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Erin Burnett Outfront
James Carville: "I'm In A Very, Very Dark Tunnel Right Now"; Trump Names Campaign Manager To Be White House Chief Of Staff; Will GOP Keep The House?; Putin Praises Trump. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired November 07, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:32]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
James Carville not holding back as Democrats look for someone to blame. Trump tonight names his chief of staff.
Plus, more breaking news, new results in some crucial races. Still waiting to decide here who controls the House of Representatives. It is, of course, crucial and the Democrats are not giving up hope yet.
And Putin laying it on thick, praising Trump as Biden promises to rush aid to Ukraine before Trump is in the White House.
Let's go OUTFRONT
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, a very dark tunnel. James Carville, the storied Democratic strategist who called the election for Harris just weeks ago, speaking out tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I have to reevaluate. I'm sure I'll come up with something to make me feel good again. But right now, today it's hard. I'll be honest with you, and the hardest thing is that I look across this country and tens of millions of people fell for this (EXPLETIVE DELETED). And it's just -- it's depressing. I'm in a very, very dark tunnel right now.
(END VIDOE CLIP)
BURNETT: So can Democrats find a way out of that dark tunnel?
Tonight, the Illinois Governor, J.B. Pritzker, says he is preparing for battle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER(D), ILLINOIS: To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom and opportunity and dignity of Illinoisans, I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior. You come for my people, you come through me. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And California Governor Gavin Newsom tonight calling the state legislature back, calling them back to the capitol for a special session. The reason he says, quote, the freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack and we wont sit idle.
But the blame game literally is just starting. Just, just barely, barely here in the first inning. Some Democrats are taking on Trump. As you can see but others are zeroing in on Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLPI)
REP. DEAN PHILLIPS (D-MN): We went wrong again by not having a competitive open primary that the president of the United States would have promoted and not suppressed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, former presidential candidate Andrew Yang saying, quote, Joe Biden left us all out to dry. And the Democratic Party protected and enabled him until it was too late. Andrew is here with me in just a moment.
But today, President Biden, speaking out for the first time since the election. He ignored the attacks, but he did urge Democrats to not stop fighting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The American experiment endures. We're going to be okay, but we need to stay engaged. We need to keep going. And above all, we need to keep the faith.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Harris senior adviser David Plouffe, tweeting before he deleted his entire X account. And I quote him, we dug out of a deep hole, but not enough. A devastating loss.
Plouffe, of course, signaled to Democrats that they were going to win just hours before the polls opened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID PLOUFFE, HARRIS SENIOR ADVISOR: We have a credible pathway to all seven states tomorrow night to go into Kamala Harris's column, but we believe they're all going to be close.
BURNETT: Right. But you think you could win all seven?
PLOUFFE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now looking back on that, I hear the pregnancy in that pause. But you heard the answer.
All of this happening as there is breaking news from inside Trump headquarters now.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT live in West Palm Beach.
Kristen, what's just happened?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, former president or now President-elect Donald Trump has named one of the most important positions in his White House, he has named Susie Wiles, his campaign chair, chief of staff to the White House. This is a critical position and it really sets the tone for the entire administration.
I want to talk a little bit about Susie because there's not much that's known about her. She is a Florida political operative. She's been down here for quite some time. She served as Trump's de facto chief of staff after his first term. She served as a top adviser to Ron DeSantis, and it was actually widely thought that part of the reason that she came back to Donald Trump was to seek some sort of revenge on Ron DeSantis after they had a falling out.
She also was worked for Donald Trump in 2020 in Florida and then was let go from that campaign. All of that though water under the bridge. She led a successful campaign. And I am told that Donald Trump has been praising her, praising the campaign, the work that they did leading up to this moment, saying that she is credited for the fact that he was elected to office.
[19:05:04]
And one thing to keep in mind here, we know that she had told Donald Trump that she was interested in the job, but she had some reservations and part of the reservations, we are told, was that she didn't want the, quote, clown car able to get to the White House at any time, something that Donald Trump agreed with her on.
The reason why this is so significant is it marks a turn from the first administration. Obviously, we're not naming names as to who would be considered the clown car, but one of the things that Donald -- that Susie Wiles did for Donald Trump's campaign was managed the chaos. She always said that she didn't know how to control Donald Trump. She wouldn't try to control Donald Trump.
What she could do was control everything around the former president and its clear from these remarks that she believes that she can do that in a White House as well, meaning some of the more controversial figures, some of the more outlandish figures, the people who are lighting up Twitter, who are calling people names all the time, who are could be a distraction for the former president, she's essentially saying they're going to have to go through her, and those are the same people that went through her for the campaign, and Donald Trump himself clearly agreeing with those terms, clearly worked out for him in the end, naming her the first -- first chief of staff. She's the first female chief of staff in American history. BURNETT: Well, I guess that's one record set for women in the past 48 hours that wasn't on a lot of people's bingo cards. Thank you very much, Kristen.
All right. Everyone's here with me.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro, can I start with you? I know you just spoke to the former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for your podcast, breaking her silence on what happened here. She was, of course, instrumental in pushing Biden to step aside, right? I mean, let's be clear about that. So what is she saying now?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, without giving too much away, she talked about the fact that this was a heartbreaking loss. She used that word. She also said that she has spoken to the vice president and that it was a very emotional conversation that their friends and that that conversation was difficult for both of them. We had a very wide-ranging and lengthy conversation about what happened, how she sees the path forward and what her own plans are and, you know, that will come out soon.
But you know, it is honestly a very, very difficult moment for the former speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
BURNETT: Absolutely. Van, so Nancy Pelosi, using the word heartbreaking in her conversation with Lulu. Carville, talking about a dark tunnel. Blame is starting.
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yep.
BURNETT: And, there needs to be discussion among Democrats. So --
JONES: Well, look, we spent $1 billion and elected Donald Trump. That's not a blame game. That's called accountability, and the people at the top of the campaign, the top of the party, have a lot of people pissed off at them because there were people who had suggestions, there were people who were saying, why are we doing this? Why is this?
It was like, hey, we've got it. We've got it. We've got it. We've got this special magical computer formulation. We've tested every ad, shut up and sit down and go back to work.
And so people said, okay, well, I guess you're right. And then we got clobbered, clocked knocked down, beat up, dragged down. And so people are mad and they should be mad. And the people at the top are going to have to listen.
There is a grassroots rebellion happening in this in this party and its coming to knock on the door of the people who are in charge of the party. That's not blame game. That's accountability.
BURNETT: Accountability. I mean, and, you know, I know you're $1 billion.
JONES: A billion dollars. BURNETT: I believe they technically, you know, blew a few hundred million of that in the recent weeks, Andrew Yang and now ended up technically maybe in debt. I a little bit.
They did door knocking. They did traditional ads, but you heard what Van saying. They -- they weren't listening to other ideas that people maybe like Van had.
JONES: For instance.
BURNETT: For instance.
ANDREW YANG, FORMER DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: There should be accountability and Joe Biden should not have run for a second term. There should have been a competitive primary in January. He should have dropped out in January, and not July.
And by the way, J.B. Pritzker, Gavin Newsom, they should have challenged him in January. We all know that they had campaigns in waiting, but instead everyone said, oh, Joe's going to be fine. Joe's going to be fine. He has a disastrous debate against Donald Trump then he drops out in July, and then everything is under the gun and in hurry up mode.
The party lost a crucial period where they could have introduced the next generation of leaders to the American people, vetted and chosen a ticket that could have taken the fight to Donald Trump instead of Joe Biden fumbling the ball to Kamala down the stretch.
BURNETT: And Lulu to this -- this whole conversation, is there any sense from people you're talking to of what role they think it played, that there was a perception, certainly among some voters, that at least Kamala Harris had not been honest with voters about Joe Biden's true state. I mean, this kept coming up again and again now people are trying to figure out, well, what happened. Is that something you hear?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, I think that one of the things that happened during this election is that when that disastrous debate with Joe Biden happened, I think there was a break in trust with the Democratic Party and the electorate.
[19:10:14]
There was a feeling that there wasn't actually honesty about the condition of the president, and that people had been perhaps shielding him from the voters.
I mean, if you think about the fact that he really hadn't been sitting down for interviews, he hadn't been giving extended press conferences. And so, I think that there is a real, you know, there are still questions about what exactly happened there. And who knew what and when they knew it?
BURNETT: Right. I mean, that is the real question. I mean, Van, I had done an interview with him a few weeks before that. I didn't know, you know, he was fine in that capacity, but you would imagine someone around him all the time, as many were, would have had a much different perhaps, view.
But, you know, it all came down to many, many things, right? But when you look at the actual votes, it wasn't as if Trump suddenly surged into so many things. It's that Democrats did worse. Monmouth just went through the blue states. Trump got an extra 280,000 votes this time versus last time so he improved. But that is not the story.
Look at this full screen.
JONES: Yeah.
BURNETT: Harris 3,339,404 votes. That's what stands out there.
JONES: Well, you know, Bakari Sellers said over and over again, its either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump or the couch. And Bakari was always worried about the couch people just not feeling inspired enough to go out and vote. He wasn't worried that people were going to not vote for Kamala and go vote for Trump. He was afraid they weren't going to vote at all.
And here's how we got beat. We got beat because the Republicans and the conservatives that had to do with online, had to do with podcasts, had to do with streaming platforms, and they were spending their money there.
We were laughing at them and knocking on doors in Philadelphia and Detroit was like, there's no Trump people. They're not dropping literature. They're not dropping, dropping, knocking on doors.
BURNETT: Well, in fact, it was it was laughing like oh, Elon Musk and Charlie Kirk with their PACs don't know what they're doing.
JONES: We were making we were making fun of Donald Trump for having thrown away his ground game and doing some weird stuff online. We thought that they were idiots.
It turned out we were the idiots. We woke up in a body bag because while we were knocking on doors, they were making these phones into 24-hour a day political weapons for themselves. And so we got outflanked, outplayed, out-beat by people who told us the whole time that they knew what they were doing and people are mad.
And future -- and Future Forward, all these different groups that vacuumed up all this money and told everybody to sit down and shut up are going to be in for an accountability session from the grassroots. And it is coming.
BURNETT: I remember when you and I were speaking at one point earlier, you were talking about algorithms, all kinds of data. That was available that that you were, you know people were going to be presenting to the Harris campaign.
YANG: Sure.
BURNETT: And I suppose you're going to say that that did that fall on deaf ears to a large part? YANG: Yeah. Van's right. They were like, you know, we've got it.
JONES: We've got it.
YANG: And they didn't have it. One very obvious missed opportunity is that Joe Rogan has the biggest audience in the country. It's disaffected, low propensity men, kind of the audience that the Harris campaign should be trying to reach, it was much more upside than anything else. Kamala goes on, Tim Walz goes on and then you have millions of men who are exposed to the Democratic message, and they turned it down because she was too busy.
I mean, like that that -- it makes zero sense, except in the context that the team just didn't have confidence in her to do it, which would be its own issue.
JONES: Unless you think he's being mean. 48 million views for the Rogan-Trump interview on YouTube alone.
BURNETT: Which was, what, a three hour interview?
JONES: A three hour interview, with 48 million views like the -- they were laughing. Oh --
BURNETT: That's two thirds of the total number of votes that --
JONES: Yeah, so --
YANG: All the debate, I think it's like 41 million watching the debate.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Can I jump in here?
BURNETT: Yeah, Lulu.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, I'm very happy that everyone's talking here about the information ecosystem. Obviously, it's incredibly important. So is Joe Rogan.
But there is two issues here. One is the message and the other is the messenger and so and how those messages are delivered. And so, you know, there is a lot of discussion right now about the ground game and, and how you reach voters and all these things. And I think that's going to be parsed.
But, you know voters told the Democratic Party over and over and over again that their main issues were their pocketbooks, inflation and immigration. And that was what they told them. And the closing message of the Democratic Party was democracy, and Donald Trump is a bad man.
BURNETT: Right. Well, but is there any that they could have won, though, with Kamala Harris, with immigration on the issue given that she was part of the Biden administration? That was just never really defined.
[19:15:01] YANG: Yeah. So, so two things. Number one, if you were going to run Kamala, then she needs permission to break from Joe Biden and say, hey, look, whatever the administration did, like, I, you know, like -- like I would have done things differently,, and we're going to go this other direction. I mean, her -- her inability to do that was a very serious problem.
JONES: Look, I -- I don't know if it was winnable. There are two numbers. One is 39, the other is 75. 39 is the approval rate for Joe Biden. That's very low. And 75 is the wrong track measure, that's very high.
So she had a tough hill to climb. I think that she did as well as you could possibly do. But she had a bunch of people running that campaign who did not listen, who were very arrogant, who sucked up $1 billion, pissed off a lot of people, and you're going to be hearing about it for a long time.
BURNETT: A lot of people who had said they weren't going to donate another dollar, Biden didn't get out in July. And then they opened up the floodgates, and they did give that money.
YANG: January, not July. You know, Joe Biden, you know, I endorsed him in 2020, but he failed the George Washington test in passing the torch in time to have a real primary.
BURNETT: All right. All of you, thank you very much. I appreciate it, as always, and I hope everyone will listen to Nancy Pelosi's interview with Lulu Garcia-Navarro on your podcast.
And next breaking news, more House races being called tonight as Democrats hang on to a very slim chance of flipping the House.
Plus, Trump saying he thinks he'll be speaking with Putin. The Russian president heaping praise on him today, warning of a new world order.
And Trump's return to power fueled in large part by Hispanic voters. How come?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think more Democrats are pushing Latinos to Trump to tell you the truth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:36]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Democrat Laura Gillen scoring a key house win over first term Republican Anthony D'Esposito in New York. Now that was flipping a highly sought after seat tonight. That could be a crucial win there. The balance of power in the house up for grabs at this hour. Still we cannot call the House. Democrats right now with 196 seats, Republicans with 210, takes 218 to have that majority, which means Democrats still need 22 seats in order to do that, in order to prevent a clean sweep for Republicans. To pull that off, though Democrats would need to hold 16 of the current seats out, which we have not yet called, and to flip six additional ones.
So lets go straight to Harry Enten at the magic wall.
Harry, look, you've got the White House and you've got the Senate. If you're a Republicans, everything now for the Democrats and their hopes come down to the House. Where's the math stand?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah. Where does the math stand? Do they have much of a shot?
Look, I think its a little bit of a long shot at this point, but its possible its possible. So, you know, you mentioned right now, we've called -- projected out 210 for Republicans, 196 for Democrats.
Let's just sort of show you where they are ahead you know, beyond just the extended seats. If every person who is ahead right now went on to win, what are we looking at? We're looking at 222 for Republicans, 213 for Democrats.
How are Democrats going to boost that number up by five? Well, let's take a look at the uncalled races at this particular point. And I actually want to take you to Arizona, to a seat right now where Democrats hold the advantage, because I think it sort of gives you an idea that these seats are still uncalled for a reason.
Right now, I want you to look at this margin in Arizona's sixth congressional district. Kristen Engel up by. Get this. Do the math. It's 70 votes. It's 70 votes.
When I was preparing this segment earlier on today she was trailing. She was trailing. So, it flipped. It flipped.
These seats could still flip. Where are some seats that could flip? Well, let's go out to the great state of California. Go west, young man, go west.
Let's take a look. We're going to go up to central California. We're going to go right here to the 13th district. Why is this important because right now what you see is the Republican ahead by a little less than three points?
But look at the vote remaining in. It's or the vote only already in, it's only 48 percent. Only 48 percent of the vote is in. That means a majority of the vote is still out. And given that we haven't called this race and its less than three point margin, you could definitely see the Democrat overtaking here.
Let's go down a little bit further. This is a seat that we always look at where there are a ton of late votes. Look at this only 52 percent of the vote has been counted there. That's another one. I'll go to one last one. We're going to go all the way up to Alaska right now. The Democratic incumbent is trailing. But this is a seat in which there's a lot of vote by mail left to be counted.
It's also a seat where they have runoffs and instant runoff situation that goes on. So the bottom line is there are still some seats where Democrats could potentially take control of the House. But it's a long shot, Erin.
BURNETT: It's a long shot. But when you go through this, I mean, you're giving some examples there as you look for the Democratic quest there. What other states are you focused the most on?
ENTEN: Yeah. If Democrats don't end up taking this where am I going to? Well, I'm going to Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania.
You know, there were just a bunch of seats where I think Democrats underperformed. We haven't called this race yet but a lot of Democrats were looking to knock off Scott Perry. But at this particular point, with 99 percent of the vote and Scott Perry is ahead, how about we go up to northeast Pennsylvania, right. We'll go up to the Scranton area.
What happened here? Well, guess what, Erin? We've called this seat. We've called this seat, Matthew Cartwright the incumbent, Matt Cartwright, knocked off Joe Biden's home district, lost there. We'll go down here.
Here's another one, Susan Wild, an incumbent. I said that there was one seat you were going to look at to understand whether or not the Democrats were going to maintain or get control of the House it was going to be this one. And Susan Wild the incumbent, got knocked off.
BURNETT: Wow. When you look at these, I mean, it is really incredible to see what has happened and how consistent it has been in so many different parts of the country.
Harry, thank you.
I want to go now to South Carolina and the Democratic congressman there, James Clyburn.
He was a national co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign.
So, Congressman, so much to talk to you about.
Let me just start, though, with what Harry Enten is reporting on the House, which we have not yet called the odds appear slim right now for Democrats. There is, though still a path.
What do you think is going to happen? Will Democrats retain control of the House?
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, thank you very much for having me. I do think it's a narrow path, but it's also a very thorny path. So I -- if I were mentioning the guess, I would say it would be 1 or 2 votes, maybe 1 to 3 votes, either way, either we could go one up or be two down.
[19:25:13]
So we'll just wait and see.
BURNETT: And obviously going to be very close. As I said, were unable to call that here at all. There has been, I don't know if you were plugged in time, Congressman, but so much talk now about what happened to Democrats, how much blame President Biden deserves for example, for not stepping aside until late July.
You know what, if Democrats had had a primary process and you had had voters able to choose from the deep bench of Democrats who are out there. James Carville, Congressman Dean Phillips, your House colleague and one of the few Democrats who challenged Biden, both have spoken out about this. Here they are.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARVILLE: Biden staying in so late. We didn't have any process. If wed have had some kind of an open process, and it would have it -- it would have been much better.
PHILLIPS: This entire election, in my estimation, was sealed the day that Joe Biden announced he was running for reelection. And the answer is absolutely, we should have had a competition. It makes everything better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Congressman, from where you sit now, with what's happened in these past 48 hours, do you think they're right?
CLYBURN: Well, I made it clear to the members of my caucus. And so I'm going to heed my advice. And that is there's no need for us to engage in all these machinations about who it is.
We know what has happened. We need to chill out for a few moments, make some assessments, and then plan a way forward.
We will know in the House whether or not we will be operating from a minority or a majority or whichever position. We must be a loyal opposition to this president if he adheres to Project 2025, that they are now admitting is there a blueprint for this administration. If that's their blueprint, this house Democratic caucus must have a vigorous opposition to it, and some alternatives in the place of it, and get ready to take the house back in two years.
That is where I'm going to stay on that subject.
BURNETT: So, Congressman, as people are trying to understand what happened, though in part it's not just that the polls again appeared to miss this. It's also the way the Harris campaign projected such confidence, right, talking about winning Sunbelt states and they were very confident. The night before the campaign, I had a conversation with David Plouffe, of course, senior adviser on the Harris campaign. You know him well.
Polls were opening just hours after this conversation, and I wanted to play this part for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PLOUFFE: We're reviewing all the early vote data. What we're projecting for Election Day, how we think undecideds are breaking. We have a credible pathway to all seven states tomorrow night to go into Kamala Harris's column, but we believe they're all going to be close.
BURNETT: Right. But you think you could win all seven?
PLOUFFE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: As I said, Congressman, now, when I re-listen to that, I do hear the pause before the word yes, but nonetheless, that word yes delivered with conviction. Of course, Harris lost five swing states so far. She's trailing in the last two that CNN has not yet called.
So I'm just curious, Congressman, of how you see it. Was the campaign in a bubble? Did they have bad data? You know, this wasn't just like a little miss. I mean, it was -- it was a magnificent miss. It's everywhere.
CLYBURN: Well, we -- it was close everywhere, but rather than winning seven in a close contest, looks like we may have lost all seven in a close contest. You know, when you get into these things, and I've studied politics pretty much all of my life. I've practiced it, for the same amount of time.
And I can tell you when you boil all of these facts and figures down, it goes to emotions, it goes to people's feelings and I do believe that we lost these districts on people's feelings. People had a certain feeling about those ads that went out there that we did not respond to for whatever reason. And I think that affected their positions when they got to the polling place.
So what we've got to do, in my opinion, is take stock of all of this and remember facts and figures are secondary to people's feelings and their emotions.
BURNETT: Yeah. Well, it's something important to remember that -- I mean so many can forget easily.
[19:30:03]
Congressman, I appreciate your time. Thank you.
CLYBURN: Thank you very much for having me.
BURNETT: All right. And next, Putin -- Vladimir Putin is celebrating the win for Trump here in the U.S., calling it a quote, completely new world order. So what does that mean?
Fareed Zakaria is OUTFRONT next.
Plus, one of the convicted January 6th rioters putting Trump on notice, saying the now president elect better keep his promise to pardon them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, President-elect Trump revealing he has not spoken with Vladimir Putin since his victory as he receives a flood of calls from world leaders.
The Russian president, though, publicly praising Trump for his bravery during the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. Putin, speaking today saying, quote, he behaved, in my opinion, in a very correct way, courageously, like a real man.
Fred Pleitgen is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): After launching a massive attack aimed at the heart of Kyiv, Russian leader Vladimir Putin praising President-elect Donald Trump.
I would like to take this opportunity to offer my congratulations on his election as president of the United States, Putin says.
[19:35:06]
So, you're willing to talk to Trump? The moderator asks. Yes, were ready, Putin says.
Indeed, President-elect Trump seems willing to talk to Putin as well. Legendary journalist Bob Woodward writing in a recent book that the two men have had a number of phone calls up to seven since Trump left office.
Trump reportedly gifting Putin COVID tests in the early those tests were scarce. And Trump himself has often praised his relations with the Russian president, even siding with Vladimir Putin over the U.S.'s own intelligence services after Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential election.
TRUMP: My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me and some others, they said they think it's Russia. I have President Putin, he just said, it's not Russia. I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be.
PLEITGEN: As Russia continues its full on invasion of Ukraine, gaining ground, especially on the eastern front, the president elect still saying he'd be able to end the war fast.
TRUMP: They're dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying, and I'll have that done -- I'll have that done in 24 hours. If we had a real president, the president that knew -- that was
respected by Putin, he would have never -- he would have never invaded Ukraine.
PLEITGEN: But the Ukrainians fear Trump might cut off military aid to Ukraine altogether, forcing the country into a de facto surrender and loss of territory.
TRUMP: Every time Zelenskyy comes to the United States, he walks away with $100 billion. I think he's the greatest salesman on Earth, but we're stuck in that war unless I'm president.
PLEITGEN: And when pressed to answer whether he even wants Ukraine to win the war, Trump simply won't say.
TRUMP: I want the war to stop. I want to save lives.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (on camera): And you know, Erin, Russian leader Vladimir Putin also saying that if Donald Trump were to call him and say, hey, Vladimir, let's meet up, he certainly wouldn't be averse to doing that. In general, the Russians are saying that they are looking for countries to call them and reestablish relations -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Fred, thank you very much.
And I want to go now to Fareed Zakaria, host of "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS".
So, Fareed, Trump wins, Putin comes out and hails a, quote, completely new world order. Is it?
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: Well, what Putin was talking about there was a completely new world order in which American power is declining, in which Western power is declining, and as he sees it, Russia and China and countries like Iran are ascendant. So it's a very particular version of a new world order. And I would find it very difficult to imagine that any American president would sign on to that new world order.
BURNETT: So I guess in that context, Fareed, how do you see the relationship between Trump and Putin, right? Where Trump has so often -- even recently, you know touted his relationship, his friendship, his -- his -- with Vladimir Putin.
ZAKARIA: So I think that Trump often talks about it exactly as you say, Erin. And what's -- and he talks about the war and how he wants to end it which all sounds great. And you know, of course, we would all like to see the war end.
But what I think is often missing in the way Trump talks about it is Vladimir Putin has launched the most blatant act of aggression in Europe since World War Two. He has attempted a kind of a re-conquest of an empire, of a kind that hasn't taken place in 70 years.
He's trying to essentially wipe Ukraine off the map. He's engaged in the kind of cross-border aggression that the United States said after World War Two would not be legitimized, would not be tolerated. And every president since then has maintained that standard.
And there have been actually almost no cases of acquisition of territory by conquest that was legitimized by the international community. So the question is, does -- does President-elect Trump see that that is the light in which you have to look at Vladimir Putin?
Yes, he's a strong leader. He's a powerful interlocutor, I would argue, an adversary but he's not your pal. He's not somebody with whom you're just schmoozing.
It's somebody who has done something that is about to destroy the international system. And you have to solve the problem, stand up to him. It doesn't mean that you can't make concessions to him, but that's the kind of broader political context, perhaps even moral context, in which you have to approach Putin.
[19:40:02]
BURNETT: Well, we'll see. I mean that would, of course, be an incredible shift were that to occur.
Now, President Obama, former President Obama spoke out about the election and he said, Fareed, America has been through a lot over the last few years from a historic pandemic and price hikes resulting from the pandemic to rapid change and the feeling a lot of folks have that no matter how hard they work, treading water is the best they can do. Those conditions have created headwinds for democratic incumbents around the world and last night showed that America is not immune.
Obviously, you've seen this in far right governments that have been elected across Europe that are ascendant, right? Germany, Austria, France, Portugal, Belgium, you name it. I remember having a meeting at the White House 18 months ago when they were pulling out all these polls, when they were talking about Biden's reelection chances, showing the affinity that the public has across Europe and at that time, it was all but one country.
They said, for a strong man, autocratic type of leader, is it really happening everywhere?
ZAKARIA: Well, it is happening everywhere, but it's always an affinity for a strongman autocratic leader. It is just a certain -- people are fed up and they feel very -- they feel like the world is in turmoil. Inflation was, you know, got out of control. And so they punished incumbents.
The best example is, you know, were closest in a sense politically to Great Britain. And the Tory Party, the Conservative Party, went from probably the largest majority they had had in 75 years to the smallest minority they had in 75 years, in one -- in one election that, you know, that seems almost impossible to imagine. In Japan, the LDP which has ruled Japan essentially uninterruptedly since the late 1940s has just lost. So there's a lot of anti-incumbency, but you know, I think it's also fair to say that the Democrats played this, in my opinion not as well as they could have. And Trump played it very well.
BURNETT: You're being, of course, diplomatic in that. I mean, I don't know if you heard Van Jones, Andrew Yang earlier talking about the issue.
Can I just ask you, though, to that point, Fareed do you think that this was inevitable that Trump was going to win as an inevitable thing against any Democrat or do you think that the candidates specifically who it was Kamala Harris or her president of the incumbent, do you think that drove it more I think its not Kamala Harris as a person or as a candidate.
ZAKARIA: I think being the vice president hurt because you are tarred with being part of the government. And if people are looking for change, it would have been easier for people to look for change if it was whomever you know. Gavin Newsom, Gretchen Whitmer, you know, you could imagine many people.
But I will say there were decisions that were made that, you know, that the Democrats made that that they have to live with, not cracking down early on immigration. It was absolutely clear the immigration system was collapsing. The asylum system was broken. And you could see that around the world right wing populism was being fed by immigration.
And there were lots of people -- if I may point out, I myself kept pointing out that you've got to take a much harder line on immigration. That is the number one issue that the public thinks is out of control. So I think that played a large a large part.
I also think the Democrats have gotten trapped in a kind of identity politics bubble where they are not they were not able to see categories outside of it. So they were not able to appeal to working class Hispanics as anything other than Hispanics, you know? And those people began to move toward Trump because they're also socially conservative, maybe they're like kind of machismo, whatever it is.
You know, the identity politics trap has placed Democrats in a very strange position of you know, reversing Martin Luther King's line. They look -- they're judging people by the color of their skin, not the content of their character.
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. Well, Fareed, thank you very much.
Next, Trump has promised to pardon the convicted January 6th rioters. They're now holding him to it.
Plus, Trump making major gains with Latinos. Fareed just referring to that and what they're telling CNN about mass deportations tonight, you're going to want to hear this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:47:59]
BURNETT: Tonight, a judge denying a January 6th defendants attempt to delay sentencing in hopes of receiving a pardon from Trump. The judge ruling, and I quote, the potential future exercise of discretionary pardon power is irrelevant to the court's obligation to carry out the legal responsibilities of the judicial branch.
Now, keep in mind, dozens of January 6th defendants are trying to use the same strategy. They're pointing to Trumps campaign promise to pardon them. One telling "The New York Times" as he faces trial next week, quote, Trump needs to send a clear signal that he's going to do this. I hope he keeps his promise.
Ryan Goodman is OUTFRONT.
So, look, you've looked extensively at what Trump has said about pardoning the rioters. And as he was talking about rigged election and all the things that he has done so many times over the past four years, he talked about the rioters a lot. He called them hostages.
Do you think he will follow through with pardoning them?
RYAN GOODMAN, JUST SECURITY CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: I think he's inclined to do it. In fact, he, in fact, once said, I'm inclined to do it for many of them and he's also said, I'll seriously consider it. So there's a bit of a hedge. And he's also said, but some of them got out of control.
So the idea is that maybe there would be some who committed acts of violence against law enforcement officers. I think they would probably be last in line. So there's a little bit of maneuverability for him on that.
BURNETT: All right. Some maneuverability as you talk about the things he said. And this is why both of those cases that we just gave were there in front of judges right now they're saying, wait, wait, because Trump may pardon us.
Here's why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So many of these people are great patriots.
The peaceful January 6th protesters or as I often call them, the hostages. They're hostages.
The moment we win, we will rapidly review the cases of every political prisoner unjustly victimized by the Harris regime, and I will sign their pardons on day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You can imagine the visuals of that, if that's -- that's what he does on day one. GOODMAN: It would be extraordinary. It also would in some ways be an
insult to some of the people in Justice Department whose entire role is to present to the president whether or not there should be a pardon. But that's just a norm.
[19:50:00]
He's not bound by that whatsoever. He can do what he wants as president.
BURNETT: Now, we'll see what he does do on that.
All right. Jack Smith obviously is -- we understand winding down the cases, both Mar-a-Lago as well as the January 6th cases, which he had fought to define presidential immunity, to push that forward. So what do you think he will do? Do we get a big report or not?
GOODMAN: I don't necessarily think we get a big report. Some people think so. But the regulations for the special counsel specifically talk about a report to the attorney general as to whether or not the special counsel is pursuing prosecutions or declination -- declining to prosecute. That's already happened. That's long ago, and that's before the indictment. So there might be nothing there that he needs to wrap up in that sense.
I think he just withdraws the cases because the Department of Justice's long standing position is the Constitution prevents a prosecution of a sitting president. So he just says this isn't going anywhere. So I have to --
BURNETT: Right, no Mueller report?
GOODMAN: No, I don't think there's going to be a report like that. It doesn't have to be necessarily.
BURNETT: All right, Ryan, thank you very much.
GOODMAN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, a special report on why so many Latino voters went for Trump and what Democrats need to learn.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: All right. Tonight, Trump has been talking about his record breaking support with Latino voters, telling NBC News, quote, they want to have borders and they like people coming in, but they have to come in with love for the country.
[19:55:09]
Well, the numbers are staggering. I mean, Stark County, Texas, lets show you this one. This is a 95 percent Latino County. Trump lost the county in 2016 by 60 points, 60 points. Tonight he is up by 16, 88 percent of the vote count is in. I mean, that is just truly hard to comprehend a move like that. Well, Ed Lavandera spoke with Latino and immigrant voters, the only
battleground state along the border, Arizona, to talk to those voters, and he has this story first OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In 2016, this happened at a Donald Trump rally in Arizona.
TRUMP: Look at that sign, Latinos support Trump. I love you. I love you.
LAVANDERA: Next thing Betty Rivas knew, she was on stage with the future president. I love her, I fall in love -- Melania, I fallen in love with her.
TRUMP: Eight years later, Rivas remains fully enamored with the president-elect.
Betty Rivas told us she felt a connection with Trump on that stage when they looked into each others eyes. Betty and her husband Jorge, owned Sammy's Mexican Grill near Tucson in this temple to Trump, they serve tacos and enchiladas and the popular MAGA burger.
If someone were to come up to you and say, you're a Latino immigrant, how can you support Donald Trump?
JORGE RIVAS, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I will tell him that the man loved this country.
LAVANDERA: He says. Trump speaks about the things he cares about faith, family and the economy.
RIVAS: I know he's not perfect. I know he's not like the pope. We believe in, you know, teaching our kids about God, our Christian values, family values.
And the Democratic Party is embracing all the woke, left-leaning ideas that it doesn't go with our values.
LAVANDERA: I think there's going to be a lot of people who have a hard time hearing you say, I like Trump because of family values.
RIVAS: I don't go by his lifestyle. I don't go by what he has done.
LAVANDERA: Do you think it's the Democrats pushing Latinos to Trump, or is it Trump bringing in Latinos?
RIVAS: I think more Democrats are pushing Latinos to Trump.
LAVANDERA: Tony Arias and Idelfonso Armenta are the host of a radio show called "Los Chavorrucos", which loosely translates to young geezers.
In La Campesina radio network, which airs in five states. They take dozens of calls a day on a radio station founded by the iconic labor organizer Cesar Chavez. And they've sensed Trump winning over Latinos in the last few years.
Democrats do not impress people, said the caller. Donald Trump spoke well and stole their hearts.
Another caller said I fought with my oldest son. He told me Trump is better than Kamala. I said, I cannot accept that.
Are you seeing that it's a generational divide.
TONY ARIAS, RADIO HOST: I see a lot of young people voting for Trump because they're thinking about the economy.
RAQUEL TERAN, FORMER DEMOCRATIC LEADER IN THE ARIZONA SENATE: We need to do a better job of engaging our communities.
LAVANDERA: Raquel Teran is a former Democratic legislator in Arizona. She recently ran for Congress and spent months knocking on doors trying to turn out Latino voters.
TERAN: What they're hearing from Trump is that there's going to be a better economy under his administration.
LAVANDERA: The night after Donald Trump won reelection, Jorge Rivas told us about their path to becoming U.S. citizens. He was born in El Salvador, granted asylum in the U.S. at age 17. He immigrated from Mexico. Now, she thinks many migrants are lying and trying to take advantage of the asylum process. They want the immigration crisis fixed.
RIVAS: If they let in hundreds or thousands of people who already have criminal records, if deporting them creates a mass deportation, I'm all for it.
LAVANDERA: But what if rounded up and all of that are people who work on a farm? Are they doing the jobs that Americans don't want to do? Does that does that worry you?
RIVAS: That wouldn't be fair. Of course. You know, they need to make sure that they don't throw away. They don't kick out, they don't deport people that are that are family oriented.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Ed, that is amazing to have an opportunity to hear from him. I know you're in Tucson tonight, but you talk to him. Trump has been making gains with Latino men in particular. We saw it in the exit polls it turned out to be real so, you know, what do you think from talking to so many of them is actually driving it? I thought it was so interesting when you asked the question there, you know, how much of this is Democrats pushing you away as opposed to Trump pulling you towards us? And he said its more Democrats pushing.
LAVANDERA: Yeah, he used to be a Democrat, voted for the Clintons, for Clinton and voted for Barack Obama, and then eventually became a Trump supporter. But, you know, the radio guys told us something interesting. He said,
a lot of younger Latino male voters are very disengaged from politics and really, what they know about Donald Trump is that he's a celebrity businessman and don't really pay attention or remember the history of Trump's first term.
And another thing that's important to point out, and this is really fascinating, Erin, is that many Latino immigrants come from countries where they have truly evil dangerous political leaders and so because of coming from that and experiencing that, they view the American political system and Donald Trump as far less harmful.
BURNETT: Hmm, much more tamed.
All right. Well, Ed, thank you very much.
Thanks to all of you for being with us.
Anderson starts now.
