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Erin Burnett Outfront
American Tests Positive For Hantavirus, Held In Biocontainment Unit; Trump Meeting With National Security Team, Not Ruling Out Return To Combat; James Comey: Trump Has A "Bottomless Desire To Gain Revenge"; Trump Transportation Chief Facing Calls For Probe Into His Reality Show. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired May 11, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:18]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, the WHO says expect more hantavirus cases as the U.S. reporting -- is reporting its first positive case from the cruise ship. A second suspected case is also now being monitored.
Also breaking this hour, President Trump meeting with his top team on Iran, resuming military action is officially on the table. He says the cease fire is on life support. Our expert tonight says he believes the fighting is about to start again.
And the backlash building. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy defending the reality show he and his wife, along with their nine children, filmed for the past seven months.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. Hantavirus in the United States, an American passenger on the cruise ship at the center of the deadly hantavirus outbreak, has tested positive for the virus. That passenger, along with 15 others, are right now at the University of Nebraska medical center being monitored at this hour. And we are just learning this that another American who was on that ship is experiencing symptoms.
Now, this is according to health officials at Emory University. Now that's in Atlanta. And that is where the symptomatic passenger and that person's partner have been transferred. They were both on the ship, one symptomatic. So that person is in Atlanta after another cruise ship passenger from France, tested positive for hantavirus today.
Now, the director general of the World Health Organization now says that cases which currently stand at nine known cases, he says cases will grow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION DIRECTOR- GENERAL: So, we expect more cases to come actually. But I hope they will be as small as possible. We already have one confirmed the, you know, the passenger from France and I expect actually more because of the long incubation period.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, he's talking about that long incubation period and how it is long. I mean, for this particular known strain of the hantavirus, it is up to six weeks. Now, the WHO now considers anyone on board that particular ship, that original cruise ship to be, quote, a high risk contact, which now raises a crucial question about how long the passengers will stay quarantined at the University of Nebraska and at Emory.
And the reason that this is such a strange question is that it has not yet been definitively answered by officials. It also raises questions about the Americans who returned early from the cruise to their home states. Six states now are on watch, ten people being watched in those states. As of now, under no formal quarantine.
The question is, though, whether all of the passengers on the cruise ship, who are now formally considered high risk contacts by the WHO, should they all be maintaining this full quarantine and staying under quarantine for the full six weeks?
Well, tonight, we are learning three passengers who are now at the University of Nebraska will likely return at some point to their homes in New York. So, three of them are from various places in New York.
And the New York governor today said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: I believe that there is a 42-day monitoring period, and they can decide whether they want to do that in Nebraska or come back and make other accommodations. We have outstanding researchers here in the state of New York. Scientists, our Wadsworth laboratory is second to none, so I've activated them to start preparing New York for worst case scenarios and hope they don't come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Dianne Gallagher is OUTFRONT live outside the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where passengers are being monitored tonight.
And, Dianne, what is the latest that you're learning on the ground there?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, Erin, I do want to show you because that building that you see behind me here at the University of Nebraska medical center in the basement of this building, right here is the national quarantine unit. And that is where 15 of those passengers who arrived in the wee hours of this morning are now being monitored.
Now, these individuals, we've told everybody here in Nebraska at this point is asymptomatic. But those 15 who are in the national quarantine unit are basically in what they call almost like hotel rooms. They have exercise equipment. They can facetime and talk to their families. They cannot have visitors, though, and that is because the medical officials here will continue to do assessments throughout the day and in the coming days to determine just how close their contact was when that happened, and also monitor them for fever or other symptoms of the hantavirus.
[19:05:01]
Now, there is one person who is in a biocontainment unit, and that is the individual who they say did have a positive test before they came here to the United States. Now, according to Spanish health officials, that person took two tests. The first test Spanish officials considered to be not conclusive.
But U.S. officials said they thought it was a weak positive. That person took a second test, which came negative. But U.S. officials, exercising extreme precaution, said that that person should have a biocontainment protocol in their transfer to the United States and go to this unit for further monitoring and testing. It is important to note that that individual has not shown any symptoms at this time, and authorities here have said that, at least to their knowledge of this virus, because it's not a novel virus, that symptoms are key to transmission.
And so, at this point, they're monitoring that. You mentioned that quarantine period, that monitoring period, and they don't have to stay here after they do the assessment, after they are monitored. If it is determined that they are okay to continue based on if they've got the proper medical facilities, where they are from and in their hometown, if they have an area in their home to quarantine, they can leave. But at that point, authorities, of course, say they can't necessarily guarantee there is no transmission, though the risk for it is low.
BURNETT: All right, Dianne, thank you very much.
So much new information there. I want to go now to Dr. Dele Davies, interim chancellor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, where 16 passengers from the cruise ship remain tonight.
I appreciate your time, Dr. Davies.
So, what more can you share about the person in the biocontainment unit you just heard Diane laying out that, you know, at first, there had been a weak positive on the test. The second was a negative.
What are you -- do you know whether this person has it or not at this point? What's the status such that you understand it?
DR. H. DELE DAVIES, HEAD OF MEDICAL CENTER WHERE AMERICAN WHO TESTED POSITIVE IS BEING HELD: Well, the status is that he is asymptomatic. He has absolutely no symptoms. He's in the biocontainment unit. Out of an abundance of caution because of this test that was reported as being weakly positive. So, the goal is really to retest him here and continue to monitor him and obviously have him in the most ideal place so that if he were to develop symptoms, he would get care early.
BURNETT: Is there anything more you can share? I mean, obviously, you're saying the persons a male, but anything more about how they what their role was on the ship or anything about how they could have come into contact with one of the original patients?
DAVIES: No, I'm not able to share much more than the fact that they obviously were in contact with somebody who was symptomatic.
BURNETT: So, okay, which is important so that this person was in contact with someone who was symptomatic. And, and as you say, they are currently asymptomatic at this time. But in that biocontainment unit.
DAVIES: Right.
BURNETT: So that, I guess, raises this question, doctor, you just heard the governor of New York, you know, her. Her comment was that I believe there's a 42-day monitoring period, she said. And they referring to the individuals that are now currently in Nebraska, can then decide whether they want to do that, as in quarantine in Nebraska, or come back.
I think a lot of people want to understand this a little bit better. If there is a 42-day quarantine, why not have them do it in Nebraska when the WHO is saying that the high the high risk of because they were exposed to people who may have had the virus, why not just keep them there as opposed to letting them go home?
DAVIES: So, you know, they will all have the option of staying here for the duration. However, the determination of how long they stay here will be based on a number of factors. There will be screening with our federal partners, the CDC and ASPR to really get a sense of, you know, how -- how much intense their risk factors in terms of contact with people who are who, who were symptomatic was.
And then they will, there'll be some conversation with them and wherever their home state is to figure out if there are opportunities to also quarantine them close to home in a safe and secure manner. That does not pose a risk to the public and to themselves.
BURNETT: So, you feel that you can do that even if they go home? I'm only just a doctor, just, I think, trying to channel how some people may feel here with the WHO now saying anybody on board is a, quote/unquote, high risk contact and such a long incubation period, it's very easy to imagine somebody feeling fine for one, two, three, four weeks. And, you know, suddenly, you know, they go to the grocery store and, and people, people get concerned.
DAVIES: Well, we certainly don't think they should go to the grocery store during this time. And it absolutely should be in a place where they are under quarantine until there's absolute certainty that they're not going to break into symptoms. So ideal place would be in a quarantine center like here. However, you know, we do want to take into consideration you know, the patients and the state and opportunities where there might be for them to be quarantined safely elsewhere. But certainly, the ideal would be to be here.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Dr. Davis, I appreciate your time and thank you so much for explaining everything, such that you know it right now. Thank you.
And Dr. Gustavo Palacios is back with me, one of the world's foremost experts on this strain of hantavirus. He helped piece together how this virus has moved from person to person thus far. And he is advising on the ongoing cruise ship outbreak.
Joseph Allen, also back with us, professor at Harvard University School of Public Health.
Dr. Palacios, so you just heard Dr. Davies and what he -- what he had to say there. What are the new details you have about the virus tonight and its spread?
DR. GUSTAVO PALACIOS, VIROLOGIST ADVISING OFFICIALS ON HANTAVIRUS OUTBREAK: So I mean, we reported yesterday along with the big consortium of institutions of multi-country consortium, the report of the sequencing of a lot of the cases from the ship, a lot of those samples have flown to different institutions in South Africa, in Senegal, in the Netherlands, and in Switzerland, and all of those group of individuals have put together a report that on the genomics of this outbreak, that essentially demonstrate essentially three things.
First, that all the sequences are almost identical, that they are very few differences in two cases, one -- one on each, and that that means its a strongly in support of a single source of the -- of infection.
The second point would be that there is a prima facie there is nothing different about the about this strain compared with others. Obviously, a more granular analysis will depend on on weeks on hand to try to figure out if any of the changes to the known strains of Andes could make a difference in the phenotype. But so far there is nothing special about this strain.
BURNETT: Okay, which obviously is hugely significant.
And, Professor Allen, in terms of the spread and what we understand, and I think peoples questions, given that you could have people who are from Nebraska, and obviously there's already people around the country who came off of that ship, right. But that -- these individuals may also be able to return home.
I want to play what officials said today about how they're describing the spread. Here's what they said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRENDAN JACKSON, CDC OFFICIAL: We're talking about exposure to specifically to body bodily fluids. And that could include things like saliva. So, if you're sharing eating utensils, kissing, touching those type of things, it can also mean just being really, really close to that person for a fairly long period of time. So we're calling that six right now, six feet for at least a cumulative number of 15 minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, Dr. Allen, I guess what I'm saying is that that would people are in a restaurant. I think of lots of places where you're six feet away from people that you're not actually spending time with. Although Gustavo and I will have passed that test here in the time we've been sitting here. You did also find, though, Professor Allen past cases that did not require the prolonged close contact that was just described there.
JOSEPH ALLEN, PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yeah. Thanks for having me on, Erin. I think they have half the story right. Is it can be transmitted through bodily fluids and close contact, but they're missing the other half of the story. Dr. Palacios just told us it is the exact same strain of the Andes strain that we previously seen that spreads human to human.
And in those prior outbreaks that happened on land, it didn't require prolonged close contact. In fact, one person passed it to another person at a birthday party simply by passing by and saying hello. That's not prolonged contact. Other people that transmitted in that same outbreak in Argentina, they were explicit, the author said. No close contact.
So, I think the messaging continues to be incomplete. It's half correct. And this is really important because we need to tell people, including those in quarantine, that it is not just prolonged close contact. You have to be careful of these other ways it's spreading because it's very clear we are seeing spread that doesn't require prolonged or long duration contact and doesn't require close physical contact.
BURNETT: Right, right. And dr. Palacios, even if this, you know, we hope continues to be something that is not spreading in a more rapid manner because of the high percentage of death risk for anyone who gets it. You know, you're talking about someone with a 30, 40 percent death rate as opposed to a 1 percent death rate. So, so stopping any spread is of utmost importance.
When the acting director of the CDC spoke, told CNN that passengers who were not in close contact with anybody symptomatic will be deemed low risk. Okay, so that's what the CDC said. So, passengers who were not in close contact with someone who was symptomatic will be deemed low risk. The WHO now says anyone on board is a high risk contact.
Okay, which one am I suppose to trust?
PALACIOS: I could -- I could follow the advice of the of the WHO, honestly. I mean, but that depends on the risk assessment that you're doing about the situation.
[19:15:01]
The tolerance to risk might be different in different countries, and they will know a lot more about the situation than what I do. If I -- if I were in a position to make a decision that luckily, I am not, I would be more cautious.
BURNETT: You would you would err on the side of the WHO, which is just important. I mean, given the U.S. right, cutting its participation in the WHO, cutting funding to the CDC, I think people have questions.
Professor Allen, there are other states being monitored. I mentioned New York, obviously, because the governor spoke today, but the California Department of Public Health says four Californians are being monitored, three of whom were passengers on that ship as well. And you've got the states of Georgia, Arizona and Texas also monitoring individuals.
So, now, these numbers obviously have not changed. Mean, in terms of the number of states. So how much larger do you see this getting at this point?
ALLEN: Well, Erin, I don't think we should be messing around here. I agree with the World Health Organization. Anyone on that ship is high risk. I find it confusing that you would consider someone on that ship low risk at this point. Weve had a lot of deaths. We've had several deaths. We have continuing ongoing cases that are popping up.
And look, we kind of have a handle on this right now thanks to the ship keeping everyone isolated. We know where that first set of passengers are, and we can keep track of them in quarantine if were not careful. In this next step, we can look at that last outbreak in Argentina, which had four waves. So, we don't want that second wave to happen. We don't want the third and fourth wave to happen, and we have a chance to prevent that from happening.
What we need to do is make sure that people who are high risk are quarantined. Those who are tested positive are isolating, and we're doing the right things to protect other transmission in their homes. If that's where they're spending their quarantine.
BURNETT: And I guess that's the last point. I mean, obviously, when you dealt with the Argentina situation, they were able to essentially shut off an entire area for a period of time to stop it in its tracks. Whereas if you have people here going to all different places around the country, that essentially becomes impossible quite quickly.
PALACIOS: That is true. But I would also want to make the point that in the outbreak, the signal that there was something wrong came a little bit later. I mean, right now we are -- it's true that we have three waves, but right now we have been able, in part for what Professor Allen is referring, that this started on a ship. We have a good grasp of where the first wave is occurring. So essentially, we were able to control, if you want that first transmission.
So, to ensure that there is not a continuation, that there is not a third wave, essentially we are if we do the job right. I mean, there is not going to be a third wave because right now what we are doing in terms of isolating, even if it is if it is self-isolation, yes, obviously, it's a higher risk, but it's not -- this is not as transmissible as SARS-CoV-2 or measles. It's a virus that has a very small window of contagiousness.
And therefore, in that window, in that period of time is the period of high risk. If we manage that risk correctly, then they --
BURNETT: Get it right.
PALACIOS: Exactly.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you both very much, Dr. Palacios and Professor Allen.
And next breaking news, President Trump tonight meeting with top advisers on Iran. Military action again, back on the table as he says the cease fire is on, quote, "massive life support".
More breaking news this hour as well. Former FBI Director James Comey, speaking out for the first time since being indicted again by Trump's DOJ. Why? He says he could face even more indictments.
Plus, President Trump reportedly says he's considering making Venezuela the 51st state. Move over Canada. That's after he removed the country's president, Nicolas Maduro.
Our David Culver getting a rare look inside Venezuela. He's on the ground tonight in Caracas to find out what they think of Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He think's he's crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:18]
BURNETT: Breaking news, President Trump meeting with his national security team on Iran right now and resuming military action is on the table. As Trump says, the ceasefire, in his words, is on life support. He dismissed Iran's counterproposal to any kind of a negotiated settlement as a, quote, "piece of garbage".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would call it the weakest right now, after reading that piece of garbage they sent us, I didn't even finish reading it. I would say the cease fire is on massive life support
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: Meanwhile, in Iran, state media is portraying a nation ready for war again, showing off Iran's military equipment. A front page there says IRGC missiles and drones are locked on enemy ships and bases. Another says the armed forces are waiting the order to fire. Of course, U.S. intelligence assessments have assessed that 70 percent of Iran's missile capability is now back in place.
OUTFRONT now, Karim Sadjadpour and David Frum, and I appreciate both of you, and it is really great to have you both here together to have this conversation.
So, Karim, you know, Trump calling the counter proposal a piece of garbage and massive life support is how he's describing the actual ceasefire itself. You think that the war may resume?
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I do think so, Erin, because both sides have a sense of entitlement right now. President Trump says we've spent so much on this war. We're the superpower. And he's demanding a very strong deal from strong concessions from the Iranians. Likewise, in Tehran, they say, we've sacrificed so much. This war has cost us so much. And they are demanding a strong deal from the United States. And for that reason, the two sides are very far apart. And I think Trump's instincts is to increase the pain on Tehran, to try to bring them to the table.
BURNETT: Right. And of course, of course, they have something now that they didn't have before in terms of actually doing something that Trump didn't think they'd do, which was seize the strait.
[19:25:07]
David, you say the only negotiation that matters here is not anything in Islamabad, and it's not anything on the phone, and it's not in Switzerland. It's in Trump's head.
DAVID FRUM, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Yeah, we all want to live in a world that makes sense. We all want to believe that power is in the hands of responsible people. And because we want to believe those things, we do believe those things.
But as we watch this, it seems to me pretty clear this is not a story about diplomacy. It's a story about psychology. Trump is torn between two, is oscillating between two impulses. He wants this over. He recognizes the economic pain is real, and it threatens the Republicans in the midterm elections. And that threatens his legal position because he's done a lot of things that he doesn't want to answer for congress for.
On the other hand, he cannot bear the thought of looking weak, looking like he's acceding to anybody else's wish. And so, you have this paradox where, as he's supposedly negotiating, he uses this insulting language to reassure himself that he's the strong man, that he's in charge, that he's dominant. That's the psychological dimension.
I can't predict which of those elements comes to the upper hand, but I think that this will be driven. Unfortunately, I'd like to live in the world of rational people guiding American foreign policy, as Karim has so ably done over his career as an advisor and consultant, and insider. But I think we live in this other world where the president is going to respond in instinctive, intuitive ways for less than rational reasons.
BURNETT: I mean, Karim, in that world, you know, as you're looking at Iran, where the supreme leader. Well, there's been -- there's been more potential for his visibility in recent days, although we still haven't seen him. Right. But he still hasn't shown his face.
You are hearing of growing anger inside Iran, anger at who or whom?
SADJADPOUR: Well, it's a population which is under enormous economic duress. And as we've talked about before, 70 percent inflation, one of the highest rates in the world. And it's a population which has been blockaded. It's the regime has deprived people of internet access for the last six months. So, I think that the Iranian people don't really have a full extent of the damages they're facing. And, you know, the David said it really well. This is about psychology.
And I think the psychology of the regime, the revolutionary guards, is that they keep reading the English language media, which says that Iran is this emerging great power. And I think they don't feel psychologically that they need to compromise. They're expecting the United States to compromise.
BURNETT: And, well, and suddenly controlling the strait of Hormuz, which they did, I suppose, in a de facto way before. But it's one thing to say it and it's another to do it. And it does change their power profile, David.
FRUM: Well, in the past, the Iranians could potentially close the Strait of Hormuz and the United States could potentially do something horrible to them if they tried it. And so, both were -- so they were deterred by the potential of American power.
But now, American power has been wielded while President Trump makes these blustery threats, it's pretty hard to imagine what the United States could do that is more devastating than the United States and Israel together have done. They've killed much of the Iranian leadership. They've destroyed much of Iran's offensive war making capacity. The United States has already delivered the punishment.
And so, the Iranians, the Iranian regime, not the Iranian people, must think -- well, what is there to lose? You know, the United States has probably war gamed a conflict with Iran since at least the spring of 1980.
BURNETT: Yeah.
FRUM: Maybe even before that. And at every one of those war games, it must be like almost a cliche. The first American move is this. The first Iranian countermove is to close the Strait of Hormuz.
BURNETT: Yeah. FRUM: And that's been on everyone's map since the spring of 1980. And
so, you have to wonder what happened that no one asked the question. Okay. And then what do we do in the situation room beforehand? Except you referred in the introduction to Trump's national security team, there isn't really a national security team anymore.
The National Security Council is broken. There's no real national security advisor. Marco Rubio is wearing two hats, which means he's not doing either job. And so, the question is, how do you test? How do you know what to do? We're not doing it.
BURNETT: And there is no one to tell the emperor whether or not he is wearing clothes, Karim.
SADJADPOUR: In Washington or in Tehran. I mean, what is interesting, Erin, is that, there's a class had been teaching for many years at Georgetown University on U.S. strategy toward the Middle East. And the way we'd always conduct the classes, usually you're focusing on a country in the region in which you're just focusing on the leader. You can just kind of focus on their worldview, and then you cover Washington as a system. And now, it's the opposite in this context, we really are just focusing on the presence of the United States, and Iran is the system that we're trying to understand.
BURNETT: What an incredible thing to say, just to put it that way, as you both have, is an incredible thing to think about.
Thank you very much. I appreciate the conversation.
And next, calls to investigate Trump's transportation secretary's new reality show, a show that Sean Duffy and his family filmed for the past seven months. And yes, just to be clear, while he was transportation secretary.
Plus, some Republicans are having doubts about voting to fund Trump's ballroom. Well, it was never supposed to be paid for, right, by donations. But now, it's you and taxpayers.
David Axelrod, Gretchen Carlson are our guests, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:06]
BURNETT: Breaking news, in his first interview after being indicted by the DOJ for the second time, former FBI Director James Comey slamming President Trump and his, quote, "bottomless desire to gain revenge".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES COMEY, FBI DIRECTOR: Donald Trump has a bottomless desire to gain revenge against those who criticized him, and I'm not going to stop criticizing him because I think that's a -- that's required if you care about America. And so, it will just keep going.
NICOLLE WALLACE, MS NOW HOST: Do you think they're going to indict you again?
COMEY: Oh, I don't know. Maybe. Yeah. I mean, I think Donald Trump wakes up at 3:00 in the morning thinking about me. I do not -- the vice -- reverse does not happen. But I'm sure that if this case falls apart, they'll come with something else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Gretchen Carlson and David Axelrod.
So, Axe, you heard Comey that there's a bottomless desire for revenge. So, you know, what do you think happens here? Does Trump -- does Trump pay a price for going after someone like Comey or no?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think he pays a price for being interested in everything, but what the American people are interested in. People did not hire him, and he was forced to. And his people were forced to sort of say, no, I'm not going to do that during the campaign, because there was a fear that this would happen, that he would be focused on the wrong things, including revenge.
And now he's sort of proving that out. And it's not just the indictments, but obviously he's going after his political opponents in a pretty savage way. And, all kinds of other things. I'm sure we'll talk about that, but that aren't the main thing.
So I think the political price he's paying right now is that people don't believe he's dealing with their problems. He's mainly a satisfying his own needs.
BURNETT: I mean, Gretchen, when you look at promises Trump made, yeah. He has broken many of them. Let's just talk about a war as one of them. But this is one he kept.
GRETCHEN CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: Oh, yeah. I mean, I was thinking to myself today that this is the number one thing that he said he would definitely do and that he has actually done.
Now, do I think that voters paid as much attention to this as when he promised that he was going to reduce prices at the grocery store and for sure get rid of inflation? No. And secure the borders.
I think that voters were paying more attention to that. But for those of us like you and me and Axe who were covering this on a daily basis, we heard him say it a lot. He was going to go after his enemies, and it always got a lot of applause.
And to James Comey point, I mean, he's not going to stop. He's going to continue to do this because he was also, in his mind, persecuted when he spent the four years not being president. And this is his payback.
BURNETT: You know, and you also have -- you talk about things that that matter, Axe. And there's a lot of things that matter -- tariffs, prices, gas prices, the economy, housing prices, a war that American soldiers and service members lives are at risk right now in the Middle East, right? All of those things, and I could go on and on. And yet a lot of time has been spent on other things. For example, the ballroom, right?
The ballroom. Trump talks about the ballroom all the time. In fact, after, you know, thank God nothing happened at that dinner in Washington. But right afterwards, when he spoke that night, the first thing he brought up was his need for the ballroom. And he wants $1 billion now, right? It was going to be paid for by private money. That was the whole thing. But now its $1 billion of taxpayer money just got put in there.
So, Chuck Schumer vowing to openly oppose it. It's being stuck into a big bill with everything else. Is that a winner for Democrats?
AXELROD: Yeah.
BURNETT: I mean, it is -- I do again, I think the main reason this is a winner is that the president is so obviously obsessed with this, at a time when there's, you know, people are really feeling pressing needs on the one thing that he promised he would do, which is lower prices. And he's doing stuff that raises them.
And now, after pledging that this vanity project would be paid for by, you know, special interests who would be kicking in for it and not taxpayers, we're told that they're going to need $1 billion of taxpayer money for what, you know, what they call security arrangements, but this is going to underwrite the ballroom. Let's be clear.
Yeah. So, I think it's -- you know, you know, it's an issue. It's an issue. There's no doubt.
BURNETT: You know, Gretchen, it's interesting. A few moments ago, David Frum and we're talking, Karim said, you know, it used to be in the Middle East. You could look at one leader of a country, figure out what they think. And, and you would know what you needed to do. And Washington was covered as a big institution and a system. And now the roles are reversed. And it only matters what Trump is going to do.
So, it's just -- in that context, you know, it really doesn't matter what Trump is going to do. He's got such a great point. And yet now on this issue of the ballroom, one of the few little issues.
[19:40:02]
Okay, Epstein, there were some Democrats, Republicans who stood up to Trump. On the ballroom, there are Republicans quietly saying they don't want to do. One of them told "Punchbowl", a first year poli sci major would know not to ask members to take this vote, and we hope the speaker does, too. Another, saying, there's no way in hell this gets the votes on the floor.
Do they really stand up to him on this? Even this, will they do it?
AXELROD: So, I think if there's a voice vote where you actually have to have your voice on this, there could be a problem for Trump being able to get this passed. But we've seen countless times where we hear that the back chatter amongst Republicans is that they make fun of Trump behind his face. And to others in the quiet of their rooms.
But will they actually do that if they're out there in their names in front of it, and they actually have to cast a vote? We just talked about this last week. We're in Indiana. Trump's machine ousted the incumbents who did not allow the redistricting plan that Trump wanted to pass there, and they paid the price.
So that machine is apparently still alive and well. And I think Republicans are saying that to "Punchbowl' and behind the scenes, but I'm not so sure they would do it in real life.
BURNETT: And I guess, David, is that the truth? Because we did just see what happened in Indiana, that Trump was able to oust all of those people who stood up to him.
AXELROD: Yeah.
BURNETT: Redistricting.
AXELROD: Absolutely. And later this month, there's the primary with Thomas Massie. And these things are important for Trump in maintaining control. He is deeply unpopular in the country, but he remains very popular with his base. Senator Cassidy is up for renomination this week. He may be squeezed out of the general election this week because the president has endorsed a candidate against him.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you both. It's a pleasure to see you.
And next, the calls growing for an investigation into Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, because, well, while he was secretary, he went out and filmed a reality show with his wife and nine children. Yes. That's what he did.
Plus, first OUTFRONT, four months after U.S. forces captured Nicolas Maduro. CNN is on the ground in Caracas, where our David Culver gets a rare inside look at a country that is torn when it comes to President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Not everyone feels like the United States should be involved in Venezuelan matters.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:47:03]
BURNETT: Tonight, growing calls for an investigation into MTV reality star turned Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who has spent the past seven months while he has been transportation secretary, filming a new reality show series called "The Great American Road Trip", in honor of America's 250th birthday. The series features himself and his wife, the Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy, along with their nine children.
Now, Duffy's former "Real World" house is one of the stops on the tour, all of it raising a lot of questions about, well, what a transportation secretary is supposed to do.
Tom Foreman is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TRUMP: What a beautiful family.
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Another reality show, another road trip. But it's a familiar path for this family.
TRUMP: Taking a little trip?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, yes.
TRUMP: A little trip all over.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and his wife Rachel Campos-Duffy, of Fox News, met on MVT's "Road Rules" all stars, and they and their nine children are channeling that past in this five part YouTube series.
SEAN DUFFY, TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: We're encouraging everyone to go take a road trip to celebrate America's 250th birthday. Welcome to Montana.
FOREMAN (voice-over): But the rollout of their made for tv trip through at least 17 states is hitting rough roads with serious safety questions about air travel and several incidents, including a Frontier plane striking and killing a pedestrian over the weekend. A hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship and gasoline prices way up amid the U.S. fight with Iran.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg posted, "This is brutally out of touch. Regular families can't afford road trips anymore because Trump and his war put gas prices through the roof."
DUFFY: Someone has to pay for this operation. I got to go to work.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Duffy says. No taxpayer dollars were involved. Neither he nor his family were paid, and sponsors picked up the production tab.
But looking at some of those corporate backers, government watchdogs warn that the secretary is enjoying a road trip that appears to have been funded by the very industries his agency oversees.
RACHEL CAMPOS-DUFFY, FOX NEWS HOST: I wear my boots that John Rich gave me.
DUFFY: They're very sexy.
FOREMAN (voice-over): The Duffys are pushing back, posting that the radical, miserable left just hates the show because it's too wholesome, it's too patriotic, it's too joyful.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Madz kind of mad.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm not.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're mad.
DUFFY: We're not going to fight on this trip. Put your seatbelts on.
BURNETT: Still, critics say the power couple is on thin ice. Although the project was reportedly shot mainly on weekends and holidays, it took seven months.
DUFFY: There's a crisis, and Pete Buttigieg decides to ignore it.
BURNETT: And back when Buttigieg led transportation, both the Duffys attacked him for doing anything other than his government work, even for taking paternity leave when his twins were born.
CAMPOS-DUFFY: What the hell was he doing? And we were in the middle of a supply.
DUFFY: It's vacation time, right? So, he's not doing his job.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[19:50:02]
FOREMAN: So, the thing is, is people who heard the Duffys back then are looking at what they're doing now, and they're seeing the world's biggest ball of hypocrisy. No matter where you go on the map. Not very happy about it -- Erin.
BURNETT: No. All right. Thank you very much, Tom Foreman.
And next first here OUTFRONT, David Culver, the Venezuela four months after Nicolas Maduro was captured by U.S. forces. And what David found is a nation very much on edge now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CULVER: He says, you can't go any closer because the police have blocked it off. And you can see they've got a barricade up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:55:02]
BURNETT: Tonight, Trump wants Venezuela as part of the United States. That's according to Fox anchor John Roberts, who said the president told him this in a phone call.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: He kind of surprised me a little bit because he said, John, I just want to tell you I'm very serious about this. So, you can talk about this. I'm serious about beginning a process to make Venezuela the 51st state
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, Venezuela's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez rejected the idea, saying we are not a colony but a free country -- an incredible back and forth as our David culver is actually inside Venezuela, OUTFRONT with this special report tonight from Caracas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He says, you can't go any closer because the police have blocked it off. And you can see they've got a big barricade.
CULVER (voice-over): A public demonstration, and we can't get in. These Venezuelans are calling on their government to raise wages and ease repression. The police keep turning folks back.
CULVER: He's trying to tell us that there's another side to go to. We've driven all the way around this area for about 30 minutes, and we haven't found a way to enter.
It looks like now we might have found one possible entry here, but, I mean, it's now towards the end of the march and demonstration.
She's saying elections have to come for a radical change. He says they took, meaning the U.S., Maduro, but left the rest of the system in place.
CULVER (voice-over): Delcy as an acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, who governs behind layers of security, several blocks of armed guards.
CULVER: They got a mobile command force right there.
CULVER (voice-over): Not surprising, given how her predecessors rule ended on January 3rd, when U.S. forces captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, their names and faces now plastered across Caracas bill boards, graffiti, homemade signs. The government at least wants them back.
CULVER: The reality is Maduro, a man who ran this country for some 13 years, even though he faces is everywhere here in Caracas. Well, he's in custody, locked up in the U.S., the system he built that is still standing, and that's not lost on the people here.
CULVER (voice-over): Especially the families of the more than 450 political prisoners still in custody.
CULVER: We've driven about an hour outside the capital. We're headed to El Rodeo, which is considered to be one of the better-known prisons where many of these political prisoners are believed to be held.
CULVER (voice-over): At the prison gate, family members live out of tents waiting for weekly visits. CULVER: Because they don't have the money to make the trip multiple times they camp out, and on days like today, they have visits with their loved ones.
CULVER (voice-over): Though, the repression has not totally lifted. It has loosened a lot.
CULVER: It's also worth noting that not everyone feels like the United States should be involved in Venezuela matters.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
CULVER: You think he's crazy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, I think he's crazy.
CULVER: At a pro government rally, we had folks coming up to us to say, Venezuela is not a colony. That sovereignty here matters to them.
CULVER (voice-over): But for most here, the deepest suffering is economic. The official minimum income just went up to $240 a month. Most Venezuelans earn far less, and food alone cost nearly three times that amount. There is a small bubble of wealth, nice cars, weekend clubs, but most here live like Maria Perez's family inside her parents' home, the scarcity is hard to miss.
MARIA PEREZ, CARACUS RESIDENT: Yeah.
CULVER: Is your dad --
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
CULVER: Yeah. She said her dad is a diabetic. Her mom's got severe arthritis when it comes to health care. It's really bad.
CULVER (voice-over): Her home is a 20-minute walk up hill from her parents, no real roads to get there.
CULVER: They only really have running water, she said, every 45 days. And so sorry, I'm out of breath a little bit, but the remainder of the days, they rely on these big tanks.
CULVER (voice-over): Venezuela's leaders acknowledge how dire the economic situation is, and they often blame U.S. sanctions, though, the Trump administration points to years of corruption, mismanagement and authoritarian rule as the cause.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER: Erin, most everyone that we spoke with over the past few days has given us some version of the same sentiment, and that is that they're grateful that the U.S. captured Maduro. They're glad that he's gone. But as to what happens next when you ask them that question, they stress that is for Venezuelans to decide, though they also emphasize they need the rest of the world to keep on watching -- Erin.
BURNETT: Thank you so much, David Culver. I mean, obviously incredible reporting there.
There's even more, though. Don't miss an extended version of Davids report from Caracas, which is releasing tomorrow on our app. Or you can find it on CNN.com.
Thanks so much for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
