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Erin Burnett Outfront
U.S. Strikes Iranian Targets In Response To Ship Attack; Death Toll Soars To 900+ And Rising, Thousands Injured Or Trapped; Audio: RFK Jr. Urges Libertarian To Quit Race To Help GOP Keep House. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 26, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:22]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, Trump ordering new U.S. attacks. "Reuters" reporting that Iran right now is already retaliating, as Vance warns, violence will be met with violence.
Plus, the death toll in Venezuela is spiking. Nearly 1,000 known dead as search and rescue efforts grow desperate. We're live on the ground tonight with a U.S. Special Forces veteran rescuing survivors.
And he says RFK Jr. asked him to drop out of a tight congressional race, and that Kennedy offered him a deal to quit. The candidate is our guest, and guess what? He's got it all on tape.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening, I'm Erin Burnett.
And I begin OUTFRONT tonight with the breaking news, new attacks this hour. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the IRGC, targeting American military locations in the Middle East after the U.S. launched new strikes on Iran tonight. An immediate back and forth, an escalation.
Now, the latest is according to Reuters, and it comes after U.S. Central Command says that the U.S. attacks are a, quote, powerful response to yesterday's attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait of Hormuz. And the U.S. apparently is targeting missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites. A member of the Iranian parliament posting the U.S. attacked Iran in the middle of negotiations once again.
The failed U.S. president has shown he has no commitment to the principles of negotiation or a ceasefire. This reckless violation of the ceasefire will, as always, lead to retreat and regret on their part.
Now, Vice President Vance posting Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it. If they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone, but violence is met with violence.
Sure doesn't sound like there's any sort of a deal. Never mind that the deal itself that they talked about, there wasn't a single thing that both sides agreed upon.
Now these are the first reported strikes since the US-Iran peace agreement, such that it was, signed last week. Trump declared that Iran shot at least four one way attack drones at ships transversing the strait and talking about a very expensive carrying ship. He called the entire thing, quote, "a foolish violation of the ceasefire".
Now, all of this back and forth would have you believe that while the war is still on and Trump did admit today something significant for him. I mean, after months of saying that the Iranian military has been decimated and that there's nothing left, he said that the attack shows on the cargo ship, it shows But Iran does retain some of its capabilities.
Here's exactly what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We still have a fight. They have some capability, not much. They're not winning or anything, but they have some capability. They can still shoot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, that might be the first time he hasn't said their military is totally decimated. But even so, he's not dealing in facts when he says not much. I mean, as we've reported, Iran maintains about 70 percent of its pre-war missile capabilities. Yes, they've been hit across the board, but they retain a lot of capability.
And the new U.S. strikes tonight raise major questions about this agreement between the two sides and how Trump squares what's happening now with what he has been saying ever since that agreement was signed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: For the first time in 3,000 years, we are finally going to have peace in the Middle East. Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. That's done. Iran is being very nice. They're agreeing to everything that I want.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And of course, all that just said, in just these recent hours and days since the agreement was signed, as there are back-and-forth strikes tonight.
Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT live from the White House.
And, Kristen, you know, we're hearing this reporting from Reuters that Iran is striking back at U.S. military bases, perhaps as we speak, but just in these past moments. So how concerned is the administration tonight that all of that talk we just heard from Trump in recent days is over and that this is all falling apart?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Erin, these U.S. officials have been concerned. They've been concerned for the last several days. They have stressed to me in conversations just how fragile, just how tenuous these negotiations are, this deal is. And it does appear that they have reason to be stressed or concerned about this latest round of strikes.
As you noted, we actually also have this reporting now, it's coming from Iranian state media, but they are saying that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said that they are targeting U.S. military positions in the region now to respond to those strikes. And I want to walk back here because when Central Command put out their statement, they seem to indicate that the ceasefire was still in place.
[19:05:03]
And we've seen this before, right, this trading of strikes that the U.S. is really trying to hold on to the ceasefire, to the deal, to the negotiations. They continue to stress that anything that they've done has been retaliatory, has been in response to something else. They are protective. They are not something that is offensive on Iran.
And they said that -- without saying it directly, that the ceasefire was remaining in place, saying that U.S. military would stay in the region to make sure Iran was holding up its end of the deal, its end of the deal, obviously referring to the deal within the ceasefire.
But now we're seeing another round of strikes. Iran saying they're targeting military assets. So it's unclear what this means for this ceasefire, what this means for the deal, for the negotiations, which was already in such a careful spot, according to these U.S. officials.
It cannot be stressed enough, though, Erin. And I knew we talked about this last night when we first saw this strike in the Strait of Hormuz. This is now something the U.S. is going to have to contend with. Iran believes it has leverage because of its control over the Strait of Hormuz. It believes it can dictate the memorandum of understanding by saying anyone who travels the Strait of Hormuz, we are only going to ensure safe passage if you follow our routes.
And we heard from J.D. Vance, who, of course, has been the face of the deal, of the negotiations. He now appears to be the face of this response as well, saying on X that he that violence will be met with violence and saying that if Iran has a problem with the terms of the memorandum of understanding and how they're being executed, likely referring to the Strait of Hormuz and the different routes. They should pick up the phone, but also indicating that the U.S. might continue strikes on Iran if Iran retaliates, which now, of course, we're hearing that they are.
BURNETT: Right, right. And then going on to basically say an eye for an eye with the violence will be met with violence, which obviously is a spiral.
Thank you very much, Kristen.
I want to go now to Brett McGurk and Colonel Cedric Leighton.
Colonel Leighton, so you hear that, as Kristen says, now Iranian state media is also saying that the IRGC is retaliating against multiple U.S. military sites in the region. So how big of an escalation is this? You know, there was the cargo ship last night, and then now you've had within the space of hours real back and forth with real targets and American military bases targets again.
CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Erin, I think it's a significant escalation, and it's something that could very well spiral out of control if it's not contained. Of course, the nature of the escalation will depend on exactly which areas, which bases, U.S. bases the Iranians strike or target, and if they are successful in doing something like what they did against the Fifth Fleet headquarters base in Bahrain or against Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago, that -- of course, could spark a major escalation and could result in a resumption of hostilities.
So this is something where I think the Iranians are definitely playing with fire and it could not end. It might not end well depending on how this goes and how far each side lets it go.
BURNETT: Brett, you've served 4 presidents, so you dealt with every Iranian negotiation. So what do you see happening here right now?
BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I see, Erin, the Revolutionary Guard is calling the shots in Tehran, literally. They're calling the shots in the Strait of Hormuz, firing drones at ships. They're calling the shots with Hezbollah. They direct Hezbollah. If Hezbollah wants to fire into Israel and basically destabilize that front, they can do it.
Today, kind of -- the U.S. kind of stopped the victory lap that Iran has been on since this MOU has been signed by showing that we will actually strike back if you're going to fire at ships. I think that was a significant move by the administration's part. It's the right thing to do. Hopefully, it can remain contained, but now we're in a tit-for-tat.
Every time there's tit-for-tat with Iran, Erin, they insist on having the last shot. You might remember even the Soleimani strike. They launched missiles at our base and then sometimes they put a ceiling on it. So I'm not surprised they took another shot. Whether it goes up the ladder from there, we have to see.
But today at the State Department, very important agreement between Israel and Lebanon in which, basically, it says Hamas has to disarm, talking about potential peace between Israel and Lebanon. That's a long way down the road.
But it's contrary, totally contrary to how Iran is reading the MOU and basically its influence, that it has the seat at the table in Lebanon. That's also important. So but this gets to your point, Erin, that you led with. Nobody agrees
on what the MOU actually says. The way the vice president talks about it is totally contradictory to the way the Iranians talk about it.
And then you see it in substance. You know, we're going to -- we're going to unfreeze frozen funds for American farmers and soybeans and things. The Iranians say absolutely not. The strait is wide open.
[19:10:00]
Iran says not.
And then they're demonstrating action behind their words with drones.
BURNETT: So you know, and going ahead with the acts.
I mean, Colonel Leighton that what we're seeing from Iran today tonight, right, so this is now the early hours of Saturday morning. So this decision final decision was made obviously literally in the middle of the night in Tehran. What's the significance of the targets that have been chosen when you think about where we are right now to go directly for U.S. bases?
LEIGHTON: Yeah, it's certainly very significant, Erin. And I think what it means is that the Iranians are definitely showing that they're willing to put up a fight. And they feel confident. They believe that not only do they have leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, but they also have leverage over the entire Persian Gulf region.
Basically, what they've done is they've decimated the economies of the Persian Gulf states, or at least gotten close to doing that. When they took out the natural gas, liquefied natural gas plant in Qatar a few months ago, that is something that is a big deal.
And more of that is also something that we could be seeing here. So right now, they're limiting it to the U.S. because that's where the firing came from as far as far as the Iranians are concerned. Now what we're possibly looking at is a possible broadening of things. If there is no input on this right now.
BURNETT: Brett, what do you make of the fact that the president United States for the first time seemed to indicate that Iran still had capabilities? Obviously, he still wasn't factual in what he said, but it's the first time it hasn't been. The military is gone. The Navy's at the bottom of the sea. You know all of that -- that rhetoric, right? That he acknowledge that there was capability still remaining.
Does that indicate anything to you about what people are really telling him?
MCGURK: Well, I hope it's an acknowledgement of reality. And in the age of drone warfare, Erin, yeah, Iran has capabilities. It takes one drone to shut down the Strait of Hormuz. And that Iranian system is still intact, that Revolutionary Guard system and their policy -- I wish it was different. Every administration hopes it's different. But they want to do three things. They want to be the regional
hegemon. They want the United States out of the Middle East, and they want to ultimately eliminate Israel. I mean, that is basically their ideological direction from the guards, and that's what they pursue.
And I haven't seen them with the new cast of characters, whether it's Ghalibaf or anyone else, change that basic course of ideology, which means we are still going to be in this very contested domain, whether we like it or not. I hope we can have a breakthrough here. But tonight I think we're in this new normal of tit for tats.
You'll see the countries, others trying to keep it contained. Let's hope it stays contained.
BURNETT: Thank you both very much. I appreciate your time on this Friday.
And next, RFK Jr. on tape asking a congressional candidate to quit and get out of the race.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., HHS SECRETARY: You know, ultimately, you have to ask yourself the same question I did.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: A candidate is with us and he's got all the tapes, and a plane crashing into Beijing's tallest skyscraper, one of the most fortified airspaces on the planet. And it's a story China is trying to completely erase from the Internet as if it did not happen. Why? What is going on here?
And Vance says he's just like Richard Nixon and then continues to say if Watergate happened today, it would barely be a story. What is he talking about? Max Rose, Charlie Dent, Christina Greer are here with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:18:00]
BURNETT: Breaking news, Speaker Johnson saying Trump will be impeached if Republicans lose the midterms.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: If we were to lose the midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats, y'all, impeachment's not even the big concern. They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they'll go after the president's family, the cabinet, his donors, and friends. Half of you in this room will be targeted.
I run the protection program. I'll take care of you, okay? We're going to win. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I run the protection program. I'm going to take care of you. We're going to talk more about what that means in a second.
But the context here is Trump in overdrive to convince Americans that the election is going to be rigged, maybe because he knows that right now it looks like Democrats might win, and therefore, he's going to say it's rigged.
Today, he used California as an example, making another false claim just because the candidate he backed didn't win.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They're cheating. The kid won, or he was certainly in the top two. I don't know him. I never met him, Spencer Pratt. And he went away quietly.
We didn't go away quietly, but he shouldn't go away quietly. He should protest because it was, in my very strong opinion, that was a rigged election. That kid should be in the runoffs.
And you know what they do? They cheat. How many votes do we need? How many votes? That's why they take their time. How many votes do we need? Okay, here they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: By the way, important to note, Spencer Pratt standing up, doing the right thing, going away quietly because of free and fair election. He didn't win.
OK, Spencer Pratt doing the right thing. But we got to stop for a second with what Trump just said there because he the only person who has said how many votes do we need and then demanded just exactly that number is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
TRUMP: So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: Yeah, you know the voice. Donald J. Trump on his infamous call with Georgia's secretary of state after the 2020 election, trying to find out exactly how many votes he needed to win Georgia.
[19:20:03]
Everyone's here with me on set.
Max, OK, there's -- there's a lot -- lot to talk about here, but can I just start with where we started? Speaker Johnson saying I run the protection program. I'm going to take care of you. What? You've been in -- what does this mean?
MAX ROSE (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: The MAGA movement has finally gotten the choir boy to you've used Mafioso language. I can't believe it.
Look in the end, right? What he is describing is the entire Republican Party at this point. They are not a party with a vision for how to help people. They're not a party that even passes a housing bill with their president celebrating it. They are there to openly protect donors and to protect those who don't need government's help in reality.
The fact that he came out and said it, in the context of thinking that that's what will win an election, also shows they're totally detached from reality.
BURNETT: I mean, Christina, let me play again what Trump said when he was accusing Democrats of rigging elections, which, of course, he was talking about California. Obviously, that did not happen, but versus what Trump did himself, okay? Which is put them side by side here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You know what they do? They cheat. How many votes do we need? How many votes? That's why they take their time. How many votes do we need? OK, here they are.
So look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So Trump's the one who says what they do, they -- you know what they do and then he did it.
CHRISTINA GREER, CO-HOST, "FAQ-NYC" PODCAST: Right.
BURNETT: Right? So this is the playbook he knows.
GREER: Yes. Every accusation is a confession. Don't forget, in 2016, Donald Trump said, Hillary Clinton is cheating, the Democrats are cheating, because he assumed that he was going to lose the election. And then when he won, much to the shock of Donald J. Trump and many Americans, all of a sudden those accusations went away.
So he knows his policies are unpopular. He knows that Americans are feeling very strained at the gas pump, the grocery store, in their mortgages. The list goes on and on, largely due to policies that he has inflicted upon the American people.
And so he is afraid of the midterm elections. In political science literature, we know that most of the time in midterm elections, the party that is not in power tends to gain seats and they tend to take control of Congress.
BURNETT: Yeah. GREER: That has been the pattern in many, you know, say maybe like 30 years.
So if we follow that pattern, then the Democrats will gain control of the House and/or Senate, and we'll have divided government. He's deeply afraid of a possible House impeachment again.
And so to prevent that, he's saying, well, they're going to cheat. He's picking off random races across the country where we have free and fair elections. And sometimes it does take a little bit of time because you want to get it right, especially in the state of California when you can have mail-in ballots that he's tried to limit across the country for so long.
BURNETT: It's interesting that the rigged argument, he's ramping it up so much now ahead of the midterms, Charlie. In the context of what Thomas Massie said yesterday, which was, you know, stating the obvious but sort of important, was how can you say that all these elections are rigged when we control the House, the Senate, the White House, the Supreme Court? You know, we won everything, and it's still rigged.
CHARLIE DENT (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I ran for office 13 times and I won 13 times. I never thought my elections are rigged. And I can tell you most of these members of Congress, Republican members who won their elections, they don't think their elections were rigged either. It's all nonsensical.
And frankly, if the president is really that concerned about increasing oversight from the Democrats, in the next Congress, he might want to do things that will actually help his party win the election, like not focusing on a ballroom, not focusing on a reflecting pool, not saying you're not concerned about the financial condition of Americans, not saying you don't care about the midterms.
I mean, he just says things every day that is undermining his own party's prospects at any type of success. So he might actually try to win rather than say the elections are rigged, as you said, in 2016.
BURNETT: So he's given up, so he's going to say, well, it was, you know. Give up before you try and then say it was rigged against you.
Max, Vice President Vance went to the Nixon Library last night, okay? And Nixon was the only president in U.S. history to resign from office because he was about to be impeached, right? And removed from office, this was all over Watergate.
So he ordered the illegal cover-up of the break-in at Watergate, right, and all of that. So here's part of what Vance said about Nixon last night. I want to play a little bit of the context around it. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. Like, the idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy. And, by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it's not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration.
At a personal level, you know, okay, young senator, vice president, writes some best-selling books, is hated by the media, it kind of sounds like J.D. Vance. So I'm a little, you know, I've always liked -- I've always liked Richard Nixon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: How's that look, Max?
ROSE: There's a lot to unpack there.
BURNETT: I've always liked Richard Nixon. Kind of sounds like J.D. Vance.
ROSE: This is an emerging thing happening in the MAGA movement right now. Most important thing there is what he's inferring, which is if you had a Watergate times 10 today, under no circumstances would Donald Trump or J.D. Vance step down.
The second thing is, is that as they're recasting the story of Watergate, they're including the press. They're including Bob Woodward in the deep state.
BURNETT: Yeah.
ROSE: They're including civil servants to include those who put their lives on the line in the deep state. They are not giving up on this narrative. They're only doubling down on it.
And now beyond that, you know, and this is what makes J.D. Vance so dangerous, is he's layering this kind of intellectual veneer on MAGA extremism. He's not just yelling, as Donald Trump does, about a rigged election.
He's now adding a historical context at the Nixon Foundation about how when people were anti-Trumpian, when they put the country first, when they actually listened to the Republican leadership in their party who told them to step down, as Nixon did, they were weak and should not be held high.
BURNETT: It is, that there's a sort of an intellectual --
GREER: Yeah, he's --
BURNETT: -- you know, argument being put on this.
GREER: Absolutely. He's not only is he providing historical context, he's placing himself in this narrative so that in 2028, he's seen in somewhat as a hero and heir apparent. I mean, this is a man who is a chameleon at best and that's the most polite thing that I can say about JD Vance right now. But he -- he knows that he's going to fight with quite a few Republicans to sort of distance himself distance himself from Donald Trump when he needs to but he's also tied to a lot of Donald Trump policies.
I agree with J.D. Vance when he says, you know, if this happened, if whatever it happened today, it would be a 12-hour news story, it would be because this is what Steve Bannon told us would happen.
BURNETT: Right.
GREER: He said we're going to throw so much at you you're not going to be able to --
BURNETT: Well, there are things every day you know you wake in the middle of the night and you see them and go, oh my God, did that happen?
GREER: Right.
BURNETT: It was a tree falling in the forest and it was an awful thing, right?
GREER: But 20 minutes later, we've got something even worse.
So, I mean, are we supposed to follow the Trump children? And you know, they're millions upon hundreds of millions of dollars that they're making domestically and internationally. Are we supposed to follow Donald Trump? As you said, you know, the close to $1.4 billion of pet projects around D.C. as he rips up buildings and historical monuments to build random 250 foot arches and take rubble and built and put it on a golf course, you know, to take away sort of public golfing for the communities in Washington, D.C.
I mean, there's so many things domestically, just in Washington, DC that we should pay attention to, let alone the 50 states, let alone internationally. We're talking about the Strait of Hormuz.
BURNETT: Right.
GREER: This is a problem that he created, right? We're trying to get out of a war that Donald Trump, he himself has put us in.
BURNETT: And Donald Trump is saying his thing about Richard Nixon His only criticism is that Nixon didn't stay and fight, which says everything. Nixon should have just stayed and fought, and he says he regretted it until the day he died.
DENT: One of the big differences between Richard Nixon and Donald Trump is that Richard Nixon, I guess, could actually feel shame and felt the need that he had to step down.
By the way, it wasn't the deep state that took down Richard Nixon. It was his own operatives who were responsible for that burglary of the Democratic National Committee, and then there was a cover-up by his own administration. It wasn't some bureaucrat, it was self-inflicted.
But at the end of the day, I agree with what you said, that the whole Watergate matter is small ball, small potatoes compared to what we're dealing with today in terms of the crypto, the meme coins, the jet from the Qataris. I mean, this is on a different scale. And it probably would be a short --
BURNETT: It's flying around on a jet given by a Middle Eastern emir.
DENT: Yeah. I mean, it's --
BURNETT: I mean, it's incredible. It's incredible.
DENT: Yeah.
BURNETT: Yeah.
All right, thank you all very much.
And next, the death toll rising to nearly 1,000 people known to be killed by the devastating earthquakes in Venezuela. It is a number that, unfortunately, is going to go up, and possibly massively so. We're going to talk live to a rescuer who's on the ground, who says it's getting more desperate by the moment.
And OUTFRONT has obtained audio of HHS Secretary RFK, Jr. urging a congressional candidate to drop out of his race.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KENNEDY: Maybe you can do more for people there than having a, you know, symbolic run.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
[19:30:01]
BURNETT: Was it a quid pro quo? And for what? The candidate on the other side of that call is our guest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, at least 920 people have now been confirmed dead in Venezuela after the catastrophic earthquake struck the country. Officials warn that that number could rise dramatically. They are desperately trying to find people amidst the rubble. Countless families have been displaced. Rescuers racing to save survivors who are trapped underneath the rubble, the ruins of buildings.
We're going to speak to one U.S. Special Forces veteran who is key to the search and rescue efforts in just a moment.
But first, Stefano Pozzebon is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (voice-over): Panic on board as passengers brace through powerful tremors. Just one glimpse of the chaos unleashed after two massive earthquakes struck Venezuela.
This image from the public broadcaster Telesur shows large cracks splitting the tarmac at Caracas International Airport, underscoring the damage to critical infrastructure. Tens of thousands are still reported missing.
Emergency teams are racing against time to dig through shattered concrete, listening for any sign of life. In the Caracas district of Chacao, rescuers pull survivors from a collapsed apartment building, while others remain trapped inside.
GUSTAVO DUQUE, CHACAO MAYOR (through translator): We have rescued three people, and there are three more alive inside the structure. God willing, they will be rescued very soon.
POZZEBON (voice-over): As Venezuela struggles to cope with the scale of the disaster, international help is finally trickling in.
But the logistical challenges to mobilize the aid remain. These relief convoys loaded with food and water are heading toward the hardest hit communities, as officials work to support tens of thousands of displaced families, while the priority remains to rescue survivors before time runs out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
POZZEBON: The more time goes by, the more it looks like. The challenge really is to mobilize the aid and make it available for the population impacted. For example, today, the Venezuelan government has made repeated pleas to the population at large, asking those who are not involved in the search-and-rescue operations to stay away from the state of La Guaira, to stay away from the area of the disaster, because Of course, people want to help, but sometimes bystanders and volunteers can also congest the communication lines or make the operations even more chaotic, while the priority is trying to save as many lives as possible, as this golden window is really thinning as hours pass by -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Stefano, thank you very much.
And I want to go now to Bryan Stern. He's a decorated U.S. Special Forces veteran who just arrived in Caracas to help with search and rescue through his organization, Grey Bull Rescue. He was also a member of the team that extracted Maria Carina Machado from the country.
So obviously, Bryan, you know it well and you know what can be a very lawless situation well -- well as well. So what the situation I know that you see already is you've described as 9/11 meets Gaza. Can you just explain what you mean as you look around?
BRYAN STERN, FOUNDER OF GREY BULL RESCUE: Yeah, so I'm a 9/11 first responder. I was in both collapses. And my team and I also worked in Gaza and lots of different war zones that we've done 811 missions in five years or so. The devastation, you know, this is lots of buildings have been pancaked and lots of people are stuck in the rubble. But unlike 9/11, where we had that situation, where that was the case, this is very widespread.
So it looks a lot like Gaza insofar as lots of collapsed buildings. Your whole neighborhoods are flattened and pancaked, and therefore the size and the scale of the response and the -- and the death is extreme.
BURNETT: So and the scale is we're just starting to see it. I mean, last night at this time, Brian, we knew there were 188 people dead and we knew it would go up a lot. Now it's 920 and there is fear that it could be much higher than that. What do you think?
STERN: I think that's true. You know, this is going to take some time. There's probably more buildings pancaked in Venezuela than Venezuela has firemen, probably, where my team and I are with Tampa Fire Rescue, big shout out to them. And the Tampa Firefighters Charity Fund is helping us out.
When we think about a major city in America, you know, if New York got hit and we had a big earthquake and 10,000 buildings got pancaked, That's the size of the fire department in New York, right? So it takes a lot of resources, a lot of people, a lot of manpower.
No one out there is playing soccer. You know, this is not -- this is not the time for using hand sanitizer and moisturizing your hands right now. Right now, what's needed is lots of resources, lots of money, lots of help. We need money as a nonprofit.
BURNETT: So you're a combat veteran, former intelligence officer, you've worked in high profile hostage rescue operations, and many other is in war zones. As I said, you know, we've seen each other in war zones in these past few years. How does this disaster stand out to you from some of those missions?
STERN: All these disasters and wars are all horrible, every single one. They're all different in their own kind of way, they're all horrible. that all these disasters and wars are all horrible, every single one. They're all different in their own kind of way. They're all horrible.
What's fascinating to me is we were just doing operations in Venezuela.
[19:40:01]
The United States government was just targeting Venezuela, right? We were at active combat operations here. The U.S. Navy was here. There was a drone strike to take out the leader of Tren de Aragua just last week or two weeks ago, or whatever it was.
And now we're flying now that same military is bringing humanitarian aid. Lots of Ospreys are here. C-130s are here. The Navy is here. Lots of stuff.
So the -- that pivot is remarkable and then also speaks to the pivot that will probably happen on the ground, which I pray does not take a turn for the worse, But it's Venezuela, so --
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. Well, Brian, I appreciate your time. You know, Godspeed as you as you're there with your team trying to help people, trying to save lives. And for all watching, if you want to help Brian's organization, go to greybullrescue.org. And next, RFK, Jr. facing questions tonight about new audio of a call
that he made. Why did he want a congressional candidate to drop out of his race?
And shocking video out of China of a plane crashing into the tallest building in Beijing. People asking, how in the world could this have happened in incredibly controlled and restricted airspace?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Tonight, OUTFRONT has obtained audio of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging a libertarian congressional candidate in Iowa to drop out of the race and to do so to improve Republicans' chances of winning and to keep control of the House.
Now, Kennedy seeming to suggest in the call that if the libertarian candidate, who is our next guest, ended his campaign, you know, gets out, so you don't hurt the Republicans, the Republican can win, so get out of the campaign that could there could then be a job for him in the federal government. Listen to this.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KENNEDY: You know, ultimately, you have to ask yourself the same question I did. Is it more important for me to run as an independent make a point, or could I make an agreement that puts me in a position where I can make a real difference in people's lives. That's all. There may be something that you ought to do in the federal government where you think maybe you can do more for people there than having a, you know, symbolic run.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT legal analyst Ryan Goodman listened to the tapes and told us in part, quote, "Mr. Kennedy should consult a defense attorney. The conversation appears to cross the line of a felony."
OUTFRONT now, Rick Stewart, he is the libertarian candidate for Congress and Iowa's second congressional district.
All right, Rick, we just heard that. I mean, that's the HHS secretary. Obviously, his voice is distinctive. We can tell that's who it is saying, you know, suggesting you could make an agreement to put yourself in a position.
Okay, so can you just give the context for this call? I understand you didn't have a prior relationship with RFK Jr. before this call, so he calls you out of the blue, he's the HHS secretary, and this conversation starts. I mean, what in the world did you think was happening?
RICK STEWART, LIBERTARIAN CANDIDATE FOR U.S. HOUSE IN IOWA: Well, I had a pretty good idea because I knew already that the Republicans They go into a panic attack any time a libertarian is on the ballot, because they think libertarians will steal votes away from them. And it was obvious to me that the only reason Bobby Kennedy would call me is to try and get me to get out of the race. So I wasn't surprised so much as I was just having fun listening to the offer he was making.
BURNETT: So can we just talk about that offer, right? So you make an agreement, essentially, where you would essentially have a job in the federal government. I mean, was there any doubt in your mind that this was a quid pro quo?
STEWART: No, no. There was no doubt in my mind. It was extremely obvious that I was being offered an opportunity to move to Washington and get employed by the government in some position which I would have some impact on that government.
Now, I just want to say out loud, it's like, that's the last thing I would ever want to do, unless maybe I got a job in the cabinet level, like he did. Then I could think about it. But going to Washington to work for the Republicans or the Democrats is not my idea of a way to change America for the better.
My idea to change America for the better is for people to stop voting for Republicans and Democrats and start voting for third party candidates so we can crush this duopoly like a cockroach, which that's what I think they are. They're sucking the life out of American democracy. And we need to get rid of both those parties and come bring us back to, you know, an America like we used to have.
BURNETT: So RFK Jr., I mean, I'm just thinking about this, Rick, and I'm thinking, okay, the HHS secretary is supposed to be doing really important things to do with health and human services. And instead he's on the call with a libertarian congressional candidate in Iowa telling you to get out of the race. And if so, you can get a job in the government. It's bizarre.
But then he did. You have tape where he talked about his motivation which was to basically save himself from being an oversight target, right? Because if you stay in the race, it hurts the Republican, a Democrat might win. And then that means Bobby Kennedy ends up a target of Congress.
So he laid it out for you on the call. Here he is.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KENNEDY: I don't want to be, I think, subpoenas for the next two years instead of improving America's health. So, for me, you know, there's an immediate, pragmatic reason for this phone call?
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: Again, there's not really any nuance or any reading between the lines there.
[19:50:00]
But at this point, Rick, what are you thinking? Again, HHS secretary just picked up the phone and called you.
STEWART: Well, It's an interesting phone call. Of course, I knew in advance that I was going to be talking to Bobby, because we exchanged some texts. So I wasn't surprised when he called me. And yeah, he's a cabinet member, and he's got a lot of power.
But important politicians don't scare me. All they are is people like me. In most respects, they're, in my personal opinion, less educated and less capable than me. So I'm not afraid to talk to him.
Usually, I try and give them my advice of what they should be doing, because I think my ideas are better than theirs, especially if they're Republicans or Democrats.
BURNETT: So we reached out to HHS last night for comment. We haven't heard back from them, Rick. But it does seem that RFK Jr. knew that what he was saying to you could be legally problematic. And I just shared a moment ago what Ryan Goodman said, that he says he should get a lawyer. Just take a listen to what, obviously, you know this, but so our viewers can hear what Bobby Kennedy said to you.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
KENNEDY: I can't go into specifics because, you know, there's legal prohibitions about that. If it's something that you want to work on together, I'm -- there's other ways that you think you might be effective, you know, like I said, I will be your advocate.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BURNETT: Did it seem like he had planned out in advance what he was going to say and how he was going to say it? Or did he seem uncomfortable at all at any moment?
STEWART: He's a professional politician, and he knows how to stay just one inch on the right side of the law. So I don't think he had to be trained. I think he's been doing that all of his life. That's what Republicans and Democrats do.
So yeah, I mean, it's pretty laughable in a sense that anybody could hear that and think that it wasn't quid pro quo. And I was laughing inside when he said it. What else are you supposed to do when a cabinet member calls you up and asks you to pull out of a race? It's a little bit ludicrous, really.
BURNETT: Can I just be clear? You're still in the race, right?
STEWART: Absolutely.
BURNETT: Yeah.
STEWART: I have joked with people. I've said, you know, if you make me the drug czar, then I might consider that, but that's not a cabinet position. It's just that, you know, I'm anti the drug war. So, yeah, that's a position I'd consider pulling out of my race for.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Rick, I appreciate it. Thank you for sharing this. I think it's important for people to know these sorts of things happen. It's important to hear those tapes. It's important to understand it. And we appreciate you sharing it with us. Thank you.
STEWART: Thank you very much for having me.
BURNETT: All right, and next, a plane crashing into a building in the middle of Beijing. Highly fortified airspace, to say the least. So why did it suddenly get wiped off the internet? No details coming out of China. We're going to go live to Beijing.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:41]
BURNETT: Breaking news. Look at this dramatic footage. A mysterious plane crashing into the tallest skyscraper in Beijing, one of the most fortified airspaces in the world. terrifying site to even watch such a thing. Causes the crash not known.
But China is now censoring social media posts, even talking about it. OUTFRONT found a post actually linking to an article about the crash at 10:10 a.m. Eastern. Well, lucky thing we found it, because six minutes later, 10:16 a.m. Eastern, it was gone. Poof!
Mike Valerio is OUTFRONT from Beijing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From the dizzying heights of Beijing's tallest tower, reaching more than 1,700 feet high, aircraft wreckage raining down on the streets of one of the most populous cities in the world. Photos from social media showing a section of a small plane that flew through some of the world's most secure airspace above China's fortified capital, where drones and planes are highly restricted.
VALERIO: So, we've just moved about two blocks away from the tallest building in Beijing, and if you look above the yellow lettering, you can see a gash in the side of the building.
VALERIO (voice-over): The stunning sight leaving Anna, a Beijing student, home from college in Boston, wondering how this could happen here, just a few minutes' drive from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
ANNA, BEIJING STUDENT: I'm actually, like, scared about it because, like, this is central business district. I work in this. I have an intern in this area, so it's kind of more scary for me if -- what if I'm still working in this area?
VALERIO (voice-over): Beijing authorities have released no details about the crash, including whether this was an accident, intentional, or what the pilot's motivation could have been.
Police on the scene stopping people from taking pictures or videos. Posts of the scene quickly erased from China's strictly controlled and censored social media. ANNA: This is all, like, what always, like, Chinese social media, how it's worked. Like, there's a lot of social media police. They all deleted everything sensitive.
VALERIO (voice-over): Online images showing the plane's registration code seem to point to a domestically manufactured light sport aircraft, a Sunward SA-60L Aurora, owned by a local general aviation company. We don't know how many people were on board.
With Beijing's local police division responsible for where this happened, telling CNN over the phone they were, quote, "not familiar with the situation".
Preliminary flight data from FlightRadar 24 posted online appeared to show a severely deviated flight path for the aircraft.
VALERIO: So we're at the base of the building hours after this crash happened, and a silence has fallen over this normally bustling area of the CBD. Behind us, a couple yards, a couple meters, across the street from us, there's still police tape that is set up around the perimeter of the building.
VALERIO (voice-over): The tower itself, one of the tallest in the world, the CITIC Tower, standing as a 109-story symbol of Beijing known across China. For now, the people of China's capital still processing how this could happen in this citadel of a city.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VALERIO: And our story in mainland China is being censored right now. In the other box on your screen, you see those color bars with the words in all caps, "Please stand by". This is what happens when the government has information that it cannot control here in mainland China.
But back to our picture, Erin. It's already Saturday morning here in Beijing. As we push in ever so slightly, you can barely see that small gray square of damage, so tiny relative to the colossal scale of this building as it tapers out to the sky.
But, you know, this isn't, Erin, about just the security of millions of people who are spread throughout this metropolis. This is very much, from China's point of view, about the security of the upper echelons of its government. About a half hour down the road, that's the Communist Party headquarters. How this plane was not intercepted, an unanswered question -- Erin.
BURNETT: Absolutely incredible story. Mike Valerio, thank you so much, reporting from Beijing on this Saturday morning.
And thanks so much to you for joining us this Friday night.
Anderson starts now.
