Sen. Eric Schmitt Laughs Off His Questioning of Jack Smith That Backfired

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1:01Tonight, Schmidt happens. John Berman here in for Anderson. In the Schmidt in question is Senator Eric Schmidt, Republican in Missouri. He's on the Senate Judiciary Committee. And today, former Trump Special Counsel Jack Smith was on the witness stand, with committee Republicans painting him, as the president so often does, as a corrupt and partisan gunslinger in a weaponized Justice Department out to get Donald Trump. And also a liar. But before showing how the senator's own effort at it imploded, and before bringing you late new reporting on why it imploded, it is worth remembering this. Smith's investigation of the president's attempt to overturn the 2020 election and his taking of classified documents with him when he left the White House resulted in grand jury indictments on 44 felony counts.

1:47And though he followed longstanding DOJ policy and dropped the cases after the president's re-election in 2024, Smith today stood by his decision to bring charges in the first place. I made those decisions without regard to President Trump's political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election. Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in serious crimes against our nation. So Republicans on the committee made it plain they were not buying that. They also made it personal. Javert from Les Mis would look at you with astonishment.

2:36You make me want to throw up in my mouth. You will go down as a total dirtbag. So that was Senator Schmidt dropping the dirtbag there. He said it after a line of questioning that seemed designed to either get Smith to admit to having been part of some kind of conspiracy with Atlanta District Attorney Fonny Willis against the president or to catch him in a lie about it. This is how it began. Did you go to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3rd, 2024?

3:13I'm sorry, could you say that again? Did you go to an NBA game between the Golden State Warriors and the Atlanta Hawks on February 3rd, 2024? What city would that be in? Atlanta. No. Okay.

3:28So your testimony today is that you did not go to a Hawks game on February 3rd, 2024. Is that correct? I have no recollection of that. Okay. Now, it turns out there's a good reason he can't remember being there. But hold that thought for just a minute. First, here is Senator Schmidt again. Okay, is it your testimony that you were not in Atlanta on February 3rd, 2024?

3:57Let me just give you a little context. The day before Fannie Willis came clean with her affair with the prosecutor, you know the Atlanta prosecutor that was also trying to get Trump, the next day were you in Atlanta? I do not believe so. Okay, did you ever go to Atlanta during your time as special counsel?

4:17I really don't think so. It's possible I flew through the Atlanta airport on the way to Florida, but I do not have a recollection of going to Atlanta. I definitely did not go to a Hawks game. I'm sure of that. Did you ever meet Nathan Wade or Fannie Willis in your time at special counsel? No. What would you say if I had a series of text messages from your team that said you were in Atlanta at a Warrior Hawks game on February 3rd, 2024, the day after Willis and Wade announced their affair?

4:55I don't think you know that we have this stuff. So I'll give you a second to process it so you don't perjure yourself. You just took it down really quick. If I could look at that again. So trap sprung. Not quite. Turns out Jack Smith was at a basketball game. This is video of him that night, just not in Atlanta. This is from College Park, Maryland. The University of Maryland women's team, the Terrapins, versus their counterparts from the University of Iowa, the Hawkeyes. Hawk eyes, not the Hawks. Something that Minnesota Democrat Amy Klobuchar underscored moments later. The game was, in fact, in Maryland, Mr.

5:38Smith. And I would just say for a U.S. senator to have false information and imply, based on a confusion about the name of a team, which I knew, knowing my Midwestern sports, and imply that you were in another city, that you were somehow involved that day in what was happening in Georgia, and then call you a dirtbag, is something that deserves an apology. Now, just a short time ago, Senator Schmidt tried laughing it off, saying who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan. He did not express any regrets, adding, quote, my job is to ask questions. Now, in a moment, we're going to get more from Senator A.B.

6:15Klobuchar. First, CNN's Evan Perez with new reporting on how this all came to be and why it came unglued. Evan, as we were all watching, a lot of us were just asking, how on earth does something like this happen? Yeah, I think we all were wondering whether there was some other explanation, but it turns out, according to sources who talked to Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, you know, that day is simply one that Eric Schmidt himself looked at on the Internet. He looked to see which basketball games may have been played that day. He only looked for men's games, college games or NBA games. And that's how he arrived at that date being an Atlanta Hawks game and not something else.

7:01And so it appears that the senator himself is himself the one that came up with the explanation because they had these text messages from the Justice Department that showed this exchange and appearing to show that Jack Smith was on this date, February 3rd, 2024, that he went to a basketball game. And apparently that's the way that this mistake happened. But, you know, beyond the fact that, as you pointed out, the senator is now laughing it off and saying, I'm just asking questions. After that episode, he appeared on the Charlie Kirk show, and he was asked about it, and he was celebrated for that exchange.

7:38I guess they didn't realize that it had imploded on him. And all he said was, again, I'm just there to ask these questions. And again, the issue here, John, is that the Republican senators there were trying to find a way to get Jack Smith to perjure himself. And this one is one of those what they call a self-own by the senator. Yeah. If this were soccer, it would be an own goal is another way of saying it. So Smith also brought up the late Senator Lindsey Graham. What did he say on that front? Well, you know, that's one of the interesting things is that, you know, Darlene Graham, who is the late senator's sister and who's running to replace him in that seat, she, during her questioning, was trying to get Jack Smith to sort of explain why they had subpoenaed phone records that belonged to the late Lindsey Graham, to the late Senator Graham.

8:29And Jack Smith managed to turn that around and essentially called Lindsey Graham a patriotic public servant. And he also said that he would have been, that Lindsey Graham would likely have been essentially his star witness if he had been able to put Donald Trump on trial. It was one of those, it was a very artful way for Jack Smith to essentially take a line of questioning from Darlene Graham and turn it into essentially painting Lindsey Graham as his star witness for such a trial, if it had ever come to pass. All right, Evan Perez, quite a day for you. Thanks so much for being with us. Thanks.

9:08So you heard the Democratic Senator for Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, a short time ago calling out Senator Schmidt. I had a chance to speak with her just before we came on air. Senator Klobuchar, have you heard directly from Senator Schmidt as of now? No, I haven't. I haven't heard from him since, you know, at this moment where he appeared to confuse a male pro sports team with a college team featuring Caitlin Clark. He kept sort of yelling over me. This is the last time I heard from him saying, you can't use your time to rehabilitate the witness. And I kind of figured the only one that needs rehabilitating right now is you.

9:52Because the confusion that ensued, the minute I heard Jack Smith say, no, I wasn't at this game. I wasn't at an Atlanta Hawks game. And then I thought, knowing that Iowa, my neighbor, often calls their team the Hawks, I thought, I wonder if that's what it is. And then, sure enough, Jack Smith said that he'd been at an Iowa-Maryland game, and he went to see Caitlin Clark. And at that moment, I said, perhaps that's what's going on here. And I just, my lesson from all of it is don't ask questions when you don't know the answer. Don't have hearings. What? I was going to say we did actually, our CNN reporters just caught up with Senator Schmidt.

10:35And I think I can play this for you now as he now explains it. Let's listen. Who knew Jack Smith was a Caitlin Clark fan? Listen, we had information he was at a basketball game. There was only one NBA game that night at 730 tip off, which was why I asked him if he was in Atlanta. He answered the questions. So that's what these hearings are for. You ask questions, you get answers. You know, Jack Smith has perjured himself before, but he says he's at the game. Maybe he's a Caitlin Clark fan. We'll accept that. Okay. I'm sorry. He accused Jack Smith of perjury in the moment and said, don't perjure yourself.

11:09And then he ended his questions by calling him a dirt bag. Those were his exact words. So my point was, don't call someone a dirt bag when you don't have your own facts right. And you are trying in your kind of MAGA conspiracy world to come up with this crazy thing that he was in a city that he wasn't in, that he was at a game and he had the wrong league and the wrong state and the wrong city, and then use that to completely try to discredit him, which of course didn't work in a minute. And my other thought is, if you're going to have these kinds of hearings, why don't you have them about health care costs and how 8 million people have been kicked off their health care.

11:48Why aren't you talking about these tariffs and the effect it's having on farmers in the Midwest? But instead, the purpose of this hearing was to try to go after this guy, undermine him, grill him, to basically distract people what is really going on right now from what is really going on right now in their lives. Do you think he owes Jack Smith an apology? I said it at the hearing. I said it then. I say it now. You just don't make up these things. And when a witness under oath tells you they weren't there, you then don't continue on down your merry path of claiming someone was at a game and connecting them to some kind of conspiracy that you're making up about Atlanta.

12:31That is the problem about right now with what's going on in this Donald Trump world, where instead of questioning why he pardoned 1 ,500 people, many of whom had beat up police officers. You're going down this path of conspiracy. And to me, it's like comeuppance moment. Minnesota Senator and Midwest sports fan, Amy Klobuchar, thank you so much for being with us tonight. Go Gophers, go Gophers. Thank you. And next tonight, Cornell facing additional scrutiny nearly two years after an alleged gang rape there. We're going to speak to the local district attorney. And later, what happens when AI executives, some of whom have been begging for federal regulation.

13:14Meet a president who says no regulation is needed. Details on what they agreed to ahead on 360.

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14:25New developments tonight. Almost two years after the alleged drugging and alleged gang rape of a woman at a frat house at Cornell University in upstate New York. Yesterday, after a civil lawsuit by the accuser, the local district attorney decided to revisit the case. All this is casting a dark shadow on campus. Our Jason Carroll is there. An unsettling mood of distrust and anger among some students at Cornell University. You can sense the air on campus that nobody can trust the administration anymore. Students are very upset at the miscarriage of justice. This has been a consistent trend with Cornell.

15:00The judicial system does not operate as it should, and this is just kind of another really horrific instance of that. Cornell's administration failed us this time. Many here say more should have been done to protect a former student, identified as Jane Doe in a new civil complaint where she alleges in 2024 several members of the Chi-5 fraternity drugged and sexually assaulted her while she was unable to consent. The complaint prompted local prosecutors to reopen a criminal investigation and has sparked talk across campus about underage drinking and consent. You hear a lot of people just talking about it while they're walking to class or on the bus or even classmates I've never talked to.

15:41It's horrifying. According to the complaint, Jane Doe had been drinking the night in question and went to the Chi-Fi house where she alleges she was given more alcohol, marijuana and ketamine and then was repeatedly assaulted. Allegedly, a Snapchat message invited other frat members to join in, according to the complaint. The Tompkins County D.A. says his office initially declined to charge the named fraternity members two years ago because Jane Doe said in a sworn statement at the time the encounter was consensual. Her attorney denies that claim. Her life has been really ruined by this. I don't know how anybody who was grossly intoxicated and drugged can consent to anything.

16:27I think if you talk to people, especially women on campus, this question is always in the back of your head of, what if that was me? Sonia Agarwal is a sorority member and a senior. She recalls being a sophomore and hearing about the initial allegations surrounding Kai-Fi. We didn't know who, we didn't know how many, and then we didn't also know what specifically had happened. Like, what if they were walking around campus? What if they were sitting next to us in class? We had no idea, and I think that's terrifying. That's absolutely so scary, and a woman should not feel like that. Argarwal says she felt so strongly about what she called the lack of transparency on behalf of the university at the time, It prompted her to run for a position on the student assembly, focusing on women's issues, a position she now holds.

17:17It was that specific situation and not knowing what had happened. So last year I spent a lot of time talking to administrators, talking to sorority and fraternity life, trying to, one, understand why there was such a lack of transparency. The university declined repeated requests for an interview. Cornell released a statement saying the university conducted its own investigation, which resulted in banning the fraternity chapter, suspending and expelling some of the students in question. Despite their actions, some students and alumni have signed petitions calling for a permanent ban of Chi-Fi, another pledging to withhold university donations.

17:56A fragile trust between student and administration here clearly strained. There's just a lot of administrative distrust. I don't think students feel comfortable going to anyone like vaguely associated with administration. I think a lot of people already have this understanding that the university has disappointed them time and again. And Jason Carroll is in Ithaca, New York tonight. Jason, are students getting any more information from campus officials tonight? Well, in a way, John, I mean, look, the university did early this evening release a second statement where in some ways they tried to clarify a few points.

18:36I mean, much of what was released in the second statement we already knew from the first statement. But they did, again, for example, try to clarify a few questions. Namely, as to the question as to whether or not the initial response was adequate, the university said that they conducted, again, an extensive investigation, also saying that they had imposed sanctions where necessary. So basically doubling down on whether or not their initial response was adequate. And then, John, there's also the second big question that a lot of folks out here on the ground have been asking. And that is, why didn't the University Police, the Cornell Police Department, notify the Ithaca Police Department initially back in 2024?

19:17Well, they went into that and said that they shared all of their information. The Cornell Police Department shared all of its information with the Tompkins County District Attorney's Office, and that's the protocol. And so they're saying that they follow their protocol. But again, a lot of university students out here are saying if that's their protocol, then perhaps it needs to be changed. John. All right, Jason Carroll for us in Ithaca tonight. With us now is Matthew Van Houten, the Tompkins County New York District Attorney. Thank you so much for being with us. The New York Attorney General has announced a review of how Cornell responded to the rape allegations.

19:55Is your office participating in that review? We have not been contacted by the Attorney General's office yet, but I hope to participate in that inquiry. I certainly want to be a part of it. Other media outlets are reporting that there are text messages from the plaintiff and one of the defendants and that there are more messages from Snapchat. chat. Has your office been able to obtain any new evidence as of yet? At this point, I'm hearing about the new evidence as the rest of the world is. I have reached out to Jane Doe's attorney, who I understand is out of the country. He's back tomorrow. My hope is to coordinate with him to first meet with Jane Doe and also to obtain any new evidence that is out there that we don't have access to or were not given previously.

20:47Or Jason Carroll, who's up in Ithaca right now, was just reporting on some questions about who has jurisdiction there. The question of, you know, why didn't they bring this to the Ithaca police? And Cornell put out a statement that reads, in part, the Cornell University Police Department is a sworn law enforcement agency and performs the same functions as municipal police. This incident occurred in Cornell's jurisdiction. So does that mean that Ithaca police have have no role whatsoever? To date, Ithaca police has had no role in this investigation. The statement that Cornell police is a law enforcement agency is accurate and they performed an investigation in 2024 when this matter came to their attention.

21:33And that was what we reviewed in my office was the subject matter of that investigation. Are the Ithaca police allowed to get involved? They would be allowed to get involved. There's no restriction on them being involved. And I would imagine that going forward, we will include them because it is our intention to reopen, as I've announced, the investigation. And I think that there is a perception that Cornell, whether it's true or fair or not, there's a perception that Cornell has an interest in this investigation. So in the interest of being transparent and being thorough and obtaining the truth, I think that it would be prudent for the Ithaca Police Department Investigations Division to participate in the future investigation of this.

22:29So you wrote yesterday that after reviewing Jane Doe's statement in 2024, quote, the alleged facts as set forth in the statement do not constitute a crime. Now, I understand that you believe you and your office acted appropriately with the information you had at the time. But with hindsight, would you have done anything differently or will you do anything differently? You know, God forbid if a case like this happens again in the future. well i first want to start out by saying that everybody who looks at this case knows and we acknowledge that this was a traumatic experience for jane doe without question and what we were provided was a very detailed statement from her that outlined that experience very specifically with great detail from start to finish.

23:21That statement did not articulate a violation of the criminal law in New York. I heard earlier Jane Doe's attorney talking about her being incapacitated by the consumption of alcohol and other drugs. Unfortunately, under New York state law, which I'm constrained by, the voluntary intoxication of someone is not a basis to claim or to prove that they are incapacitated to the point that they cannot consent to sexual contact. So as much as I'm emotionally repulsed and morally repulsed by the events, I can't prosecute cases based on emotion or based upon moral standards or moral repulsion. I took an oath to uphold the law and I have to apply the facts to the law as they are presented to me.

24:18Matthew Van Houten, District Attorney from Tompkins County, we appreciate you being with us tonight. Thank you. Up next, is self-policing enough when it comes to AI? That's the question after industry leaders meet with the president. And later, John King's new All Over the Map report from Georgia, a red state that's looking bluer for the midterms.

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25:13AI executives signed a voluntary self-policing agreement today after meeting with President Trump at the White House. A far cry from the federal regulations some of those same CEOs have been calling for. This is how the president described today's commitment. It's almost like a constitution in a way. And the biggest people in the world signed that. and I signed it as president and it really is a form of protection. Is this accord that everybody signed? Is it binding in any way? I think it's morally binding, yeah. Morally binding. For the record, the Constitution is legally binding. The meeting did not appear to change his view that AI doomsday predictions are overblown.

25:56The president also signed an executive order changing the name, effectively, he says, from artificial intelligence, which he calls a fake word, to superintelligence. I'm joined now by Axios senior AI reporter Madison Mills. Madison, first of all, it's great to see you in the evening. I talk to you so much during the morning. The president's touting this voluntary self-policing agreement today signed by the AI executives. How much more than a pinky swear is this? Yeah, CEOs regulating themselves. What could go wrong, right? And that's exactly what we're hearing today. You know, I'm hearing mixed reactions from AI safety experts who I talk to.

26:31A lot of the sources telling me they think this is vastly inadequate, that they expected and really were hoping to at least see some specific examples of policy change that could keep AI development a little bit safer. But others are telling me, hey, at least you had all of these tech executives in one room admitting that there's a safety problem here and that that is at least a step. We also had Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, talking about some of the specifics on things like third-party auditors. The companies get to pick who those auditors are in most cases. So a lot of questions about whether that's going to move the needle.

27:04But some sources telling me, hey, at least it's something. So what are people saying about the president's effort to change the name of artificial intelligence to super intelligence? Are they psyched? Is this going to catch on? Yeah. I mean, what's fascinating is that right after this announcement, you had NVIDIA CEO Jensen Juan and Elon Musk talking. And Jensen multiple times referred to it as super intelligence. Notably. Notably. And then the one time he messed it up, he said, I swear I'm going to get this right eventually. So I'm very curious to see how much these CEOs commit to that rebrand.

27:36And again, that feels like something that my sources are talking about here that doesn't necessarily move the needle. We didn't need a rebrand. We needed AI safety. Something else that happened today is Reuters is reporting in a leaked IPO filing from Anthropic. It says its AI models pose a, quote, existential risk to humanity, an engaged in behavior described as resembling blackmail. So does that have any impact on, you know, the self-policing pinky swear they all made today? Yeah, and this is a story I broke over the weekend as well, that the top AI companies are investigating tens of thousands of incidents of their own technology misbehaving.

28:14And then these are the same people who are supposed to be the foremost experts in the world at this technology who are telling me they can't keep up with it. It's doing so many bad actions across the Internet. They can't possibly keep up. And then you have the CEOs of those companies saying, well, don't worry, we can regulate ourselves. Your own people are telling reporters that they can't keep up with the technology. So how is that self-regulation going to work? That's the big question. Madison Mills, you're on top of this story every day and it keeps on changing and shifting. Thanks so much for being with us.

28:42I really appreciate it. Thank you. Up next, John King's latest All Over the Map report. Tonight he takes us to Georgia where Democrats are facing a must-hold race if they want any chance of taking the Senate.

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29:39Only the best for you, Mr. Shaq. Hey, have you always been so big, tall, and handsome? Not always. I was 6 '10 once. Seven days to love it or return it, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven-day return policy at caravana.com. Tonight's new All Over the Map report from John King takes us to Georgia, a Republican stronghold for generations, but demographic shifts have changed the state's political landscape.

30:15Early to work at Rebel Tea House. Christine Wynn first opened these doors four years ago. Six employees then, 18 now. A success story, but plenty of stress. COST has risen 18 percent across the board for us. It has been a struggle for a lot of people to get out there and to sort of purchase goods, so we're grateful that we do have such a good local community that will show up for the small businesses. This is Decatur in DeKalb County, the Atlanta suburbs. Decision time as Georgia picks a new governor and decides whether to send Democrat John Ossoff back to the Senate. And so the cakey at the bottom is the sugar?

30:54Yeah, the cakey at the bottom is the sugar. Likely Ossoff for Nguyen. She likes how he mixes it up on social media and sees Democrats in Congress as more likely to help with a major business goal. Right now, for us to afford health care, it's not like I can work any harder to get it. It has to be something that comes from, you know, a bigger policy change. Nguyen tends to vote blue, but is less certain in the governor's race. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is the Democrat, healthcare executive Rick Jackson the Republican. Data centers is a big issue. Energy cost has already gone up.

31:32Being able to differentiate between whether or not it ties in with the data centers would be nice to know. But the biggest thing is how it affects the community and the people living in those areas. Taxes and safety also on her list. I have to wait to see what the debates will say. Georgia's recent history is deep red. A Republican governor for 23 years now, Republican control of the legislature for 22 years, and Georgia has voted Republican in eight of the last 10 presidential elections. In 2020, though, Joe Biden narrowly carried Georgia, and in early 2021, Ossoff and fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock won runoff elections for both Georgia's U.S.

32:13Senate seats. So is Georgia still a red state, a purple state, or a state about to tip blue? It's a big and legitimate question because of the rapid pace of demographic change here. Back in 2000, Georgia's population was 65 % white. That's down to 48 % now. Blacks were 29 % of the Georgia population in 2000. That's up to 32%. Hispanics were 5 % back in 2000, more than 12 % now. And the Asian vote is also growing fast. Just 2 % of the population back in 2000, now above 5%. So this is Marietta campus. Cary Foulkes lives in Atlanta, sees the change every drive to his graduate school studies in Marietta.

32:55Suburban Cobb County was solid red 15 years ago, solid blue now. But Foulkes still sees a lot of conservative Bible Belt outside of the suburbs, and he worries some younger students don't share his zeal for voting. Gen Z is just apathetic toward all of it. They don't see any sort of feasibility in voting because it's all just going to be terrible anyway. Why are we a part of this? And to some extent, I had that as well as a younger person. The governor's race is his test. Like has there been enough talk, enough push for people to see, oh, we can have a black woman in office. So I think that's where the skepticism comes in.

33:41Georgia's never had a woman governor. It's never had a black governor. And it's never had a former Atlanta mayor become governor. You think she can knock all those three down in one election? I hope that she can. It would be great if she did. We're trying to stay in Cobb County because that's where my son's job is. Powder Springs is near the western edge of Cobb County, about 25 miles from Atlanta. Shantevelana Willis would have voted for Donald Trump in 2024 had President Biden stayed in the race. But she went for Vice President Harris in the end. I was really trying to go with the lesser of two evils.

34:18Sorry to categorize her that way, but yeah. Unhappy now with losses in crypto investments she blames on Trump, unhappy with the Iran war, and with gas and grocery prices. Why is everything always somebody else's fault? When do you take responsibility for what you put in place? A fan of Senator Ossoff, but Volana Willis lived in Atlanta when Bottoms was mayor and says she often didn't feel safe. She would break three barriers in one election if she won. Does that matter to you at all? Nope. Nope. I want the person who is most qualified, who cares about all the people. Do you like Mr. Jackson or is it just you can't vote for her?

34:55I like some of the things he's done. But no, I can't vote for her. I won't. Being a black woman, all that, she don't get my vote for that. The port of Savannah is all the way east, Chatham County. All aboard. Lifelong Republican Randy Powell lists immigration and taxes as his top issues, and he says it is unfair to blame just Trump and Republicans for high prices and high mortgage rates. I put the blame on both parties because they're not talking. No longer than 400 days. A flashback from 2009. I met Powell here 17 years ago, a Savannah police officer who, at the age of 50, was called back to military service and sent to Iraq.

35:35The soldier always does what he stole. That war was unpopular and brought big political change. The current war is unpopular, too, with a big election just ahead. I feel he did the right thing. President Trump loves America. He loves the people. And, you know, granted, this is short-term pain. Yeah, yeah. Powell loves retirement. He politely spars with neighbors who are Democrats. and during a lap around the lake, was quick to point out his Republican friends. There's another two of my Republican friends. Woo! He hopes Republicans hold the House and says if Georgia and other blue Senate seats flipped red, maybe Trump could get more done.

36:16If we can get 60, you know, we can start passing. Ossoff's counterargument would be if the Democrats take the Senate, maybe they can force Trump to talk. You know what? Trump's doing the best he can. And President Trump's doing the best he can when it comes to the American people. Powell is as upbeat as they come, but he knows his midterm hopes might be unrealistic. Savannah is 250 miles from Atlanta, but also a big part of Georgia's shift. George W. Bush was the last Republican to win Chatham County in a presidential race 26 years ago, back before Powell became a grandfather and was sent off to war.

36:55Ties are changing. getting people from other states that are moving down here because one they like the low taxes they like the lifestyle and everything but with that comes change in our voting percentages john king cnn savannah georgia and our thanks to john for that earlier today at the white house president trump was asked by reporters if he was concerned about the midterm elections now just five weeks away this is what he said. Mr. President, you must be worried about the midterms. I don't worry about it. So should he be a little worried? With us now, two of our political commentators, S.E.

37:35Cup, host of the Off the Cup podcast, and Republican strategist Brad Todd. It's great to see both of you. You know, Brad, as you know, President Trump is going to stump in states including Alabama, Oklahoma, and Ohio this week. These are kind of not really swing states in most years, especially Alabama and Oklahoma. So what does it tell you that that's where he's going five weeks before the election? Well, Ohio, first off, is a swing state often. You've seen two very close Senate races there the last two times we've had one on the ballot, and they've got a really tough race there this time. You know, Oklahoma and Alabama, he has, in Alabama, he has a good friend who's running in Alabama, and so I don't, I think that he will stump a lot in October.

38:18I think he'll We'll see him in a lot of major races. I think there are a lot of places where he can help. One challenge for Republicans this year is we have a lot of low propensity voters in our coalition. They don't always vote in midterms. And a lot of those same voters like President Trump more than they like the traditional Republican, what I'd call the country club Republican or the old school Republican, if you will. And so some of those voters prefer President Trump over maybe even some of the candidates that are running. And so, you know, he will be of help in a lot of those places with those low propensity voters.

38:49And I think that's what he'll focus on. So, Essie, the Quinnipiac poll came out today showing the president with a 61 percent disapproval rate, which is matched only by the poll taken by Quinnipiac after January 6th. Normally, with numbers like this, you would see candidates start to distance themselves, more of them, from the president. How many more do you think we will see move away? Well, that cuts both ways. So clearly you are starting to see a number of Republican candidates decide I'm better off without him. I'm better off running on my own. But a number of them are also going to make the calculation that he's really the only thing we've got going for us right now.

39:34We can't run on good poll numbers. We can't run on a good economy. I can't tell my voters back at home that the war is ending soon. I can't give them a lot of good news. I have to rely on the fact that there is still a sizable chunk of the base that is incredibly loyal to Donald Trump and Donald Trump alone. Whether that's big enough to turn out the Republican voters who feel betrayed by Trump, who feel embarrassed by Trump, who feel let down by Republicans, that remains to be seen. But I think you're going to have an equal mix of candidates deciding I need to go this alone now and candidates deciding he might be my only chance here.

40:13What about, Essie, in these swing states with these very close races? Do you think if the president were to go there, that would help or hurt Republicans? Well, I just interviewed John Husted, Ohio Senate candidate, Republican in Ohio, about a week ago. And he was talking very friendly about Donald Trump. I didn't ask him if he wanted him to visit him, but there was no daylight. And he was talking about, you know, sort of the MAGA talking points. Now, that's one example in one state. But listen, these candidates are really up against the wall with these kinds of numbers and this kind of environment.

40:53They're looking at an entire blocks of people that turned out in 2024 for Republicans and Donald Trump and are not going to turn out this year. Independents, moderates, young people, Hispanics, they're going to have to they're going to have to work to turn out every single last Republican voter. So, Brad, first of all, that's largely what you were saying there, that the president can help in certain places if he goes, places like Ohio with Usted. On a different subject, two sources have told CNN that the taxpayer-funded ads promoting President Trump and the achievements of his second term were paid for using a$20 million allocations for Customs and Border Protection.

41:31And$2.5 million of taxpayer money has already been spent on airtime for these ads. Again, we've all seen these ads now, and they really do feel a lot like campaign ads. Is this an appropriate use for$2.5 million, taxpayer money already, and up to$20 million? Well, I make campaign ads for a living, and so I know one when I see one, and they do have that feel. You know, this is a thing that you see governors do this, state treasurers do this, or they use taxpayer money to talk about their accomplishments. I've never liked it very much. I don't know that this will find out if this was authorized by the Border Patrol, if it's within the bounds of what they can do to promote their activities.

42:17Well, that's going to all be found out and be told. I mean, this is public money. There will be receipts. I don't know that they help a ton in this case, by the way, because they're airing on News Nation and Fox mostly, places where the president's fans, intense fans are watching. So, you know, I probably would not have made that call. I would also have them focusing on independence. You know, one challenge for the president is to make his coalition a little bit larger and to grow into people who have some hesitancy about him and to try to help meet their concerns for what's gone wrong and emphasize what's gone right.

42:56You know, he sealed the border. We have almost zero encounters coming across the border. The Border Patrol ought to be talking about that. He ought to be talking about that. Essie, you want to weigh on this quickly? Listen, I think in any other year, something like this might not turn off a whole lot of voters, but this is a year in which people feel like everything's bad. You know, the economy is worse than it was. We're stuck in a war we didn't want. These tariffs are punishing all kinds of people. And they are paying attention to what Trump is doing and running these ads and talking about ballrooms and talking about the Kennedy Center and calling affordability a hoax and rubbing their fancy parties in our faces.

43:36This is resonating with exactly the kind of voters that Brad's talking about. Independents, moderates, people that Trump needs to turn out. Again, I don't think they'd pay attention to this kind of stuff at another time, but they are right now. It's not working. As he kept Brad Todd, great to see both of you. Thank you very much. Coming up, Six Flags announces it is closing one of its roller coasters. The move comes after a CNN investigation exposed serious injuries and at least two deaths associated with the ride.

44:13A major update tonight on the CNN investigation. It exposed the long history of serious injuries and deaths caused by the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Six Flags announced today that they are permanently shutting down the roller coaster. This comes after more than 100 people came forward saying they suffered head trauma after riding X2. It follows a CNN investigation documenting other recent reports of serious injuries and at least two deaths associated with the roller coaster. CNN's Kyung La has been leading our investigation and joins us now. A major development all based on your reporting, Kyung.

44:47Did Six Flags say why they're finally shutting down the ride? Well, broadly, John, they basically are citing guest confidence being affected. But let's walk through the facts here before I get to their full statement. About a month ago, with my reporting colleagues Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, our CNN investigation exposed a history of severe brain injuries and deaths linked to the X2 roller coaster. Our investigation documented allegations of injured riders dating back more than a decade. And all of this was largely kept under wraps until two women ended up in the same emergency room right after they got off the X2 ride.

45:20They had both been on the ride the same week in July, both underwent emergency brain surgery, and their surgeons said they believed their traumatic brain injuries were caused by the ride. Pamela Gillen and the parents of Naomi Greer Wilkinson spoke to CNN, and after we shared their stories, 100 additional victims reached out to their lawyer. And all of those 100 say, per the lawyer, that they had been injured in the last two years. That brings us to today's announcement. Six Flags Magic Mountain says that it will permanently shut down the ride. The company's president wrote, quote, While X2 consistently passed a multitude of safety tests, we have decided to close the ride because we believe it's the right thing to do.

46:02Ride safety is a cornerstone of our business, and when we see guest confidence affected, we take it seriously. Something that we should add, though, John, Naomi Greer Wilkinson is still in a coma, still unable to speak to her parents. John? And quickly, Kyung, where are the dozens of lawsuits filed against Six Flags Stand now? Well, they're still coming. The lawyers say that so far they have filed three lawsuits and they plan on filing one lawsuit per victim for a total of 100 separate lawsuits. So that is still a legal, you know, trail is coming for this company. cnn's kyung la as i said you and your team here have really um shined a spotlight on something that people did not know about and now action has been taken thank you for sharing your reporting with us and and congratulations so you can stream this show live or watch any cnn program on demand on all access scan the qr code on your screen or go to cnn.com slash watch to learn more i'll be back on TV tomorrow at 7 a.m.

47:05on CNN News Central. In the meantime, The Source with Caitlin Collins starts right now. A major update tonight on the CNN investigation that exposed the long history of serious injuries and deaths linked to the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain. Six Flags announced today that they are permanently shutting down the roller coaster. This comes after more than 100 people came forward saying they suffered head trauma after riding X2 and follows has seen an investigation documenting other recent reports of serious injuries and at least two deaths associated with the roller coaster. CNN's Kyung La has been leading our investigation and joins us now.

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