Questions Already Swirling Around New Press Secretary

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0:57One White House briefing down and already questions from inside the building about how long the new press secretary will last. I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines and inside politics.

1:16Brand new White House press secretary Katie Zakaria barely stepped away from the podium this morning before negative reviews were in from Trump world. My colleague Caitlin Collins is reporting several White House officials don't think Zakaria's debut impressed President Trump. They're already wondering how much longer she'll last. One official called her 15-minute appearance unusual. Another called it, quote, brutal. Zakaria did deliver major news. We have asked Ambassador Guilfoyle to resign. She has been a wonderful asset to the team, and we wish her well. Minutes later, Guilfoyle did just that.

1:59Donald Trump Jr.'s former fiance quit as U.S. ambassador to Greece after a series of corruption allegations. CNN's Elena Trin has more on both of these stories from the White House. Let's start with Kimberly Guilfoyle. What exactly is the status right now? Obviously, she was asked to resign, which is another way of saying you're fired. Yes, and it was a quite abrupt statement, actually, from the new White House press secretary, where she said that President Trump asked her to resign. Look, was it entirely surprising, Dana, from the conversations I and I know several of our colleagues here at the White House as well have been hearing for days now that he was considering doing that from the conversations I've had with people close to the president, but also to the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., who I should note was engaged to Kimberly Guilford for several years.

2:50They said it was embarrassing and that this was a distraction they did not need in the lead up to the midterm election just three weeks out. Really. Now, Now, the president did address this a moment ago out on the South Lawn when he was asked about this. Listen to what he said. Gail Coyle, she was almost a member of your family. How surprised were you to learn about these allegations? No, she wasn't a member of my family. She, I guess, dated my son a long time ago, but she wasn't. No, she went to Greece. She was doing a good job, but we didn't like what we were reading. Pretty tough language there from the president.

3:26Again, him saying that she wasn't a member of his family. I'd note again that she was engaged to his son for several years. But I do want to read for you what we heard from the former now ambassador to Greece, Kimberley Guilfoyle, in a statement responding to this. She wrote, Serving as the United States ambassador to Greece has been the honor of a lifetime. I will forever be grateful to President Donald J. Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for entrusting me with the extraordinary privilege of representing the greatest country in the history of the world. She went on to say, I also want to address the recent allegations against me.

3:59These allegations are false, and I intend to vigorously defend my name, my reputation, and my integrity. And that's really at the heart of this. From the get-go, we have heard that Guilfoyle has been denying these messages that were provided first to The Wall Street Journal, but also to CNN from a Trump donor who said that she had asked him to pay off a$100 ,000 Amex bill just days before her Senate confirmation hearing. So a lot that has been happening here, I will say we were told as well that Guilfoyle was making calls to many people in Trump's orbit in the lead up to that journal piece as well.

4:32But ultimately something that did not sit well with the president, so much so that he moved to call for her resignation. Yeah, this this was a very clear, dedicated move to make this public. And ultimately, we see what has happened. The person who delivered that news, the new press secretary, we are definitely hearing some immediate criticism, again, from inside the building. The president did just praise her, but others in the president's orbit, they're not. Right, Elena? Yeah, look, I spoke with actually a number of White House officials and advisers to the president, some inside the White House, some outside of the White House, who told me that it was a bit awkward, that it was stilted her when she was particularly reading her introductory statement to the briefing room.

5:20Some had said, though, that, of course, that it might have not been a great start, that they believe the president will give her the benefit of the doubt. We did hear the president when he was departing on the South Lawn here saying that he believes she did a good job. So we'll see. I mean, I know our colleague, Caitlin Collins, has reported that some questioning how long she'll last. from the conversation I had said people believe that she's going to be here for a while. Unclear how many press briefings she actually gives. But a lot of people as well saying it wasn't maybe the greatest start to her introducing herself really to reporters as a new White House press secretary.

5:56I will say as well, I spoke with one White House official who said that a lot of them missing Caroline today. But look, it was her first day. I'm sure we'll be hearing more from her soon. and we'll see if it's the same message from the people who are surrounding her in the president's orbit. Dana? And she's about to get on a very long flight with President Trump all the way to Alaska. Thank you so much for all that reporting, Elena. I appreciate it. I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters, including two who cover the White House full-time. Jasmine, I'm gonna start with you. Let's start with Kimberly Guilfoyle.

6:31I just wanna give a little bit more information. You heard Elena talking about this donor. And anybody who's been following the story over the last, really, it's a couple of days, because this has happened relatively quickly, has seen this donor, Eric Dieters, getting out there. It wasn't just that he kind of leaked these text messages to the Wall Street Journal. Then he owned it. He did a series of interviews. And in one, he very clearly explained what he was hoping to get from Kimberly Guilfoyle in exchange for her requests, including that he wipe out her$100 ,000 Amex bill. And all I wanted Kimberly Guilfoyle to do is to help me help the Dr.

7:16Durrani victims, 580 people who had unnecessary spine surgeries. and I wanted him to get extradited and I wanted an investigation of how he fled. And she couldn't even do that for me. She told me that if I paid, after I'd already paid her$300 ,000 and she knew I was gonna give her another million dollars if she helped me with this cause, which she didn't. So when she asked me for another$100 ,000, I said, Kimberly, you haven't done anything for me yet. There's so many layers of this here. First and foremost, just this particular incident that was Kimberly Guilfoyle's undoing. Yeah, I talked to one source afterwards who said this outcome of her being asked to resign was only a matter of time, in part because Marco Rubio was upset, Donald Trump was upset, I know, talking to folks.

8:07And it hits at all the things that President Trump doesn't like. We talked about this last week. He does not like when people are reported to be trading on his name, making money perhaps on his name. And he also doesn't really like bad press. And those two things were enfolded in this scandal of Kimberly Guilfoyle. The ambassadors that they have chosen to represent the country across the globe are a lot of folks who come from, who have personal relationships with the president, who perhaps had been donors, not necessarily traditional State Department people. And they've been given kind of carte blanche to operate in these lands as long as they're giving good results back to the U.S.

8:42And I think a lot of White House officials had felt that Kimberly Guilfoyle had been giving some positive returns back to the U.S. But clearly that reached its rope there. And you saw today that they asked for resign. And Jessica, you just from the perspective of where we are three weeks out from the midterms, this kind of story and how it feeds into one of the main arguments from Democrats against the president and also by Democrats against Republicans who are on the ballot for not standing up to the president on things like this. I mean, this is maybe one that is very specific and very public and very egregious, but certainly not the first time there have been allegations of a quid pro quo or even something that goes further.

9:26Democrats feel like this corruption message is what's really going to win them some of these close races. They have polling that shows that voters are just very fed up on this sort of insider politics. And it starts at the White House. It extends to other incumbent politicians. And so this type of story only feeds that narrative at a time when Republicans want to try to make these races about the Democratic Party. Instead, it continues to just be a referendum on Republicans and President Trump. And just real quick, as somebody who covers the White House also, Alex, just the sort of character of Kimberly Guilfoyle.

10:01I mean, this is somebody who started out her adult life married to Gavin Newsom, right? And then she moved right. She was at Fox News. She got engaged for years, despite the president saying she wasn't a member of his family. Because they didn't get married, they eventually broke up. But they were together for years. And this is how it ends, at least politically, publicly for her. Right. This was such an interesting ambassadorship to begin with, because it was a family member who then they broke up. But of the president, it was someone who was a Fox News commentator and then got this spot in Greece.

10:34and it felt a lot like, okay, this is a friend or he has a favor to repay her, give her ambassadorship. Now the fact that she's making negative press, she's causing Democrats to now have this narrative of here's even more corruption going on in the administration, that's exactly what the president, the issues that he has when people do these kinds of things and just feeding into that system. Whereas maybe he thought this would be an easy, she's a friend of mine, put her there and be done with it, she won't make any negative press. Or Don Jr. was getting engaged to somebody else and let Cinder have it around the world.

11:07I mean, just saying. Okay, the new press secretary. Let's listen to a little bit of what she did say in her very brief appearance at the podium. Delivered another blockbuster rally out on the trail. The arena was overflowing with enthusiasm as thousands came out to support President Trump. Attendance is at record highs as enthusiastic, hardworking Americans are lining up and packing arenas to support President Trump and Republicans. Yeah, I was in the room for that. And it was interesting to say the least. Look, I think this is a very difficult job. Say what you want about Caroline Levitt, whether or not you liked her personally.

11:51She was very talented at the job. And so she is following in, you know, pretty big shoes there. We reported about a month ago, right after Caroline Levitt announced that she was leaving, that the president had told aides that he wanted a man because of trying to avoid the comparisons that the next press secretary, if she were a woman, would have compared to Caroline Levitt. And I think you're seeing the result of that. Obviously, in the room, it felt very awkward. When she ended after about 15 minutes, there were kind of some gasps in the room because people thought that she would go a little bit longer.

12:22By people, I mean the reporters in the room. But this is her first day. I've talked to some folks who not just said it was awkward. One person texted me immediately as it ended. This is interesting. And so, you know, I think that this is a role perhaps that she's going to grow in. But obviously they are heading into a very difficult period of time with the midterm elections just three weeks away. And the president is going to need somebody who can effectively communicate what the administration wants it to. He's all about central casting. That's right. Is this the central casting? But is this the person that he was looking for when it comes to central casting when she went up and couldn't deliver?

12:58I mean, filling Caroline's shoes is hard enough, but couldn't come close to filling Caroline's shoes. But will we see another briefing from her before the midterm election? I mean, people were surprised that she briefed that quickly anyway, right? This is something also that the White House put out there. They announced that she had the job, and then they announced that she would do a briefing right after. I think people were surprised by that. Well, as I mentioned, she's on a very long trip with the president who's traveling more than 3 ,300 miles to shore up a state where he won by double digits.

13:26We have new details on the high stakes fight for the last frontier. Plus, top Republican super PACs are abandoning two GOP incumbents. What their decision reveals about the larger battle for the House. Stay with us.

13:46Now for a quick message from Anthropic, the team behind Claude, the AI built for businesses. Customers count on their bank, and banks count on their most important systems. Now those systems count on Claude, and nine of the Fortune 10 companies use it for critical work. See why leading companies trust Claude at claude.ai.span. Twas many nights before Christmas, and one woman knew she needed a Christmas tree, so to Wayfair she flew. Finding just the right one, and for years it will last. Wayfair shipping was free, and remarkably fast. What's this? Garland? A wreath? Essentials to host? Good thing she celebrates way longer than most.

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14:4721 days, three weeks until the election. We are tracking the races, candidates, and stories that could shift the balance of power here in Washington and all across the country. Speaking of which, Kansas. The state Republicans are calling in a top Trump strategist to assist Senator Roger Marshall. make sure that he holds a seat that GOP members in the Senate, they haven't lost in nearly a century. Axios reports that Chris Grant, who helped lead a major pro-Trump super PAC in 2024, will steer Marshall's campaign strategy in the final days of his campaign against Democrat Adam Hamilton. CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju has been traveling across Kansas.

15:32He joins us now from Kingman, Kansas. You just hopped off the bus on this bus tour that you are on with Senator Marshall. How's it going? Yeah, he's making a stop from one red area of the state to another red area of the state, trying to really drive out his supporters in this race. That is essentially a toss up. Polls have shown that this is a neck and neck race. And if Adam Hamilton, the Democrat, a pastor-turned-candidate, were to win this race, this would be the first time a Democratic senator will have won a Senate seat in the state of Kansas in nearly a century. But in talking to Republicans and Democrats alike, the view is that Adam Hamilton could very much win this race, which is why there are millions now being poured on the air and why Roger Marshall is trying to nationalize this race, talk about the impact of a Democratic Senate if Hamilton were to win this race.

16:20Now, what's interesting, when I caught up with Hamilton yesterday, I asked him about his own stump speech. He had actually been critical of Donald Trump on a range of issues, whether it was Iran, whether it was about gas prices, whether it was about anything and really tying Roger Marshall to Trump himself. I asked him if that was a wise strategy in a state that Donald Trump has won overwhelmingly three times. You're sharply critical of President Trump. This is a state that he has won three times by double digits. Is that a risk in a state where you have to win Trump voters in order to win this race?

16:53Well, it's interesting. As I travel across the state, I'm talking to people who tell me, I voted for President Trump three times, but what's happening today is not okay. And their frustration isn't with, I mean, they're frustrated with the president. They're really frustrated with Roger Marshall because they say, you know, our senator is supposed to stand up for us. Like the president may do one thing, but our senator is supposed to stand up for us, and he's not doing that. So, no, and the president's ratings are pretty low here in Kansas right now. So we have, but interestingly enough, it's always fun when I have people come out and say, I voted for him three times, but I think you're going to be a better senator for us.

17:21Do you think, there are some senators, some voters who undoubtedly have concerns about the fact that if you were to win, the Democrats are likely going to be in the Senate, and Chuck Schumer is going to likely be the Democratic leader. What do you say to those voters? Well, I say to them, it's possible that that's going to happen no matter what. But here's the question I ask. Are you better off as Kansas if we have two Republican senators representing Kansas on the Republican side of the aisle, Or if we had Jerry Moran, who seems to be doing a pretty good job on the Republican side, and I'm working as a moderate Democrat on the Democratic side.

17:52And one of the big questions is how low has the president's standing really fallen here in Kansas? He is expected to come out in the coming days to rally with Roger Marshall. But what you heard from Adam Hamilton there is that he said the president's ratings are so low that it's hurting Marshall among some Republican voters who have been hit so hard by gas prices. And the agricultural community, of course, hit as well by the rise in diesel prices as well and taking their anger out at the incumbent party, which is why a lot of people believe that Hamilton has that chance to pull off what would be a significant upset and why a lot of Republicans are nervous and fearful that Kansas could turn blue for the first time in nearly 100 years.

18:33And we just were seeing some pictures of the incumbent Republican, Roger Marshall, on that bus tour that you're joining him on. As you were telling us that story, what a crazy race. Thanks for jumping on. I know you've got to get on the bus soon. Thanks, Manu. And President Trump is on his way to another red state, one that's become a critical Senate battleground, Alaska. He's campaigning for Republican Senator Dan Sullivan, who's facing a really tough challenge from Democratic former Congresswoman Mary Paltola. This is a state President Trump won by 13 percentage points just two years ago. Let's talk about that for a second, shall we?

19:14I'm going to start with you, Jessica, because let's just sort of look. I mentioned the huge gap in the results just two years ago. Here's where things stand right now for President Trump in Alaska. This is what he's heading into. This is among all likely voters. Approval, 41 percent. Disapproval, 56 percent. He's pretty deep underwater in the reddest of states. This is a trend I'm seeing across the country when I'm talking to Republican sources, that Trump is just dragging candidates down across the board. I think that Mary Peltola is also a candidate that even in a bad environment in 2024, she heavily overperformed Kamala Harris.

19:53So she has the ability, even in the state that Trump carried by 13, it's not easy to win these double-digit Trump states. And I still think we have this as a pure toss-up. But this is a key state. To me, it comes down to, I mean, I feel like Texas is, I can't believe I'm saying it, but almost trending toward Democrats at this point. If Maine and North Carolina go, then that comes down to it's Ohio, Iowa, and Alaska that the Democrats can get their fourth Senate seat from maybe even Kansas, where Manu is. We moved that race to a toss-up last week. So, I mean, this Senate map, I can't believe we're sitting here talking about Alaska and Kansas and not North Carolina and Georgia like I thought we would be at the beginning of the cycle.

20:30It just shows how the map has shifted in Democrats' favor into this very red territory. And it's really, it's because Democrats have gotten some strong candidates like Mary Peltola, but it's because Trump is dragging them down everywhere. Yeah, big time. Let's look at some of the messages that Alaska voters are seeing and hearing from these two candidates. Mary Peltola has forgotten our Yupik values, lying about Dan Sullivan's family, and being used by lower 48 outsiders to do harm to Alaska. While our people are struggling, Peltola wants us to pay even more. I've been commercial fishing here for 45 years, and it's never been this tough.

21:09Insurance has gone up. Diesel, food, everything's gone up. And Dan Sullivan just keeps voting to raise our costs even higher. I mean, those two sort of clips of these ads are so telling. First of all, the pro-Sullivan, it's from his campaign ad, with an indigenous woman. This is an area where Mary Pautola did very, very well. you kind of have to to win in Alaska and you have to get voters out. And then you have on the Democratic side a white guy talking about fishing. That's right. And I think on the Democratic side, he's talking about the rising diesel prices, rising health care prices. These are all issues that are tying Dan Sullivan directly to President Trump.

21:51Of course, President Trump is headed there today, so he can't distance himself at this point. But anytime the president says, pretend I'm on the ballot, vote like I'm on the ballot, I won Alaska by double digits, it could be harmful to a Dan Sullivan who wants to be able to separate himself from something like these rising diesel prices from the war in Iran, from health care costs, whatever it is. So they're in a tough position now with the president there. They're going to be linked just weeks out. Okay. So you mentioned Ohio. We have to get to a moment that happened in Ohio last night. The president is having nighttime rallies.

22:25He was talking about the incumbent Republican John Husted. But I'm standing over here and I don't do this with men very often. I started examining his body because I didn't know he was a great athlete. And I looked and I watched up and down. I looked at his ass and I looked at the whole and then I looked at his hands. Look at his hands. He's got these like claws. That was something. Yeah, I'm hoping that we'll get a John Husted thirst trap pretty soon. But no, seriously, I mean, this is why people like President Alan the Stump is because he does what he calls the weave, right? Like he is just talking about his policies, but he's also entertaining.

23:11And this is why Republicans feel that despite, you know, the way that he's perhaps dragging down some folks across and in some critical battleground states, that he is the best person in the Republican Party to get out the base. Yeah, I know he's one of one in so many ways, but I'm just trying to imagine what would have happened if Joe Biden talked about a Democrat's ass. Just saying. Coming up. And whose ass would it be? That's during the break. Coming up, our Republicans waving the white flag in the House of Representatives. A new report reveals two GOP super PACs are cutting off two incumbents.

23:53Now for a quick message from Anthropic, the team behind Claude, the AI built for businesses. Customers count on their bank, and banks count on their most important systems. Now those systems count on Claude, and nine of the Fortune 10 companies use it for critical work. See why leading companies trust Claude at claude.ai.

24:19Now to a stark sign of GOP alarm. Two major Republican super PACs aligned with President Trump and congressional GOP leaders are abandoning two House Republican incumbents. The groups are canceling all remaining ads for Tom Kaine Jr. in New Jersey and Marionette Miller-Meeks in Iowa after internal polling showed their re-election chances fading. Vice President J.D. Vance was asked about those decisions this morning. Here's what he said. So I think the nature of a midterm election is sometimes these races have more of an individual rather than a national character. We know that we're swimming against some serious historical trends here, but I think that we have as good a chance as I've ever seen to really defy those historical trends.

25:02So we're not giving up anywhere. We're just trying to win the races that we can and focus where we can. So on the one hand, Jessica, he says that they have individual characteristics, not a national character. And then he talks about historical trends. But big picture here. These are two seats. We've already seen Republicans give up on the vacant Republican Don Bacon seat. He's retiring. That's three seats. I know that they're being aggressive and redistricting. So there could be pickups. That's only going to net them about four to five seats. Yeah. So give us the big picture here three weeks out.

25:35I mean, the big picture is that Democrats are heavily favored to take back the House. And right now, our estimate at the political report is that Democrats could pick up between 9 and 19 seats. These two seats in Iowa and New Jersey, we recently shifted from our toss-up to our lean Democrat column. And so these are some of the first that we could see fall on election night, that Tom Keene seat. He was gone for months without explanation, so I think there are some other characteristics at play in that race. Marionette Miller-Meeks, she won by only a handful of votes in her in 2020. This is a race that Republicans feel like has been trending away from them for a while in Iowa as well.

26:13Yeah. I mean, Iowa, nobody expects to, like, you know, change very much in big picture. But Iowa is, excuse me, New Jersey doesn't, the expectation is of that. But Iowa, that's one of the big stories this election is how much it will change. And this is an indication, at least, that one of the key districts will. We talked a little bit about redistricting. I want you to listen to what the House Speaker, Mike Johnson, said this morning. He was asked broadly about the Republicans' chances and about pulling out of these two races. Listen to his answer. In the deep red states, we've got to make sure that we defend the seats.

26:48Some of these districts have been redrawn, as you know, over the last cycle. And so you have new territory. We have even incumbents who are moved into areas that have brand new voters. So we've got to do all the fundamentals and do it right. So he's speaking from Texas there. Redistricting was their deal. The reason for redistricting mid-decade is because the Republicans push for it. That answer really kind of boggles the mind. That originally was something in President Trump's toolkit of here's how we can hold on to Congress, let's focus on redistricting. And now that they're saying this could actually change things, not in our favor or the fact that Speaker Johnson was also not really taking this as the same way as Vice President Vance.

27:36Vance saying we have to focus where we can. Johnson saying, well, there's other factors at play here was an interesting answer. And we're seeing Republican donors also have been telling me that we just need to hold on to the Senate here. If the House has to go, if other senators, you know, we have to allocate money from one place to another. At And I think the vice president's line of saying we have to focus where we can is really speaking to that, that they know, as Jessica says, that it's really swaying aggressively in Democrats' favor for the House. Go ahead, Craig. Yeah, I would just say that, look, I think Texas is going to be where everybody looks at to see whether or not the redistricting effort actually fails.

28:18That is the state that's going to make our break, whether or not people redistricting the future. All right, don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick break coming up. Can a Democrat break through in a deep red district in Arkansas? I'm going to speak with a candidate trying to unseat one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress. Stay with us.

28:41This podcast is supported by Anthropic, the public benefit corporation behind Claude. Everyone's got a hard question about AI. Anthropic was built to surface those questions and share what it finds along the way because there's hope in hard questions. Ask yours at claude.ai slash Spotify and keep thinking. That's claude.ai slash Spotify. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them.

29:27With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your$1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. Since Arkansas Republicans redistricted in 2021, no Democrat has come close to winning a House seat. Not competitive at all until now. The Cook Political Report moved the Arkansas 2nd District from solid to likely Republican. And Democrats added the 2nd District to their Red to Blue program. That means they're putting money behind Chris Jones, an ordained pastor and also a nuclear engineer. It's an effort to unseat Congressman French Hill. He's the powerful chair of the House Financial Services Committee.

30:12Chris Jones joins me now. Thank you so much for being here. President Trump won your district by 15 percentage points only two years ago. Your opponent, as I mentioned, is French Hill. He won by even more. You likely can't win without getting some of those voters to vote for you. So what is your message to them to win over Trump Hill voters? Great question. Thank you for having me on here, Dana. Look, I wear this B on my lapel because it's a reminder to do what other people say is impossible because they said the bumblebee couldn't fly. And when I think about this race, we need that reminder. But what we found, though, is that independents who are breaking for me in every poll at least about 35 points or more are saying they're sick and tired of us going into these unwanted wars of choice.

31:01They're sick and tired of their gas prices hurting them. Our farmers are hurting. They're going bankrupt and committing suicide at a rate higher than any other in the country. And our veterans are hurting because they're not getting VA care. All those dynamics are at play as we go out. And then to line it on top, French Hill, who's the most powerful banker in Congress, used his power to remove the$5 cap on overdraft and junk fees. And so folks are wondering if he's using his power for the big banks, then why is he not helping us? And they're ready for a new direction. You mentioned independence moving your way.

31:35You also need Republicans, right? Absolutely. Absolutely. And the Republicans were promised certain things. And I've been all across the district. When we started this race, I went to all eight counties and did a town hall. Since then, I've done probably 30, 40 town halls in the district, especially in places where they were promised certain things. They were promised no new wars. They were promised the price would go down at the very beginning. They were promised support for farmers. They're not getting what they were promised. And they understand that this is in large part because folks like French Hill in Congress are not keeping a check on the White House.

32:11The National Democratic Party is still deeply unpopular nationwide. And I'm guessing that is also true in your district in Arkansas. What differentiates you from a typical Democrat? So when I ran for governor, I went to every county in this state and actually walked a mile in every county. What I heard consistently was that they're sick and tired of people showing up, and then win or lose, they disappear. So I continue to be engaged and on the ground, and we brought that into the campaign. The difference here is that we have deep relationships throughout the district, and they're saying at the end of the day, they recognize that I am Chris Jones, and I understand that I want the Arkansas voters, the folks in this district, to be my boss, not some party.

32:55Now, even though, as I mentioned, Democrats have added you to their Red to Blue program, meaning you're getting some money, you're still being outspent four to one in your race. Do you think National Democrats need to invest more there now that it seems like you're in the hunt? 100 percent. Look, we've said because because we knew the dynamics on the ground, we've said from the beginning that this is the most competitive congressional seat in the South. And it's proven out. What you're noticing, though, is that the Republicans understand how much at risk French Hill is. And so that's why they're dumping money into it.

33:31So 100 percent national Democrats go to ChrisJonesForCongress.com. Check me out. Donate because we need your support to win this race. This is a heavy question and not much time, but I'm going to go for it. You were trained as a nuclear engineer at MIT. You've written extensively about how to prevent an AI apocalypse. You also are not an AI doomer. What would you do in Congress vis-a-vis AI if you are elected? Now, great question. I'll give you the short answer because I am a nuclear engineer. I'm also a rocket scientist. There are frameworks that exist already that are helpful. You know, nuclear power, civilian nuclear power is great.

34:09Nuclear weapons are not great. There's the nonproliferation treaty, which gives us the framework on how to advance civilian power without the dangerous nuclear weapons. That framework can apply to AI. Wow, that really was a short version. I appreciate it. You must be campaigning out there on this issue and others. Chris Jones, thank you so much for being with me. I really appreciate it. And we have invited the incumbent Republican French Hill on this program, and we hope to have him on soon. Up next, Byron Donalds could make history in Florida, but first he has to win over black voters. Why he says his party doesn't know how to do it.

34:47Next.

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35:23Byron Donalds is poised to make history as Florida's first black governor if he can beat beat Democrat David Jolly. The final front and the voters that might decide this race are the currently undecided black voters in the state of Florida. Someone said to me, are you concerned, Jolly, as a Democrat, you're only getting about 80, 81 percent of the black voter. And I said, not as concerned as Byron should be that he's only getting nine percent from his own community. And the Washington Sun, Jasmine Wright, our colleague and friend here, profiles Donald's quest to win those exact voters, despite nearly a dozen Republican operatives and officials warning that nationwide the party effort to keep black voters is shrinking in Florida.

36:07to Donald's barnstorming and voting and campaigning, I should say, in the black community. His assessment, quote, I just think they don't know how to do some of this. We've had to build new muscle that typically is not built in Republican campaigns. Jasmine, this is such a great piece and it's so interesting. We actually played an ad from Donald's yesterday where he is leaning into the history of this moment if he does win, but that's new for him. Yeah, it's new. And I think this story is interesting because it really tells two stories. It tells Byron Donald's own evolution into perhaps embracing his race, something that he is reticent to talk about in terms of his campaign.

36:47As he pushes deeper and deeper into the black community, he told me that he wants to get north of 20 percent, which would be the highest of any Republican candidate for governor got from the black community. And he's doing that by going to barbershops, by going to churches, by really talking to the key locators and trying to say we may not agree on anything like DEI, something that he's against, like the Affordable Care Act, something that people like that he does not like. But I will be candid with you. At the same time, as he's pushing deeper into the community, trying to draw out more votes, GOP strategists across the country tell me that the Republican Party writ large is doing the exact opposite.

37:24Let me read a quote from your story on that very issue. You know how you buy some stuff, put it in the garage and forget that it's there. That's where the effort is at. A black GOP strategist told you, describing the Republican Party's efforts to win the support of black voters. I mean, that's a stunning quote because it comes just two years after the president, to win 2024, put together this coalition. That encompassed a lot of black voters, specifically black men. I think he got 15 percent of the vote. Yeah, we can put up the results as you're talking about it. 21 % of black men. That's something that no Republican candidate had really gotten to that point.

38:00And so they really talked about this generational shift of black voters, specifically black men, to the Republican Party. And my question going into this was whether or not Republicans were actually keeping up the effort to retain those voters in the midterm election. And the answer I got basically was no, right? And they say, you know, a couple of different reasons. President Trump is not on the ballot. He has a unique relationship with the black community and all these other factors. But what fundamentally people told me is that there's not the resources, attention, or the know-how, according to Byron Donald, to actually keep those important voters.

38:31And so now you're seeing that across the country, there's just not that effort to make sure that those generational voters from 2024 have come over to 2026. I didn't want to interrupt you, but just for people looking at the graphic we just had up, we showed what you mentioned, that the president got 15 % of the black vote in 2024. There you see it again. What you're seeing on the right there, this is the generic ballot, questioning how black voters will go. Only 7 % say right now that they will vote for a Republican. The RNC is pushing for black voters to move over beyond Florida. Obviously, Florida is one of them.

39:08Michigan is another. North Carolina and Georgia, they had. I'm not sure how aggressive they're going to be in those two states where they've basically given up on the Senate race, at least. But in Michigan, it's another area where you're seeing a dynamic where Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate, is trying to appeal to black voters who might not be really thrilled with the idea of voting for Abdul Al-Sayed. Let's listen to an ad that he just put out yesterday. I voted for Barack Obama, but this year I'm voting for Mike Rogers. Abdul is way too arrogant and way too extreme. He will kill our jobs and make our communities less safe.

39:50Mike Rogers will get to work for us. Better schools, safer streets, more jobs and affordable health care. And this is like a critical part of the electorate in Michigan that Mike Rogers really does have to do well in if he is has any chance of flipping the seat. That's right. It's such a critical voting block. And it's also part of him trying to rebuild the coalition that won the president of the White House in 2024. How can he get into there? And is the black community that lane that can win him Michigan? I think him leaning in on Abdul Al-Sayed as the issue instead of what can I do for black voters, it's a lot of this man is too extreme and you should be fearful.

40:30It's a lot of what we're hearing Republicans in general, the way they talk about Abdul Al-Sayed. But they're hoping that the black community will read into that as we don't want this kind of far left leaning wave in our community that we're seeing in other places. And maybe he can monopolize on that. Jessica? Well, Haley Stevens, that was Abdul's opponent in that primary that just narrowly lost, she ran very strong with black voters. When you look at the areas where he was weakest, it was with black voters in and around Detroit, other suburbs. And so this is when I'm talking with Democrats. Remember, this is a seat that they're having to defend.

41:03So if they lose this seat, that puts them back from the four that they need. So they are watching that black margin, that margin of black voters in Michigan very closely to see if Abdul Al-Sayed, after a very bitter primary battle can heal that rift. So I think the onus is almost on El-Sayed at this point to do that. Yeah, and he had Kamala Harris in. He's going to be campaigning with Barack Obama soon. So he gets it. It's no accident. Yeah, it's definitely not an accident. It's a very clear campaign by both parties. Thank you so much. Great reporting, Jasmine. Thank you. Thank you to you as well.

41:38Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

41:56We'll see you next time.

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