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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump: "I'm Entitled To Personal Attacks" Against Harris; Source: Bulletproof Glass To Surround Trump At Some Rallies; Prosecutor: "Ketamine Queen" Gave Perry 50 Vials For $11K. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired August 15, 2024 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: So out of the five, three got on board with federal prosecutors and have been talking to them and turning over documents and phone messages and other things for a long time.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: And were they dealing to other Hollywood stars?
MILLER: So that's the really interesting question. I spoke to a senior investigator, tonight, in Los Angeles, who said they did run into other names, other big names, other known -- other known entities in Hollywood, in this case.
But none of those dealings amounted to what prosecutors thought was a case that would sustain a conviction, because they were still alive, and hadn't suffered an overdose, and they were middle-men and so on.
COOPER: Wow. John Miller, I appreciate the reporting. Thank you very much.
That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE" with Pamela Brown starts now. I'll see you, tomorrow.
PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: Straight from THE SOURCE tonight.
Donald Trump and his most extensive comments yet, about those relentless personal attacks, saying he is entitled to attack Vice President Harris because he's very angry with her.
We have some new reporting coming in, on how the Secret Service plans to protect Donald Trump, when he returns to outdoor rallies, including surrounding him with bulletproof glass.
And five arrests, in connection with the death of "Friends" star, Matthew Perry, including a woman known as the Ketamine Queen. One of the prosecutors, who announced these charges, today, is here with us.
I'm Pamela Brown, in for Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
Well Donald Trump, making it crystal clear, tonight, that he is not letting up on his personal attacks against Vice President Harris. In fact, he's leaning in, despite red flags being waved by some of his closest allies, who have been urging him to stick to policy, stay on message, focus, so that he can halt Harris' momentum.
He kind of sort of did so today, for a little bit, at his Bedminster -- Bedminster golf club, in New Jersey. He walked out with this binder of prepared remarks, and did sound off on many policy matters.
But then, in typical Trump fashion, the floodgates opened. When CNN's Alayna Treene asked Trump about the feedback he's been getting to lay off those personal attacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT AND 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I'm very angry at her that she'd weaponized the justice system against me and other people. Very angry at her. I think I'm entitled to personal attacks. I don't have a lot of respect for her. I don't have a lot of respect for her intelligence. And I think she'll be a terrible president.
Whether the personal attacks are good, bad. I mean, she certainly attacks me personally. She actually called me, weird, he's weird. It was just a sound bite. And she called J.D. and I, weird.
She's weird in her policy.
Some people say, oh, why don't you be nice? But they're not nice to me. They want to put me in prison.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Well, of course, that's a baseless claim there.
It was quite a sharp contrast, more than 200 miles away, where we saw President Biden and Vice President Harris, today, their first joint event since Biden ended his campaign. Though, there was some name- calling there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S., (D) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Today, we take the next step -- thank you, Joe -- forward in our fight.
(CROWD CHANTS THANK YOU, JOE)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The guy we're running against, what's his name?
(LAUGHTER)
BIDEN: Donald Dump or Donald -- whatever.
Let me tell you what our Project 2025 is.
(CHEERS)
BIDEN: Beat the hell out of them.
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Let's discuss with some of our top political minds, tonight.
Van, I want to start with you.
You heard the former President bringing up Harris calling him weird, and using that as one of the reasons he's, quote, "Entitled," to launch personal attacks against her.
What is your response to that?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I feel like Donald Trump failed kindergarten. I mean, he just sounded like a little kid, just petulant. And you can imagine an actual adult trying to explain to him that just because someone calls you a name doesn't mean you have to call them a name.
I mean, literally, this is the guy that wants to be the leader of the Free World. We have every problem that you can think of, on Planet Earth. And he's going to spend his time talking about why it's great for him to be a petulant kid. He's melting down. This is not going well for him.
BROWN: All right. So, let's talk a little bit more about that. I want to bring you in, Doug.
Since Harris entered the race, she's really seized the spotlight. Trump today is clearly trying to wrest back that spotlight with these news conferences. He even used a table full of groceries as props today to illustrate inflation.
You have to wonder what his allies, who have been begging him to stay on out -- on message, what they thought of how today went.
DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think probably mixed signals. And part of that is we heard what the setup was, with the groceries. OK. We know what the framework is going to be. Then can Donald Trump stay in the framework? We don't know. And we always sort of learn, he veers in and out of the lanes.
But it's so important for the Trump campaign to stay on this message. And that their direction was the right one. Just they can't depend on their candidate. And I say that because Trump was in North Carolina, yesterday. Kamala Harris is going to be in Raleigh, North Carolina, tomorrow. So, focus on what people there are focused on.
[21:05:00]
And so, whether you're buying a Blue Cup, at He's Not Here in Chapel Hill, or a chopped pork plate, at Stephenson's in Willow Springs, or a ribeye steak, at the Angus Barn, in Raleigh. What do those three landmark places, in North Carolina, have in common? The prices have gone up massively, in those, since Joe Biden became president.
And that's the Biden-Harris record. That's what you need to talk about. And that's true in all of those states. If Trump can stay on message and do that. J.D. can sort of stay on message. It's his past record and statements that come into play there.
But you have the lane here of where voters are telling you, this is what's important to me. I wake up in the morning, and I don't know if I can provide for my family, because everything is more expensive. Hit that, and hit that constantly. That's her record, as much of it as it is Joe Biden's.
BROWN: What do you think about that?
MARGIE OMERO, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: I mean, it's striking how hard it is, for Trump to stay, you know, to get out of his own way. And we don't need to conjecture whether he can do it. We have enough time, with Trump in the news, to know that he can't.
And what I -- I've been moderating focus groups for almost 30 years. I've never heard anybody say, You know what? I wish -- I wish we have more candidates, who feel entitled to make negative personal attacks. Like, it is the last thing that people want. Because it sounds so -- it doesn't even just sound. It is so self-focused, and not focused on what people want.
Whether the issue is how people afford groceries, or feel about the rate of inflation, or anything else, people want to know that you're focused on them, and bringing people together, not just really thinking about your own grievances.
BROWN: But let me just follow-up with you.
And S.E., I'm going to bring you in right after.
Because you hear Trump, really attacking Harris, when it comes to those rising prices, and what consumers are feeling at the grocery store. You saw the table there with the groceries. And Trump is arguing Harris claims she's going to, on day one, lower prices. Well, she's been part of this administration, for the last three-and-a-half years.
Is that effective messaging?
OMERO: Well, it's certainly something that folks, who want to support Trump, would respond to more than him, and his personal attacks, which people don't like. Even people who are voting for him don't like that that he behaves that way. So there is -- there are people, who want to talk about these issues.
I think it's important, also, reflect on what's happening in the news, in the news about how the rate of inflation is slowing. I mean, that's something that is part of the dialog. It's not just about the way Donald Trump talks about it. But all of that is getting overshadowed by what the headline is, I feel entitled to make personal attacks, And rambling speech that people don't want to pay attention to, refusing to take questions from reporters, because he's just focused on himself doing a press conference outside.
BROWN: He did -- he did take questions, though. We should note.
OMERO: Not -- it took a while to get there.
BROWN: Well and--
OMERO: Because he wanted to go through his spiel.
BROWN: And on that note, though, he is clearly, S.E., trying to draw this contrast of, look, I'm up here. I'm giving a press conference. I am.
He did take questions at the end, maybe not as many as, as others would like, but he did.
And he's trying to draw this contrast: Look what I'm doing.
We're not even hearing from Kamala Harris. Her campaign says by the end of the month, she will be doing a sit-down interview.
What do you think about that? Is that enough? And, of course, tomorrow, she is laying out her economic policy.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well he's creating a contrast, but not that one. I think he is looking sort of wildly, sloppily, undisciplined. And Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are looking pre- organized, energetic, enthusiastic and disciplined.
I'm not surprised, he feels entitled to personal attacks. He feels entitled to grab women by the genitalia. He feels entitled to fraud the State of New York. He feels entitled to lie about his own election. He feels entitled to take money from his own donors. That's not the surprising part.
But it's not working. It would be one thing if it were working to his advantage. Because we know he'll do anything. But it's not working.
And in North Carolina, just last year, Biden -- Trump was up on Biden by as much as 11 points. Now that margin has shrunk to two, now that Kamala Harris is in it, that's a state that is now winnable for Democrats. He has to know this isn't working. This is only helping her.
And if he cares about any of that, if he cares about winning, he will get back on message. There's plenty of policy to go after. He's just choosing to do the cheap stunts instead.
BROWN: And, of course, this wouldn't be a Trump speech if he didn't include remarks on immigration. Let's listen to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Most of the job creation has gone to migrants. In fact, I've heard that substantially more than -- beyond the -- actually, beyond the number of a 100 percent. It's a much higher number than that. But the government hasn't caught up with that yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: How do you make sense of that?
HEYE: Well, you don't. Except this is where you, again, and if you're Chris LaCivita, or Susie Wiles, at the campaign, this is why you're trying to get him on message. Don't say the things that don't make any sense.
[21:10:00]
Where is Kamala Harris and the Biden-Harris administration unpopular? On the handling of the economy, which we've talked about, and on the issue of immigration and the border.
And Republicans are going to continue to call her the border czar. Apologies to my friends at Axios. That's what they called her as well. This is what Republican candidates--
BROWN: And to be clear to our viewers. She was not the border czar.
HEYE: That's what multiple--
BROWN: That's the DHS department.
HEYE: That's what multiple news outlets were calling her--
BROWN: But not CNN.
HEYE: --for years, until--
BROWN: And they had, yes. That is correct. Some had.
HEYE: --until the Harris campaign said, please don't do that anymore. And now that's the official line.
And I'll say. I, by and large agree with S.E. Keep in mind, yes, Donald Trump feels entitled to a lot of things. Somebody also shot bullets at him. And so, I think he does feel a personal entitlement to respond to attacks, because somebody shot a bullet at him. That's a little different than the other things that we've seen from him that are weird and bizarre. And our news cycles have moved so fast in the past three weeks or a month that we sort of forget that that happened.
BROWN: I wonder what you think about that, Van.
And also, the fact that some of his allies believe that he is getting increasingly worried that he could lose this race, and that is why we are hearing more and more, from him, trying to lay this groundwork of well, if I lose, that's because the Democrats cheated. He said again, today, repeated the lie that he had won Pennsylvania, in 2020.
Do you think that the Democrat should be confronting that kind of rhetoric more, especially given after what happened in 2020, and January 6?
JONES: Maybe. But he's always been that way.
But here's something to observe about the psychology of this guy. The past three weeks apparently have been the worst three weeks of his campaign. The worst three weeks, the worst three weeks.
This year, he was convicted. He's a convicted crook. He was indicted. To your point, he was shot at, and actually hit by a bullet. All of those things are not as important, as the past few weeks, where somebody is getting more attention than him.
Kamala Harris getting more attention than him is gotten him more upset and more off-message than anything else. That gives you a sense you're dealing with the level of just pure narcissism, that I think people need to take a serious account of.
Now, with regard to him saying, if I lose, it's because somebody cheated. He's been saying that the whole time. He says people -- he says they were cheating when he won. I mean, so.
Democrats can't get distracted with that. We know what he's going to do. We know how he's going to act. What we've got to keep doing is focusing on what's working for us. There is an optimistic message here. There's a hopeful message here. There's a change message here.
Kamala Harris is not Joe Biden. They're from different generations. They're from different parts of the country. She would be a different president than Joe Biden. Joe Biden is a president that I love a lot.
And I think Kamala Harris is the President I will love as much or even more. As long as she can continue, just to stay optimistic, she's going to keep moving forward.
And as long as he continues to throw fits, he's going to keep falling.
BROWN: I want to follow-up with you, Van, because The New York Times is reporting that VP Harris has participated in a mock presidential debate, at Howard University, on Monday. Her debate against Trump is not for another three-and-a-half weeks.
What does it tell you that she's already starting to prepare for this?
JONES: I think it's awesome.
And look, she's taking this very seriously, because I think she's got the weight of American democracy, on her shoulders. And she's got the hopes of generations of Americans on her shoulders. I am seeing a level of hope, of enthusiasm, of optimism, I haven't seen since 2008. And she takes it seriously. And also, I think people assume just because she's a prosecutor, she's going to go in there and do great in the debate. Prosecutors don't debate. They accuse. They harangue. They attack. And the person that they're talking to can't say, well, your mom is fat. I mean, like, they can't fight back.
So, a debate is not the same. It's a different set of muscles. It's a different set of activity. The fact that she's doing that, right now, is great.
BROWN: To bring you in, S.E.
Biden was preparing for his debate, we learned that there was a lot of rigorous prep. In fact, some of his allies said it was because of that rigorous prep, why he did so bad in the debate.
How might this be different, with Harris, in your view?
CUPP: Well, to state the obvious, she's younger, and I think she speaks more clearly, when on message. We've seen a lot of times, where she's gone a little bit tangential, and we hope that she doesn't do that. I'm sure her people hope that she doesn't do that in the debate. But she's focused. I mean, she is, to Van's point, laser-focused on the stakes here.
And I'll add something to Van's list of things that she's got on her shoulders. She stepped in when Joe Biden stepped down, because the case was, she could win and he couldn't. That pressure must be tremendous.
[21:15:00]
So, there's a lot, I think, going on in her head, and in the campaign's, sort of strategizing. They can't afford to make mistakes. Because there's lots of time to still make mistakes. Donald Trump is Teflon. He has proven he can survive all kinds of things that would fell other candidates.
I think they realize that, and they know that hubris will be their number one enemy, just as it was Donald Trump's. The hubris of putting J.D. Vance on the ticket, because they were feeling so good and cocky. The hubris of Donald Trump going out, and winging it at these rallies. They know that that that will kill them. So, I think they're being very smart, very strategic, very focused, and not taking anything for granted.
HEYE: I had--
BROWN: All right.
HEYE: I had dinner, two nights ago, with an old RNC colleague, who's worked on lot of presidential campaigns.
And he said, the big fear is, all Kamala Harris has to do, in this debate, or both debates, if we have two, is just do a perfect dive-in. You don't have to do a lot of flips, just a perfect dive, to prove that you can do that competently. And if she can do that, it maybe game over.
The challenge for the Harris campaign is Donald Trump is going to pick up some sand, and he's going to throw it. And does she have a plan to make that dive, if Trump successfully throws some sand?
OMERO: That just backfires against him. And we just have a poll released that one of the biggest differentiators, between Harris and Trump, is that people see her as a role model for children. And if Trump continues to behave that the way he's been behaving, that doesn't really help that number at all.
BROWN: All right. Well, thank you everyone, for sharing your insights and perspective. We appreciate it.
Up next. One of Trump's allies, on the Hill, with his message for the Republican presidential nominee.
Plus, new details about the sprawling drug operation that contributed to Matthew Perry's death. Five charged, including the so-called Ketamine Queen. The prosecutor is here.
[21:20:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: The economy. That's what Trump allies have been urging Trump to talk about today. And for a period of time, that is what Trump did.
But about halfway through that nearly 90-minute press conference, Trump closed the book on his prepared remarks, and ramped up his personal attacks against Harris.
Republican congressman, Mike Waltz, is my source tonight.
Thank you so much for coming on, Congressman.
REP. MIKE WALTZ (R-FL): Sure, Pam. Thanks.
BROWN: So, President Trump finally stayed on message, for a bit, today. But after reading from his binder, he did repeatedly veer off to those sort of familiar tangents, right? He brought up wind mills, and killing birds, and falsely claimed that Vice President Harris is a communist.
Did you think his overall message today was a winning message?
WALTZ: Yes, I think so. I mean, I'm glad he was talking about the economy. I loved the backdrop at Bedminster.
And just to go over some of the stats. He talked about car insurance being up 54 percent, hotels, 51 percent, gas, 50 percent, electricity, 31, and baby food, which near and dear to my heart, and I think yours too, up 30 percent.
So, I was out campaigning with J.D. Vance, today. That's what we were hearing loud and clear from people. I actually talked to somebody, who couldn't afford to send her kids to camp this summer.
And you're looking at some surveys, where over 50 percent of Americans consider themselves broke, self-described broke, and couldn't get through a month of unexpected expenses. So, it's a real issue. The President is talking about it.
And undergirding all of this has been bad energy policy from both Biden and Harris. If we would simply unleash American oil and gas, not only would it solve the inflation problem here, because everything has to be transported, you also solve some foreign policy problems.
You drive down the price of gas, you dry up Putin's war machine. You drive down the price of gas overseas, and oil, you dry up Iran's war machine too. So there's--
BROWN: And--
WALTZ: It's been bad policy after bad policy. And I'm glad to hear the President talking about it.
BROWN: And we're going to hear from Vice President Harris, tomorrow, on her economic policy, and we hope to learn more about what that looks like.
But just to follow-up on what you said. You said you've been out on the campaign trail. You are hearing directly from voters, talking about the economy, that that's top of their mind.
Allies of Donald Trump, that we've spoken to, have expressed concern that he is not actually talking enough about that, that that messaging really isn't coming from him as much as they want. They say that he is too focused on criticizing Kamala Harris over her crowd sizes, over her race, over her intellect. And we heard some of those same themes today.
Is that really how Trump is going to win this race?
WALTZ: Well, I don't know who these supposed allies are. I've been to -- I can't even count how many of his rallies. And he talks about the economy. He talks about the border.
BROWN: I mean, yes, I mean, let me just--
WALTZ: He actually got shot while talking about--
BROWN: --let me just interrupt you really quick. Vivek--
WALTZ: He got shot while talking about the border.
BROWN: Vivek Ramaswamy. Lindsey Graham. Megyn Kelly came out recently and talked about it. Those are just a few by name.
WALTZ: Well, I think a number of people are -- believe, I certainly do, and I think the President does too, his policies were far better for the country. The country was better off, from an economic standpoint, from a crime standpoint, from a border security. And certainly, the world was more secure.
And we haven't in what a 130, a 140 years, had a previous administration and President, with real policies, to compare with the current ones, which have our economy on fire and the world on fire.
BROWN: I want to--
WALTZ: So, making that contrast as much as possible, I do think, will be a winning strategy, and has been. And that's why he's been consistently up in the polls.
[21:25:00]
BROWN: All right. Let me just follow-up with you. Because you clearly support Donald Trump's policies, when he was in office. You want to see him back in the White House.
What we know, in terms of what he wants to do, if he were to win again, is to extend the tax cuts from 2017. Well, the Congressional Budget Office has said that that would add, I believe, it was $5 trillion, to the deficit. As we know, when Trump was in office, he added trillions to the deficit, more than from what we've seen from President Biden.
Does that concern you, as a conservative?
WALTZ: Well, number one, that's a bit of a -- that's a bit of a bogus comparison, Pam, because those deficit numbers take into account the historic, unprecedented spending we had to do, to save the economy, like the Paycheck Protection Program under COVID.
So, you set that aside. There's two ways to get out of the deficit. You cut spending, which the CBO is not accounting for in its figures, and you grow the economy, which President Trump's tax cuts would absolutely do.
But the other thing we're not talking about is I've also seen the Democrats--
BROWN: But you have several economies--
WALTZ: One second. Wait. One second.
BROWN: Sure. Go ahead.
WALTZ: That I've seen the Democrats' proposals. They're proposing to double the capital gains rate, which would destroy entrepreneurship, private equity, venture capital and small businesses in this country. And then, they're talking unearned income, where you're going to have a bureaucrat, I guess, come into your life and value what, your land, your cars, your stocks, whatever, and hand you a bill? That's a very real proposal. That legislation is on the table.
And so, I'm talking to every small business out there, and saying your corporate rate is going to go from 22 back to 35, the highest rates are going to go all back up, and the economy is going to go back into the slump that it was in, under the Obama years. There's a lot at stake for our businessowners--
BROWN: And certainly--
WALTZ: --and for every American.
BROWN: And certainly, there are different views of how to manage the economy. And of course, we will press the Democratic side just as much.
But just to follow-up on, on your side of things. There was, I believe it was, 16 Nobel Prize economists, who came out recently, with this letter, and said that what Trump wants to do, with the economy, will actually add to inflation. And they were very concerned about that.
These are economists. I'm not an economist. I believe you're not an economist.
WALTZ: Yes.
BROWN: What do you say to that?
WALTZ: Yes, well, I mean, you want to -- you want a different opinion. Economists are kind of like weather men and women.
But look, right now, as we speak, with the inflation rate is double what they inherit -- what Biden and Harris inherited from the Trump administration. Let's just talk the actual results.
Inflation has been out of control. It's the highest in decades. The prices are through the roof. And fixed-income seniors, in particular, are the ones that are suffering the most. It has been the number one issue now, for four years.
And one of the clips that I think is the most damning for Harris is she's asked a simple question. What's your plan to deal with it? And she literally couldn't answer, and didn't answer.
So, you're curious to see her plan next week.
BROWN: Let me--
WALTZ: I'm curious too. But what I'm hearing is it's going to be--
BROWN: Tomorrow, actually. Right.
WALTZ: Well, tomorrow. What I'm hearing is it's going to be fix--
BROWN: And we should note -- OK. We have to go.
WALTZ: --price fixing.
BROWN: We have to go, because we are going to get the Democratic side of this. We want to make sure that we representing all the viewpoints here on this show.
Congressman Mike Waltz, thank you so much. WALTZ: Sure. Thanks.
BROWN: My Democratic source, tonight, is Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida.
First of all, how do you respond to Congressman Waltz's defense of Trump, the attacks that he just had, on the candidate you support, Vice President Harris, and what he had to say about the economy, how, in his view, the economy has been tanking under this current administration.
REP. MAXWELL FROST (D-FL): Yes, well, thank you so much for the question.
Obviously, with respects to my colleague, this shows the obvious hypocrisy going on, in the Republican Party, right now. Just look at Trump's plan on taxes, to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans, raise taxes on the middle-class.
The CBO has come out and said that this would add to the deficit, significantly. My colleague said, oh, well, that doesn't account for the cuts.
My next question is, what cuts do you plan to make, to make up for that amount of addition to the deficit? And the answer is simple. They want to cut things like food stamps, SNAP benefits.
We're talking about $6 a day for working families, and people who need the relief. We're talking about things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. There are Republicans, like my senator, Rick Scott, who have said we need to be looking at sunsetting these programs every five years.
And so, it's complete hypocrisy. When it comes to Democrats, they want to level the national deficit as an attack on us, for campaign purposes. But when it comes to their candidate, they don't want to do the same.
BROWN: Let me just follow-up with you, though. Because when you look at the majority of the polls, voters look at Trump as someone, who could handle the economy better than Vice President Harris, right?
[21:30:00]
I mean, these are voters who are responding to what their experience has been, under the Biden-Harris administration, and looking ahead to the next election, and who they think is better on the economy. And Trump does lead, even though it is not -- by a smaller margin. That is the overall view when you look at the polls.
We do expect to hear from VP Harris, tomorrow, as she lays out her economic plan. How do you expect it to be different from what Biden has said, in the last three-and-a-half years?
FROST: Yes. And I appreciate you pointing out the fact that they are very close, almost neck-and-neck in many of these polls, especially when it comes to the economy. And not just that, but the Vice President has led in a few of these polls, actually, for the first time, and one of them having to do with the handling of the economy.
How is it going to differ? She's going to be building off of the great record of Joe Biden, the amazing work that he's been doing. I think we'll hear from her, tomorrow, things, as it relates to housing, making sure that people can afford housing, homeowners, and also for tenants, and also how we're going to get these prices down.
Here's the thing that everyone needs to understand. Corporations are making record profits. While, yes, prices have gone up, they've gone down more recently. And this is because of corporate greed.
BROWN: Yes.
FROST: And what the President has done, is the President has been focusing on ways that we can rein in corporate greed, and make sure that we stand up for the consumer. And I think what we'll hear, tomorrow, from the Vice President is how she's going to build on top of that, and continue that, so we can drive these prices down.
For too long, both political parties, as prices have gone up and down, have used it as a, you know, used it as a talking point for campaigns. This shouldn't just be a talking point for campaigns. We need to figure out, how are we going to deal with the problem?
And it's not just about levying a charge whoever's currently in office. It's about looking at the real villain here, when it comes to high prices, and it's really corporations and corporate greeds in billionaires that are continuing to price-gouge and price-fix.
BROWN: Well let me just quickly -- we have to go.
FROST: And so, I think what we'll hear from the Vice President is how she intends to--
BROWN: But I just have to follow-up with you, though. Just to be fair. Because we just had Waltz on. I pressed him too.
You talk about corporate greed. But under Trump, I mean, there -- the inflation was low. It was much lower than it has been under Biden. And some of his critics say he overheated the economy by putting all that money in, to deal with COVID. And that is what also led to inflation.
Quickly, what do you say to that?
FROST: No, what the -- President Biden did is save our economy.
They all -- the thing that, the last -- out of the last 11 recessions our country has had, 10 of them were started under Republican presidents. And so, it's even just beyond Donald Trump. It's these conservative policies aim to put us in a bad situation in terms of the economy.
What President Biden has been doing is helping to save us. He came in, made sure that we utilized, yes, taxpayer money, to make sure that taxpayers can go back to school, can go back to work, can make sure that less people are dying because of COVID. That's what he did. Was not just save our economy, but save lives. Does it cost money? Yes.
BROWN: OK.
FROST: But sometimes, the cost of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of taking action. That's what the President did. He saved our economy. And we are sticking the landing on this.
Of course, there's a lot more work we need to do. We have massive wealth inequality in this country, a long-standing problem. And the Vice President is going to continue that tradition of excellence. And we'll hear from her, tomorrow. And I think we're going to be--
BROWN: OK.
FROST: --winning on the economy by Election Day.
BROWN: Congressman Maxwell Frost, thank you.
Just ahead. We have some new reporting on how the Secret Service plans to protect Donald Trump at outdoor rallies.
[21:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: A brand-new plan, from the Secret Service, now taking drastic new steps to better-protect Donald Trump.
To start, the former President will soon be surrounded by giant panels of bulletproof glass at some rallies. A senior Secret Service official tells CNN it's just part of the beefed-up security plan, after Trump survived an assassination attempt, last month.
Bulletproof glass is usually only used to protect current presidents. It's not easy to move into place, and needs to be flown in on military planes.
Former FBI Deputy Director, Andrew McCabe, is here. He is also a CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst.
I want to first ask, because I talked about this, bulletproof glass, as we noted, is difficult to put into place.
ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: Sure.
BROWN: And it's not usually used for presidential candidates, right?
MCCABE: Correct.
BROWN: But Donald Trump is a former President. Do you think that should have already been in place for him?
MCCABE: He is a former President. But it's also not customarily used for former Presidents.
Now, he's different than most former Presidents, because he's a former President, currently running for president. So, I think when you add all those factors together, it looks like kind of an obvious choice. But at that point, you have to layer on the amazing additional resources that it takes to pull this off.
So, I'm sure that was probably -- you know, these are the sort of very realistic, real-world budgetary concerns that the Service considers, every day, for every outing, every time they're trying to protect a protectee, in different circumstances. But obviously, the cost of doing it for the former President is much higher now.
BROWN: Well, former President Obama famously used bulletproof glass, at his 2008 victory speech.
The Pope uses it too. We've seen that video. We have it on the screen there.
Can you explain how well it protects whoever is behind it?
MCCABE: Sure. So, it's unbelievably heavy and dense, and that's what gives it its ballistic protective quality. It's also what makes it so challenging to move around, to deploy, to store, that sort of thing. And so, it's going to protect who's ever behind it, from the kind of rifle-fire that you can expect to see, at these events.
Would it protect from every sort of ordinance? No, it won't. But it will cover the protectee, in this case, former President Trump, from those sorts of rifles that you would expect to encounter, in an event like the one, the AR-15 he encountered, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
[21:40:00]
BROWN: It's really remarkable too, as it'd be flown in, and then trucked around by the Defense Department.
MCCABE: That's right. That's right. One of the things that makes it really hard to -- hard to deal with. Obviously, Defense Department assistance to law enforcement entities is always a little bit tricky. But they've gotten over those hurdles, in this case.
BROWN: Yes. And they're also talking about it, including the -- increasing the number of agents as well, and certain technological changes. But the Secret Service official that we have spoken to declined to give more details, for security reasons--
MCCABE: Of course.
BROWN: --which would be expected, right?
MCCABE: Right.
BROWN: What else might they do?
MCCABE: So, all kinds of other things they didn't use, notoriously, in the Butler incident. The use of drones to cover, over-watch over the -- over the scene, and the area around it.
And then there are other ways to just plus-up the things that they did do. So, additional magnetometers, additional officers, bringing in additional local officers, really covering every spot, in a way that maybe didn't happen in Butler.
BROWN: All right. Andrew McCabe, thank you so much.
Well, five people charged, in connection with the death of "Friends" star, Matthew Perry, including his assistant, and a woman known as the Ketamine Queen.
The prosecutor is my source, up next.
[21:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BROWN: New tonight. Two people charged in the death of Matthew Perry, just pleaded not guilty. One of them, a doctor.
Salvador Plasencia surrendered his license to prescribe controlled substances. Prosecutors say Dr. P, as he was known, injected Perry with ketamine, in a public parking lot.
The other not-guilty plea, tonight, from the woman, officials say was the supplier, known as the Ketamine Queen. In the court documents, prosecutors describe how Jasveen Sangha ran a drug ring, speaking in code with the other defendants, referring to bottles of ketamine as Dr. Pepper.
Perry's own live-in assistant is also charged. Prosecutors say he injected Perry, 27 times, in just the five days before his death. Three of those doses given the day Perry died.
Known and beloved by millions, as the quick-witted, sarcastic New Yorker, Chandler Bing, on "Friends," Perry shared his decades-long battle with drug addiction in his 2022 memoir, becoming addicted to ketamine after seeking treatment for depression and anxiety.
And last October, he was found, floating face-down in a Jacuzzi, at his Pacific Palisades home, dead as a result of acute effects of ketamine, and subsequent drowning, according to the autopsy report.
I want to go straight to THE SOURCE now, with the prosecutor of this case. U.S. Attorney, Martin Estrada.
Thanks for joining us.
So, first off, how did your team connect the dots here, to figure out how Matthew Perry was getting the ketamine?
MARTIN ESTRADA, U.S. ATTORNEY, CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA: Well, thank you for having me.
What happened is, in October of last year, following Mr. Perry's death, we did an investigation. It was in-depth. It was broad. And we found this larger network that was distributing ketamine to Mr. Perry, as well as to others.
BROWN: So, how widespread was this operation?
ESTRADA: It was very widespread. We collaborated with our partners, Los Angeles Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, to make sure we pulled every thread, in this case.
What we found was two licensed physicians, who were supplying ketamine, illegally, to Mr. Perry. We found brokers. We found his live-in assistant, helping with this. And we found this major source of supply whose customers refer to her as the Ketamine Queen.
BROWN: So, how many customers are we talking about here, beyond just Matthew Perry?
ESTRADA: We believe there were numerous customers. We searched the residence of the Ketamine Queen. We found 80 vials of ketamine, thousands of pills of methamphetamine, cocaine, bottle of Xanax, you name it. So, certainly there are other customers.
But we know at least of one other death related to this person, a man named Cody McLaury, who died in 2019. We were able to charge a count in this case related to Mr. McLaury's death.
BROWN: So, you mentioned the Ketamine Queen, Jasveen Sangha, who was key in this operation, according to you.
How does someone get that title? And what was her responsibility in all of this?
ESTRADA: Well, I think, in terms of the title, that was what her customers gave her. And it's not surprising, given the prolific supplying of ketamine she was involved with.
Just to get an idea. Over a two-week period, in October of last year, she was able to supply Mr. Perry, and his assistant, with 50 vials of ketamine, for about $11,000. That's a lot of ketamine that she was able to supply in a short amount of time.
That ketamine was unlabeled. We're still investigating as to how she obtained that ketamine. But we searched her home, and we find even more ketamine available for distribution.
BROWN: And you say, at one point, "Dr. P," in quotes, injected Perry with ketamine, while in a public parking lot in Long Beach.
What lengths did the people charged here go through to make sure he got the drugs, and then they got paid?
ESTRADA: So, this was one of the two doctors. He's a lead defendant. Dr. Salvador Plasencia. He supplied Mr. Perry with ketamine, over two months, from September to October 2023, he supplied 20 vials of ketamine. He went the extra distance to actually inject Mr. Perry with ketamine. On one occasion, he saw Mr. Perry freeze up, and he saw his blood pressure spike. Yet, he continued to supply ketamine to Mr. Perry, which obviously is very concerning for anyone, much less a licensed physician.
[21:50:00]
BROWN: And your office uncovered text messages from before Perry died, including from Dr. P, asking another doctor, quote, "I wonder how much this moron will pay."
What does that say to you?
ESTRADA: It says to me that these defendants operated based on greed. They wanted to take advantage of another person's addiction, to profit off of that person, and they didn't care the consequences. They didn't care about the fact that they were risking Mr. Perry's life.
BROWN: Many of these individuals learned of Perry's death from the news.
Talk us through what your office claims was a frantic effort to try and cover this all up.
ESTRADA: So, once Mr. Perry died, the news reported on that. What we saw is that same day, the Ketamine Queen, Jasveen Sangha, sent messages to delete all texts to the broker, who was assisting her.
In addition, we found that the doctor, Dr. Plasencia, had actually begun falsifying medical records, medical notes, to make it appear that he was doing something legitimate. It was clear from the evidence, he was not.
BROWN: All right. U.S. Attorney, Martin Estrada, thank you.
ESTRADA: Thank you. Take care.
BROWN: And coming up. See what happens when two West Wing worlds collide.
Plus, new inside information on President Biden's decision to exit the race.
[21:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEBORAH FIDERER, FICTIONAL CHARACTER PLAYED BY LILY TOMLIN, "THE WEST WING": Good morning, Mr. President.
PRESIDENT JOSIAH EDWARD "JED" BARTLET, FICTIONAL CHARACTER PLAYED BY MARTIN SHEEN, "THE WEST WING": Good morning.
FIDERER: How are you feeling, this morning?
BARTLET: Unemployed.
FIDERER: A lot of that going around the building.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: That former President returned to the White House today. Well, sort of. That would be President Biden hosted Martin Sheen, or better- known to "West Wing" fans as President Jed Bartlet.
Sheen says he knows nothing about being the real president, but President Biden is one of his heroes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Mr. Trump says he wants to make America affordable again. Your response?
BIDEN: He ought to get a job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BROWN: Well, while the President is cracking jokes, CNN has new reporting that Biden is still unhappy about how he was forced to give up his reelection bid, even so, he's focusing on his legacy, and getting Vice President Kamala Harris elected as president.
And my source, tonight, is CNN's Senior White House Correspondent, MJ Lee.
MJ, so you saw Biden and Harris, on stage together, today, for the first time, right, since the ticket changed.
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
BROWN: What more can you tell us about how the President is feeling, about how things have unraveled?
LEE: Yes. I mean, it's only been three-and-a-half weeks. I know it has felt like an infinity, for some of us.
BROWN: Of course.
LEE: But the feelings, I think, are still quite raw. This is just based on conversations that I have had, and my colleagues have had, with people close to him. He is still in the place of processing, I think, what happened, and the gravity of the decision that he made.
One thing that is for certain is that when it comes to the Democrats, that he perceives as having played the biggest role, in trying to force him out. I think it is not going to be anytime soon that he is going to forget about those people.
Nancy Pelosi is definitely the person that is at the top of that list. We saw her, publicly, sort of suggesting that she believed that this was a bad idea, for him to stay in the race. We know from our reporting that privately, she was letting him know too, you can't win this thing, and you might take down the house with you. So, I think those feelings are really raw.
Something we reported was that there's sort of this -- both this feeling of feeling embittered by what happened, but also relieved. And ultimately, we are told that he does believe he made the right decision. But this wasn't exactly how he wanted things to unfold, obviously.
BROWN: Does he, even to this day, does he think he would have lost against Trump, or does he think that if he had stayed in, he still would have beat him?
LEE: Well, it's interesting. Based on our reporting, and the public comments that he has made, we've gotten no signs that he came to the decision, because he genuinely believed that he would lose.
His public comments have indicated this was about the party. He didn't want to be a distraction.
And ultimately, yes, all of the Democrats that were calling out to say that he needed to go, not wanting to lose the Senate, and the House, and lose control of Congress, in addition to the White House.
But, I think, ultimately, what it came down to was that he didn't want it to be a distraction that he was staying in the race. But I don't think, again, we have gotten any signs that he, at the end of the day, was convinced that he was going to lose to Donald Trump.
And, I think, a really important thing to remember is that whenever you talk to folks, close to the President, people in the campaign, they very much believed that there was going to be a turning point, at some point in the race.
When more people started to tune in, more people started to believe that this was going to be a race between Biden and Donald Trump, and sort of have that fear factor of, oh my gosh, it is going to be Donald Trump, and I better do something about it. They did think that that moment was going to come, and it just hadn't come yet.
BROWN: And your reporting also includes this new dynamic between the Biden and Harris aides. Tell us about that.
LEE: Yes. I mean, overnight, the Biden campaign became the Harris campaign. I think the changes that we have seen are not surprising at all. I think the power dynamics have changed. I think the work flow has changed.
Somebody like Lorraine Voles, the Vice President's Chief of Staff. She is someone that has always been sort of read-in on the process, and involved in the decision-making process, closely in touch with the West Wing.
But as you can imagine, she is somebody that is even more closely involved in everything that is going on, the communication between the West Wing, and the Vice President's office, not to mention, of course, the involvement of the Harris campaign.
I think how it has been described to me is that there's almost like an over-communication, right now, with everybody close to the Vice President. They want to make sure that there are no surprises, that there are no mistakes -- no mistakes.
[22:00:00]
And yes, the treatment, right now, that she is getting is one of the Democratic nominee for president. It just happens to be a very new role for her.
BROWN: Right. And you have to wonder what Biden's role, very quickly, is, moving forward.
LEE: Yes. I mean, he's very focused on his legacy. He has made very clear, though, he will do whatever the teams believe is necessary, for him to be helpful, for her.
BROWN: All right. MJ Lee, thank you so much.
And thank you for joining us.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts right now.
