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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

Trump On How Far He'll Go To Get Greenland: "You'll Find Out"; Sources: DOJ Subpoenas At Least Five Minnesota Officials; Trump Gives Lengthy Speech Marking First Year In Office. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 20, 2026 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: For nearly two hours, speaking in the White House Briefing Room, taking a few questions from reporters, talking a lot at the beginning about what we just heard from Gregory Bovino, but also a number of important questions about NATO.

[16:00:06]

We're going to continue to follow all of these developments throughout the day. Kasie Hunt, of course, picks up our coverage at the top of the hour.

THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT 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 Tuesday, which has been a remarkable day here in Washington, even by the standards that Donald Trump has set for us over now, of course, this -- the anniversary of his -- the one year anniversary of his first term in office, as we are exactly one year into Donald Trump's second term.

Just moments ago, the president wrapped up a lengthy, winding news conference. He dedicated it to what he sees as his successes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But look at this. These are all -- each line is something that we did. Nobody did that before. And it's big stuff, too.

Look, we have the hottest country in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The hottest country.

In the world on nearly every issue, from the economy to immigration to foreign wars, President Trump declaring victory today. But at the same time that he was speaking, the markets were sliding amid fears that his threats to Greenland could ignite a trade war with Europe. In Minnesota, the Department of Justice was delivering subpoenas to at

least five state and local officials over their response to federal immigration operations there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I can show some of the people -- vicious, many of them murderers. These are all out of Minnesota, just Minnesota. Why wouldn't you want them removed? The reason is because these are insurrectionists that are doing this work. And you know, they're going to make mistakes sometimes. ICE is going to be too rough with somebody or, you know, they're dealing with rough people

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, let's get off the sidelines. Head into THE ARENA. My panel is here along with CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes.

Kristen, you were in the press briefing room for that marathon of an event. It kept going, it kept winding, it kept weaving. I think the president often calls the way that he sometimes will deliver public remarks. What our viewers saw there was just a little taste of what we got today. It seemed there was a new surprise at every turn.

Walk us through both what we heard from the president and also our sort of takeaways about what it like -- felt like to be in the room on this one-year anniversary.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kasie, it felt like he was airing his grievances, that he was frustrated and annoyed with his own team. At one point, he said that he didn't think that maybe he had a good public relations team around him. He said the reason that he had come out there at the one-year mark to talk was not because he wanted to, but because he essentially didn't feel like his accomplishments were being touted appropriately by the messengers that he had in place. So, he wanted to do it himself.

And as you showed there, he kind of ticking through those mug shots. It was clearly him trying to showcase what the administration has done that he again believes that his people aren't talking enough about. So, holding up those mug shots, talking about ICE in particular, saying all of the things that ICE has done and touting them as very successful, saying that he supports them.

At one point, this veered into a conversation about the Nobel Peace Prize, unsurprisingly, since it's something that he's been fixated on. He basically blamed Norway, the government, even though it is an independent commission that does the Nobel Peace Prize. But he said that Norway was behind it, and it was very clear that he felt snubbed, that he went through a long list of reasons why he should have received the Nobel Peace Prize, and why he seemingly was angry at the Norwegian government for the reason that he didn't get it.

Now, of course, one of the biggest topics of conversation right now as President Trump heads to Davos, where there are a slew of European leaders. While this conversation around Greenland is looming over everyone is where President Trump stands with NATO, this idea that he's been essentially threatening to put troops into Greenland, which is a territory that is controlled by Denmark, which is a NATO ally.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, I've done more for NATO than anybody, and I see all this stuff. But NATO has to treat us fairly, too. The big fear I have with NATO is we spend tremendous amounts of money with NATO, and I know we'll come to their rescue, but I just really do question whether or not they'll come to ours. You know, just -- I'm just asking. Just saying, right? You remember during the debate, just saying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Just saying something. We all used to say all the time, a remnant of times past, Kasie.

But going on, you know, when we were hearing from the president, it seemed as though he was almost kind of angry that people were not giving him enough credit on every front when it came to the world stage.

[16:05:04]

He talked a lot about the military actions, Venezuela, the strikes in Iran. He talked a lot about the economy. He specifically talked about gas prices, asking the room at one point, doesn't everybody just agree that gas prices are lower?

So, this was a pretty unprecedented, even for the president of the United States. But it was clear that -- I'm fairly certain he didn't come out there with any prepared remarks. He was holding up the same packet that he had given all of us. All of the reporters had gotten a packet that said something along the lines of 365 days and 365 accomplishments. I'm paraphrasing there.

And he just seemed to at times kind of look down, read one of the bullet points, and then elaborate on it. Again, it didn't seem as though this was from any kind of script, but just things that were on his mind. Again, a lot of it was grievances that he felt like he wasn't getting credit for. Some of the things that were in that packet.

HUNT: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you very much for that report. Best of luck, the rest of the day, of your day at the White House.

My panel is here in THE ARENA. CNN political analyst, investigative reporter at "The New York Times", David Fahrenthold; CNN's special correspondent, Jamie Gangel; former communications director for the DNC, Mo Elleithee; and the former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, Marc Short.

We're also joined by CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger.

I want to dig in with David on Greenland in just a moment. But, Jamie Gangel, I kind of want to start with the big picture of what today was like.

You know, I was flashing back to the press conference he gave -- it was probably the first month, first couple months of his first term. I was covering Capitol Hill and we all sort of stopped to watch what happened. And then I tried to talk to Republicans in the hallway and say, hey, did you see that news conference that we all can't stop talking about? And they just walked right by me and said, nope, never seen it.

You fast forward to now. The president is using some of the same tactics that he's always used for all this time in public life, but frankly, his posture was a little different. The energy was a little bit different.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

HUNT: What did -- what were your takeaways?

GANGEL: So, it was -- to use one of his favorite phrases -- low energy. But it did go on forever. It was Fidel Castro-like.

HUNT: Wow.

GANGEL: And a several people texted me one year down, three to go. There's -- you know, the Trump exhaustion Trump chaos. And then you know people talk about looking at his polls which are going down. And, you know, the White House has lost independence.

You have to ask some questions. Does he care about his legacy? What is the goal? When he said to me, you know, he's going to help NATO on the same day when it appears he's going to bring an end to NATO by insisting on owning Greenland. I'm confused.

HUNT: Marc Short, you've been in rooms. You've been behind that podium while you've seen this president do a version of this. By behind it, I mean behind those walls and the communication offices. And yes, you have.

What do you think that we saw today from him? And, you know, if you're trying to sort through what of this matters? And what if it doesn't? I mean, what would you point to?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Well, look, I think that honestly, Kasie, it does have a lot he can talk about after the first year. I think he's right that he's lowered energy prices. He's right he struck Iran. He's right about Maduro.

But, you know, he's often his own worst enemy. Sometimes those successes are the ones he steps on with new messages and new story lines. And I think that the whining gets kind of tiring for a lot of people to continue to whine about I'm not getting enough credit for these things. They want to know, what are you doing? Actually, to lower everyday prices today.

So, I mean, yes, I think he does have a lot that he can talk about, but unfortunately, he's the one often changing the story line.

HUNT: It's a little bit self-indulgent.

SANGER: Just saying.

(LAUGHTER)

HUNT: David Sanger, I want to -- I want to bring you into this conversation. Anyone who hasn't already read your excellent piece in "The New York Times" today about the off ramp, you say that Trump has with Greenland. He doesn't seem to want it.

Can you kind of update us based on what we just heard in the last couple of hours, what he had to say about Greenland there, and how it fits into your thinking about this?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLIITCAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, he did, Kasie, sound a little bit less strident. And, you know, he said, everybody's going to be happy out of this, right? NATO and the United States. The question is, does he mean that he's going to force a change of ownership and then tell them that they are going to be happy about it? Or is he going to look for one of those off ramps and try some way, other way of resolving this?

There's an easy one that's out there. There was a treaty signed in 1951 by Harry Truman. It's never gotten much examination in the ensuing 70-something years in until recent weeks.

But the fact of the matter is, it allows the United States to build whatever it wants on those 15 or 16 bases that we had in Greenland during World War Two and in the Cold War and then abandoned because we thought that the place was basically strategically irrelevant. It's not strategically irrelevant anymore, but you could solve the problem and solve every defensive issue that he's raised without changing ownership.

Now, what he didn't say was what he said to us nearly two weeks ago in "The New York Times" interview that was even longer, believe it or not, than that press conference, in which he said he just has a psychological need to own it rather than to lease it. And if that's the case, then there's no room for negotiation.

HUNT: I was going to say. I mean, we've seen over the years what that has meant.

And David Fahrenthold, you've covered it extensively. How would you interpret the way David just framed that? The president has a psychological need to own Greenland. So, we may be in for the United States owning Greenland no matter what.

DAVID FAHRENTHOLD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, I feel like what we saw today was a sort of a sign of how fragile Trump's psychology can be at this moment. I would have said yesterday he was at his most confident. He was showing all this confidence after taking out Maduro, pushing Venezuela around, threatening Greenland. He seemed so confident.

And then today, in this press conference, he seemed crestfallen. He seemed sort of like he'd lost a lot of his confidence. It shows that sort of a lot of what moves him is not morality or laws or whatever, but popularity. He wants to be popular. I think that's one of the biggest restraints on his behavior. And none of what he's doing right now is that popular.

HUNT: So, let's walk through some of that, Mo Elleithee. I'll give this one to you. It's a little bit of a softball to our Democrat at the table, because you guys are going to have to run against in the midterm elections.

But if you look at Trump's, lets stick with Trump's foreign policy decisions, since this is what we've been talking about for the last couple of days, of the people that we polled in our CNN/SSRS poll, 57 percent say that Trump's foreign policy decisions have hurt U.S. standing in the world, 31 percent say that they have helped, and 12 percent say they haven't made a difference at all.

Now, it's also worth putting up if you go through what are the most important issues voters say overwhelmingly that it is the economy, right? Far and away, past everything else. Only 2 percent say that foreign policy is the most important issue facing the country.

But, of course, the economy is, is in many ways for Trump to stand up there today. He's trying to convince people, well, look at all these other successes that I have. You might not feel great. He's trying to tell them that they do feel great, right? Didn't go super well for Biden.

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER DNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Right.

HUNT: But what do you make of the fact that he felt like he needed to do this today?

ELLEITHEE: I mean, it represents a complete and total cognitive dissonance with the way people are actually feeling, right? This isn't a messaging problem, something that my side has often argued when we were behind in the polls, right? This is a messaging problem.

HUNT: You know what? It's always B.S., okay? I'm sorry.

(LAUGHTER)

ELLEITHEE: When I walk down the aisle of the grocery store and fill up my shopping basket, when I'm buying presents for my kids before the holidays, and I see that, you know, I have that sticker shock, that's not because the White House communications office isn't doing its job. It's because the president isn't doing the job that people elected him to do.

He said he was going to bring down prices. That's what a lot of people, even a lot of people who were squeamish about him for lots of other reasons, said, okay, like, we need to bring down prices. And he hasn't done it.

So, to stand up there today and say people like what I'm doing in Greenland when they clearly don't, when he airs his grievances about getting -- not getting the Nobel Prize, I seriously doubt there's any American out there outside of the White House who's sitting around exercised because he didn't win the Nobel Peace Prize. But when he goes out there and says, "I have made your lives easier and less expensive," it just doesn't fly.

HUNT: So, one piece of this conversation I want to I want to bring in here is its worth noting world leaders are gathering in Davos this week. The president expected to go as well. But one of the people we heard from and Mo mentioned the Nobel Peace Prize and the president's frustration over not having received it to the point that he, you know, apparently wants to use that as a big rationale for taking over Greenland.

Gavin Newsom, the Democratic governor of California widely expected to run for president in 2028, made remarks in Davos on the world stage. Again, we're in that period where candidates without much foreign policy experience tried to buttress said foreign policy experience with trips overseas.

Let's watch what Newsom had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: It's time to buck up. It's time to get serious and stop being complicit. It's time to stand tall and firm, have a backbone.

[16:15:02]

I should have brought a bunch of kneepads for all the world leaders. I mean, handing out crowns and handing out -- I mean, this is pathetic. Nobel prizes that are being given away. I mean, it's just pathetic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Jamie, he said he should have brought a bunch of kneepads for all the world leaders. Yikes.

GANGEL: Well, to David's point earlier about his psychology and being fragile, you know, the internet nearly broke over the last couple of days with memes of people saying, you know, from the dog at the Westminster Show, they were going to give him his prize. This is -- this is clearly, you know, living in Donald Trump's brain rent-free.

But could I just go back for a second to our poll? Because if you add up the first two things on that poll, it was, the economy, 42 percent, and then the state of democracy, 22. You add those two together, you are at even I know, 64 percent. I think that says a tremendous amount about where were going in the midterm elections and how people are feeling. And immigration was down at 15 percent. Add in people looking at these rates and not being happy with the way they're handling them. HUNT: David Sanger, to kind of put a button on this conversation, you

saw what Newsom had to say there. I am interested to know what you're hearing from your sources about, you know, we have some people talk humorously about the president and his need for prizes, et cetera.

The reality is the stakes here are enormous for the global order that the United States built in the wake of World War Two, how are your sources, leaders in the in Europe and elsewhere feeling about President Trump and America right now?

SANGER: Well, not great. I've been in Europe for the past couple of days. I'm in Prague tonight.

And you know, I think one of the characteristics of this first year, Kasie, has been that the president talks a lot about why he has to tear things down, whether it's our free trade structure or whether it's government institutions or whether it's the East Wing. But he doesn't give you much of a sense of what he wants to replace this order with.

And the risk we're running is pretty clear. While the order that was created after world war two was highly imperfect and people made a lot of mistakes and entered a few wars along the way, the fact of the matter is, it fundamentally kept the peace among the superpowers for the past 80 years, after we had been in two horrific world wars. There has been no nuclear exchange since 1945, and no one would have really bet on that. At the height of the Cold War in the '50s and the '60s.

So, before you tear it apart, you really want to make sure that what you're replacing it with is going to be equally effective. And we don't know what President Trump wants to replace it with. Focus on the western hemisphere. Well, go explain why it is that we are, you know, once again threatening to bomb Iran. Right? Is -- is this spheres of influence? Well, then explain what happens when Xi Jinping has free rein across Asia, including among some of our allies, Japan and South Korea, or Putin does in Europe.

And so, it's just not brought to you in a package.

HUNT: Really interesting perspective, David, thank you very much for that. Always appreciate having you here in THE ARENA.

The rest of our panel is going to stick around for the hour.

Coming up right here in THE ARENA. More on the federal government's campaign against Minnesota, with sources saying that five state officials have now been subpoenaed by the Justice Department. Minnesota Senator Tina Smith will be here in THE ARENA to discuss.

Plus, one year ago today, Donald Trump took the Oval Office -- took the oath of office, and it began a whirlwind of a second term. The "Hacks On Tap", David Axelrod and Mike Murphy will be here to discuss the year that was and where we are all going from here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: These are accomplishments. We have a lot of accomplishments. And as you know, this is the anniversary, first anniversary, January 20th, and it's been an amazing period of time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:23:56]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG BOVINO, BORDER PATROL COMMANDER AT LARGE: Leaders like Tim Walz or Mayor Frey have relied on heated rhetoric and accusations that distract -- that distract from the facts. What we do is legal, ethical and moral. Everything we do every day is legal, ethical, moral, well- grounded in law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Senior border patrol official Greg Bovino just moments ago defending immigration agents, criticizing Minnesota's leaders. This comes as the Justice Department has begun delivering subpoenas to those very same officials. Sources tell CNN that Governor Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and Saint Paul have all been served as part of a federal investigation into possible obstruction of law enforcement. All of this after two weeks of protests following the fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross.

Just moments ago, President Trump spoke and described how he feels about that fatal shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I felt horribly when I was told that the young woman who was -- had the tragedy.

[16:25:05]

It's a tragedy. It's a horrible thing. Everybody would say -- ICE would say the same thing.

But when I learned her parents and her father in particular is like, I hope he still is, but I don't know, it was a tremendous Trump fan. He was all for Trump, loved Trump. And, you know, it's terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Our panel is back.

Jamie Gangel, the president there talking about his own, you know, making it about himself.

GANGEL: You stole my line. Yeah. No, really, this is, first of all, a change in messaging. This -- he did not say. And certainly no one at DHS said before anything like this. Now he's heard that her parents may be Trump supporters. So, he -- that seemed to me to be the most important thing.

Look, I think it is fair to say that these subpoenas that were seeing in Minneapolis, we are -- we are in uncharted territory here. The rates, the way they're being conducted. Uncharted territory. Subpoenas for these Minnesota officials, uncharted territory.

You know, Bovino said that everything they were doing was legal, ethical and moral. I talked to former DHS high ranking officials who said I could never go back there and work there again because they are appalled at the way this is being handled.

HUNT: David, to Jamie's point about us being in unprecedented territory with these subpoenas, I mean, you've investigated over the course of your career all kinds of things that the president has done. It does seem like there is a significant difference between his first term and the beginning of this one, in the willingness to actually use the apparatus of the federal government to do things like this.

FAHRENTHOLD: I don't know if it's a change in his willingness, but it's certainly a change in the willingness of those below him to carry out those orders. We never saw anything like this in the first term, using criminal investigations to try to silence people. I do think for Trump, though, there is a danger of this backfiring. It's meant as a political gesture, and it may backfire in a political way, because what they need is for people to be afraid.

What they need is for people to be cowering like the universities and law firms, where it just don't hit me. Hit somebody else. And if you go after these lawmakers like this, and they stand up and they fight back and they make a spectacle out of this, out of opposing you, then you start to lose your deterrent. You start to lose the fear.

That is their biggest element here. The biggest advantage, I think this sort of very thinly veiled political use of the DOJ has a real risk of backfiring for Trump.

HUNT: It's an interesting point, Mo, in no small part because for law firms, for universities, right, the incentives are a certain -- there are certain incentives for those kinds of institutions. But for these lawmakers, I mean, they're incentivized to fight back against Trump. That's kind of what this is.

But can you speak a little bit to how you think they should be handling it? What this means?

ELLEITHEE: Yeah. I mean, frankly, the incentive structure is for them to, to push back. And I think you'll see them continue to push back. Look, this is not a huge stretch for them, the case that they can make about the president politicizing the Department of Justice, going after political adversaries, trying to silence free speech because the polling shows at least people are already there. They get it, they see it, and they don't like it.

And so, you know, for all of his efforts to flex muscle and intimidate, whether were talking about foreign leaders, whether were talking about political leaders or law firms or universities, its really interesting to see how one group of people that are not feeling intimidated are actual voters, are actual protesters. Yeah, they're turning out in greater numbers almost every day. Pushing back on this. That's going to pretend something I think electorally.

HUNT: Marc, I mean, you've spent your career honestly arguing that government should kind of get the heck out of the way of things, right? And now this is an ostensibly Republican president who is using the government in ways that, you know, I don't recall ever seeing it be used this way in my lifetime. How is this, like, how does this -- how does this line up with the things you've been arguing for, for your whole career?

SHORT: Well, Kasie, again, I think there's a lot of things he does deserve credit on. I think that securing the border is one of those. But I think a lot of Americans wanted the border secure after the disastrous years, the Biden administration, but were never as comfortable with the deportations and removals. And I think that's one of the political challenges they have.

But my discomfort is less, honestly, on the immigration front, my discomfort is more on the economic front.

HUNT: And I was talking about the DOJ investigation into these officials. Right? Like the DOJ saying, hey, look, I think --

[16:30:02]

SHORT: I think he felt that he was a victim of lawfare in the last administration. I don't think Americans like that, but they don't like it for him using it either. And I don't -- I don't think that's what's appreciated right now by this White House. It's sort of like there's a revenge attitude toward the whole federal government.

And I don't think there's a lot of public support for that. They didn't like it when they felt the Biden administration was using lawfare to go after Trump. And I don't think they like it when Trump is using it for his personal means, either.

HUNT: Interesting. So, we have two data points here, or two things to consider. First, I want to bring up our polling on immigration. And this speaks to the point Marc was just making about what Americans really are up for. Fifty-eight percent of them said that they disapproved of the way that Donald Trump is handling immigration. So, this is a massive, massive shift from what we saw, right? Heading into the presidential election, right where Americans were largely with now President Trump on border security in particular, but also on the immigration issue more broadly.

So that's one side, right? The president has taken it as far as he has. We've all seen that in the streets in Minneapolis.

Now, the flip side, how are Democrats talking about it heading into the midterm elections? Zohran Mamdani, who has already become a favorite boogeyman of Republicans, was on "The View" today talking about this. And in many ways, my guess is he delivered on what some people on the right would have expected of him. But why don't you watch it and then well decide. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: I am in support of abolishing ICE. What we see is an entity that has no interest in fulfilling its stated reason to exist. We're seeing a government agency that is supposed to be enforcing some kind of immigration law, but instead what it's doing is terrorizing people, no matter their immigration status, no matter the facts of the law, no matter the facts of the case. And I'm tired of waking up every day and seeing a new image of someone being dragged out of a car, dragged out of their home, dragged out of their life.

What we need to see is humanity. And there is a way to care about immigration in this city and in this country with a sense of humanity. What were seeing from ICE is not it. And we have not seen that from them in a long, long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So, Mo, we had the kind of the fulsome answer from him there. The reality is the I'm supportive of abolishing ICE is going to be the one that plays. Is this where you think Democrats should be going into the midterms on this?

ELLEITHEE: Look, I think they should be where they -- where we -- I think where they should be is pretty simple. I think it is. We're for securing the border. We're for getting rid of the most dangerous criminals.

And we are for significant reforms to the way they're doing this enforcement pull down the masks, have warrants, bring some humanity back into it, because that's what people were looking for when they said they supported him on immigration. That's not what they're seeing. And that's why you see those numbers flip.

HUNT: Really interesting.

All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, we're going to have more on the breaking news out of Minnesota with the Justice Department subpoenaing at least five officials as Attorney General Pam Bondi lands in the state, Minnesota Senator Tina Smith will be live in THE ARENA, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:37:37]

HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

We are continuing to follow news out of Minnesota where the attorney general, Pam Bondi, has just landed for an unannounced visit amid rising tensions between state and federal officials. But in his lengthy remarks to reporters today, President Donald Trump characterized his administration's efforts in the state as a major success.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They're apprehending murderers and drug dealers and a lot of bad people. And these are just some of the more recent ones that we have. And I can show you some of the people -- vicious, many of them murderers. These are all out of Minnesota, just Minnesota. I say, why don't you talk about that more?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Joining us now in THE ARENA, Democratic senator from Minnesota, Tina Smith.

Senator, thanks very much for spending some time with us today.

I actually would like to start with the news that we had about the top officials in Minnesota receiving subpoenas as part of a federal investigation.

Have you spoken to the mayor, Jacob Frey, to any of these other officials who have received subpoenas? What's their reaction? Your reaction?

SEN. TINA SMITH (D-MN): Well, I spoke with the governor and spoke with both mayors yesterday. We were at a large community celebration of Dr. King's birthday in the morning. Nearly 2,000 people there. And what I really want to think, what people don't understand about this is while the president is massively escalating, the conflict here, an extraordinary use of politicized Justice Department to go after people that he sees as his political enemies.

What you see from the mayors and from the governor is just a very solid, calm response, saying we are focused on keeping our communities safe. We are focusing on standing up for Minnesota values, and that's what we're going to continue to be focused.

And I really applaud that. I mean, in this moment where people in my state are feeling so unsafe and so angry at what they see happening to their neighbors, I think their unwillingness to escalate, but to continue to stand up for what we believe in Minnesota, and I think this country is exactly the right approach.

HUNT: Senator, yesterday we saw a group of protesters go into the city's church to protest a pastor that they believe is an ICE agent. That has, of course, generated considerable criticism from those who say this was a desecration of a place of worship.

[16:40:09]

Would you urge protesters to do more of what we're seeing here, or do you think that is counterproductive for what they're trying to achieve?

SMITH: So almost all of the protests and demonstrations that we've seen in Minnesota, and especially in Minneapolis and Saint Paul, have been peaceful, have been nonviolent, and, of course, that is the right response. What all of our messages have been is basically, don't take the bait, don't fuel the president's narrative, don't fuel Donald Trump's narrative that this is, you know, that this is a dangerous place. Let's show them how we stand up for each other and stand up for our neighbors.

And that's what makes me so proud of Minnesota right now. I mean, people coming out of their homes to stand up for folks that are literally being drug out of their cars. It's really incredible to see that. And it makes me really proud.

And -- I mean, we're in my state right now. There are people who are afraid to go to the grocery store. I'm talking about folks that are here legally. They're not undocumented people. They're afraid to go to the grocery store because they've heard so many stories about folks getting targeted, profiled by ICE simply because they have an accent or because of the color of their skin.

And people aren't just guessing this. This is what the ICE agents are telling them. I'm talking to you because you have an accent, and that is the response that Minnesota's is bringing to this is, you know, hell no, that is not who we are. We're going to stand up to this and really standing strong.

HUNT: So, of course, one way that Democrats in Congress have been talking about trying to stand up to what you're outlining is in the funding bill. How far are you willing to go in holding that up to demand changes in how ICE does business?

SMITH: Well, we need to completely overhaul how ICE is conducting itself. And that is really clear. As a senator from Minnesota, I don't see any way that I could vote for more funding for this lawless agency.

And let's remember that in the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill, they got a huge increase in their funding. And that is what is fueling in many ways, this campaign here in Minnesota. And of course, how did they pay for that? They paid for that by cutting people's health care.

So that is a fundamental problem that I certainly can't get comfortable with by just, you know, a few tweaks around the edges here. Now, the new appropriations bills I know were released late last night and we are looking at this, but, I mean, it's hard for me to imagine how I could support additional funding without major reforms to this agency right now.

HUNT: All right. Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota, thank you very much for spending some time with us today. I really appreciate it.

SMITH: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, more on the president's marathon of a press briefing, one year to the day into his second term. We've got the "Hacks on Tap". David Axelrod and Mike Murphy are going to be here live in THE ARENA, coming up next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You're not getting bored with this, right? I hope you don't. But these are people that you have to see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[16:47:37]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: These are the accomplishments of what we've produced. All the -- page after page after page. Look at this. These are all -- each line is something that we did. Nobody did that before. And it's big stuff, too. Look, we have the hottest country in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Today marks the one-year anniversary, if you can believe it. It's only been a year of President Trump's second term. This was his swearing into office one year ago today. And man, what a year it's been.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The golden age of America begins right now.

You're gambling with World War Three.

I have created the brand new Department of Government Efficiency.

The United States will implement reciprocal tariffs.

Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?

I became chairman of the Kennedy Center, and we completely reversed it.

Thank you very much, Vladimir.

I'm building a ballroom.

No, I don't care about the Nobel Prize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: But doesn't he?

Joining us now in THE ARENA to discuss, CNN chief political analyst, former Obama senior adviser David Axelrod and Republican strategist Mike Murphy. You may know them as the "Hacks on Tap". They co-host a podcast.

Gentlemen, thank you very much for being here. Always grateful to see you. I mean, Ax, I'll start with you. And just on this press conference

today. I mean, he says, well, I've got the hottest country in the world. I don't know if this has been the longest year of a Trump presidency or what, but where do you think we are?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. I don't -- maybe he was referring to climate change. I don't know what he was talking about. But, look, I think we are -- it's been a very tumultuous year. I think we've seen -- we've seen a lot of chaos and a lot of corruption. What we haven't seen are costs coming down, which is why the guy got elected.

And what was incredible to me was hearing him do the same exact thing that Joe Biden got in trouble for doing, you know, saying we just haven't told our story well enough. We're doing great. You know, my team has to do better in telling the story.

And it's, you know, on both the economy and on immigration. He followed the same script, which is who are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?

People go to the grocery store as your panel mentioned. They know what the score is.

[16:50:01]

People saw Renee Good get shot in Minnesota. They know what the story is.

And so, you know, there is this assumption that you can just sell people on what they know not to be true. And I think they're going to run into big political problems because of that.

I think they are. You can see it in CNN's polling and other polling.

HUNT: Mike?

MIKE MURPHY, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think it's the hottest country because he keeps trying to set the constitution on fire. I mean, this year has felt like a decade. And now the big finish is going to be shattering the NATO alliance that's kept the peace since the end of World War Two.

So, you know, I think David's fundamentally right. Trump was elected on kind of a voter bargain, which was, well, we don't really like the guy. We know he's kind of sleazy and boisterous and irritating, but he knows how to run the economy. And Biden and Harris and their perception did not.

Well, now, much like McDonald's being unable to make a hamburger, he's struggling on that. So, he's picking all these side fights. Horrifying as they are, the politics of this is about. Can you help people have a better life every week when they face the affordability crisis that we all are experiencing and hear so much about?

So, you know, he's -- he has gone off the rails not only, in my view, mentally and in foreign policy as we plot the takeover of orange land. He's missing the focus of the midterm elections, which could be catastrophic for him and the Republican Party.

HUNT: Yeah, Mike, I mean, at this point. Yeah. Sorry, David. Go ahead.

AXELROD: No, I was going to say there was a there are a couple of numbers that just to Mike's point, there are a couple of numbers at the end that in the CNN poll at the bottom of the list of these questions, which description describes Trump and the one that he scored the least well on was cares about people like me. And the second one above that was understands the experience of everyday people or something like that.

And that's a very -- that's a very bad verdict for a president. Those are real warning signs. Red flashing lights. And you're not going to fix it by going to try and conquer Greenland. That's not going to solve people's problems.

HUNT: David, on that point, I mean, there's obviously the prices people encounter at the grocery store every day, right? I mean, presidents have relatively limited powers to control that. But this president does have the ability to, you know, blow up the East Wing of the White House and build a ballroom and care about the Kennedy Center.

How much of the things that the president is doing that perhaps feel like let them eat cake moments, how much of that is fueling voters, do you think, and that those qualities that you are talking about there that doesn't care about people like me?

AXELROD: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, obviously, that is a conclusion one could draw, I think more than anything there is this hail of activity, none of which really has anything to do with their lives. And I think that's been the thing that has really -- that has really hurt him the most. But he has done things directly that have hurt people relative to tariffs, in some cases to electric rates.

But you're right. Presidents have limited ability to control costs. The problem is that he declared that he was going to lower costs. He said, I have the ability to do that. That is going to be my mission. That's why he got elected. And now he seems more interested in ballrooms than bringing down costs.

HUNT: Mike --

MURPHY: Yeah, I think --

HUNT: Yeah. Go ahead. Last word.

MURPHY: Go ahead.

HUNT: Yeah. No.

MURPHY: Just voters get to pick what the problem is they want to fix. And in the presidential election, the problem was they thought, you know, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had let the economy slip out of control. And they thought Trump was the guy to fix it.

Now, what's happening is the problem is still the economy, but now it's the economy. Plus, Donald Trump, the erratic, the chaos and looking totally detached to any kind of plan for solution. I don't think Donald Trump has the toolbox to convince people that he can solve their economic pain, because he's so focused on his own whims to, you know, conquer ICE islands and invade Venezuela to grab some oil.

He's just so driven by his own crazy appetites that I don't think he has what a lot of presidents do in terms of the ability to at least bully pulpit his way out of this thing.

HUNT: We got 30 seconds here. If the midterm elections were held today, how many seats do you think the Democrats would win? Mike, you go first.

MURPHY: Seventeen.

HUNT: Very specific.

David, what do you think?

[16:55:01]

AXELROD: I'd say that the 10 to 15 would be a good answer if the election is runs as election should. There are so many indications that the president wants to intervene in many different ways using law enforcement, using, you know, obviously redistricting was a piece of this, but there are a ton of ways in which he can try and influence the election. And I think we got to keep an eye on that.

You know, it's not like he wouldn't do it because we've seen that before.

HUNT: All right. David Axelrod, Mike Murphy, the "Hacks on Tap", thank you both very much. Hope you'll come back soon.

All right. We'll be right back.

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HUNT: All right. Thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate all of you joining us. Thanks to you at home as well.

Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD".

Hi, Jake.