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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Lawyer: Fed Governor To Sue Over Trump's Attempted Firing; Taylor Swift And Travis Kelce Announce Engagement; Pritzker Vowes To Fight Back As Feud With Trump Escalates. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired August 26, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:01]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Back to the breaking news, Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce getting hitched.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That's right. The power couple announcing their engagement on Instagram today. And, man, are we here for it.
Especially you, Boris. You got so excited.
SANCHEZ: Listen, you got to sell it. I am happy for them. It's great. Am I going to think about this later? Probably not. I will think about some weenies though.
KEILAR: I'm cocktail weenies. Very important.
And I'm going to think about "THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT," which starts right now.
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: A Fed governor takes on the president as Trump tries to assert control over the nation's central bank.
Let's head into THE ARENA.
Fed Governor Lisa Cook says she'll sue over the president's attempt to fire her. It's a first in American history, and it's likely to end up at the Supreme Court.
Plus, see you in court. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker vows to fight if Trump sends National Guard troops to Chicago.
And then it's a love story, baby. And she said yes. After two years of romance, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are engaged. We'll discuss the announcement that is really the only thing that any of us want to talk about today.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: Hi, everyone. Welcome to THE ARENA. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Tuesday.
Does President Trump have legal cause to fire a member of the Fed's board of governors? Right now, we don't know. But the answer to that question will have major implications for the global economy.
Today, an attorney for Fed Governor Lisa Cook announced a lawsuit challenging President Trump's attempt to fire her over allegations of mortgage fraud. In a statement, Cook said, quote, "President Trump purported to fire me, quote, for cause when no cause exists under the law and he has no authority to do so. I will not resign," end quote.
The Justice Department has said it plans to investigate the allegations, but Cook has not been charged and denies all wrongdoing.
Still, this afternoon, President Trump insisted that even the appearance of potential fraud was enough to fire her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She seems to have had an infraction, and she can't have an infraction, especially that infraction, because she's in charge of, if you think about it, mortgages. And we need people that are 100 percent above board, and it doesn't seem like she would.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Just moments ago, the Federal Reserve acknowledged that Cook is challenging the president's firing. Here's the statement. A spokesperson said this, quote, "Long tenures and removal protections for governors serve as a vital safeguard, ensuring that monetary policy decisions are based on data, economic analysis and the long term interests of the American people. As always, the Federal Reserve will abide by any court decision."
Now, this is the first time in American history that a president has attempted to fire a Fed governor. And there's a reason for that. All around the world, governments, companies, banks, they expect the Fed's decisions about monetary policy to be, for the most part, if not entirely, nonpolitical.
But President Trump wants lower interest rates, and he wants them yesterday, basically. He has spent months publicly insulting Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
The firing of Cook marks a dramatic escalation in his attempt to assert control over yet another American institution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM CRAMER, HOST OF CNBC'S "SQUAWK ON THE STREET": Look -- look, the Federal Reserve as is, has historically been the best. And one of it is because it's independent. It's very difficult to try to get the -- to get them to do something they shouldn't do. But if you think that you're going to wake up one day and discover that the Justice Department may or may not be in, it's highly embarrassing. It's terrible to find out that you might be charged by the Justice Department, but you don't know. But the president is taking swift action. It's very intimidating.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Intimidating indeed.
All right. My panel is here. They're going to join in just a moment.
We're going to start with CNN's Jeff Zeleny, who is outside the White House. CNN's Phil Mattingly, who is here for us in the D.C. bureau.
And, Jeff, let me start with you, because, of course, we were listening to -- it was a lengthy, shall we say, cabinet meeting. What more are we hearing? What more is he saying about the decision to fire Lisa Cook or try, I should say?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Three hours and 17 minutes as the clock goes. One of the longest at least public sessions of a cabinet meeting. But it was the comments about Lisa Cook that certainly caught our attention. Look, her term is -- was expected to go until 2038. She was, of course, nominated by President Biden, confirmed by the Senate.
[16:05:03]
It was a 50/50 vote. Vice President Harris had to break the tie back in 2022, but her term is just getting started.
What President Trump clearly has been making many moves to take control of the Fe obviously, blasting Jerome Powell at every turn, calling him a too late. He's accusing him of being "too late" in lowering interest rates.
Well, clearly, the president, the White House have been making steps to try and exert their control really throughout the government. But the federal reserve is a different matter because, of course, it's the central bank, but it's also independent.
A U.S. president has never removed a governor on the Federal Reserve before. So, this is certainly entering new legal territory. And it looks like it will go obviously through the courts, likely to the Supreme Court.
And the question now is what happens between now and then? The president said he's firing her for cause, citing a mortgage fraud. Of course, that is unproven. No crime has been charged or convicted or proved to be committed. The Department of Justice is apparently investigating, but it's about what happens in the in the interim.
The fed is meeting for the next meeting in mid-September. Will the White House try and seat someone else? Officials are not telling us exactly what the president's plans are, as this is litigated. But, Kasie, there is no doubt about it.
The bottom line, the president wants to control the Fed.
HUNT: All right. So, Phil Mattingly, help us understand exactly what this means. I mean, you noticed when you were watching this, I presume you watched all three hours and 17 minutes of this cabinet meeting? Correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem to notice a sort of caution that the president was using when he was talking about his authority here.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, the reason this stood out to me is I did watch all three hours and 17 minutes, and the only thing that the president wasn't expansive on in his commentary was Lisa Cook and his decision to attempt to fire her, to move, to fire her last night. And that caution and especially paired with the very cautiously and legalistically -- legalistic way, the letter that he sent or posted on Truth Social last night at 8:00 p.m. to Jeff's point, the sheer lack of information about next steps, how this moves forward from people around the administration, inside the administration underscores the reality of this moment.
While the president and his team may believe that they have this authority as kind of up in the air as that is, and questioned by legal experts that it is, there is no precedent for this. There is no roadmap for this. Nobody is totally sure how this moves forward.
What we are sure of, though, is while this is based on what the president referred to as an infraction, not saying it was mortgage fraud like some of his advisers, it is clear what he wants from it. And he actually laid it out talking about one existing opening on the Fed board and a potential second. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We just put a very good man in that -- in one position. We might switch him to the other, it's a longer term and pick somebody else. But we're very happy with the person we have in there, and we'll have a majority very shortly. So that will be great.
Once, we have a majority, housing is going to swing and it's going to be great. People are paying too high an interest rate. That's the only problem with housing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Kasie, I just -- I point that out because I think it's really important to keep that in mind. There is a lot of unknowns and a huge number of questions in a very intensive debate and political fight ahead. The goal here, without any question at all, is to seize a majority of the Federal Reserve board. And that's exactly what the president just said.
HUNT: Indeed. All right. Phil Mattingly, Jeff Zeleny, thank you both very much. Really appreciate you starting us off.
All right. Our panel is here. U.S. economy, government managing editor of "Bloomberg News," Mario Parker, the host of "The Chuck Toddcast", Chuck Todd, CNN political commentator, former Biden White House communications director, Kate Bedingfield, and CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you all very much for being here.
Chuck Todd, this is in a big picture way. You know, there are so many things about Donald Trump and his presidencies that we call unprecedented. This is something that has quite literally, no one has ever tried to do this before. The Federal Reserve has been, as Jim Cramer was basically outlining, the best of the best for the foundation, the underpinnings of our global financial system for decades.
What do you think this all means, big picture?
CHUCK TODD, HOST OF "THE CHUCK TODDCAST": Well, this is a real danger to the economy. The last time a president had this kind of when you have political control over the Fed, you get terrible outcomes. When Richard Nixon and basically coerced Arthur Burns into terrible decisions --
HUNT: This is why we invite you.
TODD: I understand that this goes way back. We had a decade of stagflation because he wanted lower interest rates, and it created a problem.
HUNT: Someone in my house is reading a biography of JPMorgan, by the way, and something similar happened in that era as well. But continue.
TODD: And I do think what's happening here is that Lisa Cook is essentially a stand in for Jay Powell, right?
[16:10:04]
Which is this is, I think, Trump, the administration and the White House basically testing the electric fence. Right. Do they have the authority to do this? I think that is why the cautious words are being used, because first of all, some lawyer, at least somebody got to the president and said, hey, be careful. Whatever you say. Actually could get used in her lawsuit challenging your ability to do this. Number one.
But the Supreme Court warned, has already warned that the Fed was a different category here when it sort of gave him some authority at some of these, executive agencies that he has had authority over. And so, I just think this is a test case. And they decided it's better to test the case that the markets won't punish him, right?
If he tried to do this with Powell, the markets would crater the world. Markets would crater, the economic -- but doing it with picking on one governor to sort of you're testing to see do I have this authority or not, I'm going to -- the least damaging --
HUNT: I mean, it's a classic Trump, right?
TODD: Right.
HUNT: Push the envelope and see how far it'll go.
TODD: Pick on somebody nobody's ever heard of so that you can essentially, shape the narrative of who she is or try to, you know, look, she's got no due process here. I mean, I assume I don't want to assume anything with our courts today, but I assume he loses and loses bigly in this one. But we'll see.
HUNT: So, one other -- you mentioned this could be a test. I'm going to put this to you, Mario. The Secretary Lutnick was on this morning. And he was pressed on CNBC about exactly who is it that signs Lisa Cook's paycheck? Who is it that has to actually implement what the president is trying to do here? Let's watch that exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW ROSS SORKIN, CNBC HOST: Who pays her paycheck, for example? Is that something that has to come directly from the Fed?
HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: So -- yeah, I don't -- I don't know the details of who has her paycheck or not.
SORKIN: One of the reasons I'm asking this question about who needs to turn off her badge or, or turn off her paycheck is if the answer is that ultimately, Chair Powell is the one responsible for that, and he chooses not to, then the secondary question becomes, is the president try to fire him for cause?
LUTNICK: Well, these are all -- these are all what-if scenarios. The answer is the Department of Justice will go take this on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, Mario Parker, what if?
MARIO PARKER, MANAGING EDITOR, U.S. ECONOMY & GOVERNMENT, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Well, there's several threads I think that we could pull on here for the better part of the last 18 months, Donald Trump has been toying with whether or not he would fire or move to fire Jerome Powell once he got back in office last summer. He told us in an interview that he felt that the president should have a say in interest rates. He's been quite adamant about that.
The second thread of this, obviously, is that the president got the chance to he had a taste of reshaping a big institution during his first term. The Supreme Court, and he liked it. Now, the third thing, of course --
HUNT: He did do that legally inside the --
PARKER: Sure, absolutely. But he is pressing -- he is pressing, pressing -- to Chuck's point, he's pressing the barriers of remaking the government, right, in some ways.
The last point I just want to make about this all is that the economy so far has bucked a lot of the forecast, right, with employment. Excuse me, with the implementation of tariffs, et cetera. The one impediment, according to the White House sources that I speak to, is the Fed and interest rates. They see that as the one caveat that standing in their way of really supercharging the economy and/or the economy slipping into a dire place, that he could get blamed for with the midterm elections.
HUNT: Scott Jennings, what say you?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. It's interesting to me that they decided to create a cause. I'm not sure he needs a cause. I mean, this is an executive branch agency, is it not? And it's a --
HUNT: Isn't that the question that the Supreme Courts going to have to answer? Because, as Chuck pointed out, they've made a distinction, right?
JENNINGS: Yeah. And they've given him some leeway on some of these other independent agencies. So, I'm interested to see what they -- you know, I personally believe in the unitary executive. I think if you're an executive branch officer, you ultimately report to the president and can be fired by the president. But we'll see what the court says about --
HUNT: John Roberts usually believes that. I'm not -- are you convinced he'll believe that in this case?
JENNINGS: No, I'm not convinced of anything. I do know a lot of MAGA world lawyers who talk to the president strongly believe that that is his authority, and that that's the argument that they should make to the Supreme Court. Because if something is in the executive branch, reports to the executive branch, but the president has no authority over it, doesn't that make it unconstitutional by definition would be the argument they would make.
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, except that historically, the question of constitutionality obviously will be will be worked through by the courts. But historically, the independence of the Fed has, I should say, historically, since the 1980s, the independence of the Fed has generated better economic policy for the United States. It's helped keep inflation lower than it otherwise might have been.
We see historically both Chuck's point, but also globally, countries where the central bank falls under political control, they tend to have higher inflation. Commercial banks tend to be more volatile.
[16:15:01]
So, the -- whether or not it's constitutional, it's bad policy. It's bad economic policy. I think it's going to be bad politics as well. I think the more Trump continues to try to undermine the idea that the institutions that have historically protected our economy, I think -- I think that that's not -- I think that's not going to be a good thing for him across the board. But we'll see one place where this did happen, actually was Turkey, where Erdogan fired the central banks governor, and he kept rates high to slow inflation, according to the times selected his replacement. Over a few years, he continued to fire and replace governors and deputy governors. Not much good came from it.
Since the 2018 election, the Turkish lira lost 88 percent of its value against the dollar, and we can show the inflation data from this. I mean, that kind of underscores the point you're making.
TODD: Turkey -- I mean, I had Douglas Holtz-Eakin on who's a former adviser, chief economic adviser -- to John McCain, Mitt Romney, not a MAGA guy. So I'm not, you know --
HUNT: Old school conservative Republican. More on the Paul Ryan world of Republican politics.
And Turkey's, like, glaring example he's trying to get people to understand. It's like, look, this is what happens. You get political control over the Fed. You get political control over a central bank, and your economy -- and this goes back to the political point that Kate brought up, which is Trump's actually acquiring more things to be blamed for. Like this is a case where he actually could deflect, well, hey, you know, I've got an economy humming. This guy over here won't -- won't do it.
And in a weird way, now there's going to be no one else to blame but him, right? He is -- it's why I question his decision to become mayor of every city.
JENNINGS: I think --
HUNT: I just think you would acquire a lot more things to be blamed.
JENNINGS: But I think his political fear is, is that if he doesn't get control of this, you know, come the midterms, he is going to be blamed when interest rates are still too high. People still can't buy houses. I mean, ultimately you hold the political leadership of the country accountable.
We don't put the fed on the ballot. And so I think maybe they're looking down the road and thinking, if we don't control this, we're going to get blamed. If they continue to move too slow, we believe they're moving too slow now.
BEDINGFIELD: But if he makes a big muscle movement that undermines faith in in the fed and, you know, fine, maybe he appoints governors who bring the who bring interest rates down. But, you know, there's economic -- I won't say collapse, but there's economic turmoil in the country because of this very unprecedented move that he's wrapping his arms around.
JENNINGS: Well, he's --
BEDINGFIELD: I don't --
JENNINGS: He's been --
BEDINGFIELD: It's not going to net out well for him.
JENNINGS: Look, he's been willing to put this on his shoulders. He put tariffs on his shoulders, and he bet that it would work. And it's all on him.
He's putting this on his shoulders, and he bets it's going to work. And it's all on him. He has been willing to take the risk, political or otherwise, that it will work and that people will reward him for it down the road.
PARKER: And so far, the markets have been muted. Right. We looked at him last night. There were a little bit parabolic when this first hit, but otherwise they've been mostly muted. And one note about that is just the fact that over the course of the year, whether it's liberation day, whether it's the reversal on some of the tariffs, et cetera. The markets kind of been in a lull now as well.
TODD: Steve Moore said this to me who's an advisor to the -- outside advisor. The only thing he listens to is not people. The markets.
HUNT: Yeah, the markets. Well, he does -- he does watch a lot of television.
TODD: Yes.
HUNT: All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, the former treasury secretary, Larry Summers will be here. What does he make of President Trump's attempt to fire the Fed governor?
Plus, Taylor Swift drops some news so big, even President Trump was asked to go on the record about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are engaged. And the world wants your reaction, sir.
TRUMP: Well, I wish them a lot of luck.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:22:57]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: The Federal Reserve's independence comes from a political arrangement between itself and the American public. Having the public's trust is the only thing that gives it credibility. And you, sir, are restoring trust to government. You are a weeding out the waste, fraud and abuse and the old ways of doing things are not good enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent telling the rest of the president's cabinet this afternoon that Trump is working to restore trust in the central bank. Bessent doing so without mentioning Lisa Cook, the board member who Trump said he was dismissing late yesterday. Cook's attorney now saying she plans to sue over that firing. Joining us now to discuss, former Clinton Treasury Secretary Larry
Summers, also the former director of the National Economic Council in the Obama administration.
Sir, thank you so much for being here. Always really appreciate it.
You, of course, heard what Scott Bessent just said there. I don't think it's a secret that Bessent may be in line to be the next chairman of the Federal Reserve. Trump, the president may have that be sooner rather than later. But big picture here, what do you think he's trying to accomplish with the firing of Lisa Cook? Is it really about Lisa Cook?
LARRY SUMMERS, FORMER TREASURY SECRETARY, CLINTON ADMINISTRATION: No, this is about the assertion of political control and intimidation. This comes in the same week when investigators from the FBI were sent to the home of a former national security advisor, when a wind company had a major project shut down, when a former political associate of the president was explicitly threatened by the president. And when much else has happened, it comes in the context of an unprecedented level of attack by the president against the Federal Reserve.
[16:25:04]
I don't understand how Secretary Bessent could believe that the president's demands that interest rates be cut to 1 percent, represents some kind of contribution to buttressing the Federal Reserve's credibility. There's a reasonable debate about what the right path of interest rates is. There's no serious observer who shares the president's view about 250 or 300 basis point cuts in interest rates.
This is based on, as best one can tell, a kind of enemies list, established by a regulator who at the FHA, Mr. Pulte, who seems to force the companies he regulates to reveal information that can be used to attack enemies of the president. Most recently, Lisa Cook. But before that, Senator Adam Schiff, before, and before that, the attorney general of New York.
So, this is really a very problematic, place. And markets haven't responded dramatically yet, but the response to this immediately after it happened was people did think that we were going to have easier monetary policy. And as a consequence, they thought we were going to have more inflation. And so long term interest rates rose and the dollar went down.
So, it's the kind of pattern that were not used to seeing in the United States. But that is seen all the time in emerging market, countries where there's questions about the credibility of institutions.
HUNT: Sir, we were discussing a little bit earlier the question of who actually has to follow through on the firing of Lisa Cook. And the question of whether that's actually Jerome Powell and whether that may set up a way for the president to ultimately fire Jerome Powell for cause. Can you give us any insight into how the presidents attempt to do this
might put Jerome Powell in a spot that the president could then use?
SUMMERS: I'm not a lawyer. I think it's important to recognize that whereas the deputy secretary of defense reports to the secretary of defense, members of the board of governors of the Fed do not in any sense report to the chairman of the Federal Reserve. They're each independently Senate confirmed, and each independently accountable for their conduct and behavior.
So, I don't think it's Mr. Powell's job to resolve this. I think it's Mr. Powell's responsibility to stand up for the rule of law. That means due process and considering accusations against an individual of the institution that he leads. But it's not for him to act with respect to these kinds of actions by the president.
This is of a piece with other efforts to fire people. I was encouraged by the Supreme Court decision several months ago, in which a sharp distinction was drawn between the Federal Reserve and regular executive agencies of the federal government in terms of limiting the president's power with respect to the Federal Reserve.
So, I think this will be seen -- we don't know all the facts. And so I don't want to rush to judgment, but this seems in terms of process, to have been a highly problematic action by the president from a legal point of view and from a prudential point of view, I think it surely contributes. Indeed, it's what the president said, and indeed it's what Scott Bessent, said in the clip you played contributes to a sense that were going to have political control of monetary policy.
And the general judgment has been that political control of monetary policy means less credibility. That means higher inflation expectations, and that probably means higher inflation and a weaker economy. And it also means that there's no other place for the president to go in terms of blame than himself if we have economic outcomes that none of us prefer.
[16:30:12]
So, I think this is a surprising and an imprudent action on the president's part.
HUNT: All right. Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, always grateful to talk to you, sir. Thanks very much for being here.
SUMMERS: Thank you.
HUNT: All right. Still to come here in THE ARENA, your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married. Ahead, how Taylor Swift announced her engagement to her lover.
Plus, as President Trump threatens to send the national guard into Chicago, he's also rolling out a new policy for prosecutors in the nation's capital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Anybody murdered something in the capital? Capital punishment. Capital -- capital punishment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:36:16]
HUNT: Some other breaking news -- the only breaking news we're actually following today. It's a love story and baby, she said yes. Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce are engaged. The superstar declaring Kelce the king of her heart. Sharing her engagement photos on Instagram, captioning the post, your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.
The last time we heard from Swift weeks ago on the Kelce brothers podcast, Taylor said she's been writing this love story and hoping this would happen since she was a teenager.
(MUSIC)
HUNT: And now she's going to stay, stay, stay.
CNN entertainment reporter Lisa Respers France joins us now.
Lisa, we're all obsessed with this take us through the love story. I mean, the launch. It's everything you would expect from just the actual. Such a superstar. The two of them have really choreographed everything perfectly, but it's impossible not to love it.
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: It is impossible, Kasie, because first of all, leave it to the cat lady to announce her engagement on national dog day. I mean, well-played.
HUNT: I thought it was national dog day.
FRANCE: It is national dog day. So very well played, Taylor.
And you know, she's very intentional with what she does. And so, to -- she knows that we need this joy right now with everything that's going on in the world. People are so incredibly excited. And I called this a couple weeks ago when she announced that she was going to be doing the podcast. I was like, when have we ever seen her announce music with her man next to her?
I was like, that's her husband. The Swifties wanted to argue with me, but I'm here to tell you, Swifties, I told you guys so. I told you --
HUNT: So, wait, do you think she was already engaged when they did the podcast?
FRANCE: I think she was. You know, people are like, oh, she just got engaged today. I'm like, no, no, no, no. That's -- this is a hard launch. But I don't think she would hard launch it on the day that it happened. HUNT: I have to say, I totally agree with you. And if I were her, I
would not have hard launched it on this. I mean, you want some time, right? I mean, any person would want some time.
Lisa, do you also think people are obviously talking about how this interacts with football season and Travis Kelce's day job? I kind of feel like they needed to do it with some distance from, you know, the Super Bowl as well. It makes a lot of sense to me that they would do it now and not later in the fall.
FRANCE: I agree, but you know, of course now this stirs up all the conspiracy theories that she's going to play the Super Bowl. Already. You're hearing this in the social media streets that she has got to be the Super Bowl performer.
But the NFL loves this because she is bringing her Swiftie fan base energy to football. So, you know, while the Brads, dads and Chads of the world get upset because they're like, do we really need all this Taylor Swift? Yes, we really need all this Taylor Swift, just like you really need all this Travis Kelce because it is a love story. And we love, love and we love the love from the two of them.
HUNT: Well, and one of the best parts of this too is just the Kelce family. She'll become part of the Kelce family. I will admit, Travis, great. Jason, I'm an Eagles fan, Jason Kelce is like my favorite Kelce brother by far. I'm a little biased on that.
I want to bring the rest of our panel in to talk a little bit about this.
Kate Bedingfield, I think you're a legit Swiftie. I don't know if it's just because you have a daughter --
BEDINGFIELD: I'm more legit. No, no, no, no, she gets it from me. I'm handing this down. I'm handing down the tradition.
HUNT: So what do you take away from today? I mean, this is a rock, by the way, can we show the rock? Because it's much bigger than the ring I wear on a daily basis. I love my engagement ring, but this thing is humongous. We'll get there.
Go ahead.
BEDINGFIELD: No, it is great. I mean, she has taken her fans on a journey through her entire life from the time she was a teenager. She has written about love, she's written about lost love. And so, I think you have a fan base behind her who's just so excited to see her have what she has told us for almost 20 years now she wants.
So -- and I will say when I heard Travis Kelce after it was after the super bowl in 2024, maybe it was the week of the Super Bowl in 2024. So they've been publicly dating for a few months. And he was asked, you know, every time he'd do a press conference he'd get asked 100 questions about her, and he would sit there and patiently answer. And he was asked, like, what have you learned this year? What have you learned about celebrity? And he said, I've learned that being famous worldwide is a lot different than being famous in Kansas City.
And when I saw him say that, I thought, this is the guy for her. This is the guy who under -- who's confident, who understands that her fame is on a whole other level. He's excited about it. I was pumped. So --
HUNT: Why are you laughing, Scott?
BEDINGFIELD: I think the joy radiating off of Scott Jennings. Do you see how excited he is?
HUNT: Come on.
JENNINGS: I know we robbed you of your joy last year, so I guess we got to move on to this now. I've never seen you happier to be a political commentator than you are right now. This is the happiest I've ever seen you on set. So, I'm happy for you.
HUNT: It would be very --
JENNINGS: Here's what I think.
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: -- to trash this.
JENNINGS: We're -- I'm just going to -- I think we're on panda watch now we. I'm just saying, I think the greatest contribution they could make to Western civilization at this point would be to have a bunch of babies and persuade all these people who mindlessly follow them to also have a bunch of babies.
BEDINGFIELD: Mindlessly. Why -- why the dig?
JENNINGS: That's what I think. We don't have enough babies. I just think they have a bunch of babies. It would help, you know, the birthrate.
BEDINGFIELD: She's written many songs -- she's written many songs --
HUNT: Scott, you are writing like a series of Mediate headlines right now.
BEDINGFIELD: She's written many songs about wanting children.
HUNT: Because -- yeah, I mean, look, I wish them the greatest happiness. If they want to have kids, but -- so you're saying basically you think the best thing they could do is for Taylor Swift to have a bunch of kids?
JENNINGS: Yes. I wish them well. I want them to have a bunch of kids. I want them to have an amazing life.
I'm, you know, a pro-life conservative. I want them to go out and have babies and populate the earth. That's our mission. That's human beings' mission on this planet, repopulate.
HUNT: I hope if that -- if she would like to have a baby --
JENNINGS: Have a bunch.
HUNT: -- I would love -- I mean, I'm sure the America would be thrilled for her for that.
JENNINGS: Yes.
HUNT: Chuck Todd, you have anything to contribute to this conversation?
(LAUGHTER)
TODD: Yeah, I'm just going to contribute. Look, I want to mock all those things, but my daughter would disown me. I consider myself a football fan. My daughter only figured out why she cares about football after all of this. But she's at the University of Miami now, so I'm going to put something on screen to see if we can make this go viral.
HUNT: Julian. Let's see if we can see. There it is.
TODD: She's already made this to try to get the University of Miami, various University of Miami. You know, the fact that the new album is green and orange, you don't understand, the Swifties in Miami believe there's this special bond.
BEDINGFIELD: I believe it.
TODD: So there, you know, this is this is what I had to wake up.
HUNT: Well, and I will say -- we're out of time. So unfortunately, we can't have the political version of this conversation. But we did show President Trump had very nice, well wishes for Travis and Taylor when in -- when he's on his social media, you know behind his this is people are a lot nicer in person than they are on the internet because he just says I can't stand her parentheses hate. You know, that's what he says online.
JENNINGS: And when did he say that?
HUNT: Great player, great guy. Now he says, I wish them lots of luck. I think she's a terrific person. Anyway, it's a contrast.
Lisa France, thank you. Really appreciate it. Have fun talking about this the rest of the day.
Our panel is going to be here in the next block.
Coming up next, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel joins us in THE ARENA to talk about the president's threat to deploy the National Guard to his city of Chicago.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:46:58] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: And what we are doing in the state right now is making sure that the president and those folks in Washington who are thinking about sending troops to the -- on the ground in a major American City is that they understand that no one wants them to come. We're doing our best to let them know. Also, if they decide to do it, you know, we're going to make sure and go to court about it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker making it clear today he intends to take the Trump administration to court if the president goes forward with his plan to send National Guard troops to Chicago to fight crime. Trump this afternoon, meanwhile, arguing that Democratic governors like Pritzker are making a political mistake by not working with him on his crime crackdown.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I think crime will be the big subject of the midterms and will be the big subject of the next election. If I were a governor, a Democrat, governor or mayor or anybody having to do, I'd call up President Trump. I'd say, President Trump, we need your help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right. Joining us now, former mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel.
Mr. Mayor, it's one of your many titles, but the relevant one today. Thank you so much for joining us.
The question I want to start with here, in terms of the midterm elections and how Democrats broadly should be taking this on, is does Donald Trump have a point? Is there danger for Democrats in not directly saying crime is a problem and they want to solve it, or is there a bigger danger in being seen by their supporters as not taking on the president in this case?
RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, the short answer, yes and no. Here's -- look, public safety and a sense of public safety is different and distinct from what the crime data shows.
And I would say, just flip it on what President Trump says, you want to work with us. Excellent. We've been waiting for a federal government. We need permanent police and more police. As somebody that did 100,000 community police officers during the '90s say, look, we're trying to recruit officers rather than pay for national guard that are in and out within a week.
Help us fund the recruitment effort. Help us fund the training efforts so we have a permanent police force and presence that's based in community policing that can actually build on the momentum we have. Two, we have an issue with carjackings. It's a little more persistent
than violent crime, burglaries and thefts that are all down, help by purchase the license plate readers. That would actually be instantaneously effective in that area. Kids are back in school.
We need funding for after school programs so they're not on the street when the school bell goes off. From more police on the beat to getting kids, guns and gangs off the street, there's a lot of things to invest in. Be a partner, not a problem.
And I do think in this overall area, and I would flip it back at the president, whether it's in redistricting or whether it's in Chicago, D.C. or maybe New York next, both of these trends, redistricting and calling the National Guard, they're all about division and distraction.
[16:50:01]
And that's what the president is doing when he actually people are looking for a national leader. It may be political, but that's not how you approach the problem. That's what I would say.
HUNT: Interesting. The current mayor of Chicago was on this morning on another network. I want to play a little bit of that exchange and just ask what your -- what your advice might be. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE SCARBOROUGH, MSNBC HOST: Would you also like to get federal funding to help put 5,000 more cops on the street in Chicago? Would that help drive down crime?
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D), CHICAGO: Well, look, policing by itself is not the full strategy.
SCARBOROUGH: Do you believe that the streets of Chicago would be safer if there were more uniformed police officers on the streets of Chicago?
JOHNSON: I believe the city of Chicago and cities across America would be safer if we actually had, you know, affordable housing.
SCARBOROUGH: I just need a yes or a no.
JOHNSON: Look, we are working hard to make sure that our police department is fully supported. I don't believe that just simply putting out an arbitrary number around police officers is the answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Mr. Mayor, how might you have answered that question?
EMANUEL: Well, look, I -- what I would say is what I -- and I really believe and I was is the policy. But having worked on the issue of public safety, more police on the beat, kids, guns and gangs off the street, all of those have a piece. There's an analysis which is not just police. It is -- and police
officers, any superintendent will tell you, we need after school programs. We need tougher enforcement against gangs and guns, and also the distribution of guns and how they're flooding cities.
So, to me, it is an overall strategy, but there's no doubt that police officers and again, I want to repeat somebody that led the effort to not only increase the size of the Chicago police department, but in the '90s helped cities with community policing and adding 100,000 community police officers, a permanent presence in the neighborhoods of the city of Chicago, backed up with after school funding, backed up with tougher enforcement on gangs and cracking down on drugs and guns, that comprehension does actually reduce crime, and it has shown.
HUNT: Do you --
EMANUEL: Take Baltimore. I would just say one other fact --
HUNT: Yeah, go ahead.
EMANUEL: -- is Baltimore is going to go down to 1968 level in shootings. It wasn't one thing. It's a combination of things that are constantly worked on to give people a sense that the streets are not in possession of the gangs, they're in possession of the neighborhood and the residents.
HUNT: Sure.
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: Do you think that the -- no. It's okay. Do you think the way that the mayor answered that question, though, is playing into the president's hands?
EMANUEL: Look, I think that I'm trying to solve a problem, and I think the mayor and his answer, and I think he did, you know, he has a superintendent by the name of Superintendent Snelling, who's doing an excellent job. I'm a little at a disadvantage because I have a practice as a mayor. I never criticized my predecessor.
HUNT: I understand I'm putting on the spot.
EMANUEL: I never criticized my successors. It's a tough job. So, yeah, you are putting me on that and I'm trying to dance as a former ballet dancer, away from answering your question.
HUNT: I appreciate your candor.
EMANUEL: I am trying to show you what a -- what a grand jete looks like on TV because I have a practice of that.
But here's the thing on a simple point is, a lot of folks in Washington who are far removed from fighting not only crime and violence, but giving a city and its residents a sense of public safety. It is not one thing. It's a combination of things over a long period of time. There's no doubt more often -- look, I think this idea of National
Guard is dumb. It's equally dumb to call for defunding the police. That is, those two things will go down as dumb and dumber. Okay? They're really stupid.
A permanent presence of increasing police force trained in community policing with good leadership, backed up with afterschool programs, mentoring programs, tougher enforcement against gangs and guns will get you the trick that you're looking for, for not only reduce violence, but increase sense of safety in the streets so residents can sit on their front stoop and not be shuttered behind closed doors and a lock and a double lock and a -- on a -- on that door because they're scared of their own neighborhood.
It's either going to think the streets are shooting gallery, or the residents have the freedom to have kids play out on the street, and that freedom. And the problem with what president Trump is doing, he's not asked anybody what to do. And you don't need a national guard. You need good funding for good things at work and have proven successfully across the country and then share them.
But the federal government is not trying to be a partner. They're trying to divide and distract. Let me give you a fact. One fact.
HUNT: You got 30 seconds.
EMANUEL: All right. A pound of hamburger today is $6.12. It's the highest it's ever been. Donald Trump want you to talk -- talk about something that has nothing, knows nothing about, which is public safety.
HUNT: All right. Rahm Emanuel, we're losing your signal at just the right time because we have to go to break.
[16:55:03]
Our thanks to the mayor. The rest of our panel, stand by.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right. Thanks to my panel. Really appreciate you guys.
And thanks to all of you at home for watching as well. If you missed any of today's show or any of our shows, you can always catch up listening to THE ARENA's podcast. Just go ahead, scan the QR code below. It's on your screen. You can follow along wherever you get your podcasts.
You can also follow the show on X and Instagram. We're @TheArenaCNN.
Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD".
And I have to say, Jake, I'm just enchanted by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. They're going to be together forever and always.
