>> there is. >> overreach. >> and there's. >> over criminalization of politics. >> so. >> you know that the public probably, if polled, would disagree with a lot of what you're saying, right? >> the jury's. >> disagreed normie. sunday night for the premiere of season two of united states of scandal. it starts at 9 p.m. eastern on sunday on cnn. before that, though, on state of the union sunday morning, i'm going to speak with democratic senator andy kim of new jersey. republican senator rick scott of florida and the white house special envoy for hostage affairs, adam boehler. that's sunday morning at 9:00 eastern and again at noon here on cnn. i have two books coming out in may, original sin, about president biden's decision to run for reelection and the cover up of his decline and an october race against terror about the hunt to prosecute an al qaeda terrorist who killed americans and was out to kill more. you can check them out at jake tapper dot com. erin burnett outfront starts now. i will see you sunday morning.

>> outfront next, trump heaping praise on putin on this friday night. trump calling the russian president generous, saying he holds all the cards, not zelenskyy. and wait until you see what happened when trump tried to get tough earlier. plus, musk versus rubio. the two reportedly going head to head during an explosive meeting where the billionaire took on trump's cabinet. is elon musk on borrowed time, or who will you bet on between those two? and breaking news. actor gene hackman's cause of death revealed late today, as we learn that his wife died a full week before him from a rare virus linked to rodents. let's go out. >> front. >> and good friday evening, i'm erin burnett. outfront tonight, the breaking news trump praising putin's generosity, admitting that putin is, quote, bombing the hell out of ukraine, but then saying putin really wants to end the war.

>> it may be easier dealing with russia, which is surprising because they have all the cards. i mean, and they're bombing the hell out of them right now. i've always had a good relationship with putin. and, you know, he wants to end the war. he wants to end it. and i think he's going to be more generous than he has to be. >> putin generous. i mean, he invaded ukraine. he tried to take the entire country. he is now trying to keep vast regions of ukraine. so any peace he supports is to get that, because his economy is in shambles. it isn't just that it's crazy, right, to say that an invading country is generous to end the war on terms it likes. that's of course, absurd. but this may sound familiar from trump, right? after all, it is consistent with how he talks about russia and putin. but today something else happened and it was very strange. a mere four hours before trump called putin generous, said he had all the cards, all of that that you just heard. trump posted

something totally off brand on social media. he wrote, quote, i am strongly considering large scale banking sanctions, sanctions and tariffs on russia until a cease fire and final settlement agreement on peace is reached. now, to come out and say more sanctions is the complete opposite of every single thing trump has said since taking office. so something about saying that spooked trump so much that he went back to the, well, really fast. his administration hours later dealing a major blow to ukraine. they cut off ukraine's access to crucial u.s. government satellite images. if you follow it, it's it's a big deal. images ukraine has relied on to fight this war relies on right now. and then, of course, trump came out in the oval office, as you saw there, and said putin would be generous. and all of those things, by the way, right after he said that about, you know, being generous and wanting peace. russian missiles hit ukraine. a village was just hit tonight. five killed, 15 injured. the war rages on, as trump said putin is bombing the hell out of him. but today's compliments of putin and the actions against ukraine.

that's the part that's consistent with trump's behavior. when i talk about those satellite images, it's in the long line of context. he cut ukraine out of initial peace negotiations, right? the u.s. and russia meeting in saudi arabia, he called ukraine's president zelenskyy a dictator. he suspended military aid to ukraine. that is crucial. he stopped sharing intelligence with ukraine, and then he humiliated zelenskyy in front of the world. >> you got to be more thankful because let me tell you, you don't have the cards. the problem is i've empowered you to be a tough guy, and i don't think you'd be a tough guy without the united states well, the goal was to humiliate there, clearly. >> and in russia, those words and the actions that i just listed out are emboldening. the foreign minister lavrov said russia wouldn't even do a peace deal with european peacekeepers. that's that's a stand you take when someone has given you all the cards and just listen now to

russian state television now. >> nada, nada. >> we should increase the number of our strikes. >> we should. >> increase it against those storage. >> depots where. >> the remaining ammo and missiles may. be stored. we need to increase the number of. >> strikes increasing the number of strikes. >> as i said, there were strikes tonight. it's not a call for peace. jeff zeleny is out front. live outside the white house. and you know, jeff whiplash today from trump. that one stand on sanctions in contrast to everything else he has done today said today. and of course, every other day since taking office. what is he trying to achieve though, by talking tough on putin in the morning and four hours later showering him with praise? >> erin, by. >> and large, president trump is trying to push both parties to the negotiating table, but he is pushing ukraine in a far different and faster way. what was so interesting about that, because when the. president was holding forth in the oval

office, he was asked about the comments he made earlier on social media about putin, asked to expound on what he had said, he declined to do so. so we are left with a variety of questions. there was no white house briefing today. the president has left the white house. he's on his way. >> to florida. >> he did not answer questions as he was leaving here. was that something that his advisers posted? was that something that he was sending as a message to try? and again urge these conversations to go forward? we don't know. but we do know that next week there are going to be more talks in saudi arabia, a u.s. delegation marco rubio the secretary of state, of course, a steve witkoff the middle east envoy. they are going to be there talking to ukrainian officials as well. the ukrainian president, volodymyr zelenskyy, also going to be in the region. so next week, officials hope there is that deal that is signed. it could happen. that was supposed to be. signed last friday. so make no mistake, there's a week after that

humiliation in the oval office. zelenskyy put out a statement today on social media thanking the united states once again, saying he is working with the trump officials. but it is clear the president is still more aligned with vladimir putin to a large degree. but again, trying to push this to the finish line. but again, we end tonight with some questions about why did he say that about putin this morning? we don't have an easy answer, erin. >> no, no, no easy answers. all right. jeff zeleny at the white house. thank you. let's go now to democratic congressman adam smith of washington, the top democrat on the armed services committee. and i'm really so happy to have you here in person, congressman. so putin being generous. what what is that? what does that even mean, do you think? >> well. >> look, let's. >> understand one thing. >> there's actually. >> there's not a lot of questions about what trump is trying to do. >> he's basically. >> trying to. give ukraine to putin, and he wants a better relationship with russia, and he's willing to. sacrifice ukraine for the sake of that. and whatever he may have tweeted about, you know, putting.

pressure on. >> putin. >> everything else. >> he has done. and people. >> have to. >> understand he. >> is crippling ukraine. this isn't just a matter now of sending more weapons by cutting off intel, sharing by cutting off their ability to identify airstrikes coming in. he is putting ukraine in an incredibly vulnerable position, and he's empowering putin. the whole point of. >> this. >> trump says, is i want to get a peace deal, but you have to put pressure on putin to get a peace deal. he's taking all the pressure off of putin and giving him a massive green light to continue attacking ukraine. >> right. and, you know, you talk about all the cards, right? who's dealing the cards right? who's the dealer? so when what do you think happened earlier when, when the when the post was made though about more sanctions? i mean, i saw it, my jaw went on the floor. i said, wait, now you're going to say this after everything else? i mean, soon he was back to his more consistent behavior. >> there is a rational argument for saying we need to get to a peace settlement in ukraine, and ukraine's got to be willing to

come and and be willing to negotiate that. there's a rational argument for that. and a lot of republicans who claim to support ukraine, even though their silence is deafening right now as donald trump decimates ukraine, would argue, we're just trying to get him to the peace table. all right. and if that was in fact what they were trying to do, then putting sanctions on russia while continuing to arm ukraine would be key to forcing russia to the bargaining table. so that brief little tweet is consistent with the more rational position. but it's meaningless because he didn't follow through on it. and i really want to emphasize the republicans in congress, there are republicans in congress who claim to support ukraine more strongly than anybody. they are sitting silently by while trump betrays ukraine and hands it to putin. >> so can i ask you because i you know, i've heard all sorts of arguments about this minerals deal, okay. and, you know, the argument, the most convincing one is, okay, put a minerals deal on the table. and that will mean there's americans in ukraine. so we don't have to give ukraine security guarantees because putin won't want to kill americans involved with the mines. the trump the trump argument. okay. but i want to

understand the point of the minerals deal for minerals that we don't know how much there is, what they really are, the ones that are known are in mined, russian controlled parts of the country. and security guarantees don't come. what's the point of it? >> there is no point to the minerals deal. you know, it's sort of like trump saying he's going to invade and take the panama canal. it's just. well, i'd like to have that in terms of how it gets us to a peaceful resolution in ukraine. it's not going to have anything to do with it. for all the reasons you just stated. the real story here is that trump continues to show putin nothing but weakness. now, it's possible that trump is that incompetent, but i tend to agree with thomas friedman, who said this morning that now trump is more sympathetic with a brutal, repressive autocrat like vladimir putin than he is with ukraine. and by the way, i say that you can say, well, gosh, we can't keep pouring money into it. how long is this war going to go? you can want to get an end to the war. short of ukraine's maximalist goals. and i can find that very reasonable.

but if you wanted that, you would want a sovereign, democratic ukraine with security guarantees to protect itself. you would want to keep arming ukraine to put pressure on putin, to force him to the table. and that's not what trump is doing. >> and so trump has called zelenskyy a dictator. he's mocked him. right. they said, oh, i don't remember saying that. you know, all of the things that he said, lindsey graham, ally of trump, has called for new leadership. so now it's interesting. the opposition to zelenskyy, tymoshenko, poroshenko, they have said they don't even want elections right now. so it's not as if zelenskyy is going against even the opposition. >> like there's a war going on. >> exactly right. you know, polls shows that his approval ratings have surged in ukraine since what happened with trump. but i'm curious, because you have seen the insidious power of just constantly belittling or cutting somebody down, the power that that can have. are you worried about that for zelenskyy now? and because he is so

crucial to this, to ukraine and to the war. >> i'm not really worried about that. zelenskyy, as you said, all that's doing is strengthening him at home. what's really to be worried about is just undercutting ukraine and walking away from ukraine. now, maybe trump's doing it because he's got a personal beef with zelenskyy, because back in 2019, zelenskyy didn't dig up dirt on biden for him. and it led to that whole thing. i still stand by the other answer again, given credit where credit is due to thomas friedman, that trump kind of likes putin, he wants a better relationship with putin. and, you know, to quote tucker carlson, what's he got against putin? i think tucker's exact quote was putin never called me a racist. he seems fine. all right. so i think he's more sympathetic there. >> that was, i think, in the line where he also said putin doesn't eat dogs. and that would be the standard for liking somebody. >> right? right. so and this is incredibly serious. i mean, it's shocking, it's distressing. but by walking away from ukraine, putin is not just in a position to take ukraine. he's in a position to threaten the rest of eastern

>> not the only cabinet member who butted heads with must. also breaking grim details emerging tonight about of actors gene hackman. >> we're now learning that he lived with his wife's dead body for a week. it's a terrible tragedy. officials say she died from a rare disease linked to rats and a convicted murderer just executed by firing squad. first execution of this type in the united states in nearly 20 years. >> when it comes to rooting out corruption, do the fbi's ends justify the means?

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1-800-269-9522. >> anderson cooper 360. tonight at eight on cnn. >> tonight marco rubio unloads on elon musk. the two men according to the new york times getting into an explosive back and forth in a closed door cabinet meeting. musk accusing rubio of not slashing staff at the state department. now rubio, who the times reported has been privately livid at musk for weeks, calling him a liar and scornfully asking if he should rehire recently laid off state department staffers just so he could make a show of firing them again for musk. well, trump tonight tried to downplay the incident. >> no clash, i was there. you're just a troublemaker. and you're not supposed to be asking that question because we're talking about the world cup. elon gets along great with marco and they're both doing a fantastic job. there is no clash. >> well, according to the new york times, it was not just

rubio involved in the clash. transportation secretary sean duffy also went after musk for laying off air traffic controllers, saying, quote, what am i supposed to do? i have multiple plane crashes to deal with now, and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers? well, there is sean duffy speaking for probably every conversation anybody watching or i've had in the past two weeks. right. i mean, people want air traffic controllers. they want flying to be safe. musk wearing a suit and tie instead of his usual baseball hat, t-shirt and jeans, punching back, telling rubio he's, quote, good on tv. and then he implied not much else. also calling duffy's assertion a quote, lie. now president trump, according to the reporting, watched all of this like a tennis match, finally reining in musk and defending rubio and telling musk they've all got to work together. outfront now, kate bedingfield and former minnesota governor tim pawlenty. well, governor, this is this is serious and important stuff, but this is a good tale. this is the kind of story that brings you in. it's riveting. reported by two of the top reporters at the

new york times. right. jonathan swan, maggie haberman, was it only a matter of time before before this happened? i mean, and are you surprised to hear that it happened at this point? >> well, once president trump makes a decision, it's incumbent upon his cabinet to follow that decision and execute it or resign. but before then, they owe the president, particularly in a cabinet setting, an honest, authentic, open exchange of ideas. and finally, aaron, finally, some republican leaders other than president trump are not cowering and they're speaking back. and we now have secretary duffy and secretary of state rubio doing just that. so kudos to them. it makes me smile and warms my heart. it's healthy. and as to the clash of cultures that was to be expected, and you're going to see elon musk, of course, cause friction in all kinds of settings in government. how long that lasts. we'll see. >> kate, can i just say another thing about this? obviously, you know, jonathan swan and maggie haberman are so excellent. the detail here is pretty

incredible. and i'm not just saying that because you can't not read it. i'm saying that because it leaked and it leaked in detail. and for a quote to leak of, what am i supposed to do? i have multiple plane crashes and your people want me to fire air traffic controllers for that to leak, for it to leak that that that musk tells rubio he's good on tv, implying not much else. i mean, this is tough and nasty stuff. what does it mean? you know, you've been in rooms like this, that all this leaked? >> well, i would say it clearly leaked with intention. i mean, that level of detail and the clarity, the clarity with which the picture was painted, obviously indicates that there were people who wanted to wanted this to be known. you have to assume that rubio and his team, duffy and his team wanted this to be known and wanted wanted it to to be clear where musk was in this back and forth. and i think some of that is probably generated by we have seen some polling over the last couple of weeks that have shown that people are having concerns about the way musk is approaching all of this. so i think that was a piece of it. and i also have to

imagine there was a personal element here. i mean, yes, i have been in these rooms. these cabinet secretaries have incredibly hard, intense jobs. they also have a huge mandate to run these agencies, which is challenging and difficult. and the frustration of having somebody who doesn't have an understanding of how these agencies work over their shoulder, dictating who they can hire and fire, i'm sure, also just has there's a personal element of frustration there, too, but it's very clear that this leaked intentionally, and it was leaked with the with an effort to paint musk as the reckless actor here, that they clearly believe that he is. >> you know, governor, you and i were and kate, we were all here the other night talking about apparel. so here we go. i mean, why not? let's just do a take two because it came up again, governor, the new york times is reporting that musk did not wear his t-shirt where you could see his stomach and his jeans and his usual little attire. he wore a suit and he wore a tie. after trump's press secretary said this. >> well, elon musk wore a suit

last night and i think the president liked that very much. >> i mean, okay, governor, i mean, i'm just saying so so here it is. musk for, you know, always shows up wearing that other stuff and, you know, makes likes to bring, you know, the chainsaw joke. but so it's not a small deal that he showed up in a suit and tie to this meeting. and the president's in the room. right. shows up. you know how telling is that? >> i think it is telling. it's it's elon musk signaling. i'm going to respect what donald trump values and what he puts a protocol expectation on for the white house. so i think that's a good development. if you're going to be part of the team, you want to kind of meet the team's expectations and norms. so good for him. and then on the cabinet more broadly in this tension, two other quick observations. you don't want a cabinet full of butt kissers. it's not good for anybody in the room. and the second important observation is trump at the end refereed it and gave them both credit. so it is not beyond the point of being able to repair it and move forward in a positive way.

>> which i totally understand the point. and of course you want it all done in the right place. it is though, kate, such a contrast to what we saw from marco rubio in the meeting with zelenskyy. he was there, sitting next to jd vance on the couch, you know, and if there was an invisibility cloak, he would have grabbed it. i mean, the guy looked as miserable as i've ever seen a person look sitting on that couch. and then he had to go out and say that everything about that meeting was fine. when it was clear from his body language that that he did not feel fine. so i. what do you think it means? that he finally and obviously he did it behind closed doors, but it's now fully public that he did this today. >> well, it's interesting because it actually the dynamics here remind me a lot of the first trump administration. i mean, this was the kind of thing we would see all the time, which is the leaking of the, you know, the rivalries and the criticisms and the backstabbing. so this in some ways, this kind of feels like a throwback to the, you know, to the to to trump of yore. but, you know, i think it is it is interesting that rubio is unwilling to say any of this publicly. and again, that's,

you know, a cabinet secretary se it is. it is not traditionally the case that they're going to go out and publicly attack the president of united states. if they do, they're not going to work for him for very long. and that's true of either party. but the fact that rubio is now feeling empowered to criticize musk directly, to have this conversation in front of donald trump, i think it suggests that, you know, trump and the team are looking at some of the polling around what musk is doing and saying, you know, there needs to be a little bit of adjustment here. and i think rubio is probably sensing that opportunity. >> yeah. well, interesting. i mean, because clearly leaked from people in the room and then and then trump's in the oval office saying, you're not supposed to ask that. why are you even asking that? we're supposed to talk about the world cup and it didn't happen. it's like, okay, the sky is blue. >> it's usually telling that you're asking a good question. yeah. the principal is saying you're not supposed to ask that. >> thank you both. thank you both so much. and next, the breaking news officials just revealing that legendary actor gene hackman suffered from advanced alzheimer's disease. the incredible tragedy as we are learning his wife died from a

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money back guarantee. get your new favorite pair of jeans today m taylor. available on the apple app store or android. >> on rafael romo at the georgia state capitol in atlanta. this is cnn. >> breaking news. actor gene hackman's cause of death revealed it is tragic and sad.

officials tonight say the actor's wife died a week before hackman, his longtime love betsy arakawa, died of hantavirus. it's a rare flu like disease linked to rats, and officials say hackman's advanced alzheimer's was so severe that he lived in their new mexico house or survived might be the better word for a week. with his wife's dead body before he also passed away. it is a terrible tragedy, and veronica miracle is out front in new mexico tonight with new details. >> a mystery that captured the world's attention now appears to be a terrible tragedy. oscar winner gene hackman, in ailing health and suffering from alzheimer's, was likely with his wife's body for days after she suddenly died of an infectious disease. >> the cause of death for miss betsy hackman, aged 65 years, is hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. the manner of death is natural. >> humans can get the rare hantavirus disease from contact

with rodents, and it's transmitted to people through their feces or you're in. investigators say she died suddenly, likely a week before her husband. >> was he aware that miss hackman had died? and i think that question is difficult to answer. but i can tell you that he was in an advanced state of alzheimer's, and it is quite possible that he was not aware that she was deceased. the cause of death for mr. gene hackman, aged 95 years, is hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease with alzheimer's disease as a significant contributory factor. >> hackman's pacemaker data showed he likely died on february 18th. according to investigators, betsy was last seen on surveillance video at a local cvs and grocery store on february 11th. while they don't know her exact time of death, they believe she died that day. officials say hantavirus is a serious disease, but rare. the santa fe county fire chief isn't aware of the last case they've had in the county.

>> hantavirus pulmonary syndrome is a rare disease caused by hantaviruses, but a small number of human infections are found every year in new mexico, 42% of these infections here in new mexico were fatal. >> on february 26th, the couple were discovered dead by maintenance workers. officials did not find any signs of forced entry, but considered the circumstances suspicious enough to warrant a thorough investigation. the 95 year old actor was found on the ground in a mud room, according to a search warrant. hackman was found on the ground inside a bathroom next to an open prescription pill bottle, with pills scattered. one of the couple's three dogs was found dead in a locked crate near arakawa's body. the dog had recently visited the vet before betsy died. >> there was a procedure that was done with the with the dog, which may explain why the dog was in a crate at the residence. >> officials are still waiting for the exact cause of death for the dog, but they can say it

didn't die of hantavirus as dogs can't get the disease. they believe the dog may have died from starvation. and aaron betsy was 30 years younger than gene and appeared to be his caretaker. so when she died, it appears there is no one to care for him. the medical examiner says that he did not have any food in his stomach when he died. in terms of the investigation, as far as what's next, it is still an open investigation. they're reviewing cell phone records. they also are going to review the results of the necropsy of the dog, and they're going to be releasing body camera footage of those deputies who arrived. but authorities say this is winding down. erin. >> all right. veronica, thank you very much. doctor peter hotez is out front now, the dean of tropical medicine at the baylor college of medicine, where the school does a lot of research on hantavirus. and doctor hotez, of course, a world renowned infectious disease expert. so, doctor, i'm, you know, this is just such a such a tragedy. can you just explain

how rare hantavirus is and how gene hackman's wife, betsy, could have even contracted it? >> yeah. aaron, it's it's rare, but there are about a handful of cases every year in new mexico. seven, i think in 2024 and seven cases in 2023. i think this may have been the first case this year that tends to occur more in the northwestern part of the state, rather than in santa fe. and the reason is because there's a type of mouse called a deer mouse that can harbor the virus with no symptoms. and what happens is, if there's a mouse infestation in your home, the mice get in through various holes in, in, in the home or in the housing. then their you're in and their other bodily fluids can contain virus. that virus can aerosolize. and then in this case, unfortunately, she likely inhaled the virus through aerosol. sometimes it gets into the cuts in the skin, and then you can have a pretty rapid,

deteriorating course. >> so let me ask you about that, because she last left their home in february 11th. last time she sent out communications. so she goes to the the pharmacy and they believe she died that day. now she was obviously well enough to go to the pharmacy. just knowing how this disease progresses, would someone be well enough to do that and look fine on surveillance cameras? she didn't look visibly ill and then and die that same day. could it have been such a rapid deterioration and prior to that, would it have just felt like the flu? or would you have known you were possibly very sick? >> yeah, it can. you can deteriorate very rapidly. and that's one of the reasons why it has such a high mortality rate, because it requires intensive care for your heart and lungs. what happens is it begins as a flu like illness with body aches and fever. sometimes headaches as well. and you can proceed like that for a couple of days. and once the virus is affecting the heart and

lungs, it causes pulmonary edema. your lungs fill up with fluid. it causes inflammation of the heart. very severe myocarditis. and at that point, you need to have intensive care so you can go downhill very, very quickly as a result. >> and so that appears to be what happened. i mean, she was, you know, in the back. who knows, maybe taking her pills for something, maybe thyroid and, and collapsed and then gene hackman at that time, it's another week before he dies. now, we do understand he had severe heart disease, but also advanced alzheimer's disease. and and, you know, he was they said he didn't have any food in his stomach even though he wasn't dehydrated. it's just tragic to imagine this. and i guess you you would hope that that maybe he did not know that she had died if his alzheimer's was so advanced. what do you think could have happened? >> yeah, it's it's it's hard to it's hard to put it together. but one possibility is if he was on important medication for his heart, he wasn't receiving his meds because she was the sole

care provider or dehydration from lack of water or other fluids. starvation and some combination of of all of those things together. so it's a very tragic hantavirus, though does occur. and, and we do see a handful of cases. and the only hope for an individual is to get rapid attention and get into an intensive care unit where they can manage very complex heart and lung disease. >> yeah, yeah. and of course, so important to know that the mice don't exhibit the symptoms. dogs can't get it right. i mean, you it's hard to know. >> yeah. i mean, if i mean, if you go to the new mexico health website, it's actually quite good. it has details about how to avoid having these deer mice get into your home and what to do if they're there. they're there. and how to avoid keeping dog food and other pet food away from mice. and it's it's worth a look. >> all right. well, doctor hotez, thank you very much. and

we have more breaking news right now. south carolina just executing a death row inmate by firing squad. if it sounds jarring, it should. it's the first firing squad execution in the united states in 15 years. the supreme court declined to intervene in this case. and it is what 67 year old brad sigmon, who was convicted of kidnaping his ex-girlfriend and bludgeoning her parents to death with a baseball bat, wanted he chose the method over lethal injection or the electric chair. a firing squad could become even more common in america. a bill in idaho making firing squads the primary execution method awaits the governor's signature as i speak. ryan young is out front outside the prison in south carolina. ryan. first firing squad. execution in this country in 15 years. of course, that means there were people, i guess, volunteers who were, willing to to do this. what? what more can you tell us? >> well. >> there were three of them, actually, three riflemen, and you could not see them. according to the witnesses, inside that death chamber is

right behind us. actually, what we were told when they unveiled mr. sigmon. all you could see is him sitting in the chair. he was dressed in all black. his legs were shackled, his arms were laying at his side. and at some point he mouthed to his attorney, his attorney read a final statement, and then they put a hood over his head. and it's also a target on his chest. at that point, the shots were fired. everyone in the room could hear those shots. we actually talked to one of the witnesses who saw this execution. take a listen. >> brad sigmon took several pretty deep breaths, and then suddenly the shots rang out. at that point, you did see a small red stain on sigmon chest. his chest rose and fell about two times immediately after the shots. at that point, also, his arm tensed up when he got shot yeah, aaron, there's been a lot of conversation, obviously, about this firing squad method, but from everyone who's

witnessed this and in fact, that man told us every execution he's witnessed, this was the quickest. >> it lasted about two minutes. the electric chair, of course, the last time it was used here in south carolina took several times to kill or execute the man who was being executed. in fact, at one point his eyes popped out of his head. so you understand how someone might want to avoid that lethal injection also didn't go very well here, so keeping that very tight. one thing that i will mention his last meal he wanted kentucky fried chicken. he had chicken, he had green beans and potatoes. he wanted to share with other inmates, but that didn't happen. aaron. >> all right. ryan, thank you very much. it's all very disturbing. next, trump claiming he's ending the u.s. government's war on crypto. but my next guest says this is nothing more than a giant rug pull scam. and he will tell you why. plus, veterans are speaking out. they are warning that trump's sweeping cuts could put their lives at risk. far from the battlefield itself.

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vitamin and supplement brand. >> listen to chasing life with me. dr. sanjay gupta wherever you get your podcasts. >> tonight, trump's first ever quote, unquote crypto summit. so the president hosted leaders from an industry that gave more money than any other donor group in the 2024 election. and you didn't even have sam bankman-fried involved an industry that trump has a huge personal stake in. today, trump announcing his plan for what he's calling a crypto strategic reserve. >> from this day on, america will follow the rule that every bitcoin knows very well. never sell your bitcoin. that's a little phrase that they have. i don't know if that's right or not. who the hell knows right. >> now the context here. trump and his wife both have meme coins, and they have made a lot of money off of those collecting over $100 million in trading fees. now, thousands of small traders have actually now lost money on the coins because they've plunged in value, but

that those trading fees trump has made them and those were dollars not you know, some kind of crypto unit that was real money out front. now, paul krugman, noted economist and nobel laureate, formerly of the new york times, and you can now find him on substack, where he's written on all of this in such detail. so we have a conversation now, and i hope everyone is going to read all of those. the great detail you have there, paul. but you say a strategic crypto reserve, which is what trump is talking about establishing here. you call that your words a giant rug pull scam. how come? >> okay. >> so a rug pull is actually what just happened with the trump and melania coins. you introduce a new asset. a lot of with celebrity endorsements, a lot of small investors buy in while the insiders sell out and make a lot of money. and then the little people are left with big losses. this is kind of a variant on that. it's the the crypto coins already exist, although nobody knows what you

do with them. it's not at all clear what a strategic crypto reserve will actually do for for the united states. but you have the ultimate celebrity endorsement, which is that the u.s. government is buying the stuff. this is a little bit like another related thing where sometimes dishonest traders have hacked into computers of brokerage houses to use them to buy up penny stocks that they own, and then they sell out before the price crashes. and so this is like a hack pump and dump. it's like a it's very close. although worse than what a scandal that may be about to bring down the president of argentina, which is another rug pull. it's truly amazing because, again, nobody has any idea what what do you do with, you know, a crypto reserve is just strings of ones and zeros on, on servers somewhere. what does that do for the united states? >> right. and certainly, you know, i mean, i understand money in a sense is faith in its own

way. but but none nothing exists in that yet. i mean, you were talking about how and obviously a lot of, you know, trump knows these guys who are in the room, right? you get a strategic reserve. it's their their stocks that are going to go up. you were talking about in one of your articles how the biggest theft in world history in world history just happened a couple of weeks ago. it happened via crypto hackers looted $1.5 billion worth of crypto. and that's and there's obviously a lot of other theft that we've heard about. but that would be the biggest in history. i mean, trump's got to know that. >> yeah, i, i'm not sure that he probably, you know, he probably thinks, gosh, those guys were smart. and we're pretty sure we know who those guys were. in this case, it was actually the government of north korea that pulled off the biggest bank heist in history. and we're kind of, you know, exposing now the u.s. taxpayer to a risk of further heists. it's it's just an amazing thing to see this happening.

>> well, especially in the context of doge and wanting to cut waste, fraud and abuse. right. that money would be being put to this, this use at this time. all right. you know, we talk about crypto, which is whatever it is, it's not yet if ever the real economy and the real economy today, paul, you've got new tariffs on canada. trump was threatening, he says, a 250% tax on dairy is on the table. he said he might do it today but he might not do it today. he might do it monday and he might not do it monday. he might do it tuesday, which plays into what we've heard right. there were tariffs and then they were put on hold. and then there were tariffs and they were on for a day and now they're on hold again. now there's more coming. and he was asked about that this back and forth this crying wolf. here's what he said. >> there will always be changes and adjustments. there will always be some modifications is that what this is? >> changes, adjustments and modifications? >> this looks like i mean, there's been nothing like this before. trump is always saying like you've never seen before.

this is something we've never seen before. we've had tariffs before. we've had trade liberalization taking off tariffs before. but to go from sort of smoot-hawley level tariffs on our on our biggest trading partners, then abruptly call them off, then a month later put them back on. and then two days after that take them back off again. there's been nothing like that in the history of the world economy. as far as i know, this is the most erratic policy. i mean, if i were like an auto executive because the auto industry is very much in the crosshairs here. if i were an auto industry executive, i'd be actually i'd be laying in a large stock of scotch to get through this before the tariffs go on. the europeans you did make me smile a little bit there at the end, which i suppose is needed in a conversation like this, which is such a so somber. >> all right. thank you very much. i appreciate it, paul. it's good to see you. >> good to see you. >> all right. and next, trump's

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powering possibilities. comcast business. >> call one( 800) 269-9522. that's one( 800) 269-9522. >> anderson cooper 360. next on cnn. >> tonight, veterans speaking out, worried about losing basic necessities like wheelchairs, even prosthetics after being injured while serving america. these fears rising as trump looks to dramatically slash the department of veterans affairs. more than 70,000 jobs there right now are at risk. and brian todd is out front. >> 45 as he searches for the names of his buddies on the wall at the vietnam veterans memorial. jack ferguson, who served as an army plane mechanic in vietnam, has other heavy concerns on his mind as well. he worries about the services he could lose at his local veterans affairs hospital near philadelphia, due to possible staffing cuts at the va planned by the trump administration. >> i rely on them for all my

vaccinations, my booster shots, my covid shots. i got there. >> concerns that some of that may be curtailed. >> absolutely, yeah. >> according to an internal memo obtained by cnn, the trump administration is planning sweeping job cuts at the department of veterans affairs. the memo says the va, in partnership with elon musk's doge, will move aggressively and aims to revert back to its 2019 era staffing levels. that means more than 70,000 of the more than 470,000 va employees could be terminated. >> this unknown. >> this confusion. the possibilities that things could be bad for veterans. it's causing a lot of harm. it's causing a lot of angst. >> patrick murray, a marine who served in combat in iraq, is an amputee wounded by a roadside bomb. he's now the legislative director for the group veterans of foreign wars. the services he fears could be cut, he says, are tough to replace. >> what i use va for is things like my wheelchair wheelchairs can be thousands of dollars if those services are reduced at va, if certain prosthetics, if

certain other functions like that are rolled back, that's going to cost a lot for veterans like me. >> cnn spoke to congressional staffers talking to va employees. the staffers fear thousands of registered nurses could be terminated from the va, which the president of the american association says could be devastating. >> over 80% of va's are critically short nurses already. >> so this would have a. detrimental impact in taking. >> care of our veterans. >> in an email to cnn, a spokesman for the va said of the possible nursing cuts, quote, no one has proposed this and it will not happen. still, democrats on capitol hill are worried about any cuts to the va. >> elon musk sees veterans as roadkill on his way to revenue for tax cuts. >> but republican senate majority whip john barrasso, a doctor who's worked in va hospitals, says the va does need to be streamlined. >> there is. >> a lot of. >> fat within the. >> system of the va, and

there's clearly areas for improvement. we just need to make sure our veterans get the care that they need from qualified providers. >> jack ferguson couldn't agree more. >> i think a lot of people look around their neighborhood and they aren't even sure who the veterans are. i think our country owes it to the veterans to make sure they get proper care. and. >> in response to the reporting about the possible staff cuts, peter kasperowicz, a spokesman for the va, sent cnn a statement saying that the va will always provide veterans, families, caregivers and survivors the health care and benefits that they have earned. but he also said, quote, we are also making major improvements to strengthen the department. he also hinted that many people are spewing innuendo and misinformation in an effort to try to get the va to keep doing what it's always been doing. he was hinting there at the department's past

inefficiencies. erin. >> all right, brian, thank you very much. at the veterans affairs department. and finally, tonight, the most salacious scandals that have rocked america, from lance armstrong to anita hill's testimony against clarence thomas. jake tapper has a look at his brand new season of united states of scandal. >> you can't. investigate and convict criminals with angels. >> so the fbi takes a gamble. they'll let this con man try to earn his freedom by conducting stings on white collar criminals. they had no idea how far that would go. >> it started in a very humble way. the object was only to recover stolen art and securities. and to everyone's amazement, who was involved in the investigation. three years later, it resulted in the conviction of six united states congressmen and a united states senator. >> the incredible series by jake. don't