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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

Bill Clinton In Deposition: "I Saw Nothing, And I Did Nothing Wrong"; Now: Trump In Texas Amid Heated GOP Senate Primary Battle; New: Mamdani Shares Details Of Oval Office Meeting With Trump. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired February 27, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We really try to hit this from a number of different angles.

[16:00:03]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yeah. Really interesting. They see it. They're paying attention.

Omar Jimenez, thank you so much.

And this is going to be fascinating. Be sure to watch "Immigration Crackdown: A Year of Enforcement". This airs on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" this Sunday at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. And the next day on the CNN app.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: 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 great to have you with us on this Friday.

Right now in New York, Bill Clinton has a simple message, quote, "I saw nothing and I did nothing wrong," end quote. That's from his opening statement to the members of the House Oversight Committee investigating Jeffrey Epstein. The former president's sworn deposition ongoing at this hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Are you concerned about President Bill Clinton being deposed and that that sets precedent for you and your family?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITD STATES: I don't like seeing him deposed. But you know, they certainly went after me a lot more than that. I don't like it. I don't like it. I like -- I like him, and I don't like seeing him deposed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: President Donald Trump this afternoon, taking an unusually sympathetic tone when asked about Clinton's deposition. Perhaps because of the precedent that this testimony sets, the former president appears numerous times in the Epstein files. The former President Clinton, we should say, including in photographs in a hot tub, a pool, and alongside Epstein himself. There are real questions about what he knew about Epstein's behavior.

The current president had his own years long relationship with Epstein, and there are real questions for him, too. Both men have denied all wrongdoing. But if President Clinton can be compelled to testify about Epstein under oath, why not, at least perhaps, after he leaves office, why not President Trump?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): Ranking member Garcia asked President Clinton, quote, should President Trump be called to answer questions from this committee? And President Clinton said, that's for you to decide. And the president went on to say that the President Trump has never said anything to me to make me think he was involved, and he met with Epstein.

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): We have a new president in this country where we can now demand president and former presidents to testify in front of the Oversight Committee. So, we are once again demanding that now President Trump, who is in the Epstein files, almost more than anyone else besides Ghislaine Maxwell, answer our questions. This is not a hoax. He has not been exonerated. And we have serious questions for President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Let's get off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA. My panel is here.

We also have with us CNN senior national enterprise correspondent MJ Lee, who is live for us in Chappaqua, New York.

MJ, I understand we are learning more about what was asked and answered in today's deposition. What are we learning?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: Kasie, several hours into this deposition, and we do have some new reporting on some of the questions that the former president has been asked today. Sources tell me and my colleague Annie Grayer, that he was asked about that photo in the Epstein files, where he is in a jacuzzi with a woman whose face is redacted. And he told lawmakers in this deposition that he didn't know who this woman was. We're also told that he was directly asked whether he had sex with this woman, and he answered, no, he did not.

Now, Hillary Clinton, for context had said about this specific trip that Bill Clinton had been doing philanthropic and charitable work, saying, quote, literally millions of lives around the world. Now our understanding at this point is that lawmakers have been asking many other specific questions about Bill Clintons appearance in the Epstein files, whether it is photographs or flight logs for Epstein's plane, where Clinton's name appears or Epstein's name appearing in the Clinton white house visitors logs. And I think all of this, Kasie, is just a big reminder of how different today is from yesterday, when Hillary Clinton sat before this very same committee where she said she didn't know Jeffrey Epstein, doesn't remember meeting him, didn't have any information to share.

And as far as we know right now, no mentions of UFOs or any conspiracy theories in that room. But you can also just get a good understanding of why the Clintons were obviously not so keen on being deposed in this manner. We knew that it was very likely that President Clinton was going to get a lot of tough questions and some personal questions as well, about his conduct going back many years now.

We have no word on how many hours are left in this deposition. But what is clear at this point is that even as this deposition of Bill Clinton is still going on, the members of the House Oversight Committee are clearly training their thoughts on who else -- who else could we bring into the room in question, whether it is Howard Lutnick, whether it is other people in Epstein's circle that helped bring him girls?

[16:05:17]

These are all questions that will be answered, I think in the coming days but it is clear here in Chappaqua that that momentum is growing for more people to be asked questions about Jeffrey Epstein -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. MJ Lee for us. MJ, thank you very much for that reporting.

My panel is here in THE ARENA. CNN legal analyst Elliot Williams; CNN contributor, "New York Times" journalist Lulu Garcia-Navarro, former communications director for the DNC, senior spokesman for the 2008 Hillary Clinton campaign, Mo Elleithee; and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Brad Todd.

Welcome to all of you. Thank you so much for being here.

Mo, what year is it, exactly?

MO ELLEITHEE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, DNC: It's the year 2026, and we are still talking about the Clintons. Congratulations, America.

HUNT: I mean, the headline is "Clinton said he did not have sex with women in jacuzzi. He doesn't know who she is: sources." That's our CNN headline.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Did he have sexual relations with that woman?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Depends on what the definition --

WILLIAMS: Legally --

TODD: -- of is is.

WILLIAMS: Legally, that's a different answer than the one he gave in 1998, I apologize.

HUNT: Yeah. No, it's clearly -- it's clearly Friday here at this table.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

HUNT: But I mean, in seriousness, Mo, I mean, I think MJ's point stands like this is the reason why they didn't want to do this, why this was a lot of back and forth.

Admittedly. I mean -- look, he's under oath here, right? He wasn't I don't think, at, you know, some of the various points when he was trying to explain his behavior before. But obviously, you know, what ultimately got Clinton in trouble was lying.

And it's kind of -- I mean, do you believe him? I mean, this is like the thing, right? About these Epstein files. All these guys who have all said, I mean, Howard Lutnick was out there saying, you know I never went to the island. I got one whiff of this guy and knew that I should not go anywhere near him. And then it turns out, actually, he did visit the island with his whole family.

ELLEITHEE: Yeah. I mean, look, we haven't seen any evidence that that Bill Clinton had been to the island or knew anything. But I'm glad he's answering the questions. I'm glad that he put up a fight. But when push came to shove, he's there, and he's answering the questions.

I don't know why Hillary was there yesterday. There's literally nothing that connects her to Jeffrey Epstein and I think based on everything we heard yesterday, it was Republicans look a little foolish bringing her in. But I'm glad the president -- President Clinton is there answering questions, and I think it does set that precedent that now Donald Trump needs to go and answer questions.

And I think, you know, if you believe the Democrats there, if Democrats win control of the House, it is very likely that we're going to see a legal battle about whether or not the sitting president can come and answer questions.

WILLIAMS: They're going to lose. But there will be a legal battle over it. I mean, I think there's -- there's a strong basis for saying that a sitting president for a host of reasons that, frankly, came up all throughout 2023 and 2024, can't submit to another branches of government's own investigative process, right, for a host of reasons that we don't really need to get into here now. They'll certainly ask, and they certainly should. And they should sue and see.

But I just think you have a really tough legal fight to get a sitting president to come testify before Congress. It's very different than what happened for Bill Clinton, which was testifying in a civil deposition brought by a private party. That's why they were able to and the Supreme Court was able to make a case for Clinton to sit for that deposition.

HUNT: Well, and let's watch a little piece of that just because, you know obviously, we opened with and someone I think already quoted from this deposition on the set, but let's watch this moment from 1998.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Statement that there was no sex of any kind, in any manner shape or form with President Clinton was an utterly false statement. Is that correct?

WILLIAM J. CLINTON, FORMER U.S. PRESIDET: It depends upon what the meaning of the word is is. If the if he -- if is means is and never has been, that is not an -- that's one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I mean, Lulu, we are going to see video of these depositions. I mean, this is a classic of the genre and --

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It is a classic of the genre.

HUNT: These can become -- you know, can follow you.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: They can follow you. And you know, I've got to say that President Bill Clinton has -- as does Donald Trump, a thorny legacy when it comes to inappropriate relationships with women. She says very mildly.

These are two gentlemen who, you know, have a lot of what do you call that? You have a lot of -- oh, yeah, like oppo research or there's, like, just a lot of trails there.

HUNT: There's a book. There's a book.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: There's a couple of books. There's a lot of things.

So, this is a -- so this is it. I mean, I think -- I think that's why ultimately, the Democrats put some Democrats pushed for Bill Clinton to sit for this, because -- you know, it's not like it was someone who didn't have a history of inappropriate actions with women.

HUNT: Brad Todd, the reality here is that this does set a precedent of a former president of the United States going in and testifying before a congressional committee that has demanded such testimony, and it is likely that Democrats will demand that President Trump now, it may be a different scenario while he's still in the White House, right? Obviously, we saw with the Supreme Court did, in terms of immunity and, you know lots of questions there.

But, I mean would you expect him to sit for such a deposition?

TODD: Well, it actually highlights why Republicans need to retain control of the House of Representatives and why it's so important is because Democrats will not spend the next two years trying to do good things for the American people. They will try to torture Donald Trump. That's going to be the game plan. Certainly --

HUNT: Was it just torturing Donald Trump or is in this case, it's asking legitimate questions about --

TODD: Everyone who's involved in --

HUNT: -- really questionable conduct --

TODD: -- brought to justice --

HUNT: -- for a lot of people.

TODD: It's just not -- it's not sustainable to say that Ghislaine Maxwell is going to be the only person to go to prison out of this concept. And so, everyone else who was involved should just buckle your seat belt and get ready because this will not end until a few more people are held accountable.

ELLEITHEE: And getting answers to who those people will be. That is doing good things for the American people, right? That is the kind of --

TODD: May be -- it may be incidental, but it's not their intention.

ELLEITHEE: But holding people accountable is what they are calling for as opposed to this administration, which is saying hold other people, just not us accountable.

WILLIAMS: Well, you know, here's the thing though. If it's really about holding people accountable, the folks to call in front of the committee aren't just not Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. The people that need to come testify are, number one, Pam Bondi. Number two, Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general. And number three, most importantly, every person who was behind the plea deal that Jeffrey Epstein got in Florida.

If you really want to understand and send people to jail and make sure that there's proper accountability, it's that, not the gotcha testimony that we had for Hillary Clinton yesterday, I understand how much Republicans hate Hillary Clinton, but there was really no legal basis for her testimony. There was no purpose for calling her.

HUNT: I mean, Elliot, the reality is that, you know some of the files that have still not been released are related to exactly what you're talking about, where that deal came from, and then also around the decision you know, that they basically said, we're not going to charge any other coconspirators, right? And there has to be documentation on that decision that we also haven't seen.

WILLIAMS: Right.

HUNT: Right?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. And again, there's a long list of people both at main justice headquarters and down in Florida who would have been negotiating that plea deal. But I really think the attorney general ought to come up and testify.

Number one, Congress has oversight authority over her anyway, and they can call her up to testify at any time. Number two, explaining what was behind the decision to release some materials or not release some materials and go out with the binders, that I think will get closer to finding out what's in them, and whether the public has seen all of them, and what else the public is entitled to. But that hasn't happened yet, and they haven't really pushed for it.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: This is the other thing. This is a long road. So yes, I think you're right that a sitting president like President Trump isn't. It's going to be a very high bar which I think has already been sort of litigated to having him sit in front of the committee.

But, you know, he's going to be an ex-president someday. And guess what? This isn't going away.

WILLIAMS: Yeah.

HUNT: I see that our friends in the text chain are talking about Howard Lutnick, who is, of course, the sitting commerce secretary and who had again previously said that he didn't have anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein functionally. And then it was found in the files that he had actually visited the island. You know, there's -- there's pictures of Lutnick on the island with Epstein. It was briefly removed, then restored to the Department of Justice website.

Their explanation was that it was flagged for nudity. They said that it wasn't being deleted.

Now, the president was asked today about Lutnick, who is of course, continuing to serve in a very high profile role that requires the public trust.

Here's what President Trump said about Lutnick.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Howard would go in and do whatever he has to say. He said he's a very innocent guy, doing a good job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It almost sounds as though he's saying, Lutnick, go right ahead. Go testify.

WILLIAMS: Yeah, go testify. You know the interesting thing here, and this is in the context of all the heads that are rolling in the U.K., there's a difference to how America treats its cabinet officials than the United Kingdom does. Here --

HUNT: Vicious over there.

WILLIAMS: No, it's a huge -- it's an understatement. No. But here it's -- you know, you serve at the pleasure of the president. When the president decides that you can't stay in your job anymore, you leave. Over in the U.K. --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Or you could resign. WILLIAMS: Or you could resign.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You could actually say, you know what? This is embarrassing, I lied to cover up some behavior.

[16:15:03]

And I actually don't think that I'm, you know, going to going to bring the presidency anymore shame. He could do that.

WILLIAMS: He could do that. Oh you know, he absolutely could do that. I'm just saying that, you know, the law doesn't require him to.

HUNT: Sure.

WILLIAMS: Over in the U.K., you get one embarrassing allegation about you, you don't serve at the pleasure of the prime minister. And as you've seen, a few of these guys have just stepped down summarily because it's a different country

HUNT: It's not the Trump way of doing things, Brad.

TODD: Giving an inch is anathema. And that's a -- that's a key part of the presidents approach to everything is stay on offense, don't give an inch.

And so, I would not expect him to adapt -- any different posture here. But I do think if Democrats take over the house of representatives, Pam Bondi should take a cot to the House. She's going to be there a lot. And I think that she might -- her office will not be of much use to her. She'll be in the Capitol testifying all the time.

HUNT: All right. Well, you heard it here first. We will -- we will see.

Coming up next here in THE ARENA, we're going to talk with someone who served as a special counsel to Bill Clinton during his time as president.

Plus, just what exactly is going on here? New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani giving us new details today on that surprise Oval Office meeting with President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY KIMMEL, LATE NIGHT TV SHOW HOST: The mayor said it was a productive meeting, and this might be why it was a productive meeting. Mamdani brought a mocked-up newspaper with a fake headline, "Trump to city: Let's build", and look at that smile on his face. He loves Mamdani. It's weird.

I haven't seen a couple. I haven't seen a couple this unlikely since Daphne and Niles from "Frasier" season eight.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:04]

HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

Right now, former President Bill Clinton's deposition with the House oversight committee is in its sixth hour as lawmakers press him on his ties to convicted, convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Joining me now in THE ARENA is Lanny Davis. He's the former special associate counsel in the Clinton administration. He's also the author of a new book. It's out in April. It's called "Finding the Third Way: Lessons in the Politics of Decency From My Journey Through History". The former president, Bill Clinton, wrote the foreword to the book.

Lanny I do feel like we are so far from the politics of decency, considering what we're covering here today. Although I very much appreciate the title of your book, I think my first question to you and I understand you've never spoken with the former president about Jeffrey Epstein.

But you did know him. You did know the president. You worked with the president. And it's clear that Clinton was in these pictures. He flew on the plane.

And I'm interested in your reflections on why it was that this man who you know well, decided to associate with Jeffrey Epstein the way that he did.

LANNY DAVIS, FORMER SPECIAL ASSOCIATE COUNSEL, CLINTON ADMIN.: Well, what he says, it's my understanding from what he says publicly, is that he did not know about Jeffrey Epstein's predatory behavior, much less criminal, disgusting guilt of taking advantage of young children. And he knew Epstein and spent time with Epstein in the context of the Clinton Foundation and fundraising. That's what Bill Clinton says, he said so, I assume today, with the penalty of criminal behavior if he lies, even if it's not under oath, it's a false statement to Congress.

So, I presume that he's innocent, just like everyone else is presumed to be innocent. But my understanding is that he never had anything to do with Epstein. Once he learned about these heinous crimes that Mr. Epstein committed against children.

HUNT: What is it about? I mean, Bill Clinton is far from the only rich, powerful person in politics or any other industry to associate with Jeffrey Epstein in this way. And many of them did it after they you know, after it was known that after he had. Yes, it was a sweetheart deal. But after he had gotten in trouble the first time for what he was doing, what is it about our politics about this era in our politics that made that so?

DAVIS: Well, you have to start with, Epstein had a lot of money and was giving a lot of campaign donations, but also in the public sense of good donations. Epstein supported the Clinton Foundation, which all over the world has helped poor people and done very, very good things. I don't think anyone disputes the good works of the Clinton Foundation, and that was Bill Clinton's contact with Epstein. Epstein gave the foundation funds, and the funds were used for good things.

There's absolutely no reason to assume that Bill Clinton did anything other than take money from Mr. Epstein being on the airplane with Mr. Epstein, never having been to the island, but being on the airplane doesn't mean that he had anything or any knowledge of these predatory, disgusting conduct by Mr. Epstein with younger children.

And also, finally say, I've heard a few of your co-panelists making reference to Mr. Clinton's past behavior. Whatever -- that is true. He apologized publicly to the American people. He even was on television testifying, can't imagine that the word transparency hasn't been used by your panel about both Bill and Hillary Clinton going to this committee. They certainly resisted for good reasons. But they're there.

So let me just say I believe him.

[16:25:00]

And the presumption of innocence applies to a former president as well as you and me.

HUNT: So, you believe President Clinton when he tells this committee that he did nothing wrong?

DAVIS: Not only do I believe him but were in a society and a constitution that says, of course you have to believe somebody who, if he's lying, would be making at least a crime or exposing himself to a criminal prosecution.

So, there is a presumption of innocence and if somebody has any evidence that Bill Clinton is lying or that he had anything to do with this horrendous conduct, we should be talking about the victims and transparency. Transparency is what Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have done. It is the opposite of what we've seen from the incumbent Justice Department and until a law was passed. We have an attorney general didn't even turn around and nod her head at the victims.

We should be focusing on the victims and transparency. And my understanding and my belief in Bill Clinton through four decades of friendship is that he is telling the truth now and he recognizes the danger of lying. He can be criminally prosecuted if he's in front of a committee of Congress. And there is a presumption of innocence to repeat that he's entitled to.

HUNT: Lanny, did you ever meet Jeffrey Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell in your travels with the Clintons?

DAVIS: There's nothing funny. I'm sorry, I smiled. No, thank goodness, I didn't.

I have to I have to ask all of you to please focus on the victims and ask every guest, including me, why has this president held back on these Epstein files? It took a congressional law to get us these files to be opened. Even though his campaign made a big issue about Epstein. And why for goodness sakes, did Pam Bondi not turn around and

acknowledge the victims? And why didn't president Trump, in his State of the Union speech, do that?

I'm not changing the subject. Bill Clinton, as far as I'm concerned, told the truth. And until there's evidence to the contrary, there is no evidence to the contrary. I presume that he's telling the truth. I also have known him for over four decades.

HUNT: Fair enough for sure. I mean, big picture, Lanny, look, you've been around this town a long time, you got a table at the Palm.

You've known a lot of these people. There are a lot of them that got tied up with this guy. And a lot of them who continued to maintain those ties after he got in trouble. Why is that"

DAVIS: I have a favorite table at the Palm. It's not an official one, but thank you for saying that. I did mention that to you.

I have no idea why anybody would associate with this disgusting subhuman being if they knew about his predatory behavior to young children. I cannot imagine why --

HUNT: A lot of them did, a lot of them did. And it was not -- it's not like an isolated thing.

DAVIS: It's immoral. People don't have a moral compass. We know many who don't, whether they're men or women. And Ghislaine Maxwell is guilty of these horrendous crimes, and she was given a lighter prison environment for reason no one has explained to us.

So I find it disgusting for anybody to associate with Epstein or to even slightly compromise the denunciation of taking advantage of young children. And there's no question that anybody that does that is horrendous. And certainly after knowing about Epstein should never have associated with him.

HUNT: All right. Lanny Davis, always grateful to have you. Thank you very much for being with us and hope to see you back soon again here in THE ARENA.

DAVIS: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, some breaking political news just coming in from Texas. We'll tell you what happened in the Senate primary on the Democratic side. While on the Republican side, the president still not picking sides, but he is now on the ground in the Lone Star State, just days before election day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): If President Trump endorses John Cornyn, it's a guaranteed win for us in Texas. If it's not John Cornyn, it's a guaranteed 100 plus million dollars spent, and no guarantee that we hold Texas. And it is that serious.

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST: So do you think if Paxton gets the nomination, you could lose Texas?

SCOTT: A hundred percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:33:34]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I like all three of them, actually. I like all three. Those are the toughest races. They've all supported me. They're all good. And you're supposed to pick one. So, we'll see what happens. But I support all three.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Right now, you're looking live at pictures of Corpus Christi, Texas, where President Trump is holding a rally. Officially, the White House says he's there to tout his energy agenda. Unofficially, his visit comes just days before the biggest primary of the election season so far.

The Texas Senate race, which is between the incumbent, John Cornyn -- among, I should say not between Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. All three candidates desperately jockeying for Trump's endorsement before the end of voting next Tuesday, even reshuffling their campaign schedules to try and get some face time with him.

Today, Senator Cornyn took it a step further, traveling with the president on Air Force One as he made his way to Texas from Washington. Meanwhile, the Democratic side of the primary equally contested, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, State Representative James Talarico, offering competing styles, shall we say and strategies on how to turn Texas blue.

And just within the last few minutes, a source confirmed to CNN that former Vice President Kamala Harris has not only endorsed Crockett, she's also recorded a robocall encouraging Texans to vote for Crockett.

Joining our panel in THE ARENA, CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny, who just got back from covering James Talarico in Texas.

[16:35:01]

We've also got CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak traveling with the president in Corpus Christi.

And, Kevin, we'll get to you in just a second on the Republican side.

Jeff, I want to start with this, Harris news that came in here, clearly deciding to weigh in. What does it say to you that she did that? And do you think it moves

the needle?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: We'll see if it moves the needle. I think the timing is interesting because there's only hours left of early voting in Texas. We've seen record enthusiasm there. More than a million Democrats or more than a million people have voted in the Democratic primary, we don't know exactly what they are. There's no party registration there, but it is the 11th hour for early voting. So, an interesting time to record a robocall.

But her support for the congresswoman is not surprising. And before the congresswoman jumped into the race, just about a few weeks, almost at the end of last year, I guess she had a conversation with Kamala Harris, and she was kind of intrigued to jump in or inspired to jump in because of that conversation. So, it's not surprising.

We'll see if it helps. I mean, it certainly can't hurt. I think one of the questions here is on March 3rd primary, how many voters are paying attention? Although if you're in Texas and looking at signs or watching a television or online, it's hard not to know there's a primary because, boy, it's an explosive --

HUNT: Level turnout in a senate primary, says a lot of people, more people than usual, are paying attention it seems.

ZELENY: For sure.

HUNT: I mean, Brad Todd, you work on these kinds of races for a living. I want to talk about the mess that is the Republican primary in a second. But if you are a generic R on the ballot in Texas, do you want to run against Jasmine Crockett or James Talarico?

TODD: Jasmine Crockett, absolutely. I don't think Jasmine Crockett's candidacy will cause Republicans nationally to have to spend any money in Texas. She's not run a very adept campaign in the primary. She's got a lot of talent, but the campaign has not been very well run.

And she will run and has run to the left. I just can't see Jasmine Crockett finding a way to run to the middle. And Texas, remember is Donald Trump carried it by 14 points. That's the same margin Kamala Harris carried Oregon by. So, Texas is -- to be a Democrat and win you have to be an unconventional conservative, centrist Democrat. She's not that.

HUNT: Kevin Liptak, if you are with us, I'd like to kind of get an update from you on what we expect to hear from the president today. I mean, we came into this segment with Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina saying that he really wants the president to weigh in for John Cornyn, who, as we said, flew down on Air Force One with President Trump.

What do you think are the chances the president might offer an endorsement at this rally today?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think their chances are pretty slim. And, you know the president likes suspense. He likes a surprise. But every indication that we've got from people around the president is that this is not a race that he plans to wade into.

You know, even absent the presidential endorsement, this race has really been all about proximity to President Trump and it was really kind of striking to see all three of these candidates kind of scrap their campaign schedules in the final stretch to try and come down here to Corpus Christi. And get in front of --

HUNT: Striking, not stupid.

LIPTAK: -- even watching the -- yeah --

HUNT: Sorry, go ahead.

LIPTAK: And even watching the ads down here, it's amazing -- even watching the ads down here, it's amazing. Almost every ad features these candidates standing next to President Trump. So, it really is to try and tell Republicans down here how much they are aligned with the president but that has not moved the president in any way.

And I think he's facing sort of a conundrum because his normal criteria for endorsing have been kind of muddled. One is loyalty. And so, you have John Cornyn, you know, the establishment figure, not a MAGA figure by any means. A lot of the president's allies think he was insufficiently supportive of the presidents comeback bid in 2024.

The other criteria that the president normally relies on is an ability to win an election, that's where you have the troubles with Ken Paxton who has all of this ethical baggage that he's coming into this with. And so, you have this moment, a rare moment, I think, for President Trump of political indecisiveness that does not appear as if it's going to be resolved today.

HUNT: Very interesting.

All right. So speaking of ads, I'm glad Kevin raised this because there has been an ad leveled at Ken Paxton here in the 11th hour of the race by John Cornyn, who is fairly as Kevin noted, considered to be the establishment and I having covered John Cornyn for a long time in Washington, the man is a relatively restrained in his general demeanor. He's been around town a long time you know, he's polite.

The ad leaves nothing on the table. Let's watch it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AD NARRATOR: Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. She's divorcing him on biblical grounds. So now, Paxton's wrecking another home, sleeping around with a married mother of seven. Think of the Paxton dirty deeds we don't know about yet.

The wife cheating and fraud or the Texas workhorse.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HUNT: Okay. So I'm required to read the Ken Paxton response, which is this, quote, "Unlike John Cornyn, who has become a desperate shell of a man clinging to power, my campaign is not about attacking someone else's family. It's about protecting America. When you have no record to run on, you run the campaign that he's running. The difference between us and our campaigns could not be more stark. I'm running because I love my family my state, and my country, and I think they deserve a far better senator than John Cornyn.

Brad, can we fact check that Cornyn ad? Is there anything in there that was like incorrect?

TODD: Biblical grounds is a quote, as I recall. And so, I don't know about the second allegation, but the first allegation certainly is well proven. And this is why Democrats think Texas is in play. Without Ken Paxton as a potential nominee, this would be a laughable assertion. I still find it incredibly implausible, but it would be laughable if that's the case.

You heard Tim Scott say that if John Cornyn is the nominee, there's no money spent there. I think that that's pretty close to true, and I think it's also true for Wesley Hunt.

HUNT: Lulu, what does it say that Paxton is possibly the nominee for the Republicans?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, what is interesting is what it says on both sides, right? Because if the conventional wisdom is that Democrats can't win with Jasmine Crockett and Republicans are going to struggle to win when Ken Paxton.

And yet the momentum of both those sides of the base are with those respective people, I think it tells you a message about where were at in those respective parties, where the energy of the base is on the more extreme candidates, and that is going to make a very interesting general election because we know that actually to win in states that are more moderate or swingy, you have to run to the center.

And Ken Paxton is not a man who can run to the center it is not in his DNA. He's got as we've said, a lot of baggage. And Jasmine Crockett doesn't want to run to the center.

ELLEITHEE: There was a U.S. Senate race in '94, Virginia, where you had the incumbent senator, Chuck Robb, who had been facing scandals, and you had the Republican challenger was Oliver North from Iran- Contra fame, and the local press dubbed this the race where both parties nominated someone who could not possibly win.

HUNT: But somebody had to.

ELLEITHEE: But somebody had to. And that's sort of the vibe you get when you listen to conventional wisdom about this race, is that the two marginal frontrunners, neither side thinks that the other one can possibly win, but one of them could.

ZELENY: I think a question is what does Ken Paxton's ceiling, though? I mean, going into this primary, it's a three-way primary whoever emerges on Tuesday, the top two will be interesting. But that's what the Cornyn people are holding out hope for that there is a ceiling for Ken Paxton, but we'll see.

They also have both spent money to try and push down Wesley Hunt, the third candidate in the race. What if he would happen to emerge as the top two? So, an extraordinary moment for John Cornyn trying to run for his fifth term. Every cycle seems to have an establishment figure sort of fall by the wayside. Will it be him? We'll see.

HUNT: Right, as to Lulu's point, we seem to be in this kind of generational shift in our in our politics and we approach things.

Jeff Zeleny, Kevin Liptak, thank you both very much. The rest of our panel is going to stand by.

Ahead here in THE ARENA, the bromance that probably no one had on their bingo card. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani sharing new details on his latest Oval Office meeting with Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: Yesterday, I did something that I am truly reluctant to do. I left New York City.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAMDANI: Yesterday, I did something that I am truly reluctant to do. I left New York City. I traveled down to Washington, D.C. to meet with President Trump in the Oval Office. I proposed working together to build more than 12,000 new homes in our city, which would be the single largest housing development New York City has seen since 1973. The president was interested in the idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: It might just be the bromance to end them all. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani seemingly emerged from his oval office meeting with a pair of victories. Interest from the president in a big New York City housing project and the release of a Columbia student detained by ICE earlier that day.

To help make his case, the mayor brought this photoshopped front page of "The New York Daily News" with the headline, "Trump to city: Let's rebuild." It's a play off of the 1975 front page that featured President Ford.

Look at that smile on Donald Trump's face. Can we put that back up for a second? Just -- I just want to sit with this here. Right. So Mamdani standing there, he has this expression on his face almost all the time. By the way, when he's standing next President Trump, it's the same. But look at that, that that that says a lot about what Mamdani did

here. And today we got a little bit more of an explanation from the mayor about the pitch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAMDANI: I stood with the president looking at a portrait of FDR, the last time I was in the Oval Office, and I had shared the fact that who I believe to be the greatest mayor in New York City history, Fiorello LaGuardia, so much of his success was tied to his partnership with the federal government, and how that could continue to be a model in the years to come. And so, in working with my team, we sought to answer the question of what could it look like to bring that kind of partnership back to New York City?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: I mean, Mo Elleithee, the bear -- like the political, the raw politics on display in putting that in -- "The New York Times" called it arts and crafts, diplomacy, diplomacy, the arts and crafts, a masterclass in political psychology the specific savvy of one New Yorker who knows a son of Queens' love for a tabloid front page.

ELLEITHEE: I mean, we knew that Mamdani was a brilliant communicator by the way he ran his campaign, understanding how to communicate in the modern era.

[16:50:05]

Now, we're seeing him put it to use in governing. And --

HUNT: And this was the big question, by the way, right, that everyone had like, okay campaign like, you try running a city as big as New York.

ELLEITHEE: Something as simple as that, just that photo that feeds to Donald Trump's ego. And he was able to come back home to New York with some progress. And it just -- it tells me a lot and when you look at how popular Mamdani is, not just in New York City, but statewide like it tells me that a lot of voters out there misjudged what his campaign was about that maybe it wasn't about resistance as much as it was about fighting. Fighting for people. And what he's shown is his willingness to go and fight for them and bring home the results. It was a brilliant day.

HUNT: It's so interesting you put it that way because this is I feel like this is the thing that we talk about in Washington a lot, too. Like you have to be for something not just against something, right? And the resistance to Trump is very much against something.

I want to play. And then, Brad, you can -- you can jump in. Mamdani explained today why he engages with President Trump, who again this has become such a such a test for Democrats here in Washington, right, especially the base on the left tends to -- Trump is such a source of anger, right, that engaging with him is not something that they want to see. But Mamdani explained why he did what he did this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAMDANI: I said over the course of the campaign that I will always be honest and direct with New Yorkers about my views. The president and I have many disagreements, which we share publicly and we share privately. And I also said on that same campaign trail that I would be willing to work with anyone, no matter disagreements, so long as it was to the benefit of the city that we love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Brad?

TODD: Well, he's -- it would take a far left lunatic to be able to get away with this with his base. But Mamdani is trusted by the most progressive wing of the Democratic Party, so he can flirt with Donald Trump and get away with it. But I think it also points to a lesson for Democrats in Washington. Donald Trump would be willing to make deals with them if they would be willing to make deals with him.

But Democrats in Washington are not that dexterous. They're not -- they're not as dexterous as Zohran Mamdani is. And I don't know if they're going to learn something from this. But there are a lot of -- a lot of issues where this could happen. This could happen with seven Democrats in the Senate. That's all it takes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I'm just reminded so much of Gretchen Whitmer's famous photograph, which is holding up a different piece of paper. Exactly. We're doing a reenactment here now on Friday.

HUNT: Cameras --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: In the dramatic reenactment

HUNT: Puts up the piece of paper like that.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And she was there ostensibly for the same thing, to sort of strike a deal, to work out something

HUNT: And she did.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And she did, and she did, by the way.

HUNT: Got what she wanted.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But she was trying to do it under the cover of night. And this shows that there is actually a different way. And I do take your point about that, that, you know there are many ways to get things done.

HUNT: I want to put up Mamdani's favorability ratings for a second so just his in raw percentage points. So, in September of 2025, this was during the campaign. It was plus 14. By December plus 38. Late January, plus 48. This is like unheard of in politics. Okay. Now you know political

gravity likely applies. The man has not been in office for that long. Surely, he is soon to do something that at least some portion of New Yorkers are not happy about. Fair enough.

But then let's put up the New York Democrats, their statewide favorability ratings, because to your point, I think, Brad, I mean look at Chuck Schumer, okay, underwater, right, Mamdani plus 16.

TODD: There's no question. Chuck Schumer has become kind of an old, stodgy cartoon. He's the thing Republicans don't like about Democrats and he's the thing Democrats don't like about Democrats.

HUNT: Well, and that's probably the thing that's more of a problem for Chuck Schumer, is what Democrats think about him.

ELLEITHEE: And that's probably true. But this also reminds me of how, right after the election, I think sitting here next to you Republicans all across the country were chomping at the bit to turn every Democrat into Mamdani, right? The way it's looking right now --

HUNT: Exclusively, Republicans plan to weaponize Mamdani --

TODD: If he still keeps cutting police officers, we will --

WILLIAMS: Yeah. I mean, don't get carried away here. He is still the Democratic socialist or socialist mayor of New York City. He is an easy target for Republicans around the country.

But what you saw was political brilliance that transcends parties, just look, and we were talking about this in the green room before the use of that particular newspaper at an iconic moment in New York City history that every New Yorker remembers. That was a moment where the city was asking Ford for a federal bailout, that they got everybody knows next to the 9/11 newspaper.

That's probably one of the most famous ones playing to Trump's ego. It was just savvy and smart.

ELLEITHEE: I'm just saying that that goofy smile on the president's face make it makes it a lot harder to villainize him.

[16:55:04]

WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Oh, I think -- I think that's true. And the last thing is as we were saying before game loves game, right? They recognize each other and they see something similar.

HUNT: And look, the bottom line is Donald Trump loves New York City, right?

TODD: Like it's his party.

HUNT: Right. All right. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. Thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate all of you being there.

You can at home, of course, watch much more of THE ARENA tomorrow. THE ARENA SATURDAY airs at noon Eastern right here on CNN. Please do join us.

You can also stream THE ARENA live. You can catch up whenever you want in the CNN app. The QR code for that is on your screen.

Meanwhile, Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD" tonight, coming to you from the great city of Brotherly Love.

Hi, Jake.