designed to somehow see how the minority would win an election they lost at the polls. >> attorney general, former attorney general eric holder, thanks for joining us. critically important issue, indeed. to our viewers, thanks for watching. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next, the breaking news. the first exit polls on the california governor recall election are coming into cnn now. will gavin newsom keep his job? it's become a national race and did donald trump help him if he succeeds? plus, more breaking news. call for mark milley to resign tonight after a new book by bob w wood ward says milly was so concerned trump would start a war with china, he took it into his own hands. the likely next mayor of new york says it's time to stop d

demonizing the weltd though. eric adams is my guest. let's go k"outfront". good evening. i'm erin burnett. the breaking news, we're about to get the first exit polls for california's recall election. it will be the first glimpse into what voters are actually doing today and into whether governor gavin newsom can keep his job. one man who has actually been helping newsom is donald trump. newsom with an army of top democrats including president biden and the vice president kamala harris have done all they can to turn into recall into a referendum tieing him to larry elder. >> the leading republican running for governor is the closest thing to a trump clone that i've ever seen in years. he's the clone of donald trump. >> we have someone on the other side of this that's to the right of donald trump.

>> and trump himself is not staying out of the fray today trying to preempt a possible republican law with unfounded claims of voter fraud, rigged election. you know the terminology. the former president saying quote, people don't realize that despite the rigged voting in california, i call it swarming ballots, i got 1.5 million more votes in 2020 than 2016. a guy that can't bring water into their state, which i got federal approval to do, that's the hard part, will probably win. and larry elder much like trump is already crying foul. >> we have lawyers all set up all ready to go to file lawsuits in a timely fashion. they're going to cheat, we know that. >> kyung lah is "outfront" live and covered this recall election from the very beginning as regular viewers now. the candidates are making closing arguments now. you're obviously hours away from

polls closing, exit polls any set. what are you hearing? >> reporter: the campaign you just heard larry elder is ending the campaign on his baseless claim and trying to say governor n newsom has been a failure trying to make the ballot about newsom. what the governor has been able to do is reframe that argument saying that larry elder is the reason the democrats need to vote and you heard the governor. you heard president biden essentially framing him as a mini trump. the california remix, if you will of donald trump and the democrats here believe that that has largely worked. frightening democrats with the idea that this blue state, the direction of it could radically change by talking about health measures and masks and vaccines and larger national democratic principles. going into tonight with just hours left for people to cast their ballots, what you're

hearing from team newsom is come fa dense. they believe they have the wind at their back. they are very sure that this process of nationalizing this raise has indeed worked, erin. >> thank you very much. let's go to john king at the magic wall. john, obviously, you look at an incredibly democratic state this is a complex question. where are you watching? what counties? what data? >> it is a complex because it's a quirk ki recall. number one, this is not gavin newsom versus anybody on the first question. it's keep newsom or recall newsom. that's what newsom wants to keep california blue. where do we look? let's go back to the 2018 election that reinforces kyung's point. this would be a tsunami for

gavin newsom to be recalled. he won with 62% of the vote and john cox on question two was his republican opponent then. where do we look tonight? the secret of politics. look where the people are. the number one populous county is los angeles. gavin newsom needs democrats to turn out. that's why so many high profile democrats came to make this about elder and trump and not him. we'll see in los angeles county where glovernor newsom be near split, he will be fine. are democrats motivated to turn out? >> how many democrats? percentage of democrats say i'm tired of gavin newsom, i'll support the recall. l.a. county will give us a clue. they may stop after a couple but look at san diego county. second largest of the 58 counties. you used to see more red down here. it was closer than los angeles county if republicans or the

recall supporters have any prayer tonight, there is no way. san diego can't be this way. i'll give you one more and we'll move up the map. if you look here, this is orange county. i'm old enough to remember reynold regan when california had a republican party. you found it in orange county. look how close it was. this is a split county. a lot of republicans. if this is close to split, gavin newsom is fine. republicans need this to be no. recall supporters need this to be no. you see a lot of red on the map for cox. the problem for him is most of these counties with the exception of down here, most of these counties are solid republican counties but not that populous. not that many voters. >> that's the big question. part of the reason that this all became such a story is gavin newsom faced a lot of criticism and disdain from his party and state. that's how sort of this got to a point where it was in question. and part of the reason that he was able to turn that around is trump's involvement in making this more national about larry

elder is not trump as you heard joe biden allege, how much is this, though, really about trump? >> well, newsom tried and democratic strategists think he succeeded in making this not just about him. when the recall got on the ballot, keep newsom or recall newsom. everyone is frustrated. everyone has a reason to take a stick to the pinata that's the powerful person that is your governor. newsom trump-fies it but going after elder. california is becoming more and more democratic. if this is just about newsom, some trouble. still overwhelming democratic numbers but erin, a little history here. again, i've been around a little longer. 20 years ago, i was covering politics back in those days. california republicans were 36% of the registration. now they're down to 24%. if gavin newsom makes this me versus trump, d versus r, there

aren't enough republicans to recall him. >> right. it's math. john king, thank you. now as i promised, we're getting the first results out of exit polls from california tonight where governor gavin newsom is waiting to see these results as they come in later tonight. david is "outfront" live from the cnn election center. these are crucial exit polls. what can you tell us about attthe u turnout so far? >> these numbers will change truth the night as we get more information from voters, but in these early exit poll results, we're seeing that the electret today is 53% female, 47% male. that's similar to what we saw in the 2018 governor's race when gavin newsom won by a big margin and female voters are a key focus for his campaign. that's a good number to look at for the newsom team. take a look at the breakdown by race. you see the electret in this

recall in the early numbers is 56% white. well, in the governor's race in 2018, it was 63% white. latino turnout is 25% of the ele electret. latinos make up 25% of the electret today up from 19% just three years ago in the governor's race. it's a less white electret in these early numbers. again, we've seen a key targeting of the latino turnout from newsom and his team. they will be pleased to see the increase in latino numbers there and we ask about the top issues, erin. coronavirus issue number one. 31% of voters in these exit polls tell us that is the most important issue facing california. 22% say homelessness. 16% say the economy. 14% wild fires. 8% crime. i'll note here, we see partisan divides here. democrats are much more likely

to say coronavirus is issue number one than republicans and the complete reverse, republicans are much more likely to call the economy issue number one and finally, the state of play of coronavirus. is it getting better? 39% of voters in this recall election are saying yes, coronavirus situation in california is getting better. 30% say staying the same. 24% say it's getting worse. it is that trajectory that gavin newsom is leadning into in his closing message of this campaign, erin. >> it sounds like the virus is not just the most important thing for voters but getting better that he may see that as a credit to him and to his policies. if he's trying to go through these numbers. >> yeah, i mean, this is why you saw him as the delta variant was surging towards the end of this campaign over the summer, erin, you saw glavin newsom leaning into the coronavirus policies,

not backing away from them because he understood that the california electret was in agreement with him on key components of the management. >> thank you very much, david. those are crucial exit poll numbers. i want to go to dana bash, she has a podcast "total recall" about the state's only successful recall in 2003 and mark, long-time columnist for the "los angeles times." dana, let me start with you with david talking about the split by gender and what you're seeing in terms of race and ethnicity in terms of attornturnout, right? less white, the importance of coronavirus, what do you take away from these polls? >> first of all, just in terms of the ethnicity, it is really stark. we're talking about little under three years that the electret has gotten even more hispanic in california. that is the trend you're seeing

in other states, particularly in the south, southwest and that is a broader national conversation particularly for the republican party about trying to find a way to reach out to that electret as white america is shrinking at a pretty rapid pace. it will be a potential test case even though a recall is not necessarily the same as what you see when it comes to turnout in a regular election, it could be a potential test case. but overall, it is fascinating to watch how gavin newsom has nationalized a race that many people would have made just local. look what i'm doing locally. and at the end of the day or whenever it is that we get the final vote, it just might be that that will be a way for other democrats to look at how they could run ahead in 2022. >> so mark, let me give you a

chance to put some context on this, right? gavin newsom is a nationally known figure of course but faced withering criticism from democrats in california due to things like that fancy dinner at the french laundry restaurant in napa during covid. he was e torn apart for that bu seems to have got bten democrat back on board in a big way. how? >> he turned it as you and others suggested into a choice between the d jersey and r jersey, if you will. i had several conversations with folks, democrats highly critical, one in particular, someone that ripped gavin up one side down the other and said of course, i'll vote against the recall. i mean, this became less about gavin newsom and more about d versus r, more about gavin newsom versus larry elder and more about gavin newsom and the

california coming of donald trump. >> when you look at this from the national level and had vice president kamala harris campaign with gavin newsom and president biden campaign with governor newsom. what are they looking at tonight? >> they're looking at the fact that, look, the difference with 2003 recall, which is the subject of my podcast, mark is in that podcast and he is amazing. the difference between -- one of the main differences between then and now is that the issues that took down then governor gray davis were very california. it was not just the -- it was the recession but also the car tax and rolling blackouts. what the newsom campaign has been able to do is not just take a national issue but global issue and say look what is happening in texas and in arizona but really more ill poor

tanl -- importantly, florida. they have republican governors and look how coronavirus has taken over and you want that to happen here. so much of the national conversation that is happening and again, the global conversation that's happening, he has and they, the campaign have been able to make it about california. >> so mark, let me ask you, when you look at california biden won by almost 30 points and democratic registration is 2-1. you came into this with gavin newsom having problems in his party. larry elder is the republican choice, right and he's a republican base candidate. he's that way. would this be a different conversation if you're republican candidate was not a republican based candidate and was somebody i don't know, more like a mitt romney type of model or not? >> no, i don't think so. i want to make a point. gavin i talked about people democrats weren't too happy with him. he's doing pretty well among california democrats but to your

question, if it was larry elder or whoever, democrats will make this about donald trump. they will make this about donald trump regardless of who won. larry elder made that easy for them to do that by being so trumpy. positions he's taking are provocative and way out of step with california voters. they were always going to make this about donald trump in some form, in some manifestation. larry elder made it really, really easy for them to do so by being sosync with donald trump. >> listen to dana's podcast and live special coverage of the results tonight starting at 10:00 p.m. eastern. next, more breaking news, trump just responding to the explosive allegations in a book about the final days of his presidency including a report that mark milley called china twice because he was so concerned trump would start a war with china. i'll speak to the republican

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new book by bob woodward and bob cas costa. he was so afraid trump would start a war he made two secret phone calls to assure there would not be a war. one call came two days after the january 6th insurrection because he was convinced trump suffered a mental decline after losing the election. the book says he shared on a call with house speaker pelosi. apparently pelosi said in part about trump, quote, you know he's crazy. he's been crazy for a long time. to which chairman milley responds, madam speaker, i agree with you on everything. so isaac, thanks for coming on. to hear the joint chief's chairman say the sitting president was suffering from a mental decline, that's alarming. so let's just start with why was milly so convinced this was the case? >> simply put he was convinced

of this because he had been in the room with trump and as my colleagues bob woodward and robert costa say he resembled the movie "full metal jacket" and concooned himself into conspiracy theories and signed his name to slap dash memos including one that would have withdrawn all u.s. forces from afghanistan by january 15th without going through the proper chain of command. as you say, he believed the election was a turning point for the president and suffered a severe mental decline in the wake of that. >> the are. so that's significant and let me add to that from what we understand and since you've read it, tell me what it says. that they report it wasn't just chairman milley who had concerns about trump and trump taking military action, according to the book his hand picked cia director was so concerned about trump attacking iran she warned

milley and let me quote from the book quoting her, this is a highly dangerous situation. we'll lash out for his ego. what else do they report here? >> the book goes inside some pretty remarkable moments, some conversations that took place about iran and options in dealing with that country in november and it describes how top administration officials, cia director haspel, secretary of state mike pompeo were alarmed because not only did the president refuse to rule out striking iran, he seemed curious about the possibility and the cia director proceeds to call mark milley, the chairman of the joint chiefs and say what will happen here? are we going to lash out and strike iran because of the president's eco? it was not the way she was used to making foreign policy, dealing with these decisions, kind of will he or won't he depending on his mood on any given day. >> there is so much here.

the book has a new detail on former vice president pence's d deliberations. some want to believe pence didn't want anything to do with this. he wanted to go in and do the right thing. that's not what the book seems to say. he called former vice president dan quail to ask for advice and he says mike, you have no flexibility on this, none, zero, forget it. put it away. according to the book pence pushed back. he was trying to find a way here and then when pence ultimately goes okay, and he goes back and tells trump i can't do anything except open the envelope, trump says to him quote, you don't understand, mike, you can do this. i don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't do this. so you've read it. do you see pence's call to quail truly as a way pence was looking to help trump to overturn the election? >> i think the book really adds new pieces to this puzzle of how the vice president was thinking through this decision and how he

might have arrived at a different decision. he calls up dan quail as you say, former vice president, fellow indiana republican and says aren't there any ways, what about a delay? he's thinking through options. quail is very firm and ultimately, pence comes down in agreement with him and sticks firm in this meeting with trump in the oval office on january 5th even as the president is saying can't you do this? wouldn't it be cool to have the power to do this? what is remarkable about this conversation with scquail revead in the book, it shows the former vice president thinking through and seeking outweighs to get to trumps demands. >> not necessarily they this has been spun all the way or understood. it adds a lot to it. thank you very much. appreciate your sharing that with me. i want to go to counsel on foreign relations senior fellow

and mark hurtling who is the commander general in europe. let me go here to something that is getting a lot of conversation and that is chairman milley. he calls his chinese counterpart not once but twice in the final weeks of trump's presidency. having a conversation with a chinese counterpart to assure this general there will not be a war four days before the election, he talks to him and says in part the book quotes, general lee i want to assure you the american government and stable and everything will be okay. you and i have known each other for five years. if we attack, i'll call you ahead of time. it's not going to be a surprise. two days after january 6th, milley calls lee and says we're 10 0% steady. a lot of people hear that, general and go whoa, this is totally wrong. i don't care what i i tthink ab trump.

don't worry about anything. what do you say? >> i say erin, this is typical of high level commanders talking to counterparts, both allies and foes. how do i know that? i did it. part of the requirement of any military commander is to establish relationships with those in his theater. for the chairman, it's very different. the chair mman travels the worl and meets counterparts. he's been to china twice as the chairman and maybe again as the chief of staff of the army where you meet these kind of individuals so you can avoid miscalculations in conflict. now, in terms of milley saying to general lee i will warn you if there is going to be a war, i would contest that. i don't think that probably happened. i think general milley was assuring him that the american democracy was in fine shape, that we were having trouble, hickups and not to be concerned

and i think that call was probably due to receiving intelligence that the chinese were very concerned as were many other nations about the state of american democracy at time. >> i think general hertling adds important context here. former president trump just weighed in on these calls tonight. here is part of what he said. >> if it is actually true, which is hard to believe that he would have called china and done these things and was willing to advice them of an attack or advancement, that's treason. for him to say i was going to attack china is the most ridiculous thing i've ever heard. >> he says it's treason. marco rubio says he should be fired since he quote worked to actively undermine the sitting commander in chief. what do you say to this, max?

>> that's absurd and hyperbolic. nothing that general milley did was remotely illegal or unethical. you could have hadden an issue actually attack china at that point would be a real issue for general milley to obey that or not. he wasr reassuring the chinese and pushed authority the furthest if bob woodward and co costa's reporting can be believed, if trump gives an order to use nuclear weapons, follow the procedures but keep me in the loop. technically the chairman of the joint chiefs is not in the loop if the president gives anuclear is similar to what the secretary jim experienced with president nixon in 1974 where there are real concerns about the mental stability of the president and with trump there are those concerns from day one.

so i think general milley did the right thing so we should not count on generals in the future to save us from these things and congress needs to pass legislation to limit the president's ability to use nuclear weapons to avoid this nightmare scenario. >> general hertling, let me ask you about the nuclear reporting. he said chairman milley was worried trump could go rogue he called a secret meeting two days later with military leaders not to take orders from anyone unless he was involved and warned no matter what you're told, do the procedure and process and i'm part of that ro s -- procedure. he went around the room and looked each officer in the eye and told them to verbally say they understood. he said milley considered it an oath. are you okay with that? >> i am. for a couple reasons. we don't know who he was talking to. when woodward says military commanders, i don't know who that is. it was reported today he went

into the national military command center. that's the operations room of the pentagon and the military quote commanders that are in there are one star generals and admirals that are shift chiefs and run the processes that go from the president to the secretary of defense to in this case it would be the guy that launches ballistic missiles. those are individuals they would have been talking to and milley was probably talking to one stars saying ensure the process are worth. the other thing i would suggest is milley rightfully probably called the four-star general and reminded him about the procedures for the launch of nuclear weapons. all of these things are under -- and i disagree with max a little bit on this because they are under the purview to make sure targeting is consistent with

targeting operations and legal requirements are consistent. that's his job as the primary military advisor to both the president and the secretary of defense. i didn't see any -- i haven't heard anything about the book that said milley countered the president's orders or prepared to do that. he was ensuring all of his staff and sa knew the way to approach the launch procedures because when that comes to fruition, if it ever does, that's a confusing situation and a requirement for unbettered action and no questions asked. that's what general milley was probably doing. >> irreversible act once it starts. thank you. next, new details on the expletive laced phone call between trump and steve bannon that persuaded then president trump to return to washington and attend the january 6th rally. plus, administration said to be considering a mandate that could change travel as americans know it.

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breaking news, the moment for reckoning. that is what steve bannon told president trump the day january 6th would be according to the new book. it reveals that ban fan played a crucial role in the events leading up to the riot and a crucial role in trump's thinking. on ban nfan said about january 6s, people will go. what the f is going on we're going to bury him, f-ing bury hip. that got trump back on a plane back to d.c. and there he was. john kasich the former two-term republican governor of ohio. a lot to talk to you about here. let me start with the steve bannon reporting here, he was crucial convincing trump to

return to d.c. he said he's in mara lag bow and might not come back. he comes back for january 6th and after bannon says it was the moment of reckoning. how much blame do you think bannon bears for what happened that day? >> well, you know, erin, this whole book and all the revelations you've been covering here in the last half an hour are just stunning. ultimately, the guy who has to bear the blunrunt of this is dod trump and those who cooperated with him, shame on them. that's why i'm in support of the commission, january 6th commission to get to the bottom of this and find out who played what role. nothing should surprise you but the more i hear the more shocked i am. and republican politicians figure out how to keep trump

inside the circle to take advantage of him and be in a position to win the house and senate and those people who think that way reminds me of the scrip script tour that says you inherit the earth and lose your soul. if republicans think they need to win the house by continuing to cooperate with this negativity and demagoguery out of donald trump and these attacks, then they're likely to win the house but to lose their soul in the process. >> so one person, you know, who comes to mind, as you say, this is kevin mccarthy, the house minority leader and played a crucial role on january 6th talking to trump and trump says that these are antifa and mccarthy says who the f are you talking about? these are your people. trump is responsible and changes his tune later. according to the book, the night before biden's inauguratinaugur after january 6th kevin mccarthy talks to trump and says i don't know what's happened to you in

the last two months. you're not the same as you were for the last four years. then mccarthy repeatedly pleads with trump to call biden saying quote you've done good things and want that to be your legacy. call joe biden. mccarthy continues quote do it for me. you got to call him. call joe biden. trump never did it. trump didn't show up at the inauguration. what do you make of that conversation? >> well, that's one good thing that appears that mccarthy was trying to do, trying to talk trump into conceding this election but then as we go forward, we see the fact that he sort of reverses himself publicly and i think what all these republican leaders are trying to say is we need donald trump for the midterm election. so whatever it takes to get him to continue to work with us, we're going to do because he's got the energy. that comes about, erin, for one simple reason. the republicans don't have the

energy, the republicans, any energy they may have is based on fear of continuing governing by democrats or the fact that there is so much negativity out there they get motivated by negative rather than positive. it could work in the short term but over time, i don't believe, erin, that just being negative is going to get you anywhere and help you to build any collision that will help our country. >> so governor, let me ask you about chairman milley and the report in the book, right, he had two conversations with his counterpart in china, one in november and one in january. and that he says don't worry, basically, we're going to be fine here. we're not going to attack you and i would let you know before hand if we were. you know, you heard general hertling say i don't believe he said that but otherwise doesn't seem to have an issue of what he said. what's your view of general

milley's behavior if it happened how the book says? >> if it happens the way the book said, could you imagine, erin, we have somebody like a dr. strange love who is sitting on the ability to launch nuclear weapons and we have the military people around him saying we don't think the guy is stable? i think about that for a second. and i think what milley was trying to do is calm everything down and i think that's why he was going through the procedures of what you do if you get an order to launch. that kind of -- that's just kind of unbelievable and aren't you just shocked by it? i am. i think whatmilley was trying to do is get ahead of this so there would be no slipups and excuses. i agree with the general. the general was trying to tell the folks in china things are calm here because, you know, we're on a razor's edge in this world with people having great numbers of nuclear weapons and we know what might happen if they get launched. we celebrated 9/11 and talked

about, you know, in memory of all those people, we think about what happened with those two planes. think about the launch of a nuclear weapon. i think milley was acting very, very responsibly if this report was true and if true, it's stunning and something that the congress ought to look into on a bipartisan basis if we have a fear that perhaps somebody who is a commander in chief is not in control of their faculties. >> all right. thank you very much. governor kasich. >> thank you, erin. always a pleasure. thank you. next, i'll talk to the governor of arkansas why he's calling out biden's covid vaccine requirements when the state requires kids to be vaccinated for chickenpox, mumps and a whole of other things and eric adams telling new yorkers that fled to florida, quote, bring your butt back. will they? got a couple of bogeys on your six, limu. they need customized car insurance

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tonight, dr. anthony fauci saying the biden administration is still considering a vaccine mandate to travel. >> requiring vaccination for travel is something that is on the table for discussion. it has not been decided yet. >> that includes things like getting on airplanes. well, it comes as on overwhelming majority of republican governors publicly criticized president biden's policy saying it's counterproductive and saying it will lead to further vaccine hesitancy. the republican governor of arkansas ahutchinson. i know you oppose the covid vaccine policy on businesses over 100 and weekly testing policy. i want to cut straight to it b because in arkansas you mandate a child must be vaccinated against tetanus,polio,

chickenpox, hep a and hep b among other things. >> because you're against a federal mandate that impacts small businesses, large businesses across the country doesn't mean you're going to forgo every possible vaccine mandate in your state. historically, it's been up to the states to determine what is right for their state in terms of public health policy, in terms of vaccine policy and mandates and sure, in arkansas, we require certain diseases to be vaccinated against in our schools but that doesn't mean i should support a federal machine date -- mandate that impacts the businesses across the board and has a stretch of federal power that we've never seen before because general washington did a vaccine mandate on smallpox in the troops, doesn't mean that we should apply to businesses

across the country and so that's the distinction. i'm not against state requirement for vaccines in the schools. we support that. >> what about, then, okay, if it's a state's rights issue, why not do the same thing for the covid vaccine at your level? >> well, because that is the larger point that right now it is contrary to getting the vaccines out. it will harden the hesitancy out there, and it's not the right time. it not the right message. down the road we'll have to see where we are and whether those are appropriate calls for the states to make. no blue or red state made the call we ought to mandate businesses to require vaccination of the employees and for the federal government to come in and over step each of the states and their decision making is not good policy. dr. gotly made a good point that businesses were moving toward in

their industry, maybe requiring vaccines for their employees. they're going to stop that now and say >> so let me ask you about this, though. i know obviously walmart, which is the largest private employer in the country and also of course in arkansas, they require corporate and regional staff to get vaccinated there. but let me just ask you why you think then that a mandate would result in hardening people's views? for some people, sure. but on balance if you're going to tell people get fired or get vaccinated, you're going to get some people who don't want to get vaccinated getting vaccinated or you just don't think that's true? >> no, i think that the vaccinations is going to go up whether you have that employer mandate or not, because we were just -- companies like walmart, like tyson's in arkansas, they're moving to get their employees vaccinated. and so i support fully the right

of the employers to do that and we shouldn't pass laws that prohibit that. that is freedom independence of the employers based upon their workplace, and not every workplace is the same so you've got to make common-sense judgments. so we were moving in the right direction on our vaccines and increasing that. the question is, you know, what's the best strategy. i just disagree with the mandate from the federal government strategy. i like the decision-making that businesses were making, that states were making, that schools were making, and we're moving in the right direction. we don't need that federal mandate. >> so i want to ask you one other thing before you go tonight, governor. as someone who worked in the george w. bush administration, i wanted to ask you about donald trump's personal attack against your former boss because you know it began after former president bush alluded to the capitol rioters during his speech on 9/11 when he said this. >> there is little cultural

overlap between violent extremists abroad and violent extremists at home. but in their disdainful pluralism, in their disregard for human life, in their determination to defile national symbols, they are children of the same foul spirit. >> trump immediately fired back in a statement, governor, saying, quote, the world trade center came down during his watch. bush led a failed and uninspiring presidency. he shouldn't be lecturing anybody. obviously, governor, trump prides himself on being a fighter, but is it appropriate or inappropriate for a former president to come out and speak like that about his predecessor? >> well, it's inappropriate, but -- and it's not helpful. president bush did the right thing. he talked about bringing a country together during the post-9/11 environment and the 20th anniversary is a good time to remind us that extremism on both sides is not helpful for

bringing our country together. i'm very disappointed that president trump would launch an attack on president bush that really had his heart out there and was speaking for many americans when he talked about we need to try to be more united in everything that we do. >> governor hutchinson, i appreciate your time, i always do. thank you. >> all right, thank you, erin. and next, the heavy favorite to be the next mayor of new york city, eric adams, says it's time to stop attacking the wealthy. so what does he think about the dress? what else can go from your car's cup holder to a crystal bowl and seem equally at home? i guess the most well-rounded snack isn't round at all. it's more cashew-shaped. planters. a nut above. like many people with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis or crohn's disease, i was there. be right back.

but my symptoms were keeping me from where i needed to be. so i talked to my doctor and learned humira is the #1 prescribed biologic for people with uc or crohn's disease. and humira helps people achieve remission that can last, so you can experience few or no symptoms. humira can lower your ability to fight infections. serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. tell your doctor if you've been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if you've had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flu-like symptoms or sores. don't start humira if you have an infection. be there for you and them. ask your gastroenterologist about humira. with humira, remission is possible. for people living with h-i-v, keep being you. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults.

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will no longer be anti-business. that is the quote and the business from eric adams, the democratic nominee for mayor of new york city who is the favorite to win that race in november. adams saying, quote, this is going to be a place where we welcome business and not turn into the dysfunctional city we have been for so many years. not mincing words, not afraid to say what he thinks and eric adams joins me now. i really appreciate your time, eric. you said new york will no longer be anti-business if you become mayor. so what will you do differently, what specifically, that will break from the current mayor and other democrats in your city? >> what we often don't realize is that cities are made up of agencies, and there's a covenant between taxpayers and the city where the taxpayers, they pay their taxes and the agencies return with the goods and services. we find in our city our agencies are not in place to help businesses, in fact they hurt them. sometimes it can take almost two years after building a hotel to

get a sprinkler inspection done. there's no partnership between the small business services to get our restaurants open. con edison, our electric supplier, can take a year and a half to run an electric line. that is an unfriendly atmosphere that is too difficult to do business in the empire state. >> those are pretty stunning examples and it's shocking that they exist in the united states and certainly in what is supposed to be the financial capital of the united states. but look, as you're trying to bring people back to the city, people who pay the lion's share of the taxes, you've been sending the message new york will not be anti-business and then all the publicity today goes to congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez and her dress that she wore to the $35,000-a-head met gala last night. the words "tax the rich" in red. look, she's not the only democrat sending that message, she just had the platform to do it last night. what do you think of the slogan, is "tax the rich" the right

message? >> well, i think people should understand that in new york city over 8 million people, 65,000 paid 51% of our income taxes. because of those 65,000, we have teachers in our schools, firefighters, police officers, department of sanitation. i want the person that drives the limousine to get a good salary and the person that sits in the back of the limousine. that's the same ecosystem. so we both want the same thing, ocasio-cortez, we just have different pathways of doing it. i'm not going to separate my city. this ecosystem is going to be the high income new yorkers and those attempting to eke out a living in this amazing city. >> so then when you look at -- look, we know of all kinds of people who have moved to florida who make a lot of money from new york. billionaires, millionaires. a lot of those 65,000 people

you're talking about, some of them have moved. you probably know what their names are. you told "the wall street journal" the day after i win i'm taking a flight to florida and telling all those new yorkers who live in florida, bring your butt back to new york. tell me what argument you're going to make to them. right now if the democrats get what they want, like alexandria ocasio-cortez, the combined state income tax and city tax for those new yorkers will be 61.2%, which is definitely the highest in the nation. so what are you going to tell them to get them to come back to that tax environment? >> let me tell you what i hear all the time when i'm in florida, the hamptons, upstate. eric, listen, we know we have to pay our share of taxes. but we don't want to pay taxes and have an unclean, unkempt, unsafe city. the prerequisite to prosperity for new york is public safety and justice. you have a safe city, you're going to have your new yorkers

back. our real estate rental properties, we're booming right now. people want to be here and we're going to create that environment for them to stay here. >> i appreciate your time, eric adams. if you do, quote, bring their butts back. i appreciate your time. and thanks to all of you for joining us. "ac 360" starts now. and good evening. it is a big night in california where polls in the gubernatorial re-election -- recall election close in exactly three hours. in a moment we'll have new exit polling and talk to senator bernie sanders who campaigned for governor newsom in california. the race not only will determine whether democratic governor gavin newsom holds on to his job but as president biden said last night, the eyes of the nation are on california, in part for what this election said about the mood of the electorate but also the shadow the former es