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Erin Burnett Outfront

DC Officer Backs Up Details Of Heated Trump-Secret Service Incident; Watchdog: Secret Service Erased Texts From January 5 To 6; Republicans Who Questioned Rape Of 10-Year-Old Make No Apologies; Monkeypox Cases Quickly Growing, Now Topping 1,000 Cases; Conservatives Obliterate Trump's Election Lies In New Report; Ivana Trump, Donald Trump's First Wife, Dies At 73. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 14, 2022 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:43]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next, breaking news. A source telling CNN a Washington police officer who is in Trump's motorcade on January 6 has collaborated details of the heated exchange that Trump had with his Secret Service detail when he was told he couldn't go to the U.S. Capitol and he wanted to go.

This development comes as a government watchdog reveals the Secret Service erased messages from the day of the insurrection, after investigators asked for them.

And a 10-year-old girl raped and forced to go across state lines to get an abortion. Some Republicans questioned whether the story was even true. Now, a suspect is behind bars. Police says he's confessed. So, what are those same Republicans saying tonight.

Plus, he's a former federal judge appointed by George W. Bush and he's now standing up to Trump, debunking his election lies point by point. He's my guest.

Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. A source telling CNN that a Washington police officer has corroborated details regarding the heated exchange the former president had with Secret Service detail when he was told he could not go to the U.S. Capitol in March with the rioters after the rally. According to a source, the officer who was there, in the motorcade, not second hand, he was there, has recounted what he saw to the January 6 Select Committee.

Now, you may remember, right, we first heard that this was a heated exchange. That Trump wanted to go, and his detail said, no, you can't. We heard about that from Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. And she testified under oath about what she said she was told about the incident.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, FORMER WHITE HOUSE AIDE: The president says something to the effect of, I'm the f'ing president, take me up to the Capitol now. To which Bobby responded, sir, we have to go back to the West Wing. The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. Mr. Engel grabbed his arm and said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel, we are going back to the West Wing. We are not going to the Capitol.

Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel. And when Mr. Ornato had recounted the story to me, he motioned towards his clavicles.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): And was Mr. Engel in the room as Mr. Ornato told you this story?

HUTCHINSON: He was.

CHENEY: Did Mr. Engel correct or disagree with any part of the story for Mr. Ornato?

HUTCHINSON: Mr. Engel did not correct or disagree with any part of the story.

CHENEY: Did Mr. Engel or Mr. Ornato ever after that tell you that Mr. Ornato has just said was untrue?

HUTCHINSON: Neither Mr. Ornato nor Mr. Engel told me ever that it was untrue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Okay. Now you have someone who was there, right? Not even just her hearing about it, someone who was there with that detail, telling you what happened.

Now, the Secret Service official has denied that Trump grabbed the steering wheel or an agent, but CNN did speak to Secret Service staffers who said that for more than here, stories have been circulating inside the agency about Trump's behavior before and on January 6. So, now, you have someone who was there talking about this heated exchange, corroborating Cassidy Hutchinson's account.

And it comes as CNN is learning that the U.S. Secret Service erased text messages from the day of the insurrection and the day before, deleted those messages after investigators requested them. This is according to a Department of Homeland Security inspector general. That is obviously important.

And now, committee member, January 6 Committee member Adam Kinzinger tells "The Wall Street Journal" the committee is still weighing whether to ask Trump itself to testify. Kinzinger said the panel is also deciding whether to request a written interview with Pence or subpoena the former vice president. So far, Pence has given no indication that he wants to engage with the committee, although, of course, people close to him have and he has green lit that.

Here is what he has said from a speech back in February.

[19:05:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: President Trump's that I had the right to overturn the election. But President Trump is wrong. And, frankly, there is no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Evan Perez is OUTFRONT live in Washington with this breaking news.

Evan, what do you know about this new, a very significant, corroboration of Cassidy Hutchinson story?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Erin. You know, this was explosive testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, who was relating a story she said she had gotten from Tony Ornato, who was the deputy chief of staff at the White House. She said she heard the story and, obviously, there are others who have come forward and said they heard a similar account.

The importance of this is that you have a metropolitan police officer here in Washington who was part of the motorcade who is telling the committee in an interview that this person can corroborate at least some of what Cassidy Hutchinson was saying, which was this incredible scene of an altercation really between the president of the United States reaching for the steering wheel, trying to get the motorcade, the limo, to go towards the capital. Even going forward and lunging towards the Secret Service agent that protects him, the lead agent who protects the president.

So, we don't know exactly what this metropolitan police officer has told the committee, but we know that, in part, we know that this person has corroborated some of what Cassidy Hutchinson says. And, obviously, this only increases the scrutiny from the committee on what exactly the Secret Service can tell about what happened on that day, that key day obviously.

BURNETT: So, Evan, in that context, right, that you have a Metropolitan police officer corroborating some of these, you know, very important, this heated altercation as you referred to it, the Secret Service has not yet come out and give a more detailed. In fact, sources have been trying to deny it. So, in that context, these messages that you are reporting on, the text that were erased by the Secret Service, seem perhaps very significant.

PEREZ: Right. Again, as to the scrutiny of exactly what is happening at the Secret Service, what happened with these text messages. So, the office of inspector general for Homeland Security Department has been looking into the conduct, into exactly what the Secret Service was doing in the handling of events on January 5 and January 6, all of that. As a result, they asked for access to text messages, emails, documents, Erin, from January 5 and January 6.

And according to the inspector general, they notified Congress about this, that the Secret Service says that as a result of a change of a device system that they were using, messages were deleted, were erased. So they have no record of what was in these text messages that the inspector general, who was doing an investigation, wanted to have access to.

Now, we should mention that the Secret Service has managed to turn over hundreds of thousands of pages of documents to the inspector general, but those key dates, January 5 and January 6, are very important for this investigation. The inspector general and this committee want to know what messages were being exchanged by the agents who were, perhaps, involved in this altercation and other parts of this, obviously, on that day. I should also note, Erin, by the way, that we know the committee is also engaging with the driver who was involved in that story the Cassidy Hutchinson told. That person is engaging with the committee. They are looking to try to get that person to come in for an interview, Erin.

BURNETT: That would be hugely significant. That particular detail really did capture, right, it did capture people and made everyone stop.

All right. Evan, please stay with me.

I want to add Elie Honig into the conversation, former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, former Trump White House communications director.

So, Alyssa, you know all these players, not the Metropolitan police officer but Cassidy Hutchins and Tony Ornato, and all of these people, of course, the president. So, let's start off with the new detail. Someone coming out who was there -- who was there in the motorcade corroborating Cassidy Hutchinson's account of a heated altercation.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, this was very significant because MAGA world, Trump world used this story, the one piece of hearsay in the entirety of her testimony, to try to weaponize against her and say, see, she can't be trusted, to try to undercut her credibility.

[19:10:06]

And so, now, having somebody come forward and actually be able to corroborate that bit of evidence, it only lends the extreme credibility she has. Going a step further, Congressman Raskin said earlier this week that come after sitting down with Pat Cipollone, he, in fact, corroborated a significant amount of the Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony as well.

So, I have said from the outset, but the facts play out. I have the highest level of respect and belief in her integrity. But there were also be people who come out and show she is telling the truth.

And also remind you, Tony Ornato has not come under oath to contest any of this. The pushback that we're seeing from Trump world is not under oath. It's simply people who are trying to protect themselves.

BURNETT: Right, which is very important when you emphasize the importance of that, you know, of oath itself.

Elie, what is the significance of this? Let's just say, okay, now we're getting to she said it, now people who are there corroborating, so now let's get to the heart of it. If it occurred, why is it so significant?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Erin, you said the key word, which is corroboration. There is a reason prosecutors and investigators are obsessed with corroboration because you do get the scenarios where one person says it happened this way and another person says absolutely not. So, you have to just use common sense.

First of all, as Alyssa said, Cassidy Hutchinson under oath, the people who are denying it, not yet. Now, on Cassidy Hutchinson's side, we have Pat Cipollone's testimony, which is not inconsistent with what she said. We have the reporting that this was a story that was being circulated widely throughout Secret Service.

And now we have this, and I think this is the strongest piece that we've seen yet. And let's just zoom out for a moment. The key point here is undisputed. Donald Trump wanted to go to the Capitol, and the Secret Service prevented him and we know that because Donald Trump admitted that. He said it, bragged about it, an interview with "The Washington Post" months ago.

BURNETT: Right, right.

So, Evan let me just -- as add to this, what we're just hearing, and I can't give any context to it, I can just say that we have learned that all nine members of the select committee have gone together to Nancy Pelosi's office. Obviously I know that you don't know exactly why that is happening either, but I note that is a significant development here at 7:12 p.m. Eastern Time.

PEREZ: Yeah. Look, we don't know what that meeting is about. Obviously, there are a lot of moving parts and a lot of things we have just learned today, including some of these concerning things about the deletion of messages with the Secret Service. And I know you know, Erin, that they obviously have a hearing coming up next week, which is supposed to be a pretty important hearing, to try to tell the narrative that the committee is laying out.

Again, we don't know what this meeting is about, but we know that there is a lot of new information coming in, including from witnesses who we know are engaging with the committee about possible new testimony.

BURNETT: So, Elie, let's talk about those messages. And Evan is talking about they requested messages from the Secret Service, who would know a lot about the president and what he was thinking and doing, you know, they could have texted about that. They get a request for the text messages, and after that request comes in, the texts are deleted for those two particular days. They say because of a device switch.

HONIG: Wow, do I have questions. Let's start with that.

Look, at a minimum, this is an embarrassment and disgrace for the Secret Service. If there is proof, we don't know necessarily have this yet, if there's proof somebody had those messages deleted intentionally, that's a crime. That's evidence tampering, destruction of evidence.

Also, it happened sometimes where there is a subpoena or notice of an investigation, and you freeze in. It's called a freeze order. If someone allowed those documents, those texts to be deleted, and that's a violation of policy as well.

And I would tell you, I went through a couple of these device upgrades when I was with DOJ, different agency.

BURNETT: Right.

HONIG: They say hand in your -- we started with beepers, that's how long ago I started, hand in your beeper, you get a Blackberry, hand in a Blackberry, a few years later, you get a phone. But why would they delete text, though, off the actual devices? So, a lot of questions.

GRIFFIN: Well, presumably, it would violate federal record-keeping laws as well. You should be archiving in real time in the federal branch.

HONIG: Yeah.

BURNETT: So, listen, now, the other thing we have learned, more about the call from President Trump's call to a witness.

Now, Liz Cheney had suggested, the way that it was presented that this witness tampering and sinister. At that time, Elie, you were saying, look, it is just making a call because nobody picked it up. You don't know what the person is calling about.

But now, we know more about who we was calling. That may change the tenure. So, this person is someone who didn't routinely communicate with. This was a person who was a member of the support staff.

So, when we look back at Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony, there's a lot of things might have evolved support staff, but obviously, the sort of, you know, throwing the plate, ketchup against the wall comes to mind. What you think about this story?

GRIFFIN: So, I think that something that Trump probably never thought about is the eyes and ears all around the West Wing. The support staff that keeps the operations going who have access to things like his private dining room while he's having phone calls. He often takes them on speaker phone, by the way, or in the Oval Office, who are walking with him to the private residence, fly with him on Marine Two.

[19:15:16] The person that this seems to be could have had extraordinary access and my guess is that the former president would not have even thought about the fact they were hearing and witnessing things.

BURNETT: Elie, now you know who the call was to. We don't know the name of this person, but member of the support staff.

HONIG: It does. It's still not enough evidence to charge witness tampering, but what's different now is this is not somebody who the president normally would have been in contact with. If it was somebody he talked to weekly or monthly, every six months, that's different.

But I don't know of a reason why a former president will be reaching out to a member of the household staff. That's even more suspicious.

BURNETT: Right, right. It certainly raises all of that.

All right. Thank you so much, Alyssa, Elie and Evan, of course, with all the breaking news that he had.

Well, next, some Republicans are not backtracking after calling the horrific story of a 10-year- old who was raped and had to travel to another state to get an abortion after Roe v. Wade was overturned, they called the whole story a lie, now still refusing to backtrack despite confession from the alleged attacker.

Plus, a number of monkeypox cases rising every day. There are now more than 1,000 reported in the United States alone. Vaccine supplies are still falling desperately short. Dr. Anthony Fauci is my guest.

And Donald Trump's first wife, Ivana Trump, found dead inside her New York home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:21]

BURNETT: Tonight, a man has been charged with raping a 10-year-old girl in Ohio who was forced to cross state lines for an abortion because of Ohio's strict six-week abortion ban in Ohio. Police say the suspect admitted to raping the girl on at least two occasions. The story is horrific. It's absolutely -- it's just horrible. It's unconscionable.

But if the story wasn't horrific enough, you have to add this to it. Several Republican officials and conservative media outlets have publicly questioned whether the story was even real.

Alexandra Field is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JUDGE: The charge is rape, felony of the 1st degree.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The man accused of raping a 10- year-old girl and impregnating her is behind bars. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That is the individual who confessed to having

sexual intercourse with a 10-year-old at least twice yesterday.

FIELD: It took his arrest by police in Ohio to quiet the firestorm of doubt over a searing story that spread across the country.

"The Indianapolis Star" reported first of a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio who had traveled over state lines for an abortion in Indianapolis, six weeks and three days pregnant, according to an OB- GYN who assisted the girl. Just days after the Supreme Court knocked down Roe versus Wade and Ohio band abortions after as early as six weeks.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Ten years old, 10 years old, raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized and forced to travel to another state. Imagine being that little girl. Just imagine being that little girl, 10 years old.

FIELD: Critics quickly unleashed a torrent of criticism. "The Wall Street Journal's" editorial board publishing its opinion of President Biden's speech, including the line, an unlikely story from a biased source that neatly fits the progressive narrative but can't be confirmed.

Republican lawmakers piled on, taking aim at "The Indy Star's" reporting, based on a single account from a doctor in Indianapolis, who confirmed for CNN she helped the girl get an abortion.

Ohio's Republican Attorney General Dave Yost raised serious doubts it happened.

DAVE YOST, OHIO ATTORNEY GENERAL: Not a whisper. I know what prosecutors and cops in the state. There is not one of them that wouldn't be turning over every rock in their jurisdiction if they had the slightest hint that this had occurred there.

FIELD: "Another lie, anyone surprised?" tweeted Ohio's Republican Congressional Representative Jim Jordan.

Other conservative media called it a hoax, but after his arrest in the case, they focused on Gershon Fuentes' status as an undocumented immigrant. Twenty-seven-year-old Fuentes is now charged with first- degree rape of a child under the age of 13, according to the Franklin County Municipal Court. If convicted, he faces the possibility of a life sentence.

Police in Franklin County say they opened the investigation after the mother's girl reported the rape to a child services department in June.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The victim acknowledged that Gershon Fuentes was indeed the (INAUDIBLE).

FIELD: Ohio's attorney general, Dave Yost, has issued a new statement saying he is grateful for the diligent work of the Columbus Police Department in securing a confession in getting a rapist off the street, but not an apology.

YOST: Tell me what you think I got wrong, and then I will consider whether I should apologize. I am not aware of anything I was wrong about. I stand by everything I said.

FIELD: Jim Jordan, who called it all a lie, reframing the now deleted tweet with this.

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): I never doubted the child. I was responding to a headline from your profession, news profession, which happens all the time on Twitter. I doubted Joe Biden which is usually a smart thing to do based on all the things that he says that are inaccurate.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD (on camera): Now, Erin, this story doesn't even end here. Indiana's attorney general now says he will investigate the physician who performed the abortion to see whether she properly reported that abortion. An attorney for that physician, Caitlin Bernard, has responded with this statement saying her client took every appropriate and proper action in accordance with the law.

The statement goes on to say: We are considering legal action against those who have smeared her, including the Indiana's attorney general.

And, Erin, "The Indy Star" is now reporting that they have actually obtained a copy of the filing that the report the abortion. We are working to get the same document.

BURNETT: All right. Alex Field, thank you very much.

[19:25:01]

And I want to go now to Ohio Republican State Senator Stephanie Kunze.

Senator, I really appreciate your time and your willingness to talk about this.

Look, what happened to this child was horrific. You know, you just have to take a moment to think about what this 10-year-old girl endured and what has now happened to her life.

And yet when the story came out, many in your own party attacked her story as a lie and they were saying it was a lie invented by liberals to make the whole abortion look bad.

Did you ever doubt that this case was real yourself?

STEPHANIE KUNZE (R), OHIO STATE SENATOR: Well, Erin, thank you.

You know, I'm a mother. And as a state senator and as a mother, I think we can all agree that we are heartbroken for a child who was raped. As you mentioned, a horrific story, and I think even myself as a pro-life senator who did not support the heartbeat bill, you know, just -- we can't know every circumstance in which a woman would seek to terminate a pregnancy. In this case, it is a child, a victim of a horrific crime. I do believe that, you know, I think that government should not require a fourth-grader to have a baby, especially following the victimization of rape, that her family needs to make that termination.

BURNETT: So, a couple of things I want to ask you. And you mentioned the heartbeat law, so let me just give people some detail there. The law in Ohio bans abortion after a heartbeat. Obviously, you know, you and I are both mothers. That's usually somewhere around five or six weeks. There are no exceptions in Ohio law for rape or incest.

You mentioned that you are pro-life, but you always supported these exceptions. Why did you feel so strongly about this? Frankly, Senate, you stood up, you went against almost everyone in your party in the state legislature on this.

KUNZE: You know, I think we need to be compassionate. We need to seek to understand. We have to have empathy. We can't possibly know every nuance situation.

Again, I think it's -- I have heard from many constituents, some who were married, happily married, had other children, came to me and confided in me that they had had to seek termination of a pregnancy for multiple different reasons and just no exceptions in this bill, as you stated, I did not feel comfortable.

I think, you know, pro-life people like to say that the Constitution protects life. We need to protect life, but I also feel is important to protect the lives of those like this 10-year-old girl. I think God loves her as well. She has a life that deserves to be protected as well.

BURNETT: So, you know, what do you say to people? Because, you know, I heard from people, I don't know if you did, I someone said to me, did you hear that story was made up? It was a lie? For a second said, what? Look into it, realize that it wasn't.

Do -- you know, what do you say to those? And I have to be frank with you, they are -- they were in the Republican Party who immediately jumped to say it was a hoax, it's a lie, it's made up.

KUNZE: You know, I thought about something that Ronald Reagan said and I'll paraphrase because I don't have it exactly, the quote in front of me, but --

BURNETT: Yeah.

KUNZE: -- you know, I think pro-life and pro-choice need to come together and communicate. I think, you know, when Reagan was asked about being a great communicator, he made a comment something along the lines of, he communicated great things, but it wasn't because he, himself, was a great communicator. He said it came from, really, a great nation, a belief in principles and values that guided our country for over 200 years, and that for him, it always seemed like a great rediscovery I think is how he praised it, that our values and our common sense are what need to be guiding us. And so, I think we all need to value life. I think we need to value

the lives of all of our constituents across the nation. But we really need to come together and communicate what's best for people. And like I said, government can't possibly know and be the solver of every problem and know every solution to every problem.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Senator Kunze, I appreciate your time. Thank you for coming on.

KUNZE: Thank you, Erin.

BURNETT: All right. And next, monkeypox cases are quickly rising in the United States, now present in 41 states. Is the virus changing how it's spreading? Dr. Anthony Fauci is my guest.

Plus, prominent Republican shutting down Trump's election fraud lies point by point and choosing to do it now. One of them is choosing this moment as the former federal judge appointed by President George W. Bush. He's OUTFRONT tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:31]

BURNETT: Tonight, more than 1,000 cases of monkeypox in the United States, and the number is rising each day; New York, California, Illinois, among the hardest hit.

The virus now found in rural states, too. Idaho reporting its first known case. So, it's now in 41 states. Vaccine supplies are falling short. U.S. officials have distributed 132,000 doses from the strategic national stockpile since May. That may sound like a lot to you, so let me give you some context. It's inadequate.

Let me just give you Fulton County, Georgia, they have administered 200 doses and the appointments for those were gone, everything gone in 90 minutes. New York with most cases has been given around 20,000 doses. You can see the lines.

The public health system for scheduling the doses in New York City crashed. The site down after registration opened, thousands were turned away.

Joining me now, President Biden's top medical adviser, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And, Dr. Fauci, I want to start with those lines. There is a lot of fear out there. People are trying to get access to the vaccine. But the supply is clearly not meeting the demand for whatever reasons. What is the problem?

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, we just have to get it over from Denmark where a substantial supply is. I mean, you're talking about 130,000 doses that have been distributed. The numbers you gave are quite correct. But there's a lot more, hundreds of thousands of doses reaching to

about 1.1 million that will be available relatively soon.

[19:35:06]

I mean, the sooner the better, but hopefully within a reasonable period of time because you want to get a much broader coverage of people because right now, the initial tranche of vaccines were intended for people who were at risk following, for example, an exposure, more of a post-exposure type of a vaccination. What we really do need is to blanket the situation for people at risk.

For example, if you talk about among gay men, which are right now demographically, that's the group that is really unfortunately getting most of the impact, that if you're ion that group and you are receiving pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV, I believe that will put you right in the group you should be vaccinated against monkeypox. And that's what we hope to do, is to go from the tens and hundreds of thousands to 1 million or more and to do that relatively soon.

BURNETT: So, obviously, you know, you are talking about broader contextually, right? A population, overall, right, beyond, as you say, currently gay men, who are highly vulnerable in terms of not having protection against this.

So, to just ask the question of how it is spreading, more than 1,000 confirmed cases right now, 41 states. Around the world, it is now 65 countries. That spread has never before happened with monkeypox. And yet it is and it keeps spreading.

Has it mutated? Has it changed how it's spreading?

FAUCI: No. What I believe has happened is that we had this mostly confined to countries in which it was endemic, in central and western Africa. There has been an increase in cases there. What was happening is that, historically, this was not a problem because decades ago, virtually everybody was vaccinated against smallpox.

BURNETT: Right.

FAUCI: But after 1977, 1980, when we stopped vaccinating people, all of the sudden, one became vulnerable to a virus that was quite related to that.

What we are now seeing is something very unusual. These are non- endemic cases. You're talking about 11,000 throughout the world. The 1,000 in the United States is probably an undercount, Erin.

BURNETT: Yeah.

FAUCI: And that's the reason why, now that we have testing online with commercial enterprises, LabCorp, Quest, Aegis, the networks from the CDC, as well as Mayo Clinic, we should be, and will be, testing literally 10 times the amount of people that we were testing prior, because we believe the prevalence of this in the community is greater, which is all the more reason to get a broader group of people vaccinated. Absolutely.

BURNETT: So, you know, obviously, the parallels here that some are drawing are to the AIDS crisis. You were head of the NIH. You have openly talked about the lessons you learned at that time, Dr. Fauci, and the criticism, that the government at the time simply did not act quickly enough.

With monkeypox, we are seeing questions like this being published. "The San Francisco Chronicle", here's a first example, would monkeypox receive a stronger response if it were not primarily affecting queer folks?

Republican Senator Burr says the government failed this population at the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, we should not fail them again.

There is frustration. There is fear. Do you see any parallels?

FAUCI: Well, there are certainly parallels because of a demographic group that is somewhat restricted. Those individuals are certainly vulnerable, Erin, at risk. The one thing we want to do, Erin, is get away from anything that stigmatizes this group because that is the enemy of public health when you bring stigma here.

But some of the parallels are really not very, very close. For example, back -- when you show that picture of me taking care people in 1981, we didn't know what it was. We didn't have any vaccines. We didn't have any therapies. We were really swimming in the dark.

Right now, we have the capabilities of stopping this and it's up to us to do that. So, when you hear frustration among the community, a good part of that is justifiable frustration, which we are trying to correct that very, very quickly by getting as much vaccine to the community that needs it as quickly as we possibly can.

But the frustration, I can understand it. In many respects, it's justified. We've got to do better and we will do better.

BURNETT: All right. Dr. Fauci, I appreciate your time.

FAUCI: Good to be with you, Erin. Thank you so much.

BURNETT: All right.

[19:40:00]

And next, a federal judge appointed by George W. Bush who stood up for Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett But now, he is taking on Donald Trump's election lies from Donald Trump one by one. He's my guest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Tonight, former President Trump pushing false claims of massive voter fraud, his words, in the 2020 election. And you say, why are we talking about this now? We talk about it now because a lot of people believe it and because now is the time that some people are standing up to debunk this again, one by one by one, to try to break through to the Americans who still believe the lies.

A group of prominent conservatives debunking Trump's election lies in a new 72-page report. The group concludes, quote, there is absolutely no evidence of fraud in the 2020 presidential election on the magnitude necessary to shift the result in any state. In fact, there was no fraud to change the outcome in even a single precinct.

And these are the facts. You know, we hear it again and again. Now, it is so important. They come out with a 72-page report, debunking it one by one. You hope somebody will read it, who needs to see it.

OUTFRONT now, retired Federal Judge Thomas Griffith, who was appointed by former President George W. Bush. He's one of the authors of the report.

And, Judge, I want -- I want to just start with you on this. Right, you've seen all this. You've seen it debunked. You heard Bill Barr say this, right, two years ago.

[19:45:00]

And yet, you took the time, over a year to investigate, all of these claims of widespread voter fraud state-by-state, precinct level, a 72- page report. For the first time you are speaking out publicly.

And yet, on the day you do it, Trump comes out on his social media platform and says there has been massive election fraud, and many millions of Americans believe him. What do you say to the former president tonight?

THOMAS GRIFFITH, FORMER FEDERAL JUDGE: Well, it's just not true. Year and a half ago, I pulled together a group of friends and fellow conservatives, people who have been involved with the conservative movement for decades. We wanted to get to the truth of the matter.

The president was making serious claims, which if true, would be very troubling. And we wanted to find out for ourselves. We didn't want to rely on what CNN had to say or "The New York Times" or anyone else had to say. So, we decided to do a deep dive ourselves.

And we looked at every claim of fraud or irregularity in the battleground states, Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin. We looked at them meticulously.

We went in with an open mind. If there was fraud, we wanted to discover it, and we would be on the forefront to the battle to reform the election system if it was rife with fraud. But we found, at the end of the result, we found that what the Trump administration, Department of Homeland Security said was true, that this election was secure. We found that what the Trump Department of Justice had said was true, that there was no fraud on a level that would change the outcome of the election.

We discover that what Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel said, was true, that there was not enough fraud in any precinct to change the outcome. So, we came forward with this because we want to tell our fellow conservatives.

We were hoping, we still are hoping that, if our fellow conservatives hear it from conservatives, people who have dedicated their life to the conservative movement, but maybe they will stop and look at the evidence and see that, in fact, Donald Trump lost the election. It was not stolen. He lost it.

BURNETT: So, a poll, you know, to this point about who was going to -- you know, if you can move people to believe the truth. A New York Times poll asked voters who won the 2020 election. And less than 30 percent of Republicans recognized Joe Biden as the winner, 61 percent of Republicans, about 25 percent of the country, said that Donald Trump was through the rightful president of the United States. That he won.

What is the most compelling evidence to you, and I understand the 72- page report that you want them to read them all and I was sort of asking you a tough thing. But what's the most compelling evidence that you would want to stress to those 61 percent of registered Republicans?

GRIFFITH: Well, I'm a judge. So, it won't be surprising to you that what was most compelling to me was when we looked in depth at the 64 cases that were brought by President Trump and his allies, challenging the election results. And not one of them could they present any evidence of fraud. They lost all of their claims.

And these were -- these were judges who were appointed by Republicans, appointed by Democrats, across the board. They look at -- in our system, we have a mechanism to challenge elections that we think went wrong.

And the Trump -- President Trump and his allies were fully within their rights to go to the courts to challenge, but they lost. They lost across the board. They lost totally and completely.

But what worries me most about that statistic that you gave is that we have 30 percent of Americans who think the election was stolen. The social psychologist Jonathan Haidt who has done more work about why we are polarized in a country said something interesting about that. He predicted a cataclysmic failure of American democracy because he said we just don't know what happens to a democracy when you drain all trust from the system.

We are here to tell fellow conservatives that you can trust the system, that our election administration system is solid. The most surprising thing I learned in this report was that, I had grown up with the stories of the bad old days when ballot stuffing occurred in Philadelphia and dead people voted in Chicago, those are the old days. That has changed.

We have professionalized the system so that -- it's not perfect -- but there is no chance of the type of fraud that President Trump and his allies allege, which is no chance that would happen.

BURNETT: I hope that is the message that gets through. There is no chance. It has continually reformed and improved and no chance of any such thing.

[19:50:02]

Thank you so much, Judge Griffith, I appreciate your time.

GRIFFITH: Thank you.

And next, former President Trump's first wife Ivana has died. She was one of his most prolific business partners and, of course, the mother of Ivanka, Jared and Donald Jr. Jared -- I'm sorry, Donald Jr. and Eric.

And the supermarket t in Buffalo, New York, where 10 people were murdered in May is set to reopen tomorrow.

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BURNETT: Tonight, Ivana Trump, the ex- wife of Donald Trump and mother of Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump, passed away at her home in New York. That is according to the former president. She was 73 years old.

And Kate Bennett is OUTFRONT.

So, Kate, what do we know about what happened? It appeared this was obviously quite sudden and a shock.

KATE BENNETT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, all we know is just after noon today in New York City, paramedics were called to her home where she was found unresponsive and unconscious. The fire department, the police, the medics pronounced her dead on the scene there. The police later said there was no evidence of criminality.

The medical examiner's office in New York will have to determine the exact cause of death.

[19:55:02]

But, yes, she was found unresponsive, unconscious in her home in New York City.

BURNETT: So, Kate, what was her relationship with Donald Trump like? I mean, obviously, the divorce itself was nasty, as nasty as it gets.

BENNETT: Right, right.

BURNETT: But it was a long, multi- decade, very complicated relationship.

BENNETT: Yeah. I mean, they met in the late '70s. They got married in 1977 when Donald Trump was on his rise to becoming a real estate mogul.

And she was right there alongside of him. She joined him in business. She was essential to the design, the operation, the management of a lot of his properties. Their marriage deteriorated sort of towards the end of the '80s. He,

of course, had a very public affair with Marla Maples who became his second wife. Their divorce was splashed, I'm old enough to remember, was splashed all over the tabloids.

She got a $14 million settlement which at the time was a lot of money for divorce settlement.

But through the years, their relationship mended. They were friendly. They were in contact. If we remember in 2017, she said that Donald Trump actually offered her the ambassadorship to the Czech Republic. She was from Czechoslovakia under communist rule. She turned it down because she liked the life the way it was, like the travel, and the glamorous life she was leading, and had always led for most of her life.

But, you know, Donald Trump released a statement calling her wonderful and beautiful and that she was beloved by many, and clearly, their relationship through the decades had mended itself. And Ivanka Trump released a statement on Twitter acknowledging her mother as a beautiful and special woman, and Eric Trump did as well. And clearly this is something that the Trump family is going to be mournful about. Ivana was the matriarch. She was a key individual in their lives while they were growing up in New York City.

BURNETT: All right. Kate Bennett, thank you very much.

BENNETT: Thanks.

BURNETT: And next up, that Buffalo supermarket where ten people were killed in a racist shooting set to reopen with added security.

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BURNETT: The Buffalo supermarket where ten people were killed in a racist rampage in May is reopening. The Tops Friendly Market Store will open tomorrow. It's been a complete renovation.

There's a memorial water wall that includes a poem. It reads in part: Let the hopeful healing waters flow, cleansing all pain and fear, all hurt and regret. Let the water heal our people.

Thanks for joining us.

Anderson is next.