Return to Transcripts main page
Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Interview With Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY); Interview With Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA); Iran State-Affiliated Media Claims Peace Talks Have Been Suspended; Trump Now Hosting Opening Ceremony For Freedom 250 Concerts After Several Artists Drop Out; Trump's Pet Projects Facing Criticism And Legal Challenges; CNN Visits Hospital Inside Epicenter Of The Ebola Crisis; Race For L.A. Mayor Tightens Ahead Of Tuesday's Primary Vote; Polls Show Extremely Tight Race For Los Angeles Mayor. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 01, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: But Kimmel says he could go out in a blaze of glory, but it would be a very selfish thing to do. Kimmel showing no signs that he'll stop going after Trump anytime soon, saying, I don't love him. I don't hate him either. I feel sorry for him. He obviously didn't get hugged a lot.
It's an interesting interview in "Vulture," though, all together, and thanks so much for joining us. Check us out on X at OutFront CNN. And also, please follow us wherever you happen to be on social media. Instagram, TikTok, it's @ErinBurnettOutFront, you'll see our extras and moments you may have missed from the show. And you can always e- mail your questions as you did with Susie today, it's OutFront@cnn.com. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:33]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": And good evening from the Newsroom. Topping our CNN Global coverage, after two courts ruled against didn't some Republican lawmakers all but mutinied over it, President Trump hit's pause on his so-called Weaponization Fund.
Now, some of those Republicans are saying pause won't be enough. They want reassurances that it's not going to come back to life and are not satisfied with the Justice Department's statements today, which reads, in part, "This fund was open to anybody who was so weaponized, targeted or persecuted, whether they were Democrat, Republican, Conservative, Independent or otherwise. The Department will abide by the Court's ruling."
One of those rulings froze all operating aspects of the fund until the judge hears evidence on its legality. Now, the other revisit's the lawsuit and settlement that gave rise to the payout scheme. This was, as you'll recall, the President, while in office suing the IRS, which he oversees, and then settling with lawyers from the Justice Department, which he also oversees.
He sued for $10 billion taxpayer dollars, money he said that would be going to good causes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think what we'll do is do something for charity. We can make it a substantial amount. Nobody would care because it's going to go to numerous very good charities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, it wasn't, and people did care. Instead, we learned that money from the settlement he negotiated essentially with himself of the lawsuit he essentially filed against himself would be almost $2 billion, with absolutely nothing stopping it from going to violent felons. And it wasn't just us saying it. It was the acting attorney general of the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund?
TODD BLACHE, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, as it makes plain anybody is --
VAN HOLLEN: Just let me know, if they're eligible for the fund.
BLANCHE: As was made plain yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they were victim of weaponization.
VAN HOLLEN: Let me ask you this, are there going to be rules that say that if you've assaulted a Capitol Hill Police officer or committed a violent crime, you will not be eligible? Why not make that a rule?
BLANCHE: I expect that -- well, because I'm not one of the commissioners setting up the rules. I expect there will be rules that --
VAN HOLLEN: You're appointing four of the five members, aren't you, mister attorney general?
BLANCHE: Pardon me?
VAN HOLLEN: You're appointing four of the five members?
BLANCHE: I am appointing all five members.
VAN HOLLEN: You can finally set up the rules.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's the acting attorney general, formerly the President's criminal defense attorney, as you heard him say, he would have appointed all five board members. Now, the President would have been able to fire any or all of them at any time, for any reason. From what we know of the arrangement, Democrats called it a slush fund. Some Republican lawmakers began speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): You know, I represent a very minor district in Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania, and they're going to get independent minor representation. They don't like this fund.
REP. MIKE FLOOD (R-NE): I do not want $1.00 of that going to anybody who physically assaulted police officers, period.
SEN. JOHN CURTIS (R-UT): From all outward appearances, this doesn't pass the smell test.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not support the weaponization fund as it has been described.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole thing smells.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That kind of Republican resistance in the Senate was enough to delay action before the Memorial Day break on key funding legislation for the President. It's only grown since lawmakers got back. Late today, Senate Republican leader John Thune said the White House was right to pull the plug.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I do think the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That answer was in response to a question about whether he would support legislation to codify this. He didn't say. But Senate Judiciary Chairman Charles Grassley, the staunchly conservative Iowa Republican, did have a single word answer when asked whether today's action was enough for him. No, it's what he said, because nothing in that statement from the DOJ says the President is killing the fund for good or conceding his legal fight for it.
He told ABC's Jonathan Karl, in fact, tonight, "at this moment, that's what it is." Someone who clearly agrees is this man, Enrique Tarrio, former head of the so-called Proud Boys, convicted of seditious conspiracy, sentenced to 22 years in connection with January 6th, he says today, "You actually think President Trump is going to surrender this fund so easily? Don't ever bet against this President. Don't play with this man."
I want to get perspective now from two lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick and New York Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi. They introduced bipartisan legislation aimed at blocking the Department of Justice from using federal money to pay out claims through the so-called anti- weaponization fund. Congressman Suozzi, let's start with you. Do you think this fund is officially dead? REP. TOM SUOZZI (D-NY): No, it's not officially dead, it's paused. The President said he's going to abide by the ruling. The ruling is a temporary injunction, and it will be debated in court, probably as soon as next week. So right now, it's paused, that's good. The people don't like it. The elected officials don't like it. The courts don't like it. But they're going to -- they may try and keep it going. We have to wait and see what happens next week.
[20:05:21]
COOPER: Congressman Fitzpatrick, is the statement from the DOJ satisfactory to you? I mean, do you want more?
FITZPATRICK: The statement is not satisfactory. We need both a legal avenue here and a statutory legislative avenue. That's what Tom and I have introduced and that's what we're going to force to the floor.
Anderson, the problem goes much broader than this individual abuse and this was an abuse of discretion. The 1956 law that allowed all this to happen is ripe for abuse. And we saw it; the abuse actually manifests this time. So, we have to get at that law and change it, change it back to what it should be. There's way too much discretion given to the attorney general. There's been a complete usurpation of Article One authority by Article Two in this instance, it's ripe with conflicts and we've got to fix it.
So yes, we have to stop this specific abuse, and we will. Mark my words, we will stop this. But we also have to change the law to protect, future or prevent, I should say, future abuses as well.
COOPER: And also, Congressman Suozzi, it doesn't seem like the President or the acting attorney general suddenly believe January 6th rioters should not be compensated if they apply.
SUOZZI: I mean, this is the thing that makes my blood boil and I think a lot of other people. I was there on January 6th. I always tell the story of this one guy, Daniel Rodriguez, they were beating up a cop. He was on the ground and some people were saying, kill him, kill him. And Daniel Rodriguez went up and stuck a taser in the police officer's neck. Police officer had a heart attack, has brain damage because of it. He goes on social media. He says, I just tazed the you know what, out of the cops. And I got away with it.
Well, he didn't get away with it. He got prosecuted. He ended up pleading guilty. He got a 12-year sentence.
The President pardoned him, which is I can't understand that. I mean, I try not to, like, have an outrage about everything the President does, but this is one of those things. It's like, is this possible this is happening? And now they're saying that this guy could be eligible to get money because the government was too rough on him.
So, it's really just very upsetting.
COOPER: Congressman Fitzpatrick, has the President wasted serious political capital on this fund, in your view? I mean, do you think Republicans should worry about this? You know, voters using this or holding it against them in November?
FITZPATRICK: I just think it's a gross abuse of discretion. That's what this is. So, you know, we're going to stop this instance and were going to prevent future instances from happening. And yes, Anderson, I just, you know, we have half of this country living paycheck to paycheck. They're struggling to meet the most basic needs to govern their households. And, you know, when were focused on these infrastructure projects and these slush funds, that is not the way we should be governing.
It's not a wise use of taxpayer money and it's why I'm asking all of my colleagues to step up and join us in this fight.
COOPER: So how do you, Congressman Fitzpatrick, you were saying, you know, it's not enough. You're going to codify it. How do you what is that step? What is the next step?
FITZPATRICK: So, it's a 1956 Statute, Anderson. It's The Federal Judgment Fund Act. Originally, the way it worked is Congress funded the settlement of lawsuits after the fact, after they were settled. In the late 50's, there was a tranche of lawsuits. They became too numerous, there was interest accruing on the outstanding judgment. So, they started pre-funding pre appropriating money to this fund and granting a lot of discretion, too much discretion to the attorney general on the process. So, we have to go back and fix that.
But we also, since were already too late to fix it for this instance, we have to nip this problem in the bud and to say that no money appropriated to DOJ can be used for this fund. That's what our bill does. We are going to force it to the floor and make sure that it gets a vote. And by the way, Anderson, we are in appropriations season now, so this is going to factor into our decision making when the DOJ Appropriations Bill comes before us on the House floor.
COOPER: And so, Congressman Suozzi, what the Congressman Fitzpatrick is saying is the bill moves forward. I mean, you want to push this.
SUOZZI: We have to push it forward. We need 218 signatures on a discharge petition, which would mean a lot of Democrats and a few Republicans to work together to say, this is just too much, and we're not going to put the money, the job of Congress. We're not going to put the money towards this fund.
COOPER: And, Congressman Fitzpatrick, no secret. Youve earned the President's ire. He suggested your opposition to some of his priorities could have negative political repercussions for you personally. Are you are you at peace with that?
FITZPATRICK: I answer to no person or no party in Washington, D.C., Anderson. I work for the people in Bucks and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania. They're my bosses. That's the approach that every member of Congress is supposed to take. They are the ones who send us to D.C. we have to represent them. And my constituents have made clear they don't want money for a ballroom. They don't want money for a slush fund. They want us to focus on affordability issues and that's what we're going to do for them. [20:10:13]
COOPER: Congressman Fitzpatrick, Congressman Suozzi, thank you so much, appreciate it. We mentioned that some of the rioters on January 6th who built gallows on Capitol grounds and chanted, "Hang Mike Pence" could have been recipients of the so-called anti-weaponization fund.
Former Vice President Pence evacuated, as you know, from the senate during the insurrection, weighed in yesterday on the notion that people who assaulted police officers could actually receive money. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's deeply offensive to me that you could have a fund that could even possibly compensate people who assaulted police officers or vandalized the Capitol on January 6th. And I think that's broadly held by most Republicans and most Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, joining me now is former Trump campaign adviser, David Urban; Democratic strategist Paul Begala and former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin. Jeff, how big a deal is it that the President backed down?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It is a big deal.
COOPER: Actually, you know, you don't have a mic on. I'm going to get a mic on for you.
TOOBIN: Well, I don't, I talk really loud.
COOPER: That's right, I'm coming right back to you. David, do you think the administration found it politically untenable to keep fighting for this fund?
DAVID URBAN, SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, Anderson, I think they did. I think that Speaker Thune along excuse me, Majority Leader Thune, along with Speaker Johnson, probably had a discussion with the President and looked at the political calculus. You have a handful of senators now who are not running for reelection, some of them because of the President's doing. And Speaker Johnson probably similarly with Massie and Nancy Mace and others, and simply explained to the President this was already pushing a big rock up a hill, and it was going to be pushing an even bigger rock. And he just simply wasn't going to win.
And, you know, Anderson, I'll let Jeff talk about this a little bit more. But under the law, you know, people can still sue the federal government. There's, you know, 28 USC 27, 61 is the Federal Tort Claims Act. That's what Mike Flynn and Ashli Babbitt sued under. They were, they received settlements and compensation. So, it's not like there are aggrieved parties or somehow who are truly aggrieved parties are going to somehow be shut out from the courts.
As Congressman Fitzpatrick correctly points out, there are funds appropriated from that. So, we'll have to see the Congress appropriates those funds every year for DOJ to pay out of that settlement fund. So, we'll have to see. But it's not like the door is being closed forever just on this on this one particular instance of this $1.7 billion fund, right? That's what's being shut down.
COOPER: Jeff, I mean, how big of a deal is this?
TOOBIN: It's a very it's a very big deal, but it is a preliminary step. As long as the administration position is we can put this money out without congressional authorization, they can change their mind at any point, including going through the lame duck period. And don't you think, knowing all we know about Donald Trump, that he is going to want to give these people money unless Congress uses his power of the purse and bans this expenditure, Donald Trump is going to spend this money. He's not going to spend it now, but he will do it eventually.
COOPER: Paul, do you think there's enough, you know, congressional opposition that they would actually do that?
PAUL BEGALA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: No, because the Republicans run the Congress and they're still terrified of him. I don't think he can get it funded, but it's going to be very difficult to stop this legislatively.
I'm struck that both of our co-panelists and the two Congress members, both are just assuming that Trump's lying. And actually, I don't know why: He promised no new wars and we're at war in Iran. He promised not to cut Medicaid, cut Medicaid. He promised not to tear down the East Wing. He bulldozed it to the ground.
So, this is just another promise that nobody with any sense is going to believe Donald Trump when he says it. So, Congress needs to act. And believe me, Democrats are going to keep it up until there's a law that says he can't reward these thugs.
Congressman Suozzi was talking about the guy that tazed that cop. That was that was my friend Michael Fanone, a hero cop from the Metropolitan Police Department who had a heart attack. And Donald Trump wants to give his attackers our taxpayers money. It's an outrage.
TOOBIN: And remember, too, there is another part of this so-called settlement where the federal government has promised to end all audits of President Trump, which could --
COOPER: And his case and --
TOOBIN: -- and make and his entire family, which could net him just on that alone, $100 million.
COOPER: So, would that part of this go forward?
TOOBIN: Absolutely, there is nothing that the Justice Department has said that would invalidate that part of the deal, which is at least as outrageous as the $1.8 billion.
COOPER: And what would happen? Is it clear, Jeff, what would happen to the money of the so-called anti-weaponization fund? I mean, the 1.8, nearly 1.8 billion?
TOOBIN: Well, that money was never allocated in the first place. That was supposed to be taken from this fund to use settlements. So, I mean, that was what they were trying to do. And the only way Congress can really stop it is passing a law specifically banning it.
[20:15:11]
COOPER: David, has the President spent real political capital on this, do you think, in a way that feels different somehow than some of his other skirmishes?
URBAN; Yes, you know, Anderson, I think Donald Trump prides himself correctly on being able to sniff out those 80-20 issues, right? He's on the right side of all these 80-20 issues. This is an 80-20 issue, but in the wrong direction, right. As Congressman Fitzpatrick points out, there is nobody in lower Bucks County or in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, or in Philadelphia County that thinks this is a good idea. This is a loser of an idea. And I think the President was slow to realize that. But now is being shown the light by again, by the Majority Leader and the Speaker of the House and others who say not only, you know, are you harming yourself, but you're harming our members that are going to run this fall.
They're going to have to take these votes, the very tough votes they don't want to take, and they're likely to vote against you. So, yes, I do believe he's burned a lot of political capital here.
TOOBIN: But has there been any other issue where he's surrendered like this? I can't think of one.
URBAN; Well, no. And Jeff, I think also the court, you know, the courts have put a temporary ban on it. So, it makes it kind of convenient to say, okay, we're going to go away, right? It allows him to have a fig leaf to, to kind of say, okay, we're packing up. But I do believe that the Speaker and the Majority Leader pointed out the votes. It's a math problem, right? You've got to get one plus one plus one to be able to get this passed. And there's not the one plus one plus one in this instance.
COOPER: Paul, do you think any legislative effort like the one that the two Congressmen we just had on, Fitzpatrick and Suozzi to block violent offenders from getting any money from this fund, would get more Republican support now that the DOJ is backing off? Does it give them cover to support it?
BEGALA: It could, but it's really more what the American people are saying. And it's not just this fund, and it's not even just the Capitol rioters. I mean, more and more people are saying, what is Trumps agenda? I love this when people say, well, this is going to imperil his agenda on Capitol Hill. What's his agenda? His agenda is to reward his friends, punish his enemies, and enrich himself. He can do all that without Congress, and he's going to continue to.
But more and more Democrats are going to make the case that this guy gets $1 billion for a ballroom, and you get no money for your kid's classroom. He gets a half a billion dollar plane from the Qataris, and you're paying $4.50 a gallon for Qatari oil at the gas pump. I mean, now he wants a slush fund for people who attacked hero cops, and nothing for you and your community to make it safer.
So, I think that, this is going to become like everything in this election year about the cost of living and about priorities. And Mr. Trump's priorities are me, myself and I.
URBAN: Yes, but Paul and Anderson, I just think really quickly here, I don't know what time is, but I don't think that the billion dollars for the ballroom, I think that was in peril before the House and Senate went out. I don't think that's going to pass. As Congressman Fitzpatrick pointed out, this is appropriations season. Those things are discussed. They were kicked; the can was kicked down the road. Neither of those bills or those were attached to did not get passed, because --
COOPER: Do you think billion-dollar ballroom is going to go forward.
URBAN; I don't think they'll get $1 billion for the ballroom. I just don't see it happening for the 80-20 issue. Again, despite whatever the Secret Service may say, despite the fact they would have built bunkers and harden the world. I think that it's, you know, it's a let them eat cake moment. And I don't think it's going to be sellable, politically to members who have tough elections. It's like, here, put another big rock in your backpack.
BEGALA: People, what about Kim Jong-un arch? I'm sorry, David, what about Kim Jong-un Arch, which is going to block the view of Arlington Cemetery? I mean, he's just going to keep coming with things that honor his reward his friends, punish his enemies and enrich himself. And the only thing that's going to restrain him is a Congress in the hands of the opposition party, the Democrats.
URBAN; Good spin, Begala.
COOPER: Paul Begala, Jeff Toobin, guys, thank you very much. Coming up next, mixed messages on the state of talks to end the war with Iran and new reporting on what's being described as an expletive filled call or a phone call between the President and the Israeli Prime Minister.
And later, exclusive reporting from CNN's Clarissa Ward. What she saw and his witness and what the doctors are doing there is incredible in the heart of the Ebola outbreak. She'll take us there to the epicenter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are now getting ready to go into the so-called red zone of this hospital. That is the area where all suspected Ebola patients are put. (END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:23:38]
COOPER: An Israeli airstrike today on Southern Lebanon in a sea of mixed messages over the war, semiofficial Iranian State Media says Tehran suspended talks with the U.S. over such strikes. The President says Hezbollah leaders have agreed that all shooting will stop.
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says the strikes will continue. Today, AXIOS is reporting that today's phone call between him and the President turned ugly, with President Trump asking Netanyahu, "what the eff are you doing?" And, "Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this."
Joining us now, Ryan Crocker, former Ambassador to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon. And also joining us, CNN military analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton.
Ambassador Crocker, after all the back and forth today, where do you think negotiations stand or do you think the U.S. is closer to an agreement or a new cycle of escalation?
RYAN CROCKER, FORMER AMBASSADOR TO AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN, IRAQ, SYRIA, KUWAIT AND LEBANON: We're clearly not anywhere close to any kind of comprehensive or detailed agreement. What's in play right now is whether the ceasefire continues or it doesn't, and it was an extraordinary phone call between President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. I can't think of a single time in a long and checkered career when a President of the United States has spoken to an Israeli Prime Minister in that way. So, we'll see what it does.
COOPER: Well, really, you don't think it's ever happened?
CROCKER: I can't recall an incident, and I've been through a lot of Israeli conflicts in Lebanon and elsewhere.
COOPER: What does that tell you?
CROCKER: Well, it tells me that President Trump has enormous influence over Netanyahu, one. Two, that he really, really, really wants this ceasefire to endure in Iran and recognizes that the Lebanese situation is key to that. And three, it demonstrates that to the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard leadership of Iran, that they have got tremendous influence over Trump.
COOPER: Colonel Leighton, Iran's state affiliated media, reported Iran and its proxies were considering activating other fronts, words was the term that was used, including in another strait, this one is the Red Sea. What would that mean for U.S. and Israeli troops in the Gulf?
[20:25:50]
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, that would really complicate things, Anderson, and it would really make things difficult, not only for the U.S. troops that are in the Gulf, especially those in on the Arabian Peninsula, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, places like that. It would also create problems for the gulf states themselves.
Saudi Arabia would have a real problem exporting its oil. It would be almost impossible to do it unless they were able to go through the Suez Canal. And that is a major, major factor here as far as U.S. troops are concerned. It would really force them to divide their efforts between the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb, which is that Strait that goes from the Red Sea into the Indian Ocean.
COOPER: And Ambassador, what do you think, I mean, how much power does President Trump have over Netanyahu?
CROCKER: Well, we're going to find out. I think the fact that he got the cease fire in the first place indicates he has a considerable amount of influence. Netanyahu did not want to stop the fighting in Iran. He certainly didn't want to pause it in Lebanon, that has been unpopular with the Israeli public on both counts. And clearly with Hezbollah drones and other ordnance raining down on Northern Israel, he definitely does not want to have to ceasefire in Lebanon. So, this is going to be a real test of who has the upper hand here.
COOPER: And Ambassador, do you think Israel is just, I mean, wants to essentially have a large buffer space or occupy Southern Lebanon from here forward?
CROCKER: I think we can take Israeli statements at face value. They want peace for Galilee now. They wanted peace for Galilee since approximately 1978, when they made their first incursion into Lebanon, 1982, they took Beaufort Castle, which 44 years later they've retaken again over the weekend. And none of that has brought peace for Galilee.
COOPER: Colonel, what do you think Israeli military objectives are in Lebanon?
LEIGHTON: Well, I think the ambassador is absolutely right. And, you know, when you look at what they're doing is they're moving into a buffer zone not only South of the Litani River, but they may even go a little bit further North than that. Basically, halfway between the Israeli border, the official Israeli border and Beirut. That would be an area where the Israelis would want that buffer zone, and they would try to limit as much as they can, the ability of Hezbollah to actually strike targets in Northern Israel and as much as they possibly can, they really want to continue the process of eliminating Hezbollah, just like they did with the patriot attack and with other actions such as killing Hassan Nasrallah.
COOPER: So, ambassador, I mean, just in terms of I mean, not even a nuclear settlement regarding the nuclear issue, but just on the Strait, how do you -- what are the options on that happening?
CROCKER: Well, again, I've said this before, Anderson, that the best we can hope for now is getting back to the status quo ante February 28th, in which the Strait is freely open to all international transit, just as it was before we started these hostilities, and the chip to trade for that, of course, is the lifting of the U.S. blockade. Now, we've got to see and Trump has made it pretty clear he's prepared to do that, I think. The question is, are the Iranians and I would hope that we are ratcheting up international pressure on Iran through the United Nations and through other multilateral fora. The entire world suffers from the Strait being closed.
So, bringing as much international pressure to bear on Iran as we can, making it clear this is not just a U.S. issue, but it's going to be a long shot.
COOPER: Does the international community, though, they obviously would like the Strait open? Do you think they want to join in on this in terms of pressuring Iran?
CROCKER: Well, it depends on the kind of pressure you're talking about. Clearly, no one is interested in military pressure, but diplomatic pressure, yes. And I would hope again that we would continue our efforts in the Security Council to get a resolution through calling on Iran to permit free and unrestricted transit of the Strait. They prosper from confrontation with us. Arguably, they do not prosper from confrontation with the entire world. So, we need to line up, international support on this. If we want to see the Strait reopened.
COOPER: Ambassador Crocker, Colonel Leighton, thanks very much, appreciate it.
Coming up next, how nearly every big piece of the President's vision of remaking Washington came to be facing legal challenges right now.
And what CNN's Clarissa Ward saw and heard is overworked medical crews treat Ebola patients at the center of one of the worst outbreaks in memory.
[20:30:38]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:34:44]
COOPER: On a day that saw the President back away from his so-called anti-weaponization fund under legal and political pressure, it's becoming clear that he's not just fighting a one-front battle. A judge has also told him to take his name off the Kennedy Center. String of acts have backed out of his concert celebrating America's 250th, and that is not all.
CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[20:35:04]
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Many of President Trump's high-profile pet projects --
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're ahead of schedule.
SERFATY (voice-over): -- have crescendoed into controversy.
TRUMP: This is my gift to the United States of America.
SERFATY (voice-over): Days after the lineup for the nation's 250th concert series was released, a string of artists abruptly dropped out, publicly admonishing the event, saying they felt misled about the event's political associations.
Rapper Young MC telling Rolling Stone it was a bait-and-switch, saying, "The artists were never told about any political involvement with the event." And country singer Martina McBride saying she was told it would be a nonpartisan event, but that turned out to be misleading.
President Trump fired back, announcing that he will now personally kick off the celebration, blasting the artists as "overpriced singers who nobody wants to hear, whose music is boring," and calling to cancel the whole event, to replace it with a Make America Great Again rally. As critics charge the President is making this about him, the Secretary of Interior stating he should be involved.
DOUG BURGUM, INTERIOR SECRETARY: The President plays a key figure in helping to, again, celebrate, kick off, and be at the opening of these events. It's very appropriate.
SERFATY (voice-over): Meantime, Trump's other major and much-touted personal endeavors are also facing serious headwinds. The ballroom.
TRUMP: It's going to be one of the most beautiful buildings that's ever been built in the country.
SERFATY (voice-over): Reflecting pool makeover.
TRUMP: I want to keep our country beautiful and safe. Beautiful also. This place was a disgusting place.
SERFATY (voice-over): And planned arch.
TRUMP: It's called the Triumphal Arch. It's in honor of the veterans.
SERFATY (voice-over): All facing uncertain futures while they remain under litigation. And on Friday, a federal judge dealt a massive blow to the President's plans for the Kennedy Center.
TRUMP: You can't have this looking like it does.
SERFATY (voice-over): A judge saying Trump cannot add his name to the Kennedy Center and blocking the planned two-year closure for renovations meant to start next month. In response, the President distanced himself from the arts institution that he had once coveted leading as chairman of the board. TRUMP: I was honored when the board changed the name a little bit.
SERFATY (voice-over): Saying he has no interest in continuing unless he was free to do what he wanted to do. Even the President's UFC fight arena that is being built on the South Lawn of the White House --
JOE ROGAN, PODCASTER: The White House thing is odd. I don't like it.
SERFATY (voice-over): -- getting pushback from the President's own allies.
ROGAN: And it's D.C., and we looked it up the last time, like last year, same day, it was 100 degrees.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You add the lights.
ROGAN: Oh yes, oh yes. You add the lights.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You add the lights that attracts bugs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SERFATY (on-camera): Now, it's not entirely clear yet what President Trump's exact role will be in the opening night of this concert series. But notably, this event was organized by Freedom 250. That is a group that was launched last year by President Trump and is entirely different from the group America's 250, a group that's bipartisan in nature, approved by Congress, that is also hosting many celebrations around the nation's anniversary. Anderson?
COOPER: Sunlen Serfaty, thanks very much.
Up next, the Ebola outbreak and the remarkably dedicated medical professionals trying to contain it right now and save lives.
Also ahead of tomorrow's California primaries, the former reality TV star who could surprise political professionals in his race to be mayor of Los Angeles.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:42:30]
COOPER: At least four nurses who have been treated for Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been discharged from the hospital after recovering. A small sign of hope as health officials in Africa say the number of confirmed cases in the DRC has risen to 282, with hundreds more suspected cases. There are 42 confirmed deaths so far.
Clarissa Ward gains extraordinary access to the so-called Red Zone at the hospital in Bunia, the epicenter of the latest outbreak.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a surreal but now all too familiar ritual. Health care workers painstakingly disinfect the coffin of the latest suspected victim of the Ebola virus at Bunia's General Hospital.
As family members look on in anguish, unable to get close to their loved one, torn apart by grief and consumed by fear.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
WARD (voice-over): "Oh, my father. Why, God?" this woman cries. "Oh, God, this is my only father."
As the dead are carried out, new potential cases are arriving. At the entrance to the hospital, everyone's temperature must be taken.
WARD: So this is the room where they take people who are found to have a fever. There is a woman in there now. Obviously, they don't know if she has Ebola or not, but they're going to keep her here until they do more tests and get a better sense of what's going on.
WARD (voice-over): At a makeshift coordination center inside the hospital, Dr. Richard Kojan and his team are working round the clock to keep up with an outbreak they say is out of control. They agree to show me and photojournalist Alex Platt what they're up against.
WARD: We are now getting ready to go into the so-called red zone of this hospital. That is the area where all suspected Ebola patients are put. And there is a lot of protective gear, unsurprisingly, that one needs to wear to go inside.
WARD (voice-over): Bundibugyo is a strain of the virus that few were expecting. There is no vaccine and no cure. The doctors write our names on our backs so they can recognize us. And then it's time to go in.
[20:45:01]
At the moment, patients are treated in hastily constructed tents. 30- year-old Gloria is a lab technician, one of dozens of health care workers believed to be infected.
WARD: (Speaking Foreign Language)
She says she's difficult to breath.
WARD (voice-over): Earlier, we met her sister waiting outside for news.
WARD (through translation): I saw your sister. She's waiting for the moment she can hug you again. Do you want us to tell your sister something for you?
A message?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking Foreign Language)
WARD (voice-over): "Do not be afraid," she says.
But it's impossible not to be scared. Some of the patients here are in very bad shape.
WARD: How do you stay strong when you're seeing this?
DR. RICHARD KOJAN, ICU DOCTOR, ALIMA: For me, it's our humanity.
WARD: Your humanity?
KOJAN: Yes, yes, it's our humanity. When people are suffering like this, I feel it. I feel it.
He was in a coma.
WARD: Yes.
KOJAN: It's Ebola confirmed.
WARD (voice-over): Ten-year-old Meshack (ph) is still very weak. His mouth ravaged with blisters from the virus. He asked the doctors for a banana, an encouraging sign.
"Slowly, slowly," Dr. Kojan warns him. His condition is improving, but he has a long way to go.
KOJAN: You lay down, yes.
WARD: He wants to lay down? Let's help him lay down then.
WARD (voice-over): They lay him down in the corridor while his room is disinfected. Nothing about this situation is OK. But these doctors are doing everything they possibly can.
As we walk to another ward, a familiar sound in the distance.
WARD: You can hear the cries of a family who are claiming the body of their loved one. This is a scene that's playing out here multiple times every single day.
WARD (voice-over): This is a temporary ward for suspected cases. Patients lie waiting for test results that are taking up to a week to process.
WARD: So this is the situation that health care workers really want to avoid and are racing to put a stop to. You have five patients in the same room, all of them suspected of having Ebola, but doctors can't be sure. They can't rule out the possibility that one person in here may not have Ebola and then, of course, there's a strong chance they could contract it.
WARD (voice-over): Every exit from the red zone is as careful as the entry. Protective equipment must be sprayed down with chlorine and methodically removed.
WARD: We were in there for maybe half an hour and I could barely stand up by the end. It's incredibly tiring, really hot. You're sweating so much. You're thirsty. I just like, help us understand the kind of stamina that you need as a doctor to be going in and out of that red zone multiple times every single day.
KOJAN: It's really hard. We have to stand strong for those patients and otherwise, you know, the situation will be really very, very bad.
WARD: That 10-year-old boy, that's hard to see.
KOJAN: The first day, you know, he was really bleeding, a lot of diarrhea and shock, you know. So you have to get a way to give IV fluid. It's not really easy.
So -- and for me, you know, like an ICU doctor, when you have a situation like this, it's very hard to just say, I have to stop because I'm tired.
WARD (voice-over): On the outskirts of the city, the family we met earlier is burying their father, 72-year-old farmer Papababona Bodwan (ph).
The burial team forms a cordon around his grave. The mourners forced to grieve at a distance. The final cruelty of this vicious virus.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Clarissa Ward joins me now from Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Clarissa, it's extraordinary what you are witnessing and horrific what people are going through. Just the bravery of these doctors and nurses is incredible.
WARD (on-camera): Yes, it's really extraordinary, Anderson. And, you know, the doctor who we featured in our story, Dr. Richard Kojan, he was telling us this is the sixth Ebola outbreak in Congo that he has responded to.
[20:50:10]
And he said that this one is different and this one is challenging. And primarily that's because they were late to catch it. And they were late to catch it because it is this unexpected strain. It's not the Zaire strain that they have all the testing and the vaccine and the treatments for.
And that meant that when people were showing up at these clinics with symptoms, which, by the way, can easily be confused with malaria, which is very common here, and they were taking the test and they were not showing up as positive. So they lost vital weeks in terms of trying to trace contacts, in terms of trying to contain the spread. And now they really are facing, Anderson, an uphill battle.
COOPER: Do they have control of it?
WARD (on-camera): At present, they do not. They are optimistic that if they continue to scale up at the rate that we're seeing, they hope that they will be able to contain this potentially within the next three months. But that is going to feel like a very long time to people here on the ground, Anderson.
COOPER: Yes. Clarissa Ward, thank you.
A quick programming note. Dr. Sanjay Gupta and I are going to have an interactive Q&A session all about Ebola. It's exclusively for CNN All Access subscribers. You can submit your questions now at CNN.com/SubscriberSeries. Watch the special there as well as this Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. You can join us live for that.
Up next tonight, how former reality TV star Spencer Pratt is shaking up Los Angeles mayor's race with voters going to the polls tomorrow.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:55:52]
COOPER: Former reality TV villain Spencer Pratt has shaken up the Los Angeles mayoral race. The star of MTV's "The Hills" built his campaign around frustration with the city's leadership after his Pacific Palisades home was destroyed in the wildfires last year. Now he has a shot at getting on the November ballot if he does well during tomorrow's primary.
CNN's Elex Michaelson has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The candidates making their last-minute pitches.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No time for amateurs.
NITHYA RAMAN, CANDIDATE FOR L.A. MAYOR: My plan involves ensuring real accountability and real results.
SPENCER PRATT, CANDIDATE FOR L.A. MAYOR: My opponents are the reason the city's failing.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): The race to lead America's second-largest city is tight, with an unlikely candidate that's propelled the race into the national spotlight.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where I live.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think this guy wants to sit through city council meetings all day?
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Incumbent L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is facing challengers from her left and her right, including city council member Nithya Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, and Spencer Pratt, a registered Republican previously known as a reality TV villain.
MICHAELSON: The mayor's race is officially nonpartisan, meaning the candidate's party identification is not listed on the ballot. If no candidate gets over 50 percent in Tuesday's election, the top two vote-getters will face off in November.
RAMAN: This is, a, a wide-open race.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): A UC Berkeley-L.A. Times poll shows a close contest between Bass, Raman, and Pratt. I recently sat down with all three.
MICHAELSON: If you had to pick one word that separates you from your opponents in this race, what is that?
RAMAN: Courage.
PRATT: Truth.
MAYOR KAREN BASS (D), LOS ANGELES: Experience. Collaboration. I'm sorry, I had to throw in another.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): The 2025 Palisades fire still looms large, where 12 people died and nearly 7,000 structures burned, including Pratt's home.
PRATT: If they didn't burn my house down, I wouldn't be running for mayor.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): At the time of the fire, Mayor Bass was in Ghana.
BASS: It was a horrible, horrible moment in my life.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Despite days of high wind warnings forecast for L.A.
BASS: The point is I wasn't here when my city needed me, and that is a profound regret.
PRATT: Oh, I was in Ghana, oopsie-daisies. Like, no, you should have resigned.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Raman says she decided at the last moment to challenge Bass, in part, due to the city's response to homelessness.
RAMAN: I share the frustration that I see across the city that so many Angelenos are feeling right now.
MICHAELSON: When you talked to Jake Tapper in 2023, you said that your goal was to end street homelessness in L.A. by 2026. How were you so off?
BASS: I didn't anticipate some of the bureaucratic barriers that I would experience.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): For the last two years, the mayor's office reports L.A.'s homeless count has shown a decline. Last year's count reported a roughly 18 percent decrease in street homelessness since before she took office. Pratt wants to build a facility outside of L.A. and require L.A.'s homeless to go there for drug treatment.
PRATT: It's going to be somewhere where people will go and they go, Thank God for Spencer. This is the greatest thing in the United States of America.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): Pratt's direct-to-camera social media videos.
PRATT: And we need change.
MICHAELSON (voice-over): And A.I. clips created by his supporters, are redefining L.A.'s political norms. In one A.I.-generated fan video, Pratt is Batman, Mayor Bass is the Joker, and residents are throwing tomatoes at her.
BASS: His social media is now taking on a violent turn.
PRATT: Coming from the lady who allowed 12 people to burn.
RAMAN: I don't want this injected into my politics. And I hope Angelenos stand up on June 2nd and reject it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Elex Michaelson joins me now from the voting center in Los Angeles. Does Pratt, a Republican, actually have a shot at becoming the next mayor?
MICHAELSON (on-camera): Well, he thinks so. He says his best shot at winning is winning tomorrow night, getting over 50 percent before a lot of the negative ads start coming in about him being a Republican. I said to him, there's not a single poll that suggests you're anywhere close to 50 percent.
He told me that his people don't have time to be polled, and that there's essentially a secret majority out there that's voting for him. He says a political tsunami is coming, Anderson.
COOPER: All right, well, we shall see.
Thanks very much, Elex Michaelson.
See -- well, you at midnight Eastern for The Story Is. Also, we're going to be covering the key primary races across California, and five other states as well tomorrow. There's a lot going on tomorrow here on CNN. Also, you can watch it on the CNN app.
That's it for us. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you tomorrow. The news continues right now. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
