Return to Transcripts main page
Erin Burnett Outfront
Iran Threatens To Shut Down Red Sea, Gulf If U.S. Sticks With Blockade; GOP Trouble Ahead; Allbirds Goes A.I. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired April 15, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:31]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, Iran with a new warning, threatening to shut down the Red Sea if Trump doesn't end his naval blockade.
And a Republican senator saying his party doesn't deserve to stay in power. We'll play the tape, as President Trump all but admits his party is about to lose in the midterms.
Plus, Allbirds goes A.I. The sneaker company ditching footwear and going to an A.I. company? The stock up 600 percent on that news tonight. Is this a jump the shark moment?
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight. the breaking news, revenge. Iran vowing to get even after the U.S. has now blocked all traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports. Now, according to Iran's military at this hour, if the United States doesn't lift the blockade, Iran will retaliate by blocking all shipping from the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman and the Red Sea.
Now, that would take the crisis of the Persian Gulf to a catastrophic level. These waterways are essential for the world economy and for a whole lot more than oil. You get that broad and you're talking about container ship traffic around the world.
Tehran also warning, if the U.S. continues the naval blockade, that Iran will consider that a violation of the ceasefire. But at this hour, the Trump administration shows no sign it's about to call off the blockade. Instead, Trump is sending thousands more troops to the region as I speak.
And according to U.S. Central Command, an Iranian flagged cargo vessel actually tried to evade the U.S. blockade.
Now, the U.S. says that it was this U.S. guided missile destroyer that stopped it. That's what they're saying. They put this image out today. They actually say that ten vessels have been turned around, and that's according to the Pentagon.
Iran, though, different story. They claim that four vessels did break the blockade and were able to get to and from the country. Despite these threats on the open sea.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The U.S. has announced a formal blockade of Iranian ports in coastal areas. This is a legal action. All vessels are advised to immediately return to port if leaving and discontinue transit to Iran if that is your next port of call.
Do not attempt to breach the blockade. Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure, transiting to or from an Iranian port. Turn around and prepare to be boarded.
You do not comply with this blockade. We will use force. The whole of the United States navy is ready to force compliance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And you can hear that. I mean, that's going out from a ship. Interesting. Obviously, it's in English. So there's questions about what's understood or not, but we hear it.
And now again, the United States in the White House is not giving a timeline on the blockade and how long Trump intends to continue with it.
Iran, though, may have the resources to wait, wait it out for now. According to "Bloomberg", they had a lot of cash coming in that they had gotten already as a result of the war, and Iran was making about $175 million a day from oil sales since the war started 47 days ago.
Kpler puts that number at $190 million. And both those numbers are way more than Iran was making before the war began. So, sharply higher than that. So they had that cushion. We'll see how long it lasts.
And then there is this. "The Financial Times" is reporting that Iran secretly acquired a Chinese spy satellite. In fact, that satellite reportedly gave Tehran the capability to target U.S. military bases. And in a moment, we're going to talk to the reporter who broke this story as the Trump administration was asked about China coming to Iran's aid.
Well, when they were asked, here's what the White House claimed is happening.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: President Xi assured the president that they are not supplying Iran with weapons throughout this conflict. And that assurance was made to the president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, they're saying what China's telling them.
All right. Well, the reporting obviously shows that there has been assistance. It all comes as we're learning, the Trump administration has sent Iran a message just today, a message given to the army chief of Pakistan to deliver to Iran. At this moment, unclear what's in it, what it means. But obviously, that is an important detail here at this hour.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT at the White House to begin our coverage.
So, Kristen, what are you learning?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, we know President Trump wants to make a deal. And that was apparently clear during this press briefing with Karoline Leavitt when she was talking about this idea that the United States had not yet formally asked for a ceasefire, she mentioned very specifically at this moment.
And there's a reason for that. We are being told by U.S. officials, by administration officials, that if there is a deal on the table, if it looks like there could be a deal on the table, President Trump is willing to ask for that extension.
[19:05:05]
But the big question right now is what is different? What has changed? What you're seeing is still this maximum pressure campaign, which has not been successful in the past.
In addition to this blockade, you mentioned more troops that are there in the street. We have more sanctions on Iranian oil. You have Scott Bessent threatening to put secondary sanctions on Iranian oil.
That is not the strategy that has worked with the Iranians in the past. Now, there hasn't really been a strategy that has worked in the past. And despite the rhetoric we're hearing, the White House sounds increasingly optimistic about this idea of a deal.
In fact, they were floating this idea of a second round of negotiations. It's not anything that's been put on the table yet, but they sounded pretty confident that this was likely to happen. So, it makes you wonder, what is it that seems to have changed? We still do not have those answers.
BURNETT: No, we don't. And of course, what we know so far is what they've talked about, right, is -- looks a lot like the Obama deal, which was accomplished without a war and burning through nearly 1,000 tomahawks along with U.S. soldiers' lives.
Kristen Holmes, thank you very much.
And everyone is here with me now.
Retired U.S. Navy Captain Carl Schuster, I want to start with you because you heard that message blaring off U.S. ships saying the whole U.S. Navy is ready to force compliance. Obviously, in English, at an Iranian port blockade. But they're making their point.
It's unclear if Iran has breached the blockade or not. They say they have. The U.S. says they haven't. What do you think Iran is doing right now or preparing to do right now?
CARL SCHUSTER, U.S. NAVY CAPTAIN (RET.): Well, I think first of all, just because a ship has escaped the Persian Gulf doesn't mean it can't be intercepted later. One of the things about the declaration of a blockade is there's a global aspect to it all. Our combatant commands are acting in support of Central Command, so the ship could be intercepted in the Indo-Pacific Command area of operations and so forth.
Now, what Iran is planning to do is the threat against the Red Sea comes in one of two forms. Iran has long range ballistic missiles that supposedly have an anti-ship capability that they can launch against shipping in the Red Sea. The probability of a hit is pretty small, as you notice with the Houthis, who are firing at a much closer range. They only got three hits out of 167 launches.
Second half of it is, though, they may try to get the Houthis to join the war. The Houthis are a pragmatic organization. They may join it. They're certainly happy to strike Israel. But the Houthis primary focus has always been on what's best for their community within northern Yemen.
So, they've cooperated with Israel in the past against Egypt and anyone else that threatened their interests. They've cooperated with Saudi Arabia in the past. And of course, most of the last 15 years, they've cooperated with Iran.
So, they'll do the minimum that they need to do to continue to receive Iranian support. They have a ceasefire with the United States. They've agreed not to attack our shipping. So that is an open question. It'll be interesting to see.
I personally believe the Iranians will launch a missile themselves into the Red Sea. Same thing perhaps for Oman.
BURNETT: All right. Which, Nazila, and that is an interesting point, right, is what he's saying that that that yes, there's the proxies, Houthis being first and foremost in terms of ballistic missile, you know, missile capability, long range missile capability. But Iran doing this themselves. How seriously do you take the threat right now from this Iranian government such that you understand it to be at this point to -- to blockade essentially to stop shipping in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, the Red Sea, all of those additional channels?
NAZILA FATHI, FORMER NEW YORK TIMES CORRESPONDENT BASED IN TEHRAN FOR TEN YEARS: Erin, I take it seriously. And that is because the blockade -- the blockade of the blockade is targeting Iran's economy. And Iran's economy was already fragile. So, the Iranian regime might be able to withstand this blockade for a couple of days. But if it's extended, it's going to hurt them.
And so, I do take the threat seriously. It appeared yesterday they were complying with the -- with the blockade. And they said some of the ships had turned around. But the threats that came today were serious. An IRGC commander talked about it, an Iranian official talked about it.
So, I think if they want to cause disruption, they can. And they have already created quite a disruption in the Persian Gulf.
BURNETT: Right, right. Which, of course, has not abated at this at this time.
Demetri Sevastopulo, I want to ask you -- you're the U.S.-China correspondent for "The Financial Times", and you've got some really important new reporting, which I briefly mentioned at the top of the show, but hugely significant.
You're reporting that Iran is using a Chinese spy satellite to target U.S. bases. Okay. Explain what you know. And the obvious thing here about why this is so important.
DEMETRI SEVASTOPULO, FINANCIAL TIMES U.S.-CHIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the important point is that in recent weeks and even last year, we've had stories about Chinese satellite companies providing satellite imagery to the Iranians.
[19:10:02]
But those are actually pictures they then transmit across.
What we have here is the Iranians have signed a contract with the relatively new Chinese company called Emposat. And that contract gives the Iranians, the Iranian military specifically not only access to the satellite, they essentially can control the satellite. They input task orders. They tell the satellite where to look, when to look.
And, you know, we obtained information showing what they were looking at and what they asked the satellite to do. And we found that they targeted or they looked down on American, U.S. targets in the region, particularly last month. We have data for about a week, and they then hit some of those targets after they had looked down on them.
And so, I think this is very consequential because what we know is that the Chinese are providing the Iranians with access to control a satellite themselves that is just for them. And that's significant.
BURNETT: Yeah, absolutely. As you point out, that is distinct from just providing pictures that China may choose to provide, allowing Iran to control the satellite, to take the pictures themselves to do the targeting. You mentioned that it was U.S. bases that you were able to look at data where you could see that the Iranians were using that satellite to look at U.S. bases, that they then later targeted.
I want to put up a map that you and your colleagues made. These are key sites in the region that you saw the satellite look at that were targeted. One of the crucial pieces here is that air base in Saudi Arabia, which Iran is targeted at least twice. And with devastating precision. Right? Devastating precision on one of that -- those key command and control spy planes, right, where they didn't just hit the plane on the runway, they hit the part of the plane where the controls were. Obviously, incredible precision on that.
How was the satellite used for those? Do you understand?
SEVASTOPULO: Well, what we were able to ascertain, both in terms of information we received, which we corroborated by looking at where the satellite was at certain points of time in its orbit is on March 13th, 14th and 15th. That satellite, which is called TEE-01B, was looking down at the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. We believe that the attack on the five refueling tankers happened on March 13th. So, it gave them a precise look at a big American target.
And another thing that's worth mentioning is Iran has some satellite capabilities itself, although some have been degraded. But the resolution that they can get is not very good. This Chinese satellite has resolution that's at least 10 times better and in some cases more than the Iranian satellites. It can see down to about half a meter. So that gives you a really good ability to target, you know, the things that you want to hit.
BURNETT: Yeah. Well, and when you talk about targeting the exact part of the plane you want to target, which they did, you know?
So, Captain Schuster, this is obviously hugely significant. And the White House is specifically saying that China has provided no weapons to Iran and maybe they're being, you know, rhetorical with their words, right, to try to not characterize a satellite as a weapon. But the question, Captain, is, can Iran use the satellite as Demetri describing it to target U.S. ships involved in the blockade of ports? I mean, he's talking about half a meter. It would seem that that would be very doable.
SCHUSTER: Well, on the surface, yes. But remember, you have the missiles accuracy as well. And when you're talking against a moving target, you got to pick a name point that's 10 to 12 minutes ahead. And that distance could be 1,200 -- 1,500 yards. And so, if the missile warhead is only accurate to within 30 meters or 10 meters, then you have a shot plus a warship, particularly an Aegis class ship has the ability to intercept the missile.
So, it's a threat. I don't want to -- I don't want to denigrate it, but it's not as serious as for a fixed target like an airfield. Iran's strategy is to inflict damage every critical platform they hit or even near-miss delivers a political message back in the United States.
We no longer produce RC-135s. We no longer produce E-3s. So, everyone they take out is years away from being replaced. So, it's a political message. Think of it that way.
BURNETT: Yeah. And in that case, a very, very important one.
Nazila, as you're talking to people in Iran, to sources, to family and friends that you also have there after reporting there from a decade, what do they think right now of the blockade? I mean, we're just a couple of days in, but what's the perception? FATHI: The perception widely is that the United States is targeting
Iran's economy. You know, the economy was not in a good shape before the war, since the ceasefire. The only thing people are telling me about is crazy prices, like even the price of potato quadrupled in a day.
People are very worried that the blockade is going to worsen the economy, the inflation, and it's going to lead to the collapse of the Iranian economy.
[19:15:02]
And these are not middle-class Iranians I talked to. A lot of them are wealthy, well-off Iranians who are really concerned about inflation.
BURNETT: It's incredible. The price of a potato quadrupling in one day. And we see where we are.
All right. Thanks very much to all three of you.
And next, President Trump all but admitting his party is about to lose. The GOP senator says they don't even deserve to stay in power. It's actually on tape.
And we're going to show you some new numbers. Really important new numbers tonight for Republicans.
Plus, are more members of Congress about to resign or be expelled after Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales? New details ahead.
And a shocking new story about RFK, Jr., and it is actually shocking. According to a new book, Kennedy once wrote in a journal that he chopped off a specific body part of a dead raccoon while on a family road trip, and he talked about it in detail. Gretchen Carlson, Xochitl Hinojosa are here with me. We've got a lot to talk about.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:25]
BURNETT: Tonight, President Trump posting a new image of himself and Jesus Christ, the president posting this image of Jesus embracing him with the caption, "The radical left lunatics might not like this, but I think it's quite nice, three exclamation points. President DJT."
Now the post comes, of course, two days after Trump was forced to pull down this image of himself as Jesus after widespread bipartisan shock and anger. Trump, of course, bizarrely claiming that he thought the image showed him as a doctor. It comes as Trump and his administration have repeatedly invoked religion to defend the war with Iran, and after a group of Christian leaders prayed over Trump during the war and this very memorable image, it's inside the Oval Office. You see it here, and they're all reaching in with their hands on him.
Gretchen Carlson and Xochitl Hinojosa are both here with me. So, Gretchen, obviously, you know, you know, Trump and he's come out
here now putting another image. So he's forced to take down that image of himself as Jesus Christ.
GRETCHEN CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: Yes.
BURNETT: Despite that ridiculous comment about being a doctor. And now he went out and put another image. And in this one, he isn't Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ is embracing him. And you know, condoning him, supporting him, whatever the implications of this clearly are.
CARLSON: Uh-huh.
BURNETT: So, he's doing this two days later.
CARLSON: So, obviously, the first meme was actually him as Jesus Christ then, because why would he continue on? Well, we know this about Trump is that he never leaves a bad story when he should leave.
BURNETT: That's right. He didn't put a doctor embracing him.
CARLSON: No, he did not. It wasn't a Red Cross worker either. So, he's back to putting himself. Okay, maybe its not appropriate for me to actually be Jesus, but I will be right next to him and he will be hugging me.
The deep implication here, of course, is that he is either an equal to Jesus or a very, very close friend.
BURNETT: Or somehow to use -- to use Christian terms, anointed by him, chosen by him, right, the right hand of the father.
CARLSON: Yes. And I do think that there's a deeper meaning here with him, because he's continuing down this story line, because some of his supporters do think of him as a savior of sorts.
BURNETT: Uh-huh.
CARLSON: And so, you know, now he's continuing to push that imagery out there. And I think it's a little scary, quite honestly, that we're to a point now where just three weeks ago, his spiritual advisor called him Jesus, and there was no admonishment of that. And now he's continuing down this path. And where do we end up with this?
BURNETT: I mean, Xochitl, he -- his post was, "Radical left lunatics don't like this," but the anger the shock, the disbelief at the post, okay, the original post was it was so widespread that he actually took it down and attempted to come up with that ridiculous doctor comment.
XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, it's not just the radical left. There are 53 million Catholics in the United States. And I'll say in the last election, he not only got evangelicals, but he got a lot of Catholics and Latino Catholics that used to be Democratic and now moved to the Republican Party because they felt that their values were more aligned with the Republican Party, whether it came on social issues, LGBTQ rights, abortion, et cetera. He -- Republicans or Democrats have made inroads with key groups like
Latinos and Catholics. And this definitely does not help.
What's interesting about all of this is over the last few months, and it's his second term, he's also had this obsession with going to heaven. He's talked about it a lot about going.
BURNETT: And how he probably isn't going to heaven.
HINOJOSA: How he probably isn't going to heaven. And I also do think that there is some worry with this fight, this back and forth with the pope. Now, what he is posting on social media and his sort of stress about going to heaven and potentially what is next for him is all -- it's sort of interesting the way that he has acted around this. And to be honest with you, I think his fight with the pope is actually impacting him in some way.
BURNETT: He's spending quite a bit of time on it. I mean, he's spending quite a bit of time.
HINOJOSA: He is, yes.
CARLSON: As we've said before, crisis P.R. management should have gotten ahold of this a long time ago and said, you know, when you had to take the post down, that would probably be a time to stop talking about this.
BURNETT: Right. So, Gretchen, this also comes in with the back and forth over the pope, which led to Vance last night warning the pope to be careful when he talks about matters of theology, which, of course, is the pope's business. He has a business, that's his job. Okay?
And that is exactly what Senate Majority Leader John Thune said to J.D. Vance. I mean, just listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: When he talks about matters of theology?
REPORTER: Yeah.
THUNE: Isn't that his job?
I'd stay focused on administration, on the economic issues, the pocketbook issues that I think most Americans care about.
[19:25:08]
And let the church be the church.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
CARLSON: Okay. More Republicans need to be saying that because -- yeah, you should be talking about the economy and the price of gas and taxes. Today's Tax Day. I mean, the economy should be front and center, but instead, we're talking about Trump taking on the pope ad nauseam. By the way, I'm not Catholic. I'm Protestant. But I read today that there are six reasons, apparently, according to Catholicism, when you would go to war. And according to the pope, we have not --
BURNETT: Discussion of a just war.
CARLSON: We have not gotten to any of those six with the Iranian war. So, what's the pope supposed to do? Take a total 180 and go, hey, I'm the first pope ever to actually be for war?
I mean, when you think it through, of course, he's going to say what he's going to say.
BURNETT: Right, right.
Xochitl, so, which -- which is just it is incredible to watch all of this, all this go down.
The other story I wanted to bring up tonight because I said it prior to the break and it is shocking. "The New York Times" is reporting this, "New York Post", HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is back on Capitol Hill tomorrow to testify. Okay? He's going to be testifying at a House hearing.
And according to a new book he once wrote in a journal that he chopped off the organs of a dead raccoon on a family road trip to later study. I mean, it's bizarre. Okay? And I know people can talk about the bear and the whale, but apparently, "The New York Post" sharing this excerpt saying Kennedy writes, and I quote, "I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684, cutting the penis out of a road-killed raccoon, thinking about how weird some of my family members have turned out to be."
Now, as I said, the dead bear cub in Central Park. Look, this is the nation's top health official, okay? And that's why this isn't just a completely bizarre thing to talk about. This is the HHS secretary.
HINOJOSA: Yes. This is -- and he has had some very bizarre actions just -- he's taken positions that are very bizarre. I mean, it is -- you have to think if you are a Republican and you voted for him, how is this man? Is this man all there? Is he even -- he is not fit to hold the job.
And it is just laughable to think that, oh, my family has potentially done crazier things. You're talking about the Kennedy family here. You're talking about the family who, I mean, has served in this country in multiple offices here. Former president of the United States. And the -- this man just gets stranger and stranger by the day. And it's just to me, it's just he is not fit to serve in this position.
BURNETT: I mean, Gretchen, it's bizarre. I mean, we have to, you know, look at something like this because of the position that he holds. CARLSON: Yes. And quite honestly, I'm much more concerned about his
stance on vaccines. But it's come to light now that after the whale and the bear and now the raccoon, he should have been a taxidermist, instead of the health and human services secretary. I mean, that would have been his calling.
(LAUGHTER)
HINOJOSA: I think you're right.
BURNETT: I think it's like there's almost nothing to say.
All right. Thank you both very much.
And next, the once popular shoe brand -- I mean, it was a rage. Allbirds. Did anyone ever have a pair? Well, suddenly its now NewBird, A.I. It's a change that sent the stock soaring nearly 600 percent today. What is going on?
Plus, this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): Well, hell, we ain't done anything in the majority. Why would -- should -- why should we keep majority?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Why should we keep the majority? That was a Republican senator you just heard say that. So, okay, what does that mean about how bad it is for Republicans this November?
Harry Enten is next. He's going to tell us something we don't know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:33:33]
BURNETT: Tonight, a Republican saying the quiet part out loud. Senator Tommy Tuberville all but admitting that Republicans don't deserve to stay in control of the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUBERVILLE: Everything that goes on up here, Benny, is about, oh, we got to get reelected. We got to keep the majority. Well, hell, we ain't done anything in the majority. Why would -- should -- why should we keep majority?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I mean, he asked the question, why should we keep the majority? What the hell have we done with it?
Well, it comes after the president said this about his party's chances in the midterms. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: When somebody gets elected president, that party always loses the midterms. I don't know why. I don;t know why. Nobody can explain it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, Tommy Tuberville had an explanation in part.
But, okay, Harry Enten is here to tell us something we don't know.
So, Harry, you heard Tommy Tuberville. That was a very honest assessment. That is what he thinks.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yeah.
BURNETT: He said, what the heck? Hell, are we done? And so, we don't deserve it.
Okay. If he's going to say that openly, how bad is it?
ENTEN: I mean, it's bad. It's like a nightmare for the Republicans. The Democrats just keep gaining and gaining and gaining when it comes to the Senate odds. And you can see it really well in the Kalshi prediction market. I mean, just take a look at the chance that Democrats win control.
You know, at the beginning of the year, it was only about a one-in- three shot. But now, look at this, Democrats haven't just gained on Republicans. They actually have the majority chance at 54 percent. That's fairly close to a toss up.
But the bottom line is this, we all thought that the House was going to go to the Democrats.
[19:35:02]
But the Senate as well? Oh boy, my goodness gracious.
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, well at first that was sort of, well, no way.
ENTEN: No way. No way, no how.
BURNETT: No chance. And now you point out what a shift.
Okay, so because of what, what are the key races that have driven that shift from one in three to the majority chance?
ENTEN: Yeah. Take a look at "The Cook Political Report", which just came out this week. And they shifted for key races closer to Democrats taking.
What are we talking about here? Well, we can talk about Georgia going from a toss up to lean Democratic.
How about North Carolina? This would be a Democratic pickup from toss up to lean Democrat.
How about Ohio? A state that Donald Trump won by double digits -- from lean GOP to toss up with the likely Democratic nominee, Sherrod Brown, the former senator.
And then Nebraska -- Nebraska hasn't elected a Democrat or a Republican senator since 2006, but it went from solid Republican to likely Republican. Democrats are gaining in many different seats across the political map, putting new states into play.
And that's the reason why, at this point, they actually have a 54 percent chance of taking over the United States Senate.
BURNETT: Which is fascinating. And, you know, thinking about Ohio and what a red state it had become --
ENTEN: Yes.
BURNETT: -- that you're now saying that's -- that's a toss up.
Okay, so tell us something else I don't know.
ENTEN: I'll tell you something else that you don't know. You look at Ohio, right? You think of the working class, right? You think of those who perhaps have incomes less than $50,000.
Look at how much they have turned against the president of the United States. Look at this. His approval rating at the beginning of his second term was plus two points, down he goes, into the smithereens now at negative 34 points on his net popularity rating. That's an over 35 point shift in only about a year plus a few months' time. No wonder all these states are in play.
BURNETT: And stunning.
All right. Thank you very much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: Harry Enten.
And also breaking tonight, former Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell is now officially under investigation in Los Angeles over allegations of sexual misconduct. The county's district attorney confirming this hours ago, saying the case has been assigned to its sex crimes division. Investigators are stressing the case is still in its early stages.
The fallout, though, raising new questions tonight about who could be next.
And Lauren Fox is OUTFRONT
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I'm glad that Eric Swalwell is leaving. I'm glad that Tony Gonzales is leaving.
LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More showdowns over who should be expelled from Congress in the wake of two major resignations, especially contentious in a body where every vote counts.
Next week, the House Ethics Committee expected to make a recommendation on Democratic Representative Sheila Cherfilus- McCormick, who was indicted in November and accused by federal prosecutors of taking millions in FEMA funds and rerouting some of it to her campaign. The Ethics Committee found her guilty last month of violating campaign finance laws.
She pleaded not guilty and says she doesn't plan to resign. "The allegations I'm addressing are not the same as those facing some of my colleagues lumping them together, particularly with cases involving sexual assault and rape, is inaccurate and irresponsible."
Also, under fire, Republican Representative Cory Mills, who is under investigation by House Ethics for campaign finance infractions and sexual misconduct. Mills ex-girlfriend, accused the congressman last year of threatening to release sexually explicit images and videos after her relationship ended with Mills.
Mills has denied the accusations.
REP. CORY MILLS (R-FL): Here's the distinguishing difference. One, I'm not married, so I'm not committing an affair in my life. Two, I've never had any inappropriate actions or any type of illegal behavior or inappropriate behavior with a staffer or intern of any type. I have absolutely no investigations that are criminal, that are open. I have no pending anything, and I don't really find it to be warranted that I'm even tethered to the individuals that are on there.
FOX (voice-over): Even some Republicans have said ethics needs to move swiftly on Mills.
REP. ANNA PAULINA LUNA (R-FL): I'm not Cory Mills spokesperson, but I'm sure it's not going to run cover for someone when I think they're wrong.
FOX: You also have Democrats calling for Cory Mills to step aside or be expelled. Would you be supportive of that measure?
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: What I'm supportive of is due process. There's a due process investigation that is going on for that individual member. It's about halfway through the process.
FOX (voice-over): And the prospects of further expulsions could impact Johnson's already narrow majority, a reality that members say no one can deny, especially as the speaker stares down several must- pass bills just months before the election.
REP. JARED MOSKOWITZ (D-FL): Obviously, there's a voting reality that gets put into this, not because it should when it comes to moral issues, but that's just the nature of this place. (END VIDEOTAPE)
FOX: And, Erin, we should note that being expelled from Congress is an exceedingly high bar. It's only happened six times in the House of Representatives. In fact, the last member to be expelled was George Santos in 2023.
But Representative Anna Paulina Luna, who was threatening to bring those expulsion votes against her colleague Swalwell and Gonzales if they didn't resign on their own. She said she is ready to vote for more of them if she had to, because she says at the end of the day, if people are doing something wrong, they need to go -- Erin.
[19:40:07]
BURNETT: All right. Lauren, thank you very much.
And next, an Epstein survivor returns to the late sex offender's townhouse here in New York. And CNN is with her as she raises important questions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look at how many cameras there are. One, two, three. Four. Five. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Where is that footage?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The special report, next.
Plus, Allbirds, the shoes, remember? Making a move that has my friend Jim Cramer calling ridiculous. Yet that move sent their stock up 600 percent today. Dan Ives is here with me.
We've got the whiteboard. It used to be Allbirds. It used to be Allbirds, Dan, and we're going to talk about it next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, Allbirds, the once extremely popular shoe brand that's been plagued by some struggles in recent years, saw its stock go stratospheric.
[19:45:05]
Today, it closed up nearly 600 percent in value in a single day, just under three, about $3 to $17. I mean, unbelievable. And this came after the company abruptly announced that it would be pivoting from shoes to artificial intelligence infrastructure, specifically A.I. compute infrastructure and A.I. native cloud solutions.
Okay, so they're going to change the name from Allbirds to NewBird A.I. but we went to the company's website tonight, by the way, they still are selling shoes. You know, if you go to allbirds.com, that's what you get. There's nothing about this, this NewBird cloud computing service, A.I. company.
OUTFRONT now, tech stocks and A.I. analyst Dan Ives.
Okay, Dan, the sentence here is the company is going to pivot its business to A.I. compute infrastructure and A.I. native cloud solutions provider. Do you understand what's happening here?
DAN IVES, GLOBAL HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH, WEDBUSH SECURITIES: Yeah. Erin, this is a little twilight zone. I mean, you're talking about a company that fell from grace, right? I mean, that that sold sneakers and now saying that they're basically going to be GPU and almost capacity from an A.I. perspective.
Look, it's one like obviously the stock went soaring, but I think there's ultimately probably a better chance of me playing in the NBA than this company being able to pivot like this.
BURNETT: Okay. And that's time for the whiteboard because you would need a special kind of sneaker for that sort of a dream, Dan.
Okay. Allbirds --
IVES: Exactly.
BURNETT: -- if anyone didn't know, Allbirds made sneakers, they still make sneakers, right? Because it's still on the website. Okay.
So what had happened? We talk about what had happened over time, Dan. It had had a horrible run, horrible run. I think at one point it was worth what $4 billion, but now, it's down 99-1/2 percent.
IVES: Yeah.
BURNETT: I mean, it had lost almost its entire value. So then we woke up today, and to deal with that, they're calling it NewBird. NewBird A.I., okay?
So, they changed the name or they foresee changing the name and NewBird A.I. in one day is up -- what is my exact number here? -- 582 percent.
I mean, Dan, here's the thing. That number is just stunning. And I understand you're talking from about $3, but a company that had gone down 99.5 percent in one day to come out with an announcement like this and go up 582 percent, I just am really struggling to understand it. Can you even understand the phenomenon of the response today?
IVES: Yeah. Look, I mean, you know, this is going to go down when you add A.I. -- it doesn't make you an A.I. company. And I think the reality is, is that it adds because -- again, we're in a fourth industrial revolution. But just because you add A.I., you don't get this type of sort of, you know, stock lift.
This would be the equivalent of a, your favorite sushi restaurant. All of a sudden, you go there the next day and they're selling women's pocketbooks and men's wallets. BURNETT: Okay, but does this scenario okay, which is, is made for,
you know, thinking that it's fake or late night TV? Does this add to the public's already incredible, skeptical view of A.I. and the legitimacy of a lot of what they're seeing out there?
IVES: I think it does. Look, the reality is there's so many tech companies that are going to play in this fourth industrial revolution, right? From Nvidia to OpenAI to Microsoft, Palantir and others.
But it adds to the worries about some of the hype, some of the froth when you just add an A.I. on a name of a sneaker company that goes to an A.I. company and GPU, and you get this type of lift, it's not positive.
But as we all know, I mean, you know, these stories don't end well. And now, we'll track it.
BURNETT: Just don't give up on your dream, you know? Don't give up on your dream, Dan, because if this can happen, you two could be in the NBA.
IVES: The NBA could happen. Exactly.
BURNETT: All right. Dan Ives, wonderful to see you. Obviously early in the morning on Thursday in Seoul. Thank you.
And next, our special report, CNN is there as an Epstein survivor returns to the convicted sex offender's townhouse in search of still desperately needed answers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:54:06]
BURNETT: Tonight, Vice President Vance raising questions with this comment about Jeffrey Epstein and pizzagate
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: One person sent an email to Jeffrey Epstein saying, oh, there were some really nice, like pizzas and grape sodas or something like that. And I remember it sounded like the pizzagate conspiracy theory, but here it was in like an email from a guy. And my reaction to that was, we should absolutely investigate that person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: It is unclear what Vance is referring to, but it's just one of a multitude of questions that the Epstein files raised. For some Epstein survivors, the files have raised more questions than answers, and that is the case for Danielle Bensky, who returned to the townhome where Epstein abused her in search of those answers.
MJ Lee is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: You okay?
DANIELLE BENSKY, JEFFREY EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Yeah.
[19:55:00]
It's just not easy to see, like it's just -- it holds a lot. And just like who I was before I stepped into these doors and who I was after, it's so long ago that I think like now, after becoming a parent, especially, you start to realize that 17 is so little, you know?
I remember standing right there, there was the GE on the side would have been here. Yeah.
LEE: What did you think you were coming here for? What were you told?
BENSKY: To be a masseuse. Yeah.
He's like, nice to meet you, you know. Shook her hand and then just like, got down on the massage chair on the table and was like, you start up here, you start down on your legs.
LEE: So, it wasn't until the second time when you came by yourself. He said --
BENSKY: Ballerinas are crazy and they love to get naked, right? And you know, if you want to be a ballerina, like, is that like, are you like that? Right? Do you like to get naked too? Like, you should totally try it. And I got naked and massaged him.
LEE: So, it was a gradual --
BENSKY: Yes, very gradual. And that's part of the grooming process and grooming tactics.
Look at how many cameras there are. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. So, like that was what I expected to see when we were originally looking through the files. I was expecting to see a lot of footage of girls, at least in and out. Nobody has that footage.
LEE: Yeah.
BENSKY: So where is that footage?
LEE: Yeah.
LEE (voice-over): That footage is among the things that Dani began searching for when President Trump's Justice Department recently released the Epstein files. What she found instead was what she told law enforcement about Jeffrey Epstein in 2008, when she was subpoenaed by the FBI.
BENSKY: I was like, terrified. So, I remember calling my mom.
LEE: Yeah. BENSKY: And my mom had said, you're going to derail your whole life,
you know, and something that Jeffrey had already said to me multiple times, basically, you'll be brought up on prostitution charges.
LEE: That's the headspace you were in?
BENSKY: Completely. And so, I kept walking back, like the amount of times, the level of abuse. I blamed it on a friend a lot of the time.
LEE: Let's go through it a little bit.
BENSKY: Yeah, yeah.
LEE: This person became very upset and Jeffrey ended up throwing the money at her and yelled at her to get out of his home.
BENSKY: That was me.
LEE: That was you?
BENSKY: Yeah. So --
LEE: Well, you're talking about your experience as though you're somebody else.
BENSKY: Yes. Because that is disassociation. If I can remove myself and I can look at it as if it's someone else and I don't have to -- I don't have to experience it again.
LEE (voice-over): Dani was interviewed by the FBI one more time in 2019 about Epstein. She said she again was unable to share the full truth.
BENSKY: I find it so hard to reread these and look at these because it's like, why couldn't you just be honest? Why couldn't you just tell someone?
LEE (voice-over): Dani also found her MySpace account from 2008, and photos of familiar rooms and objects inside of Epstein's townhouse.
LEE: I sense that with you, there's this fear that this moment is going to pass.
BENSKY: There are people out there right now, 17-year-old girls right now in parts of the U.S. that are being exploited and trafficked, right? So, I think that there's a lot of responsibility for those of us that have taken this story and turned it into advocacy.
This was part of a claim that I had to actually tell my story for the first time. My mom was diagnosed with a brain tumor called an acoustic neuroma. We looked at my mom's scans and he said that all it would take was one phone call to Mount Sinai to get her the top-of-the-line care.
He asked what I would do for it. He told me that he wanted me to procure others, which I never did, though I was so intimidated by him, at our sessions after he repeatedly physically abused me and made me do things to him.
Finally, my mom had her surgery. No help from Jeffrey, and so I stopped answering the calls. Before Jeffrey, I was a vivacious dancer with a love for ballet and the arts. After Jeffrey, I quit dancing because I couldn't look at myself. I couldn't look at my body in a leotard. It felt like my body was no longer my own.
When I went to acting school, that was the time when I started to actually feel like I could come to terms with who I used to be. I found dance for myself again and like the movement kind of recalibrated me to come back to myself.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEE: And, Erin, we did ask the Justice Department whether there is any footage from the cameras that were outside of Jeffrey Epstein's house, and a DOJ spokesperson told me that all of the footage, the camera footage that is in the Justice Department's possession has been released.
Now, meanwhile, the DOJ did not comment on my inquiries about Dani's name still appearing in the files, but we will tell you that since the filming of this interview, her name no longer appears in the files -- Erin.
BURNETT: Thank you very much. An incredible piece. Incredibly brave of Dani.
And thanks so much to all of you for joining us.
"AC360" begins now.
