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Erin Burnett Outfront
Putin Ally Under Assault As Armed Rebels Take Major City; President Biden's Pardon For Hunter Officially Filed In Court; Trump's New Press Secretary Deleted January 6 Posts Praising Pence, Police. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired December 02, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:33]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, a Putin ally under assault. The situation on the ground changing by the hour. Rebels seizing the second biggest city as a top Russian oligarch threatens all out nuclear war.
Plus, Biden defiant, pardoning his own son even as his own party has been turning on him over it. New details tonight that Hunter Biden pled guilty only because he expected a pardon.
And the tweets Trump's new press secretary didn't want anybody to see, especially Trump. But guess what? KFILE unearthed them.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, a major Putin ally tonight under assault. At this hour, the second biggest city in Syria is now in the hands of rebels for the first time since the war began, a decade ago. As its dictator, Putin's close ally, Bashar al-Assad backed by Russian forces, is clinging to power. The situation there is changing by the hour. The rebels surprising both Putin and Assad, storming Aleppo, toppling statues of Assad's family.
Overnight, Putin's air force reportedly carrying out strikes in Syria in response. The crisis in Syria for Putin tonight, coming as another one of his allies is in serious trouble.
Let me just show you the images out of Georgia tonight protesters furious after Georgia's Putin supported government decided to postpone talks to join the EU. It has led to mayhem and protests on the streets. That move, of course, by the government, one that Putin was celebrating and supporting.
But the overwhelming uprising that we are witnessing in these past days, these images you see on the streets of Georgia are adding to a perilous moment for Putin, who today approved a budget spending a third of Russia's entire national budget on the military. In fact, increasing the size of his standing military for only the third time since Putin invaded Ukraine, something that appears to be a sign that whatever peace deal is eventually negotiated, Putin's goals remain unchanged.
And tonight, a Russian oligarch close to Putin telling Max Seddon at "The Financial Times" that Putin will reject Trump's peace plan, the first one that Trump's floated there. He said, then, quote, the world is on the brink of nuclear war. That oligarch saying that and also adding a specific warning to Trump, saying that if Trump does not stop U.S. backing for Ukraine, quote, there will be a radiation zone nobody will ever go into in our lifetime. And the war will be over, threatening Trump with nuclear war if he doesn't stop supporting Ukraine. Something that Putin's state media is betting Trump will do, thanks to his cabinet choices so far.
According to journalist Julia Davis, the host of one popular Russian state television program, saying overnight,, quote: What an excellent team is coming along with Trump, not with respect to Ukraine, but as far as everything else goes. If they're allowed to get in, they will quickly dismantle America brick by brick. They are so great.
Fred Pleitgen is OUTFRONT tonight live in Moscow to begin our coverage.
And, Fred, obviously an assault on Putin backed governments in Georgia, in Syria, nothing, though more precarious than what is happening on the ground in Syria tonight.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I would absolutely say that it's certainly very precarious for the Russians in Syria and also for the Syrian government as well.
One of the things that we've seen over the weekend, Erin, is really the Syrian government lines all but collapsing in a lot of these areas, especially in and around the town of Aleppo.
And one of the things that we have to keep in mind is that the Russians, along with the Syrians, really fought very hard to take a lot of that territory from the rebels. About eight years ago.
And there's also a lot of military assets there on the ground that the Russians also use as well. In fact, one of the air bases that was now taken by the rebels, the Kuweires air base, is one that I personally landed at in a Russian government plane about eight years ago as the Russians were giving us a military tour of that area.
So definitely a very close Putin ally, really, in a very precarious situation. And the Russian air force, the Russians are already saying, are already doing some of the heavy lifting to try and win that territory back.
Here's what we're learning.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Syria quickly descending back into all out war.
President Bashar al-Assad's army seemingly caught completely off guard, retreating, as rebel groups make sweeping advances taking much of the second largest city, Aleppo, and capturing large amounts of arms as they move forward.
[19:05:07]
These are the tanks of the regime, this fighter says. The pigs this is one, two, three tanks, four tanks of the defense forces and there are their busses.
Syrian leader Bashar al Assad calling on his biggest backers, Russia and Iran, to help bail him out. Meeting with Iran's foreign minister, as Tehran is already mobilizing regional forces for battle on the Syrian government's side.
The rebels will be confronted, Iran's foreign minister said. And I'm confident that this phase, like the previous ones, will also be passed with pride by the government, the people of Syria and the Syrian army.
In a show of force, Assad's military releasing this video claiming to show their counter push in Syria's northwest, but acknowledging they're relying on Russian air power to help their ground forces. The Russians now effectively fighting two major wars in Syria and Ukraine simultaneously.
Of course, we support Bashar al-Assad, the Kremlin spokesman said. We continue our contacts on the relevant levels. We are analyzing the situation.
This as fighting in Ukraine grinds on at a steep cost in both lives and in money. President Vladimir Putin, signing off on Russia's 2025 budget with almost a third of the money now going to defense and military spending. And while Moscow's troops have been making steady progress in Ukraine.
Hello, sir. We're from CNN television.
A senior aide to Vladimir Putin telling me the Kremlin hopes the incoming Trump administration will end the war on terms favorable for Russia.
Do you think the Trump administration will be able to settle the Ukraine conflict?
VLADIMIR MEDINSKY, AIDE TO RUSSIAN PRESIDENT: Naturally, we hope that the new administration will approach this issue with a desire to maintain peace on the planet, and not to incite war, pushing Ukraine to self-destruction.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PLEITGEN: That was Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky speaking to me earlier today here in Moscow. And just to give you an idea just how important the situation in Syria is, Erin, for the Russian president, he actually had a phone call earlier today with the president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian. Of course, Iran also heavily invested in Syria as well. And of course, Syria was the main topic of that.
And according to the Russian readout of that call, the Russians were saying that they were offering unconditional solidarity to what they call the legitimate authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much. Fred Pleitgen, live in Moscow tonight.
And let's go now to General Mark Hertling, along with Seth Jones, national security expert, who, of course, has been on the ground in Syria as well as the other places we're talking about here.
General, right now, you're looking at a crucial moment for Vladimir Putin and it comes as the financial times is reporting that you know, that oligarch and his inner circle is outright rejecting even Trump's offer for a peace deal. You hear what's happening in Georgia, what's happening in Syria as Putin is trying to send this massive increase in his armed forces, how crucial is this moment?
MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: We have to put it in perspective. You just named some of the things, Erin, but Russia's military is in disarray. They are spread across a bunch of continents, not just Syria and Ukraine. Their economy is in freefall. As Fred just mentioned, they face some threats on their on several fronts and decreased assistance from a bunch of allies that are having problems themselves.
So we're seeing you know, as calm as Putin is and as his spokesman may appear to be, they don't have reason to feel very good about what's going on. They are facing dynamics on every single one of their fronts, which could -- could cause increasing problems.
Putin is not in a good place right now, and I hope that you know, based on our approach toward the Ukrainian war, we take advantage of that.
BURNETT: Well, Seth, that's the crucial question. And the Russian oligarch who threatened that nuclear weapon, you know, that no one would go in our lifetimes in that zone again. And the war would be over. He also added after rejecting what they say is Trump's potential peace deal, that Zelenskyy needed to be removed from power, that Trump needed to do that if Trump wanted to end the war.
And I'm just curious, Seth, what you think about that in the context of what we heard from Joe Rogan, who obviously supported Trump for president. Joe Rogan implied that he turned down an interview with Zelenskyy, where, of course, Zelenskyy would have come on his show to make his case about the war. But, Seth, do you think it's -- it's -- that that's an actual question out there that Trump would try to remove Zelenskyy from power?
SETH JONES, PRESIDENT, DEFENSE & SECURITY DEPARTMENT, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, Erin, I was in Ukraine somewhat recently. I don't think there's any indication that the Ukrainians want Zelenskyy to step down.
[19:10:04]
I don't think there's any interest from Zelenskyy to step down.
And I think this -- this is really the challenge right now that the incoming Trump administration has. There is a huge gap right now between the Ukrainians and the Russians on what they're actually willing to negotiate. The Russians want a weak Ukraine right now. They certainly don't want it as a member of NATO, and I'm sure they want Zelenskyy to step down.
And the Ukrainians want the opposite, which is they want to build up their conventional weapons. They want to be a member of NATO and they want to keep a strong government led by Zelenskyy in. This is why it's going to be difficult I think to get a ceasefire negotiation in place.
BURNETT: Yeah. And I should point out, the Biden administration tonight signing a $775 million additional supplemental package for Ukraine. Obviously, in the scheme of the money that's gone in, it's de minimis. But it's still important. It's a signal they want to get in as much as they can prior to a change in administrations.
General, I am curious about the impact here of what is happening in Syria, right? As you point out, the Putin's air force was crucial in Assad maintaining power. But now, Aleppo has fallen for the first time since the civil war began, a war where Bashar al Assad had been out on the public stage, right at international meetings, you know, sort of back, back. I don't want to say business as usual, but this is this -- this sort of seemed to stun, not just Putin, but Assad.
How much of this do you think stems from Putin being overextended?
HERTLING: I think all of it does, Erin. And one of the things we have to mention is we're watching the attacks in Aleppo and Hamas and seeing the kind of tactical action on the ground.
We also have to remember that Vladimir Putin loves Syria, and he only loves it for one reason. He has a major naval base at Tartus. He has a major air force base at a place called Khmeimim and both of those bases give him access to the Mediterranean. Once he loses that because of a potential overthrow of Assad, he has lost his capability to influence in the Med. He is somewhat lost his influence to influence and the influence in the Black Sea based on the war with Ukraine and his naval bases in the Baltics, at Kaliningrad, are also threatened.
So you're seeing Putin really being tossed into a corner. These bases are all critical for their military presence in these areas. And increased rebel activity in northern Syria and Turkish and the Turkish incursions have heightened concerns about the Russian supply routes, even into the area.
Assad is saying Russian is. Russia is bombing in the area, and they're helping counter the rebels. Yeah, they're not bombing with much because they don't have much to bomb with. They've lost a lot of aircraft in Ukraine and they're like, I said a minute ago, they're in very bad states and giving anything. And I just comment on your statement about the Russian ministry saying that they wanted Zelenskyy removed. That's been the objective of Putin since day one, in February of 2022, to get Putin and his -- or excuse me, to get Zelenskyy and his government out of Ukraine. So they would meet their strategic objective if they could do that.
BURNETT: And, Seth, you know, Putin signing the military budget, a third of the budget going to the military increasing troops for just the third time since the war began. Obviously, they've had hundreds of thousands, maybe nearly a million of wounded or killed in action. The currency hitting the lowest level that it has since the war, since the invasion of Ukraine.
How -- how much disarray is there in the Russian military? I mean, what's the truth as you can see it, Seth?
JONES: Well, look, I think the Russian military is trying to push forward in the area of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine. But the reality is that the Russians have suffered extraordinary casualties and still are on the front lines. They have not been able to effectively take back the -- take back the Kursk area of Russia, that the Ukrainians now control.
As we've talked about, Erin, the Russians have suffered about 4 to 5 times more casualties than in all wars since World War II combined, so that's both the Soviet Union and Russia itself.
Now to -- to have to deal with Syria right now and Hayat Tahrir al- Sham, with really no effective ground force because Hezbollah is not going to play a role. They did in Aleppo when the Syrians took it. The Iranians had a major ground presence as well. Qassem Soleimani, the former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, Quds Force, actually was in the joint operations center.
So the Russians are in serious trouble, right now on multiple fronts, and I think their military is suffering badly because of it.
BURNETT: And, of course, the crucial question will be, what will the Trump administration do? Do they see it as an opportunity and in which way?
Thank you both so very much.
And next, Hunter Biden's get out of jail free card. CNN is learning the president's son only pleaded guilty because he was confident his dad would come to his rescue. And tonight, we know one of the main reasons for Hunter Biden's blanket pardon.
[19:15:03]
Plus, Trump's incoming press secretary is an election denier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, INCOMING TRUMP PRESS SECRETARY: I'm the only candidate in this race to say that President Trump won in 2020. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: But as our KFILE found out, she did not always believe that.
And then, Elton John's shocking confession. The singer telling fans that he has lost his eyesight. What happened?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: And more breaking news tonight, President Joe Biden's pardon of his son Hunter officially filed in court. You see the document there on your screen with the president's signature at the bottom.
[19:20:03]
Sources telling CNN that Hunter Biden would not have pleaded guilty in September to all nine tax charges had he not expected his father to pardon him. After all, it could have come with a jail term of nearly 20 years. But this comes in spite of what Biden has said so many times publicly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INTERVIEWER: Have you ruled out a pardon for your son?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.
I'll abide by the jury decision and I will do that and I will not pardon him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: There's no ambiguity about that. President Biden making the final decision, of course, though, to pardon his son after Trump said he'd appoint Kash Patel to run the FBI.
And this is some of what Kash Patel, the man Trump just tapped to lead, that FBI has said about Hunter Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASH PATEL, FORMER TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I've always said, and I still believe Hunter Biden is going to be indicted for criminal activity.
Hunter Biden is guilty of violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
They know what Hunter Biden's laptop contained these laptops were the basis of tremendous amounts of criminal activity.
Hunter Biden will be charged no matter what.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Patel's soon to be boss, Pam Bondi, has also talked quite a bit about Hunter Biden.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAM BONDI (R), FORMER FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Hunter Biden, his son Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden, very serious charges against Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden, Hunter Biden's dealings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And that's just a small portion. There's a lot more where that came from.
So, look, it's clear that Hunter Biden is top of mind for Trump's incoming team, who would be in charge of prosecutions? As for Trump himself, tonight he is responding to Biden's pardon, writing: Does the pardon given by Joe to Hunter include the J-6 hostages who have now been imprisoned for years? Such an abuse and miscarriage of justice?
Of course, the reality of it is, is pardons are often abused by outgoing presidents. We see it all again and again, Marc Rich, remember?
Trump himself, though, doled out dozens of pardons to his allies and supporters, including 26 in the final hours of his administration. Like his daughter's father in law, Charles Kushner. Trump in December 2020 pardoned Kushner, who had pled guilty to tax evasion and making illegal campaign donations. Chris Christie, the U.S. attorney for New Jersey at the time called Kushner's offenses, quote, one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I ever prosecuted. You can look up why prostitution is part of it.
And now, Kushner is about to be named Trump's ambassador to France. Paula Reid is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Even as President Biden publicly declared he wouldn't pardon his son --
BIDEN: I said I abide by the jury's decision. I will do that. And I will not pardon him.
REID: -- sources tell CNN that people in the West Wing and those close to Hunter Biden believed a pardon was always coming.
REPORTER: Will you testify?
REID: In June, Hunter became the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime.
The jury has found Hunter Biden, the president's son guilty on all three counts in this case, after three hours of deliberation.
HUNTER BIDEN, SON OF PRESIDENT BIDEN: Good morning. REID: After that historic conviction on gun charges, he faced another
federal case in Los Angeles on tax charges. But just hours before the trial was set to begin, he entered a surprise guilty plea on all of the counts he faced.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This plea prevents that kind of show trial that would have not provided all the facts or served any real point in justice.
REID: Sources familiar with Hunter's legal strategy tell CNN he would not have pleaded guilty exposing himself to the possibility of 17 years in prison and possibly more than $1 million in fines without the expectation of some form of clemency. And even as the White House repeatedly denied a pardon was on the table, one senior White House official told CNN they felt certain Biden would pardon his son before leaving office, saying: I know how much he worries about Hunter.
Then, after the president spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Hunter, his wife and their son, Biden informed his staff about the pardon decision on Saturday night. On Monday, the White House had no clear explanation for the president's flip flop.
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can speak to where we are today and so I can't speak to hypotheticals here, where we are today, the president made this decision over the weekend. He thought about it. He wrestled with it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
REID (on camera): A former White House staffer asks the question, which is if it was so obvious that the president was going to pardon his son why did he continue to pretend otherwise? We do not have an answer for that, but one source does point out that Biden allowed David Weiss, the U.S. attorney who was investigating Hunter Biden, that began in the Trump administration, to continue his work throughout his administration and the Justice Department brought two cases against Hunter Biden.
This source says, look, all this effort that Biden has put into allowing the justice department to operate independently shouldn't be undermined by this pardon. But that's not been the official word out of the White House and their contradicting statements have made this pardon a far greater controversy -- Erin.
[19:25:04]
BURNETT: All right, Paula, thank you very much.
All right. Let me start here with former Congressman Mondaire Jones.
You worked in the Obama Justice Department. So, the -- look, Biden said again and again and there was no ambiguity. He wasn't going to do this. Sources are telling us that Hunter Biden would not have agreed to plead guilty in September if he didn't think a pardon was coming.
So, basically, the whole guilty plea was because I know I'm going to get dad to do this for me. I mean, is this the right ending here?
MONDAIRE JONES (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: So I wish the president had never made those commitments publicly. I certainly never expected that he would not pardon his only surviving son for something that there was strong evidence of that no one else would have been charged with, but for his political connections to the president.
I mean, I think there's strong evidence that Hunter Biden would never have been prosecuted for --
BURNETT: Even on the tax stuff?
JONES: Correct. What happens typically is you pay back the money that you owe with interest and maybe financial penalties, but the idea that you would be criminally prosecuted for that, I don't think that would have happened absent the political pressure, which is what, you know, led to the special counsel appointment in the first place.
I am so tired of people who have been promoting and endorsing unfailingly, really, a president who is now a convicted felon on 34 felony counts and who had frankly, over 50 other felony counts pending before they were dismissed because of his reelection, saying that all of a sudden, that this shows that its the Democrats who don't care about holding people to the rule of law. That is not what this example is of.
BURNETT: Governor Pawlenty?
TIM PAWLENTY (R), FORMER MINNESOTA GOVERNOR: Well, you know this is a slippery slope. And so when you have, for example, Hillary Clinton mischaracterizing the Russia, the research on the dossier as a legal expense when it was really opposition research, those cases normally go to the FEC and you get a civil penalty. When it's Donald Trump, you get prosecuted criminally for a similar offense and that's his argument.
And look, there's a lot of issues here but this situation with President Biden and this particular pardon, it is corrosive. It is hypocritical. It is self-serving for all the obvious reasons in your report.
But it's one other thing, too, that I think get lost in the overall story this pardon goes back ten years. It goes back to 2014. So if you wanted to pardon him just for the gun charge and just for the related drug charges or even the tax charges, that's one thing. But when you go all the way back to 2014, you also remove any further criminal scrutiny for the dealings that Hunter and maybe Joe Biden himself had in Ukraine, but more specifically China.
BURNETT: Yeah.
PAWLENTY: And I think that is self-serving. It's cynical, and it is really corrosive.
BURNETT: Referring to Chinese business deals that Hunter Biden was a part of as well as being on the board of Burisma. Ryan, it is a sweeping pardon as Governor Pawlenty points out, it covers 11 years. It would cover all of those time frames as well. What do you think?
RYAN GOODMAN, JUST SECURITY CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: So I think that the 11 years is probably drafted in order to protect Hunter Biden against retributive president and a kind of Kash Patel FBI director and potentially a Pam Bondi attorney general. That's the design of it. That's why its that sweeping.
BURNETT: Uh-huh.
GOODMAN: But at the same time, it doesn't fully explain what happened here. So the timing of the pardon is odd. Why are we having a pardon before the sentencing, which was about to occur later in the month?
You would think that that would be the appropriate time after the judges get to weigh in and say what would be the appropriate sentence? And to do that now also is a way of subverting the justice system.
So I do think there are many ways in which when President Biden first said he would never, ever pardon Hunter Biden, people talked about that as being righteous because he was respecting the justice system and now he's issued the pardon. I don't think it can be seen as righteous. It really is an injury to the justice system.
BURNETT: Because -- because of the mistake that Mondaire saying, I wish -- you wish he had never said that he wouldn't do it --
JONES: I think --
BURNETT: -- because it's that honestly lie. I mean, I don't know what -- you know, I'm going to call it. That's what it was. It ended up being a lie in retrospect, that he wouldn't do that.
JONES: I mean, look, the press secretary says that he changed his mind. And so under that theory, he didn't lie at the time. He didn't knowingly tell a lie.
BURNETT: Right.
JONES: Here's the thing, Donald Trump has pardoned, as you mentioned, 144 people for crimes far worse than this. One wrong doesn't make a right. That's not what I'm saying. But just in the context of this, this idea that somehow the American people are going to say that a president's lawful use of his pardon power against someone who had never been charged with these crimes in the first place, is somehow showing that he thinks this guy is above the law. I don't think people are buying that.
BURNETT: There have been a lot of Democrats, though, who have criticized this, even in just the past couple of hours. A couple of congressmen were up criticizing to Wolf.
Joe Manchin, senator and I know obviously, he's had his bones to pick with Biden over the years but he has come out and said that Biden should now wipe the slate for Trump. That's -- that's -- that's what the true that's the right thing to do. Here's what he just said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOE MANCHIN (I-WV): What I would have done differently and my recommendations to counsel would have been, why don't you go ahead and pardon Donald Trump for all his charges and make it, you know, it had been it had gone down a lot, a lot more balanced, if you will.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:30:09]
BURNETT: Yeah?
JONES: No, no. I think actually the road to the decline of our institutions is going to be paved by these false equivalencies drawn by people like Joe Manchin, who has done this often, frankly.
Again, this is -- we're talking about someone who lied in his application for a firearm about a drug addiction and who didn't pay his taxes. Okay? And someone who had never been prosecuted for these things in the first place, as it concerns Donald Trump, a prolific and career criminal.
He already got his pardon when the American people voted for him to return to the White House. All the many charges against him, they have been voluntarily dismissed. He will never be held accountable. Sadly, for the harm that he has caused the American people. There is no need for -- for Joe Biden to pardon him.
BURNETT: Governor?
PAWLENTY: Well, I think President Trump has de facto already been pardoned because those cases have imploded, but it would have been a nice gesture, notwithstanding that if President Biden would have issued a pardon for President Trump, it would have been a great moment of unification.
But I will also say, you know, on this issue of President Biden being the one who is the protector of democracy and institutions, wagging a finger at us, lecturing us about those issues, and then instead of just saying I was a pained dad and doing this as a parent which is obvious, he then throws his own Justice Department under the bus and the press release, and criticizes it as political, even though it's his own Justice Department doing it and you know, pees all over the institutions, which is the exact opposite of what he said we should be doing during the campaign and earlier.
So I really think the way he handled this is miserable.
BURNETT: So, Ryan, would you agree? Just miserable?
GOODMAN: Fairly miserable in many respects.
And it's in fact part of the reason that I think the special counsel filed briefs today to object to -- BURNETT: Special counsel looking into Hunter Biden.
GOODMAN: That's right. And he said, look, I want you to dismiss the case because of the pardon, but please do not expunge the indictment. And he also uses it as an opportunity to say this was not selective prosecution. This was not vindictive prosecution.
That was Hunter Biden's claim in court. And it got rejected. So there is something odd about the president of the United States claiming that his own Justice Department selectively prosecuted.
BURNETT: Right. And there was, of course, a jury. Right. It was a jury. There was a guy there were others involved American citizens, colleagues, of course of Hunter Biden, as we all are on a jury.
Thank you all very much. I appreciate it.
And next, he's written a children's book about the plot against a king. The king was named Donald. What else are we learning about Kash Patel, Trump's pick for director of the FBI?
Plus, she praised Mike Pence for upholding the 2020 election results. What else did Trump's new press secretary tweet that she never wanted her boss to see? She deleted them. But our KFILE found them. He has the reporting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:37:15]
BURNETT: Tonight, King Donald, he's a character in a children's book written by Kash Patel, same Kash Patel that Trump has picked to lead the FBI. The title of the book is "The Plot Against the King".
Patel casting himself as a wizard. Kash, the distinguished discoverer, selling Trump t-shirts under the logo Kash.
So what more do we know about the man who will soon, likely oversee one of the world's biggest law enforcement agencies tasked with overseeing 30,000 special agents, protecting the United States from foreign threats, investigating federal crimes and upholding the Constitution?
Sara Murray is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SARA MURRAY, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump's bombastic pick to run the FBI --
PATEL: The FBI's footprint has gotten so freaking big.
MURRAY: -- already has some controversial ideas for overhauling the bureau.
PATEL: I'd shut down the FBI Hoover building on day one and reopening the next day as a museum of the deep state. And I take the 7,000 employees that work in that building and send them across America to chase down criminals. Go be cops. Your cops, go be cops.
MURRAY: In choosing Kash Patel to lead the law enforcement agency, Trump picked a loyal firebrand who has vowed to take on the so-called deep state, which Patel claims is made of journalists, big tech, elected leaders and senior government bureaucrats.
PATEL: And our biggest enemy against that truth is the deep state. And we are on a mission to annihilate the deep state.
MURRAY: He's also shown a taste for retribution including over false claims of 2020 election fraud.
PATEL: We will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media. Yes, we're going to come after the people in the media who lied about American citizens who helped Joe Biden rig presidential elections. We're going to come after you, whether it's criminal or civil. Well figure that out.
MURRAY: He's been a public defender and a federal prosecutor in the Justice Department's National Security Division.
During the first Trump term, he worked on the National Security Council and then as chief of staff to the acting defense secretary.
PATEL: We're blessed by God to have Donald Trump be our juggernaut of justice, to be our leader, to be our continued warrior in the arena.
MURRAY: Patel defended Trump against the charges he faced in the now dropped, classified documents case.
PATEL: They can take what they want. You can't be prosecuted for possessing classified documents.
MURRAY: And while he's claimed violent offenders from January 6th deserve punishment, he's defended others charged in relation to the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
PATEL: Their lives have been destroyed by the Justice Department because of a political vendetta they want to enact through the justice system to take out Trump.
MURRAY: As for his other endeavors, Patel has a line of apparel as brash as its creator, with items featuring his signature K$H. He also penned a children's trilogy apparently dedicated to Trump, the quote, "King" of the series.
The most recent installment describes the tale of the, quote, MAGA king and his journey to quote, take down Comma-la-la-la and reclaim his throne.
[19:40:04]
Patel's book for adults, "Government Gangsters", now, his rallying cry for reform. PATEL: I am going to go on a government gangster's manhunt in Washington, D.C. for our great president, who's coming with me?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MURRAY (on camera): Now, even in Trump circles, Kash Patel is a controversial pick for this role, but obviously he's going to have to be confirmed by the Senate if he is to become the next FBI director. There's also the awkward issue of what to do with the current FBI director. Christopher Wray is still in the middle of a ten year term designed to insulate the FBI director from politics. So Trump is either going to have to fire him, or Wray will have to resign -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Sara, thank you very much.
And of course, Wray, as we can all just remember, was appointed by Trump.
OUTFRONT now, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.
And, Director, I appreciate your time. So just on the very base of this, Sara, going through Kash Patel's background, his experience as a prosecutor, do you think he has the qualifications that are required to lead the FBI?
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI DEPUTY DIRECTOR: No, Erin, he absolutely does not, and that's really by any standard measure. If you look at Mr. Patel and compare him to any FBI director nominated by any president, he comes up woefully short in the areas of legal expertise, experience leading an organization, which, by my count, he has absolutely none, and connections to the law enforcement community, which he has none of those either.
You know, traditionally directors of the FBI come from the federal, the federal bench. They served as U.S. attorneys, high level positions in the Department of Justice, served in the FBI, ran field offices as Clarence -- Clarence Kelly did.
So Kash Patel has done none of those things. He sells t shirts with his name on it. I guess that's terrific. But it doesn't make him qualified to be FBI director.
BURNETT: And yet it seems everything that you are saying in terms of his not having been in a field office or not having been a U.S. attorney or not in the Department of Justice is actually a key part of the reason Trump has chosen him, right? And do you think that this is part of a bigger plan that Trump has that, that this is exactly why he has chosen someone like Kash Patel?
MCCABE: I absolutely do. I think you're right about that. I think his lack of qualifications make him, in some ways, a better candidate for President-elect Trump. And, you know, and then, of course, put on top of that his undying loyalty for -- for Mr. Trump. So, that's that I'm sure makes him in some ways the ideal candidate.
What concerns me, Erin, is what it says about Donald Trump's intentions for the FBI. You don't have to listen to everything Kash Patel has said. He hasn't actually said that much but the comments he's made about what he would do as FBI director, some of those that you played in the last piece make it pretty clear that he intends to essentially take the FBI backwards 50 years.
We know what the FBI looks like when it is hell bent on pursuing the president's political enemies. We know what it looks like when an FBI director takes the awesome power of the agency. Its investigative authority, its legal authority, and trains that at Americans for the purpose of executing political revenge, of collecting political intelligence for the president.
We know this because J. Edgar Hoover did it for 40 years, and in 1975, after the Church Committee and the Pike Committee and the post- Watergate reformations, we got away from that. So America is familiar with an independent FBI that actually knows how to protect America and uphold the Constitution. My concern is that's what we'll lose.
BURNETT: Now, I want to ask you about something else before you go, Director. And that is something that Trump's former defense secretary, Mark Esper, says about Patel. He said that Patel made up information in a crucial moment, and you can think of a situation like this, you know, this is -- this is this is about war and peace.
So basically, the United States, during a hostage rescue, needed clearance to enter the airspace of another country. Patel says that the U.S. has permission.
Now, it turns out that the United States did not have permission. And Esper says and I quote him, by the time Mike Pompeo and I spoke an hour later he still didn't have the okay from the remaining country. He also did not know where Patel received his information. Pompeo never spoke with him.
"How do we receive the bad information in the first place?" Pompeo wondered. Esper said his team suspected Patel may be approval story up, but they didn't have all the facts.
What concerns you the most when you hear a story like this? Obviously, it appears from what Esper is saying that the no one ever understood exactly what happened. But what would be the implications if someone were willing to make information like that up and convey it to the defense secretary?
MCCABE: You know, Erin, I wasn't involved in that situation, but I have been deeply involved in many operations that involve sending FBI personnel and other U.S. agency personnel into foreign countries, hostile conditions for the purpose of taking terrorists into custody and bringing them back to the United States to face justice.
[19:45:11]
Getting permission or coordination with the host nation is the most basic and single requirement that you must have in place before you put your folks in harm's way. And the idea that he may have somehow failed in that respect or the idea that he might have created that information to push the operation forward in a way it shouldn't have gone. It indicates a staggering lack of judgment, right?
So the question is, do you want someone who has proven bad judgment to be in charge of an organization that's responsible for sensitive, important investigations and missions every day? I would suggest that the answer is no.
BURNETT: All right. Director, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.
MCCABE: Thanks, Erin.
BURNETT: And next, Trump's incoming press secretary is known for pushing election lies. But as our KFILE uncovered, just four years ago, she was saying the exact opposite.
And tonight, Elton John revealing to fans that he has lost his eyesight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:28]
BURNETT: Tonight, the tweets, the next White House press secretary did not want Donald Trump to see. A KFILE investigation finding Karoline Leavitt deleted two posts involving January 6th, one praising Capitol police and another praising Mike Pence -- praising Mike Pence for upholding the 2020 election results.
Andrew Kaczynski joins me now.
All right. Andrew, tell me more about what you found.
ANDREW KACZYNSKI, CNN KFILE SENIOR EDITOR: Well, that's right, we found multiple posts that she had deleted on January 6th in the aftermath of that riot that she had sent. One of them, praised Vice President Mike Pence for certifying the election. The other praised a Capitol Hill police officer. And I want to run people through both of them and talk about the significance of it.
Now, let's take a look here at this Pence one. First, where she's retweeting someone. This is on her feed. She took it off.
It says: Love him or hate him. He kept the wheels of democracy moving and pushed forward to certify his own loss. Thank you, Mr. Vice President.
That post also included a video of Mike Pence certifying the election, calling it a dark day in our nation's history. Well, why did she remove that? Well, that post essentially admits that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, something that he still doesn't admit and something that the entire Republican Party has been just such a big part of the Trump movement.
Now, this other one that she removed is really interesting. Its a post in which she praised a Capitol Hill police officer she called him a, quote, hero and what did this, this, this guy do well, this Capitol Hill police officer, Eugene Goodman, and there were rioters -- essentially sort of trailing him up the steps near the entrance to the Senate chambers. He made a quick decision, led senators away from the entrance to that chamber. He was credited with saving possibly senators' lies.
She deleted that tweet. And, you know essentially that post sort of admits that Donald Trump was putting people in danger by sending that mob to that Capitol.
BURNETT: Yeah, both of those are clear. And, of course, as you point out now, deleted. She then ran for Congress in New Hampshire in 2021, one of the youngest people ever to do that. And you found out she really changed her tune during that campaign.
So what did you find there?
KACZYNSKI: Yeah. And if you fast forward to that 2022 campaign for Congress, she was running in a primary against another candidate. She really ran all out as an election denier. She said in some of these videos that were viewed she was the only candidate in the race who would say that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
She spread false claims that Biden didn't win 81 million votes, claims that there were voting irregularities. She vowed that she would get to the bottom of the 2020 election. It's a very big shift from where she was after that Capitol riot.
Listen to some of those comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEAVITT: I am the only candidate in this race to say that President Trump won in 2020, and I will work my hardest every single day to ensure we get to the bottom of it.
I do believe that if we were to audit all 50 states in this country, there is absolutely no way that we would find that Joe Biden legitimately won 81 million votes.
I fundamentally do not believe that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KACZYNSKI: Now, we should note that she did go on to lose that congressional race in New Hampshire by 10 points in what was a wave year, sort of for Republicans.
Now we reached out to the Trump transition. We asked for comment. And this is what they told us about this. They said: Karoline was completely correct in saying there were irregularities -- irregularities with the 2020 election and any cases of fraud should be investigated in order to protect and preserve the sanctity of our democracy.
She said she will make a wonderful press secretary championing the values and agenda of President Trump. And there is nobody better who can articulate that to the public. So going back to those 2020 election lies in that statement.
BURNETT: Right, right. And, of course, ignoring those tweets that you have unearthed.
Thank you very much, Andrew Kaczynski of KFILE.
And next, singer Elton John, revealing that he has now lost his eyesight after an infection.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:56]
BURNETT: Tonight, Elton John revealing he's lost his eyesight. The legendary singer says its the result of a severe eye infection.
Elizabeth Wagmeister is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sir Elton John making a surprise announcement on stage at a gala performance of the devil wears Prada in London.
ELTON JOHN, POP SUPERSTAR: I've lost my eyesight so it's hard for me to see it, but I'd love to hear it.
WAGMEISTER: The 77-year-old pop superstar wrote the score to the show and thanked his husband, David Furnish, for his support during his months-long battle with a severe eye infection.
JOHN: And to my husband, who's been my rock because I haven't been able to come to many of the previews.
WAGMEISTER: He first spoke publicly about his sight in an Instagram post three months ago, saying he was dealing with a severe eye infection that has unfortunately left me with only limited vision in one eye.
And in an interview last week, the icon said his eye issues have interfered with his ability to work.
JOHN: I'm kind of stuck at the moment because I can do something like this, but going into the studio and recording, I don't know because I can't see a lyric for a start.
WAGMEISTER: The music legend retired last year after decades of live concerts, performing in more than 300 shows alone during his farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour.
Then, the pop star joined President Biden in New York during the summer.
JOHN: Thank you, Mr. President.
WAGMEISTER: -- to mark the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall riots that helped launch the modern gay rights movement.
JOHN: Let's have some music. It does bring us together.
WAGMEISTER: Two years after the president presented him with the National Humanities medal during a concert at the White House to celebrate his talent and his advocacy in the global fight against HIV and AIDS.
The pop legends presence on stage at "The Devil Wears Prada" gala was cheered on Sunday night after talking about his health challenges, and then praising the musicals performers.
JOHN: Boys sounded good tonight.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WAGMEISTER (on camera): Now, Erin, I was lucky enough to be invited as a guest to one of Elton's final shows during his farewell tour. There you see. And he was really just incredible, to see him well in his 70s commanding the stage, so he will go on, of course.
BURNETT: Gosh. It's unbelievable, a miracle that you got to see that.
Thanks so much to you and thanks so much to all of you for being with us.
"AC360" begins now.
