CNN.com - Transcripts (2024)

[19:00:39]

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:

Breaking news, new reporting into OUTFRONT on Trump's spiral allies, worries, losing focus, telling him to, quote, snap out of it.

This as Tim Walz and his first solo campaign event goes because into attack mode just moments ago.

Plus, tonight, Ukraine making major gains inside Russia and they are doing it fast. Tonight, I'm going to speak to an award photo journalist who is there with those troops on the Russian line, seeing firsthand what happened when Ukraine invaded Russia, catching Putin by surprise.

And Elon Musk going all in on MAGA, pushing Trump's talking points and even finishing his sentences for him. Is it good for the richest man alive?

Let's go OUTFRONT.

And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.

OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. He better snap out of it. That's a direct quote from a Trump insider, who is just one of many voices from Trump's inner circle tonight worried that the former president is spiraling and losing focus, that he's veering off message in event after event after event.

And in fact, according to new reporting just out this hour from our Kristen Holmes and Steve Contorno, sources close to the former president say this race should be easy for Trump. They're telling their telling CNN, quote, talk about the economy and talk about immigration.

Of course, Trump likes to talk about other things. Instead, he has dabbled and conspiracy theories, claiming that thousands of supporters that we saw in this picture at a rally in Detroit were doctored. Of course, we were -- our cameras were there, our photojournalists were there. It was not doctored.

And just moments ago, Trump made this comment where he again focused on purposely mispronouncing Harris's name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT & 2024 PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Kamala, you know, Harris -- nobody knows her last name. It's Harris. What everyone thinks of is Kamala. So it's Kamala Harris.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: He does know how to say it correctly. He said it correctly before. So lets just not -- not beat around the bush about that.

This is part of pattern for Trump, from questioning Harris's race, to other baseless charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: She wants to release all the prisoners that are in detention, and some of these guys are really bad.

I didn't know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black.

She's barely competent and she can't do an interview.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: This is why the former president's allies are frustrated.

"The Bulwark's" Marc Caputo tonight is reporting that the Trump campaign starting tomorrow, that campaign has planned a series of many rallies and they're calling them any rallies because they basically want to focus on one specific topic at each one.

So, tomorrow's mini rally kicks this off. It's in North Carolina, a state where Trump is still ahead in polls. They want to zero in on the economy, which sounds great in theory because it's an area where Trump, of course, in poll after poll does better than Harris.

But Trump has made it very clear, even in recent days on the campaign trail, that he is proud to stay off message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Kamala gives the exact same speech over and over again, over and over, the same exact words. I don't do that. I got to give you a little bit of variety, right? I changed all these damn speeches but.

But we don't like to read teleprompters, right? It's not as much fun. It's not as exciting, and somehow, it's never as good, is it, huh?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Well, tonight, Harris's running mate Tim Walz made his first solo appearance on the campaign trail. Kamala Harris's running mate Tim Walz going after the former President Trump and J.D. Vance for attacking Walz's military record.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: These guys have -- are even attacking me for my record of service. I'm going to say it again as clearly as I can. I am damn proud of my service to this country.

(APPLAUSE)

WALZ: And I firmly believe you should never denigrate another person service record.

To anyone brave enough to put on that uniform for our great country, including my opponent, I just have a few simple words: thank you for your service and sacrifice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Kristen Holmes begins our coverage. He is in Washington OUTFRONT tonight.

So, Kristen, I know you've got new reporting here from your sources. What are you learning about what's going on inside the Trump campaign tonight?

[19:05:02]

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, look, there's three different things that are happening here. One, you have Donald Trump dabbling in these conspiracy theories. So that is talking about the crowd sizes, talking about Kamala Harris's ethnicity.

Then you have him completely off message. One instance that was pointed out to me by a number of conservatives was him at a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, going after Governor Brian Kemp, the very popular Republican governor in what is now a very critical swing state. That's a message that they would not like him to be sending.

And then the third is that people are really paying much more attention now. When you talk about him going off message on these fringe theories, he really runs a risk and this is what his allies are telling me. They're concerned about people remembering or voters remembering why they shied away from him in 2020, when he was pushing all of those lies about the 2020 election.

Now if you talk to people who are close to him, who are outside of the campaign, they are encouraging him both privately and publicly to stay on message.

And I want to read you one exchange between Larry Kudlow, who served on the Trump administration, and Kellyanne Conway, who obviously was part of the administration and led his successful 2026 -- or 2016 campaign, she says to Kudlow, the winning formula for President Trump is plain to see. It's fewer insults, more insights, and that policy contrasts, where Larry Kudlow says, don't wander off, don't call her stupid, or all kinds of names and stay on message.

Now, partially, what's been alarming to people who are close to Donald Trump, is this picking up of these fringe conspiracy theories. It is something they've seen before and they worry that he is particularly susceptible when he is in a state of vulnerability.

Obviously, Donald Trump has held at a lot of upsets in the campaign recently, particularly as we have seen the enthusiasm boost for Kamala Harris, the polling boost for Kamala Harris, and his advisers really blamed the accessibility that people have to him, that these kind of fringe conspiracy theorist have to him, whether it be at Mar-a-Lago, whether it'd be on the golf course, whether it'd be the fact that they have his cell phone number, many times these advisers don't even know who Donald Trump is speaking to on a regular basis. And so, that is where he's getting some of this and now he's at a point where he is promoting it.

And that is where they see a problem, particularly when they want him to stay on message as this race seems incredibly tight.

BURNETT: All right. Kristen, thank you very much with that new reporting.

And interesting just to, you know, when you hear the inner circle weeks ago, right? You had heard how strong that inner circle was. And obviously, there's a very professional campaign manager team there. This frustration is very telling.

Astead Herndon, you just heard Kristen talking about that. And as I said, it is telling that you're hearing people on the inside have this concern. Is there any chance he will be able to stay on message and we just take this -- this rally tomorrow, North Carolina, the economy, that one should be a layup for him.

ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. I mean, they're clearly putting him parameters in place to put this candidate in positions where he can succeed. But I would say like this is Donald Trump. We've asked this question so many times over the last year, and honestly, I think we should reframe the idea of message discipline with Donald Trump.

I mean, when there is a person like Joe Biden across from him, he's more willing to talk about the economy. He's more willing to talk about the substance. When there's a person of color, when there's a woman, when there's someone who kind of puts him on edge, he has consistently been someone who leans into those personal attacks, the ad hominem, he leaned into conspiracy theories.

And I think to Kristen's point reaches out to whoever is kind of giving him the most affirming pieces of information.

BURNETT: Yeah.

HERNDON: And so, I think it's actually been fairly consistent that we get this version of Donald Trump when there is a Kamala Harris on the other side. And I frankly think he's just wrestling with the -- with the race that he did not expect the have at the Republican national convention. I think about that last speech on the Thursday, there was such promise of Donald Trump kind of find to get different version of themselves. Republicans were signaling that this was going to be a different version of Donald Trump.

And we got the same rally version that we get all the time. And I really think that's indicative of someone who was thinking they were operating from a place of strength, but was really he operating from a time in which she was only doing he was only looking strong relative to his opponent. Now that that has changed, I think a lot of that has been up into.

BURNETT: I mean, it would be hard for anyone to have this situation go from what it was for him where he was seen as a shoo-in to what it is now, right. That be hard for anyone, but now, you've got the specific person here and the personality that matters so much. He could be out there, Jamal, saying, you know, X million people have come over the border while Kamala Harris was charged with being one of the people leading that policy, he could be doing all that.

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, well --

BURNETT: But he's not.

SIMMONS: That's right. I think on one hand, I said is right. Donald Trump is Donald Trump, and he's an 80-year-old, almost 80-year-old version of Donald Trump. So it may be a little tougher for him to make the pivots.

But I think also he's a -- his strategy of how he attacks people, it's pretty consistent. And one thing that he does, he goes after people's strengths. He goes after the thing that he thinks is going to actually wound them in the public mind, right?

And so for him, he's got to go after Kamala Harris on something.

[19:10:00]

He's got to make her dumb. He's going to try to make her not appealing in some way that he thinks people already find her to be appealing. I think in his mind, I'm just playing down on Trump's mind for second was a dangerous place to be. But if he can do that, then he has a chance to win on the other issues.

But I think he knows something else, which is that he can't actually win on the issues because although they won't talk about the economy, people care, they weren't talking about inflation that people care, even though we're starting to the polls now, even up for Kamala Harris is some of these polls, ultimately, people aren't voting for him those questions.

People aren't going to vote for the Democrat because they care about their freedom. They care about democracy, they care about abortion, those are the questions. And he can't compete on those questions.

BURNETT: Well, it may be also that they're voting on some sort of emotional connection, which something he does understand, right? And maybe, maybe better than anybody.

Marc Caputo, you have some new reporting on -- on what they're doing in the campaign to keep him on message as he's back on Twitter and off of Truth Social or, you know, Truth Social not being his primary home. That's actually really significant from what you're learning.

MARC CAPUTO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE BULWARK: Well, that's an example of Donald Trump saying, look, let me grab the mic and he knows he's got the biggest megaphone on Twitter. That is a double- edged sword for her. However, because when he started questioning the -- when he raised the conspiracy theory of the A.I. generated crowd who did on Truth Social, it got a lot of attention, but is going to let get a lot more attention on Twitter if he does that.

In addition to that, they have the mini rally ideas. Here, let's put it in a smaller setting, have it more policy focused. One of the things that you'll notice from that clip you played earlier of Donald Trump talking about being at a rally and not wanting to be on script, he's a performer as well as a candidate. One of the people I spoke to said, look, he likes to be at the center of attention and he wants to give his crowds, his people show.

There's going to be less of a pressure doing that at these mini rallies. There are also bring back a top aide, Taylor Budowich, who is good at messaging and is well-liked both by Trump and by Vance, J.D. Vance, the vice presidential running mate.

So those are some of the things that they're doing to sort of more insulate him and give him more of an opportunity, I think as Astead said to -- to be the better version of himself. The question is, can he?

So far, there are a lot of doubts that that's going to be the case. He is going to be doing more local press interviews. He's doing them from Mar-a-L. They have a satellite pack there where there started to dial in a little more.

And I wouldn't be surprised if they started doing more press conferences as well. Yeah. It was a bit of a dumpster fire last Thursday, but they really liked it because it meant that Donald Trump was at the center of attention.

BURNETT: Do -- does a small rally and mini rally that almost seems like, you an oxymoron in Trump's world, Stephanie, is that something that he can thrive in?

STEPHANIE GRISHAM, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: So the short answer is no. I imagine he will do some of them and maybe for a week, he'll, you know, attempt to stay on message. It depends on how tough his staff as being with him, but he will get bored. He doesn't like those small (AUDIO GAP) he never has.

He will be demanding to do a large rally sooner rather than later. And it's funny because everything I've been hearing is all these people are saying to do the best version of himself, they want him to be a fake version of himself. Donald Trump is a bombastic narcissist, and he loves attention, and he

is not going to be happy, you know, being quiet or being on message. It's not who he is. And so, they don't know that.

Look, we did this a million times. We did it in 2016. We did it throughout our time in the White House. We were all trying to keep him on message.

Everybody was frustrated all the time. We went through tons and tons of staff, you all know that, and this is just, you know, version 27 now.

BURNETT: So, Astead, obviously, J.D. Vance came up in this and he has been on message, right, pushing the specifics for Trump. Tim Walz is also out there now on his own for the first time for Harris, and I want to just play something he said a few moments ago with this first solo rally.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: I happened to be the first union member on a presidential ticket since Ronald Reagan. But rest assured, I won't lose my way.

You heard the story. You knew Vice President Harris grew up in a middle-class family, picked up shifts at that McDonald's as a student, I keep asking this to make a contrast here.

Can you simply picture Donald Trump working at McDonald's trying to make a McFlurry or something? It's -- oh, he knows. He knows this. He knows this.

He couldn't run that damn flurry -- McFlurry machine if it does so many things, so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Does that work, Astead?

HERNDON: I think that this is a cohesive message that you're seeing between Harris and Walz about their upbringing, and most importantly, the fact that their policies reflect their upbringing. They're going to say that it's not just that they came for middle-class families, but that they are pushing an agenda that helps middle-class families.

And so even if J.D. Vance comes from a working class his background and certainly down Trump is not, that they're pushing policies that don't benefit those type of people and that's -- and that's the thing that I think reflects the reason why she chose him in the first place, greater than kind of progressive or moderate or things I think people are doing, its about a cohesiveness of message that I think is going to be able -- that's just going to serve them well.

[19:15:07]

But to your point about J.D. Vance, he is landing these attacks lines, but he's only doing it, I think from a place of kind of throwing bombs from afar. And I think Walz -- what Walz has an opportunity to do is define himself for the country.

And so, what this ticket and the unique opportunity that Democrats have is that while Republicans are busy talking about whatever messages of the day or whatever ad hominem attack of the day, they are going out to voters and trying to define themselves until Republicans are in a race against time, to be able to beat them to the punch.

BURNETT: All right. So, Jamal, there is, of course, now going to be more and more coming out about Walz and I know there's the whole -- the whole issue of the military service that's now been widely discussed.

There is a now video of Walz in 2018 praising a Muslim cleric who has spread antisemitic propaganda, and I just want to play this video. This is back from 2018, Governor Walz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: I would like to first of all, say thank you to imam. I am a teacher, so when I see a master teacher, I know it. And over the time we spent together, one of the things -- one of the things I've had the privilege of seeing that things in life through the eyes of a master teacher, to try and get the understanding, listening today to the stories and what it means.

BURNETT: So, Jamal, since October 7, that imam has saved many anti- Israel posts on social media. But at the time when Tim Walz said that he had shared a neo-Nazi propaganda film and Hamas press release on social media.

So was that not an unknown position at the time, and he appeared with his imam multiple times as governor. It wasn't like this is a one-off.

Does this matter?

SIMMONS: So, it appears like, bad staff work, right, and his team like bad research, they didn't know he was, or maybe he did. I don't know. It wasn't in his team.

Here's the question though, will people judge the top of the ticket by what they see at the bottom of the ticket? And I don't know that's always the case. You know, mostly people vote for the person whose name is at the top. And this is the reason why you have these contests is because all of these things after come out and you really kind of fight your way through it as a campaign. And they got to find a voice to answer these questions.

BURNETT: Marc, I want to ask you one question before we go. Last night, James Carville and Paul Begala both came on the show and said they thought that Trump would find a way to get rid of J.D. Vance, with your sources inside Trump world -- I see the look on your face. Is there any chance that you see that happening or you think that's just a pipe dream?

CAPUTO: Well, I was saying I was wrong about Biden stepping down. I'll cop to that, so is the Trump campaign. I would just find this highly unlikely. The Trump campaign and Trump

himself are thrilled with him by all accounts. I mean, if you look at the past week, the two messages that Trump has had that have broken through and that a forced to reaction by Harris's campaign have both been primarily driven by J.D. Vance.

He kept harping. He kept talking about Kamala Harris, not talking to the press. She finally did. Now, Trump lend to handle that, and then he spoke about Vance did, this stolen valor issue, and it wasn't Walz misrepresenting his time of a better said it wasn't attacking Walz's time of service. It was attacking Walz for misrepresenting his time of service. It's a finely way to slice it.

But nevertheless, those broke through. Trump is happy. The campaign is happy with him. But then again, it's Trump. You never know what he's going to do.

BURNETT: All right. All, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

And next, Kamala Harris finding support among a crucial group of voters. You know, when you slice and dice that this is a fascinating group, but Harry Enten's gone into the numbers. You're going to be surprised by this specific group, that's next.

Plus, the incredible access. We're going to speak to when award winning photo journalist, who is there on the ground when Ukrainian troops stormed into Russia, is remarkable and exclusive images are OUTFRONT tonight.

And then images that are devastating, entire communities underwater. The images you are looking at are from North Korea. But wait until you hear what Kim Jong Un says is happening.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:23:24]

BURNETT: Tonight, Governor Walz, the attack dog on full display tonight in his first solo campaign event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALZ: Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, they see the world very differently than we do. The only thing those two guys knows about working people is how to work to take advantage of them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: All right. That comes as Kamala Harris is making gains with key swing states with a surprising and crucial voting group.

And Harry Enten is here with me to go beyond the numbers.

So, Harry, you know, we know obviously you look at the overall polls, you see these swing state polls, the ones over the weekend, Sienna did stand out. We'll see if that's really where this goes. But you found something very interesting in terms of one group that

stands out.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: White working class voters, white voters without a college degree. That is Donald Trump's core group. That was the reason why he was able to break down that giant blue wall, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin in the Great Lakes.

And look at their support now versus where we were a few months ago when the matchup was between Donald Trump and Joe Biden.

Look, Donald Trump still leads, but look at that margin has shrunk significantly, which 25 points back in May, it is now 14 points now here in August, nearly been sliced by half. Those numbers that Harris is putting up amongst that group right now are actually slightly better than Joe Biden did four years ago. Amongst those voters in those key states, those are the types of numbers that Kamala Harris needs to put up in order to win.

And, of course, Joe Biden was like, I don't want to drop out of the race because I'm not sure that Kamala Harris can break in with this group, but it turns out she absolutely can.

BURNETT: Which is fascinating because originally when they started, right, it was an immediate map expansion. They started looking at Georgia, North Carolina, even it not giving up, but it seemed like sort of accepting that yeah, conventional wisdom.

[19:25:03]

And now, it's fascinating that may not be the case.

So, also, the economy, when we look at that, we've just been talking about that, but that's an issue Trump has been extremely strong on. Is that changing?

ENTEN: It is. I mean, again, look, we're still looking at Trump having a clear advantage amongst white working class voters in, you know, the Great Lake battleground states. But again, the margin is shrinking and elections are all about margins. You see a shrinking at a 36-point advantage. And its now down to 24 points here in August, these are the types of numbers that Kamala Harris needs to put up and more than that, its about the economy.

This is also a change election, and it's also about change as well. And she's breaking through among white working class voters on the issue of change. So the economy and change working for her cohesive.

BURNETT: Your take on Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, there, obviously, those are crucial. That's that blue -- that blue wall. But when you look more broadly, does this tip the scale as you look at other crucial must-win state?

ENTEN: Absolutely, absolutely non-college whites are a key group across the board. They are plurality of voters in the electorate when you compare them with college educated whites, or if you compare them with African-Americans and Hispanics, and especially in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, look at that, they're the majority of voters.

The fact that Harris is closing in on Trump with them is the big reason why she has those advantages. He has now in those "New York Times"-Sienna College.

BURNETT: Absolutely fascinating and not what -- what probably anybody expected.

ENTEN: No.

BURNETT: From what Joe Biden was saying.

ENTEN: But a welcome thing for Democrats, definitely.

BURNETT: All right. Harry, thank you.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BURNETT: So, now, let's go to Kate Bedingfield, former Biden White House communications director.

So, Kate, when you hear this and see these numbers that Harry was just going through in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, non-college educated white voters seeing a move this significant in such a short period of time. Why do you think this is?

KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think that the Trump agenda is actually not as palatable to these folks as people might have thought. I think his sense of kind of chaos as sense of only being out for himself. I mean, I think you heard Governor Walz really effectively driving that point just a few minutes lets go in that sound bite you were playing from his remarks tonight.

You know, I think that there is a fatigue with Trump. I also think that Kamala Harris is representing an economic agenda that does connect with these folks. If you look at what she and President Biden did and her four years in the White House, you know, they capped the cost of insulin, they're able to say that they beat big pharma on that, which I can tell you from my time in the White House is something that absolutely pulled through the roof, is a bipartisan accomplishment that people are -- or I should say there's bipartisan approval for that accomplishment.

BURNETT: Yeah.

BEDINGFIELD: You know, a strong manufacturing record as a result of the Chips Act, the junk fee work that she and President Biden have done. I mean, there are a lot of things that she has to talk about here that are broadly popular, that go into making life more affordable for working people.

So I think it's a combination of those two things, but there's no question it is great news for the Democrats to see these numbers moving in that way.

BURNETT: Well, and also I guess so ill say, you know, President Biden expressed caution about this happening. We know but there are many who had said that that group of voters would not turn to Kamala Harris some Democrats believed they would say because there was no be an inherent racial aspect to this. It seems that that kind of base expectation that some people had is wrong.

BEDINGFIELD: Which is a phenomenal thing to hear. And I certainly hope that that's true. I hope for the sake of our country, that's true. You know, if you look at Joe Biden's performance in Wisconsin in 2020, he narrowly won Wisconsin while losing white working class voters by a 14-point margin, which is what we see from Kamala Harris right here.

So, you know, again, we have to remember, right? He doesn't have -- Kamala Harris doesn't have to win working class whites. They still remain a core pillar, obviously, of Donald support, but bringing those margins down in these blue wall states is incredibly important.

But also don't forget -- I mean, ultimately the reason for sample that Joe Biden won Pennsylvania in 2020 was his solid performance with Black voters in Philadelphia and an Allegheny county which is Pittsburgh, that is still going to be a fundamental piece of his coalition if Kamala Harris is going to be successful.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Kate, thank you so much. Great to see you.

BEDINGFIELD: Great to see you, too.

BURNETT: And next, Ukraine's forces making major gains inside Russia. It's just amazing to think that we're actually saying this at this point in the war. I'm going to talk to a photojournalist who's in the town that Ukraine invaded in Russia. His incredible images are next.

Plus, Elon Musk is now going all in on Donald Trump but he was not always a fan, far from it. So what specifically changed?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:30]

BURNETT: Breaking news, major gains inside Russia. Zelenskyy's troops are making their way through Russia's Kursk region as Ukraine now says Putin is panicking and pulling troops out of Ukraine to defend his homeland.

Now, I want to show you some new video. These are SU-34 bombers striking what Russia claims are Ukrainian troops. These are the videos you are seeing on Russian state media.

Battles right now, though, are being fought on now what is this frontline? And the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying his fighters now control 74 settlements in Russia, nearly 400 square miles. So that is an area about the size of the entire five boroughs of New York City.

Fred Pleitgen is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A Russian attack gunship firing at Ukrainian forces from the air in the Kursk region inside Russia while on the ground, a Russian soldier's body cam records would appear to be several killed Ukrainians near their destroyed armored vehicle.

The Kremlin trying to show its forces are halting Ukraine's advances, but the reality is this, more Russian civilians having to evacuate their towns and villages as Kyiv's troops press ahead.

We left the chickens at home. This woman says, we gave them two bags of grain, some water, and left. Maybe there will be nothing to return to.

What seemed to be Russian prisoners of war transported in a Ukrainian pickup, as a Ukrainian soldier spray paints the Ukrainian spelling of a towns name inside Russia.

[19:35:01]

Kyiv's lightning offensive caught not just its allies off guard, but Moscow as well.

Russian President Vladimir Putin trying to publicly brush off Ukraine's incursion, meeting with the head of the Palestinian Authority in Moscow after earlier berating his generals to oust Kyiv's troops from Russian soil.

VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The main task for the ministry of defense is, of course, to drive and squeeze the enemy out of our territories.

PLEITGEN: Russia has vowed a massive retaliation key fears Moscow could launch even larger missile strikes that Ukrainian cities. But Ukraine's president vowing not to back down.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Russia needs to be forced into peace, especially if Putin is so set on fighting.

PLEITGEN: And Vladimir Putin's grip on power may not be as strong as some believe Russian opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was recently released from a Russian jail and a prisoner swap said on CNN's OUTFRONT.

VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA, RUSSIAN OPPOSITION ACTIVIST: I don't only think -- I don't only believe, I know that Russia will change and I will be back in my homeland and as I told him, it's going to be much quicker than you ever thought.

PLEITGEN: But for now, Moscow says it will bring more reinforcements to its southwestern regions to try and oust Ukraine's invasion force before it can dig in.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Berlin. (END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: And OUTFRONT now, David Guttenfelder, he is in award-winning photojournalist on assignment in Ukraine for "The New York Times". He just returned from Suzhou, Russia, which is one of the towns here. He is one of the rare restaurant journalists to have seen the Ukrainian Army's incursion firsthand.

And he joins me tonight from Sumy, Ukraine, about five miles from the Russia border.

And, David, I'm really grateful that you're here and able to come on. Obviously, I know it's late or shall I say early in the morning where you are?

I want to show some pictures you took. This is an obliterated border post in the town where Ukraine surprise incursion into Russia began and in the foreground of this image, David, is a dead Russian soldier lying on the ground.

How clear was it to you when you went and saw this with your own eyes that the Russians were taken completely by surprise?

DAVID GUTTENFELDER, VETERAN PHOTOGRAPHER: Well, we -- I think the whole country has been taken by surprise. The Russians and Ukrainians, all of us when we arrived at this border, crossing, the first thing I saw was just utter destruction of the border post a sign in Russian, a custom sign riddled with shrapnel marks and debris everywhere. And Russian casualties still in their uniforms, lying in the rubble.

There were a Russian -- dead Russian soldier still lying and what looked like the immigration counter or the customs booth of the border crossing. So, clearly, taken by surprise.

BURNETT: I mean, just incredible as you described that though, that there's a customs booth, that there's actually someone, who apparently at least seems to have been on some duty, I guess possibly from the way you are describing it. You took a picture, David, of Ukrainian soldiers riding on a tank and this picture is up the screen right now I know this is near the main road into Russia from where you are.

And obviously this invasion was risky and incredibly audacious, right? When it would be generous to say at this point that the war was stagnant, right? And certainly in terms of international perception for Ukraine right now, what has this done for morale from the morale of the soldiers and civilians that you're speaking to?

GUTTENFELDER: Yeah. I mean, there's all this speculation, every Ukrainians asking one another, what's the end game? Why did this happen? They speculate it was this about what was this about diverting Russian troops away from the front line or seizing territory that they can use in negotiations. But I think what you said is what is really what's happening right now among Ukrainian military, Ukrainian people after months of being on the back-foot, being ground down on the frontline. This is Ukraine on the offense, and I think Ukraine has wanted to make Russia fight this war and feel this war on Russian soil.

And so, that has -- whatever the tactics or the end game of this, it's had an immediate impact on people's morale I think really.

BURNETT: It's incredible when you think about when there was that first explosion in Belgorod and then when the drones over Moscow and everyone -- that that was -- oh my gosh, crossing a red line, crossing some sort of a line. And now, here we are and it is such an incredible moment is the first time since World War II that Russia was invaded by a foreign army, obviously, a major development in this war, and it was done, David, with such incredible secrecy.

[19:40:01]

So what have you learned about that? What are the soldiers tell you about how under wraps this was kept? I mean, I guess even from them?

GUTTENFELDER: Yes, it was so -- it kept secret from the whole world. The Pentagon didn't seem to know about it, but the Ukrainian population didn't know. The people in the Ukrainian villages all along the border didn't know, and that has resulted in a kind of a scramble to get people evacuated now from the border. But the military didn't know even the soldiers who are in there fighting now, we were told that most of them were notified 72 hours before they rolled over the border.

BURNETT: Wow, 72 hours. I mean, amazing though that even with that, that it didn't -- it didn't leak out. That -- that's an incredible testament to their -- their belief in their mission even now, for some reason, another 72 hours, that's a long time, oddly, from that perspective.

But, David, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And again, thanks so much for staying absolutely, getting up early to do this. Thanks.

GUTTENFELDER: Yeah. Thank you very much.

BURNETT: All right. And next, Elon Musk turning MAGA, the billionaire CEO now sounding so much like Trump that the two were even finishing each others sentences.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ELON MUSK, BILLIONAIRE CEO: It would only take a few percent of the rest of Earth to overwhelm everything in the U.S. So --

TRUMP: We're already overwhelmed, Elon. We're overwhelmed.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BURNETT: Plus, record rain has left entire towns underwater in North Korea. But what does Kim Jong Un actually say is happening amidst what could be an incredible disaster?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [19:45:43]

BURNETT: New tonight, Elon Musk going all in on MAGA, tonight taking a victory lap for his two-hour conversation with Donald Trump, posting, quote, citizen journalism from actual domain experts and people actually on the ground as much faster, more accurate, and has less biased than the legacy media.

Now, our fact checker, Daniel Dale, did find that Trump made at least 20 false claims that Musk let fly unchecked, on issues from crime and inflation, immigration, and the 2020 election.

Sunlen Serfaty is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I respect Elon a lot. He respects me.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is now complete.

TRUMP: And you know, Elon, I love Elon Musk. Do we love him? I love him.

SERFATY: Elon Musk fully making this swing over to the MAGA, right?

MUSK: I think we need to take the right path and I think you're the right path.

SERFATY: Aligning with former President Trump on some of his signature policies.

TRUMP: We need the wall to stop the drugs and the human trafficking. We need the wall.

SERFATY: Musk tweeting his support for a border wall as he made a livestream visit to the border.

MUSK: A flow of people that is of such magnitude that is actually what leading to a collapse of social services.

SERFATY: In rhetoric.

TRUMP: We don't want to have crazy forms of counting our vote. We want to have paper ballots, same-day voting, voter ID.

SERFATY: Musk tweeting: We should mandate paper ballots and in-person voting only, and the pushing of far-right MAGA tropes and alt-right ideas.

MUSK: I'm simply saying that there is an incentive here. If illegal immigrants -- which I think have a very strong bias to list everything -- very strong bias to vote Democrat, the more -- more that kind of country, the more they're likely to vote in that direction.

SERFATY: The two are now almost finishing each others' sentences. MUSK: It would only take a few percent of the rest of Earth to

overwhelm everything in the U.S. So --

TRUMP: We're already overwhelmed, Elon. We're overwhelmed.

SERFATY: Making Musk's formal endorsem*nt the night of Trump's shooting last month not at all surprising.

TRUMP: That endorsem*nt meant a lot to me. Not all endorsem*nts mean that much to be honest. Your endorsem*nt meant a lot.

SERFATY: But this political moment for musk is a long way away from where he was just a few years ago.

For years, musk has described himself as politically moderate. He says that he is voted for Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden in the past.

TRUMP: He said the other day, oh, I've never voted for a Republican. I said I didn't know. He told me he voted for me. So he's another bullsh*t artist.

SERFATY: In 2022, he says he voted Republican for the first time, something Trump both celebrated and mocked.

Musk says the left has become more extreme and he made a political shift in part, he says, because of his now transgender daughter, who he still refers to on social media by her male birth name.

MUSK: I lost my son, essentially. The reason it's, quote, dead naming is because your son is dead. So my son Xavier is dead, killed by the woke mind virus.

So I vowed to destroy the woke mind virus after that, and we're making some progress.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY: And Trump during that over two-hour livestream signal his openness to give Elon Musk a role in his administration should he win the White House and Musk graced the idea of creating a government efficiency commission, and said he'd be happy to help out with that. Trump, Erin, answered that he would love that.

BURNETT: All right. Sunlen, thank you very much.

I want to go straight from Sunlen's reporting to Dana Hull. She's a senior reporter for Bloomberg, covers Elon Musk and his businesses extensively.

So, Dana, you know this from what appears to be such, the central angle for Elon Musk. You pointed out in your latest reporting that the top three states in the United States, that cell EVs are all reliably blue, reliably blue. I mean, to state the obvious, California, Washington, Colorado now. Twenty percent of all cars sold in those states are EVs. The bottom

three are the red states and less than 2 percent of those cars are EVs.

So is there a link? Does Musk going all in on MAGA impact his bottom line? Does it cost him votes in those blue states?

DANA HULL, BLOOMBERG'S ELON MUSK REPORTER: Well, I think that there's sort of two things at play here, right? First of all, Musk is a donor to Trump's reelection campaign. I think a lot of people are missing the fact that Musk started a super PAC called America PAC.

[19:50:00]

And he has pledged millions of dollars to help Trump get re-elected. In return, Trump is going on X, which is the media platform that Musk owns. And Musk is very eager to have more folks on that platform.

So it's like a mutually beneficial arrangement between the two. But your point, there is a sense that the electric vehicle market is kind of saturated in places like California. You know, Tesla, Tesla's global -- California accounts for 12 percent of Tesla's global sales right now.

And if you live in California and wanted to buy a Tesla, you probably already have one. There aren't that many fence-sitters left, but we live in a very vast country and there are lots of states in the middle of the country, red states, as you pointed out, where the EV adoption curve looks quite different. And if Musk can get Trump to kind of support Tesla and kind of make a pitch for Tesla cars in the rest of the country -- I mean, I think that that is an upside for him.

BURNETT: Well, you know, it's amazing though, is, you know, Biden loves EVs. You've got the $7,500 credit to buy an EV. That's why a lot of these were sold. Car plants are being converted to EVs. All because this is like Biden supports. Trump doesn't.

I mean, here's what Trump has said about EVs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: To further protect Michigan auto workers? I will end the Biden-Harris electric vehicle mandate on day one.

Who wants to drive an electric car for the rest of your life? Does anybody? You don't want to drive for 45 minutes and then stop for three hours. Is that what you --

They have so many electric vehicles, nobody wants to buy 'em. They're expensive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: So, I mean, does he stick with that or as Musk literally backing Trump, even though it would be bad for Musk? HULL: Well, I think he did listen to their two-hour conversation last night. I mean, Musk was definitely sort of pitching Tesla cars to Trump. He made a lot of points that listen, like our cars or sexy, they drive well, they're fun.

Like Trump was sort of chiming in like maybe you should put solar panels on the roof. I mean, I think that Musk was using the opportunity to kind of make the case that Tesla cars are not that bad. And I think you've seen Trump kind of lower the temperature of his rhetoric when it comes to Tesla. I mean, he's still sort of slams EVs as a whole, but will say things like, well, Musk -- you know, Elon, you've got an incredible product.

BURNETT: All right. Well, Dana, thank you very much. I appreciate it.

HULL: My pleasure.

BURNETT: All right. And next, we've got new images of catastrophic flooding. And this is a North Korea. Entire towns underwater, and yet, Kim Jong Un is insisting that no one has died. Special report, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:56:49]

BURNETT: Tonight, Kim Jong Un remaining defiant, claiming not a single life has been lost and the devastating flooding near North Korea's border with China. These images show the sheer scope of the destruction and Kim is refusing any help.

Will Ripley is OUTFRONT.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On his emerald green bullet-proof train, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is portrayed as a hero on state TV, traveling to areas devastated by flooding.

Record rains left entire towns and villages under water. State media reports, thousands of evacuations, but no deaths, a claim impossible to verify was no foreign aid organizations allowed in.

Kim delivering a defiant speech from the railcar carrying his armored limousine declaring with confidence, North Korea is fully self- reliant, rejecting offers of international aid, even from allies, China and Russia, at least for now.

Some fear, Kim's deepening military partnership with fellow strongman Vladimir Putin could be giving his economy and confidence a boost, perhaps emboldening Kim to shut the door on international aid and diplomacy.

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UNITED NATIONS: We are prepared to have an open dialogue with the North Koreans without preconditions. We want to pursue diplomacy. RIPLEY: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., Linda Thomas-Greenfield, visited

the Korean demilitarized zone this spring, telling OUTFRONT at the time, any top-level meeting like former President Trump's summits with Kim would require lots of legwork.

THOMAS-GREENFIELD: Before any meeting like that could happen. We have to have engagements at other levels.

TRUMP: We met in Singapore. We met also in Vietnam and I got along with him great.

RIPLEY: Trump touting close ties with Kim in his conversation with Elon Musk.

TRUMP: We were not in danger with him because to me. He's got a lot of nuclear stuff. He can do plenty of damage.

RIPLEY: Vice President Kamala Harris taking a decidedly unfriendly stance during her visit to the DMZ in 2022.

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In the north, we see a brutal dictatorship, rampant human rights violations, and an unlawful weapons program that threatens peace and stability.

RIPLEY: Kim blasted South Korean media for speculating about massive flooding casualties, calling it a smear campaign from a dirty rubbish country.

North Korea even tried sending another round of trash balloons following South Koreas offer of humanitarian aid. South Korean media reports shifting winds blew all but ten of them back.

This is what North Korea wants the world to see -- Kim visiting flood survivors living in tents under the sweltering summer heat, as many wonder what state media is not showing.

How many people may be suffering for the sake of self-reliance?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): You've got thousands of people who've lost everything. They're living in damp, stuffy tents for going on weeks now. And Kim Jong Un comes, stands in his trained, gives a 5,000 words speech, laying out the priorities of the party, which number one distribution of newspapers and televisions, so people can keep abreast of the party's intentions. Oh, yes, also food and clean water, also relocating all of the children to the capital Pyongyang and only nursing mothers allowed to come along, the rest of the parents stay behind and help rebuild, Erin.

BURNETT: Incredible. All right. Will, thank you very much.

And thanks so much as always to all of you.

"AC360" begins right now.