Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Sources: Putting "Finishing Touches" On Nuke Deal; Escaped Drug Lord Wanted By U.S. Authorities; Trump Claims Death Threat From "El Chapo." Scott Walker Announces He's Running For President. Aired 7- 8:00p ET
Aired July 13, 2015 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:10] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: OUTFRONT tonight, breaking news. Negotiators on the brink of this moment of an historic nuclear deal with Iran. We are waiting for an announcement. It could come at any moment.
Plus, an international manhunt for one of the world's most brutal killers escaping from a maximum security prison through a mile-long tunnel. Where could he be tonight?
And funeral services today for a boy who died after swimming in a lake. The likely cost is a mysterious brain eating amoeba, our special report. Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett. OUTFRONT tonight we begin with the breaking news. Sources telling CNN at this hour, an historic nuclear deal with Iran is, quote/unquote, "imminent." Now we are standing by for word from Vienna. Our negotiators are literally working through the night. At this time negotiations have gone on for more than a year, deadline after deadline has been missed. The stakes are huge because if the United States doesn't get what it needs, the president of the United States Barack Obama, has said Iran could build a nuclear bomb within months.
Elise Labott has been working her sources. And Elise, you know, today there was going to be a deal. Then there was no deal. And now imminent is what you're hearing?
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. A major development happening right now. Diplomats tell me world powers are putting the finishing touches on a historic nuclear agreement with Iran. They say an announcement is imminent. It could be anytime certainly within the next few hours. Now, of course, no deal is final until it's announced. They're still meeting at this hour trying to clear up last-minute wording of the text. Some issues related to substance but these were described to me as crossing Ts and dotting Is.
You know, as you said, we started the day expecting that announcement, then the talks hit a last-minute snag. Negotiators buckled down, turned it around and finally these 18 days of marathon negotiations, this final round, drama, the screaming, the screaming, the rising and falling hopes all coming to an end. Today the Iranian foreign minister told reporters negotiators are overworked, exhausted. They want to get this done, and it looks like when the world wakes up tomorrow, Erin, there will be a nuclear deal with Iran.
That's just going to be a pretty incredible thing. The biggest foreign policy deal for the United States in more than a generation. All right, Elise, thank you very much.
And as I said, we're waiting. We have our reporters on the ground in Vienna. The minute we get news on this, we'll going to bring it to you with great historical significance.
Also tonight we are following another quickly developing story. A massive manhunt for one of the most brutal drug dealers in history. After the death of Osama bin Laden, he became the most wanted man in the world. Number one. His name is Joaquin Guzman also known as El Chapo. In an incredible escape he successfully broke out of one of the most secure prisons in Mexico. And officials say that if he's not found in the next few hours they may never see him again. Here is what we know about Guzman's daring escape. He crawled through a hole in his shower. And as you can see this animation here, then down those ladder to a tunnel, a mile long tunnel. This tunnel lit. This tunnel ventilated, professionally built just for him. This wasn't what happened in Upstate, New York. This was a professionally built tunnel to this guy's door. Guzman has allegedly killed countless people. Officials telling CNN, he is responsible for at least a quarter of the illegal drugs in the United States.
Nick Valencia is OUTFRONT live beginning in our coverage in Mexico City right outside the prison. Nick, this is one of the most incredible stories of escape in history.
NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is certainly and a wild one to boot. It seems as though this escape was planned not just in plain view of the federal police and prison officials but also in plain view of the military. It's an escape that's led to the world's most notorious narcotraficante or drug trafficker back on the loose living life a free man.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
It may have been the most expensive and elaborate prison escape ever. Eight o'clock Saturday night, Joaquin El Chapo Guzman, the most notorious drug lord in the world takes his nightly medications at this maximum security prison just 50 miles west of Mexico City, that's the last time guards see him.
After stepping into a shower, El Chapo enters a hole in the wall. There a ladder takes him 30 feet below ground to a tunnel almost a mile long and five and a half feet high, high enough for the man nicknamed El Chapo, Spanish for shorty, to stand tall. The tunnel runs under this desolate countryside ending inside this cinder block home still under construction. The daring escape of the man Mexican officials called, our Bin Laden, marks the second prison break for El Chapo. With his escape, local farmers fear the worst.
VALENCIA (on camera): Are you scared now that El Chapo has escaped?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) Yes, yes, I'm afraid.
[19:05:06] VALENCIA: His 2001 escape was much simpler. For a reported $2.5 million in bribes, he was smuggled out hiding in a laundry cart. During the next 13 years on the run El Chapo's legend grew, his whereabouts said to be an open secret, even to Mexican authorities. Millions of Mexicans believe him to be a Robin Hood figure. One story tells of him collecting all the cell phones in a restaurant for his safety. Then paying everyone's bills. Authorities say the real El Chapo, one of the world's wealthiest criminals, is a billionaire and in reality a ruthless killer and one of the men behind the drug war that has left tens of thousands of his countrymen dead.
TOM FUENTES, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: These are people that they kill journalists, politicians, police officers, corrections officers, and then not just that person but every member of their family. Their parents, their cousins, their children and oftentimes horrific deaths, and I mean dipping their bodies in acid, peeling their skin, dismembering them.
VALENCIA: U.S. officials say El Chapo is responsible for about 25 percent of all the drugs entering the U.S. including much of the marijuana, cocaine and heroin traffic. The city of Chicago has declared him public enemy number one, the man allegedly supplying 80 percent of the drugs on Chicago streets. El Chapo was last caught in February of 2014, U.S. marines tracked him to a no frills condo in Mazatlan, using infrared and body heat scanners, they determined that everyone inside was asleep. Storming in they found the half-naked Guzman with his beauty queen wife and an AK-47 at his side, their two year old twins sleeping nearby. The world's most wanted man surrendered without a shot fired.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VALENCIA: I was speaking to some campesinos and farmers in that area. And they say, construction on that rural home where El Chapo is said to have emerged began back in December. Construction was complete according to Damoran (ph), February or March. But they continued to see individuals in that area which drew their suspicions especially on Sundays when people don't typically work. Their take on this, is that this has been well coordinated and planned out for months -- Erin.
BURNETT: No expense spared. Thank you very much, Nick. And OUTFRONT now, I want to bring in Mike Braun, the former chief of operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, he spent years tracking, gathering evidence on El Chapo. Also with me, the former U.S. Marshal Arthur Roderick.
Mike, let me start with you. You said Guzman wrote the book on terror. We just heard Nick report, this is the guy who dismembered people, our Tom Fuentes, former assistant director of the FBI say, dismembering people, dipping their bodies in acid. Just how dangerous is he?
MIKE BRAUN, FORMER DEA CHIEF OF OPERATIONS: Well, Erin, he is the world's most notorious and most dangerous crime leader. And my good friend Tom Fuentes hit the nail on the head. He was very accurate in all of the information that he provided. But, you know, to take it a bit further, you know, this guy's responsible for not hundreds but thousands of uber gruesome beheadings, dismemberments, as Tom said, acid baths, if you will, while those victims are oftentimes still alive. It's a slow, horrific death. So this guy is, not only is he extraordinarily powerful, he is a sadistic narcissist like the world has never seen. And he happens to have an enormous amount of money which makes him, I would say, the most dangerous man in the world today.
BURNETT: Incredible. And as we said, he was number two after Bin Laden, for those watching on the "FBI Most Wanted List." Bin Laden was killed. He is now number one.
Arthur, you heard Mike describe him, sadistic, narcissistic, acid baths with people while they're still alive. Beheading thousands of people. He is also according to "Forbes," a billionaire. One of the richest people out there. Where could he be?
ARTHUR RODERICK, FORMER U.S. MARSHAL: Well, Erin, I mean, obviously, when you look at these -- if things were a little different, he would actually be classified as a war criminal. When you go through that type of menu of things that he's actually done to people, those are war crimes. This is stuff you hear about. In World War II, you heard about during the Balkans War. Where could he be? I mean, if he's back in Sinaloa, you know, up in the mountains in his mountain stronghold, it's going to take a major military operation to get him out of there.
And if he's looking to go to another country, we'll probably never get him out of that location either. So I don't know how this is going to work out, but when you look at a standard international fugitive investigation, you throw the book out on this one and basically go with what you've got and hopefully Mexico has the political will to do something about this.
BURNETT: Well, Mike, we also, you know, I mean, this tunnel was not -- I mean, this tunnel was built custom for him, five-and-a-half feet tall, it was ventilated. I mean, it sounds sort of like, you know, a state-of-the-art type of thing, this tunnel that was built for him, and they came in obviously, they put a ladder straight up to his shower. I mean, it was literally door-to-door.
[19:10:17] BRAUN: Hey, listen, Erin, you know, you can't make this stuff up. But, you know, look at the heart of all of this is corruption. And, you know, if anyone thinks for a moment that he didn't possess the keys to the prison before he ever walked through the door, you know, they're absolutely wrong.
BURNETT: But you think internal guards, et cetera, there were a lot of people helping him?
BRAUN: Well, listen, many of them have been arrested already. You know, you don't pull something off as elaborate of this as this with absolute pinpoint accuracy, as you said. They literally tunneled up into his cell, from what I understand and from what sources report. BURNETT: I mean, it's incredible. And Arthur, you're saying it
could have gone further even than that. That he could have had when he got out, talk about having plan "A," "B," "C," and "D." But even something like a private jet waiting for him?
RODERICK: Absolutely. When you have that much money you have a lot of things at your fingertips. And obviously the size of his organization, I mean, you just look at the planning, I mean, he has got a history of being the tunnel king. He's built at least seven or eight major tunnels from Mexico into the Southern California area to move drugs. When he was arrested in February of 2014, he was hiding or moving around between seven or eight houses in an elaborate tunnel area. So, I mean, it doesn't take a long reach to think that maybe he's got the capability of doing this again. And that's exactly what he did.
BURNETT: So, Mike, are they going to find him? I mean, my understanding is the U.S. not yet involved. The U.S. obviously found him last time. Is the U.S. even capable?
BRAUN: Well, listen, one thing for sure, Erin, is with every event like this, meaning his last apprehension, he has got the very best attorneys money can buy. He has security experts that can match anything our country or any other country around the world has got to offer and, you know, rest assured they dissected every piece of law enforcement to join operation back in February 2014 that led to his arrest and they're not going to make the same mistakes twice. This guy is going to be even more difficult than the last time. I think Art and Tom earlier would agree with me the first 72 hours are extraordinarily important here. And if they don't get their hands on him by then, I don't know. We may never see the guy again.
BURNETT: Mike, Art, thanks to both of you. And next --
BRAUN: Thank you.
RODERICK: Thank you.
BURNETT: -- El Chapo's cartel. It's responsible for supplying 80 percent of the drugs in some American cities. We have a special report on the group described as the most violent and powerful cartel on the planet.
Plus, Donald Trump says he wants the FBI to investigate a death threat against him that he says may have come from El Chapo himself.
And union buster and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker joining the crowd running for president. Can he overcome the Trump juggernaut?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:16:54] BURNETT: America's biggest drug lord escaped from prison on the loose tonight. The clock ticking on an international manhunt for Joaquin Guzman, the most wanted man in the world. Investigators trying to track down El Chapo, as he's called. Before he's back on top of his massive drug empire, a cartel that supplies 80 percent of the drugs in some U.S. cities.
Jean Casarez is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Known as one of the world's most notorious drug kingpins an all-out manhunt in Mexico now ongoing for Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman believe to be the mastermind of the Sinaloa cartel. And his organization's influence is strong. According to law enforcement it stretches far into the United States. This video from 2013 shows a tunnel allegedly built by the cartel from Tijuana to San Diego, one of several discovered since 2010 used for smuggling illegal drugs to sell on American streets. According to the U.S. immigration and customs enforcement, authorities seized eight tons of marijuana and 325 pounds of cocaine through that tunnel.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We warned the cartels directly, if you build them, we're going to find them, and when we find them, we'll going to destroy them.
CASAREZ: But that isn't stopping the Sinaloa cartel. The Department of Justice describes it as one of the world's most prolific, violent, and powerful drug cartels stretching their illegal business operations to states all over the country. Mexican cartels have a presence in more than 1,200 U.S. cities.
DUNCAN WOOD, DIRECTOR OF MEXICO INSTITUTE, WILSON CENTER: They get in through multiple different channels. They get in through small planes. They get in through tunnels underneath the border. They get in through cargo ships. It's very difficult to actually stop the flow of illegal substances into a country when demand is so high for it.
CASAREZ: Even as El Chapo sat in prison drugs still flowed into the U.S., $50 million worth of heroin was seized in New York linked to Sinaloa and that was just in May. It was the largest D.E.A. heroin seizure in New York State, fourth largest in the U.S. U.S. officials say, in 2014 El Chapo alone was responsible for 25 percent of the illegal drugs entering the United States which primarily comes through a porous Mexican border.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It tends to be smaller organizations at the local level that receive the drugs and then distribute them and then send back the profits to Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And, Jean, who exactly does the cartel work with within the U.S.?
CASAREZ: Right, the associates.
BURNETT: A lot of people are getting a lot of money.
CASAREZ: Local gangs and local criminal organizations, so that can only increase the violence and crime in the United States. Now, you know, the San Diego case which we talked about in the piece -- BURNETT: Yes.
CASAREZ: -- 60 people were indicted and they're either members or associates, some are United States citizens, some are Mexican citizens, some legal, some illegally here in the United States.
BURNETT: Hmm. Wow. But obviously an incredibly extensive organization no matter how you look at it.
CASAREZ: Extensive and continuing to grow whether he's on the run or whether he's in prison.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Jean, thank you very much.
And I want to go straight now to Michael Vigil OUTFRONT who investigated Guzman in this cartel from inside Mexico and he was the chief of international operations for the DEA. You predicted Guzman would be in charge of its cartel 48 hours after his escape. That's basically right now, tonight.
MICHAEL VIGIL, FORMER DEA CHIEF OF INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS: That's correct. El Chapo Guzman, you know, has maintained control of his drug organization. When he went to prison, he left one of his primary lieutenants, an individual by the name Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada to take charge of the Sinaloa cartel, but both individuals are very close friends so he probably has already assumed that total control of the Sinaloa cartel as we speak.
BURNETT: Wow. As we speak. And you say that his cartel operates a lot like, frankly, ISIS. And what do you mean when you say that?
VIGIL: Well, the thing is that the Sinaloa cartel believes in controlling territory because territory translates into money and power. But they do a trough tear, they do it through beheadings, they do it through dismemberments, they have wage battle not only against the Mexican governments but also against rival cartels.
[19:21:20] BURNETT: So, when we try to understand, I mean, he is the most wanted man on the FBI list, right? It was Osama bin Laden and then it was El Chapo. And now it's number one El Chapo. He is the most wanted man in the world particularly proud of his heroine. And we've seen heroin use in the United States explode. A 150 percent increase in just about five years. How much of the heroin in the United States is coming from El Chapo?
VIGIL: I would venture to say that the heroin epidemic here in the United States is as a result of the trafficking of heroin into the country by the Sinaloa cartel. And it's not only that but they also had traffic in, you know, tancuanities (ph), methamphetamine, heroin, and marijuana. But their cash commodity is certainly cocaine.
BURNETT: Wow! All right. Thank you very much, Michael, we appreciate it. You know more about that guy than anyone else.
And republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has now decided to use El Chapo's escape in his campaign. He's actually asking the FBI tonight to investigate death threats that he says he has received from El Chapo himself.
Athena Jones is OUTFRONT.
ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The prison break of Mexican cartel head Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman is becoming a talking point for Donald Trump. Trump tweeting that kingpins like Guzman used the border unimpeded for the drug trade. That sparked what appeared to be a threat directed at Trump supposedly from El Chapo's twitter account. Trump alerted the FBI to the tweet and said, you can't be intimidated.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The silent majority is back.
JONES: The exchange comes on the heels of Trump's weekend speech in Phoenix where thousands came to listen to his tough talk on stopping illegal immigration.
TRUMP: We charge Mexico $100,000 for every person they send over.
JONES: He said U.S. leaders had failed to address the problem.
TRUMP: I respect Mexico greatly as a country, but the problem we have is that their leaders are much smarter, sharper, and more cunning than our leaders, and they're killing us at the border and they're killing us in trade.
JONES: His remarks interrupted by protesters.
(Protesters): USA! USA!
TRUMP: I wonder if the Mexican government sent them over here. I think so.
JONES: Trump kept the focus on crimes committed by people in the country illegally. Bringing on the stage, a man whose son was killed by an undocumented immigrant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's the only one that's talking about saving our country.
JONES: That comes after Trump seized on the shooting death of 32-year-old Katherine Steinle earlier this month in San Francisco, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant.
TRUMP: We're housing people from all over the world that other countries don't want. They're sending criminals to us, and we're putting those criminals in jail oftentimes after they've killed somebody or hurt somebody.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JONES: And one more thing, a new poll out today by Monmouth University shows that nearly four in 10 republican voters feel that Donald Trump's campaign is more about getting publicity for himself rather than making a serious run for the White House -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Athena, thank you very much.
And next, Scott Walker announcing he's running for president just the past two minutes. On the same night a new poll shows Donald Trump surging. Can he break through?
And the Iran nuke deal imminent any moment. We literally are standing by for an announcement as the biggest deal for the United States of America in more than a generation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:28:58] BURNETT: Tonight, Donald Trump rising, the billionaire now statistically tied within the margin of error, for number one in the GOP race for president. In the latest poll of Republicans, this by Monmouth University, Jeb Bush leads the pack. He has got 15 percent. But, again, within the margin of error, two points behind, there sits Donald Trump, 13 percent. Just moments ago, Governor Scott Walker joined this very crowded field declaring his run for the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT WALKER (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: My record shows that I know how to fight and win. Now, more than ever, America needs a president who will fight and win for America.
(CHEERS AND APPLAUSE)
BURNETT: Walker is the 15th republican to enter the race. Walker is a union buster, a polarizing figure, beloved by the republican right. But the reality is this. Trump surged. Can Walker get any of the oxygen back from Donald Trump?
Sara Murray is OUTFRONT, she was there with the latest republican presidential candidate. I know Sara you're in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Can Scott Walker breakthrough?
[19:30:02] SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Well, a really good way to break through the pack is to win Iowa. And that is the top prize that Scott Walker and his advisers are eyeing. They are going to spend a lot of time there and try to build a coalition of Tea Partiers, social conservatives, fiscal conservatives to try to carry him to the finish line there.
I think the big challenge for Scott Walker, though, is he needs to prove to voters that he is presidential. They know he's approachable. They like he's this Midwestern, middle class kind of guy. But he had some high-profile stumbles early on. And he needs to prove to voters he is ready for prime time and that he's prepared to be president and to deal with issues that are bigger than the ones he's faced in just Wisconsin -- Erin. ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you very much, Sara.
I mean, it's going to be incredible, obviously, as you point out, rocketing to fame because of fighting the unions. But can he hold it now?
OUTFRONT now, the former Republican congressman and presidential candidate Tom Tancredo, along with Paul Begala, senior adviser to a super PAC supporting the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Paul, let me start with you.
New numbers on Bush and Trump, within the margin of error. So, those people who said you guys keep citing these polls about Trump rising and it was before this whole thing about Mexican immigrants and rapists and he's going to tank. Those people were totally wrong, at least for now. He has surged yet again.
Can any candidate break through this right now?
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think they can. First off, I do think Mr. Trump has continued to rise. He is tapping into some anger. There's a lot of anger on the Republican right. Mr. Tancredo can speak to it better than I can, he's a Republican.
But this is about, I think, followers more than leaders. In other words, I think there's a great number of Republican primary voters who are looking for perhaps, I guess from my liberal perspective, the angerest and most conservative person in the race. I think that's going to be hard to beat Donald Trump on that score.
BURNETT: You know, Tom, it's interesting, though, too, the other thing that Trump detractors kept pointing at, they keep saying, well, look, Donald Trump has this high unfavorable rating, so even though he has room to rise, he has a ceiling. Four in 10 voters said he wants publicity so that supports that point of view. But on favorability in June, his favorable numbers were 20 percent and now that number has doubled in one month, 20 percent to 40 percent.
That is pretty incredible, isn't it?
TOM TANCREDO (R), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Indeed it is. I think that Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders had something in common, you know? They both are addressing issues that a lot of people in their respective bases care a great deal about. They're both somewhat angry people. They're both bringing up issues that other people don't want to talk about necessarily.
Bernie Sanders is sort of aggressive socialism. Donald Trump is an aggressive populism and, by the way, he puts the icing on the cake of anti-illegal immigration.
So, indeed, there is a sense in both parties that these guys are saying things that a lot of folks want to hear. Now, will that -- how long will that go on? God only knows. But I will tell you right now, the more serious question both parties need to ask themselves seems to me is what happens after neither one of these two people get the nomination?
What do each one of them do? Will they go separate ways? You know, that could be the really fascinating part of this entire debate during the primary.
BURNETT: And for now, though, and I will ask both of you about this, Donald Trump has taken the oxygen out of the room from everyone else, right? Scott Walker, a guy known for taking on the unions and getting a lot of people angry -- I'm trying to use appropriate words, Paul Begala, you know, and now he's this tame, calm guy. Chris Christie is this tame, calm guy. In fact, Chris Christie spoke to the frustration --
(LAUGHTER)
BEGALA: Chris Christie?
BURNETT: Like why is Donald Trump getting all of the attention. Here is how Chris Christie answered the question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Donald is a friend. I like him personally. But his comments were inappropriate. That's not the 15th time I say it. It's going to be the last time I say it. Every time I get on a media show, all anybody wants to talk about is Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURENTT: I mean, you know, that has got really to upset Chris Christie. But it's got to upset them all, Paul.
BEGALA: Absolutely. You're right. He's drawing all the oxygen out of the room.
By the way, Governor, you're going to be asked the 51st time, believe me.
BURNETT: Yes.
BEGALA: Because Donald -- Jeb Bush has been a politician for, I don't know, 20 years, and he's at 15 percent. Donald Trump has been a politician for three weeks and he's at 13 percent. There's something going on.
Tom raised a really important point in parallel with Bernie Sanders. I think there's an important difference, Congressman, and that is Bernie Sanders is talking about issues I can sell to centrist moderate swing voters. He's talking about Social Security and minimum wage and economic insecurity for the middle class.
Donald Trump is saying things that I know you believe in, but I got to tell you the great number of Americans, the majority of Americans disagree, especially Latinos. He's killing the Republican brand with Latinos. [19:35:00] So, the damage is not equal and opposite even if the
appeal is sort of interesting and parallel.
BURNETT: And you know what's interesting, Tom, even David Letterman came out --
TANCREDO: Well, I disagree.
BURNETT: OK. Go ahead. Please, go ahead and disagree then.
TANCREDO: I just have to disagree because, of course, you have to remember that a large part of the appeal and the large part of the message for Donald Trump doesn't revolve just around this immigration issue. It is a populist issue. It's about trade. It's about jobs going to China.
Those issues resound with a great number of people not just the far right of the Republican Party. And I think, by the way they resound a little more so with Middle America than Bernie Sanders' complete, total, socialistic agenda. I think that, honestly, Trump does a little better at it in terms of going to that broader group of potential voters.
BURNETT: Because I want to play this David Letterman bite so badly. I'm going to play it here, Paul, and give you the final word. Here is David Letterman on his top ten of Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, COMEDIAN: Number seven, he wants to build a wall. How about building a wall around that thing on his head. Number two, Donald Trump has pissed off so many Mexicans he's starring in a movie titled "No Amigos."
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Paul, OK, a joke to some but his poll numbers are very real. Do you believe that they'll last?
BEGALA: No, not over time. They'll last a while. The damage will last. The damage he's doing with Latinos will last, it will hurt the Republicans and it may cost them the presidency.
But for now, Mr. Trump is God's gift to Democrats, to cable pundits, of which I'm both, and to late-night comics, and even David Letterman had to come out of retirement.
BURNETT: He came out of retirement because he couldn't resist Donald Trump. That has got to say something right there.
All right. Paul, Tom, thanks very much to both of you.
And next, the Iran nuclear deal. Negotiators literally working late into the night, an historic deal imminent. Our Elise Labott with some breaking news on that. She's gathering that right now. We're going to be with her in a moment.
And the funeral today for a young man who may have been the victim of a brain-eating amoeba. It attacked him while he was doing what everyone does on summer weekends. So many people went swimming in a lake. A special report on this mysterious and deadly infection.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:22] BURNETT: Breaking news: we are awaiting news of a nuclear deal with Iran. A Western diplomat telling CNN that a deal is imminent.
This would be the biggest foreign policy deal for the United States in decades. The details could come at any moment. I want to make it very clear here.
The president of the United States has said his belief is there's no deal Iran would be capable of getting a nuclear bomb within months. If there is a deal, he thought that could be extended to a year. But there are many with a lot of criticisms about this deal that say it doesn't provide anything that the United States needs at all.
Elise Labott is OUTFRONT.
And, Elise, I know you've been talking to your sources and you have some breaking news.
ELISE LABOTT, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Erin. Well, diplomats are telling me that a deal is imminent. They're putting the finishing touches on a deal, world powers and so- called P5-plus-1 just finishing up the final wording. There was a little bit of final negotiating over substance related to one or two of the issues. But we could have a deal anytime certainly within hours.
It's been a very dramatic day. The day started we were expecting that announcement. The talks hit a last-minute snag over issues related to an arms embargo, and a few others saying that the negotiators were able to turn it around and now we understand, a deal is basically been agreed to and just dotting the I's and crossing the T's.
BURNETT: And, Elise, you know, there's been so many big questions, but one of the biggest is this, right? To have a nuclear deal that the United States knows is real, you have to be able to walk in to any place in Iran anytime you want, declared or undeclared nuclear site and say, we want to look at it. Does this deal, do you think, do that?
LABOTT: I don't think it's going to be anytime anywhere as that's the buzz phrase that's been. And it's because it can't be anytime anywhere, because you don't have enough inspectors to be able to just snap their fingers and say we're going to this location. I think we're going to find that it's going to be a lot longer of a lead time than the U.S. or world powers would like. And certainly, the criticism is they will be able to do some kind
of bait and switch and move things around. But when you talk to, you know, diplomats, when you talk to experts that are in favor of this deal, they say that there are going to be so many of the inspections and so much access on all areas of the so-called fuel cycle in Iran that if Iran was able to cheat in one area, it won't be able to cheat in all areas. So, if they think there's cheating going on they'll know.
I think certainly this whole issue of the access to military facilities in particular because there are all these lingering questions about Iran's past weapons programs, what they could do in the future. This is going to be really for Congress one of the main things.
BURNETT: It certainly is, as you say. You know, they can say we can catch it here if not here, but without an anywhere anytime, you're going to have a lot of people who say this is not a deal with teeth.
All right. Elise, thank you very much.
Elise standing by. As we said, we anticipate there could be a formal announcement at any moment as they are literally getting those documents ready in this historic deal.
Next, a 14-year-old boy buried today. This was just days after doing what boys do in the summer, jumping in the lake going for a swim. What is the mysterious brain eating amoeba suspected of taking his life that is lying in so many lakes?
And on a much lighter note, Jeanne Moos with this little girl all smiles because she got glasses for the first time and could see her parents.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:48:39] BURNETT: And now, the likely victim of a deadly brain-eating amoeba laid to rest today. Fourteen-year-old Hunter Boutain buried this morning. He died two days after swimming on a summer day in a Minnesota lake. The culprit is believed to be a parasite that when it attacks is almost always fatal and lives in lakes. Just a month ago, a woman in California died of the same thing.
Ryan Young with our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When 14-year-old Hunter Boutain went swimming in a Minnesota lake last week, he had no idea it would cost him his life. It is believed the teen developed a rare form of meningitis after a brain-eating amoeba called Naegleria fowleri entered his nose while swimming in a fresh water lake.
Hunter Boutain became ill just hours after swimming and died just two days later. His family posting the news online saying, "Hunter's condition deteriorated throughout the night and he was declared brain dead this morning. Hunter died surrounded by his family. It is a deeply emotional time for all of us. Hunter had just finished the eighth grade."
SCOTT CRUMB, BUSINESS OWNER: First priority to the family and to show our love towards them and to pray for them and have others pray for them and then to find out more.
YOUNG: If confirmed, this would be the third case of this type of brain disease in Minnesota in the past five years. However, local officials insist it's still safe to swim in the lake.
[19:50:00] SHARON BRATTEN, HORIZON PUBLIC HEALTH: Swimming in Lake Minnewaska is as safe as swimming in any lake in the nation. The fact that there's been one confirmed case from this lake does not make the lake more dangerous.
YOUNG: The Minnesota Department of Health is still investigating Hunter Boutain's death.
DR. PRITISH TOSH, INFECTIOUS DISEASE PHYSICIAN MAYO CLINIC: It tends to cause a lot of fear in the public now because of just the nature of the infection.
YOUNG: Dr. Pritish Tosh is an infectious disease specialist at the Mayo Clinic.
TOSH: Unfortunately, when these cases do occur, they tend to make a lot of news. These are uncommon but very horrific kinds of infections that often end in the death of a child or a young person.
YOUNG: Thirty-five cases were reported in the United States from 2005 through 2014. The amoeba is typically found in warm water.
TOSH: We do see this infection in other parts of the country as well. It is not localized just in one area, which would make it easier of course to prevent these things.
YOUNG: And while it was quite rare, Dr. Tosh says avoiding swimming in freshwater lakes, ponds and streams is the only guaranteed way of protecting yourself from the disease.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
YOUNG: So, Erin, he went to say, not to submerge your head below the water. But we also, a couple parents' groups, and they did talk about having nose clips, like the one that we have here, is under $10, that you can clip on your nose. If you are swimming in a body of water like that, you can stop the water from going up your nose. But, obviously, something that no parent wants to deal with during the summertime, when everybody wants to have fun, especially swimming.
BURNETT: Terrifying. Thank you very much, Ryan.
I want to go straight now to our chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, this is pretty terrifying. The doctors saying the only
way to avoid it, don't go swimming in anything freshwater. The problem is Americans do that every single weekend. It's the summer.
Where does this amoeba come from?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is terrifying. But, you know, as you pointed out, and Ryan pointed out, it's very rare as well, you know, talking just a handful of cases really over the last several years.
Look, this is an amoeba. It's one of the simplest organisms out there. The size of it is about 1/10 the size of a human hair, just to give you an idea of what we're talking about here, and found in soil. It's found in sediment, and it's found in freshwater bodies.
So, you know lakes, ponds. Not found in the ocean, to clarify.
And as Ryan mentioned these are warm bodies of water typically. This used to happen exclusively in the south now. You are hearing Minnesota. You're hearing Indiana. You're hearing Kansas.
So, it's been moving further and further north. It also sometimes is untreated water out of taps as well. That's less common, but possibility as well.
BURNETT: Which of course is scary. You know, then you have a lot more people paying attention to this.
So, Sanjay, given that, that it is now in more and more places around the country and that it could be in tap water in some places, how exactly does it attack the brain?
GUPTA: This is really interesting, and sort of just pure mechanical standpoint. This is an amoeba that essentially goes up your nose. Its usually forced up the nose. You think about that someone diving into a body of water, somebody using something look a neti pot, for example, actually irrigating with untreated water, typically what happens.
This amoeba travels up one of the nerves that actually goes up into the brain. Typically the amoeba for their food they like to eat bacteria. If there is no bacteria, they start actually sort of digesting parts around the brain.
That's the horrifying part of this. That's how it actually ends up killing somebody. That is essentially what this rare amoeba will do.
BURNETT: I mean, that is, that is terrifying. So, why is that some people get infected and some people don't?
GUPTA: You know, that's a really interesting question. Keep in mind this amoeba is present in lots of bodies of water. Lots of people have gone swimming in there, just fine, have had no problems whatsoever. It could be unless you have a significant irrigation of water into your nose, you're not as much at risk.
It could be that some people have antibodies good at fighting the amoeba already. So, if they get an infection the body takes care of it. But again, it's just a hard thing to actually cause, to have it goes up your nose, sort of latch on to this nerve and attack the brain.
BURNETT: And literally eat the brain. All right, thank you so much, Sanjay Gupta.
And next, Jeanne Moos talking to the parents of this little girl for the first time she got to see her parents.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:09] BURNETT: A baby gets glasses and cannot believe her eyes.
Here's Jeanne Moos.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kids and glasses are cute. But it's not often you get to watch a baby see her parents clearly for the first time.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?
MOOS: So that's what you look like, 10-month-old Piper must have been thinking wearing her new pink glasses as she went from eyeing her mom --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Piper, hi.
MOOS: To eyeing her dad. And now millions are eyeing this video.
Touched, though maybe not as touched as her dad, Andrew Verdusco was.
ANDREW VERDUSCO, PIPER'S DAD: It took me a lot to hold a tear in. So --
MOOS: Her parents got worried when Piper seemed to be having an issue with crawling. A pediatrician sent them to an eye doctor who found Piper to be extremely far-sighted.
Everyone wants to know how do they determine a baby's prescription when a baby can't read an eye chart, can't answer that often tricky question, which is better, this or this?
Optometrists joke about the challenges of treating children.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, one of the --
MOOS: You can't just tape them to the instruments. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One of the problem of course with children
not the same as the adult exam.
MOOS: By dilating a child's eyes and shining a light in them through various lenses, it's possible for eye doctors to come up with a rough prescription. An organization called InfantSee offers such exams free to kids under the age of 1 nationwide.
As for Piper --
VERDUSCO: She is actually starting to crawl. We see a huge difference.
MOOS: If only they can get her to keep her glasses on.
JESSICA SINCLAIR, PIPER'S MOM: She likes to take them off and pretend, you know, the floor is a drum, and the glasses is her drumstick.
Mom, Dad. Mom, Dad.
No wonder everyone is making goo-goo eyes over this kid.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Absolutely precious. Thank you for joining us.
Be sure to set your DVR to record the show. You can watch us anytime.
Anderson starts now.
