean, so which is important because foreign countries going online and spreading rumors and getting posts that go viral on Twitter happens every single day about every single topic done by every single country, including our own.

Ken, you investigated Trump's claims in 2020. You found nothing. So, what do you make of the fact that Trump is giving a primetime address at this moment in this country to say he's going to prove a rigged election?

KEN BLOCK, FOUNDER, SIMPATICO SOFTWARE SYSTEMS: Yeah, this is the intrusion of politics into the conduct of our elections, and I think it's really quite wrong. Americans want our elections to be free, transparent, and a level playing field, and they don't want politics to dominate the conduct of elections. Unfortunately, that's what we're stuck with. It's a system that we have right now, and we need to pull it back and get the operation of our elections out of the political realm.

BURNETT: So, Stephen, Trump says, you know, we understand from our White House team's fantastic reporting that he's going to talk about vulnerabilities to voting machines. You heard Kevin Liptak just talking about that. You've gone through those, Stephen, because I've been following your work recently to just lay out for people who, when someone tells you an election is rigged so many times, maybe there's like a little tiny sliver of yourself, or in some cases, maybe a whole part of yourself that starts to believe maybe it is true.

So, you went through and even now and looked at how difficult it is to commit mass election fraud on something like mail in ballots.

[19:10:01]

And it looks like it's pretty much impossible from your findings.

RICHER: Well, I recited a whole litany of securities that are built into any election system. But importantly, when we're talking about tabulation systems, no jurisdiction in the United States just trust tabulators blindly. This is, again, why we have paper ballots. It's why we do pre-election tests, and then we do post-election hand count audits to make sure that the machines read the ovals correctly, because that's all that's happening here, is these scanners read ovals that are filled in by humans on pieces of paper.

So, you can't manipulate this digitally. If you tried to, it would be revealed in post-election audits, and time after time, it has been shown that that did not happen.

BURNETT: Right, and people who run those audits, whether it's you or it was done in Georgia or in other places, know how this is done.

So, Ken, you know, Trump has said he has truckloads of evidence and more evidence than he knows what to do with, and we've never seen a single piece of it. All we have is this report here, actually, from America's intelligence agencies in which the first conclusion judgment number one is we have no indication that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect of the voting process in the 2020 elections, including voter registration, casting ballots, vote tabulation, or reporting results.

That's the conclusion of America's National Intelligence Council, the DNI, which of course, Bill Pulte has been acting as administrator of.

So do you think that suddenly in -- to go against all of this or America's intelligence agency that there's just now something different.

BLOCK: No, I think it's extraordinarily unlikely. And what everybody might have forgotten, also potentially the Oval Office, is that right after the 2020 election, Trump's pollster conducted exit polling and wrote a report in December of 2020, and his analysis said that the reason that Trump lost the election was he lost the support of moderate Republicans who he denigrated as RINOs, and that loss of support is what caused his narrow loss in the swing states that he lost.

So, I think there's a very pedestrian explanation for why the loss happened. And, again, I think it really is time for us to move on to more productive conversations about our elections.

BURNETT: Right, of which there are many about elections and other very important pressing issues for this nation.

Stephen, Trump's pick for the current Director of National Intelligence is Jay Clayton, right? And I mentioned what I just read is conclusion number one from all of America's intelligence agencies after an extensive investigation, right, with a lot of classified information under it. The DNI is who would oversee that, okay? That DNI is currently Bill Polte, who's acting, and Jay Clayton, is the one who is now up for that job.

So, he was asked in his confirmation hearing this week, who won the 2020 election, right? Just a pretty basic thing. He said Biden was certified and that he had the most electoral votes, but he wouldn't say he won. You know, it was that kind of dance around the word certified.

Here's some of the questioning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAYTON: I believe he had the most electoral votes.

KELLY: So he won the election.

CLAYTON: He followed our process, had the most electoral votes, was declared the winner, and --

KELLY: And who has the most electoral votes? Is it the person that wins or the person that loses?

CLAYTON: I think that's your characterization.

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): Who won the 2020 election?

CLAYTON: You know, I'm not going to do this with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Okay, Stephen, what do you hear when you hear that, you know, certified, declared the winner.

RICHER: Yeah, it's, unfortunately, it's cowardly, but it's, you almost have to appreciate the perfection of the litmus test in that it reveals if these nominees are willing to subsume all facts and all logic in support of just blind loyalty to the president. And so that's why I think he demands it. That's why it's such an effective tool, but it's very dismaying.

And I'll tell you that it has downstream effects, because when average Americans hear that, and they think it's coming from somebody they can trust, somebody who's part of the intelligence apparatus, then they believe that there really is a problem. And then they look at their election administrators, they look at their secretary of state.

And I'll tell you that at best, that leads to more confrontation at voting locations. At worst, that leads to violent threats. And it's one of the reasons why Maricopa County, we spent millions of dollars on security for the 2022 and 2024 elections, and that's a real shame.

BURNETT: Well, I know both of you who, of course, have also faced threats even as you have stood up for the truth of what you found.

Thank you both very much. I appreciate it. No one more important who knows more to speak to about this topic.

And next breaking news, Todd Blanche's nomination for Attorney General hanging on by a thread as he just met with Epstein survivors to try to at the last second get it over the finish line. One key Republican had said you had to do that. So here at the very last second he did it. Will it be enough?

Plus, the family of the man killed by an ICE agent in Houston pushing back against the FBI's claim that it found what could have been drugs in the van. They say it was salt.

And our KFILE with exclusive reporting about a candidate in one of the most watched Senate races in the country. That Republican son-in-law has a history of making racist and anti-Semitic comments, even sharing Nazi propaganda.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:10]

BURNETT: Breaking news, Todd Blanche's nomination to be the next attorney general could be in jeopardy tonight. Blanche just wrapping up an hour-long meeting with survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. Now, this meeting had been hastily arranged after Republican Senator Thom Tillis, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, warned Blanche that he needed to meet with the survivors if there was any chance of Tillis's support.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): This is a very important part of getting to yes. There should not be any reason why, based on what Mr. Blanche said yesterday, if he said that he would do it today, then he can certainly do it over the next two weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Blanche saying after the meeting, quote, it wasn't all cordial, but then he said he did commit to speaking with them again. One survivor, Danielle Bensky, who testified today against Blanche, told CNN the meeting, quote, "felt like a waste of time and was a lot of lip service."

And by the way, they've been asking for this meeting for a really, really, really long time, right? So, it comes here in the final moments before a possible approval, right? The timing is important.

Senator Tillis, meantime, just posted about the meeting, quote, "I commend Todd Blanche for doing what all his predecessors over the last two decades, never did meet with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes."

Now it remains to be seen whether Tillis will now support Blanche, but obviously the threat to not back him was extremely significant because another Judiciary Committee, Republican John Cornyn, has joined Tillis in raising serious doubts about Blanche and not committing to back him.

Keep in mind you just need one Republican senator on the committee to oppose the nomination that would block Blanche's nomination from going ahead.

OUTFRONT now with me here, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. He's on Senate Judiciary Committee, and he questioned Blanche yesterday.

Senator, I appreciate your time.

Right? So, we said you just need one Republican to vote no, and this is dead. So, is Blanche in real danger of not getting confirmed in the context of this meeting that just happened?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): He should be in real danger, and I think he is, because my Republican colleagues ought to be deeply dissatisfied, in fact, dismayed and insulted by a lot of his testimony. What he said in response to questions from John Cornyn, fudging, evading, avoiding direct answers on the so-called $1.8 million anti-weapon --

BURNETT: A billion dollar, right, that Trump could use to compensate people like January 6 --

BLUMENTHAL: The thug fund. And the tax immunity deal. And then this for-show meeting today in response to Senator Tillis' request.

I had a very emotional conversation with Danielle.

BURNETT: Danielle Bensky. Yes, she's been a regular on the show, too, so viewers know her.

BLUMENTHAL: And she is a person of incredible strength and courage. Testifying today before our committee, I asked her what she wanted from the Department of Justice, and she said, not just superficial show meetings, but real action against the perpetrators and accountability. That's the word she used, accountability. And my sense is she didn't get it today.

BURNETT: Well, and, of course, it's important to remember, right, that Congressman Garcia and Massie have said there's three million pages that we don't have. Half the total have still not been put out.

And, of course, Todd Blanche was the one who met with Ghislaine Maxwell right before she was moved in an unprecedented move to a minimum-security prison.

So, President Trump, as we -- as we speak, is preparing for this primetime speech tonight, and you and I talked about it briefly in the commercial break here. He's going to talk about election security. He says he's got all kinds of proof.

Now, obviously, we've heard for years of truckloads of evidence and all these things. We've never seen it. But tonight, he says he's got new evidence. We are less than four months from midterm elections. It's really important things for American democracy and people believing in their vote and having trust in their system.

Why? Why do you think the timing now for this?

BLUMENTHAL: He wants to distract from the Iran war and the rising cost of living, which are undoing all the Republican hopes of prevailing in November. He knows he's in trouble in the upcoming election, but he is also trying to undermine the confidence of Americans in elections, and he's doing it in a way that almost certainly will rely on false and disingenuous so-called evidence.

Remember that there has been a showing that foreign adversaries routinely try to influence the outcome of elections through disinformation and amplifying divisions, but they have not interfered, that is, affected the outcome.

BURNETT: Right.

BLUMENTHAL: So, I think he's going to try to conflate the two, And basically, he has a campaign, a full-scale strategic campaign against election security.

[19:25:05]

BURNETT: And -- I mean, look, as we said, judgment number one, no indication that any foreign actor attempted to alter any technical aspect, right? As you say, that's what interference would be, as opposed to influence. Some of the things we've seen out there that he may talk about getting voter rolls, for example, is something publicly available. Anybody can go by that. So, if somebody had that from another country, that's not -- that's not saying you go mess with a voting machine or tap changing ballots or anything like that, which I'm just holding the national intelligence report said did not happen.

BLUMENTHAL: The reason why you're putting these facts on the air in this powerful way is that Americans have to have confidence in election security and in the ability of the federal government to bolster it. But the confidence to come out and vote, they will be free of interference physically.

BURNETT: Yeah.

BLUMENTHAL: And the point here is that the intelligence community, the cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the FBI, the Senate committee, then headed by Senators Burr and Marco Rubio, all have reached the same conclusion. There was no interference by foreign adversaries, and the election was free and fair.

BURNETT: Yeah, and of course, if you continue to say something, people -- you start to sow doubt.

One other thing happened today that I want to ask you about, your Democratic senator, your colleague, John Fetterman. He's repeatedly rejected speculation that he would lead the Democratic Party, right? His vote's crucial, especially when you're coming into the midterms.

But just the other day, 100 Democrats voted to block foreign aid to Israel. Now, anybody could have seen this coming, given the way that the world is right now. But this is the single most important issue, he believes, to the Democratic Party, he told me. And he has issued one of his most direct threats to your party, threatening to leave.

Here's what he told Manu Raju.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I've always expressed my dismay the way the Democratic Party continues to turn their back on Israel. So, I've said that publicly, like, that's my red line. If Democratic Party becomes official anti-Israel, then that's when I would force me out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, what do you -- what do you say to him?

BLUMENTHAL: The Democratic Party is not anti-Israel. I'm happy to sit down with Senator Fetterman and my colleagues will as well. There are so many issues important today, the cost of living, which is skyrocketing. The threat to our national security in this ongoing war in Iran without any end game or purpose. The Ukraine war where we should be fighting for Ukraine because they are fighting our fight, which is in our national security interests.

And my hope is that the Democratic Party will reflect those priorities and others, and that Senator Fetterman will stay in our corner.

All right. Thank you very much, Senator Blumenthal. I appreciate your time tonight.

And next, breaking news. What may be a game-changer in the search for the source of the parasite fueling the explosive diarrhea outbreak?

Plus, our KFILE uncovering disturbing posts and comments from the son- in-law of a Republican Senate candidate in one of the most important races this November. Comments defending white nationalism, including ones like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The only way we can reestablish community is by clearing our land of other people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:15]

BURNETT: Breaking news, a major breakthrough in the search for the source of the parasite linked to explosive diarrhea cases in 34 states. A source familiar with the investigation confirming that the shredded iceberg lettuce sold at some Taco Bell restaurants is linked to a regional outbreak of cyclosporiasis in the Midwest, including Michigan, where more than half of all the cases in the country have been reported.

The news coming days after Taco Bell announced it was removing some ingredients from its menu as a precaution.

Jacqueline Howard is following this breaking news.

And, Jacqueline, what more are you learning about this lettuce that it appears was sold at some Taco Bells?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: That's right, Erin. Well, we have been hearing that this shredded lettuce is supplied by Taylor Farms. And like you said, Erin, it has been sold at some Taco Bell restaurant locations. We also know that those restaurants are located in Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.

But of course, Erin, I mean, this lettuce could have also been sent to other places, too. So this isn't ongoing investigation. And while this particular outbreak tide to the shredded lettuce is centered in the Midwest, we do know across the country, like you said, several other states have reported increases in cases. So, there is an ongoing investigation to determine are some other cases in other states also tide to this Midwest outbreak, or are there possible other sources out there?

So, there is still so many questions to answer. But like I said, Erin, there have been nearly 7,000 cases either confirmed or are under investigation across the country. Among them in the state of Michigan alone, Michigan has reported more than 4,000 cases.

[19:35:01]

So that is still the center of where we're seeing most of these cases. Yeah.

And, Erin, another important point is with cyclosporiasis. The reason why health officials have taken some time to really identify the source of this, it can take anywhere from two days to up to two weeks for symptoms to develop if someone does get sick with this illness.

So that's why it's taken some time to identify shredded lettuce as the possible source, and it's going to take more time to really identify more possible sources if they do exist, Erin.

BURNETT: All right, well Jacqueline, thank you very much. I mean it is obviously raises real questions with all the cuts we've seen from health and DHS and monitoring right whether -- whether any of these things are related.

All right. Jacqueline, thank you -- thank you very much.

And next, exclusive new reporting from KFILE revealing a candidate for one of the most watched races in the country has family ties to a controversial influencer who asked his followers if he should make a video titled, quote, "Why Gen Z doesn't hate Hitler?" And our KFILE found much more.

Plus, a special report tonight on what's become the MAGA movement's latest obsession.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:57]

BURNETT: Tonight, exclusive CNN KFILE reporting on one of the most- watched Senate races this year. KFILE uncovering new details about Georgia Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins' son-in-law and a pattern of extreme social media posts. Collins is currently a U.S. representative. He is trying to unseat incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. Collins' son-in-law is a man named David Alan Scheer II. He is a social media influencer with more than 1.5 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Telegram, so lots of followers.

KFILE revealing tonight that Scheer's promoted white nationalist ideology, spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, shared imagery adapted from Nazi propaganda, and recently promoted the white supremacist group Patriot Front, also saying things like this a year ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID ALAN SCHEER II, SON-IN-LAW OF GOP SENATE CANDIDATE MIKE COLLINS: Well, it's anti-Semitic if I say that Jews are responsible for porn and for interest and fractional reserve banking and killing JFK and 9/11 and murdering Charlie Kirk and buying out all of our politicians through AIPAC and J Street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And when one commentator described his content as anti- Semitic and white nationalist, Scheer responded, quote, "There's nothing wrong with white nationalism."

And that is just one example of posts uncovered by a CNN KFILE investigation.

And Andrew Kaczynski of KFILE joins me now.

So, Andrew, that's, you know, there's no ambiguity on some of these things. What else did you find?

ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: Yeah. Well, what we found is a record of explicit and often extreme posts, including material promoting white nationalism, anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, and Nazi imagery. And some of the clearest examples we found are actually very recent. In a YouTube video posted last November, Scheer invoked the, quote, "Jewish Bolsheviks conspiracy theory", that is an anti- Semitic narrative that was embraced by Nazi Germany, which portrays communism as a Jewish plot.

He spread numerous other anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Listen to a little bit of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHEER: The 60 million Christians that were killed by Jewish Bolsheviks in the early 1900s, right before World War II. They don't tell us the history about Germany before World War II. All we're told is Germany bad, Hitler evil, don't ask questions. Holocaust, Holocaust, Holocaust. Here's 50 movies every year about the Holocaust and why it's so bad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KACZYNSKI: So, after that video, he then directed viewers to his Telegram channel, and three days later, he posted this. He, quote -- posted, quote, "We're going to retake America for Christian white men. And last month, he asked his followers to vote on whether he should, quote, "Produce a video about why Gen Z doesn't hate Hitler". That poll was later deleted, but we did save a copy.

BURNETT: It's incredible, We're going to retake America for Christian white men. As I said, there's no ambiguity about these statements. And there's even more that you found about a group he promoted. Well, that's right. You mentioned Patriot Front. Now, he also promoted repeatedly on his social media Patriot Front. That is a white supremacist group that marched through Washington, D.C. over the 4th of July holiday.

And in a podcast last November, Scheer warned that white people were being driven towards extinction. He made racist remarks about Black Americans and Indian Americans. He then described an explicitly racial version of American identity, defining who he said belongs in the country and doesn't listen to a mirror.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCHEER: The only way we can reestablish community is by clearing our land of other people. I want to enjoy my slice of this world with my people. To be an American, in my opinion, is to be of the founding stock or to be related to the founding stock, meaning you may not have directly descended from people who came here as European pilgrims and Puritans, but you may be related to them in your European ancestral heritage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KACZYNSKI: And Erin, I want to make clear that is just a very small portion of what we found.

[19:45:03]

There's a lot more in our story on CNN.com.

BURNETT: It's pretty incredible, I guess -- I mean, neither one of us are Americans. A lot of people watching aren't Americans.

KACZYNSKI: I'm Italian and Polish.

BURNETT: Yeah, to be a founding stock or related to the founding stock, as ever that is defined.

Okay, so all this is really disturbing, but he's a son-in-law. So, people might say, okay, well, I'm not going to judge people by their family.

So, what more can you tell us about Mike Collins' relationship with his son-in-law?

KACZYNSKI: Well, Erin, the connection that we found does appear to go beyond family ties. For instance, he appears in campaign photographs posted on Collins's campaign website and social media. He attended Collins's Senate Night primary victory party.

And one thing we found, voter and property records reviewed by us actually showed that he's been registered since 2024 at a Collins- owned house adjacent to the congressman's estate in Georgia. We also identified several videos that appear to have been filmed on or near Collins's property. And Scheer also appears to have narrated promotional videos for Collins's trucking company, we found one social media post filmed in front of trucks where he said he was making videos for a, quote, "client".

Now, we asked the campaign a number of questions. We asked, does Scheer have a role in Collins's campaign? Has he filmed his content on Collins's property? Has he worked for Collins's company as an employee, contractor, or any capacity? And they didn't answer any of those questions. It also did not address -- they didn't address any of the white nationalist remarks or the anti-Semitic infographic when we asked about it.

Instead, a spokesperson told CNN this: Rep Collins' lifelong support for Israel is questioned and backed by his consistent record in Congress of standing up for Israel and her people.

Now, Erin, Scheer didn't respond to a CNN request for comment. We didn't hear back from them. We didn't hear back from the campaign on these posts.

So, it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

BURNETT: It will, because I don't know how you would answer, we're going to retake America for Christian white men. Why Gen Z doesn't hate Hitler. To be an American is to be a founding stock or related to the founding stock.

And all the other things you said, why a response to that would be, he has lifelong support for Israel?

KACZYNSKI: They didn't respond to any questions. And any of the things I mentioned, they didn't respond to. That statement was basically all we got.

BURNETT: All right, Andrew Kaczynski of KFILE, thank you very much.

And we have more breaking news. Right now, friends and family are gathering to honor the Texas man who was shot and killed by ICE last Tuesday as he was driving to work. It comes as Lorenzo Salgado Araujo's family is forcefully pushing back against new FBI claims that a crystal-like substance consistent with methamphetamine was found inside his work van.

The family's attorney today saying those bags are not drugs at all, but salt used to combat the heat used by work crews in Texas, saying, quote, "Our understanding is that this was granulated salt, which is paired with lemon and water as a homemade electrolyte mix used by outdoor workers in extreme Texas heat, not methamphetamine or any other illicit substance."

The White House tonight doubling down after President Trump reversed his DHS's incredibly brief pause on vehicle stops after the recent killings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: Vehicle stops are continuing. Verbal guidance has been given to all field offices across the country by the Department of Homeland Security. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, those operations are now happening again nationwide. The reporting is that Trump was outraged when he found out about the pause and he undid it. And questions are growing about how the stops are being carried out.

Shimon Prokupecz is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): From Texas to Maine, two fatal ICE shootings in less than a week that have captured national and international headlines.

But there was also this nonfatal shooting in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, earlier this month, marking the third time ICE officers opened fire at traffic stops in July alone.

Here's how it happened. ICE vehicles pull over a white SUV they say was driven. by an undocumented immigrant. You can see an unmarked ICE vehicle pull in front to block the SUV while agents approach the man inside.

Watch how it plays out in this video obtained by CNN affiliate WGAL.

(GUNFIRE)

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Look again. agent who breaks that window opens fire down a residential street as the driver hits the ICE vehicle and a parked car. For many local police departments, opening fire in this type of scenario is rare and not standard procedure.

KENNETH COREY, FORMER CHIEF, NYPD: The agents themselves at that point, the vehicle has passed them, so they're not in physical jeopardy at that point from the vehicle itself, just using the standpoint of the vehicle. He could take out a line of parked cars driving down the street. You can't shoot him for that.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): ICE says the driver of the car in Harrisburg, who, still at large, had a criminal record, including assault, hit- and-run, and a domestic incident. They said he weaponized his vehicle.

But Corey says ICE tactics could have created more danger.

[19:50:01]

COREY: Because shooting at the vehicle isn't going to stop the car. Shooting the driver now turns that car into essentially an unguided missile.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Case in point, in Maine this week. After ICE shot and killed a man in the driver's seat during a traffic stop, the vehicle circled uncontrollably for about a minute.

Shooting at moving vehicles is a tactic ICE has used in multiple cases, like here in Franklin Park, Illinois, last September. It happened when agents blocked the vehicle from the front and approached it from both sides on foot. The car backs up, and as it goes forward, you hear one of the agents open fire on the driver, who later died.

The Department of Homeland Security statement said the driver disobeyed commands and the agent feared for his life while being dragged a significant distance. Body cam footage at the scene showed the same agent describing it this way to responding officers.

OFFICER: You good?

AGENT: Dragged a little bit.

A report from the state of Illinois Accountability Commission found the shooting was not justified. It said shots were fired, quote, to disable a moving vehicle, and notes that DHS policy prohibits shooting a firearm solely to disable moving vehicles.

Justified or not, Corey says problems arise with ice tactics before even shots are fired.

COREY: And de-escalation is an outcome to me, and de-escalation is an outcome that can be achieved by a well-trained, properly equipped officer. And a big piece of de-escalation is slowing the incident down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: That was Shimon Prokupecz reporting.

Next, testosterone having a major moment in the MAGA world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:24]

BURNETT: Tonight, the Trump administration's obsession with testosterone. It's not just Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who's now requiring testosterone screenings for some U.S. troops.

Nick Watt is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Our most decisive tactical advantage will always be the individual warfighter.

We have a sacred duty to maintain that advantage.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A sacred duty that now involves testosterone checks, supplements provided if desired, courtesy of the high T Department of War.

DR. SCOTT HADLAND, CHIEF OF YOUNG ADULT MEDICINE, MASS GENERAL BRIGHAM: Well, this has actually been studied before, and it is not a good idea. Testosterone is really only needed in very specific cases in which it is truly low and causing symptoms.

WATT (voice-over): Pete loves pumping in public, and a dress shirt that's just a little too tight. Does the lady protest too much?

The MAGA-infused manosphere loves a little bit of tea.

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Have you seen all these studies that basically connect testosterone levels in young men with conservative politics?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Like your body was about to touch the toilet seat.

WATT (voice-over): Older MAGA dudes dig it too. Trump's levels have apparently been checked by an expert.

ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., HHS SECRETARY: Dr. Oz looked at his medical records and said he's got the highest testosterone level that he's ever seen for an individual over 70 years old. I know the president will be happy that I repeat that.

(LAUGHTER)

WATT (voice-over): HHS Secretary RFK Junior himself takes testosterone, works out shirtless, keeps his jeans on to cold plunge, and his FDA now wants to tweak the prescription restrictions on some testosterone products.

HADLAND: Testosterone has taken on a life of its own. At the end of the day, testosterone is a hormone like many other hormones in the body. It's just that this one has really gotten caught up in our popular culture as something that, you know, people think is going to improve their energy levels, to help them sort of feel better overall. And the truth is that the studies haven't actually borne that out.

WATT (voice-over): The military has previously studied the impact of more testosterone on younger soldiers, and I'm sure it boosts muscle mass. You might look more jacked, but strength and endurance are unchanged.

HEGSETH: We're keeping you on the leading edge of lethality and giving you the same level of support. that you give this nation the absolute best.

WATT (voice-over): You know, when you're portrayed like this on SNL?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No fatties, no facial hair, no body hair. Just hot, shredded, hairless men.

WATT (voice-over): When you rename it the Department of War, then lose the first war you fight, maybe less testosterone is what you need. Discretion, as Shakespeare once said, is the better part of valor.

(END VIDEOTAPE) WATT: It's not explicit that these tests are for female as well as male military personnel, but Hegseth has long made it clear he's much more interested in male warfighters. He suggested that perhaps DEI was making the military effeminate. He's raised eyebrows by removing women from promotion lists.

The Pentagon is right now reviewing the effectiveness of women in combat roles. And Hegseth himself has said in the past, we should not have women in combat roles. Less estrogen, more testosterone -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Nick Watt, thank you very much.

And thanks, as always, very much to all of you for being with us tonight.

"AC360" begins right now.