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Erin Burnett Outfront
Hours Away: Polls Open, All Eyes On Three Races, Trump Faces Lowest Ratings; Trump Saw Segment On Fox, Now, He's Focused On Christians In Nigeria; Trump: "Feel Badly" For Royals As Andrew Punished Over Epstein Ties. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired November 03, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:25]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, hours away from polls opening for election day. As Democrats in the nation's top three races are trying to go for a clean sweep, there are new signs tonight that Trump knows his party is in trouble tonight.
And more breaking news this hour. Trump threatening to go guns ablazing, his words, into Nigeria. Why? Well, we have new reporting into OUTFRONT that the idea was actually inspired by a Fox News segment. We'll give you the details.
And a new special report from "The Atlantic", warning Americans need to prepare for some, quote, wild stuff from Trump. Now, there's specifics in there about voting machines, election results, and using the military. It's all about the midterms. And the reporter is our guest.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. we are hours away from polls opening across the country as Democrats in the three races that the whole nation is watching think that they've got momentum. Well, we'll see if they have it on election day, because it does come amid some of the lowest approval numbers that President Trump has faced.
Let's show you what's going on right now. This again, the final hours. So you've got Democrat Mikie Sherrill's campaign rally in New Jersey. That's live, along with fellow Democrat Abigail Spanberger in Virginia. She and Spanberger are both running for governor in those two states.
And then, of course, there's Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic socialist candidate for New York mayor, seems to be comfortably ahead according to multiple polls.
Now, the three candidates are trying to pull out a rare sweep of three races that the whole country is watching.
Now, here's just some context for this, Harry Enten pointed this out. I think it's interesting. He said that said that just five times in the past 90 years, only five times have those three races all gone blue.
Okay, now the last one was in 2017, which is obviously not that long ago, but still, you're only looking at five times in nearly a century. And each and every time that it happened, the Democrats then went on to win control of the House the following year in the crucial midterm elections. And that is part of the reason this is all so crucial.
So here is how those three candidates tonight are trying to get it over the finish line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D), VIRGINIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: I plan on ensuring that we don't just win tomorrow, but that we crush it tomorrow.
REP. MIKIE SHERRILL (D-NJ), GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: New Jersey is not a red state. We're not a red state. New Jersey is not a purple state. New Jersey is a --
CROWD: Blue state!
ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Let us leave everything out there on the field, my friends. Let us do it together. Let us -- let us work so hard this evening and tomorrow that we never have to ask ourselves the question, what if?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That enthusiasm, coming as poll after poll, shows that Trump so, right, he's not technically on the ticket here. But of course, in a sense, it is all about him. He is facing major headwinds with voters.
The brand-new CNN poll shows 63 percent of all voters. That's about two out of three, obviously disapprove of Trump right now. That is higher than January 2021, which was the height of his unpopularity when he was getting ready to leave office. And of course, that was right after January 6th. So just think about that.
Even more troubling for Trump, his approval with independence, right? That's central, biggest group in some in some senses, is down to 28 percent. That is the lowest of this term. And talk about a plunge. It's 15 percentage points lower than right after he took office.
And then there's this -- the economy. More than 70 percent of voters say the economy is in poor shape, as even the treasury secretary says areas could be in recession. And that number of voters concerned has barely moved at all since Trump took office.
And that new CNN poll that I just shared is not alone. Everything seems to be converging on this issue. ABC, NBC, Quinnipiac, Washington Post, they all show Trump underwater with voters right now, which is why Democrats are trying to tie their opponents to Trump, right? To put him on the ballot, and his government's dysfunction whenever they can.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERRILL: He's given Trump an A. He said there's nothing he disagrees with him on it.
MAMDANI: Andrew Cuomo is Donald Trump's puppet in this race.
SPANBERGER: Amid the recklessness and the heartlessness coming out of Washington, Virginia can and will flip statewide seats from red to blue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Trump is aware of this because if there is anybody who looks at the polls more closely than him, we don't know who it is.
On Truth Social, he posted on the governor's races, calling the Democrats two losers, going on to say, "You will rue the day that you voted to destroy your life." Now, the person that Trump, of course, is most obsessed with, though, is not on those gubernatorial races. It is the mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, and Trump just attacked him moments ago, endorsing the now formally the independent candidate, former Democrat Andrew Cuomo.
Trump saying in part, quote, I would much rather see a Democrat who has had a record of success win than a communist with no experience and a record of complete and total failure. Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You have to vote for him and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it. Mamdani is not.
And here's more of what Trump said last night on "60 Minutes".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NORAH O'DONNELL, CBS HOST: What if Mamdani becomes mayor?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATE: It's going to be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York. Because if you have a communist running New York, all you're doing is wasting the money you're sending there. So I don't know that he's won, and I'm not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it's going to be between a Democrat and a communist, I'm going to pick the Democrat all the time, to be honest with you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT to begin our coverage here, of these three major races, he is in Virginia with the Spanberger campaign.
I want to begin, though, with John Berman in New Jersey with the Sherrill campaign.
And, John, you know, that that race has been really down to the wire. Sherrill has had a whole lot of problems, but now trying to seize momentum in these final hours. Does she have it?
JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They certainly hope so, Erin.
And the Sherrill campaign is pointing to the early vote turnout as something that they believe shows that things are trending their way. They say they have banked an advantage of about 290,000 early in- person votes and mail in votes over nine days of in-person early voting that just ended yesterday. Four years ago, Democrats enjoyed just an advantage of 260,000 votes. That was a race that Democrats won by just three points. The Sherrill campaign says they're doing better this time, so that points to higher enthusiasm.
This rally here is in Montclair, New Jersey. This is Mikie Sherrill's hometown. She's been elected to Congress four times here. This is a town. This is a county that she'll need to do very well to overperform in order to have the election night that she wants.
This crowd right here is filled with a lot of people, a lot of women. I was speaking to one Democratic insider who told me that angry suburban mothers might be the most powerful force in the election in the state this year.
And Candida Iyer, CNN digital reporter who's doing great work sort of liveblogging this event right here, has been talking to voters, and some of them have been telling her that women's issues are front and center in this campaign. That's what matters most to them.
Now, history is a little bit of a problem for Mikie Sherrill here. Not since the 1960s has one party held the governor's mansion for three consecutive terms. Democrats have been in there for eight years now. Governor Phil Murphy, if Mikie Sherrill wins, that would be the first time since the 1960s that one party held it for three consecutive terms.
They're hoping to buck history. They're hoping to buck some trends that have brought New Jersey from a blue state to more purple. And they're hoping for a big Democratic turnout tomorrow -- Erin.
BURNETT: Right, which is interesting. You know, given what she said, right, saying that it's a blue state, not a purple state, but as you indicate, when it comes to the governor's mansion, plenty of Republicans over history in the state of New Jersey.
John Berman, thank you very much.
And let's go, as promised to Jeff Zeleny.
Jeff, in Virginia, Trump calls Spanberger and also Sherrill in New Jersey, losers. So, I mean, at this point, is that something that just helps Spanberger?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, Erin, I mean, there is no question that Abigail Spanberger believes that the voters tomorrow in Virginia. Will respond to President Trump in kind. There is no doubt that this campaign here in Virginia, as well as in New Jersey, has emerged as something of a referendum on the Trump administration. The Trump policies, the actions of the first nine or 10 months in office.
And of course, Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger here in Virginia were part of that blue wave back in 2018. They were part of the blue Democratic resistance, if you will. We will see if that happens again tomorrow.
But talking to voters here in Virginia, there is no doubt one person above all is motivating them. And that is Donald Trump.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jeff Zeleny --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing the chaos that's going on with the president. We just want real change and make sure that Virginia is protected from it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need new leadership, and were on the hunt for that and hope Abigail can start us off. This is what we need. I'm ready for it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we have to send a message to Washington that the republic is important. And there are people here who want to protect the republic from authoritarian movements.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[19:10:04]
ZELENY: So, look, across the board, Virginia voters, some 1.4 million have already cast early ballots. Many of the Democrats certainly are wanting to send a message to Donald Trump. But the change argument is a different one here, because Abigail Spanberger is running to replace Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin.
President Trump, right this moment, is speaking to Virginia Republicans. But it's in a telephone rally. He's trying to urge some of them to come to the polls tomorrow. But, Erin, there is confidence here among Democrats in Virginia.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Jeff Zeleny.
And everyone is here with me now.
So, Van, when you're looking at three for three, I mean, I think the context matters here. I mean, you look at New Jersey, where Mikie Sherrill has faced a lot of challenges, right? And questions about graduation, naval academy, all that sort of stuff. She's powered through it. It seems, but she would be the one bucking history if she were to win tomorrow, as opposed to a Republican.
So, are they going to go three for three for Democrats tomorrow?
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think so. Look, she's facing more headwinds than everybody else. But I think you've got a lot of disgust, not frustration, disgust, at the grassroots level with what Donald Trump has been doing. These ICE raids have really, really shocked people, to see just ordinary people thrown to the ground, women, children. So, there is a pent-up desire to send a message.
And so, you don't have to be a perfect candidate right now. There's a perfect storm brewing. I think it's going to push Democrats across the finish line.
BURNETT: Okay. And I'm curious as to there's so much talk about the mayor's race in New York, which you have done incredible work on. I mean, you have been in it. And the level of granularity.
So let me just ask you, when Trump comes out and says, you know basically endorsing Andrew Cuomo. Yeah. A lot of people I saw on social media said, oh, that is the worst thing that could possibly happen for Andrew Cuomo.
But then there's another way of looking at it, which is maybe who he's talking to is the voters. The 15 percent of voters in New York who are still saying they're going to vote for the Republican.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.
BURNETT: And maybe the Democrats are going to do whatever they're going to do about Cuomo. But if -- but the number if Cuomo is going to pull off a miracle is going to come from Curtis Sliwa.
CUPP: It is, and moderates, yeah.
Listen, I've been covering this race, as you say, and I've had -- I can't name how many guests. Come on. Experts, analysts say if Donald Trump doesn't want Mamdani to win, he should endorse Mamdani. That's how unpopular Donald Trump is in New York City.
So, his endorsement of Cuomo is really great for Zohran Mamdani.
BURNETT: Yeah.
CUPP: And it's great for all the reasons. It ties -- you know, if you think of Andrew Cuomo as a corrupt, you know, politician's politician, you know, Donald Trump. I mean, it does all the things, I think Andrew Cuomo is very lucky that Donald Trump waited this long to endorse Andrew Cuomo.
BURNETT: I mean, I guess that's the thing. Does it at this point, what matters? I mean, even if we were to get out of the race tonight, it doesn't matter.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: I mean, I think it's clear that Mamdani is going to win. And I think it's clear that Democrats actually need to learn something from what Zohran Mamdani did here. He has energized young people to come out and vote. Let's not forget, in 2024, young people. Swung to the right hard. He
has brought them back into the fold. He has run a campaign that has been very, very targeted on affordability.
Listen, at the end of the day, one thing that every American understands right now is this, this economy is hot, flaming garbage. I mean, it just is. Things are unaffordable. People feel like they can't get jobs.
And so, with him just talking about this incessantly with a very simple message, he has three things that he's promising. People understand what those things are. And so he's really been able to break though.
JONES: Yeah --
BURNETT: Does this bring young people back? I mean, because you do keep hearing about because of whatever it is, the woke factor, di, that there had been this shift among young people and we saw it in the numbers to the right. Does this really turn that around?
JONES: Well, it will, it will in some places. Look, Mamdani also had the greatest co-chair for his campaign, Cuomo himself, who ran the worst campaign of the century.
You -- if it turns out that Mamdani paid Cuomo to run the campaign --
BURNETT: That's a conspiracy theory you'll buy into?
JONES: I'll buy into that because it is hard to run --
CUPP: It's barely a campaign.
JONES: I mean, yeah. I mean, if he was running to be the king of cringe, what -- Cuomo would win in a -- in a romp. And so, it's a combination of the worst of the establishment against this kind of rising tide among people who are just seeking change and looking for hope.
Basically, you had Cuomo running a fear campaign. It dipped over into, frankly, racism and kind of anti-Muslim hysteria, which was not necessary. And it left -- when you dogpile Donald Trump, it kind of made him a martyr among some. The dogpiling of Mamdani from the establishment has done the same thing for Mamdani. I think the Cuomo campaign should get a ribbon for the -- for the service that they did for Mamdani.
[19:15:01]
CUPP: There was also, I think, a sense among a lot of voters that I talked to, that Andrew Cuomo was -- there was a bit of entitlement in this. He didn't want to be doing this right. He had his eye on the presidency.
JONES: Yeah.
CUP: This is a default.
JONES: During COVID.
CUPP: He's running by default.
BURNETT: Right, right, like I'm settling for mayor of New York.
CUPP: He's deigning to run for mayor of New York City, which in some peoples eyes is the greatest job in the world, right? He's deigning to do it.
Voters felt that. They felt that in his lack of campaigning through the primary. And then when he was beat by Mamdani, they felt it after. And his weird pivots and trying to kind of throw things at the kitchen sink, they felt that they felt like. Well, do you even want this? Or is this just your last attempt at holding on to political power?
BURNETT: So, could there be a surprise tomorrow in any of these races? Are you looking for anything?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, New Jersey, I think is the closest, and I think it's going to tell us the most because again, affordability is really a big issue in New Jersey. We're talking about property taxes. We're also talking about how education is funded in that state.
And so, there's a lot of dissatisfaction there with the Democratic Party. So it's not -- it's not so easy. You know, we're talking about Donald Trump being on the ballot. But let's not forget that Democrats also have struggled. They have a lot of issues that they have had to deal with.
They are -- their messaging has been a mess. They have struggled to kind of come up with -- you know, something that is not anti-Trump. That is a positive message.
And so, you know, we'll see. We'll see what the margins are. But I do think that this --
BURNETT: I mean, does turn around the narrative of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries wandering around in the desert?
(LAUGHTER)
JONES: Look, it might. Listen, we're still less than a year out from a pretty bad butt kicking. And so, it takes a party, a chance to turn around.
And I do want to point out that there are, of course, there are people in New York city who are terrified about Mamdani coming in.
BURNETT: Yes.
JONES: Certainly, people on wall street do not like the idea of a socialist. There are people in the Jewish community who have a hard time with his. The kind of the way that he talks leaves people feeling alarmed because he hasn't been as forthright in condemning Hamas. He hasn't really distanced himself.
BURNETT: He's avoided it.
JONES: Yeah. So there's -- there's things like that. I think -- I think -- I think tomorrow you're going to see a tale of two cities. You're going to see some people feel very enthusiastic because the establishment got whooped and they're going to be other people. I think, especially in the Jewish community, who feel very afraid.
So, the party is still trying to find its way through all of these different thickets and challenges. But I would -- I would argue that if tomorrow you have two moderate women who have won against some headwinds and showing one path forward, and then a young upstart showing another path forward, it shows that Democrats have two ways to win, and that's better than it felt a year ago when we had only --
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: Zero waste. Yeah.
CUPP: But the Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer of it all is baffling to me. Absolutely baffling.
As you've discussed, Democrats have very few bright lights in the party right now. Zohran Mamdani is not for me, but he is a bright light in this party. He is packing stadiums. Name another Democrat besides Bernie that can pack a stadium. He's turning out young voters, new voters, first time voters, East Asian voters, Muslim voters.
This guy has figured it out. He has zeroed in on the issues that matter to most people. You should be bear-hugging him, if I'm a Democrat.
BURNETT: Well, we're all going to be here because its going to be an exciting 24 hours. And so many of these, I mean, all the details of what actually pans out from all of the campaigning,.
You can follow all results. Our special election coverage tomorrow on CNN. I'll be here starting at 5:00 Eastern, along with our entire team. We have live updates throughout this important election night.
And we have breaking news after this. Major questions and confusion after Trump's threat to go into Nigeria. Guns a blazing. It turns out that that threat from Trump was actually made after he saw a segment on Fox News.
Within an hour of that segment, all of a sudden, there he was, laser focus, talking about Nigeria and how Christians are treated there. We've got new details from the White House.
And Trump saying he feels sorry for the royal family over the former Prince Andrew losing his title over allegations he sexually assaulted an underage girl, introduced him by Jeffrey Epstein. More calls now for the former prince to testify before Congress.
And more breaking news. Weve got new images just in from Jamaica's hardest hit areas after Hurricane Melissa. Our David Culver is there. He's just getting into these areas and you are going to see what he's witnessing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:54]
BURNETT: Breaking news, as President Trump threatens military action against another country, this time Nigeria, saying, and I quote him, "If we attack, it will be fast, vicious and sweet", CNN is learning what sparked Trump's ire against Nigeria. It came down to a segment on Fox.
And Alayna Treene is OUTFRONT live from the White House.
And, Alayna, pretty incredible that that would be the case here. What have you learned?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, well, what I was told, Erin, from two sources who are familiar with how this all happened was that the president was headed to Florida on Friday. He was watching Fox News on the big screen. And essentially, he saw this segment that Fox was doing on how Christians were being targeted by Islamic groups in Nigeria.
And very quickly after that, one of the sources said it was immediate that he -- it sparked some anger in him and he began to inquire about it, asking his staff to be better read on it.
But what was interesting was that shortly after he had touched down on Air Force One, he had just taken the Beast, his presidential motorcade to Mar-a-Lago is when you saw that first post from him. And it read, quote, "Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria.
[19:25:03]
Thousands of Christians are being killed. Radical Islamists are responsible for this mass slaughter."
He went on to add that he wants to make Nigeria a, quote, country of particular concern.
Now, what was interesting about this is, of course, for anyone who was paying attention to his Truth Social over the weekend, this became a major focal point of his on Saturday and Sunday as well. He talked about potential military action in the region, and he was also asked directly last night when he was flying back on Air Force One, if that could mean potential U.S. boots on the ground or strikes in Nigeria.
And the president did not rule it out. But I will say, Erin, in one of my conversations with people in the Trump administration, they essentially told me that a lot of this is, is the president making threats to see how Nigeria will respond? One of them said it was a, quote, "art of the deal" type of strategy that he is deploying here. And they've tried to argue that in some ways it's working. You know, the media is giving more attention to it, but all of this
comes as we know as well that the Pentagon, the president, had directed his secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, to look into this. They have begun moving now, some personnel to the back to the region after they had told them to leave essentially a year ago
BURNETT: Yeah.
TREENE: And so, we have to see where this could all lead.
BURNETT: All right. Alayna, thank you very much. All that new reporting from Alayna.
And I want to play a bit of what the president explicitly told reporters on Air Force One. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They're killing record numbers of Christians in Nigeria. They're killing the Christians and killing them in very large numbers. We're not going to allow that to happen.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, obviously, those comments are alarming and they are out of left field, right, for a president who has already been engaging in war like activities in Venezuela, Nigeria has the largest population in all of Africa. It's 230 million people. And frankly, the country is almost evenly split between Christians and Muslims.
Nigerian officials today have pushed back on this. They say the notion of Christian genocide in Nigeria is false. It is true that Christians have been killed by extremists there, but analysts say the majority of victims are Muslims who live in the north. You sort of have a north south split there, and most attacks do occur in the north.
OUTFRONT now, Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.
General Hodges, I really appreciate your time, and I'm grateful to be talking with you. You just heard Alayna's reporting. When Trump put up the post threatening that the United States could go into Nigeria, his words, guns a blazing. And her reporting was that that explicitly followed a Fox News segment, right?
So, we saw the segment, and he threatens the United States going into the largest country in Africa with its guns blazing. What's your reaction to that?
LT. GENERAL BEN HODGES (RET.), FORMER COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. ARMY EUROPE: Well, of course, my first thought was guns blazing against what? Or who? I mean, where are you going to go?
If I'm the commander, I'm asking, what is my mission? And these -- the killing of Christians, which is unacceptable, as well as the killing of innocent Muslims, also unacceptable, is being done by terrorist organizations and criminal gangs.
So perhaps, we should be thinking about how can we help the government of Nigeria protect its own people. And I think there are some economic tools, you know, sanctions against some of the leaders so that they feel pressure and they're held accountable for doing what should be done.
BURNETT: Which and, you know, the kind of the lawlessness and the chaos the gangs in Nigeria is certainly very present when you're on the ground there. As I've been in both Christian and Muslim areas.
One Nigerian official responded to Trump's threat, specifically about U.S. troops, saying, we don't take it literally. Being a deal maker, that's his approach.
So, what does that say to you? Does that actually say that they, that they don't take him seriously? That he's a joke? Or does it say the opposite, which is okay, we don't take it literally, but let's have a conversation. We're willing to do a deal.
How do you see it?
HODGES: Well, I think you could -- you could imagine why Nigerians might look at it both ways. I don't think it's a good sign when the president of the United States is not taken seriously. But it is unfortunately believable that people could think that this is the president of the United States wanting some sort of a deal to gain access to Nigeria's oil or mineral resources. I mean, now that that seems plausible.
But I don't see any sort of a military solution for this other than helping Nigeria -- Nigerian armed forces protect their own population.
BURNETT: You know, I said this came out of left field in the sense because Trump is, you know, all of a sudden threatening Nigeria and deploying U.S. troops there when he's got a massive military buildup going on off the coast of Venezuela and has threatened to get rid of the dictator there, Maduro.
Here's what he said last night in that interview on "60 Minutes".
[19:30:04]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
O'DONNELL: On Venezuela in particular, are Maduro's days as president numbered?
TRUMP: I would say, yeah, I think so. Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, so far, this is what we know, General, and we don't know a lot because, there is a veil of ignorance that has been put over everything that the Trump administration is doing in Venezuela. But at least 64 people have been killed. We know of 16 known strikes on boats over the past two months. That's what we know of. And some of these, they've been proud to put out there.
But the Pentagon has intelligence suggesting that cocaine is far more likely to be trafficked from Colombia or Mexico. Which is nice. They're admitting that because that was very well known. Instead of Venezuela.
So, what is the true purpose of these strikes? Is it clear to you?
HODGES: No, it seems to me and of course, I -- like all Americans, hate to see the flow of drugs coming into our country, killing thousands of people. But the audio and the video are not matching here. We're -- they're blowing up boats in the Caribbean coming from Venezuela. But fentanyl comes up through Mexico, and fentanyl has been the drug that they've talked about as so -- that's so terrible.
And so, but the video, the one like the ones you were just showing, you know, that really catches your attention. And so, this is the administration saying, look, were doing something even though the solution that they're using doesn't actually address the challenge, which then, of course, exactly as you said, you know, because it's not clear what the objective is, it makes you start thinking this is about something else, such as potential regime change.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, General. I appreciate your time very much.
HODGES: Thanks for the privilege.
BURNETT: And we have breaking news, Zohran Mamdani our guest next. We are now hours away from polls opening for actual election day. Will history be made?
Well, he is here to respond to Trump, who just moments ago urged New Yorkers to vote for Andrew Cuomo in a late bid to block Mamdani.
And next, a top FBI official reportedly ousted as Kash Patel is furious about his use of the FBI's private taxpayer funded plane to visit his girlfriend. So, will the FBI director actually be held to account? I'll ask Congressman Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on Oversight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:36:37]
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump says he feels badly for the royal family after the former Prince Andrew was stripped of his title over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I mean, it's a terrible thing that's happened to the family. That's been a tragic situation and it's too bad. I mean, I feel badly for the family.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: Andrew facing even more fallout tonight. Britain's defense secretary now says he will lose his last remaining military rank.
And in the United States, more calls for the former prince to testify before Congress.
OUTFRONT now, Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia, the ranking member of the Oversight Committee.
Congressman, a lot to talk to you about, but I have to start with this because of all of this happening over just the past 24 hours. The U.K.'s trade minister just told the BBC congressman that the former Prince Andrew should come to the United States to answer questions about Epstein. And I know some Democrats on your committee are calling for his testimony. That would be under oath.
Do you want him to testify? And, you know, given what you're hearing from the U.K. trade minister, do you think you could get a subpoena that would, you know, have the U.L. comply and make him do it?
REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): Well, we absolutely want him to come and actually testify in front of the Oversight Committee. We've been discussing this already at the committee level. Members of the committee are excited to have him come in, because we know that he has a lot of information.
And by the way, the reaction to the former prince in the U.K. has been the right one, which is disgust, condemnation, calling out his actions. And for the president to say that someone that has been accused by women who were then at that time girls of rape, and for the president to say that is disgusting and that needs to be said very clearly.
What the former prince did and has, of course, been accused of doing is horrific. And as far as him coming here to the U.S., we would absolutely welcome that. We're actually going to be working on that this upcoming week. We would be open to him coming at our invitation.
Of course, a subpoena would be more complicated because obviously it's a different government. But we definitely want to want to come here in the U.S. in front of our committee.
BURNETT: So, this week marks four months since Chairman Comer subpoenaed the DOJ for the Epstein files, which was obviously forced upon him by you and others. But, you know, you've been very clear, Congressman, that 97 percent of what you've received was already publicly available. Right. There have been some small new details, maybe some information about specifics on the call logs, for example. But pretty much everything else was already out there.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has now missed your latest deadline for more documents and information. Do you have any further steps to get what you want and what you need?
GARCIA: There's two things happening right now which I think are really important. The first is we continue to put on the public pressure on Attorney General Bondi. It is ridiculous that it's been already months and months since subpoenas, as you've just said.
And to note, on top of that, vast majority of the documents have already been public. Majority of the documents we've actually gotten have been from the Epstein estate. We've actually gotten more from the estate and the subpoena process there than we actually have from the DOJ.
So, it's time for the DOJ to do the right thing. There is no question this is a massive cover up, obviously, beginning at the White House through the DOJ.
[19:40:01]
We know that Pam Bondi said she had the files on her desk. She should release them.
BURNETT: Yeah.
GARCIA: The second piece, also as important is the effort happening in Congress, the fact that Mike Johnson won't sit Adelita Grijalva, as a member of the house. She, of course, won her election. It's been certified. She would be the final vote. We need to also compel the Congress to do the same thing. Both are important.
BURNETT: Congressman Garcia, a lot of people ask me this. I'm almost hesitant to ask you because, you know, it's important to believe in institutions functioning the way they should. But if you are successful as you and others, including Republicans, Thomas Massie, other Republicans want the full Epstein files, right?
You know what you've got so far that they've supported more broadly is about 3 percent of what's' available at the FBI, right? You want all of it, all of the files. Do you have confidence that they will come out without being messed with? If you get them?
GARCIA: I -- of course, I would love to say that I was confident, but the truth is, I'm not. I think that we're of course, trying our very best to get the files. They know how serious a congressional subpoena actually is.
We have been told by many folks across the FBI and different law enforcement agencies that have worked on the collection of files, that there are also enough agents and people within the institution that are aware of what they've collected.
And so, for Pam Bondi or Donald Trump or for anyone else to somehow limit what we get or hide from the public, which actually in the files there are enough good people at the FBI that know actually this information needs to come to the Congress.
And so we've been very clear that we need all of the files immediately. And they know how serious it is. And Donald Trump should fulfill his campaign promise.
BURNETT: I want to ask you one other thing, if I may, Congressman, before you go, and this is obviously very significant. It's about the FBI director, Kash Patel. He has lashed out after publicly available jet logs, plane logs indicated that he used an FBI jet to see his girlfriend perform music at Penn State.
And Patel reposted a photo from the event on his X account, right? It's clear he's there.
FBI directors are required to use government aircraft for secure communications, and his spokesman says he follows rules that require him to pay reimbursements for personal travel.
So, you know, I suppose you could get to the bottom of whether that is occurring here. Bloomberg law reports that Patel was so enraged over this story that the FBI got rid of it, fired the senior aviation official who served 27 years in the agency.
Do you -- does all of this add up, or does Patel need to answer more questions about this?
GARCIA: We have a lot of questions. And in fact, we're going to be working with the Judiciary Committee on these very questions.
And remember, it's the same -- it's the same Kash Patel, when he was a, you know, a media blogger, podcaster, personality, which, of course, he had no business in running the FBI. He used to attack the former FBI director for using a jet. And so now, he's doing the same thing, clearly, on the government's dime. And this is all happening while people are losing their health care, when people are losing their SNAP benefits. And the FBI director is abusing his office.
And so, absolutely, this will be investigated by House Democrats. He should be ashamed of the way he's treating the department and going after someone, by the way, that's actually trying to do the right thing who's a career person at the FBI?
BURNETT: All right. Well, Congressman, I appreciate your time. And thank you very much.
And another breaking news right now, we do have some more -- never before seen images of the widespread devastation in Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa. Our David Culver has just been able to get to some of the hardest hit areas today where they've had nothing in terms of resources or supplies or cell phone signals. And he's actually been able to see for the first time what remains after the second strongest hurricane in the Atlantic and the strongest to ever make landfall in Jamaica, passed over the island.
David Culver is OUTFRONT live in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
And David, you finally got in there surrounded by utter devastation. And I know you have had the experience of seeing this devastation before, but we look at, you know, the strongest hurricane to ever hit Jamaica, right? The superlatives in this case, what does that actually look like on the ground?
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, I struggle to find some of the words. And I know that's part of the job is to explain what we're seeing here, but it is a combination of multiple, I would say natural disasters, everything from wildfires to volcanic eruptions to tornadoes to even maybe a war zone. Some have compared it to. And that's certainly what we see in some of these harder hit areas.
Just a few hours ago, and we just got out of this community called Falmouth. We went to a neighborhood church, and the church has now become a shelter. Bishop Edwards showed us around. And the reason it's a shelter is because every home around it has fallen to rubble. It was wiped away, and she's now having to take in all the neighbors, essentially. And this is just one isolated case of the desperation that so many are feeling.
[19:45:05]
Here's what she told us about her situation/
(BEGIN VDIEO CLIP)
CULVER: Do you think you're still in shock?
BISHOP DAWNET GREY-EDWARDS, MOUNT CARMEL EFFECTUAL HOUSE OF PRAISE CHURCH: Yes, because I've never, ever experienced something like this. I have experienced Gilbert when I was a child, but nothing like this. Trust me. Nothing like this.
CULVER: And how long will this take to rebuild?
GREY-EDWARDS: I'm not sure you know, but it's going to take a very long time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CULVER: The question a lot of folks have been asking us as we've been going around is where is help? Officials are trying, and we see them out and about trying to get to certain areas. But the scale of this is just massive when you're talking about geographically, roughly a third of this country devastated. According to one former lawmaker, decimated. That's the word she used.
And then you've got a quarter or so of the population, some 650,000 people directly impacted. It's going to take a lot of time. But these folks, as you pointed out, Erin, running low on resources, no power here. We're relying on lights from cars to keep things illuminated. No running water. It's really starting to get desperate.
BURNETT: You know, we're living in a world, of course, where some of the standard places that you would think aid would come from, you'd say, okay, the United States are in question after things like USAID and others, right, have taken some significant cuts where is the aid coming from and is it coming from places, you know, is the U.S. government involved in ways that it would ordinarily be? Or is that different now?
CULVER: As of now, when I spoke to one government official, they say it is coming in. And the way it's been described to me is Jamaica is friends of many, enemy of none. And they want to stress that.
And here's what's really interesting, Erin, because I asked them, are you receiving aid from the U.S.? The question was answered, yes, of course. We're receiving aid from everyone. What about China? Yes.
But they say they are nervous, one former government official told me this because they worry if they accept too much aid from, say, a country like China, which has tense relations with the U.S., that the U.S. may go forward with sanctions or perhaps turn in their generosity and limit it.
They haven't seen that so far. Right now, it's pouring in. It is really a support level that they're grateful for, and they're hoping that sustains.
BURNETT: All right. David Culver, thank you very much. Getting to those areas of the first eyes to see that. Thank you very much. Reporting from Montego Bay tonight.
And next, the breaking news. New York's Democratic socialist candidate, Zohran Mamdani, is here to respond to Trump and Elon Musk in the final hours before polls open on election day. Mamdani is our guest next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:51:50]
BURNETT: The breaking news president Trump endorsing Andrew Cuomo in the New York City mayor's race. Just posting on social media this. He says, "Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for him and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it. Mamdani is not."
Well, OUTFRONT now, Zohran Mamdani, the candidate for New York City mayor, and so, President Trump, making it very clear here, there's no beating around the bush here. You really have no choice. You must vote for him, Andrew Cuomo.
What do you say to that?
MAMDANI: Look, this is something that we've been speaking about for months. We've known since the primary that Andrew Cuomo was funded by the same billionaires that gave us Donald Trump's second term. He denied that then.
He had a phone call with President Trump trying to coordinate to stop our campaign. He then denied that. And even just until these final days, he denied that he was Donald Trump's preferred candidate. But now, it's written out for the entire world to see. This is the man that Donald Trump wants to be the next mayor of New York City, and not because he's good for New Yorkers, but because he'll be good for Donald Trump.
And New Yorkers are exhausted of this agenda in Washington. They don't want to see a mimic of it come here to city hall. BURNETT: Do you think it will help Cuomo at all in the polls? I guess
specifically, if you assume that Trump's trying to talk to that 15 percentage -- percent of people who say they're going to vote for Curtis Sliwa.
MAMDANI: You know, we continue to be confident about what tomorrow will look like for us. But I do think New Yorkers must understand that Andrew Cuomo waited until the final day before the election to have this be revealed. He wanted to be able to make the message to Democrats that he was, in fact, the governor that he said he was. And then right at the last moment, the last opportunity to fully embrace the MAGA movement that we have long said he is tied to.
BURNETT: So Trump also opposed, so he endorses Cuomo. Okay. Then he also talked about you referring to you as a communist. I believe last time we talked, I think, I don't know how many times I had him calling you a communist. That's not new. But he said if communist candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the election for mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing federal funds other than the very minimum as required to my beloved first home, because of the fact that he's a communist. This one great -- this once great city has zero chance of success or even survival.
Okay, what do you think that means? Other than very minimum as required could be an important clause, I suppose in that sentence. But if he says unlikely, he's going to contribute federal funds. I mean, what happens then? What will you do if that's how he goes?
MAMDANI: I think you can clearly see that Donald Trump is threatened by our campaign. He's threatened by it because, like his, we've diagnosed the crisis in working class New Yorkers' lives, the cost of living. But unlike him, we're actually going to deliver on that. And that is a contrast that he can't bear to see. Because while he is spending $300 million remodeling a White House ballroom, the same amount of money that could provide SNAP benefits for 100,000 New Yorkers, he's trying to make it harder for Americans across the country to actually afford groceries.
And this money that we're talking about, it's money that New York city is owed. It's not Donald Trump's to decide which city or state will get what money. This is the money that New Yorkers are owed, and this is the money that we're going to fight for.
BURNETT: Okay, so Trump is not the only one talking about you tonight. Elon Musk is actually talking about you.
MAMDANI: What a pair.
BURNETT: And he -- and you know and obviously Musk had supported him was crucial to his election victory. They had their falling out. But they're back together again Elon posts about you remember to vote tomorrow in New York.
[19:55:02]
Bear in mind that a vote for Curtis, referring to Curtis Sliwa, whom I just mentioned, is really a vote for Mumdumi or whatever his name is. Vote Cuomo.
All right. Why do you think he's speaking out against you? And obviously, the personal insult is in there as well, Mumdumi
MAMDANI: Look, I think this is one of the more expensive endorsements that Andrew Cuomo has ever gotten because it took $959 million in tax breaks that he gave Elon Musk for Elon Musk's pet projects back when Cuomo was the governor. And we're seeing the two twin architects of this second term of Donald Trump's presidency in the president himself and Elon Musk saying clearly to New Yorkers that their candidate is Andrew Cuomo, and they picked Andrew Cuomo because they know that he will be the puppet that they want right here in New York city.
And he's showing himself to not just be that, but also to be their parrot in the language that he's using to close out this election.
BURNETT: Okay, you talk about billionaires, and there have been some really wealthy individuals who have come out and put money in packs against you in recent days, right. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg among them.
There are plenty of other business leaders who in private, will have -- are afraid. They have concern. There are very few who actually will talk about it publicly, but one of them is Jamie Dimon from JPMorgan. And I'm thinking about this in light of Trump calling you a communist.
Jamie Dimon did not call you a communist. He was more intellectual about it. He said, what does he really think? You know, he was part of that socialist Democratic thing, which literally is more Marxist than socialist. And I read it, but I don't know what he believes in that.
All right. So, I guess he's basically saying he's not really sure where you stand on things. But what do you say to that concern? Is Marxist something you're comfortable with?
MAMDANI: No, I'm a Democratic socialist, and I've said it time and again, when was that quote from Jamie Dimon?
BURNETT: From Jamie Dimon. It was from "Fortune" last week.
MAMDANI: Okay.
BURNETT: Fortune conference last week.
MAMDANI: Because what he's also come out and said in public is that in our success, this is something that business leaders would also hope for, for the success of the city.
And I put that forward to say that despite where New Yorkers may stand on my candidacy, whatever qualms they may have, they know that I'm actually being honest with them about my ideas, about who I'm looking to fight for, and that's sadly unique in this race, because what you have is someone in Andrew Cuomo who spent the entirety of a primary campaign on the premise that he was the best suited to take on Donald Trump. And here we are with the chyron that Donald Trump is endorsing Andrew Cuomo. BURNETT: So, let me ask you, because that was October 17th. So, it was
actually a week and a half ago. But I want to ask you, because you asked me when he said that, are you talking to him? Are people like that people that you're going to sit down with and eagerly work with or not?
MAMDANI: Look, I'll have conversations with anyone, and I've spoken to Jamie Dimon briefly, and I've spoken to a number of other business leaders across the city about my proposals. I know that there are disagreements around my fiscal policy that I think we should raise income taxes on the top 1 percent of New Yorkers who make $1 million or more a year by 2 percent, or the fact that I think corporations top tax rate should be matching that what they pay in New Jersey.
And still there is room for an immense amount of agreement on what it means to bring the city forward. And I'll always leave that door open.
BURNETT: So, okay, so let me just ask you about President Obama. I know that you had a conversation with him. Well, what was that conversation about your most recent one?
MAMDANI: I appreciate it, the conversation with President Obama, and we spoke about both --
BURNETT: "The New York Post" headline is that he's not endorsing you.
MAMDANI: Yeah. Well, "The New York Post' has a lot of fun with their headlines, to put it put it lightly. It was a conversation where we were speaking about the importance of hope in politics, the delivery of that kind of an agenda. And I also shared with him that the remarks that I had shared outside of a mosque in the Bronx not too long ago was inspired in part by his remarks on race of a more perfect union many years ago. And I think there is often a tendency in our politics to think solely in a 24-hour news cycle, and the need to sometimes step back and speak to the soul of a city, and not just the cycle of that city.
BURNETT: Do you think that he and he's never endorsed a mayoral candidate? So that's why I'm making the point. Of course, he wasn't going to endorse. But do you feel that he has your back, that there's -- because there are plenty in the Democratic Party who are scared of you, too. And they don't -- they don't know whether you're going to succeed or if they're going to sit back and watch.
Do you think he's someone who's going to be in there, you know, in it with you?
MAMDANI: Well, I appreciate the president offering to be a sounding board.
BURNETT: Yeah.
MAMDANI: And that's exactly what we see is what the future of these next few weeks and months look like. It looks like speaking to those who've been in these very kinds of positions and putting together a team that reflects the best and the brightest that this city and this country has to offer, and then delivering on this agenda. And that's what actually terrifies Donald Trump and Elon Musk and even Andrew Cuomo the most, it's their fear that we will, in fact, accomplish the things that we have campaigned on. And that's one place where they're actually right.
BURNETT: All right. Zohran Mamdani, thank you very much. Obviously, we're hours away.
MAMDANI: Yes.
BURNETT: Hours away here. Are you -- are you ready? Do you expect its going to be a big night for you?
MAMDANI: I'm hopeful. I'm confident. But I'll never be complacent. But look, if people want to vote for Donald Trump and Elon Musk, they should vote for Andrew Cuomo. If people want to vote for change, they should vote for me.
BURNETT: All right. Zohran Mamdani, thank you very much. I appreciate it.
And thanks so much, as always to all of you for joining us. We'll be here tomorrow night for special coverage on election night right here on CNN.
"AC360" in the meantime begins right now.
