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Erin Burnett Outfront

Supreme Court Backs Trump's Order To Curb Mail-In Ballots; More Iran Strikes?; NYPD Investigating After Viral Video Shows Men Emerge From Sewers. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 24, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:27]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

Breaking news, the Supreme Court siding with Trump's efforts to limit mail-in voting in America just two months before these crucial midterm elections.

Right now, some Democrats vowing to fight back. The attorney general of a major swing state is OUTFRONT tonight.

Also breaking, the defense secretary threatening more strikes against Iran as the U.S. threatens sanctions. But does that show that Iran holds more power?

Plus, viral video emerging of men near a sewer near one of the biggest transit hubs in the entire United States at four o'clock in the morning. What actually happened there?

Let's go OUTFRONT.

(MUSIC)

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

And OUTFRONT tonight, we begin with the breaking news. Trump scoring a major legal win for now. The Supreme Court siding with the president who had issued an executive order, an executive order aimed at limiting who receives a mail-in ballot.

Now, this executive order was signed in March by Trump. It directs the U.S. Postal Service to help decide which voters should receive mail-in ballots. And it's important in this context to understand that the current postmaster general is someone who had Trump's support when he was selected last year, according to both "The New York Times" and "The Washington Post".

At the time, Congressman Gerry Connolly warned Steiner's appointment would be, quote, "blatant conflict of interest and an attempt by President Trump to install a handpicked loyalist". Well, warning was then, and here we are now only about 70 days away from those crucial midterms.

And if this executive order is now implemented, you can imagine what that means, right? States have to start early voting. They have to start sending out those ballots. Changing the rules in the middle of the game can cause chaos.

Now, the Supreme Court's decision didn't actually address the fundamental legality of Trump's order, and that is really important to understand. So, it is a win, though, at least when you look at the situation for now, 70 days out. For Trump, who rails against mail-in voting again and again and again, even though he avails himself of mail-in voting. That's how he votes in the state of Florida.

But he calls it out as corrupt and fraudulent to bolster his claims of widespread voter fraud.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The concept of mail-in ballots. It's immediately corrupt.

Mail-in ballots have proven to be a disaster.

Mail-in voting, which is so crooked.

Mail-in ballots are a big fraud.

Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Mail-in voting, it sounds like bad for thee, but not for me, right? Because as I mentioned, Trump himself votes by mail. In fact, he just did it for Florida's Republican primary. He also did it earlier this year for a special election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Tell me about mail-in ballots. You mean, I used a mail-in ballot? You probably said, yeah, I did. You know what? Because I'm president of the United States and because of the fact that I'm president of the United States, I did a mail-in ballot for elections that took place in Florida because I felt I should be here instead of being in the beautiful sunshine taking --

REPORTER: But you were in Palm Beach, sir, the last few weekends. That's right. And I -- yeah. And I decided that I was going to vote by mail-in ballot because I couldn't be there because I had a lot of different things.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: An argument, surely, that others may also feel they possess.

Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT, live outside the White House to begin our coverage.

And so, Kristen, what is the White House saying about this late- breaking ruling from the Supreme Court tonight? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, we haven't gotten a direct response from President Trump or the White House. We've been monitoring his Truth Social because the officials that I'm talking to say they view this as a win. Now, there are a few complications that everyone is watching closely. One, if this is even going to be possible to implement before the midterms.

There are a couple of sticking points here that have many people wondering if this can actually go into effect, particularly when you look at the U.S. Postal Service part of this. There was actually a separate lower court decision that put a hold on this, so there's likely going to have to be more legal action that is brought before the U.S. Postal Service can actually hit the ground running.

The other part of this is what exactly this looks like. There should be no mistaking. This is providing federal oversight into the election process, a process that has largely always been constitutionally given the rights to the states, would now have this oversight component from Department of Homeland Security, from the Postal Service.

Department of Homeland Security, they are allowed to almost immediately begin compiling these lists of, quote/unquote, "eligible voters".

[19:05:00]

Now, the other thing to look out here is this argument that the Supreme Court justices made when they wouldn't actually touch the legality of any of this, essentially saying that everything that had been presented was just hypothetical.

And so, if they haven't actually started the process. There was no legal ground for these states to stand on because none of that had actually happened yet. So, the other thing to keep a close eye on is if this does in fact good to the point where they're implementing it, particularly the Postal Service, for example, and then you start to see some of the effects of this. Then you're going to look at more legal action that's going to tie this up.

This could cause mass chaos in terms of what this actually looks like around the midterms, but legal experts that were unlikely that this can go into effect before the midterms. What I watch closely, though, is the White House pushing for that and how they try to expedite this process. While we're hearing these legal experts saying, look, there's a lot of roadblocks here for this to actually be implemented before the midterms, that's something the White House wants to happen.

So how they handle that, how they choose to try and expedite this to try and work around the kind of roadblocks they have, we've seen them do that before -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right, Kristen, thank you very much. And all that very significant to understand what this actually means for the midterms.

I want to go OUTFRONT now to Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes of Arizona. And, Attorney General Mayes, I appreciate your time.

So, I guess let's just start with one of the things Kristen was talking about, which is, well, the Supreme Court isn't addressing the legality here, but they're allowing it to go ahead in whatever interim period. So, what does that mean you can do? Is there anything you can do about this right now other than comply?

KRIS MAYES (D), ARIZONA ATTORNEY GENERAL: No, I mean we are. We are absolutely going to fight this, Erin, and we have to fight this. We are looking at a situation right now where states are literally within weeks of printing their ballots, especially states like Arizona where our Election Day actually starts in the first week of October.

We are 44 days away from early voting starting, and in states like Arizona 80 to 90 percent -- 80 to 90 percent of Arizonans, just like the president of the United States, vote by mail. And so, we have to fight this. We will fight this.

The good news is basically the -- because the Postal Service rulemaking is now in effect and is ripe, we can go to court and challenge it. So, you know, look for that a very, very soon because you know this is ridiculous. It's outrageous. It's unconstitutional.

Elections are run by states and what they are trying to do is undermine the right of people in this country to vote and they're trying to make it harder for our veterans, people in rural Arizona, to vote and we're going to fight that.

BURNETT: You know, obviously, as you point out, elections in America are run by states. It's a federalist country. But one thing you said there really stands out, Attorney General. You said 80 to 90 percent of voters in Arizona cast their ballots by mail, okay? As in that's the norm. That's how everybody does it.

So, can you just play the hypothetical with me? If this went ahead, okay, and you're 44 days out from everything starting in early October and you had to comply, would you even be able to run an election? What would you do?

MAYES: I mean, I think it's a great question and I think it would cause absolute and total chaos because the people of my state are literally going to be waiting by their mailbox waiting for that that that ballot to arrive and their expectation is that it will arrive and they'll fill it out and they'll put it in the mail or they'll put it into drop box and that'll be that that's how we vote.

It's how we have voted in Arizona since 1992, and interestingly enough, it was pioneered here by Republicans. So, this is -- this is crazy.

BURNETT: That's interesting.

MAYES: We will fight it, yeah.

BURNETT: So, it's interesting because the president's argument, I just want to go back to that. You said Arizona's been doing this since 1992, 80 to 90 percent of people in your state vote by mail, all right? And I know from talking to Bill Gates and Stephen Richer day in and day out, right, you audit and audit and audit on the results.

But, you know, the president's making the point, well, I'm the president. I can't be in Florida, and when I'm there, my time is so precious, this is why I have to vote by mail, because I'm not there. But when you're talking to 80 percent to 90 percent of people, that means most everybody who lives in Arizona is voting by mail anyway, right?

So, you know, what do you say to the argument that, well, it inherently can be fraud because someone could pretend to be somebody else and mail it in? The arguments that we hear from those who push this method of voting as ripe for fraud.

[19:10:02]

MAYES: You know it's just such a false attack and we have strong measures here in Arizona and across the country. We have strong signal signature verification processes. You need to sign that ballot or the envelope before you know before you send it in. We have verification processes. We have identification requirements and so it's just false.

And the reason that so many people in Arizona vote by mail is it's convenient and it's secure, and they know that.

BURNETT: So, one final question. As part of this order, right, such that it is right now, it doesn't address the legality, but the order that came from the president, the Supreme Court's upheld, would require you to give your list, your voter list, to the Postal Service, all right? Is there any chance you're going to do that?

MAYES: No, absolutely not. And I think this is a great point that you've raised here. And we have had both Republican and Democratic states say no to this current administration. They tried to essentially coerce the states into sending our voter information, which is your private information. It's Arizonans private information to the federal government voter rolls.

We said no. Other Republican states said no. And so, this is -- and now they're saying, well, those states that said no are going to be punished through the Postal Service in this new rule that would punish, you know, states like Arizona.

No, we're not giving up those voter rolls and we're going to win this case on the merits. in federal court very, very soon.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Attorney General Mayes, I appreciate your time, and thank you so much for taking the time to come on. Obviously, this news is very late-breaking.

So thanks so much to you.

I want to go straight now to our OUTFRONT legal analyst Ryan Goodman. So, Ryan, you hear the attorney general from Arizona say, absolutely

not, they're not going to handle over those voter rolls. They're going to take this to court right away. That they expect that they will be able to have it move efficaciously and that they will get a quick verdict. Do you think that this will actually happen that way? The way she lays it out, if 90 percent of the people in the states are getting mail-in ballots, they don't have a lot of time here.

RYAN GOODMAN, JUST SECURITY CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: I think she's right. She's right for a couple reasons. First, there is still another lower federal court injunction that is against this executive order, and what the Supreme Court did tonight does not touch it.

And the USPS on Friday, when they issued their new rule, they said they will only put that new rule into effect if both injunctions are removed. And the Supreme Court only removed one of them. And then second, what the attorney general has said is completely right.

The Supreme Court ruling is not on the merits. It's just about the ripeness. Like, did the states bring their suit too soon? And the entire logic of that is that the USPS had not issued its final rule.

Well, on Friday, they issued the rule, and they said it will be published on Wednesday. That's what she means by they can go immediately to court, and those courts, the lower courts, have reached the merits. It's almost like an easy win in the lower courts because the lower courts have found that on the merits, the executive order can't stand. And what the Supreme Court did tonight was not about the merits.

BURNETT: Right, and as you point out, not about the merits, not about the legality, but about the timing, and timing really is everything.

The Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro just posted, and I quote the governor, "Donald Trump does not run elections here in Pennsylvania or in any state. We'll see the Trump administration in court. In the meantime, I'll keep defending Pennsylvania's right to -- Pennsylvanians' right, I'm sorry, to free, fair, and secure elections.

So, you know, do you think that Trump loses this in court? And when, if so?

GOODMAN: If it's decided on the merits, Trump loses this in court. The lower courts are across the board basically on the same page, and I think the U.S. Supreme Court would be as well. The states are the ones that run our elections and regulate elections.

BURNETT: Yeah.

GOODMAN: That's not a role for the president. And so, this is basically what they're saying, unconstitutional federal interference in states' elections. election processes. That's if they get to the merits.

The only wild card is if the Supreme Court were to issue some other kind of proceduralist ruling. But I don't necessarily see that. In fact, I see tonight as a bit of a dodge. They dodge it on the merits, and they only are doing it based on the standing issue in terms of ripeness of bringing the case.

And as I mentioned, the other case in which there is still an injunction, that's not even by states, that's by the League of Women Voters and their interests are people being disenfranchised.

BURNETT: Yeah.

GOODMAN: And that ruling is very strong, not just about the federal rule, but it actually says this executive order is going to disenfranchise lots of people.

BURNETT: All right, Ryan Goodman, thank you very much, as always.

And next, the breaking news, the Trump administration launching a new campaign in the war in Iran.

[19:15:01]

Iran, though, openly mocking it.

Plus, new poll numbers tonight just coming out show a new number for Trump as some of his closest allies are now distancing themselves from the president. And when I say close, you'll see how close we mean.

And a mystery in Manhattan, the NYPD on a case after a viral video captures people crawling out of a manhole in the middle of the night in disguises near Penn Station.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Breaking news, an unidentified projectile hitting and disabling an oil tanker near Oman's Ash Shishah in the Strait of Hormuz. You can see how close it is to the strait just right there on the map.

[19:20:03]

As of now, here's what we know. The tanker's engine room was damaged. The crew is believed to be safe. Now, this is according to the U.K.'s maritime trade operations.

And the news of this strike comes just hours after the Trump administration announced it's launched a new campaign against Iran, cutting it off from the global economy. They say they're going to order other countries to stop doing with Tehran, that has historically been impossible to implement because it involves countries that the U.S. does an incredibly large amount of business with, whether it be South Korea or other countries.

And it's unclear whether this will do anything to further disrupt Iran's economy because Trump has already said that Iran's economy is decimated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: They're broke. They have no money. You know, Iran is broke, totally broke, and they're not paying their soldiers. They have inflation of 300 percent.

They have 300 percent inflation. They're making no money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So tonight, Iran's deputy foreign minister came out in response to the threats to mock Trump and Treasury Secretary Bessent, who announced these economic sanctions, saying, quote, "Your narrative doesn't add up. You say Iran's military capability has been dismantled, 100 percent of its military factories destroyed and its nuclear program buried. But for this very Iran, the quote, largest financial assault in history and the mobilization of, quote, all U.S. institutions and authorities," end quote, "have been necessary? Is this a victory or an admission of America's failure?"

OUTFRONT now, Robert Kagan, one of the nation's top foreign policy experts, also just publishing a new piece in "The Atlantic", "Iran Unleashed."

Hi, Robert. I'm always grateful to have the opportunity to talk to you, and you've got a lot to talk about tonight. I just want to ask you first about this, though we're six months into the war.

Today, the U.S. investment rolls out this big sanctions plan. And what the deputy foreign minister, all propaganda aside, from Iran quotes Trump and this administration is saying is true, right? They say that it's decimated and dismantled and, right, that it's totally buried.

So, it does beg the question about why the need for this right now. So, the question is, does this new sanctions plan move the needle?

ROBERT KAGAN, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: I wouldn't think so. And also, what is the plan? I mean, we've been building up to this economic D-Day announcement, and the announcement turns out to be more warnings about stuff that we may do to unnamed countries in the future.

And so, as you rightly point out, it's not -- there isn't much left to do other than prevent countries from doing any business at all with Iran. And the number one country that we would be talking about in this situation is China, and Trump has a meeting coming up with Xi Jinping.

And I think that's why Secretary of Treasury Bessent did not mention any names because he didn't want to mention China. And it remains to be seen whether the administration is willing to be tough on China because Trump was not tough on China when he visited Xi Jinping.

BURNETT: Well, right. I mean, also, it's the whole idea of we're not going to trade with you if you trade with them just simply -- it just can't add up when it comes to China, right? That's the situation of the leverage, the trade relationship, just to be blunt. And Iran is pushing back already, right? The deputy foreign minister

calling out the threat, saying it doesn't add up, you know, if Iran's capabilities have been destroyed and dismantled. And you write, because of this war, quote, the dominant power in the region going forward will be Iran, not the United States or Israel's.

For years, the world has been dealing with an Iran constrained. It will now discover what Iran unleashed looks like. I mean, Robert, look, that's a stunning thing to say at, you know, you look at this over an entire career. But to think that the decisions made in the past few months could lead you to say from the U.S. and Israel being the power players in the region to now it being Iran, that is a pretty stunning thing to say. What leads you to say it now?

KAGAN: Well, and you're right. I mean, it is probably the greatest strategic defeat the United States has suffered since World War II. And I do think that's why I wrote this, because I do think it's important for people to understand just how much we have lost here.

Look, the story was that Iran always had to worry, even though it was somewhat aggressive at many times, but it always had to worry that the United States would come in and launch a sort of devastating attack. Well, now that the United States has launched an attack that was meant to be devastating and Iran has survived and now the United States is out of all kinds of munitions of missiles and defense interceptors, the Iranians know that really the United States does not have a military option right now and that is the reason why the Trump administration is now trumpeting their economic sanctions. But that -- that's a major retreat and the Iranians understand it.

That means Iran is essentially now going to go forward in substantial control of the Strait of Hormuz, which gives it an incredible power to deal with not just the region, and all the Gulf states are now going to have to make their deals with Iran, but also with the rest of the world.

[19:25:08]

Countries like Japan and Korea depend on access to the Gulf energy sources. something like 90 to 95 percent of their economy. And so, what are they going to do now? And what they're going to do is cut their deal with Iran. And that is how Iran is now emerging as a major player in the international system from a position that was incredibly weak just maybe a year and a half ago.

BURNETT: What is interesting, because you're actually saying that the control of the Strait of Hormuz is a more useful instrument of power than a nuclear weapon, which I also think is an incredible thing to say. Because you say a nuclear weapon might deter an attack, but control of the Strait gives Iran leverage every day over dozens of countries. And this is something that --

KAGAN: That's right.

BURNETT: Well, while you -- yeah, go ahead, go ahead. KAGAN: No, I'm just saying that Iran has already made clear that they will not only charge for transit through the strait, but they will take it upon themselves to decide who gets through and who doesn't get through. They've already said that ships associated with their enemies, meaning at least the United States and Israel, will not be getting through the strait.

So, all the countries around the world will understand that if they want to be able to get their oil supplies, they're going to have to be friendly to Iran, or at least not hostile to Iran. And that breaks down the whole system of containment of Iran that the United States and Israel and other countries have erected over the years.

BURNETT: Yeah, it's a pretty incredible thing. And I hope everyone will read the full article, "Iran Unleashed," your latest article in "The Atlantic".

Robert, thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

KAGAN: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, Trump's approval rating. We've got new numbers, and they are at an all-time low. So, what is really dragging him down right now? Is there something specific in there?

And a breaking news story we're following here tonight. The Air Force major who was arrested after calling for Trump's impeachment on the steps of the U.S. Capitol has just been charged. And the charges we are learning tonight are rare. His attorney is back OUTFRONT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:31:57]

BURNETT: Breaking news, a new poll just out showing Trump's approval rating at an all-time low. The number is 33 percent. So, what's driving that? Well, much of it is caused by Americans' dissatisfaction with the Iran war.

The Reuters/Ipsos poll shows just 31 percent of Americans support U.S. military action against Iran. Now, that's down from, as you can see, 34 percent earlier this month and 37 percent in March. So, it has gone down from already abysmally low levels.

Now, what's driving that is fewer self-identified Republicans backing the conflict. Republicans overall, just less than a quarter of U.S. -- of Americans define themselves as Republicans, right now, 69 percent of that group supports the war, but that number was 77 percent in March. So that is the drop that is really driving the overall decline.

OUTFRONT now, Max Rose and Sarah Matthews.

Sarah, as you know from spending time in a Trump White House, Trump is obsessed with polls. So when you look at a number like this, an all- time low of 33 percent, and you look deeper under the hood and you see it's driven by Republicans, where is the bottom here?

SARAH MATTHEWS, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY: Yeah, it's typically that Trump will dismiss bad polls as saying that these are rigged or that these are Democrat-led criticism coming from the low numbers. But that's the thing is that we're actually seeing the shift among Republicans, and that becomes much harder to dismiss when the frustration is coming from within his own party.

And that's not surprising to me when you look at all the things that Trump campaigned on and said he was going to do in the lead-up to the 2024 election, he promised he would be the peace president. Instead, he got us into another endless Middle East conflict with no end in sight that has just caused the price of gas to skyrocket. And so, yes, Republicans are going to be upset. And I think if this war continues to drag on, which it appears like it is going to do so, it seems like there is seemingly no end in sight right now.

I don't think the Iranians have any reason to want to end this war and wrap it up, particularly knowing that we here in America have an election in November. They don't want to do Trump any favors, and that would certainly help his party to have before the midterm elections. So, I think that we're going to continue to see the approval rating for him continue to decline as this war drags on.

BURNETT: So, Max, you know, he came off of Venezuela, where the president was able to shift the leadership, although, of course, not the regime, but to do so very, very easily, right, in the darkness of a night. By the way, we still haven't had elections in Venezuela and no sign of any such thing. But it was that success that perhaps drove him to do what he did in Iran. History will have the full details on this. But perhaps that is why Trump is on the record repeatedly saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks.

REPORTER: The U.S. will be gone or done with the war?

TRUMP: I think two or three weeks. Yeah.

We were in there for two months. And you know what? We're going to have victory very shortly.

I thought it would take, uh, four to six weeks, and I was right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[19:35:03]

BURNETT: Okay, Max, the last bite, four to six weeks, and I was right would imply it ended then. That was April 23rd.

Just to be clear, it's August 23rd, so it's four months ago. It is that timeline, perhaps, is now what's coming back to bite him, you know, that he kept telling people, basically, this is Venezuela II. MAX ROSE (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Yeah, look, this is starting to look like the "mission accomplished" banner of 2026. You know, and the analogy largely fits. Of course, after the 2006 midterm route that the Republicans experienced due almost entirely to the disastrous war in Iraq, Donald Rumsfeld resigned the very next day that the Democrats took the House.

I suspect that we will see the same thing during this election cycle with Pete Hegseth, because the president's calamitous political decline, as well as the entire MAGA extremist party is because of this war in Iran and the continued and even worse affordability crisis that it has -- it has caused.

BURNETT: Well., it was certainly exacerbated.

And, Sarah, maybe it's for that reason that we see support among Republicans eroding. And I mentioned at the top of the program that we were going to talk about insiders close to Trump who now are distancing themselves, diehard insiders, right, allies like Texas Governor Greg Abbott. He's suddenly in a tighter race for governor against Democrat Gina Hinojosa. than he would have ever in a million years expected.

So, now, when he gets questions about Trump, usually he would -- you know, he would support him and defend him and bend over backwards to do that, have no problem doing that, and now this is what we're hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN KARL, ABC NEWS HOST: I'm asking you about what Trump is doing. What grade would you give him on keeping prices down?

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: Well, I'll answer that, but in the context of your question, what I'm hearing on the campaign trail, people are not talking to me about Trump.

KARL: So, what grade would you give him?

ABBOTT: Depends on what category --

KARL: I'm asking about keeping prices low.

ABBOTT: Well, listen, we all need to have prices lowered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: I mean, Sarah, that really says a lot, doesn't it?

MATTHEWS: No, it is kind of funny to watch Republicans like Governor Abbott squirm when asked about affordability because they know that that's the top concern for voters heading into the midterm elections. And what is Trump doing when it comes to that message? He likes to say things like affordability is a hoax made-up by Democrats. He refuses to acknowledge the real economic concerns that the American people have. And I will say that the affordability crisis that we have in this

country has only been exacerbated by his policies when you look at things like his war of choice in Iran and causing gas prices to skyrocket or you look at his asinine tariffs that have caused inflation to continue to go up and the price of everything to go up in this country.

And so, I think that it is smart for Governor Abbott and other Republicans to try to distance themselves, but I don't know if it will really be effective because at the end of the day, Trump's policies will be on the ballot even if Trump is not on the ballot.

BURNETT: I mean, Max, what do you make of the fact of someone like Governor Abbott so clearly wanting to, hey, nobody even is talking about Trump.

ROSE: Right, right. You know what they say, if you want a friend in politics, get a -- get a dog. You know, the governor is doing what any rational politician would do right now, looking at Trump's numbers.

Ladies and gentlemen, the primary season is over. Now Republicans are finally waking up to the fact that they need 51 percent of the electorate, not 51 percent of a Republican base. They're finally realizing that, you know, meat and potatoes, kitchen table issues matter.

And when you engage in another forever war with no clear exit plan that was not thought out, that was reckless, that has exacerbated an affordability crisis, what do you know? The voters are upset, particularly when you ran on doing exactly the opposite.

So, the governor's doing what politicians do, which is caring about themselves. It's no surprise.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you both. Max, Sarah, I appreciate you.

And next, the breaking news, an important update on a story we've been following here with you. That is the Air Force major for -- 17 years in the Air Force, arrested after calling for Trump's impeachment. Now just learning the very rare charges he's facing. His attorney is next.

Plus, why did these people emerge from New York City sewers in the early hours of the morning with masks, covered up? Investigators are trying to find out, and fast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:59]

BURNETT: Breaking news on a story we've been following here OUTFRONT. Official charges have been filed against Air Force Major Jason Watson. Major Watson has served in the U.S. military for 17 years. He's been detained twice in recent weeks after speaking out against President Trump.

First, he was arrested on the steps of the U.S. Capitol when he called for Trump to be impeached over the Iran war and other issues in his uniform. Major Watson was detained a second time the day after he appeared on OUTFRONT and again criticized the commander in chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAJ. JASON WATSON, U.S. AIRMAN ARRESTED AT CAPITOL AFTER CALLING FOR TRUMP'S IMPEACHMENT: What is happening with President Trump is not normal. He has failed us. And not only is he a failure as president, he is flagrantly violating the Constitution, breaking the law, engaged in rampant corruption, and is killing Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Major Watson has remained in custody since last Tuesday, even though charges were just filed today, so almost a full week later.

[19:45:00]

Brian Todd is OUTFRONT with that breaking news.

So, Brian, we've got the official charges almost a week after he was arrested. And the official charges are rare. What can you tell us about them?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely rare, Erin, especially that Article 88 charge, which I'll get to in just a moment. But just to run down what Erin said to us about these new charges, new information, these are new criminal military charges against anti-Trump active duty, we should say. He's an active duty Air Force Major Jason Watson.

This is according to a charging document which his attorney shared with CNN. He is charged with three violations of Article 88 for alleged contemptuous remarks about President Trump. He's also been charged with five violations of Article 92 for allegedly disobeying orders. And he's been charged with two violations of Article 133, that is alleged conduct unbecoming an officer.

Now, as we mentioned, Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Under that article, a commissioned officer who uses, quote, "contemptuous words against the president, vice president, Congress, or other named officials could be punished by court martial." And again, as Erin mentioned, these Article 88 violations are a very rare charge.

Now, in this particular instance, he was charged with this because of his June interview for a Substack publication called Defenders of Our Republic, also for his July 1st protest there that you see in the video in uniform at the steps of the U.S. Capitol and for his August 17th interview with Erin on CNN.

Watson was first arrested in July while protesting in uniform there on the steps of the Capitol. He was holding a sign which read, "Impeach, convict, remove," referring to President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance.

He was then arrested last week after his interview with Erin for criticizing President Trump again in that interview. He was placed in confinement both times. An Air Force spokesperson previously told CNN, quote, "Major Watson's personal statements do not reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Air Force," end quote.

As we mentioned, the public dissent within the ranks of the U.S. military is a rare thing because military members are required to follow orders in accordance with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, and they don't have the same latitude as civilians to criticize elected officials in public.

Erin, we should point out that this Article 88 this contemptuous contempt of officials charge only been invoked twice since the Uniform Code of Military Justice was enacted in 1951. One time in 1965 when an armored lieutenant was convicted for participating in an anti-war protest against the Vietnam War off base we should say. And also in 2021, when a former Marine lieutenant colonel pleaded guilty to contempt of officials, that was linked to a series of social media posts where he criticized the Biden administration's withdrawal from Afghanistan, a very rare charge, only twice since this Uniform Code of Military Justice was enacted in 1951.

And now Major Watson faces those charges and others.

BURNETT: All right, Brian Todd, thank you very much. I want to go now to Chris Mutimer, the attorney for Air Force Major Jason Watson.

Major Watson, as we said, has served for 17 years, and he's just been charged. I know it took almost a week to get those charges, Chris. And as Brian laid out, some of these are exceedingly rare. The military had a lot of latitude. I want to be clear, Major Watson made it, when he did this, he knew that arrest was likely to come, right? He did that with his eyes wide open.

But here we are, and these are rare charges. As I said, a lot of latitude. They chose to really put the full book against him. Years behind bars is now a possibility. What's your reaction to the charges now you've seen them?

CHRIS MUTIMER, ATTORNEY FOR U.S. AIRMAN: I mean, as Brian stated, this is a very rare charge. It's pretty unprecedented. Major Watson is the first major in the history of the military to be charged under Article 88. He is looking at two different charges under Article 88, multiple charges under Article 92 and 133.

He -- as he's well aware, he's looking at possibly years in jail, being discharged from the military, loss of pay, loss of benefits. I believe he's made it pretty clear, not through my words, but words on your show, that he's aware about what he's facing and the magnitude of what this could be.

BURNETT: He has -- and I want to play something he said in a moment. But first, if I could just ask you, because obviously here we are on Monday and he was arrested last week, in custody for nearly a week. When we first spoke, you had said he was being treated well.

How is he being treated? What are his circumstances? MUTIMER: So he's in -- I was with him today. I spoke with him today. He's in very good spirits. I will say it's hard. I mean, he is basically in solitary confinement for his safety in a lot of ways. He does not have access to any religious materials.

[19:50:00]

He's a religious person. He wants stuff to read. He's not provided any books he hasn't had other than one time the ability to exercise or go out into the yard. So, he is being -- his detainment. I would say it's pretty painful in a lot of ways. If you've ever been in a situation where you're in a room with four walls and they're about, you know, several feet away from you, and that's all you're seeing for 24 hours a day.

And if even if you haven't been in that situation, you can imagine that would put a lot of stress on your soul and your mind and for what he's going through and where he's at, he's doing amazing.

BURNETT: Well, obviously that the kind of graphic imagery that you're giving there is painful. I mean, he's 40 years old. He's the father of two young children, right? And as you said, he did talk to me about the thought process he went through and why he was willing to risk everything. You know, he said the whole point was so that other people wouldn't have to in the military, right? It wasn't to follow him. It was so that he could make the point.

And I just want to play a little bit, Chris, of what he said about his motivation, right, as he thought through it, why he chose to do it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: Everything that is worthwhile is going to cost something. It's going to be hard. It's going to require sacrifice. All that I could do was ask myself, what's the highest price that I'm willing to pay? But any American can make this choice. Any American can say this government is intolerable and I want a better future for my children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: When you were with him today, does he still have that sentiment? I mean, obviously, he went in eyes wide open, but as you say now, he's got to deal with four walls, every one of which is a couple feet away.

MUTIMER: Absolutely. He has a very, very strong spirit. He truly believes in everything about our Constitution and what it represents and the oath that he swore. And he stands by the fact that he did this so others wouldn't have to and to share that anyone who's scared and feels alone that they are not alone and he stands by that to an hour ago when I saw him.

And it's very -- when you walk away after having a conversation with him it's not hard to be inspired yourself as a human.

BURNETT: Well, Chris, I appreciate your speaking to us and his obviously you know allowing you to do so. So thank you very much.

MUTIMER: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, these viral videos that show multiple people climbing out of New York City sewers in the early hours of the morning in darkness. So, who are they? And what are they doing down there?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:57:26]

BURNETT: Tonight, the NYPD says it's investigating after a video that's going viral captured three people crawling out of a manhole in the middle of the night near Penn Station, America's busiest transit hub.

Shimon Prokupecz is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This bizarre video posted to TikTok showing three men wearing what appears to be headlamps and protective clothing crawling out of a manhole in New York City is sparking a frenzy of questions. Who are these people? What are they doing and why?

The NYPD says they are aware of the incident and are actively investigating. There are no arrests. Police say this video was taken around 4:00 a.m. on Thursday, August 18, just outside Manhattan's Penn Station. It's the busiest passenger transportation facility in America, handling more daily riders than any individual airport or major tunnel in the area.

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think the fact that it was so close to Penn Station means that the NYPD is going to take probably an extra focus to try to stop this from happening.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): This incident comes after eerily similar videos around New York City appeared just a few months ago. In this one outside an auto body shop in Queens, you can see the three individuals pry open a manhole cover, enter into the sewer and pulled the cover closed before traffic started moving again. Investigators believe people may have been hunting for anything of value that found its way into the sewer system, especially after a storm.

Authorities investigated but did not find that anything was damaged or interfered with.

KAYYEM: These are highly orchestrated events. You have people on the outside knowing exactly when to lift the manhole and let these and let the others out. The earlier when these were first found in May, these videos NYPD said that they thought it was some sort of scavenger hunt.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): After this video surfaced in May, New York City's Department of Environmental Protection issued a statement saying in part, "Entering the sewer system is both illegal and extremely dangerous."

These videos of humans emerging from sewers looks like something out of a Hollywood movie.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guys are going down to the sewer to check for slime stuff, and Egon thinks there may be a huge surge in cockroach breeding.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): The question remains, is it more minions? Or something more nefarious?

KAYYEM: Whatever it is, it's highly dangerous, not simply for them. It's disgusting down there. There's chemicals, there's smells, there's noxious materials and liquids, but obviously, they could leave something behind that would be dangerous to pedestrians or street.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Obviously, just sort of unsettling to imagine something like that able to happen and even go down right next to Penn Station in New York City.

Thanks so much to Shimon.

And thanks so much to all of you, as always, for joining us. We'll see you tomorrow.

"AC360" begins right now.