Trump Makes Third Trip to Texas in Less Than a Month

0:00Every day, animals across the country face abuse and neglect. And every day, the ASPCA shows up to rescue animals in crisis. But they can't do it alone. Visit ASPCA.org slash need. Become a donor today to provide the care and shelter these animals urgently need. And for a limited time, the ASPCA will send you a free gift as a special thank you. Visit ASPCA.org slash need. Tonight, President Trump is choosing Texas for the third time in less than a month. But will voters choose the candidate that he's trying to save? I'm Caitlin Collins, and this is The Source.

0:59With 27 days to go, President Trump's midterm campaign blitz is bringing him back to Texas. We're having a great impact. We're going to Texas right now. We have a very big one, But they're all big. Everyone is big. They're all sold out. I think we're helping the Republican Party with the rally. And we're doing almost one a day, which is a lot of work, but I like doing it.

1:26Mr. President, why are you going to Texas so much? We want to make sure that Ken Paxton wins. And at that rally tonight in Texas, something we actually haven't seen all that often, where the president was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, actually over 12 times. Repeat criminals and serial rapists to be immediately released.

2:02He says hello to everybody.

2:11You know, many of these protesters are paid. You know that, right? Kill millions and millions of Texas jobs. And... You know, I never talk about looks of a person. But those are really bad-looking people. You have to say. They are bad-looking people. Now, there are protests and interruptions at all political events, almost always. but it was notable that there were at least 12 of them by our count this hour while the president was in Texas. Also, what was notable is not just the protesters who were there, it's who wasn't there as well, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is right now in the middle of his own re-election campaign.

2:52He did not attend President Trump's rally tonight in Texas. And even the candidate that Trump was there to help, the one you heard him talking about as he left the White House today, that's Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton. He was recently secretly recorded blaming his campaign struggles on the president's agenda. The war is gas prices. It's diesel. It's over$6. It's diesel. And it's putting money in a lot of trucks. So I'd say that's probably the biggest problem in that. That's rather the food prices and everything else. Well, that recording comes after there were several others where Ken Paxton was complaining about how much his race is being dictated by events happening here in Washington.

3:44So many of the factors in this federal race are uncontrollable. I don't make the decisions. And I don't, you know, I don't know what's behind some of the decisions. I've never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign and, like, what issues are going to matter because it's all coming, you know, from D.C. and I don't control the message or what we're doing. and I don't have the ability to change anything. So I have to live with whatever I've got. The fact is, of course, Ken Paxton needs President Trump. And President Trump also needs Ken Paxton if he wants to stop Democrats from getting control of the Senate.

4:22Even if he might have some mixed feelings about the candidate that he endorsed. Ken Paxton, you might not like the way he dresses. And I say this, it's so insulting to him, but I might as well say it. You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his look. you might not love his television interviews. He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly. And he may not be the best looking guy I've ever seen. I said, I don't really like the way he looks. I don't like it. I don't like it. Ken Paxton was at my side more than anybody. And I have to always remember that because he could be a pain in the ass sometimes, I'll be honest.

5:02Now, sources say the president, quote, understands how important Texas is to keep efforts to their efforts to keep the Senate in Republican control. One Republican inoperative did also tell CNN, quote, I'm sure he enjoys making Paxton squirm. At the White House, the president said even all those leaked audio comments that you heard there from Ken Paxton saying that he's not in charge of what's happening with his campaign and that the diesel price is not helping him. doesn't change Trump's support for Ken Paxton. After this week's leak recordings from Ken Paxton, do you have any regrets about endorsing his...

5:40No, no, no, not at all. He was a great attorney general. I think he'll be a great senator. Ken Paxton was a great... He was considered the best, or certainly one of the few best, but the best attorney general of the whole country. And no, I would have no regrets at all. Now, President Trump's presence in San Antonio tonight also demonstrates how much help he thinks that Ken Paxton needs here. After all, the president only made one campaign visit to Texas eight years ago, and that was when Ted Cruz was facing his own tight race against Beto O 'Rourke. My political sources are here tonight, including former Biden advisor Neera Tanden and CNN's senior political commentator Scott Jennings, reportedly being considered for the role of the next White House press secretary.

6:25Scott, when you look at what's going on with Texas and how many times Trump is going there, what does it say to you about how they're viewing the race internally at the White House? Extremely close. And it's obviously one of the states where I think President Trump can be the most helpful, both as a public-facing matter, but also just as a technical matter. Most of the money being spent on behalf of Ken Paxton is coming right out of the Trump political operation. You know, that clip of Paxton saying he has no control over his message, he's actually literally telling the truth because, and Neera knows this, in these campaigns when super PACs and independent groups are spending most of the money, you can't tell them what to do.

7:02And so I'm sure in his attorney general campaigns, he felt very much in control of what was going on. Also, you can't really tell them what to do when you're not the one raising the money. Well, that's the point is when you raise money into your own campaign, you can dictate what happens to it. But when the vast majority of the money is coming from the outside, legally, literally, you cannot coordinate or tell them what to do with it. And so I'm sure it is a bit of a helpless feeling, but he ought to be darn glad he's getting it because without Trump and without this outside intervention, he'd be in far worse shape.

7:31I still think he's. He also might not be the nominee without Trump. It could well be. So if I were him, I'd be grateful for the president's intervention. I think the president will be helpful to him in Texas and remind Republicans down there what's at stake in November. Yeah. And when you look at this, the president is in San Antonio tonight. The population there is 64.6 percent Hispanic or Latino. You know, what do you make of that campaign stop and where they went? Well, I think the person you could look to to say whether this is a good or bad idea is Greg Abbott, who chose not to attend the rallies.

8:03Just a reminder, Donald Trump won the state by 14 points. Greg Abbott is the sitting governor, and he chose not to be at an event with the president of the United States. perhaps he recognizes that having Donald Trump in San Antonio in a majority Latino area is counterproductive to his aspirations to keep his job. Because as we've seen, Latinos have really swung against the president. And the heightened irony of all of this is because Latinos have swung so much against the president and Republicans, the Republican effort to gerrymander to gerrymander Texas, which Donald Trump was the engineer of, may actually end up with a loss of several seats to Republicans.

8:49Why do you think Greg Abbott's not there tonight? I have a slightly different view, which is A, he's running his own race. It's a tight race. And B, it may not - It's not helpful. When you're running a close race, you try to be with people who help you, right? You want to keep going or should I go? And B, I think it may just be he'd rather not be running with Paxton. I don't think it has anything to do with Trump. Look, there are going to be a lot of people who may end up not voting for Paxton, who wind up voting for the governor. That's not uncommon in gubernatorial campaigns for governors to get some crossover votes.

9:19And so I think the Senate campaign is more polarized. I think Abbott has a chance to get a few people who maybe don't love Kim Paxton, but do like what he's done as governor. And so these gubernatorial campaigns often have to go their own way. So I'm not terribly surprised about this. Well, I'm glad you brought that up actually, because this is what the president said last month about these races for governor and whether or not he'd be helping out. I'm really going to be in particular interested in Congress and the Senate. I love you governors, but good luck. If you happen to be in the audience, we'll give you a shout out.

9:52But we have to put congressmen and women and we have to put senators in office. Now, Scott, you might think that proves your point. Trump's going to Syracuse, though, on Friday to help Bruce Blakeman, who was running against Kathy Ockel for governor. I mean, so what does that say? Who is his close personal friend. And you might remember back in that situation, he helped engineer Blateman getting the nomination for governor in New York. I think that's a special case because of their friendship. But you heard him there, and I think it's true. What would be most important for the next two years of his presidency?

10:26They have Republican control in Washington. Governors are great, but if he's up here facing a fully unified Democratic Congress, it's going to be kind of miserable. I mean, he's campaigning for Tuberville, too. I mean, the issue is not, is really, is Donald Trump so unpopular that Greg Abbott doesn't want to be seen with him? It's not really, is Donald Trump saying no to Greg Abbott? No, of course not. He could just come to the same event that Paxton is at. And the idea that, you know, the argument that this is all okay because Paxton is a big weight to Abbott. It's like, who engineered this big weight?

11:00His name is Donald Trump. He could have supported Cornyn. He chose not to. And now we have the possibility in Texas, which would be kind of historic, to have a Democratic senator and a Democratic governor. I think we're making too much of this behind the scenes. When you consider that on the Democratic side, all the scuttlebutt is that the Democrat Governors Association and the big players of the Democratic Party are doing nothing, nothing at all, to help the Democratic candidate for governor. There was news this evening that they're actually sending in a million dollars. One million in Texas?

11:28But actually, that is like a Dixie cup full of water and the whole house is on fire. That is actually something that Jay Martin, we had Jay Martin on the show. He actually was saying that there are Democratic candidates who are running for governor that want more help that aren't getting it. There's also a new story out today that is blowing up the group chats in Trump world tonight. I know this because I've been hearing from people who are talking about it. The Wall Street Journal says that Trump's ambassador to Greece, that's Kimberly Guilfoyle, who, of course, used to be on Fox News, was also the former fiance of Donald Trump Jr.

11:59They say that she reached out to a Trump donor ahead of her confirmation hearing, seeking$100 ,000 to pay off her Amex bill, Scott. That came because she said she'd been helping him with tax and legal issues with the IRS. There are screenshots of her sending instructions of how to wire the money to her account so it won't show up anywhere. And her, I should note, a lawyer for her said they did not dispute the authenticity of the messages, but they declined to provide specifics. She said she had been paid to speak at events. The donor said he didn't owe her anything. But Scott, you look at these messages.

12:33One of them said, this is what Kimberly Guilfoyle texted to this person. Every secretary of you know, defense, transportation, treasury, commerce, IRS commissioner, everyone gets right back to me. Oh yeah, I'm forgetting Kash Patel, referring to the FBI director. And a spokesperson said she did not lobby for him and other agencies didn't respond. But Scott, do you think what you read in the Wall Street Journal is appropriate for an ambassador? Well, it's unseemly. There's no doubt about that. Now, she was an ambassador when these conversations were going on, but I think maybe she was the nominee for ambassador.

13:05And so my expectation is that this is likely to come up in an investigatory setting at a minimum if Democrats were to take control. But it certainly looks unseemly. There's no way to sugarcoat that. I don't know if any ethics rules or laws were broken, but that doesn't absolve you of having something like this look unseemly in the Wall Street Journal. I mean, I think look and seemingly it might be a slight understatement to the fact that you have a person who's facing a confirmation and is asking someone to basically wire money so that they can avoid scrutiny. I mean, the whole point of this is she so recognizes how ridiculous this is that she tells the donor to stop saying it, what's actually happening in emails, because she's worried it will become public, which of course it has.

13:51To what you're referencing there, she expressed concern, according to the journal, about her dealings with this person, Eric Dieter, is becoming public and the effect that it could have on her ambassador post. She warned him not to talk of money or payments in text, said, Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all of these things. I mean, I think the fundamental question should really be for Marco Rubio, which is ambassadors work for the secretary of state. And why is he OK with her continuing in this role? He should launch his own investigation. It should be quick. He should determine whether these are true.

14:24And if he determines that they're true, he should fire her. Corruption is a major issue in the elections today precisely because of instances like this, where it seems like there's rules for people who work for Donald Trump, and then there are rules for everyone else. Well, to that point - Who else could just shake down a donor for$100 ,000 because she has overbuilt her Amex car? Well, and he said that he didn't give it to her because he said it would cost him his marriage. But Rubio was actually asked about other allegations facing her today. I think this was before The Wall Street Journal broke this reporting, and this is what he said about her.

15:01Amid increasing congressional scrutiny of Ambassador Guilfoyle's tenure here, I'm wondering, Mr. Secretary, if you've personally reviewed some of those allegations and are confident that all is in compliance with State Department ethics. This is not the forum where we're going to address that. It's as simple as that. Suffice it to say, our embassy here is doing a great job. Our ambassador has been a strong ambassador here. The questions you're asking me, we're not addressing those at press conferences in Greece with a foreign minister and in another country. Why not? Well, my guess is they're still reviewing it.

15:31A. B. I will tell you that people at the State Department tell me they consider our relations with Greece right now to be very strong. We have strong security relations. They think the embassy is functioning properly. Actually, Rubio's trip to Greece and the speech that he gave today has been reverberating around conservative circles all day long, both for its message and for its staging. So they're actually quite happy. The backdrop was quite remarkable. It was stunning. And the message was stunning and sweeping as well. So they're actually pretty happy with what we have going on with Greece.

16:00I agree with you. I think maybe that was said before the Wall Street Journal article came out. I mean, obviously, this bears some sort of internal review or investigation. I don't know how you would. You think even before Democrats, if Democrats take control, they'll investigate it. But you think even without that right now that there should be a review internally? Of course. I mean, I think were your sources, Marco Rubio and his staff, saying how great our relationships are with Greece? Because, you know, actually the people of Greece and the rest of Europe can read the newspapers, can read these stories about how it seems like our ambassador is entirely corrupt.

16:32And that usually doesn't do well, bode well for the United States reputation. So I hope Marco Rubio takes Scott's advice and actually launches an investigation. I hope he does it tomorrow. We'll see if they do. Neera Tanden, Scott Jennings, great to have both of you here tonight. Thank you for joining us. Up next, the attorney for that former Cornell student, now known nationwide and worldwide as Jane Doe. He's going to join me right after this as he says she's facing new death threats. And we have the disturbing audio.

17:08Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. On my podcast, All There Is, we explore grief and loss in all its complexities. My guest is Lil Jon. He's a rapper, DJ, and producer known for hits like Get Low and Turn Down for What. In February 2026, his 27-year-old son, Nathan, went missing near Nathan's home in Georgia. Three days later, his body was found in a pond nearby. eye. Lil Jon has a memoir that just came out called I Only Shout So You Can Hear Me. It takes time to heal and I kept myself busy that I didn't let myself mourn. I needed to laugh again. I needed to be silly and interact with people and feel other people's energy and make people happy too.

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18:34Gambling addiction, gambling disorder, is the hidden addiction. You can't smell it, you can't taste it, you can't see it, you can't have a urine drug test. Who are we talking about here, Professor? Who's the most likely demographic to be affected by this? Literally any single human on Earth. Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts. Tonight, Cornell University officials have confirmed that two students who were named in a lawsuit filed by Jane Doe in that 2024 gang rape case are still enrolled and attending classes. That's according to a recording of a virtual meeting that was held by the school today and obtained by CNN.

19:12And some members of the Cornell faculty have said they're struggling to teach classes that the accused students are in. And they've raised questions about how to accommodate them and also other students. It comes as CNN has learned of new threats against Jane Doe herself. Her attorney says that she was targeted in a swatting incident where police drew their guns on her family and a friend. She's also been getting phone calls threatening her life, including this one that was obtained by CNN. in. I can hear you. I can hear you breathing. And instead of speaking out, you're just sitting there quiet.

19:49Jane Doe's attorney, Thomas Jiffra, is my source tonight. And thank you for being here. I mean, it's hard to listen to even that audio just briefly in terms of the calls that your client is getting. In terms of the swatting incident, can you walk us through what happened here? Well, I can tell you exactly what happened. It was one of the most shocking things that has occurred to me in recent memory. I was just about to go on Anderson Cooper yesterday, and my client reached out to me with that message, which is much longer, and it indicated the caller said they were going to murder Ms. Doe's parents, her siblings, and made very violent and scary threats.

20:29And, And frankly, I was jittery when I first got on Anderson Cooper and I instructed her to call the police. We've got to deal with it right away. And by the time I completed the interview, I called up and I found out what had happened with the swatting. And I didn't know what swatting is, frankly. It's not something that I was familiar with. But apparently what had happened is this person had called the police, said there was a shooting in progress. People were being slaughtered. and Jane Doe's parents' house, the house she grew up in, and a crew of SWAT team with automatic, well, with assault rifles, heavily armed tactical gear, drew guns, and they were doing what they were supposed to.

21:10They were responding to an appropriate threat that was given to them, and they drew on her friend, her brother, her father, who's an older man like me, automatic weapons. And my client was there screaming, stop, stop. And somebody could have been killed. And this has gone too far. It's really gone too far. Because imagine one of those cops had killed her father, her brother, her friend, and they have to live with it. And this is where safety of police, safety of innocent people is being sacrificed for unnecessary rhetoric on something that has become so political, which is, I just don't understand it.

21:53And for basically - And then following that, oh, sorry. Well, and just, I just want to, for people who don't know, it's swatting, it's people do it basically to cause harm to that person and to their family by making up that something horrific is happening at that location. So the police show up and scare everyone, you know, with that major response. And then obviously it's a fake call. There's no actual emergency or crime that is underway. Well, that's right. And the hope is for some of these nut jobs is maybe somebody doesn't react in the appropriate fashion. Maybe they don't stop. Maybe they don't put their hands up and that person ends up dead.

22:29And that's why this is so frightening. And this is a development that I was I don't even know what to say I was. I was shocked. I was I was really fearful for my family. Was she home when this happened? She was absolutely home when it happened, and she saw a multitude of heavily armed police with guns in her father's face, her brother's face, her friend's face. It could have been a significant tragedy. People could have been dead. Police officers would have to live with the trauma of knowing they killed innocent people. This has gone too far. It's outrageous. When you look at this and the public response that this case has generated, to what do you attribute that swatting incident or the hateful phone calls that your client is receiving?

23:18Why do you think that's happening? Well, let me interrupt you for a second. She's not the only one, because right after this happened, she got a text message threatening to blow somebody's head off. And my wife received several calls from the same number. And today I received a call at my office threatening to kill my family. I received more calls. And it's gotten to be really out of hand. What I attribute it to is this. I think there are people out there who are looking for attention. They're trying to get clicks. They're being completely irresponsible, completely irresponsible. You know, the Bible says you reap what you sow.

23:57If you sow hatred, you're going to reap hatred. And that's what's happening. And there's people who I'm just appalled by what they would do. And I don't know how somebody, and I don't even want to say their names, can look in the mirror because there's no decency anymore. This is an issue that should be on all fronts. My client is from a deep red state. She's from the place where they haven't elected a Democrat as dog catcher in 50 years. And this is what she gets. Instead of people standing behind it as Americans, united that sexual abuse on our college campuses is a problem, it becomes this.

24:36It's outrageous. There's also news tonight from an attorney who's representing one of the seven men that have been accused, the Cornell students. This attorney says his client engaged in consensual sex with your client, Jane Doe. Andrew Miltenberg told CNN he doesn't believe there's any evidence his client engaged in non-consensual sex. And in a statement he said, to him, her affect was such that she was coherent and capable of making a decision. She was an active and engaged participant in their sexual encounter. I want to give you a chance to respond to what that attorney is saying tonight. Well, it's what I'm hearing from that attorney is what I hear from every attorney in a sex abuse case.

25:22I either hear, A, it never happened, or B, it was consensual. Now, in this case, the testimony from people who are not these frat boys, but people who saw Ms. Doe before and other people who testified before their Title IX hearing said she was heavily intoxicated, heavily, heavily, heavily intoxicated. And that's from people who are not connected to Ms. Doe, not connected to the frat boys. They all confirmed she was incapable of any kind of consent. So while the attorney might argue this because they always argue it and people should know that this is what they argue and attacking the woman is the typical defense that I see.

26:00I saw it in the Harvey Weinstein case. And it also happens with men. I heard I saw it in the P. Diddy case. But this is what they do. It's nothing I haven't heard before. It's nothing that I didn't expect. Did you know that two of these men are still enrolled in classes at Cornell? Yeah, I knew. And you know what? That's the whole thing, the sickening part of this. My client worked her tail off to get an Ivy League degree. She came to Cornell with high hopes. And these guys, they're going to be able to walk out of this institution with their Ivy League degrees, with all the benefits that are conferred of it.

26:35And my client has not been to college since the February after this incident. And that's a disgrace. And Cornell should be ashamed of themselves. There's CNN audio of what happened at a leadership meeting among faculty at Cornell that happened yesterday. Part of what the president said there was about this being a horrendous and inexcusable situation that occurred as part of a fraternity party. He said, I have to make the point that this doesn't only occur in fraternities. One of the things that we have to be careful about is that we have a certain ability to control things that happen in Greek life.

27:09And he said, I worry about pushing this into the shadows, into houses which we don't own, which are private houses, which have parties and which things can occur beyond our purview. What do you make of that line from the school president? Well, it's jibber jabber for one thing. And what happened at this frat house is different than something off campus. The frat house, unlike a lot of frat houses, is on Cornell property. It's owned by Cornell. Cornell had the ability, and we now know that there was a drug overdose and a drug arrest within two days of Ms. Doe's assault. By Cornell's own rules, the frats should have been shut down.

27:50They should not have been able to have the party. Instead, they were permitted to have a sanctioned party. So what's going on out there? Are they protecting people or are they not? Do they have rules or do they not? It's ridiculous. You mentioned how your client has, I mean, just beyond the swatting incident alone, what has been happening since this has become such a case of national prominence. Has your client seen the campaign, though, that is online where there are women who are supporting her saying, you know, I am Jane Doe has become the slogan of other women saying, you know, this could happen to so many women.

28:25Has she seen that? And what's her response been to that? Well, one of the good things that have come out of this whole situation is the positivity that she's overwhelmingly received from both men and women. And she finally feels heard. She finally feels respected. And she finally feels like somebody has her back. You know, there are the cranks out there and the miserable people who just to get attention say crazy things to sow hatred and division. But the overwhelming number of people in this country are decent people who want to do the right thing. People like me who had kids when they were born, started saving to send them off to college and trusting at 18 years of age, you send them to college, they're going to be safe.

29:11And that's what's resonated with people here. We trust these institutions and they're letting us down. Thomas Jiffra, thank you for joining us here on The Source tonight. Thank you. Really appreciate your time. And also, I do want to put a reminder out there for anyone who might be dealing with a similar crisis. There are resources that can help the National Sexual Assault Hotline. You can reach them anytime at rain as two ends dot org or you can just call the number on your screen. Coming up here for us on The Source, we have new reporting tonight about the president. He's going back and forth between defending and maybe firing political advisors who helped a pro-Russia government just 27 days before the midterms.

29:52How the president is responding, that's right after this.

30:01Tonight, President Trump is alternating between distancing himself and defending two of his top political advisors following a New York Times report that they were paid hundreds of thousands of dollars while advising a pro-Russian government. The president first responded to this report in the New York Times by Ken Vogel, writing, Chris Lasavita and James Blair are outside consultants. They do not work for me, and if there's a conflict, I will terminate them immediately. He was responding to that reporting that said Blair and Lasavita, who are also leading Republican efforts to keep control of Congress for the president's outside funding arm, traveled to the Balkans last week and were paid, quote, hundreds of thousands of dollars each to provide counsel on voting issues.

30:46Now, sources say the president was unaware of their travels until he was briefed about the New York Times story when they reached out for a comment. And one source said that the quote was that he was pissed that this had happened in the homestretch of the midterms and that they were profiting off their association with him. Inside the Oval Office today, the president said this. They don't have a conflict because they're independent people. They don't work for me. They don't work in the White House. They're not sitting around a cabinet table or anything like Not long after that, he was asked again, and the president downplayed any issue.

31:24Do you think that your advisor in case of Clarence of Los Angeles should have been in the Balkans in less than 30 days? Well, they're allowed to do that. They have a lot of clients, and it's okay. I'm a client over there. They have a consulting firm, I guess separately, as all people in Washington do. That's pretty common. And my Democratic source tonight is Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Congressman, what did you make of this report and also the president's reaction to it? Well, the conflict of interest is, of course, between Trump and his what is supposed to be is a constitutional and fiduciary duty to the American people and his relationship with Russia.

32:07After all, a Russian oligarch just paid for his son's wedding festivities. But to me, it looks like a really a convergence of interest between these lobbyists and Donald Trump because they basically take the side that objectively helps Russia and Putin under any circumstances. I mean, Donald Trump has been systematically undermining the basic alliances of the United States with NATO countries, with our strongest democratic allies around the world, including Canada, which he has been vilifying and which he slapped a 50 percent tariff on. And now Canada is boycotting the United States. But essentially, Trump has aligned himself with Russia and with China and constantly praises them the same way he praises Kim Jong-un, who he writes love letters to.

32:59And so he's abandoned the democratic world. And so he feigns surprise and some kind of anger for a few moments about the fact that his own congressional campaign consultants are representing for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars these pro-Putin government loyalists and that they traveled over there a few days ago. But, of course, they bring him right back. He brought him right back in today. and they're all on the same side again. I don't think he had any issue. I don't think the issue was the work that they were doing. I don't think that was his problem. I think the problem was that they were making hundreds of thousands of dollars when they're supposed to be leading MAGA, Inc.

33:36and the midterms are in 27 days. That's what the president seems to be mad about, that and the fact that they're just making money off their association with him. I will say Steve Bannon was basically making that point. He said, we need a forensic audit of where the money went so the president has the information to hold people accountable. This also comes, Congressman, is today the Washington Post says the president wants to transform part of his West Palm Beach golf club into basically a Camp David style potential retreat. He was asked about this today. He confirmed it and said this. This was suggested to me by the military and secret service.

34:12There are no high buildings looming over it. There are no houses on it. So you don't have houses. We have to inspect rooms. It seems that all presidents play golf and they asked if I'd be willing to do it. And I said, I would be. This wouldn't be for me. This would be for all future presidents. Do you believe that this idea came from the military and the Secret Service? Well, sure. And the arch was the military's idea and bulldozing the East Wing of the White House in the Golden Ballroom was the military's idea. I mean, this is the last refuge of a scoundrel who's just ripping off the taxpayers for all of our resources to invest in his private properties.

34:54So it doesn't surprise me that he wants to do this and that he wants to use the golf courses for international diplomatic gatherings. I mean, it's just a shakedown every single day. It's remarkable that it wasn't enough for him that he made$2.2 billion on the side in his first year in office. He's just got to keep going and keep extracting money from the taxpayers and plundering our government. Well, you mentioned all the changes that he's made here in Washington and the ones that are still underway. You've actually introduced a new bill that would direct the Smithsonian to preserve what you describe as, quote, Trump propaganda.

35:32Things like the banners that are burying his face that are on the Labor Department, the Department of Justice, all these buildings here in Washington. Why do you want the Smithsonian to preserve that stuff? Well, we're going to get through this nightmare and we want to record it the way that historians and archivists do. You know, Trump and all of his loyal sycophants are busily trying to destroy the real history of the country. That's why the Smithsonian is under attack and the Museum of American History is under attack. You know, they don't like the fact that people learn about slavery and the role that it played in our civil war.

36:12They don't like people learning about the civil rights movement, the great civilizing struggles of American history, and they're trying to suppress it. And so I want to reverse that and say we're not going to suppress the history of Donald Trump and authoritarianism in America. We're going to teach it and we're going to turn those things into exhibits. You know, those Stalinist banners that he's draping over, you know, the Labor Department and the Justice Department. Let's take those and let's turn them into a museum exhibit, along with other memorabilia of this wretched period of our history where he tore down so much of what really unifies us as a country and tried to replace it with all of his narcissistic, self-loving presentations.

36:57So let's show that to people and let's teach that to future generations so we never forget about it. Congressman Jamie Raskin, thank you for joining us here tonight. Thank you for your time. You bet. Up next, speaking of what's going on here in Washington at the moment, an FBI whistleblower says that the president pushed the agency to investigate anti-ice demonstrators in Los Angeles after seeing a video on TikTok. That whistleblower's attorney is going to join me right after this break.

37:33Tonight, a new whistleblower complaint that was filed by a former FBI intelligence official alleges that the president demanded an FBI investigation into anti-ice protesters after he saw a TikTok video including them. According to the complaint, the social media video from February of last year depicted protesters using bullhorns to alert people in California of ICE activities. Now, Jill Fields, who was the top intelligence analyst in the FBI's LA office, their field office, she says that she was told, quote, that the president viewed the footage on social media and instructed FBI Director Cash Patel to have the LA field office open an investigation into the protesters.

38:18Patel informed agents in a meeting that the president was angry about the incident and he wanted those protesters investigated and arrested. Now, when Fields objected to her supervisor noting that such an investigation would violate their First Amendment rights. She was told, she says, quote, she could be fired if she did not follow the order. Now, Field says she was then stripped of her team and lost support from FBI leadership, pushing her ultimately to resign. And her attorney, Dana Gold, is my source tonight. And thank you so much for being here. Your client told this story to the New York Times earlier this year.

38:54Why file the whistleblower complaint now? Well, I think she spoke in generalities to the New York Times about issues related to her decision to leave the FBI and problems that were going on. She has a right as a whistleblower to make more fulsome disclosures in more detail, but needed to do that through protected channels with the support of lawyers who know what they're doing, like those of us who represent whistleblowers all the time, because of the high risk around this environment of raising concerns about those who abuse power at the highest levels. The White House responded and said, quote, these allegations are false.

39:35False. The First Amendment does not protect violent rioting, obstructing law enforcement and insulting law enforcement. Assaulting and obstructing law enforcement is a crime and that the administration has been clear. Anyone who does so will be arrested and prosecuted. What's your response to that statement? Well, I think that's right. I think that's exactly what law enforcement is supposed to do. That's not what was happening here. That's not what Jill Fields was alleging. She was saying that in two instances, there were directives from the highest levels to investigate people engaging in peaceful protests with no predicate for national security threats, violence.

40:14There was no evidence of criminal activity, which are the conditions that allow investigations of people into those threats. There was no evidence of that in either of these situations where she was basically the FBI was directed at the highest levels to open these investigations. No evidence of violence, no evidence of national security threats. And that is illegal. It violates the FBI Bible of the domestic investigation and operation guidelines. And they're all trained that this is not this is just unconstitutional facially. So it's irrelevant to the facts that Ms. Fields has described here in the allegations that she submitted to Congress and the IG.

40:55Had she ever, I mean, gotten an instruction like this from a TikTok video of people who were protesting and clearly from what she believed not doing anything that warranted an investigation, but been told, you know, the president of the United States wants them not only investigated, I mean, according to the report, Kashmir Tell said also arrested. Yeah, no, this is highly, this is so unusual, all of it. Not only just for anything to come down from the White House to the field offices from either the higher levels of the AG at the Department of Justice or the White House. This was all highly unusual.

41:34And again, there wasn't evidence. And she wasn't the only one expressing concerns. It wasn't just Jill. So there was really no evidence there to go forward. And yet, despite the agents who are experts identifying this violates the First Amendment, the investigations were ordered anyway. Has your client heard back from Chuck Grassley, who's the chairman, of course, of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where this complaint was sent? We have. We're going to be having a meeting with them on Friday, actually, who has asked for a briefing on this. Yep. So we're really pleased that Congress seems to be very concerned about the abuse of FBI power to investigate peaceful protesters.

42:21And again, this should be a bipartisan issue. This isn't partisan. This is about do we have the Constitution, we have the First Amendment to curb the abuse of power. And I think it's really important for members of Congress, no matter what party they're with. That's why we're really pleased that Chuck Grassley will be meeting with us to investigate. These are really disturbing allegations about abuse of power. We should look beyond what happened to the LAPO office. How quickly between when your client filed this whistleblower complaint and sent it to the Senate Judiciary Committee, did y 'all hear back from Chuck Grassley?

42:59um we heard well um two days so pretty pretty quickly wow i mean what does that say to you that i mean he's the republican of course who's running i think what does that say to you yeah well i think i think chuck grassley has a long record we've worked with him for decades with whistleblowers across administrations he understands the importance of fbi whistleblowers of whistleblowers generally. He's been a champion around that. I think it would be very, even though I think that, you know, sometimes, you know, politically things have been challenging in the whistleblower world. We've represented other whistleblowers that perhaps have been provocative.

43:40But, you know, this isn't a partisan issue. This is about whether or not the FBI is abusing its power and whether or not a whistleblower suffered retaliation for trying to protect the rule of law. Dana Gold, please keep us updated on how that Friday meeting goes. And thank you for joining us here tonight. Absolutely. Thank you. Up next, it is time for source code. Tonight, the source code is 110. I'll be right back with the story.

44:13Tonight's source code is 110, as in 110 miles per hour, because that's how fast the wind speeds could actually reach along parts of the Gulf Coast by early Friday, as forecasters are warning that the tropical storm right now that is underway could rapidly intensify into a Category 2 hurricane. Now, the forecast track has narrowed down its landfall somewhere from the Mississippi coast to the western Florida panhandle, leading several governors to issue states of emergency for counties in its path. When asked about whether or not this is going to affect his plans to attend Saturday's football game between Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs.

44:50President Trump actually said he hadn't heard that there was a hurricane brewing in the Gulf. Mr. President, a hurricane is forecast to hit the Gulf Coast this weekend. Are you still planning to visit Alabama and go to the football game on Saturday?

45:06Well, a hurricane and a football game. I love Alabama. I got to go to a game. I can't be awfully hard. Look, I mean, if there's an emergency, if there's a hurricane, I don't want to do anything to take the focus of all of the great people that work on those things. You know, they have some tremendously great people. I don't want to take the focus off. But so we'll have to see. I hadn't heard about a hurricane. A hurricane is going in the vicinity of Alabama. That's not good. No, it's not. Right now, the school says that the game is still set to kick off at 630 Central on Saturday. We'll, of course, keep you updated on that tropical storm as it is strengthening.

45:46Also, for live updates and alerts, you can always download the CNN weather app. It's excellent. I use it every day. Thank you so much for joining us here on The Source tonight. CNN Newsnight with Abby Phillips starts now. I'm Adi Cornish. I'm Ari Shapiro, and it's 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.

46:19And 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... Is fashion terrible now? Well, no, I mean, I would phrase it as 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.

46:51Follow Engagement Party. Wherever you get your podcasts.