Trump Orders DOJ to Block Results if His Candidate Loses

0:29Every place wants me. I'll call him as the next United States Senator. We all have! I look so forward to Michigan, and I think it's going to be wild, because he's a total phony. Republicans don't deserve an A-plus. They all deserve a pink slip. Let's go out and do what we do best. We win, win, win on November 3rd. Win.

1:03Good evening and welcome to a special edition of Laura Coates Live Countdown to Election Night. I'm Eric Hill, in for Laura. The midterms are just 11 days away now, but President Trump's Justice Department is already suing to block the certification of the results in a race that could determine control of the Senate. It is a lawsuit that targets one specific outcome, a narrow Democratic win in Alaska. And the president says he's the one who ordered it. Any thoughts on the Alaska lawsuit? Well, I'm the one that said do it. They have two guys around named Dan Sullivan running. So the Democrats put up a guy, never, I don't think he ever voted before.

1:44All of a sudden he decides to run for the Senate and his name is Dan Sullivan. One is Daniel S. One is Daniel J. The Daniel J is the fake. It is in fact a tale of two Sullivans. incumbent GOP Senator Dan S. Sullivan and Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired school teacher, who's also a registered Republican. Now, the DOJ alleges the second Sullivan is running for one reason. That's to confuse voters. They claim the plan here is to siphon off enough Republican votes from the incumbent to hand Democrat Mary Beltola a win. Daniel J. Sullivan denies he's a Democratic plant, but Trump has been complaining about the Sullivan situation for weeks.

2:23I'm talking about the real Dan Sullivan, not the fake Dan Sullivan. Not the Dan Sullivan put up by the Democrats. Well, it's close for one reason that they have a phony Dan Sullivan. Think of it. They have a man named Dan Sullivan running against him, the Democrats. I think, Todd, you have a legal case on that. Well, that case is now here. It's not the first legal battle, however, over the two Dan Sullivans. You may recall Republicans already challenged Daniel J. Sullivan's candidacy, Alaska election officials kicked him off the ballot. He sued and won, and the state appealed all the way to Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled he could stay.

2:59Here's what Alaskans will actually see when they go in to vote. So Dan Sullivan, you see there, registered Republican incumbent on the ballot there. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. is listed by his full name. No party affiliation. Despite the state Supreme Court weighing in several months ago, the DOJ now wants a federal judge to block Alaska from certifying the results. But only if Mary Paltola wins by a margin small enough that Daniel J. Sullivan's votes could have changed the outcome. And it's also important to note the timing of all of this. It was just yesterday Attorney General Todd Blanche was asked about whether the DOJ would intervene in the certification process.

3:42Any action from the Justice Department in terms of certification process of states? Is there any scenario in which DOJ would weigh in on that certification process or try to block states from certifying? I mean, is there any scenario? Yes, of course, there's scenarios that we could all come up with, hypothetically. You know, some doomsday scenario, for example. Right. So I don't think it's proper to to make any kind of conclusory statements about what's going to happen in the future, because I have no idea what's going to happen in the future. Let's meet my panel tonight. Former Democratic Congressman Tom Malinowski, former Chief Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, Alex Bogle, Director of Strategy for the Free and Equal Elections Foundation, Mike Leon, advisory board member of the Renew Democracy Initiative, Reena Shah, and the President and CEO of Democracy Forward, Skye Perryman.

4:28Nice to have all of you with us. And of course, just a reminder for everybody watching at home, we also want you to be part of our coverage. You can send us your questions and your comments at CNN.com slash EngagePolitics. And the panel will be answering them live on air later this hour. When we look at where things stand, let's just go to the legal first, if we could. The president was very clear. He gave the directive. This is all on him. When we look at it from a legal perspective, Sky, does the DOJ have a legal leg to stand on? No, they don't. And there's no basis for this. It's frankly even unclear if they have standing.

5:02But there is no basis for this lawsuit. I think you're going to see it be quickly dismissed, as have many of the president's attempts recently. But yeah, I mean, there's not a legal basis. There is much that's been made of this lawsuit because it is very specific, right? There would have to be this narrow margin. And the case there is that it's because people would be confused. When we look at this ballot again, it's very clear that there are two different Dan Sullivan's. Alaska, of course, also has ranked choice. When you look at this, is there really a case potentially for confusion? Yeah, name confusion is real, but preemptively blocking certification of an entire Senate race is a totally different animal.

5:46And I think that's what hit me. And I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here? Because that's not election integrity. That's election management. And that crosses a different sort of border that we are mostly used to here. And it's happening from Washington because Trump is admitting it here. So states run elections. Let's be clear. Everybody listen to that. States run elections. That's a fact. But that's been the rule for a long time. And I think right now it's getting twisted in this moment. And I would just say we as people who understand this process that, yes, name confusion is real.

6:19This thing is happening. We need to understand it needs to stay that way, that states need to run this thing. Trump doesn't need to rear his head into this. I don't care how you feel about him. He doesn't need to rear his head into this. And the state does take efforts to make it less confusing by putting, and you put it up on the screen, incumbent, registered Republican. You know, I came from living in Florida where we had a couple ballot initiatives that had confusion. Vote no would actually equal a yes in a Republican direction. If you look back in 2022, I think it was, in western Pennsylvania, there was a Mike Doyle.

6:50There were two Mike Doyles in western Pennsylvania. One was a Democrat. One was a Republican. The Republican was actually running. And the Republican was like, I'm not running against that, Mike Doyle. I'm actually running against the candidate. And Mary Patola is in this race, which I think a lot of people are not talking about. But I heard Joseph Moreno on Jake's show earlier today. I think it was today or yesterday. And again, Republican strategist, DOJ prosecutor, talking about the legal standing of this. To your point, there is nothing for this. The state already certified that he could participate in this.

7:20And there's been no confusion from voters. If you just look at ranked choice voting in the primary, he had like about 4 ,000 votes. So, look, I think you make some valid points in terms of the novelty of the remedy, and there may be standing issues, but the name confusion is real. And as Haley Barber once said, I was born at night, but it wasn't last night. It wasn't an accident that a Dan Sullivan showed up. And when he filed the paperwork, accidentally put the incumbents middle initial. He filed to be on the ballot as exactly the same name and then said, oh, sorry. Yeah, sorry. I have a different middle name.

7:57It sure looks like someone was trying to get into this race just to sow the chaos. And look, I'd rather they're worrying about this now and going to court about it now. We haven't counted votes. We haven't had an election. This feels like a wholly appropriate time to do it. And in the context of a court, this isn't, well, you know, taking it to the court. Can I mention something that's literally a million times more important? because the lawsuit is pathetic. It's not going to go anywhere. What's important is, what is the Attorney General of the United States worried about? What keeps him up at night?

8:30Is it crime? Is it terrorism? Is it cyber attacks? Did you know the Justice Department prosecuted 15 % fewer violent crimes since 2025, first two years of Trump, compared to the first two years of Biden? The National Security Division at the Justice Department, 40 % of the prosecutors are gone. Public Integrity Division that prosecutes real corruption from 40 prosecutors to five. Those are not the things that keep Todd Blanch up at night. What he's worried about is doing something that will get a story in the paper the next day that pleases Donald Trump, that satisfies his urge to go after his opponents, even if it's not going to go anywhere in court.

9:10What worries me is that the Justice Department is not protecting us. It's doing this silly crap. That's got to change. Alex, you said you're happy that this is happening preemptively. When you look at this, though, we heard from President Trump for years under the Biden administration, railing against President Biden, railing against that administration, saying the DOJ was essentially corrupt and they were doing the president's bidding. You have a president who said, this is all me. This was my decision. I told him to do it. Are you comfortable with that? Look, President Trump made very clear from the beginning of this administration that the Department of Justice is part of the executive branch.

9:44The attorney general serves at the pleasure of the president, I get that lots of people suddenly are like, oh, this should be some sort of wholly independent agency. That's not the reality that the president is coming at this with. And that's been consistent throughout this administration and throughout different issues. The one thing I would just say about DOJ's ability to focus on public corruption and other things, we saw just yesterday. The attorney general was part of the team that was announcing the indictments in Virginia for public official money, weed sales, guns. I think the attorney general, DOJ, can walk into gum at the same time.

10:23If you are a Republican right now, a Republican elected official, somebody who supports Donald Trump, and you take a bribe on national television, you are not going to be prosecuted. Everybody knows this. Okay, guys, don't move aside of the story, though. This is really important. So in the voters now. In terms of the story, here are two things I do want to point out. We have heard from Senator Murkowski, who was weighing in, who put out a tweet earlier saying Alaskans don't need any help voting for their preferred candidates. The state of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year's ballot.

10:52The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit. Dan Sullivan distanced himself from it. He said he does nothing to do with it. There is a distance. There's also it's been adjudicated. It has been. There's also a question of how would you actually know that there was confusion? Right. Like, how are you are you going to go to every single person who cast a ballot and say, how did you vote? Who did you vote for? And oops, did you vote for the person you meant to vote for? We're talking about behavior, right, of Todd Blanche. He knows that this is less about a slam dunk legal theory and understands this is about engaging the base and planting a flag before the results come in.

11:26And at face value, I would say, no, Alex, I don't agree with you. But actually I do, because election experts I've talk to, lawyers, say, you know what? Doing these preemptive moves is actually, it's a long shot. So I actually like it. Do this preemptive move. Get ready to lose, Trump world. I'm just saying, ranked choice voting in Alaska already sorts preferences, as you alluded to. The state put the names on the ballots knowing the distinction. And I just think voters see incumbent and they see party label. So let's not make this too complex for America. This is very easy. And I'm a huge proponent of ranked choice voting.

12:04And I think it has helped here. And let the party do this preemptive stuff. They're going to lose in the long run. And Todd Blanche knows it too. He knows, again, it needs to be said, there's no slam dunk legal theory here. But even having this discussion, understanding that, yes, Alaska has addressed any potential confusion issue with how they've done the ballot. This is not how elections run in the United States of America. They are run by the states. The Supreme Court of Alaska has weighed in here. All of a sudden, the Department of Justice isn't interested in states' rights anymore and wants to come in and try to assert, you know, standing that it doesn't have.

12:36So I think this will get dismissed. But the concern is that people across the country become so concerned that the Department of Justice is going to threaten them or do something or that these lawsuits are going to keep them from voting. And I think that's what you see, Senator Murkowski. We're out of time. We're going to have to leave it there. The good news, though, is I can guarantee this is not the last time you will discuss this particular story. But we're moving on to the next one. President Trump rallying the base in Florida today, where nearly two million people have already cast their votes.

13:07The former Republican congressman from the district where the president was today joins me next.

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15:0711 days before Election Day, President Trump is spending the afternoon in his adopted home state of Florida campaigning. Trump has won that state all three times he ran for president. In fact, he increased his margin of victory in 2024 compared to his two previous runs. Yet Democrats sense an opportunity in the sunshine state because of the national headwinds against Trump. Some Democrats believe their candidate in the governor's race, David Jolly, can upset Republican Congressman Byron Donald. Now, publicly, Trump may not be acknowledging that possibility. Actions, though, do speak louder than words.

15:38The president today trekking down to Donald's district there to campaign for him and also telling voters what he thinks of Jolly. I never told Byron this, but I knew Jolly. I knew him as a Republican. I knew him and used to be a Republican and he was thrown out of the party like a dog. We threw him the hell out. I don't think people of goodwill really pay any mind to Donald Trump any longer. I think we're a nation looking past the president. And frankly, many Republicans are looking past the president. But the reason he's down in Florida is because this race is a toss up tonight. My next guest represented the 19th district before Donald's, former Florida congressman and ambassador to the Holy See, Francis Rooney.

16:18Nice to see you again tonight. Is this race really a toss up at this point? I think it is. Some of the polling you read about says that Donald's has a high margin. But most of the polling says it's within five to six points, which is in the margin of error. And I think you just heard David Jolly acquit himself very well. and the fact that Trump's there in such a Republican stronghold to campaign for Byron says a lot about how they feel about the race. I think David's got a real chance. So you think he has a real chance? You represented, as I noted, the district where the president was campaigning today.

16:56And we look at some of the most recent polling, even in the most recent CNN poll, the president's approval rating overall, 32 percent. It is not great, even lower when we You look at feelings about the economy, about inflation. What are you hearing from your former constituents? Just how much could the president's unpopularity on key issues here like the economy drag Byron Donald down? Yeah, it will be hard for a lot of the people in our district not to vote for Republican. They'll have to really swallow hard to not vote for Trump. But they're not immune to the headwinds that are facing all Americans right now with high gas prices, high diesel prices, high food prices and unaffordable housing.

17:40This country is falling apart largely because of the invasion of Iran and a few other policies which should not have been put in effect. The president has told voters that they should pretend he's on the ballot. to that point, to what they are seeing, what everyone in this country is seeing when they go to the grocery store, when they go to fill up at the gas station. You were pretty complimentary there of David Jolly. You think he has a chance. Does he have your vote? Yeah, he does. David's a good man. I've helped him. He was a good Republican. He wasn't kicked out of the party. The party kind of left him a little bit.

18:17He wasn't quite conservative enough for it in Tampa. But he's a moderate Bush, Reagan type of person, Clinton kind of person. And I think we need to return to leadership that's more in the middle and more embracing of all the values of American people and not the lunatic fringes on either side. You talked about how hard it would be for people in that district to not vote for a Republican. But the way you lay things out, is David Jolly that person you think that could get them to not vote for a Republican? I'm going to be hopeful. He's got a Republican background. He represented Tampa or St. Petersburg as a congressman, as a Republican.

18:56And he's a very logical, insane guy. And again, people are hurting in this country and they're hurting in Southwest Florida, too. In fact, in Southwest Florida, we have a lot of people on retirement incomes, fixed incomes, and they're even hurting more when they have to go to the store or put gas in their tank. President Trump has most recently been known to vote by mail, despite railing on mail-in voting. He is now saying he plans to vote in person tomorrow there in Florida. How much damage do you think the president has done when it comes to mail-in voting? I mean, do his words carry a lot of weight with not only voters and how they look at the integrity of elections in this country, but also in terms of voter turnout?

19:44You know, things have gotten so bizarre with him. I'm not sure how much people are paying attention to what he says anymore. You look at the figures of how many votes have been cast, and I don't have all those figures. Your guy that gets up with the board is the expert on all that. We rely on Harry for a lot. Yeah, there's been a lot of votes cast, a lot of mail-in votes cast, and a lot of people, it's the only really way they can vote. It's a legitimate option for people that can't get to a poll. If Democrats do take control of Congress, they have vowed, of course, to investigate the Trump administration.

20:19I know you have said that impeaching Donald Trump, it would be a waste of time. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries seems to have a different target in mind. Take a listen to who he's talking about. You'll have a vote when you get back in the session about whether to impeach Pete Hegseth. Are you going to vote to impeach him? I've been very clear about my feelings as it relates to Pete Hegseth. He never should have been confirmed. So we'll see what happens in terms of that vote. But I believe Pete Hegseth is in deep trouble. Is Pete Hegseth, you believe, in deep trouble? And is that the right strategy to go after Pete Hegseth?

20:55Should Democrats take control? I hope Hakeem's right. I think this Hegseth guy has been an aberration of all the fine secretaries of defense that we've had over the years. He's come up with a lot of ideas that I don't think are so great, including public execution of a heinous criminal. And I think there's some explaining he should do to the American people. And he's had a bully pulpit protected by Trump. And putting him on a stand in a congressional hearing where the people can hear his answers and he can be questioned fairly, it's not a bad idea. Frances Rooney, I appreciate you joining us with your perspective.

21:33Thank you. Thank you. Still ahead here, it is the most expensive non-presidential race in American history, fueled by the world's richest man. So what's with Elon Musk's obsession with Texas? My panel is back to dig into this one next.

21:58We know everything is bigger in Texas, and that does include the Senate races, The Lone Star showdown between Republican Ken Paxton and James Tallarico just became the most expensive congressional campaign ever. That is not a typo on your screen. More than$544 million has been spent on ads so far. That includes the primary and the contentious GOP runoff. Now we're also learning$150 million of that came from one man, Elon Musk. All of that went to support Paxton and the Republicans. Musk has a vested interest in this race. you may recall, he moved to Texas from California. He's also making his feelings about Tallarico very clear in the last couple of days, posting a slew of baseless claims about Tallarico on his platform X.

22:42The panel is back with us now. Elon Musk is such a polarizing figure. Even in Texas, what is the impact of his money in this race? Look, here's how I view the end. Look,$544 million is a lot of money to be spent in any... Some may call it obnoxious. Here's the headline. Rich Texan spends money to impact Texas Senate race. Look, Elon Musk is no different than George Soros or any of the people. But is it just about Texas for Elon Musk? I think a huge piece of it's about Texas. He moved his company there. What does he care about more than that? I mean, he definitely this is not just a lean in Republican.

23:24There's lots of other places he could spend the money. He clearly has a unique and understandable interest. You can argue about Citizens United and what it should allow people to do in terms of individual contributions. But you've had Soros on the left. Now you've got Musk on the right this time. It doesn't seem shocking to me that he's choosing to spend his money there. Tallarico not surprisingly firing back. I just want to play one of the latest ads targeting Musk. Elon wants to buy up our land. He wants to buy up our water. and now he wants to buy his own personal U.S. senator. He knows that if his millions drag the most corrupt politician in Texas across the finish line, Ken Paxton will owe him everything.

24:10Michael, we look at this and we do look at the money aspect of it. Yeah. If a figure like this, right, and again,$150 million of that$544 million coming directly from Elon Musk, if that doesn't get Paxton over the finish line, what does that say? It says that you didn't get a good ROI on what you spent. If you look at the latest Emerson College polling, I'm going to read you something that Spencer Kimball, the executive director, said there. Because the margin right now for Tallarico and Paxton is about 48-46. But there's Ted Brown, the libertarian candidate, and then there's somebody else that's polling undecided, excuse me, the 5%.

24:47Nobody. It's an imaginary figure. That 6 % make-up, and this is what he said, if support for the libertarian candidate was at 3 % on the final ballot melts between now and election day, Paxton will likely see his vote share increase as third party voters are primarily independents or Republicans. So you asked me about the money being spent. In that state and in my day job, I was telling you this off air, I just recently had the Tallerico campaign reach out to us because I work in sports. I'm supposed to be in Texas tomorrow for a big fight that we have, Mexican versus an African American, huge fight and then we have next week another big fight with Canelo Alvarez.

25:20The Mexican population, this is what they're trying to do now, reach on the ground. out there because they know they need to drive out this voter support. But at the end of the day, it's that number I just mentioned. It's that 6%. It's that sway. Has Musk convinced that 6 %? I don't know. We're going to find out and we're going to see if it's the biggest way to survive. I think I'd rather have Tellur Rico's response than all of Musk's money. And I think one of the things - You're saying that is more powerful. I think it's more powerful. I think, look, I ran in a race earlier this year and got beat by dark money.

25:53But I think America's changed just in the last few months. You see the AI companies that were going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in this race. They didn't. AIPAC was going to spend$100 million in this race. It is destroyed as a force in the Democratic Party right now. Having that kind of money behind you from somebody, from a weirdo tech billionaire like Musk, when everybody knows that that's what it is, I actually think it's probably going to hurt Paxton more than it helps him. But we'll see. This is a test. I'm from Texas. I have my boots on. And we're all watching this very close.

26:26I mean, the early vote counts have been outstanding. And that only tells a bit of it. But you do see this energy. And I do think, I agree with you, I think that actually having Elon Musk behind you in Texas right now is not what voters want. And it's not just it's not just what Elon has done over the past year that many people think is so extremely out of control in Texas. In the prior legislative sessions, he has really been able to bulldoze his way through and get everything from taking land around beaches to making it unlawful for people to be able to have their own personal drones if it gets in the interference of SpaceX.

27:01And so I think that there's you know, there's a lot of that been building in Texas. You see that now with the data center piece, I think. Exactly. You also had Elon Musk. He's been very clear about what he wants. There are questions about, we played that bite from Hakeem Jeffries talking about Pete Hegseth. How much of a focus do you think Elon Musk will be if Democrats take control of the House in terms of investigation? Oh, I mean, I think he'll be one of the biggest, most important tasks for them to undertake, right? He himself is somebody that has kind of redefined the money picture here, right?

27:35Because big money has always mattered. But what he's done is made different is the concentration of the money. And that's what we're talking about right here. One person can now move the needle in a statewide race the way that parties or a few mega donors used to. But Congress has got to investigate doge. Exactly. I mean, which is more what I was about it. Yeah. I mean, and we think it might have even cost taxpayer money. But I think because we're in nocturial season, we need to remember that, and it's spooky season, guys, okay? So I just want to remind people, this is scary because on a number of fronts, it's just redefining the money conversation.

28:14What does money in politics mean? But I would just say, this doesn't make the votes invalid, but it does change the conversation that voters want to hear. So I can kind of see both sides right now. I can see that Tallarico is smart to make it about influence. And I can also say that Paxson's team is, I don't want to say smart, but smart to treat it as just another outside group. They don't have that many friends, but they've got Elon. Well, they're saying just another outside group. We do have more Elon to talk about too. Running against Elon Musk in this race is not a path to success. It's not a sign of strength.

28:53if you're Tallarico, he's got, he raised$67 million himself, his campaign. $67 million in September, that's a lot of money. There is relative parity. He is not going to lose because he was, you know,$300 million short. The reality is he clearly has work to do to convince Texans that, hey, you should vote for me. I get that Paxson was a challenging candidate for a lot of Republicans, But trying to turn this into a Musk fight, I don't think that's a sign of strength from the Tallarico folks. Well, with 11 more days to watch and see how it all plays out. Stay with us. From a simulated drag dance to a fake beauty salon, millions of dollars have now been spent on AI-generated attack ads this election season.

29:39Some of them, not clear you might be able to tell the difference between what's real and what's fake. We'll take a closer look next.

29:54Tonight, Mississippi's attorney general issuing a blunt warning to Democrat Senate candidate Scott Colum removed the AI generated ad put out by the campaign or there will be consequences. So here's a look at the ad in question. Cindy, why did you go against health care for hundreds of thousands of Mississippians? Why did you tell people to pick another protein? That ad was meant to depict Colm's opponent, Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. The attorney general said it violated Mississippi law against using deep fakes in elections. Now, the campaign has since taken down the ad, responding, quote, Clearly, this was parody.

30:31I will not waste those hard-earned dollars on costly litigation, because unlike Cindy Hyde-Smith, my campaign is powered by everyday people. This election cycle has seen an alarming rise in the number of AI-generated political ads. Researchers at the Wesleyan Media Project say more than$137 million were spent on them this year, mostly by Republicans, including this new AI ad in a North Carolina House race, which depicts Democrat Jamie Ager dancing with drag queens. Take a look. Do you know what we need more of in Washington, D.C.? Barn dances. Jamie Ager hosted the drag queen barn dance. Jamie Ager talks like you and me on TV, but he's dancing with they, them.

31:14The panel is back. For the former candidate on the panel. I mean, when you look at that, how significantly do you think AI ads at this point have changed things for voters? I think we're heading to a really scary place. And it's much more than just political advertising. It's whether we as human beings will be able to know the difference between what's real and fake. If I were in Congress, I would introduce a bill with one line bill. All AI shall identify itself as AI. Always. Under any circumstances. Video. But how big does that identification have to be? Because that's one of the issues, right?

31:53Some of these ads are running into some content in very small letters. Maybe AI generated. There should be a universal symbol that literally every human being on the planet can recognize. And then if you want to make a fake funny video, fine, whatever. Have at it. That's freedom of speech. But AI must always identify itself as AI, not just for these political ads, but so that we still maintain our sense of what's real. And to that end real quick, the U.S. obviously doesn't have a comprehensive law about AI. You know, my company that I work for in the daytime, we actually just released an AI video of an athlete doing an announcement because we couldn't get the athlete in time to a studio, a location like this to shoot some piece of content.

32:35So back to your point, there should be some parameters that are larger than what we're currently seeing with these AI-generated videos. We're having to find the minutia. And I think to take it a step further, all staffers should start to be trained on this because the problem is, and I told you, I had Scott Colom on the show. I know Scott's people very well. Somebody in Scott's campaign should have looked at Mississippi law first and foremost before that even went out. We saw that with the fake polling recently with another network putting up fake polls that were generated by a company that started like we have to start the vetting process a lot better.

33:09There are also you talk about educating staffers. There are real questions, certainly on Capitol Hill, but I think across the board in terms of how quickly the technology is moving, how people are learning it on the go, learning to harness it. The fact that there are 31 states that do have laws regulating AI, most of them require disclosures, but only a handful have actually prohibited it. In certain cases, I mean, even if the law is on the books in 31 states, are these states equipped to really crack down on it in the way that voters deserve? I mean, I don't think so. I think this has been, you know, we've seen a lack of national leadership on this issue.

33:45And then in the states, everyone is adjusting, you know, I think trying to adjust, but we're very behind there. It's really a concern. I mean, it's going to be a bigger concern in 28. It's an unbelievably powerful tool that all kinds of creative people are using for commercial stuff and sports ads and almost by definition it's going to get used in campaigns. I'm totally fine with that. Disclosure is a really effective tool. I get people are going to say, well, I can't read it. Look, we've got disclosure on all the political TV ads now. People are able to understand who paid for what. that clearly is going to be a pathway here because I don't think you can ban it.

34:27I think it's silly to say, okay, you know. Do you think people can discern though well enough right now? No. No. No. No. Absolutely. I've written speeches. I've made campaign ads. I've written speeches. I've done both over the years. And all I can tell you is it's not the problem that we are putting words in real people's mouths or that it invents scenes and kind of presents them as a documentary. I used to do that, okay, but in a different format. The real big problem here is that most voters can't reliably spot the good ones yet. And also the secondary problem is that the state laws are a patchwork and that federal rules right now don't really exist for this.

35:07So we sit in a moment where we can say AI is a tool, kind of like any other production technique. But I think that we need to worry a lot more because we used to worry about attack ads that stretch the truth. they're no longer stretching the truth. Now we have ads that invent the truth and put it on TV or digital. Politicians in general, lawmakers, they, you know, we talk all the time about the president's approval numbers. They don't rank all that high necessarily for the American people, right? What does this do, right, to the trust? I mean, people expect a lot of this during a campaign, right?

35:43There's a lot of mudslinging. But what does this do to the trust of the American voter if this is now what they're also faced with? Look, I worked in product and tech at a different life for 15 years. My dad's an engineer, so I know it a little bit better than the average bear, right, to quote Yogi. But here's what I will say. Leadership stems from the top. The president started, what was it, a committee about AI? First thing we did, we changed the name to superintelligence. Does that look like what leadership should be instead of what we're talking about, which is a federal law that supersedes every state law right now and actually makes regulations and guidelines and disclaimers and actually distinguishes what is a piece of AI-generated content versus what is not.

36:23So leadership steps from the top. And unfortunately, to Reena's point, the president hasn't really done enough about it, and it's going to continue to sow discord. If you just look at that Neil deGrasse Tyson video that he made recently, where it was him talking about something antithetical to his entire belief, and then he pulls out the phone and he goes, that wasn't me. That was a deep fake. I highly encourage people to go watch that video. That's a nuclear physicist scientist that's doing that type of video, and he can't even get people to discern who was really him on camera. Leadership stands for the top.

36:53It has to come from the top. By the way, I could say or do something really bad and get caught on video doing it and say, no, that was a fake video, right? I mean, it cuts both ways. Video and image is how, for decades, we have proven the authenticity of things. It's how you as a journalist prove the authenticity of things. If I tell you a lie, you show me a video that contradicts it, I lose that argument. We're losing that if we don't solve this problem. If the video is accurate, right? That's why we have entire teams of people, I will say, here at CNN. That is their job, right, to authenticate these videos and that we're very careful about it.

37:31But it is an increasing concern. It is all happening, obviously, in real time. I mean, you've seen just this last six months, the things that have happened. This is a only Congress can step in and apply some sort of, you know, the White House can't step in magically and executive order a national standard on deepfakes, nor do I think they should. Congress, I think, will ultimately get there. Think about how long it took to address these. We can't trust this Congress for anything. I don't think any Congress could do this faster. I did this dirty business. I'm just going to admit on national television, I did this.

38:06And to me, disclosure was the bare minimum. And I'll just say this, not because one party is worse, but because once everybody can do this cheaply, which is what we see President Donald Trump doing, then trust collapses for everyone. He on Truth Social constantly puts out these AI doctored videos, right? And so, again, everyone's doing it cheaply. The pace of technology is moving faster than anybody can handle, much less Congress, right? So disclosure is the bare minimum. We need to advocate for everybody to understand this problem and move on it as citizens. I love it when you can all agree on something.

38:39Stay with us. Up next, it is time for you at home to have your voice heard. The panel, we're going to prep them so they can answer your questions after this short break. You still have time to send them in if you haven't had that chance yet. CNN.com slash engage politics. We'll see you on the other side of the break.

39:03We have been getting lots of great questions from you, so I'm going to get to them as quickly as I I can because we are a little tight on time. That is a little signal to all of you here on the panel. Sky, this first one is for you. Does anyone think the lawsuit against Alaska will be entertained by any judge in the country? Well, I think the judges are going to dismiss it because it's not there's no basis for it. I mean, yeah. Alex, does anyone believe the Alaskan same name candidate was meant to sow chaos in the elections in any way compared to the chaos that Trump is creating to sow chaos? No, not at all.

39:37I think running a candidate intentionally with a confusing name is inherently different. I think that is really playing games with the election process. Our next one. I want Elon Musk to be held accountable, but I would love for a Democratic Congress to use the power of the purse to help me to afford a little more than the basics in life. What do you think they focus on if they win? For affordability, getting rid of the tariffs and ending the war. I think the question is, though, are they going to focus on affordability or Musk or sort of Musk and retribution accountability moments? I think corruption is one of the reasons we have the policies that are making prices go up.

40:18I think most Americans want us to enforce the rule of law, if I were in Congress, and to take action to make life more affordable. Those two things are actually quite connected. And they can do both. You believe Democrats have they. Yeah, we have investigative committees. We have policy committees. That's what Congress is set up to do. That's right. Can David Jolly upset Byron Donald in the Florida gubernatorial election, Mike? Oh, that's a great question. First off, more registered Republicans in the state than Democrats, number one. Number two, look at the margin of victory. I'm going to do my best Harry Anton impression.

40:46Look at the margin of victory, 2016, 20, 24. Miami-Dade, Fort Lauderdale, Broward, Palm Beach. As you go further up the state, that's where the biggest populace is. Panhandle doesn't really matter. Tampa and Orlando. Orlando's kind of blue a little bit. Tampa's a little bit more red. can he pull out sectors of Tampa? Can he pull out the Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade vote to get a little bit closer to the Hillary vote? Remember, we're tight on time, Mike. Yeah, well, he won't do it. I think Byron Donald's will win. I think, again, Florida is Florida. Rena, lastly for you, don't you think that money in politics is the big problem?

41:20Of course I do. I'm a millennial. Look, I've had the great privilege and pleasure of traveling this beautiful country of ours, and here in its 250th year, I genuinely believe there are people across possible spectrum, whether deep red or deep blue, that know that Citizens United can be overturned in our lifetime. I think we can start with ending super PACs. And there are great cases out there, at least one I know of, and that are working to do that. I know it's possible. Okay. Do you want to weigh in? Give you a little bit more time. I feel like - I mean, I think - Your question was pretty short.

41:52Money in politics is a huge trust issue, just to go back to when we were talking about with AI. I We know this across political ideology, have a deep concern about it. Well, protect the incumbent. And that's when I go to where I grew up and was born and raised deep red West Virginia. They say, I'll never be able to make it to Congress because I don't have the power the incumbent does. Because the big money that protects these men and women who stay here. We spend more money on potato chips than we do on elections in this country. So I get it. It's a big number. It's a lot more money than people used to spend on elections.

42:22But I'm OK with that. Doesn't concern you. We are going to have to leave it there. It was a pleasure. In all seriousness, to spend the evening with all of you, thank you all for coming. Thanks for being willing to play. Remember, you can stream this show live. You can watch on demand anytime with your all-access subscription. Just be sure to scan the QR code on your screen or go to cnn.com slash watch to learn more. Thanks again for joining us. The story is with Alex Michelson. It's up next.

42:49I'm Adi Cornish. I'm Ari Shapiro. And it's Engagement Party. It is Engagement Party. And we get to talk about what we're obsessed with, what we're engaged with, what we need to process. with a friend. Her name is Amy O'Dell. She is a fashion writer blogger. But the thing is, she's a journalist who's written about the sacred cows of fashion. And yes, I mean, Gwyneth Paltrow and Anna Wintour. She has done biographies of both. And she is also the sort of rare fashion writer who at this point kind of outside the system. And so the question that we're going to try to tackle is fashion terrible now.

43:19Well, no, I mean, I would phrase it as how How do you develop a personal style in the age of AI slop? You know, on social media, like creators have to try a whole bunch of different things and see what catches and then they make it over and over and over again. The same thing happens with clothing. So they're sort of seeding the market, seeding the internet with all of these different ideas and then they can see what sells and then they can just make them really fast. Follow Engagement Party. Wherever you get your podcasts.