First Claim Filed to “Anti-Weaponization” Fund

24:58Comedian Craig Ferguson is going coast to coast to unpack what it really means to be an American today. What could possibly go wrong? Craig Ferguson, American on purpose. New series premieres May 30th at 9 on CNN and next day on the CNN app. And our health lead, is the Ebola outbreak in Africa linked in any way to the Trump administration's decision to end funding for USAID? Well, I wondered that very question. So this afternoon, I spoke with a former USAID official, one who previously was based in the Democratic Republic of Congo or the DRC. And that official told me that President Trump and Elon Musk, quote, have blood on their hands.

25:43This official also said if USAID were still in the DRC, the agency would have acted within 24 to 48 hours of this year's first Ebola death and helped the country respond, moving in proper testing equipment, including the right testing equipment that would figure out this particular strain of Ebola, and distributing critical PPE, or personal protective equipment. The head of the World Health Organization is also sounding the alarm about the scale and speed of this outbreak. As of today, the DRC reports at least 131 deaths from the virus, with 30 confirmed cases and more than 500 more suspected.

26:22Dr. Peter Stafford, an American medical missionary infected with Ebola, was evacuated from the DRC to Germany for treatment. Meanwhile, in Uganda, officials have reported one death and two confirmed cases of the virus. Incidentally, the USAID official who worked in Congo also told us that Trump and Musk had blood on their hands regarding USAID cuts long before the Ebola outbreak because, the official said, of the dismantling of USAID, which stopped valiant efforts to curtail hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths from the outbreaks of other diseases, including HIV. Here to discuss, Nick Enrich, former USAID official turned whistleblower and author of the book, Into the Woodchipper, a whistleblower's account of how the Trump administration shredded USAID.

27:16Do you agree with your fellow former USAID official there that Trump and Musk for these cuts are responsible for thousands of deaths? Absolutely. When the agency was destroyed in January 2025, the last thing I was able to do was send out a warning of what the impacts would be. And unfortunately, those warnings have turned out to be coming true with over 750 ,000 people already having died and estimates of up to 14 million dying over the next five years alone. And one of the things that the official also said to me is that if there had been some sort of ramping down period, if it was like, OK, we're going to shut down USAID in six months to a year, you have that much time to get everybody up to speed on what needs to happen in our absence, that would have been at least something.

28:06Right. I mean, I think that that was a major cause of the problems. I mean, Elon Musk and Trump came up with lots of reasons why they shut down USAID. It was inefficient. It was wasteful. The truth is that none of those were the reason. And it was actually destroyed by a group of uninformed and unqualified sycophants who were trying to soothe the ego of a billionaire. So in your book, Into the Woodchipper, you detail the many warnings that you gave the Trump administration before the gutting of the agency, including a memo in which you warned about accelerated global disease spread, specifically the possibility of an additional 28 ,000 cases of viral hemorrhagic fever such as Ebola.

28:42What needs to happen to keep that from becoming a reality? 28 ,000 cases. Yeah, I mean, well, with this outbreak, we're already way behind the curve, as you mentioned. And as you spoke with the doctor earlier, that's exactly right. USAID would have already had a team in the country. And what we're missing here is the element of speed, which is exactly what we need when we're responding to an Ebola outbreak. As you said, for getting PPE into the country, but also the contact tracing. Right now, we don't have any sense of how we're going to contain this. and the fact that USAID is not there with tried and true systems, and instead whatever American response that is going to be set up is struggling and improvising and reinventing the wheel, is every day we're losing time.

29:27These are decisions that need to be made in hours, not days or weeks. Yeah, and you also warn in the book that without effective disease surveillance networks, the US will be flying blind until diseases show up at our border. And you mentioned it It cost New York's health department$4.3 million in response measures to treat one single patient. What would an outbreak in the U.S. do to our health system? Well, look, I think that I should start by saying I don't think that what we have here with Ebola is the next pandemic. And I don't think we need to be worried about an outbreak coming to the United States, although there have been Americans that have been involved and in some cases infected, actually.

30:04But I think what we're seeing from this outbreak of Ebola, what we saw from the recent outbreak of Hantavirus, is two serious outbreaks of infectious diseases in the last couple of weeks that are just showing how much ground we've lost as the American government has stepped back from global health leadership, from the destruction of USAID, the gutting of the CDC, and removing itself from withdrawal from the World Health Organization. All right, Nick Enrich, thank you so much. The book again, Into the Wood Chipper, a whistleblower's account of how the Trump administration shredded USAID. And experts now say we are seeing the results of that with the Ebola outbreak.

30:44Between global humanitarian aid cuts, the ongoing war in Iran, and severe regional conflict, the country of Somalia is facing the risk of famine for the first time since 2022, according to the United Nations. A New York Times reporter, a New York Times report by reporter Peter Goodman digs into the catastrophic humanitarian crisis unfolding in Somalia right now. Peter Goodman joins us right now. So, Peter, you travel to Somalia visiting schools and camps for displaced people. You write, quote, in some areas, children are still getting food, but not pregnant mothers. The World Food Program Somalia director told you it's literally who dies first and who dies next.

31:18Tell us what you saw on the ground in Somalia. Well, one of the things I saw in this town of Dolo, which is a place on the Ethiopian border that traditionally has been a place that people went seeking refuge, drought, conflict, you know, whatever crisis comes along, about 100 ,000 people internally displaced people, refugees, but they haven't crossed the border. So that's the technical term. And this is a place where I met a family that had walked for nine days carrying their three year old on their shoulders, fleeing when they lost their entire herd of cattle. That's their whole life savings in their rural area.

32:01And they had arrived hoping to get health care, food, of course, water. And they were horrified to learn that the international community had essentially packed up and abandoned this place. And shortly thereafter, I went and visited a World Food Program warehouse complex, and they had these 13 A-frame tents that would ordinarily be packed with this nutrient-rich paste for severely malnourished children, pregnant and breastfeeding moms. And 12 of these tents were empty. And I toured this place with the director, and she said, look, this is the last of it. It runs out at the end of June. And then we've got nothing.

32:47And the last thing I saw was these cartons that had the USAID logo on there and the message from the American people. And she said, you know, once this is gone, we're out. So many humanitarian organizations, humanitarian aid organizations are sounding the alarm about just how bad this crisis is. And as you suggest, how much worse it's going to get. But you write that these funding cuts for this critical aid, these cuts are going to continue. Yeah, I mean, they are continuing. I mean, you know, just look at what the U.S. contributed to Somalia just a year ago. It was about a billion dollars in humanitarian relief.

33:25467 million last year as the USAID dismantling happened. This year, so far through April, we're looking at 3 million. And this was Somalia's largest source of aid. So the World Food Program, which has gotten a lot of funding over the years from the U.S. government in Somalia and other parts of the world that are vulnerable, they're looking at 6 million people in a country of 19 million people who are acutely malnourished. That's about a third of the population. About a year ago, they had funding to serve as many as 2 million people with emergency food rations and more severe treatments for more severe cases.

34:042 million a month. Now they've got enough for 300 ,000 a month. And again, that runs out in July. So it is getting worse. The cuts are continuing. And what's happening now is that the situation was already dire with these cuts. And I went there because it was clear that the impacts of the Iran war, you know, the U.S. and the Israeli strikes in the Middle East and the retaliatory strikes from the Iranians have so disrupted transport and production of food, fertilizer, obviously energy. and Somalia depends upon imports for something like 70 percent of the food, much higher percentage of fuel, that you've now got those impacts landing atop the consequences of the cuts to humanitarian relief.

34:53So, you know, I'll give you an example. I mean, UNICEF is trucking water to drought afflicted areas of Somalia. Well, the price of diesel has gone up double and in some places even more and there are shortages. So they now have to pay double to move those trucks. So they're moving fewer trucks. So you now have all of these factors now in this sort of feedback loop that is getting worse by the day. Peter Goodman, thank you so much for your reporting and thanks for coming on today. We appreciate it. And those very moving photographs from your New York Times photographer. We're appreciative of them as well.

35:26Coming up, we're going to talk to a senator looking for a bipartisan solution to the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in the U.S.

35:42How close were you striking Iran? I was an hour away. They knew that we were very close. I would say we were, I was an hour away from making the decision to go today. In our politics lead, that's President Trump earlier today revealing his decision making as he now lets negotiations with Iran continue to play out instead of striking Iran, as he said he was an hour away from deciding to do. Here now is Democratic Senator Jackie Rosen of Nevada. She serves on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee. I'm sure you're happy I said Nevada. I am happy you said Nevada, and everyone in Nevada is very happy you said Nevada.

36:17I could feel that you were ready to pounce if I said Nevada. No, I wouldn't do that to you. I know. I learned it from when Michelle Obama got booed. All right, so the vice president said today that Iran wants to make a deal. It's just a matter of when. Is that right? Is that true? Well, you know, I can't vouch for what the vice president says or even what the president says. But what I can tell you is that Iran should never have a nuclear weapon. Iran, we know, the leading state sponsor of terrorism. But I also know that this president violated his constitutional authority by going around, starting a war and going around Congress.

36:51And 60 days ago, more than that, the Strait of Hormuz was open. And right now, Iran is closing, is closed the Strait of Hormuz, and they're the ones in control. So the president has a lot of explaining to do. He hasn't come to Congress to justify this. Servicemen and women have died and so many others injured. And I'm not sure Iran wants to make a deal. It seems that they're getting everything right now. So let's turn to the bipartisan bill that you have worked on with Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma. You introduced it to combat the alarming rise of anti-Semitism across the U.S. This month, the Anti-Defamation League published a report of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S.

37:31last year and found, quote, 2025 was the third highest year on record for anti-Semitic incidents since ADL began tracking him in 1979. And, quote, physical assaults reached a record high with three people killed in anti-Semitic attacks last year. So how would your bill combat? How would it fight this growing threat? Well, thank you for asking me. We've been working on this bill for well over a year now. It is the Jewish American Security Act and it's going to address three things to fight domestic Antisemitism one on our college campuses We're going to be sure that we have a mechanism for Jewish students and actually for all minority students to have this mechanism to report and be able to get their complaints heard and Mitigated so there's a lot going on there to protect our students next we're going to protect our houses of worship And my heart goes out to the folks in San Diego yesterday at the Islamic Center We need to be able to harden our places of worship and religious community centers through our nonprofit security grants.

38:30So we're asking for more funding for that and more funding for our local police departments to help protect vulnerable religious communities within their purview. And the third place we're looking at is online. So if you're a platform that has more than 50 million users, we want you to report on what you're seeing against anti-Semitism, how you're responding, how the algorithms are working. Because we want to protect free speech, but there's a place that it goes from free speech into fomenting violence or really crossing over, crossing that line. Who decides the line? Because, I mean, you know, an example is from the river to the sea, right?

39:09Some people chant that, and it just means we want justice for people in Israel-Palestine. And that's what we want. Other people mean it in a much more violent way. Who decides what's... Well, I think the point is not who's going to make the decision. We want to see what's happening online. Try to do an analysis of that. And how is the algorithm, what the algorithms do. It's great if you're shopping and you say, oh, I want a blue jacket. And they say, light blue, dark blue. Then they kind of get you down. and this is where they say going down the rabbit hole. It's terrific when you're shopping and you're trying to find just the right color blue jacket.

39:43But we want to see if the algorithms themselves are taking people down to a rabbit hole where they'll commit violence. So this reporting mechanism from our large platforms I think will be instructive to us as maybe some future ways that we can fight online anti-Semitism. So earlier this week we heard some of the horrific voicemails left on the congressional answering machine of Congressman Jared Moskowitz, Democrat of Florida. Your last name's Jackie Rosen. I'm sure your last name's Rosen. I assume you're Jewish. Yes, I am. I'm the third Jewish woman in the United States. Are you getting similar messages?

40:20I am getting similar messages. I do have someone in jail now, a federal prison, for threatening me and threatening my team. We get threats all the time. Capitol Police. Are they worse since October 7th, 2023? Much worse since October 7th. much worse. And every day and every time something comes out, you just see them spike depending on the news cycle. And again, this is why my bill is so important, because what happens is that Jews get blamed for everything. So we're blamed for this war, we're blamed for this, for that, the other. You can go through centuries over time. Jews are the canary in the coal mine.

40:57Hatred might start with anti-Semitism in the Jews, but it never ends there. And so sadly, we have a lot of security, our Capitol Police, our FBI are on top of things. They're monitoring our social media. And of course, our young staff that has to listen to some of those really horrific voicemails is very difficult for them some days. I'm really sorry you're going through that. It's awful. Thank you. Thanks so much for being here, Senator. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Attention Republican voters in Kentucky. President Trump wants you to kick Thomas Massey out of Congress. But is that what you want?

41:30The final minutes of voting in the Commonwealth of Kentucky are ticking down in most of the Commonwealth. Will this be a long night? CNN's John King is headed over to the magic wall. We're headed his way next.

41:53That's sweet election music. Welcome to The Lead. I'm Dick Tapper, live in Washington, in D.C. and we're just down the street from the U.S. Capitol and key races tonight will help decide which party has the power there for the second half of President Trump's second term. Voters casting their ballots today in six states, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Idaho, and Oregon, four states and two commonwealths really, with the first polls closing in just moments in one of tonight's key races and that of course is Kentucky where President Trump is seeking to nail a Thomas Massey-sized pelt on his wall tonight.

42:29In one of the most expensive primaries ever, Congressman Massey has repeatedly drawn the president's ire, pushing for the full release of the Epstein files, voting against key budget items, criticizing the Iran war, the alliance with Israel, and much more. Another marquee race we're watching tonight down in Georgia, where President Trump has not endorsed a candidate, as Republicans decide who they want to challenge, incumbent Democratic Senator John Ossoff. That race widely considered to be one of the GOP's top opportunities to pick up a seat in the U.S. Senate. And in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Republicans will pick their challenger to Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, who is frequently mentioned in conversations about the presidential race of 2028.

43:10Pennsylvania also home to a number of key house races, including a primary in Philly between a Democratic socialist and a more traditional Democrat. We're going to be following all the races across the country as the votes start to come in tonight after you beautiful people get to actually cast your ballots. CNN's John King is standing by at the Magic Wall. John, the first polls just now closing in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. What are you keeping a close eye on tonight? Turnout in the suburbs and whether Thomas Massey can compete with Donald Trump in the rural parts of the district. Let's pull it up for you, Jake.

43:42And you pull it out right here. This is Kentucky. It's gray because we have no votes yet. It's possible votes will come in. right here during the conversation as the polls close. This is the fourth congressional district up here. Ed Galrin is the Trump-endorsed candidate, former Navy SEAL, running against the libertarian Republican Thomas Massey. Jake just laid out why. Trump's mad at him because of some of his votes, the Epstein file and otherwise. If you look at the district, you see Louisville here. That's not in the district. But there are suburbs right here. And this is Cincinnati, Ohio, just over the border.

44:07Covington is where the airport is, Cincinnati Airport. If you've ever flown into Cincinnati, you're actually landing in Kentucky. These are the more populous areas of the districts. The Cincinnati suburbs right up here, the Louisville suburbs, northeast of Louisville right here. Massey actually lives out here in Lewis County. It's a much more rural area. Trump got 83 percent of the vote in 2024. Donald Trump runs very, very, very strong in this district, especially out here in the rural area. So, number one, Jake, where's the turnout come from? Number two, are the more upscale suburban Republicans here and here who vote for Trump in the general election?

44:38make no mistake about that, but might not like him and might actually respect their congressman for standing up or not. That's the big test here. We know what happened in Louisiana over the weekend. Senator Cassidy lost his job. We know what happened in Indiana. A few weeks ago, at least five of the seven state legislators Trump targeted lost their jobs in Republican primaries. So here it is tonight, the most expensive House primary in history. And we're waiting to see if Thomas Massey can be actually a survivor of this Trump, let's just call it what it is, a retribution tour. All right, John King, we're going to keep checking in with you as the actual votes come in.

45:11Let's go now to CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who is in Kentucky at the watch party for the incumbent Republican congressman in Kentucky's fourth CD, Thomas Massey. Jeff, what's the mood tonight? Well, Jake, the mood in one respect is a relief that this campaign is over. John was just talking there about the most expensive House primary ever. That has played out here on the ground in a fairly dramatic way. $32 million in television advertising alone, mailers and other things. Talking to several voters who are frankly sick of this. So there are some interesting potential fallouts that might happen from that.

45:48I talked to some voters who have been on the fence here and they believe that Thomas Massey has been unfairly under attack by the president. Some other voters were basically informed by some of these television ads and they are voting against Thomas Massey. So we will see how this plays out. But Jake, when I was talking with the congressman last evening at his final campaign rally in the county, John was just talking about Lewis County. Yes, it's Trump country. There's no doubt about it. But we talked to so many voters who like Donald Trump and are going to vote for Thomas Massey. So we will see.

46:19But he said that he does not believe that he belongs on this retribution list. He did not vote for the impeachment like Senator Bill Cassidy did. He said he votes for President Trump 90 percent of the time. But President Trump is focused on the sliver of votes that he does not vote with him on. The White House was intently focused on this all day long. We heard the president talking about this repeatedly. Of course, the Epstein files leading the charge to release the Epstein files really was the final point that got the president so engaged in this race. But the reality is the White House has been focusing on Thomas Massey for more than a year, long before there was another candidate in this race.

46:55So, yes, it feels like it's Thomas Massey versus Donald Trump, but the other candidate on the ballot is largely unknown here. He's a farmer and a former Navy SEAL, so voters are just learning about the challenger as well. So, Jake, the bottom line here is this race does not impact the control of Congress, as we are watching so closely tonight, because a Republican is almost certain to win here in November. But what it does show is the loyalty in this party. Is there space, is there room for someone like Thomas Massey to disagree with the president? If the answer is no, it certainly sends a strong message to other Republicans across the country.

47:32Jake. All right, Jeff Zeleny in Kentucky, thanks so much. And the very first votes are coming in and the race is too early to call as of now. Let's talk about this and more with Amy Walter, publisher and editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report. Amy, so good to see you. Thanks for being here. So Massey's race, yet another primary where the theme in so many ways is Trump's quest for vengeance. Massey voting against the president when it comes to the big, beautiful bill, budget resolutions against Speaker Johnson, leading the charge on the Epstein files on the Republican side. What do you think is going to happen?

48:06Well, if we follow historically what's happened, it's about 70, 80 percent of those who Trump decides to target end up losing. They're just a handful. of Republicans who have won. In fact, Lisa Murkowski is one of the rare incumbent Republicans who voted for impeachment, has not been endorsed by Donald Trump, and was actually running against someone who was endorsed by Donald Trump and survived all of that, but because of the political system in Alaska that is an all-party primary. So she could get Democrats and Independents to vote for her. Thomas Massey can't. Cassidy, Senator Cassidy could not either.

48:46But to me, the bigger question here is not just what it means for Massey, but what it means for other Republicans who are in competitive districts this fall. And the biggest challenge when you are running as the incumbent party and your president is and the president's unpopular is you've got to try to find ways to distance yourself from the president. You don't necessarily have to say I voted against these things the president like, but you want to show some independence. Right. And he is super unpopular right now among the electorate in general, the electorate in general. And it makes it very hard for an individual Republican now to say, oh, don't worry.

49:22I will be a check on Donald Trump. I know you're mad at him. I can be that same check because voters are going to be like, well, no, all the people who were the checks on Donald Trump from your party, he went after and he is silencing them. So it makes it more challenging. This was, just turning to this specific race in Kentucky's fourth, this was the most expensive primary race in the history of the country. Massey reported more than$5 million in spending last quarter, a government about$2.6 million, but that's not why everybody's talking about the cost. They're talking about the$33 million spent in the race overall.

49:58When you look at outside groups that got involved, according to the firm, ad impact. A lot of those groups, groups that support Israel, groups that support Trump trying to oust Massey. Why such historical interest? I mean, he's just a congressman from Kentucky. Right. He's one vote. Now, obviously, with the House so closely divided, one vote matters a lot. But I think. But it's going to be a Republican seat no matter what. That's exactly right. But But when you now get into a Congress that is basically mostly safe Republican and mostly safe Democratic seat. Because of gerrymandering. Who wins because of all of that and our partisan sorting and all of this.

50:42Who gets into a dark red or dark blue district matters more than ever. That's why you're seeing crypto groups and AI groups, AIPAC, others coming in in primaries rather than spending all their money or waiting to spend their money until the fall because they know at the end of the day, this seat is going to stay Republican. It doesn't really change the balance of power. But if we get someone in that seat who's going to be more willing to support us on AI or Israel, well, then that's a win. Also in Kentucky, the former state attorney general, Daniel Cameron, who ran for governor against Andy Beshear, lost.

51:20He's running against Congressman Andy Barr to replace Senator Mitch McConnell as a Kentucky senator. Barr has been heavily touting the fact that he has the endorsement. Cameron is branding himself as an outsider. Do you think that Trump's coattails will be important there too? Yeah, that is really important. And remember, Cameron is somebody who was once part of the Mitch McConnell universe. Oh, yeah. He was seen as somebody who was going to be the heir apparent, which in another time, being seen as the heir apparent to Mitch McConnell might have been a really good thing in a Republican primary.

51:53Yeah, but then Trump started calling him Old Crow. And now being seen as the heir apparent is about as problematic as you can get. So I think Barr is certainly the favorite here. And the question now is, once he comes into the Senate, because this is a likely pickup or a hold for Republicans, Democrats don't have much of a shot at flipping the seat. How does he behave as a United States senator endorsed by Donald Trump? What Donald Trump would assume is that because Barr has gotten his endorsement, he will perform the way that Donald Trump would. I first met you in Philly back in 1992. And there are two races in Philly or the Philly suburbs that I'm watching.

52:42So I'm sure you are. One of them is in the race among Democrats to take on Congressman Fitzpatrick, who is one of the few Republicans who represents a district that Kamala Harris won. probably the most vulnerable Republican running for re-election, I mean, in the House. I think at least one of them. And the other one is the seat, an open seat in Philly itself, where the race is between a Democratic Socialist of America candidate and a more traditional... That's right. And a more traditional, I think he's the mayor's son, right? The former mayor's son, Sharif Street. Yep. What are you looking for in those races?

53:15Look, this is also, fun fact, the most Democratic district in America, this Philadelphia. The Philly district? Yes. Holy smoke. So this is not going to change the makeup of. But it's a big difference because it's a traditional Democrat versus like an AOC Rashida Tlaib Democrat. That's right. And so as we think about the coalitions that form in 2027, this is one of those that tend to become really important. Right. Which is this going to be somebody who's going to be going along with leadership on the Democratic side or somebody who's going to be more likely to be part of the squad or maybe derail.

53:52some of the leadership's ideas unclear there. The other one I'm watching is the one in Bucks County. Now, that is a very competitive district. This is one of those seats Democrats absolutely need to flip if they're going to win control of the House. Crowded primary. The leading Democrat has endorsements all across the board. Bernie Sanders to Governor Josh Shapiro. Oh, wow. It's a wide white swat. Republicans coming in with ads trying to derail him and lift up another Democrat. If they're successful, which I don't think they will be if those Republican attempts are successful, that would be a very big blow to Democrats for the fall campaign.

54:35All right. Fascinating stuff. Amy Walter, the best in the biz. Thanks so much. Much more of our election night coverage in moments, including what the White House is looking for tonight as President Trump tries to get revenge on yet another Republican who has gone against him. We're going to check in with CNN's Caitlin Collins at the White House next.

54:59Continuing with our politics lead as we wait for the very first results from Kentucky in that battle between Republican incumbent Thomas Massey and the Trump-backed challenger Ed Galrin, CNN anchor and chief White House correspondent Caitlin Collins joins us now from the White House North Lawn. Caitlin, Trump-endorsed candidates have had several victories in recent races. How's the White House seeing tonight? Yeah, and especially after what happened with Bill Cassidy in Louisiana over the weekend, Jake, the president is feeling quite emboldened about his power here and his endorsement authority in these races.

55:30And so obviously they will be watching that closely tonight. And they're going into it feeling a lot of momentum and obviously waiting to see what plays out with Thomas Massey. I mean, you've got an indication of just how much they care about this race. when the defense secretary made a rare appearance on the campaign trail in Kentucky this week to campaign on his opponent's behalf in this race. And, Jake, you know, I've covered the president for a long time. There are very few races that he has been so personally invested in as making sure that Thomas Massey cannot return to Washington. I mean, the president has talked about it nonstop.

56:03He has posted on Truth Social about it nonstop. He has gone after Thomas Massey repeatedly for his personal life, for his professional choices on Capitol Hill and his votes. And it has been something that the president has become sort of, or I guess definitely fixated on in public in terms of making sure that he does not win this race. So obviously there's a lot playing out tonight, but this is the number one race that the White House will be keeping their eyes on. And Caitlin, you actually pressed Vice President Vance today about the creation of what they're calling the Anti-Weaponization Fund, $1.8 billion that anybody who's been, you know, quote unquote, faced weaponized justice can apply for.

56:45Yeah, Jake, I spoke with J.D. Vance two years ago before he was actually the vice president, before he had actually even been picked to be on the ticket with Donald Trump. And we talked about January 6 rioters and the defendants and especially those who assaulted officers on that day. And so, you know, today we heard the president not decline and rule out the possibility that those who did assault police officers on January 6th could benefit from this taxpayer-funded creation from the Justice Department. It is also something that the acting attorney general did not rule out today on Capitol Hill.

57:15And so I asked the vice president today when he appeared in the briefing room if he wanted to rule it out. You previously told me that anyone who assaulted a police officer on January 6th should go to prison. So why not rule out giving them taxpayer-funded money? Well, Caitlin, what I said is we're going to look at everything case by case. But why don't you rule it out? Because, Caitlin, there are people who I don't know their individual circumstances, and I don't rule things out categorically when I know nothing about a person's individual circumstances. Jake, two things I'll note on that front is that we heard this answer a lot from Trump allies when the question of blanket pardons was coming up for those January 6 rioters.

57:58A lot of them said it would likely be on a case-by-case basis. As we saw it play out, the president pardoned virtually everyone who was convicted around January 6th on that day with very few exceptions. And also, Jake, you know, when it comes to those who assaulted officers, you know as well as I do, as you've spoken to several of the officers who were there that day, a lot of it is on video of the people who did assault them and beat them up that day. And that is what helped secure their ultimate convictions in this case. All right, Kaitlin Collins, thanks so much. Kaitlin's going to have more coverage of tonight's elections on her show.

58:29The Source with Caitlin Collins. Her guests tonight include former Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee. That's tonight at 9 Eastern, only on CNN. Out of all the races in Pennsylvania, there are a few congressional competitions we're paying special attention to. We're going to go live to Bucks County outside Philly next.

58:56It is election night in America. Let's zero in on that one particular race in Philadelphia to replace retiring Democratic Congressman Dwight Evans. Four Democrats are in this primary fight to represent Pennsylvania's third congressional district, where I grew up. CNN's Danny Freeman is live in Warminster Township. That's outside Philly in Bucks County. And, Danny, this race could offer a hint about which way Democrats might go in November. That's absolutely right, Jake. Listen, it's pretty interesting because this race, PA3, really hasn't gotten a lot of national attention until recently, primarily because it's going to be a safe blue seat.

59:33But make no mistake, in Philadelphia, it has been a massive story, a massive race. And some are saying that in the bluest congressional district in the country, this can, as you noted, give people a direction as to where the Democratic Party may be going. So let's run down the three major candidates in this race. First up, you have State Senator Sharif Street. He is the son of a former Philly mayor. He also led the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. And he's had some incredibly large endorsements, specifically within the city of Philadelphia. The current mayor, Sherelle Parker, was out there stumping with him over the past several weeks.

1:00:07He's got a lot of other leaders within the city as well. And interestingly enough, he's ended up being seen as kind of the establishment pick in this particular race. Then you have state representative Chris Rabb. He's been seen more as the progressive firebrand in this race. You can tell because Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez came down to Philadelphia to rally for him. Hassan Piker came down to campaign with Chris Rabb as well. Interestingly enough, the Philadelphia Inquirer editorial board also endorsed state rep Rabb, basically arguing that for this specific district, he would be the best candidate to take a fight to President Donald Trump in essence.

1:00:45And then you have Dr. Ayla Stanford-Jake, and she's kind of the outsider in this race in a sense, but she is incredibly well-known in the Philadelphia region. She's a pediatric surgeon and she became well-known because during the COVID-19 pandemic, she really led a massive initiative to get healthcare and vaccines for a lot of black residents in Philadelphia. And Jake, perhaps most crucially for her, she got the endorsement of that retiring congressman, Dwight Evans, almost right away. So it's a very interesting race playing out in Philadelphia. As I said, it's going to be a safe blue seat, but whichever one of those candidates wins tonight really could shape where this crucially blue district ends up going in the future.

1:01:28The last thing I'll note, Jake, you said I'm in Bucks County. I'm here at a Shapiro event. His name's on the ballot tonight, though he's running uncontested. But I'm going to be looking forward this evening at this event, which candidates that Governor Shapiro, through his energy, through his endorsements behind, really do well tonight? Because that could be a sign of what may be to come in November in the Commonwealth, Jake. That's right. And more widely in the Commonwealth are all sorts of battleground districts that we'll be watching come November. Danny Friedman, thanks so much. The first votes are coming in from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

1:01:59And we're going to get an update from John King at his very magic wall next.

1:02:11And we're back with more in our politics lead. The very first primary election results are starting to filter in from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Let's bring back John King at the Magic Wall. John, what are you seeing? Early results, Jake. This is the Commonwealth of Kentucky right here. You see the other states in gray. They're having primaries tonight. These are House Republican primaries we're looking at right now because we're focused on this race right here. You see there's several across the state of Kentucky, but this is the one that is in play tonight. This is because the incumbent, Republican libertarian Thomas Massey, arch nemesis of Donald J.

1:02:39Trump, at least in Donald J. Trump's view, is currently losing his primary. You see, it's about a 10-point race right now. Now we only have about 4 % of the vote in, so we have a long way to go. Ed Gowron, former Navy SEAL, endorsed by President Trump. Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, made an unusual trip to campaign for him just in the final days of the campaign. This is the district up here. Follow the lines here. These are other districts down below. But this district here, from the Louisville suburbs, the Cincinnati suburbs, out here to this rural swath out here, we're waiting for a lot more results.

1:03:05You see all the gray, so we're waiting. But let's just show where we are getting results. These are key counties up here. Now, about 16 % of the vote in. I say these are key counties because the biggest population centers in this sprawling district are the Cincinnati. You see Cincinnati, Ohio here. This is where the airport is, Covington, if you fly into Cincinnati. So this is Kenton County. These counties here and right in the Louisville area, those are the most populous counties. So if Tom Massey's going to hold on to his seat, he needs to run it up here. And in this county at the moment, he's behind by 10 points there.

1:03:31So if you look at these very, very, very early results, the challenger is doing well. But I just want to caution, it's only 16 percent there, and we're coming in with the rest of the district. As I noted, you go down here to Louisville. This is where you get more of a population center. Down here in Oldham County, we still have nothing in. So you look first. Obviously, we're doing math here. Where do the most people live? Where are you going to get the biggest math? And then you stretch it out to these rural areas, including down here. You're looking down here. These are counties where President Trump routinely gets 70, sometimes 80 percent plus of the vote.

1:03:59And you see at the moment in these rural counties, remember, Trump has made this a mega loyalty test. His challenger at the moment, again, it's only 1 percent, so let's wait and watch it play out. But getting 67 percent there, if you round it up, come over here to the other end of the district, 60 percent here if you look at it. So at the moment, the challenger looks strong, but I just want to caution, we're at 4 percent of the vote. And I want to say we're going to watch up here. These are where most of the people live and right here. And then a key test will be if you come out here, this here is Lewis County.

1:04:27This is where Thomas Massey calls home. He was a local judge here in the county before he came to Congress in 2012. So this is his home county. It's a Republican county by 74 points. It's a Republican county, Jake, where Donald Trump got 87 percent in 2024. It's Thomas Massey's home. So most of this, in terms of the math, the people will play out in the suburbs. But this is Tom Massey's home. Let's see if he can hold it when the president of the United States is the guy saying, vote for the opponent. All right, John King, thanks so much. President Trump continued his attacks on Massey at the White House earlier today.

1:05:01Thomas Massey's a terrible congressman. He's been a terrible congressman from day one. Dealing with him is just horrible. I don't think he's a Republican. I think he's actually a Democrat. In the final hours of campaigning, Massey says he is unfazed by the attacks. They're panicked because the president's done 11 posts about this race in the last 72 hours, and they sent the secretary at war. Their polling shows the same thing as mine. We're probably going to pull this off. My panel's here. David Urban, do you think Massey's going to pull it? I don't know. I mean, he sounds pretty confident. Doesn't sound like he's a dead man walking there.

1:05:41And I think that, look, as John said, it depends on what happens in a lot of these counties. Thomas Massey goes home every weekend. He, you know, flags for the Boy Scouts, gets grandmas their Social Security checks, good on constituent services. That goes a long, long way. As you know, most people don't care about what your foreign policy is when you're a congressman. They care about what you're doing for them. And Thomas Massey has delivered for his constituents time and time again. Now, he's run races where he's been up against, you know, in a primary before, but never to this extent. And Donald Trump is basically like, you know, 100 percent in Republican primaries.

1:06:19If he's coming for you, like it's like, you know, that scene of Monty Python, you know, I'm not dead yet. He's like, oh, you're dead. You're going in the cart, buddy. Massey may be saying I'm not dead yet, but the cart is there. And Trump is pretty formidable in these primaries. He went after Cassidy. Cassidy lost. He went after those Indiana state senators. Five out of seven of them lost. I mean, Trump has a pretty good record when it comes to taking on his rivals or whatever you want to call them. As they say in cards, he has the whip hand, right? So he can go in. I think for Democrats, even if Massey were to survive tonight, it doesn't really tell you that much about the Republican Party.

1:06:57It probably tells you more about Thomas Massey's political skills at home, as David was sort of referencing, than it does about Donald Trump's grip on the Republican Party. MAGA controls the Republican Party and Donald Trump controls MAGA. That is where we are. The question is, though, what happens in a general election and whether or not that kind of influence really matters in a general election. And I'm also curious to see in Kentucky what this might mean. You know, Bashir, the governor, wants to run for president. Maybe this says the Republican, there are some Republicans in Kentucky that don't quite fit the general mode of the rest of the country.

1:07:30and maybe Bashir has a way to communicate with those people, if he runs for president, that we should all be paying attention to. Not to mention Rand Paul, who's also something of an iconoclast in this party. So let's turn to Georgia for a second. In the state's Republican Senate primary, you're looking at how some of the candidates, let's put it up if we can, see Ossoff as an opponent, essentially saying this is not going to be an easy fight. David, Trump stayed on the sidelines and did not endorse in the race among Republicans to take on John Ossoff. Will he regret that decision, do you think?

1:08:05Yeah, listen, John Ossoff's a tough candidate, right? It's not an easy, you know, Georgia's not an easy state. Quick political report has it, I think, leans Democratic, which is something for Georgia. It's not an easy state. Listen, Dooley, you know, maybe you get, you know, the best candidate, right, didn't run. You know, Governor Kemp is the guy who would have been over, right? Well, maybe. You know, I was Max Cleland's communications director down there 20 years ago, so I spent some time down in the state, and I talked to people on the phone down there today. One of the things they pointed out is that Kemp's candidates are all losing in the state, the ones that he endorsed.

1:08:44So Kemp may not also be able to do the same kind of damage there as he used to before because Trump doesn't really like him. At the same time, the Democrats were hoping to get about 100 ,000 early vote lead. They got 150 ,000 is what they're telling me. So they think that they've got the surge that's coming out of the Democratic primary. They may actually get two state Supreme Court seats today that get decided. They're nonpartisan seats. The Democrats might win that. That's a huge deal for Democrats in the state who really haven't been winning statewide since 2006. Georgia's definitely a purple state at best, right?

1:09:15I mean, it's not. It's become that just in the last few years. I mean, it's pretty amazing. Turning back to another purple state, Pennsylvania, and there's this House race in the third congressional district. It's pitted four Democrats against each other. And you can see Sharif Street on the right there. That's the son of the former mayor, Alice Stanford. She's a pediatrician. Chris Rab, he's the one, Chris Rab, rather. He's the one endorsed by the Democratic Socialists, AOC, and the like. He's the more, he's the leftist of them all, to use an adjective. and I wonder where do you see the Democratic Party going, Jamal?

1:09:50Well, I think the Democrats will be paying a lot of attention to this. You know, I live in New Jersey these days and Analia Mejia, she was able to win that seat. Nobody saw her coming. You saw Mamdani in New York. He was able to win that mayor's race. There is something happening on the left side of the Democratic Party that the people in the center of the Democratic Party should be paying attention to. I think these candidates have a lot of sway. And the question is going to be, will we have, will the Democrats have a mainstream Democrat, a progressive, who can win in a broader part of the electorate going into 2028?

1:10:21Or will they have a candidate that really fits the mold of AOC? All right, David and Jamal, stay with me. President Trump has finally endorsed in the Texas Senate Republican primary. But the reaction from Republican on Capitol Hill, well, quote, a lot of disappointment. We'll explain why next.

1:10:45We're sticking with our politics lead. Finally, just one week before voters cast their ballot, the president made his long-awaited pick in the Texas Republican Senate primary runoff between controversial Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent Senator John Cornyn. Trump announcing on Truth Social earlier today, Ken is a true MAGA warrior who has always delivered for Texas and will continue to do so in the United States Senate. Vice President Vance was asked earlier today, why Trump passed over the establishment incumbent Senator John Cornyn at today's press conference. I've known John Cornyn for a long time, but unfortunately, you know, when it really counted, Ken Paxton was there for the country, was there for the president, and that's why he ultimately earned the president's endorsement.

1:11:30He thinks he's going to be a better senator, thinks he's going to make a better candidate. What is he talking about, David? But is he talking about the fact that Ken Paxton filed that crazy lawsuit trying to disenfranchise Pennsylvanians like our ancestors? Yeah, look, I'm not quite sure. There's obviously some consternation on Capitol Hill. Oh, yeah. Let me read some quotes while you mention it. Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. It's the president's call, but she's disappointed. Senator Lisa Murkowski asked, how is this going to help us? Will Trump come to regret this? Do you think this makes the seat more competitive?

1:12:04Yeah, it'll make it more competitive. You know, Texas is going to, as we know from Beto, this is like the Lucy and the football Thanksgiving, right? I mean, Beto O 'Rourke's not going to win. You know, Tallarico's not going to win. They'll make it competitive. You don't think he's going to? No, no. I think Republicans are going to have to spend more money. This is why I think people in the establishment are disappointed, because it's going to be a$250 million race versus a$100 million race or$300 million race. The Republicans are going to have to spend a lot more money there that they would be able to be spent in Maine for Susan Collins, in Alaska for Dan.

1:12:37Jamal's Charlie Brown. He's running up to that football right now. Hold on about who, Betty. You think Tallarico can win? I think it's very possible. He is against the cultural norms of the Democratic Party. And so people who might not necessarily vote for normal Democrats might vote for somebody who talks about his policies based on his faith. I've thought for a long time white Democrats need to learn how to talk to white people on Monday the way they talk to black people on Sunday, which is rooted in values, which is talking about what they really mean, what's in their hearts. And that's the kind of campaign and campaigner Tallarico is.

1:13:06It might work in a year when you have a surge. And I think you can count them out if you want to. But those of us who've seen some of these big, low-term switches, people get picked up in a surge. But David, this is what Republicans have been watching. Because Tallarico won, and it was honestly against Jasmine Cracker. It wasn't that nasty a race. It really wasn't for a race like that as competitive. But this is what Republicans in Texas, well, all Texans have been seeing on their television screens about Cornyn and about Paxton. Oh, no, I know they've been watching. I love negative ads. Look at these unrepentant eyes.

1:13:44Two predators charged with sex crimes against children. They face life in prison, but Ken Paxton cut deals for them both. No prison time, no sex offender registry. Look at these unrepentant eyes. 1984 big hair purple rain the mcintosh and a reagan landslide and oh that's when john cornyn was first elected to office and he's been attacking our values ever since i mean i fondly remember 1984 so i'm not i mean that turns that turns the worm a little bit like to see republic but people listen about these sort of willie horton style i think there's much to about nothing. It's Texas. You know, it is a state that is red with a little bit of a blueberry in the middle there with Austin.

1:14:29I don't disagree that you got that. It's a Republican state. But you know who's been some of the most brutal, brutal critics of Ken Paxton is the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Because they because they're going to have to spend another 150, 200 million bucks. But but here's one which was they put after Ken Paxton's then wife filed for divorce. Quote, what Ken Paxton has put his family through is truly repulsive and disgusting. No one should have to endure what Angela Paxton has and we pray for her as she chooses to stand up for herself and her family during this difficult time. That's from the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

1:15:03Yeah, I think they're trying to avoid having to spend a lot of money in a race against Calarico. But I'm just saying that statement doesn't disappear come primary day. I mean, Calarico's going to put that in ads. They'll put it in ads and it'll be, it was a nasty primary. Everyone will link arms. Everyone will sing Kumbaya. John Cornel will be out there campaigning with Paxton. I think, look, there's lots of places. Georgia? You can have Georgia. Texas? They're not going to be a Democratic senator. I want to bring up a Texas Democrat. She is running. She got more votes than any other Democrat in the primary for Texas' 35th Congressional District, which includes San Antonio.

1:15:41She is rabidly anti-Semitic. and she wrote on an Instagram page, you know, when she gets to Congress, she's going to write legislation so that all Zionism is declared undoubtedly anti-Semitic since it's Zionist harming the Semites. And then she says she's going to put Zionists in the ICE detention centers. And then she said she's going to castrate pedophiles, and it says which will probably be most of the Zionists. She's in a runoff right now against another Democrat. But I mean, that's that's language that I think none of us will like. Right. I can't believe that we're even having a candidate who makes it that far.

1:16:18The question makes it that far. She got more votes than anyone else in the primary. Yeah. No, this is this is tough stuff. Yeah. So here's the question I have when we're talking about all these questions about Texas. You've got Latino voters who've been watching their friends, neighbors and relatives be rounded up on the street just because they're brown. You've got African-Americans who are watching redistricting happen and wondering whether or not this is the return of the Jim Crow South and it's animating people. There is a soup that is happening here that might engulf one of these seats in a way that we don't anticipate.

1:16:49Yeah. Maybe a House seat, not a Senate. Thanks. I appreciate it. President Trump is calling for a Justice Department investigation after some voters in Maryland were sent the wrong ballots in the upcoming primary in that state. Maryland's top election official joins me to respond next.

1:17:11And we are watching the votes coming in from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, where Republican Congressman Thomas Massey is fighting for his political life. And with 4 % of the vote in, I'm sorry, 5 % of the vote in, he is losing. It's still a lot of votes left to count. that Ed Galrin, the Trump-endorsed challenger, is ahead 54.6 % to Thomas Massey's 45.4%. But that's only a 585-vote advantage by Ed Galrin at this stage. We're going to bring you updates all night in this race and others. Continuing with our politics lead, primaries in Maryland are still five weeks away, but election officials are coping with a huge headache right now.

1:17:56About half a million voters requested mail-in ballots. Some, officials say it may be a very small number, some were sent ballots for the wrong party in the primary for governor, where incumbent Democrat Wes Moore is seeking a second term. But even though most voters may have received the correct ballot, all 500 ,000 voters are getting replacement ballots. Guess who noticed? 500 ,000 ballots, illegal ballots were sent out and they were totally fraudulent. And then they said, oh, we'll pull them back. Well, they didn't pull them back. And they have 500 ,000 new ballots. So what happens to the original?

1:18:36Are they going to come in and are they going to come in and infect our system? We're joined now by Maryland's top election official, Jared DeMarinis. First, explain what happened. And did Democrats get Republican ballots or the other way around? so yes uh basically you know it was a small number of voters that received the wrong party ballot most voters actually received the correct party ballot uh when when we were going through this with the the vendor the of the coding at the end there was dropped off so that's why some individuals got the wrong party ballot but which what's what's the number of individuals that got the wrong ballot?

1:19:23And was it Democrats getting Republican ballots or Republicans getting Democratic ballots? So Democrats, some Democrats got Republican ballots, Republicans got Democratic ballots. And since my mail-in vendor could not accurately identify who received what ballot due to the coding issue, therefore, the only course of action to ensure the integrity and security of the mail-in voting was to send all the voters who had requested a mail-in ballot by mail a replacement ballot. Right. So that's now 500 ,000. So so how but how many got the wrong ballot of the 500 ,000? We we we cannot determine that number accurately.

1:20:04That's that's the problem, because if we if we had that number accurately and we knew who was the ones that received the wrong ballots, then we would be sending only those individuals the correct ballots and the correct replacement ballots. How do you know it's a small number that we cannot? because just the the the simple numbers of math here at most you know if you look at it basically there is a more majority of one party over another party and if you just cross-populate the the ballot styles themselves then it's just that individual number so we know based upon uh that there was never the the ballots themselves were not the wrong district so everyone got the right district ballot.

1:20:50They just didn't, some of them did not get the right party ballot for their primary election. So what happens if people mail the incorrect ballot or both ballots if they got two? So we want them to vote the replacement ballot. That's, you know, we're mailing them the correct ballot that we can identify that it was, you know, to the correct individuals. And those individuals now will have the replacement ballot. We have done a massive outreach campaign to all those individuals that were affected and that are going to receive a placement ballot. They're getting a postcard. They've received an email.

1:21:27And if we had their text number, we would give them texts as well. Right now, you know, if we have protocols in place so that only one ballot will be counted, and that is the replacement ballot. Because, you know, basically we have longstanding policies in mail-in voting. If a person, you know, in the past, if they had, you know, spoiled their ballot, you know, spilled coffee on their ballot, you know, the dog ate their ballot and had called us up for a replacement ballot, we would issue them a replacement ballot and have, you know, security measures in place for that to notify which ballot is the correct ballot in the system when it's been received.

1:22:07So none of the ballots, the original ballots mailed out, none of those will count. If somebody fills it out and mails it in, it will not count. Does that mean that the elections board will then call the people or email the people that sent in the wrong ballots, those first ones they got, and say, hey, that's not the right one, you need to mail in the second one? we are notifying those that have already sent in those ballots to vote the replacement ballot because the replacement ballot is the one that is the current active ballot that they should be voting. And that is important. And we have issued statements about that.

1:22:45It's distinguishable from the original ballot. The outer envelope has more of a marker on it. So individuals now know that this is the it says replacement ballot inside all that is you know we're taking every protocol and security measures to ensure the integrity of mail-in voting and this is not something that i take late yeah jared de marinis thank you so much appreciate your time thank you thanks for watching aaron burnett out front starts right now what is it about australia that just hits different. Australia is where we shared our first kiss. Where we fell in love. That was 18 years ago now.

1:23:29And this is what, your fourth trip back? Australia has this incredible way of drawing you back. The ocean, the people, the oysters. So briny and delicious. And the possibility of exploring something new. Learn more about Zach and Laura's journey at Australia.com and start planning the vacation of a lifetime. I'm CNN tech reporter Claire Duffy. This week on the podcast Terms of Service. What do we know about how much AI is contributing to energy consumption, energy demand right now? And how does that compare with other industries? The best resource for that is the International Energy Agency, which is sort of the global energy think tank that collects data on all of this.

1:24:12And what they predict is that about 8 % of the additional electricity that we're going to need by 2030. That will be for data centers. The other 92 % is for other things, industry electrification, electric vehicles. And AI is really only driving part of that increase in demand. Listen to CNN's Terms of Service wherever you get your podcasts.