Return to Transcripts main page

Erin Burnett Outfront

Virginia Governor Apologizes For Appearing In Yearbook Photo Showing Two People In Blackface, KKK Robe; Cory Booker Enter 2020 Race; Trump: Kamala Harris Had "Best Opening So Far" For 2020 Dems; Judge Weighs Gag Order, Warns Roger Stone Not To Publicize Case; Interview with Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu of California; Republican Governor Not Ruling Out Primary Challenge to Trump; Lawsuit: Billionaire Family Behind OxyContin Pushed for Higher Sales, Doses Despite Knowing Addiction Risks; Super Bowl Buzz. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired February 01, 2019 - 19:00   ET

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

WOLF BLITZER, ANCHOR, CNN: Enjoy your weekend. Have a fun Super Bowl. Erin Burnett OutFront starts right now.

ERIN BURNETT, ANCHOR, CNN: OutFront next breaking news, the Governor of Virginia confirms he's in an extremely racist and offensive picture, one person in a KKK costume. Calls growing for his resignation tonight. Will he step down? So far the answer is no. And Roger Stone threatened with a gag order, the judge warning him tonight. And the family behind the painkiller, OxyContin. The one that is causing addiction killing countless Americans. New court documents alleged that that family is fueling the opioid crisis in this country and making billions of dollars off of it. Let's go OutFront.

And good evening, I'm Erin Burnett. OutFront tonight the breaking news, a city Democratic Governor admitting tonight he is in the photo you're about to see. Okay. You see a person in blackface next to a person in a black robe and then as we zoom out, you see the name Ralph Shearer Northam. One of those people is the Democratic Governor of Virginia Ralph Northam and he admits that one of those people is him.

And I want to be clear, this is his medical school yearbook, not his high school yearbook or his college yearbook, this is his medical school yearbook and the picture is on his page. The quote as you could see about beers. Moments ago, the Governor admitted he is indeed one of those two people and in a statement he makes it clear he thinks that he can apologize and keep his job as Governor of Virginia. Suzanne Malveaux is OutFront. And Suzanne, what is the Governor saying?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, CNN: Erin, it's an extraordinary development. Governor Ralph Northam four hours after these racist photos emerged facing now this ugly reality of what he did for all of the public to see tonight confirming trying to explain and apologize. This is part of the statement that he issued saying, "Earlier today, a website published a photograph of me from my 1984 medical school yearbook in a costume that is clearly racist and offensive. I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that that decision has caused then and now. This behavior is not in keeping with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career in the military, in medicine, and in public service. But I want to be clear, I understand how this decision shakes Virginians' faith in that commitment."

And, Erin, as you had noted this is a photo from 1984. He was 25 years old at the time, clearly an adult. This is from the Eastern Virginia Medical School. He doesn't say which one he was, if he was the Klansmen or the one that was in blackface, but either way both horrible. And under the photo list his alma mater, you see it there, Virginia Military Institute, interest: pediatrics. This quote as well, there are more old drunks than old doctors in this world, so I think I'll have another beer.

Now, how did this all come about? Well, the photo was first reported by Big League Politics. It's a conservative outlet, a news outlet earlier in the afternoon. I was followed by the Virginia GOP caucus calling for an explanation and then his resignation and it comes at a time, a controversial time, a tricky time for the governor, he was coming under fire this week for backing a bill that would have loosened restrictions on abortion in Virginia, and this just kind of emerged.

And you might recall that the Democratic governor, he beat a very well-known Republican, Ed Gillespie, 54% to 45% in the gubernatorial election in 2017. We're going to see if Democrats are still going to back him. My colleague, Nia-Malika Henderson, she reported that Virginia's black lawmakers this hour will be holding an emergency meeting to figure out what are they going to do next. I mean, he's one year into a four-year term. Virginia law only allows Governors to serve one term, but are the people of Virginia going to be able to stomach three more years of this. It's certainly unclear tonight.

BURNETT: All right, thank you very much Suzanne, and of course as these things are in the world that we live, this isn't something that can just stay in Virginia. People outside of Virginia have to weigh in as they did in Alabama and in other places where the track record of people who are governors or senators has come out. OutFront now, Keith Boykin, Democratic Strategist, Stephen Moore, Informal White House Adviser, and April Ryan, White House Correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks. April, can Governor Northam survive this?

APRIL RYAN, WHITE CORRESPONDENT, AMERICAN URGAN RADIO NETWORKS: No, not at all. Erin, he called for President Trump to come down, to step down after Charlottesville. And Charlottesville is now a verb, it's not a noun. Charlottesville is in the State of Virginia. This governor also when he was a candidate and when he was Lieutenant Governor he wanted to relocate to a museum these Confederate statues.

You cannot go against Donald Trump or other persons for racism and call for them to step down when you have something, a yearbook, these yearbooks and beer. I mean, I don't know what it is. This is that year.

[19:05:00]

But you can't call for someone else to step down and there's something you're acknowledging, you're one of two of these ugly racist characters depicted in this yearbook. The next thing for him to do is to apologize, step down and elect his Lieutenant Governor who is African-American to take this place.

BURNETT: I mean it's incredible not that that picture - there'd be any situation in the world where one could imagine being on a page, but there's four pictures on that page, three of which, right, there's the one individual on these three pictures. That's what he chose medical school, 25 years old. I mean Keith, look ...

KEITH BOYKIN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE AIDE UNDER PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: An adult.

BURNETT: .. in the context here of what we're talking about which is that these things don't stay in the States anymore and this is national. Cory Booker stumped for Ralph Northam. I remember right before the - this was a huge campaign, Gillespie versus Northam. Cory Booker went down there. The night Northam won, Kamala Harris sent out a tweet. "Congratulations to @RalphNortham and his team for showing that Virginia won't stand for hatred and bigotry." Where are they tonight, Keith?

BOYKIN: Yes, I think it's important to understand that nobody knew this about Ralph Northam apparently until today.

BURNETT: Yes.

BOYKIN: It's the tragedy that this is the man who's now the Governor of the State of Virginia. I think April was right, I don't think he's going to be able to survive this. I think he should step down as the Governor. I think Justin Fairfax, the Lieutenant Governor should take his place. I think Democrats will wait for the information to come out which is starting to come out now, his response, his apology or response.

But we can't hold the moral high ground and expect to hold Donald Trump or Brett Kavanaugh or Roy Moore or any of the other Republicans we've criticized over the past year or two accountable if we don't hold our own leaders accountable. So as much as he may be doing good things for the State of Virginia or been trying to do those good things, it's still important that he acknowledge the responsibility and move on. The people of Virginia deserve better.

BURNETT: Steve?

STEPHEN MOORE, INFORMAL WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: Yes, I live in Virginia, Erin. I've lived there for 30 years and it's contemptible and I agree with April and Keith. I don't see that he may even - surviving this for 24 hours. There was a tweet that came out from one of the leading Democrats in the legislature that said something to the effect that, "Well, geez, this happened 30 years ago, so maybe we shouldn't hold him responsible," which I think we'd all agree it's pretty hypocritical given what happened to Kavanaugh.

BURNETT: Well, it certainly is and there's a whole - again, like that you want to get into this right but this was medical school and he was 25, he was an adult right as April and Suzanne pointed out.

MOORE: Let me just make one other quick point if I may, because I live in Virginia so I follow Virginia politics and he was this - if you want to talk about a politician who has had a bad week, I mean, you kind of didn't exactly report what happened this week when - I think it was quoted as relaxed abortion restrictions. I mean, this was basically a bill that he supported that literally allowed - I mean almost literally allows an abortion up until the time you cut the umbilical cord.

BOYKIN: This is not the point, Steve.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: Yes, that is what came out this week. I don't want to get into the debate about abortion, what he said was confusing.

MOORE: But he's under assault for that too and I would make the case that was an even offense than this picture.

BURNETT: Okay. Okay, well now you just --

RYAN: Let's talk about --

BOYKIN: Steve, we're going to talk about the issue of racism and yes I know you would like to divert the issue to conversations more comfortable for you about abortion or something. But the reality is this is a ...

MOORE: No, it's comfortable I agree with you.

BOYKIN: ... all right, this is the racist behavior.

RYAN: Let's focus on the issue, please. Let's focus on ...

(CROSSTALK)

BOYKIN: This is a racist behavior, exactly, and as I've said before Roy Moore was out there defending slavery and the Confederate flag. You have Ron DeSantis in Florida who is out there saying racist and offensive things. Democrats have been very critical of Republicans for things that they have said presently and in the past that have been racist and offensive, and I think that we have to speak with moral clarity, speak with one voice and say this is wrong and we don't have double standards. I said the same thing when we were talking about other issues in the past that I believe we have to speak clear.

BURNETT: Look, you're being very clear, right, that you're not having one. Again, and this is happening today and this is happening over the next couple of hours, right, as Suzanne said you've got that emergency meeting right now happening in Virginia. The story is going to move very quickly. April, I want to make the point though that when you talk about race in this country now, the President has come at the center of that. You talk about Charlottesville and Democrats call the President a racist regularly. Here are three of the ones that our viewers know best. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERNIE SANDERS, DEMOCRAT VERMONT: It gives me no pleasure to tell you that we now have a President of the United States who is a racist.

ELIZABETH WARREN, DEMOCRAT MASSACHUSETTS: Donald Trump is a racist bully.

ANDERSON COOPER, ANCHOR, CNN: Do you believe President Trump is a racist?

ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, DEMOCRAT NEW YORK: Yes, no question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So April are they going to call on Northam to resign? Do they need to to not be hypocrites?

RYAN: They would have to to not hypocrites. I mean when we go back to, "Are you a racist, Mr. President?" I was the first one who asked that in January just a year ago and some days ago.

[19:10:03]

"Mr. President, are you a racist?" Yamiche Alcindor asked him in November, "Mr. President, are you a white nationalist?" I mean we keep asking, you don't need to ask, you just watch by the actions. But the bottom line if you hold the bar high for the President of the United States, you've got to hold the bar high for the Governor of Virginia. He was an adult. He was not questionable as a high schooler going into college. He was an adult who was dealing with heavy cerebral issues being in medical school. He knew better.

The question is when did he change, but see the issue is he's guilty as guilty can be because he has not said what person he was in that photo. You cannot go out against the President or anyone else and talking about race and then you are pictured in a book. Why would you even bring it up, so if you are in a book knowing that that picture, people have it.

BURNETT: Yes. Can I ask you a question because I know Suzanne made the point that both of those people, those are hugely racist images. But can you explain why you feel it does matter, which one that he is, whether he's the Klansmen or the blackface.

RYAN: He's scared to say whichever one. Okay, first of all when you put someone in blackface, you're objectifying black people making them a character. We are not characters. We are real people. We have helped build this nation on the backs of slaves without getting paid, generation. Fifty years from being franchised in this nation after being here for four hundred years, do the math, we didn't get our rights until Willy fifty some years ago.

So now when you talk about the Klansmen, they have terrified us, terrorized you since we were brought to this nation in the bottoms of ships till today. It is not right either way, both of them are racist, both of those pictures or both of those people, the characters are racist and they are an offense to black people and any people in this nation. It's about humanity.

BURNETT: Keith, do you think though that the Governor's decision to not say which of those he was is out of cowardice or that he - what other reason could you think of that he wouldn't say which one he was?

BOYKIN: I don't understand why he wouldn't say it. I mean, you're going to be accountable and say you're responsible and you apologize, you got to be fully accountable and explain who you are or what you're doing. Hide behind I don't know which one it is and let people try to figure it out. That's unacceptable and that apology I think is a - it was a failed effort. I appreciate that he was trying to make amends for his past, I appreciate that he has done good things recently but again if you're not willing to be completely contrite then you can't expect absolution.

I always say there's no absolution without contrition. There was not full contrition in that apology and there should not be full absolution. I feel that it's time for the State of Virginia to move on.

BURNETT: All right and I will say here as we end our segment, Julian Castro is the first Democratic candidate for President who's announced to come out and call for the resignation of Governor Northam which he just did as we were all speaking, as the story develops. I thank you both very much, all three of you, I'm sorry very much. And next President Trump weighs in on the latest Democrat to join the 2020 race which was Julian Castro, it was Cory Booker.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDETN OF THE UNITED STATES: He's got no chance?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No chance, why?

TRUMP: I'd say no chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Plus, a federal judge threatens Roger Stone with a gag order warning him to stop arguing his case on the talk show circuit. And a top Republican Governor says he is leaving the door open to running against Donald Trump, who is he and does he stand a chance?

[19:15:00]

Tonight, no chance, President Trump tonight as this to say about Senator Cory Booker just hours after Booker says he's running for the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: He's got no chance.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No chance, why? TRUMP: I'd say no chance, because I know him. I don't think he has a

chance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: OutFront now, member of Trump's 2020 Re-Elect Advisory Council, Rob Astorino and National Affairs Correspondent for The Nation, Joan Walsh. All right, Joan, no chance for Cory?

JOAN WALSH, NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, THE NATION: He has a chance. I mean that's ridiculous. The President doesn't get to pick the Democratic nominee. Cory Booker is an enormously appealing charismatic person of substance. He enters the race in the top-tier, I would say. I don't know what the President is talking about. It's also sad because I believe Booker worked with him on his only bipartisan accomplishment which was the little bit of criminal justice reform, so like that's an unnecessary poke in the eye to someone who tried to work with you decently.

BURNETT: Does the President only say that about people that he thinks are legitimate?

ROB ASTORINO, MEMBER OF PRESIDENT TRUMP'S 2020 RE-ELECT ADVISORY COUNCIL: No. I think Kamala Harris can scare him. Cory Booker, I don't. I agree with Joan, he's charismatic, I disagree that he's of substance. I mean here's a guy and I've seen him because I grew up in this area in Newark. It was a bad city. He really took on the Democratic machine in Newark, went after the corruption.

BURNETT: Yes, he did.

ASTORINO: Did a lot of bipartisan stuff, was pragmatic and then he did a 180. He actually defended Bain Capital and private equity, charter schools and then all of a sudden he ran from everything. And then he got paid $750,000 to leave the law firm that he was with, who by the way had city contracts. He made $1.3 million in public speeches while he was mayor and I don't know what other than his Spartacus moment he's done in the Senate. I mean, really.

BURNETT: A criminal justice reform, he was a real leader on that.

ASTORINO: But that was the big thing that the administration was putting.

BURNETT: That's, I've got to say, one of the most signature achievements of the President Trump's administration.

ASTORINO: Why didn't he do that for the years while Obama was there.

WALSH: They worked really hard but Republicans blocked it when Obama - Obama almost had the same deal but Republicans blocked it. They gave it to Trump. Look, I think I mean Rob raises an interesting point around Bain Capital, his defense of Bain Capital back in the 2012 election. Team Obama was not happy with him. He's a little bit too close to Wall Street, to Big Pharma for the left of the party. He's going to have to answer for that. He was close to the charter school movement which has fallen out of favor among progressives, corporate Dems still like it. So he probably occupies more of a center lane certainly than Warren or even Kamala Harris.

[19:20:03]

BURNETT: What's interesting here though when you look at Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, you have two African-American in this race and today Senator Booker was asked directly about that and specifically how was he going to get the support of African-American women because Kamala Harris is in the race and here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CORY BOOKER, PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Look, my life has been defined by black women. I was born took two black parents. From my elders, to even in my community - I always say I got my BA from Stanford but my PhD on the streets of Newark and anybody who knows our communities know that it's black women that often lead, sustain, nourish and empower us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: How important of a group is this in this election? I mean is it definitive? Could it be definitive?

WALSH: I don't know if I would call it definitive, but one of the most important. Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party. They are the most reliable Democratic voters and the party is finally starting to show them some open respect rather than just respect their work behind the scenes, knowing that they're going to do it no matter what you say. I mean black women have been voting for men whole their whole lives, so it's not like Cory Booker doesn't have a possible claim on their votes.

BURNETT: Right. Right.

WALSH: But I didn't hear a lot there that was a - affirmative claim to their vote. He's going to do more than that.

BURNETT: Okay. So this is interesting though when it comes to President Trump where he slams Cory Booker, he slams Elizabeth Warren Pocahontas and how much he wants her in the race, because he thinks he can beat her. Okay. The New York Times asked him who his toughest opponent would be and he said and I believe he answered this very honestly. "I would say, the best opening so far would be Kamala Harris, which he pronounced Kameela, I would say in terms of the opening act, I would say, would be her. I just think she seemed to have a little bit better opening act than the others."

Pretty interesting. By the way, she raised $1.5 million in her first day or two.

ASTORINO: Thanks to CNN's Town Hall.

BURNETT: Crippled the next closest person.

WALSH: No, no, before that.

BURNETT: It was before, I believe.

WALSH: A week before, it was.

BURNETT: Yes, it was in the first two days. Is he right, Rob?

ASTORINO: I have said from the beginning, I think she offers a lot. They have to start getting into the record and I think her past with Willie Brown in San Francisco and how she got through the machine and worked her way up, that's going to come back to haunt her a little bit. Her prosecutions, now that the Democratic Party, the way they're going. But with Cory Booker too, I can't wait for him to start campaigning with his imaginary friend T-Bone who, of course, he had in Newark this drug dealer, T-Bone, who didn't exist. Google it, please, T-Bone and Cory Booker, you'll learn a lot about Cory Booker.

WALSH: Okay, I'm not familiar with that yet.

ASTORINO: Well, see, but that's the thing and that's going to get scrutiny.

BURNETT: Well, yes, all of these candidates are going to get scrutiny. Before we go, Joan, I have to ask you though.

WALSH: Sure.

BURNETT: Kamala Harris jumped in quickly on some issues at bars, as Attorney General she has jumped quickly. So far tonight she - not at least at the top of the past five seconds has not weighed in on Governor Northam neither has Cory Booker. He obtained for him and she said congratulations after showing Virginia won't stand for hatred and bigotry. Do they both need to stand up and stand up fast on this issue?

WALSH: I think probably. I think we would probably hear from them. I think they're probably both talking to other folks in Virginia. I'm very curious as to what - not to put him on the spot, but Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax if for any reason Justin Fairfax came out and said, "I think the Governor should stay," I think he would be able to survive this. If he doesn't do that, that then --

BURNETT: But you do think the lieutenant governor has that amount of power, by the way African-American Lieutenant Governor.

WALSH: I think African-American Lieutenant Governor did not honor Robert E. Lee. That would be very - and I have no information that he's going to do that, Erin, so nobody take it that way. But if he did do that, I'm waiting to see what he does and I'm sure they're trying to talk to him too.

ASTORINO: Cory Booker shouldn't think a moment about tweeting right now that he should resign Northam, I mean, seriously and I think we know who --

BURNETT: Well, look, I don't know what they're doing. I'm simply going to say that Julian Castro was the first and he did so before either one of them.

ASTORINO: We don't need ...

(CROSSTALK)

ASTORINO: ... to tell you what to do on this one.

WALSH: I'm sure there will be more by the time your show is over, I'm sure.

BURNETT: Yes. Yes. Right. Right, thank you.

WALSH: Thank you.

BURNETT: And next, a top Democrat calling for Jared Kushner's security clearance to be revoked. Ted Lieu is my guest. And Maryland's popular Republican Governor says he could challenge, primary challenge Trump, not ruling it out, should Trump be worried from the right?

[19:25:00]

Tonight, a Federal Judge threatens Roger Stone. Stone appearing in court today and a judge warning, she's considering a gag order on the President's longtime friend, telling Stone, "This is a criminal proceeding and not a public relations campaign." Telling Stone to stop arguing his case "on the talk show circuit" because that is exactly what Stone has done over the past seven days. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROGER STONE, TRUMP'S ASSOCIATE: This indictment is thin as piss on a rock.

The President needs to wake up. This is a speeding bullet heading for his head.

To storm my house with a greater force than was used to take down bin Laden or El Chapo or Pablo Escobar, it's unconscionable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: It's also not true. I mean, bin Laden? Robert O'Neil, the Navy SEAL who killed bin Laden tweeted, "UBL would disagree. If he could" okay, Evan Perez is OutFront live in Washington. Evan, the very thought of a gag order must terrify Stone because he thrives his oxygen, his moments like those we just heard.

EVAN PEREZ: Right, exactly. I mean, this is going to be like solitary confinement for him, because we're talking about over a dozen of his friends that have been brought in to be interviewed by the Mueller investigator. So if - as what this judge has just described today in court, Erin, that he can't have any contact with any potential witnesses or anybody who be called a victim, the judges said that the prosecutors would give him a list of people that he cannot get in contact with via text or cell phone or Instagram or even through intermediaries.

You can see what's going to happen the Roger Stone. So the idea that not only would he not be able to talk to his friends, these are his close associates that have already been called into this investigation.

[19:30:0]

But also that he would have to essentially be shut down from talking about anything other than the Super Bowl and Tom Brady. It's unconscionable for him. And, look, he's already kind of addressed this because I think he knows that this judge is known for gagging the Manafort case. She put a gag order on the Manafort team so they could not reach out to anybody as well. He talked about this be in an Instagram recently post.

He said: I will fight and the deep state is worried. He's saying that even if he was given a gag order by the judge that he pretty quickly would probably violate it. I think that's why the judge is considering this.

BURNETT: All right. Evan Perez, thank you very much.

And I want to go now to Democratic Ted -- Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu, I'm sorry, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Judiciary Committees.

Congressman, good to have you with me tonight. Should Stone be allowed to defend himself in the court of public opinion, do you think?

REP. TED LIEU (D), CALIFORNIA: Thank you, Erin, for your question. I'm a former prosecutor and I have a different take on this. I actually would want Roger Stone going around talking about his indictment on as many TV shows as possible.

BURNETT: Why?

LIEU: Prosecutors like it when defendants keep on talking because Roger Stone doesn't know the evidence that special counsel Mueller has. Whatever he says now can and will be used against him in a trial. It gives more opportunities for roger stone to make a mistake and to say things that confirm or help the special counsel's prosecution. I don't know how hard Mueller is going to fight this.

BURNETT: Interesting. All right. Well, President Trump was asked about Roger Stone by "The New York Times" and the Stone indictment, as you're aware, says a senior campaign official was directed to contact Stone about WikiLeaks. We have been saying who is more senior than a senior campaign official, right?

All right. So, who directed that person to do that? Let me play you the exchange when the president was asked if it was him.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

MAGGIE HABERMAN, REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Did you ever talk to him about WikiLeaks, because that seemed to be what Mueller was --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.

HABERMAN: You never had a conversation?

TRUMP: No, I didn't. I never did.

HABERMAN: Did you ever tell him or other people to get in touch with them?

TRUMP: Never did.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BURNETT: Do you believe him, Congressman?

LIEU: I don't know. I can't tell in this case what the evidence is. I do know that Donald Trump has lied thousands of times, according to 'Washington Post" fact checker that tracks all his lies.

I also know if you look at the number of people that could have ordered a senior campaign official to take any action, it's not a lot. It certainly wasn't Melania. So, there's only a limited number of people left. We'll see what the evidence shows on whether it was Donald Trump or someone else in his family or potentially Jared Kushner.

BURNETT: Right, right, or his son-in-law.

All right. Congressman, you sent a letter to the White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and asked to revoke his security clearance. You did this after a NBC report that said he had been rejected for clearance by two White House security specialists after his FBI background check raised concerns, and they said don't do it. Their supervisor over ruled them.

President Trump was asked about this by "The New York Times". And let me play that exchange with Maggie Haberman.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

HABERMAN: Did you tell General Kelly or anyone else to overrule security if I believe officials? The career veterans?

TRUMP: No. I don't think I have the authority to do that. I'm not sure I did. But I wouldn't do it.

HABERMAN: You never (INAUDIBLE)

TRUMP: Jared's a good -- I was never involved with his security. I know that there was issues back and forth about security for numerous people, actually. I don't want to get involved in that stuff.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BURNETT: Do you believe him on that, that he would never get involved with Jared Kushner and security clearance?

LIEU: I do not. Congress Don Beyer and I have been working on this for a year when we first learned that Jared Kushner omitted material information about all his foreign contacts not once but twice on his security clearance forms. Kushner also has these deep financial ties and problems with issues like 666 Fifth Avenue. A property that's in debt.

And career specialists said he shouldn't get a top security clearance. He was then overruled by the White House. I think Donald Trump had something to do with it.

But the fact that these career specialists were overruled. There's no reason for that. Jared Kushner should not have a security clearance. It should be revoked. And I certainly hope our intelligence agencies are not giving him any top secret information to see.

BURNETT: Congressman, I also want to you about the Virginia governor, Democrat Ralph Northam. We saw the photo. He's respond and admitted it's not on his yearbook page. He's indeed one of the two people in this picture.

[19:35:00] One is wearing black face. The other is in a KKK robe and hat.

Should the governor of Virginia remain the governor of Virginia?

LIEU: No. Governor Northam should resign. There is no defense for that shockingly racist photograph.

I know that Republican Secretary of State Michael Ortel resigned recently for being in blackface. This is a picture of black face next to a KKK figure. That is far worse. Northam should no longer be in office.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Congressman. I appreciate your time.

LIEU: Thank you.

BURNETT: Next, the buzz building around a popular Republican governor to take on President Trump. Who is it and will he?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R), MARYLAND: I've said, you never say never. Who knows what will happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: A new court document alleged one of the richest families in the United States is making billions of dollars by getting Americans addicted to opioids.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BURNETT: Tonight, never say never. Those are the words of Republican Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland. He's considering a 2020 primary challenge against President Trump. Does he have a shot?

Jessica Dean is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HOGAN: Let's keep changing Maryland nor the better and continue setting an example for Washington.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDEN (voice-over): Fresh off his 2018 re- election victory in deep blue Maryland, Republican Governor Larry Hogan has some of the party wondering if he should challenge President Trump in 2020.

[19:40:09] HOGAN: I'm flattered that people are saying that and including me in the discussions. My plan right now is to stay here for four years and do the best job I can in Maryland. But I've said, you know, you never say never. Who knows what's going to happen?

DEAN (on camera): You're listening?

HOGAN: I'm listening.

DEAN: And you're thinking about it?

HOGAN: I would say I'm listening. I'm not sure how much thinking we're doing. But I haven't closed the door.

DEAN (voice-over): From the beginning, Hogan has made no secret of his opposition to the president.

HOGAN: My thoughts about Donald Trump are very clear. I believe I was the first governor to say I wouldn't support Trump.

I'm not protesting every day about every issue. But I stand up and certainly let people know when I disagree or when I think something is going on that I don't think is right. I'm kind of surprised there hasn't been any tweets yet, but, you know, I'm glad.

DEAN: Opposing a sitting president in his own party is something Hogan shares in common with his beloved late father, Representative Lawrence Hogan Sr.

REP. LAWRENCE HOGAN SR.: It isn't easy for me to align myself against the president.

DEAN: The first Republican on the House Judiciary Committee to call for President Richard Nixon's impeachment.

HOGAN: Especially, I want to thank my dad.

DEAN: Hogan Jr. credits his success working with the Democratic legislature to a bipartisan approach signing new gun control measures, pushing to lower health insurance rates and addressing climate change. HOGAN: It's not easy. It's not easy to overcome differences and

partisanship but you can and it's what people want.

DEAN: Just months into his first term, doctors diagnosed Hogan with an aggressive form of cancer. He continued to work while receiving treatment and ultimately beat it. At his second inauguration, former Trump rival Jeb Bush praised him.

JEB BUSH (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Larry's at the top of list of leaders that I admire today because what's happening here in Annapolis is the antithesis of what's happening in Washington, D.C. these days.

DEAN: If Hogan challenges the president, it would be a long shot. Trump's approval stands at 81 percent among Republicans in the latest CNN poll. He's already raised nearly $130 million for his re-election bid and the Republican National Committee committed its undivided support to the president.

As Hogan keeps an eye on Trump's numbers.

HOGAN: I think the latest approval of the president is in the 30s. You can't win a national election being in the 30s.

DEAN: His eyes remain wide open about the odds and the possibility.

HOGAN: I wouldn't be on some fool's errand just to run some suicide mission. I would only run if I thought I could actually win.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: As Governor Hogan watches those numbers, here is one that may have caught his eye this week. A new "Washington Post"/ABC News poll shows among Republicans and GOP leaning independents, nearly one in three, say they would like to nominate someone other than president Trump to be their party's candidate for president in 2020 -- Erin.

BURNETT: Very interesting. All right. Thank you very much, Jessica.

An update now on our breaking news. Senator Kamala Harris has just tweeted about the Virginia governor, Democratic Ralph Northam, who admits to being in the racist photo from his yearbook. He's not said which of those individuals he is but he is one of them.

And Kamala Harris tweeting: Leaders are called to a higher standards. The stain of racism should have no place in halls of government. The governor of Virginia should step aside so the public can heal and move forward together.

She follows the other Democratic candidate Julian Castro who earlier this hour called for Northam's resignation.

OUTFRONT next, one family allegedly making billions of dollars by fueling the opioid epidemic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are ruthless people who are just out for money at the expense of our children.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And the Super Bowl. How's Tom Brady getting ready?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:47:55] BURNETT: Tonight, new court documents allege a powerful family made billions of dollars on OxyContin and pushed doctors and pharmacists to keep patients on the painkiller longer. Now, the Sackler family is one of the richest families in the United States of America, and according to new court documents, that family has been fueling the opioid epidemic that's killed hundreds of thousands of people and they made billions of dollars doing that.

Miguel Marquez is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty- three-year-old Corey Merrill started on opioid OxyContin after surgery. He turned to heroin and an over dose killed him. His mother says he'd still be alive for Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin.

CHERYL JUAIRE, SON DIED OF HEROIN OVERDOSE: They are ruthless people who are just out for money at the expense of our children.

MARQUEZ: Merrill was one of thousands in Massachusetts alone whose lives were destroyed by opioid abuse. His mother Cheryl Juaire and now the state of Massachusetts lays much of the blame at the feet of Purdue Pharma for practices they say not only deceptively marketed the drug but pursued a strategy of selling OxyContin and the treatment for addiction to it.

According to a lawsuit, Purdue called the plan Project Tango.

JUAIRE: There's an outrage but they're going to come down. The whole empire is going to fall. It's just a matter of time.

MARQUEZ: The empire is that of the Sackler's, one of the country's wealthiest families known for its global philanthropy, funding museums in institutions worldwide, among others, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Louvre in Paris.

The Sackler family owns Purdue Pharma and their main drug OxyContin has made them tens of billions of dollars since it was introduced in the 1990s. The lawsuit contends that from 2008 to 2016 alone, members of the Sackler family paid themselves more than $4 billion dollar in opioid profits.

MAURA HEALEY, MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL: For Purdue, it was all about the money.

[19:50:01] And it was profits over people.

MARQUEZ: Among other things, the newly unredacted complaint points to a strategy allegedly employed by the company to blame the addict. In a confidential 2001 e-mail, Richard Sackler, then Purdue chairman and president, wrote: We have to hammer on the abusers in every way possible. They are the culprits and the problem. They are reckless criminals.

HEALEY: There were lies about the efficacy, about the safety, about the supposed non-addictive nature of their product.

MARQUEZ: In a statement, Purdue Pharma said the Massachusetts attorney general decision to release the full complaint is, quote, part of a continuing effort to blame it for the entire opioid crisis and try the case in the court of public opinion rather than the justice system. Massachusetts seeks to publicly vilify Purdue, its executives, employees and directors while unfairly undermining the important work we have taken to address the opioid addiction crisis.

Massachusetts wants the company to pay possibly billions of dollars to community, state and families devastated by addiction. The complaint initially filed last summer had large sections redacted. The full lawsuit shows why Purdue may have fought to keep the redactions, page after page of information showing the Sacklers, the company executives, and the massive amounts of money they made stricken from public view until now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARQUEZ: Now, eight members of the Sackler family are named in the lawsuit as well as current and former executives of the company. The woman we spoke to today, Cheryl Juaire says she hopes this is the beginning of the end of the Sackler name on those institutions worldwide -- Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Miguel.

And that name is something you see on museums after museums.

All right. Joey Jackson is with me now, criminal defense attorney.

Joey, could we see members of this family go to jail?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I really think we will. Now, just backing this up, this is nothing new. We saw with the last generation of Sacklers, really, we saw criminality there. Right back in 2006, we saw that the actual corporation at the time had a guilty plea. Three members of their board pleaded guilty based upon the same thing, lying and deceiving. So, what they did they do, they created a whole new company to do what they are doing now.

This is outrageous. Put in perspective, 42,000 deaths from over doses in 2016. Close to 50,000 in 2017. This is an epidemic. And they are preying upon the most vulnerable. They were looking at elderly because Medicaid funds it, right? Easy Buzz, let's get them on. It's looking at veterans. Same issues, plus we seem from our Miguel

Marquez's piece, it doesn't discriminate. You have young people dying as well.

So, when you engage, Erin, in this type of deception, where it's not even that they are negligent, oh, I didn't know that it had addictive value, I had no idea it would have these effects. You know it, you bury the signs and do it any way.

Understand these are allegations and the complaint, but if proven, ultimately, this company is looking at criminality and they're looking civilly to be taken down with numerous liability.

BURNETT: So, I mean, possible jail time as you're saying.

JACKSON: I think we will.

BURNETT: Let's be clear -- billions and billions of dollars, which they're laying out, was made even past few years --

JACKSON: Yes.

BURNETT: -- when everybody in this country knew this drug could kill people and was addictive.

JACKSON: Well, it's problematic because they have the sales force going out and talking to doctors and they're saying to the doctors, no, no, you know what? This is not really addictive.

And apparently, they are packaging it and they're sending out marketing materials to doctors and others encouraging them to prescribe it knowing it's wrong. But to the point, I mean, doctors don't know or understand that this is an addictive medication.

And so, at the end of the day, I think heads are going to roll here from a criminal perspective and I think the company is going down civilly because remember, Erin, attorney generals are suing them and others are using them as well.

BURNETT: Thirty states they are being sued in. We can see their ads every day in the paper when they say they're part of the solution.

JACKSON: Part of the problem, more likely.

BURNETT: To the problem they're creating.

All right. Thank you very much.

All right. OUTFRONT next, we are just two days away from the Super Bowl. A two time Super Bowl champ and MVP champ is OUTFRONT.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:58:27] BURNETT: We're less than 48 hours away from the year's Super Bowl. The New England Patriots taking on the Los Angeles Rams.

OUTFRONT now, two time Super Bowl champion with the Pittsburg Steelers and Super Bowl 40 MVP, Hines Ward.

Hines, you've been in these moments before. This is Tom Brady's third year in a row in the super bowl. He's 41 years old, someone who has a 25 health rigid routine. Drinks up to, what, 25 glasses of water, no caffeine, no alcohol. He doesn't eat tomatoes for God's sake. His opponent was only 7 years old when Brady won his first Super Bowl.

Who are you betting on?

HINES WARD, SUPER BOWL XL MVP & FORMER PITTSBURGH STEELERS WR: Well, Erin, I mean, first and foremost, I just don't bet against Brady. I played against the guy, whatever it is, the guy comes through when it matters the most. You put him out here in the Super Bowl, he's playing his ninth Super Bowl. That's unheard of especially at the age of 41.

Tom Brady is remarkable. He shows dedication. He shows commitment and he has that killer instinct. I don't care if the game, if it's 30 seconds left, 20 seconds left, when Tom Brady and Coach Belichick, they still have a chance to win.

So, I'm going to put my money on the Patriots. I've seen it way too often.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Hines, thank you so much.

WARD: Appreciate it.

BURNETT: And Don't Miss Hines. You'll see him along with Dave Briggs and Coy Wire in the "Bleacher Report: Special Kickoff in Atlanta". That is tomorrow at 2:30. Thank you for joining us.

"AC360" starts now.