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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Illinois Sues Trump Administration Over Deployment Of National Guard; Chicago Mayor Signs Order Creating "ICE-Free Zones"; Trump Takes Questions In The Oval Office. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired October 06, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:02]
LISA RESPERS FRANCE, CNN ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER: So, this can absolutely not be her last album. We're going to get plenty of more music from Taylor Swift.
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Maybe album 13 is all about the talk with mom.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Yeah.
FRANCE: It maybe --
SANCHEZ: Superstition, 13.
HILL: A lot of material there. Yeah.
SANCHEZ: Yeah.
Lisa Respers France, appreciate you. Thanks so much.
FRANCE: Thank -- thank you guys.
SANCHEZ: And thank you all for sharing your afternoon with us.
Thank you, Erica.
HILL: Always a pleasure, my friend.
SANCHEZ: We'll see you tomorrow?
HILL: I will be here tomorrow.
SANCHEZ: All right. You can tune in to THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT, which starts right now.
(MUSIC)
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Monday.
A battle between the White House and the states playing out on the streets of America's cities and in courthouses across the country. Today, the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago sued the Trump administration over its attempt to deploy the Illinois and Texas National Guard to Chicago to support immigration operations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation's cities.
Donald Trump's deranged depiction of Chicago as a hellhole, a war zone, and the worst and most dangerous city in the world, was just complete B.S.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: This new lawsuit mirrors a similar suit that was brought by the state of Oregon. Over the weekend, a Trump-appointed judge twice prevented the White House from deploying the National Guard to Oregon. The first order applied only to the Oregon National Guard, while the second applied to a National Guard from any state, and that order is set to remain in effect for two weeks. While the judge considers a final ruling, though the Trump administration has asked an appeals court to intervene.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: With all due respect to that judge, I think her opinion is untethered in reality and in the law. State and local law enforcement, and federal law enforcement should be working together. And it's a shame that we see in some cities across the country that their mayors are just simply refusing to cooperate because they don't like Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All of this back and forth comes amid very tense moments on the ground. Last night, protesters clashed with federal agents outside an ICE facility in Portland. Police say that two people were arrested there. And in Chicago, the Department of Homeland Security says that an armed woman was shot by a Customs and Border Protection officer after she struck his vehicle with her own.
This morning, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order establishing what he deemed ICE-free zones. He said his order will forbid the federal government from using city property as a staging or processing area for immigration operations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON (D), CHICAGO, ILLINOIS: The fact is, we cannot allow them to rampage throughout our city with no checks and balances. Nobody is above the law. If we break the law, you should be held accountable. If Congress will not check this administration, then Chicago will. I'm calling on this president to leave us the freak alone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Okay, let's get off the sidelines and head into THE ARENA. My panel is here.
"New York Times" journalist and podcast host Lulu Garcia-Navarro; CNN political director, Washington bureau chief, David Chalian; former Biden White House communications director Kate Bedingfield; and former Trump campaign adviser, Republican strategist David Urban.
On the left side of your screen, we're also going to welcome our text chain to THE ARENA. Weve got additional analysis coming in from some of our contributors.
So, take a look at that. But David Urban, you were laughing watching the mayor of laughing.
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I was laughing a couple of things. One, it's like, you know, there's a saying in the law, res ipsa loquitur. The thing speaks for itself. So, you have protesters wrestling and tussling with ICE officials, prohibiting them from doing their job. Exactly what the Trump administration is saying is occurring and why there needs to be federal presence. Federal troops there to help protect those ICE agents.
So, you just watch that video and you can see exactly why you need it. And then Brandon Johnson, the mayor, saying, we have to uphold the rule of law, but yet we're going to allow illegal immigrants to run free in our ICE-free zone city. There is a law that says if you cross the border illegally, it's a crime.
And, so you can't in one hand say, were going to uphold the law, in the other hand, say, well, certain laws were going to uphold. We think that that immigration stuffs kind of poo-poo and were not going to enforce it, but we will enforce this. So, I think that it's a joke. It's laughable.
HUNT: Kate?
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, but sending troops and sending the National Guard in to have these confrontations with protesters to try to create exactly the sort of theater that Trump is looking for to under to underscore the political argument he wants to make. Look, first of all, I think it's -- I think it's dangerous.
URBAN: The protecting ICE is what they're trying to do.
BEDINGFIELD: Well, but I but look, two things. One, I think first of all, we're talking about -- we're talking about the families of National Guard members talking about military families who are now being asked to have their sons or daughters, fathers, mothers sent in for this inappropriate use in these cities.
[16:05:01]
I think if you talk to, you know, guardsmen and their families, they'll say, you know, this isn't what we want to be doing with our time.
However, what I will give you is I do think the Democrats have to be careful, I know.
URBAN: Wait. Hold on. Say it again. Say it again.
BEDINGFIELD: What I will give you --
URBAN: Louder.
BEDINGFIELD: What I will give you, David Urban, I do think the Democrats have to be careful about making this argument solely on the grounds of making it seem like they're not concerned about reducing crime, and I think that voters will reject that. I think the way the National Guard is being used here is inappropriate. There's a really strong argument to be made that it's not legal. And again, there's a very compelling argument about how our military families are being treated in all of this.
But I do think Democrats have to be careful not to make it seem like they're not concerned.
URBAN: Just real quick on that, because I want to hog the panel. If the local police, if the state and local police were doing that, they would not -- if the city of Chicago police and the Portland police were helping defend the ICE agents and keeping them from being accosted, they wouldn't need the National Guard. I think that's the point. It's a -- it's a nub here.
HUNT: Big picture, David Chalian, and to the point Kate Bedingfield is making here. I mean, where are Americans right now? I mean, we know that this is a big part of why Donald Trump got elected. People wanted a more secure border. There was concern about the handling of immigration.
But also, I mean, the images that we're seeing are tough, you know, and people being zip tied in these apartments, children in some cases where -- I mean, I think who is on the right side of which line?
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, I think, broadly, if you look at a lot of the public opinion polling out there, what you see is support for the goal, not so much the tactics. Right. And that that I think is, is where the American people are on this, that you're right. I do think the American people are very much in favor of a strong border and in favor of telling people who are not here legally to leave the country. The American people are in favor of that, too.
The issue is, and this is where I think the Trump administration also has conflated. You said Democrats shouldn't sort of fall into the trap here of not seeming like you care about safety and crime. So, is this immigration enforcement and deportation, or is this fighting, crime- ridden cities? Because at times I feel like the message gets conflated and confused. Those are not necessarily the same issues, and I think that they get lumped together at times from the administration.
I do think what we're learning here, and I think we learned this throughout the entire term back to the Garcia case. I do think the tactics do matter with the American people. And so, if you get solely caught up in the goal, if you're the administration knowing that you have the American people on your side for a lot of this, you lose sight of the how matters.
HUNT: Lulu?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Has anyone looked at the Department of Homeland Security's X feed?
HUNT: Oh, the Governor Pritzker played a significant chunk at the press conference he held just now of some of the videos that have been on that feed.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I would urge people to go and have a look at that because I think it undercuts the message that this is about either fighting crime or immigration enforcement. I mean, there is a very worrying political message being sent with that feed, basically saying America is for Americans, people's fists in the air. It's resonant of darker periods in history that I think is troubling.
And I also think the bigger question around this is, what is the administration really after here? Because you can look at this and say, why is the administration at war with American cities? Why are they focused so much on sending military into cities that have not asked for it? While they are not perhaps occupied with other things internationally, or the cost of living at home or many other things that are important, they are very focused on these culture war issues. They are very focused on picking fights with Democratic cities.
And I think that there is a larger question here about what it is that they actually want out of this. And I do think that that particular feed gives us an answer.
URBAN: Yeah, I think the David Chalian earlier point, right. The campaign, if you watch the Trump campaign, when they ran, they were getting rid of criminal aliens, the bad people that everyone wants to get rid of, right? Gang members, criminal aliens, the bad, bad folks.
CHALIAN: The worst of the worst.
URBAN: The worst of the worst. And I think there's a -- there's a -- there's a -- there's a almost unanimous consensus to do that. Right. But what I think Americans see is, you know, people getting swept up in this who are, you know, they're working, they're paying taxes, they're working in hotels or busboys.
HUNT: So, the idea that this isn't affecting people that have lived in these communities for years and years, that --
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: And that -- and that's the disconnect, right? That's the disconnect that tugs at people's heartstrings. Because there's a question, even Trump said it himself, like, maybe we shouldn't send those people back who've been here working so hard. Right? And then he got a lot of pushback on that. That's the notion of some sort of a guest worker program, right?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, but what is ICE -- like, how are you going to control the excesses of ICE?
[16:10:03]
I mean, I'm quoting here from my publication, "The New York Times" in Chicago, agents have deployed tear gas with no warning, raided apartments and zip tied residents for hours in the middle of the night, handcuffed to city council member at a hospital after she asked to see an arrest warrant for a detainee.
These are serious, you know, sort of egregious overstep of what ICE should be doing. And so, the question becomes, are you going to just allow that to happen? Or is there a mechanism in place to say that's not right --
URBAN: Yeah, that erodes then the message of we want to get the bad guys, right? There's probably tons of support. It's an 80-20 issue, as the president says, right? Kicking out gang members and really criminal aliens. Everybody -- everybody's for that.
But then when you have these anecdotes of people, of citizens being detained, that erodes the effectiveness of the overall message of were here to be, you know, to crack down on immigration.
HUNT: Yeah. One thing that I want to bring into this conversation, actually, is just "SNL" over the weekend, because, of course, it was announced that Bad Bunny is going to play Super Bowl, which, of course, came up as he was a host. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A Trump adviser said ICE agents will attend the Super Bowl after Bad Bunny was announced as the halftime performer -- you know, to catch all those farm workers who can afford Super Bowl tickets.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Very funny. But also, says a lot. I mean, Kate Bedingfield, there's a reason why they're picking Bad Bunny to play the Super Bowl, right? Right. And it says one thing about our culture. And then you have the Trump administration essentially saying, yeah, were going to make that a target for ICE agents, which says something else about our culture.
What does it add up to?
BEDINGFIELD: Right. Well, and it goes a little bit to Lulu's point about the DHS X feed. I mean, when you have people like Stephen Miller out making these arguments that you know, are just very broadly anti- immigrant, that aren't -- that aren't targeted to we want criminals out and we want people who've broken the law but are very broadly anti-immigrant.
And to have them, you know, announce that they're going to send agents to this concert. I think it does call into question is the aim here actually a targeted effort at immigration enforcement, or is it an attempt at cultural division sowing fear, which is a big piece of the -- of the strategy here to sow fear among these communities? And, and I think that -- I think that is a very, very dangerous.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Can I -- can I just say something?
HUNT: Last word.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Bad Bunny, American. Puerto Ricans, American. Spanish, spoken here since well before Americas founding as a country, because Florida was actually, you know first brought in from the -- from the Spanish, you know, the Europeans, and they founded Saint Augustine.
So, to say that speaking Spanish is anti-American is ridiculous. To say that Bad Bunny is somehow a threat to America and Americans is ridiculous. All of this is actually intended to, you know, start these cultural war battles that are just completely manufactured.
HUNT: And let's just say, too, like the NFL is American, right? And designed to appeal to as many --
URBAN: Crack -- that's a Cracker Barrel moment with Bad Bunny. We'll see how it flips, right? This will be a Chalian analysis, right?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: No, excuse me. There's no Cracker Barrel moment with --
URBAN: I think Google Bad Bunny. I don't even know who he was until he got announced. I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
URBAN: That's a culture -- that's -- what I'm saying. That's culturally irrelevant I am. I don't know, the person is. So, but we'll see. I'm saying for the Super Bowl, it'll be --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: The Super Bowl, it's because you know why, they want someone like Bad Bunny, third most high streaming artist in the world. Also Latinos, they, you know, by a lot $4 trillion. Okay.
(CROSTALK)
URBAN: They play NFL games in Mexico City.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: This is not a cultural decision. This is money. They wouldn't do it for the -- for politics, okay?
HUNT: All right. We apparently -- we talk about Bad Bunny all day, but we do have to take a break.
I want to thank my friends in the text chain. Really appreciate your time, guys.
The rest of our panel is going to stand by.
Coming up here in THE ARENA, government shutdown day six. The Senate is back. Can they strike a deal? Plus, former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be here. The Windy City
leaders are fighting back against the presidents attempts to send in the National Guard.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRITZKER: Trump and the thuggery that his agents have brought has actively made us less safe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:18:34]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
We're continuing to follow the unfolding legal battle over the Trump administration's moves to deploy the National Guard to Portland and Chicago. As Illinois sues to block the deployment, the mayor of Chicago has declared, quote, ICE free zones across the city to prohibit federal immigration enforcement from using any city-owned property in the Chicago operations. That move, of course, the White House pushing strongly against.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: What is the right term to describe a local official declaring a no go zone for ICE? Would you tolerate it for FBI, ATF, DEA? No, you would not. But there is an effort to delegitimize the core function of the federal government of enforcing our immigration laws and our sovereignty. It is domestic terrorism. It is insurrection. And no amount of insane, hyperventilating lies from Pritzker or Johnson or any other Democratic official will change our minds on that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Okay. Joining us now to discuss, hopefully without hyperventilating, is CNN senior political and global affairs commentator, the former mayor of Chicago, among many other titles, Rahm Emanuel.
Rahm, thank you so much for being here.
Let's just start here, right.
RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: Stephen Miller says that what Johnsons doing creating these ICE- free zones is domestic terrorism. That's obviously one extreme. I'm interested in your reaction to that.
But also, whether you think that this is politically smart move by the mayor as well, because it does seem like there should be something in between these two things.
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EMANUEL: Look, crime and public safety are serious issues being dealt unseriously by the White House. There is no mayor across the country that would not welcome the federal government to be a partner in adding more police on the street or getting kids, guns and gangs off the street.
But at no time from Los Angeles to Boston to Portland to Chicago, has the White House or the federal government said, how do we partner with you? What are the resources you need? Where is the help that you need in reducing crime?
There's a strategy to reduce it. More cops on the beat, kids, guns and gangs off the street. But they've never asked that. This is an action by the White House in search of a purpose or reason or logic. Four weeks ago, it was about crime. This week it's about ICE agents. They've always wanted to do this.
Now, you're asking me about what the mayor announced today. You know, when I was mayor, I said that Chicago would be a Trump-free zone. And they stayed out of Chicago I do think not because I said it, but because it was not a welcomed action here.
This is something else. The White House is trying something else here in that case. But every mayor would welcome the federal government in a partner to increase public safety and reduce crime.
At no time did the White House say or call the conference of mayors and say, how do we help? Where do we partner? What are the resources you need? And the mayors are the closest to the ground, understanding what they need.
HUNT: So this obviously, we were talking on the panel a second ago about what is this really about? Is it about ICE? Is it about crime in cities? It does seem to be conflating quite a few you know, touch points for Republican voters. I mean, what do you think the White House is trying to do right now? What is the point of all of this?
EMANUEL: Well, I mean, that gets back to something I said earlier, which is the White House four weeks ago was about crime. Today, it's about protecting ICE agents. This was an action in search of a purpose of logic or reason behind it. They've always wanted to do this and they never decided which was the basically headline or kind of the banner in which they would fly under.
And so, the action is here to try to basically exactly, you know, take over quote, unquote cities, make them, as the president announced the enemy within. And I do want to say something ancillary on this case, you know, right now around the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the National Security Council, there's a draft for the national defense strategy. The White House has to issue it in two months.
Is that defense strategy be the first one ever that says the enemy within is American cities, that they're on par for our security threat with China, Iran, weapons of mass destruction, or Russia. And if it is, that's going to be unprecedented. If it isn't, it's going to show and reveal that this is all a lie and all performative, because American cities are not the enemy. Americans are not the enemy.
We all have enemies outside of America. We have some threats internally, but not in your cities, because they're cities and because they vote for Democrats. And I think that's -- and you know, the irony.
(CROSSTALK)
HUNT: Sir, hold on one second. I'm sorry. We have to dip in live to listen to the president. Let's listen.
REPORTER: -- response to that. Is that true?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, it's not true. He's been very positive. He's been very positive on the deal. Everybody is. I think every nation is.
We have just about every nation working on this deal and trying to get it done. Something that you could say 3,000 years, if you look at it in certain ways, you could say centuries, but this is a deal that incredibly, everyone just came together. They all came together.
No, Israel has been great. They've all been good, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Did the negotiations -- do you have any red lines in terms of Hamas disarming and whatnot, or are there --
TRUMP: No, I have red lines. If certain things aren't met, we're not going to do it. But I think we're doing very well, and I think Hamas has been agreeing to things that are very important.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: The government shutdown -- Mr. President, if the vote today fails in the Senate, will that trigger layoffs.
TRUMP: It could. At some point, it will. And you know the Democrats are the ones that started this. And if you think about it, it's about health care to a large extent. It's about we want great health care for people. We don't want to give the money away to other people that come pouring into our country.
And they've already poured it because nobody's coming into our country. Now we have the border totally stopped. In fact, numbers were just announced again. We're at another zero, so we have zero for four months in a row, zero people coming into our country illegally. That's a pretty good number.
I'm not sure even I can believe that. Doug, if you want to know the truth. Zero. We went from millions of people to zero, but it's pretty close to that number. And we the way you stop them is not to give away, not to announce that you're giving everybody free health care, free this or that.
But what that does is it affects the American people because the American people are unable to get good health care. Obamacare has been a wreck, as you know. And to do that, we have to keep it propped up and keep -- do the best you can with it.
[16:25:01]
It's a mess, but things are -- a lot of things are going on in that, you know, we talk about Hamas and we talk about negotiations that we have going on right now. We have a negotiation going on right now with the Democrats that could lead to very good things. And I'm talking about good things with regard to health care.
REPORTER: Are you speaking with Democratic leaders? What kind of negotiations?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to say that. I don't want to say that. But we are speaking with the Democrats, and some very good things could happen with respect to health care.
REPORTER: Would you make a deal with them on the ACA subsidies?
TRUMP: If we -- if we made the right deal, I'd make a deal. Sure.
I mean, you have right now subsidies. You have subsidies. That's the problem with Obamacare. The subsidies are so much, it's billions and billions of dollars is being wasted. And we can have a much better health care than we have right now.
And we're talking to them. I mean, I'm not saying that's going to happen because this is also been going on not for 3,000 years, but it's been going on for a long time. But yeah, we're talking to the Democrats.
REPORTER: -- who's working to make a deal with them on --
TRUMP: I'd like to see a deal made for great health care. Yeah, I want to see great health. I'm a Republican, but I want to see health care much more so than the Democrats.
REPORTER: -- on all of this, as you know, the American people are experiencing a lot of pain with any kind of government shutdown. And while you're dealing with Democrats and of course, Republicans are standing their ground, what is your message to the American people who may encounter some of this pain and despair?
TRUMP: Yeah.
REPORTER: How do you get them --
TRUMP: Well, up until now, there hasn't been a great deal of pain. There could be a great deal of pain, but up until now there hasn't been. I will say this just hang in there, because I think a lot of good things are going to happen. It's all I can say. I mean, I think a lot of good things could happen, and that could also pertain to health care.
REPORTER: Mr. President, I have seen a surge in attacks on ICE agents across the country, including the shooting in Dallas and over the weekend in Chicago. We saw 10 cars boxing in on ICE agents and another one ramming into an ICE vehicle.
TRUMP: Yeah.
REPORTER: I have heard Secretary Noem saying that some of these attackers are actually organized and they're planning to ambush these officers.
TRUMP: Right.
REPORTER: What are the consequences?
TRUMP: Very severe. We're going to have very severe -- we're going to find out who's going after our federal agents. So, when you look at Chicago, they've had probably 50 murders in the last six or seven months, eight months.
Many, many people shot like 30, 40, 50 people shot didn't die, but they've been shot. It's like a war zone. And then I listened to the governor, and the mayor get up and say how they have it under control. They don't. It's probably worse than almost any city in the -- in the world.
You can go to Afghanistan, you can go to a lot of different places. And they probably marvel at how much crime we have. Then you go to Memphis, where we are right now. Now, it's just like in Washington -- Washington, D.C. right now. You people know better than I do because you have to live right inside.
And so many of the press have come to me. They've said, I can't believe it. Its changed so much. We have a safe city in Washington. Memphis will very soon have a safe city.
Chicago can be a very, very safe. It's going to be very safe. But Chicago is going to be very safe.
And you say, why is it that a governor wouldn't accept free help from regardless? I mean, whether it's National Guard or the military or anybody? I mean, if women are raped and beaten and knocked to hell, and the same with men where they're being shot all over the place in large numbers. I mean, we had a week in Chicago where 11 people were murdered and 38 people were shot.
And then we have a governor get up and say, oh, it's safe. We can handle it. He can't handle it.
He's an incompetent guy. That's why they throw him out of the family business. They threw him out. I knew the family business very well, and they threw him out. And now he's a governor and he should say we'd love to have a safer place. Chicago's a great city, potentially.
You know, I told you, the head of the Union Pacific railroad said, sir, save Chicago. It's a great city. It's going to be lost if you don't do it. We have no choice but to do this. And when judges give us rulings that, you know, you don't have to do it. Portland is -- is on fire. Portland's been on fire for years, and not so much saving it.
We have to save something else because I think that's all insurrection. I really think that's really criminal insurrection. So, I appreciate the question. These are unsafe places. We're going to make them safe. So, you see what's going on in Memphis. It's not pretty.
But you know what? We're doing a pretty job because it's going to be a very safe place in a little while. And the people of Memphis are so happy that we're there, and the people of Chicago.
So, you have black women with MAGA hats on in Chicago, all over the place. They want the guard to come in or they don't care who comes in. They just want to be safe. And they really don't care.
You know, there was one woman. She was great today. She said, you know what? I don't care if it's a National Guard, the Army, the Marines, the Air Force.
[16:30:03]
I don't care who comes in as long as we're safe.
And that's the way most of the public feels. We're going to make Chicago really great again. And we're going to stop this crime. Then, we're going to go do another one, and we're going to go city by city. We're going to have safe cities.
And it was so great that we started with our nation's capital. One of the worst. I mean, so many people every week somebody was killed. They'd come from Iowa, they'd come from Indiana.
They want to see the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln memorial. They want to see something, and they get shot. And you'd call their parents. I'm sorry, but your son is dead. And they go, what do you mean he's dead? He came to Washington, D.C.
Not anymore. That's not happening anymore. We have a safe place. We have a safe capital. It's as safe as we have, probably almost just about in the country.
And if you look back six months ago, seven months ago, this was a death trap. You look back during the Biden. I mean, what they did, how badly they managed things and almost all of these cities, most of these cities are Democrat run. And we don't care, Democrat, Republican. We're going to make them safe.
So, we have to save Chicago. It's very important. And you can't have a governor getting up and saying it's good when 11 people were shot over a weekend.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: What?
REPORTER: The Insurrection Act, under what conditions or terms would you --
TRUMP: Well, I'd do it if it was necessary. So far, it hasn't been necessary. But we have an Insurrection Act for a reason. If I had to enact it, I'd do that.
If people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors we're holding us up. Sure, I'd do that. I mean, I want to make sure that people aren't killed. We have to make sure that our cities are safe and it's turning out.
And we started with D.C. It's been so successful. Think of it. People wouldn't go to restaurants. The restaurants were closing. We were losing a lot of restaurants, as you all know.
And now restaurants are opening and they're thriving. And I went two weeks ago, and it was great. I'm going to go again. I felt very safe, very safe.
Forgetting about guards and Secret Service, I would have gone. It would have been very safe. D.C. is a great and look at the cleanliness of D.C. Look at how it's clean. You don't have tents all over the place. We had parks where you couldn't even walk through the park.
You had people from tents and they were violent people. Some of these people were violent people.
We have a great safe capital again. And if you look at it, in six months from now, it will be the most beautiful anywhere in the world. It's being cleaned, the graffiti is all gone now. The tents are all gone. It's -- we have a capital that you can be proud of, but it'll only get better with time.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Tomorrow, October 7th, the two-year anniversary of the original Israeli attack. You expected Gaza until tomorrow or any sort of hostilities --
TRUMP: I think we're going to have it soon. I think we're going to have a deal. I -- look, I -- it's a hard thing for me to say that when for years and years, they've been trying to have a deal on Gaza, but -- I mean, literally for centuries, okay, if you really think about it, but we're going to have a Gaza deal. I'm pretty sure, yeah.
REPORTER: You talked about the talks.
TRUMP: Well, I'm the one that got the hostages back. Remember that? You know? I'm the one that --
REPORTER: Was going to ask you that.
TRUMP: Yeah, I got them back.
REPORTER: Israeli citizens are celebrating what you've accomplished in this deal.
TRUMP: Yeah.
REPORTER: Should it come through? There would be a lot of celebration on the streets of Israel. The hostages' families. Have they been in contact with you with regard to this deal that could happen?
TRUMP: Yeah. They're so -- they're so happy about it. It's like they can't breathe. One said, I can't breathe. You know, it's very sad because you have hostages and you have people that are no longer living, but the parents.
And I've said this to you many times, the parents want the bodies of their boy back. The bodies of, you know, their loved one back. In most cases, they're young men and they're dead.
And there's probably 32 or so about that number. Nobody knows exactly what the number is. They want that body back as much as if their son were alive. I've -- and I've been with them. You know, many have come to the White House, to the Oval Office. I've -- I've been with many of the people that I got released we have a fantastic group working on it. Steve Witkoff has been amazing.
Jared -- I have Jared. I took Jared out because Jared's a very -- you don't find anybody more capable. And we have -- we have the A-plus team working on it.
I think we're -- I think we've made tremendous progress. And yeah, the people of Israel, the people of Israel want it to happen. But the people related to hostages -- I mean, you see, in Israel, tens of thousands of people, they really want the hostages back, and they really want things to end.
[16:35:03]
And I think Hamas now has been -- all I can say is they've been fine. They've been fine. I hope it's going to continue that way. I think it will. I really think we're going to have a deal.
We have a really good chance of making a deal, and it will be a lasting deal. We want to have peace. This is beyond Gaza. Gaza is a big deal. But this is -- this is really peace in the Middle East.
And the amazing thing is we have every Arab country, every Muslim country, we have every country surrounding. They all want.
I spoke with President Erdogan of Turkey. He's fantastic. He's been pushing very hard. He's a very powerful guy. And he's been pushing very, very hard to get this deal done. And Hamas has a lot of respect for him. They have a lot of respect for Qatar. They have a lot of respect for UAE and Saudi Arabia.
We have -- everybody is on our side to get this deal done. There's never been anything like it. Nobody's ever seen it. There's always been like 80 percent of them don't want something done.
I think virtually, we haven't had a single a very strong signal, as you know, from Iran. They'd like to see this done.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Yes.
REPORTER: Mr. President, Governor Abbott offered up the Texas National Guard to you.
TRUMP: Oh, it's good.
REPORTER: Have you had any other conversations with other red state governors?
TRUMP: Yeah, I have. They're willing to offer. Every one of them is willing to offer whatever we need. We thank Governor Abbott of Texas.
Every one of the red state, as you call them, red state governors, is willing to give whatever we need because they want our agents protected. You know, these ICE agents have a tough job. They have to go in and get, in many cases, stone cold criminals, hardened criminals, longtime criminals and every -- essentially Republican governor has offered up whatever we need. And some Democratic governors also.
Daniel?
REPORTER: Yeah. Mr. President, thank you. A quick question on the subject of the order. The Biden administration previously speaking, they shut down Alaska for business. You have reversed that, reversed it on day one. You opened it up, going after all the critical minerals.
This mission of yours, and Secretary Burgum, Secretary Wright, to boost our own independent production of critical minerals.
TRUMP: Well, it's necessary, right?
REPORTER: How important that is over the next four years, sir?
TRUMP: Well, it's very necessary. You know, in the past, we were able to go to other countries, buy whatever we want, but all of a sudden, if those countries are hostile and by the way, China hasn't been.
We've made deals with China. You know, they approved the TikTok deal. Everyone said you'd never get the TikTok deal approved. They approved it.
And we have great people buying it. American, big, strong American companies are buying it. The most prestigious companies there are actually, and they're going to make sure everything's good. But President Xi was great. He approved it.
So I'm not saying hostile, but it's good to have our own minerals and you know, we created tremendous value by creating a road. We built a road that only we can do because we have the rights to do it, number one, and we have the power to do it. And so, we build a road that's over 200 miles long through a very
beautiful area of the world. Actually, it's incredible when you look at it. It's incredible. But a rough area from the standpoint of building. So, we get a road done. And with that, we unleash billions and billions of dollars of wealth.
It's pretty amazing when you think of it. And it's wealth that we need if we're going to be the number one country, you know, we're number one now with A.I., you probably read we're beating everybody with A.I. at levels that nobody ever thought even possible. And one of the reasons we are is because of energy.
So, our grid is old and tired, like most grids are. They get old with time. You know, the older you are, the older the grid gets, right? But I've allowed the people building A.I. or other plants, other types of plants, but A.I. in particular because they need so much electricity, I've allowed them to build their own power. And, it's been amazing.
They're building massive plants, and with the plant, they're building their own electricity. They've become a utility in a sense. I said, maybe you'll do better with the utility than you do with the A.I. I don't know, but we're letting them build their own electricity, so we don't have to worry about the grid. We don't have to worry about anything, and they're going to build it in such a way that if they have excess capacity, they're going to put it back into the grid.
It's pretty amazing. So when they build, we're giving them permits to build their own electric power plants. And it's incredible when you see what they're doing. And because of that and other things that we're doing, we're leading every country. Nobody's even close to us with A.I.
And A.I. seems to be the big thing. I don't know, I can't tell you that. There are a lot of people building and a lot of people are -- have high stock prices because of A.I. So a lot of people think its great stuff, and I think its great stuff. I look at it, it's amazing what it can do.
In terms of medical, in terms of medical costs, in terms of knowledge, it's basically information and information at a level that nobody thought possible before.
[16:40:09]
So, we'll see. But they're building plants where you saw the one overlay that I did where in this case, it's Meta. One of their plants is essentially the size, almost the size of Manhattan. And that's a building. You know, it's a building that covers Manhattan. So it's big stuff, and nobody's even close to us. We're leading A.I. by so much.
(CROSSSTALK)
TRUMP: Go ahead please.
REPORTER: Since the start of the administration, a lot more Americans wanting to join ICE. And as we're seeing more attacks on them right now, what's your message to rank and file ICE agents who are trying to do their jobs, but facing a 1,000 percent increase in attacks?
TRUMP: I love your questions, you know? I like you. So, who are you with?
REPORTER: I'm with MTV.
TRUMP: Very good.
REPORTER: The one who got mugged.
TRUMP: You were the one. That's what I thought. You got mugged. You're not getting mugged anymore. She was really -- you're lucky to be with us. With that deal that that happened. I know all about that. Not anymore though. You feel a different world out there, right?
REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE) now.
TRUMP: Oh, good. Well, you're safe now. You're not. Nobody's going to be hurting you in any way.
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President.
TRUMP: OK, thank you very much.
REPORTER: Mr. President, the Supreme Court today.
TRUMP: Thank you. So, the bottom line on your question, we're just going to make things real safe. We're going to make -- we're going to have a country that you can be proud of, not a country that you read about every day where somebody gets mugged from behind or hit over the head with a baseball bat. Those people aren't with us any longer.
Yeah, please. Thank you very much.
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President.
On today's call with Lula from Brazil --
TRUMP: Yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: -- considering lowering tariffs.
TRUMP: Well, I had a great talk.
HUNT: All right. We have been listening to President Trump taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office about a wide variety of topics. But I do want to pull out one in particular that we heard near the beginning of his remarks, and that was what he had to say about what it may take to end the government shutdown.
And David Chalian, I know this really stood out to you because he's talking about health care and how do we get out? What did you hear in that? CHALIAN: Yeah, I mean, two things here. One, just on the topic of the
shutdown. When he was asked about it, I think we got real insight into his headspace. He was not punching Democrats in this moment. He was actually trying to leave space for conversations.
He said that he wouldn't name them. He didn't say the leadership.
HUNT: He's more of Art of the Deal then.
CHALIAN: But he's right. A little more art of the deal here. He said, we're talking.
URBAN: Everybody loves healthcare.
CHALIAN: Talking to Democrats. And that he -- I mean, he literally said at one point. I'm a Republican, but I want to see health care. Like he's separating himself from his party, understanding where his party is viewed by the American public on the issue of health care. It's why Democrats have chosen this as the fight, because they understand, as does President Trump, the popularity that they have on this issue.
And he's looking to make a deal. Now, Kasie, what we don't have is he didn't say, yes, I will make a deal before -- you know, in order to end the shutdown, whether, you know, like he didn't say, who's talking, what the contours of that would be. All of that is still to be worked out. But he talked about the need to actually keep subsidies down, deal on health care. He wants to find a deal on health care.
And it was the -- in the context of being asked about the shutdown, I thought we just got our first sort of look at a potential off ramp here, a path to an off ramp that we have not seen from either side in this.
HUNT: Well, and let's be realistic, everyone, especially in the Republican Party, is looking for that intangible sign from President Trump about where he is, where he wants them to go. Does he want them to find a way out? How do you think Democrats are playing their hand right now?
BEDINGFIELD: So, look, I think Democrats have the upper hand on two key points here, which I think actually Trump sort of in a way, just acknowledged by making this statement. One, they have the upper hand substantively on the issue of these health care subsidies, which are -- have like 71 percent popularity. If you look at the --
HUNT: Basically, people don't want to pay more money for their health care, which makes sense.
BEDINGFIELD: Correct, people don't want to see their health care costs go up. So, Democrats are -- have the upper hand there. They also have the upper hand on this message of Republicans are refusing to come to the table and compromise.
And so, I think, you know, if what Trump sort of just laid out there starts to materialize as a path forward, I think he's acknowledging both of those things. And so, it's going to be incumbent on Democrats to make sure that they are messaging hard as a potential if, a potential solution. That's a big if because Republicans got to come to the table.
But if they start to move forward, then Democrats are going to have to work to make sure that they don't let the Republicans flip this around and own whatever solution.
URBAN: I mean, you saw. Speaker Johnson, I don't know if it's today or yesterday talking about how the speaker sent the House home. So, nobody messes up and says something they're not supposed to. But the speaker said, look, we've got.
Well, I mean, they didn't make a mistake, but the speaker has got this exactly correct. You know, this health care doesn't kick in for another month until November. So, there's a lot of leeway. There's -- checks are going to really not, they're going to stop going out on this Friday I think is the first payment.
So, there's going to be -- the Democrats are going to get pressure is going to get ratcheted up. If you see some furloughing going on and some cutting of the federal workforce, right?
[16:45:06]
So, there will be a lot of pressure on Democrats come Friday. There's still a long time between these health care, between the increases in health care come about November. So, I think Republicans still have a little bit of control right now. This messaging by Trump that David just pointed out, I think is very significant and creates space for negotiation. And I think Republicans can end up winning on this at the end of the day.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, I just don't think it's good for the administration to have this shutdown be prolonged, not only because they're also looking at the economy. And frankly, the economy is sending some pretty serious signs that it is not doing well. And so, at the end of the day, who people blame is fungible.
I mean, we see this all the time. It's very thermostatic, right? People blame people for different things depending on what they're going through with their life. But writ large, nobody likes it. And it feeds into a narrative that I think the Trump administration is running away from a little that things at the moment do not feel very steady when it comes to the economy.
URBAN: Get it straight. Listen, if our government is closed, it's failing, right? If we're not open for business, the government is failing.
BEDINGFIELD: Well, and right now, people are blaming Republicans for the shutdown. I mean, the majority of respondents --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That could change.
(CROSSTALK) BEDINGFIELD: It can change.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And that's what I'm saying. It could change.
HUNT: Hold on.
BEDINGFIELD: Ratchets up on them.
HUNT: Rahm Emanuel is still with us.
Rahm, I want I want you to weigh in here on this debate that has been playing out here about whether that was an opening that Donald Trump gave and what the politics are that may have him in that place on the shutdown.
EMANUEL: Yeah. So, look, I take one step back before you began here. The fact is, the Democrats had a risk that they would own the government shutdown. And I think the way the Trump White House and Trump specifically handled this, not only did it mitigate the risk for the Democrats, the public already sees the Republicans and Trump specifically as the cause for the shutdown.
So, the downside for the Democrats was negated. The upside for the Democrats and the downside for the White House, and just acknowledged by the president's remarks, was on a messaging point about health care. The Democrats had the upper hand.
And I do think that a sharper message here would be you just wrote a hot check to Argentina to bail them out for $20 billion, and you can't find 20 million Americans health care support? And I think the Democrats have an upper hand on health care. And the president knows it and knows it from the meeting.
And I think the Democrats face none of the downside on the government shutdown. And they have all the upside on the health care argument. And the president knows that, which is why he's trying to separate himself right now.
HUNT: All right. Fair enough. Rahm --
EMANUEL: These are very soft discussions, probably at this point.
HUNT: Yes, indeed for sure.
Sir, thank you very much for hanging with us. I really appreciate your time today.
EMANUEL: Thank you.
HUNT: We'll see you soon.
All right. Coming up next here, the disturbing text messages suggesting a colleague should be shot that are now upending the Virginia's attorney general's race. We're going to get reaction from Virginia's incumbent attorney general, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:52:25]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: "The Washington Post" confirms Jay Jones sent texts that imagined shooting the Republican speaker of the House. It's hard to believe, but it's true. Jay Jones confirmed that he hoped an opponent's children could die to advance his political agenda. Can you trust Jay Jones to protect your children?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Virginia's Republican attorney general hitting his opponent, the Democrat Jay Jones, in a new ad over the controversy that has exploded and roiled what was, as of last week, a tight race to be the state's attorney general. Newly resurfaced text messages from three years ago show that the Democratic candidate, Jay Jones, had previously suggested a Republican colleague be shot.
And in text messages sent to Republican Virginia delegate Carrie Coyner and obtained by CNN, Jones wrote the following about Todd Gilbert, who at the time was the Republican speaker of the House of Delegates. Quote, "Three people, two bullets, Gilbert, Hitler and Pol Pot. Gilbert gets two bullets to the head, put Gilbert in the crew with the two worst people, you know, and he receives both bullets every time".
Jones then went on to say that Gilbert and his wife were, quote, breeding little fascists.
In a statement, Jones told CNN that he had reached out to apologize to Gilbert directly and that he is, quote, embarrassed, ashamed and sorry and takes full responsibility.
My next guest is the Republican attorney general of Virginia, Jason Miyares, who is running for reelection against Jay Jones.
Mr. Attorney General, thanks very much for being on the show.
JASON MIYARES, VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it.
HUNT: Obviously, the content of these messages extraordinarily disturbing. And I want to start with your reaction there. And specifically, do you think that Jay Jones should bow out of the race for attorney general?
MIYARES: Well, this is what I would say -- as attorney general, my job is as a top prosecutor in the state is to stop violence, and to protect victims. Doesn't matter whether you're a Republican, Democrat or independent.
I can't imagine somebody seeking this job. That one has never been a prosecutor in their life. But more importantly, has this mindset where they're actually imagining or advocating for violence. HUNT: And to give you context of what this text messages were, this was a text message exchange with a colleague about a colleague, and he was upset that there were Republicans that had said nice things at a funeral of a Democratic colleague, a former member of the assembly, Joe Johnston. He was upset at this. He actually said he wanted to piss on the graves of his political opponents, and he wanted, as you noted, to put two bullets in the head of Todd Gilbert, the speaker of the House.
[16:55:06]
Now, set politics aside. That's an incredibly dark place. But what is even more disturbing is he was called out contemporaneously. He was said then if you look at the text exchange, this is not acceptable. And he actually doubled down, and he even said when he was challenged, listen, you want to see Todd Gilbert's children die in the arms of Jennifer, his wife. He said, yes.
That should make all of us ponder, because what is so bothersome for me is that he's met Todd's children. At the time, they were only two and five years old. He would bring them to the assembly.
This was not some imaginary fantasy. This -- these were real people. These were real children. And the idea that you would seek this office to be the top prosecutor and say those things about a colleague, someone you've worked with, about the children that you've met -- I view this as wholly disqualifying. I view this as time when you have such political violence in this country and in this rhetoric, I think it is solely disqualifying, because when I have met with the victim of a violent crime, Kasie, I've never asked them whether they're Republican or Democrat.
And I can tell you, I've met with parents that have lost a child. There is no cry like the cry of a mother that has lost their child. It sticks with you, it haunts you. And it tells me that one, Jay has never been a prosecutor. He's never met with those victims. And it's simply disqualifying to say that about somebody you've worked with that you know, you've met his wife, you've met his children.
I think it's a real inflection point of what our politics are going to be in Virginia moving forward. And I think he has disqualified himself from ever serving in this position.
HUNT: So, you say he's disqualified himself, but does that mean you think he should drop out of the race?
MIYARES: Listen, that's a question the Democratic Party is going to have to reach that conclusion. They're going to have to reach that conclusion. Do they want somebody with these types of violent rhetoric? Running for this office?
HUNT: The president did call for him to drop out, actually, of the United States, Donald Trump.
MIYARES: I know the president has, but the Democratic Party has to make this decision. I mean, think about this -- if someone was applying to be a line attorney in the attorney general's office or a criminal deputy, or even serving in a governors cabinet, and it turned out these messages came out, they would not be hired. And so, that's a real question.
Well, if you want to hire somebody that has said this, that had talked about the violent death of children, of someone that you knew, then why would you say he's qualified to be the top prosecutor? I think it's important to note there is a sign in my office in the attorney general's office. I see it every day when I go in the office. It's a quote from Thomas Jefferson. And it is this -- I have never found a difference of opinion in politics, philosophy or religion as cause to withdraw from a friend.
It is a reminder that I see every day in this role, that even a difference of opinion on politics doesn't mean you withdraw with a friend, much less imagine putting two bullets in their head. I do think this is an inflection report.
I think it's a time of choosing. In Virginia, we talk about the Virginia way. Obviously, the sense of civility and decency that I think is so important. And I do think that now is on the ballot. This is not a right versus left issue. I do view this as a right versus wrong issue.
HUNT: Sir, one -- one of the reasons I wanted to talk to you today is that, of course, this is a national debate that we have been having about political violence and the depths to which our country has fallen in terms of seeing violence come up more regularly. And part of that conversation has been about where is the line for threatening speech?
You are the top law enforcement officer in Virginia. Do you think that these texts crossed a line into criminal threats or something that should be investigated from your position as attorney general?
MIYARES: Listen, I don't have jurisdiction over that section of the code making threats through electronic means. That would be a local commonwealth's attorney that would have to evaluate that and make those determinations. I just know how I've conducted myself.
I always viewed it the day I took my oath of office as attorney general. It was not to a political party or to a governor or anybody else. It was to defend the U.S. of Virginia Constitution and the laws of the state of Virginia. And as I've noted, I have never asked anyone that I have assisted with in my office any of the victims that I have met with, the moms that have literally lost children, those that have been the survivors of horrific sexual abuse or assaults. I've never asked them --
HUNT: Yeah.
MIYARES: -- hey, did you vote for me? I've never asked them or even cared. That's just they're human beings. I don't care about your political persuasion. That is my mindset.
A wise marine and a dear friend once shared with me. He said, listen, if you go to Arlington national cemetery and you see those crosses and those Stars of Davids, there's not an R or a D on anyone's tomb.
In other words, somebody who disagrees with you politically has given their last full measure of devotion to this amazing country.
HUNT: Yeah.
MIYARES: Let's not forget that. Yeah, it's politics, we're going to have big debates, but we have a lot more that unites us than divides us.
HUNT: We do have a lot that unites us, sir.
(CROSSTALK)
MIYARES: It's really about the decency of what we want.
HUNT: I apologize. We're hitting the top of the hour. But I really want to thank you very much for your time --
MIYARES: No problem.
HUNT: -- Attorney General Jason Miyares.
And we do want to note, we extended an invitation to Jay Jones to come here on this program at any point. Weve not yet heard back, but he is always welcome.
Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD".
Hi, Jake.
