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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip

Polls Close In Michigan's Marquee Senate Primary; Progressive Left's Influence Tested In Swing State Of Michigan; GOP Max Miller Vows to Stay In The Ohio Primary Race Despite Calls To Drop Out; Susan Collins Opposes Todd Blanche's Nomination In The DOJ. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired August 04, 2026 - 22:00   ET

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

[22:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST (voice over): Tonight, battle of the lefts. Democrats in Michigan decide who will rep them in the race to keep a critical seat.

Plus --

REP. MAX MILLER (R-OH): I am never going to give up.

PHILLIP: -- a Congressman accused of abuse refuses to leave his race, and his former father-in-law and current senator sounds the alarm.

SEN. BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): My daughter lives in constant fear of this man. This is truly the seventh level of hell.

PHILLIP: And a Republican senator on his way out delivers a quote that will live in MAGA infamy.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): There's nothing we could do to rein in the president.

Live at the table, Scott Jennings, Ashley Allison, Peter Meyer, Xochitl Hinojosa, and Scott MacFarlane.

Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIP (on camera): Good evening. I'm Abby Phillip in New York.

Breaking news tonight, the results are rolling in in key states in primaries all across the country, setting up some critical races that could determine the balance of power in Congress in November. The biggest fight, perhaps, is in the state of Michigan, where a battle for the Senate is serving as a crucial test for the Democratic establishment. And who voters ultimately choose to nominate tonight will send a powerful message about the future of the Democratic Party.

Will they rally behind the moderate establishment-endorsed congresswoman, Haley Stevens, or the progressive former public health official, Abdul El-Sayed?

Now, let's get straight to CNN's Chief National Correspondent John King, who is, of course, tracking these results for us over at the magic wall.

Now, John, what are we seeing in Michigan right now? Where does that race stand?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It stands the insurgent change candidate, Abdul El-Sayed, with a steady lead over the congresswoman, Haley Stevens, as you noted, the establishment-endorsed candidate. The margin has been pretty steady for quite some time. The frustrating part, Abby, is that we only have about 24 percent of the vote in, so we need to be careful.

But, in any political race, you want to come out of the gate in front, and El-Sayed has stayed in front. The question is what happens when we get more votes?

And I just want to come down here. This is Detroit. This is Wayne County. The polls there closed at 8:00, two hours ago, and we are up to 4 percent reporting. And as you see, it's pretty much a tie in Wayne County right now. But this is the largest population center in the state. It is the largest slice of the Democratic Party, the Democratic base. It is critically important to both candidates, African American voters who live here, a lot of Arab American voters in Dearborn Heights, Hamtramck, both candidates.

So, you see this right now, it's at 4 percent, fiercely fought in the most important, but we got a long way. And Wayne County traditionally, I think you've been here, Abby, late night on elections many times before.

PHILLIP: Yes, we've done this together before, John.

KING: Yes, Wayne County often requires the breakfast menu, let me put it that way. Oakland County is counting faster, and look at this, look at this, this is the critical second-largest county in the state, and look how competitive it is here, right, when you look at it here.

Then Macomb County is the third county. This is interesting, blue collar union auto workers. Only 20 percent of the vote in. But if El- Sayed holds that lead there, that says something about his message sticking. It also might say something about some of the United Auto Workers, for example, and industrial union endorsements he has working for him there.

So, I don't want to take too much of your time, because we can't be decisive just yet, but, you know, 51 to 45, again, you'd rather be out front. The main thing is we need more votes here. We need more votes from Wayne County to then see as you move up the state. Pretty competitive if you look at the more rural counties going back and forth with that, but Wayne County is the wild card, and it usually keeps us waiting, Abby.

PHILLIP: Yes, and we will continue to wait until those votes come in. John King, thank you very much. Stay close by. We'll get to the table in just a moment as well.

But, first, I want to introduce Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. He has endorsed Abdul El-Sayed in the Michigan Senate race, and he endorsed Cori Bush for Missouri's First Congressional District tonight. Senator, thanks for joining us tonight.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): My pleasure.

PHILLIP: So, El-Sayed has said publicly he's not a Democratic socialist. He's been lumped in with them, though, because he has embraced a lot of their core positions. So, when we're talking about a state like Michigan, a key battleground state, a purple state, are you confident that he can win in the general election?

[22:05:04]

SANDERS: Yes, I am. Abby, it's important to understand what's going on tonight in Michigan, which is kind of historical. I cannot recall anything like it. Abdul El-Sayed is taking on the entire Michigan Democratic establishment. He is taking on the entire national Democratic establishment, and in an unprecedented way.

I've not heard about this ever. He is being outspent 10-1 by super PACs, AIPAC and other special interest organizations funded by billionaires, outspent 10-1. And as of this moment at least, he is in the lead. So, what that tells me is that people in Michigan -- and we have seen this, Abby, all across this country. We've seen it in New York City.

We've seen it in Colorado, New Jersey. I think ordinary people understand that the economy is rigged, the very rich are getting richer, working families are struggling, that we have a corrupt campaign finance system, which we are seeing operating right now in Michigan, where billionaires are trying to buy elections.

So, the fact that he's doing as well as he is right now tells me that in a general election, he is going to appeal to independents, he's going to appeal to some Republicans and, by the way, a whole lot of young people who previously have not been participating in the political process.

PHILLIP: On the other hand, over in Missouri, Cori Bush, who you also endorsed, did lose her primary tonight. That was a race where AIPAC played a big role both the first time and the second time. What do you think happened there? Why did she lose?

SANDERS: I don't know. I endorse Cori. I like Cori very, very much, and I'm disappointed that she lost. But I will tell you, Abby, and this is an issue as Americans we have got to deal with, I believe in democracy. I believe that elections are about a clash of ideas. You disagree with me, fine. Go to the voters. Tell the voters why you think I'm a terrible senator. That's what politics is about. But when you have millions and millions of dollars, often with dishonest 30- second ads, that is undermining democracy, it bothers me very, very much. We got to get rid of these super PACs. We got to overturn Citizens United. And, by the way, that is something that Abdul has been stressing in his Senate campaign.

PHILLIP: What about Leader Schumer? He's been on the other side of you in a number of these primaries, including in Michigan here tonight. If El-Sayed does win tonight, what do you want Leader Schumer to take away? Do you think it is time for him to change his strategy around these primaries?

SANDERS: I think what we are seeing, no matter what happens tonight in Michigan and I hope very much that El-Sayed wins, is you're seeing the transformation of the Democratic Party.

And what the debate within the Democratic Party is about, it's not only about ideology. I want to see billionaires start paying their fair share of taxes. I believe as progressives do that healthcare is a human right. We need Medicare for all. I believe that we should cease all funding to Netanyahu's extremist government, et cetera.

But it's not only ideology that we disagree with the Democratic leadership about. It's how you do politics. It is no great secret that what the Democratic leadership does, and the Republicans do it even more, is you go to wealthy billionaires, you say, give us campaign contributions. You start super PACs, you hire all these consultants, you put 30-second ads on, you do opposition research. That's your campaign. We do it differently.

And in Michigan right now, you know what Abdul has done? He has done 500 public events. He has thousands of volunteers knocking on doors. He's doing what Mamdani did in New York City, 100,000 volunteers. We are growing the voter universe, bringing people in who have been disenchanted and not participating. That is the difference in ideology. That's the difference in how we do politics.

PHILLIP: Let me ask you about one of those campaign events, because just last night, the popular but very controversial streamer, Hasan Piker, was at one of El-Sayed's final events. The two did a stream together, a fairly lengthy stream.

I know that you've spoken to Hasan Piker in the past, but are you comfortable with El-Sayed having a close association with him given some of his past statements? To give you an example, one of the more controversial ones is that Piker has said America deserved 9/11. Are you comfortable with that association?

SANDERS: No, I am not. I think that's a dumb statement. On the other hand, he has a whole lot of followers and there's a lot of things that he's saying that are making sense to a lot of people.

[22:10:00]

I think, you know, we have to get above cancel culture. You know, when you're doing radio, whatever they do, podcasts three hours a day, you say dumb things. I suspect if you go back over your career, there may be one or two things that you've said that you may have regretted. But I think what we have got to do is look at the totality of where people are coming from and go forward.

PHILLIP: So when someone like James Carville says he doesn't want to be in the same political party as Hasan Piker, which one are you going to take?

SANDERS: Well, that's not much of a choice. If Mr. Carville doesn't want to be in my party, the party that I belong to, the IPACA, that El-Sayed belongs to, he can start his own party. But, you know, look, what we are doing now is, you know, you could turn the tables around and say, do you really want to be in a party where your leadership is taking huge amounts of money from AIPAC, which is supporting an extremist Netanyahu government that many of us believe have committed genocide?

Do you want to be in a party with people who do that? Do you want to be in a party which has not stood up to the A.I. industry because they got a lot of money from A.I. or from crypto?

So, you could pick -- you know, you could pick whatever you want to pick, but I think we need a big tent, and I think people like Piker should be welcome into that certainly.

PHILLIP: Just a quick final question for you, Senator. If voters do choose to nominate Congresswoman Stevens tonight, would you support her in the general election if it meant winning that seat?

SANDERS: I want to do everything I can to put a brake on Trump's disastrous policies. We need to have Democrats control the House and the Senate, and I will do my best to elect all Democrats to the United States Senate.

PHILLIP: Senator Bernie Sanders, we appreciate your time. Thank you very much for joining us.

SANDERS: Thank you.

PHILLIP: Now, before we open it up to the table, once again, I want to invite you at home to join the debate. Head to cnn.com, weigh in on that interview and the rest of our discussions throughout the show. We'll get to some of your comments as we go along.

But here in New York, Scott Jennings, your response to what Senator Sanders had to say.

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, right at the end he ultimately said, yes, I want people like Hasan Piker in my political party. We're a big tent. He wants people in the party that say America deserved 9/11. He wants people in his party that are out there idealizing Chairman Mao and the like. I mean, this is not something I would be embracing if I were trying to build a political party that could appeal to, you know, mainstream Americans. I think they're going to deeply regret these associations and this continued demonization of AIPAC.

AIPAC is Jewish Americans who are choosing to participate in politics. And let's be honest, they're just using it as a euphemism to say the Jews. I mean, that's what they're doing. And I think it's a --

PHILLIP: Of course, Senator Sanders is Jewish.

JENNINGS: Okay. That doesn't absolve him of demonizing other Americans who simply want to participate in American politics.

PHILLIP: So, Xochitl, I mean, do you think that's the right, a defensible strategy to say we're a big tent, and if you don't want certain people in it, you can get out, but everybody else can stay in?

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, I think that ultimately the voters will decide here. And I think when it comes to AIPAC, I think the reason why that was an effective strategy for El- Sayed, and we'll see tonight if he actually wins, is because there was $30 million that was being spent in this race. And part of it is that his message was that this race shouldn't be bought.

I think that at the end of the day, you're going to see that in politics throughout the country. This was an anti-establishment year. It is cool to be an outsider, whether you're a Republican or whether you're a Democrat. Look at what Donald Trump has done to the Republican Party. You have Cornyn, you have Massey, you have others who were defeated because Donald Trump primaried those people. And so you're seeing the same thing happen on the Democratic side, where people want fighters, they want people who are going to stand up for working families.

Now, at the end of the day, these are going to be fights about who can work harder for the American people. And if someone doesn't want to be part of the Democratic Party, they don't have to be part of the Democratic Party.

I will say that a lot of the views that are happening and that El Sayed stands for and what he has been saying, those views would not resonate with people in Texas. I think if you were to ask in my home state of Texas anything about socialism or DSA or any of these things, not one voter would understand what you're saying.

So, I do think that every state is different in this sense. I -- people talk about this big tent party. I think it is a matter of the enthusiasm is where are the fighters? Whether it's Democrats or Republicans, it's not about party labels anymore, and we have to get over that as a country. People do not like the labels.

ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I guess I think people are looking at this race totally wrong. First of all, Hasan Piker is not the candidate. Abdul Sayed is. And Donald Trump has associated himself, and many Republicans have associated themselves with questionable people. But those people aren't the candidates either. The candidate has to run for themselves.

Whoever wins, I want the Democrat to win that seat. But Donald Trump won Michigan twice, and Donald Trump is so far away from being moderate. Like we're pretending like we don't live in this country where these extremes -- there's nothing about -- the Republican Party is the MAGA party now. And it is Donald Trump -- let me finish. Nope, let me finish. Donald Trump's party. And the Democratic Party is actually reforming itself.

And I actually am excited about these debates happening in the Democratic Party, because after 2024 and even leading up into 2024, people were like, who are the Democrats? Now, you don't have to like it, but the reality is there's a lot of people in Michigan tonight that did. And you can talk about Israel and Gaza, but we know there are single-issue voters, but there are also people who vote for Medicaid, for housing, to be able to afford gas, and that is what a lot of voters are doing.

Now, John King pulled up that map, and some of those districts where you think, we don't know what's going to happen tonight, where Haley should be doing better, there should be no reason that somebody spends $60 million in a race and it's even close. That's because people actually get to decide. Not dollars. And people in Michigan are saying, it's hard for me right now, and I want somebody who will fight.

And that's the same thing they said in 2024 when Donald Trump, not a moderate candidate, said, I'm going to fight for you. And that is what's playing out tonight.

PETER MEIJER, CO-FOUNDER AND HEAD OF STRATEGY, THE NEW INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION: Yes. I mean, I think a lot of the anger is far less at the Republican Party. I was initially taking issue with your idea that Donald Trump is some extremist from a policy standpoint. I mean, he was --

ALLISON: But neither is Abdul. That's the thing.

MEIJER: And I'm not alleging that on Abdul's side. I will say it is wrong to view Abdul --

PHILLIP: Wait, hold on, sorry. You're saying Trump is not extreme?

MEIJER: On policy? I mean, he is on gay rights, he is to the left of --

PHILLIP: No. I mean, I'm just talking about like basic stuff, universal tariffs, mass deportations. Those are pretty extreme positions.

MEIJER: I mean, mass deportations. I mean, Bernie Sanders was incredibly for strict border control and deportations --

PHILLIP: That's not the same thing as mass deportations.

MEIJER: No. I mean, Barack Obama's probably deported more people than Donald Trump is.

PHILLIP: I know, but --

MEIJER: The idea that he's an aberration on policy is --

ALLISON: But Trump is not moderate.

MEIJER: But one of the reasons why he won Michigan --

PHILLIP: Trump campaigned on the mass deportation --

JENNINGS: He's not an orthodox Republican.

PHILLIP: -- of all illegal immigrants.

MEIJER: One of the reasons why he won Michigan is he connected well with the voters who were frustrated with an establishment they felt didn't listen to them.

ALLISON: Yes, and that's happened in the night.

HINOJOSA: This is what's happening in Michigan.

MEIJER: But I think the biggest thing, though, is the Democratic establishment, if there was any notion that they were fearsome, and they in a lot of senses were fearsome because there was a lot of money behind them, let's put to bed the idea that money in politics is a massively swaying force. Plenty of candidates have been outspent to an extreme degree and have won despite that because they resonate with a sense of authenticity. If you can get that message out, it works.

But also, the Democratic Party has about the longevity and the stayinghood of like the dodo. I mean, it's a flightless bird that can't really go anywhere, and these insurgent candidates are realizing you just got to go and grab that thing, like this is not a hard thing to do. Colorado 3 Diana DeGette, I mean, set aside the New York primaries as well. Like it is astounding the degree to which I think the center is collapsing within the Democratic Party.

HINOJOSA: You have no center in the Republican --

ALLISON: There is no center at this point in either party perhaps.

PHILLIP: We're going to continue this conversation on that point after a quick break. We'll be right back. We're still following the results in Michigan and Missouri tonight and other states.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:20:00]

PHILLIP: We're watching the results come in from Michigan, where the marquee Senate primary between the progressive left and the establishment is still too early to call.

Let's continue where we left off. I mean, Scott, I think the discussion is about how moderate is a state like Michigan? How, quote/unquote, extreme are these progressive candidates? I mean, what do you think?

SCOTT MACFARLANE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: Anti-establishment year was the term I think Xochitl used. I think that's absolutely correct, except I think it's an anti-establishment era we may be entering here. Look at all the different ways in which people are bucking against establishment. Kids are more distrustful about academia. They're concerned, if not scared, of A.I. Independent media is flourishing. People want to defy the establishment. I don't think this is a Democratic dynamic. I think there is cynicism, if not fear, of establishment right now.

And if Abdul El-Sayed is somebody who channels people who don't want the establishment to run and to reign, he's going to have a big night moving forward.

PHILLIP: I mean, that's got to sound familiar to you, Scott. I mean, anti -- to the other Scott's point, the anti-establishment mood has been set in this country for a while now. We've been there for about ten years now, and Republicans have been on the forefront of it. Now, it's the Democrats' turn.

JENNINGS: Yes, I don't disagree with that. You know, after the Bush years, you know, we went through the first two years of Obama, and that gave birth to the Tea Party. That was a lot about inside versus outside.

PHILLIP: And the outside won.

JENNINGS: In some cases. And in some cases, the outside nominated people who then lost very winnable Senate races, which delayed the Republicans getting the Senate majority for a couple of cycles.

So, it's not like that the outsiders are always right about everything. And in this case, in Michigan, if they do nominate Abdul El-Sayed, there's a lot there. There's going to be a bright line between him and Mike Rogers. And it's a race that if Democrats were to lose it in November, it would really complicate their path to taking back the Senate majority.

So, just because we're living in an anti-establishment world, sometimes the anti-establishment nominates people that are just a little too far outside the mainstream for the voters of a particular jurisdiction. It has happened before.

MACFARLANE: All those endorsements that came in for Haley Stevens, I'm wondering if they weren't counterproductive from the jump.

[22:25:05]

When you have the governor endorsing you, when you have the Congressional delegation, when you have Washington --

JENNINGS: But she's popular though, the governor?

MACFARLANE: I mean, Whitmer I think was helpful.

PHILLIP: Yes, but it is like a signal to voters that you are --

ALLISON: You are the establishment. You're a part of the system. HINOJOSA: Well -- but -- and I also -- Mike -- you brought up Mike Rogers, and as we go into a general election, I think one thing to consider is that the ultimate establishment person right now is Donald Trump. He went from winning Michigan to now polling at 33 percent, has a 33 percent approval rating.

I can't imagine that Donald Trump out on the campaign trail heading into November is going to help Mike Rogers, and for the reason that if people want something different, and especially in a place like Michigan where they were hit by tariffs, killed manufacturing jobs, cost of living has gone up there, you are looking at the guy who has, you know, essentially caused all of this harm, and Mike Rogers doing whatever he can to help Donald Trump wherever he can.

It might be helpful for your base, but I don't know how it is helpful for independent voters and other people in Michigan and whether if he's going to get those people.

ALLISON: I wonder about enthusiasm. I wonder about -- like forget like where you actually stand on the politics, just like strictly practitioners, you know, of like how you win a campaign. I also wonder about turnout here, right? So, you look at this race, you look at the Texas primary race, you look at the people who might have stayed home the last primary cycle or in 2022. Can a candidate like Stevens or Mike Rogers or Abdul Sayed get them off the couch?

Out of all of them, I think that Abdul Sayed is the person who gets those folks who don't regularly vote off the couch because it feels like something different. If it becomes a Rogers and Stevens, I think it is an establishment, just like a Donald Trump versus the Democratic Party.

I think the Sayed and Rogers fight is like a different version of America. Now, whatever you want to describe that version of America is, is one thing, but it will be like this is a chance to do something different versus sticking with the status quo. And can you get enough people excited enough, particularly in Michigan right now, where Donald Trump is not on the ballot?

PHILLIP: All right. So, just one second. We're going to go to John King back at the magic wall. John, tell us what's going on the ground there.

KING: Abby, I can't hear you in the IFB, but I see myself on the screen right there.

PHILLIP: Okay.

KING: So, I'm going to go look at what we got here, a closer race now. It was down to 800 votes just a moment ago, now back to 12,717 votes, 12,776. But you see, the, the more significant El-Sayed lead has now disappeared or at least shrunk to 50 to 47, if we round that up.

So, why is that happening? Let's just bring up the map and see. Again, we start where you get the most votes, here in Wayne County. Wayne County has gone from 7 percent to 21 percent. And look at the gap. Look at the gap. They were running very tight in Wayne County when they were at 7 percent.

Now, as more votes come in, Haley Stevens jumps up in the largest county in the state, the most important basket of votes for the Democratic base in the state of Michigan, Haley Stevens pulling out. So, 22 percent, no guarantee it sticks, but that's what she's going to need to do, is win Wayne County, and with a margin like that, it helps.

Then you move up to county number two in terms of population size. This one has been stuck at 74 for a little bit, and you see why Wayne County becomes so important, Abby, because this here, your number two population center, is pretty much -- you know, it's a battle right there, 40 -- 50 percent if you round up to 47, and, again, El-Sayed holding his lead here in Macomb County. The challenge will become if Wayne County stays like that then you are going throughout the whole chessboard here trying to find.

But if you look up here, this was one of the arguments the Stevens campaign made, was if it could do its job with the Democratic base in Wayne, in Oakland, and in Macomb, where she's losing at the moment, then you move up here into the more rural areas and you're not -- you see that, you know, much smaller in terms of the math of the votes.

But can she in more moderate parts of the state run up some numbers up here? You see it happen. That's a tie right there, as you see Isabella County. Clare County, a little bit more there. So, at the moment, you're starting to see the map fill in a little bit more. We're up to 34 percent as we go.

But, Abby, this was the big leap that changed the math and the race in Wayne County. That -- see if that holds. And overall though right now, El-Sayed 15,000. So, this one's bouncing around a little bit, and it's certainly a bit closer.

PHILLIP: All right. John King, thank you very much.

And just one note in this room about that, I mean, it ain't over until it's over. And it's really important what's going to happen in Wayne County because we're talking black voters but we're also talking Arab American voters. And this is where the hype and the reality will start to clash.

ALLISON: That's right.

PHILLIP: Okay.

MEIJER: It's a huge vote base. This is where it's all going to come down to. I'm looking at some county results, and it really goes community by community. It's what is your -- you know, your college propensity, you know, racial dynamics. I mean --

[22:29:58]

PHILLIP: Are you on the race front? Black voters, that's been an issue. Is he going to be able to overcome that in this primary? ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER NATIONAL COALITIONS

DIRECTOR, BIDEN-HARRIS 2020, FOUNDER, WATERING HOLE MEDIA, AND PUBLISHER, THE ROOT: I'm not sure. I do know that it's a generational split. Younger black voters are leaning more towards Abdul and older black voters, but older black voters often turn out a little bit more.

I do think that there are some 2024 callbacks though. I'm also seeing that like the Muslim community and the Arab community and Dearborn felt very forgotten about by the Harris ticket, whether you agree with it or not, and didn't show up in the numbers, even in the general.

And so will that unity be able to happen tonight for Abdul? I don't know. We will see, but black voters tonight will probably decide this for you.

PHILLIP: Yes, it looks very much like it could be that case. So we're going to continue to follow that.

But we do have other breaking news tonight. Republicans face a deadline involving the fate of an embattled congressman, Max Miller. He's accused of domestic abuse, and now he's speaking out, comparing himself to Donald Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIP: Tonight, total defiance. Republican Congressman Max Miller insists that the abuse of allegations against him are not only lies, but they won't stop his re-election bid. Miller called on the Ethics Committee to launch an investigation to clear his name, and the committee obliged.

Now, the chances that the investigation will end by Election Day, it's highly unlikely, and certainly won't conclude by August 10th. That's the deadline for Republicans to replace Miller on the ballot if he drops out of the race.

Bernie Moreno, the senator who is also Miller's former father-in-law, has called on him to resign. And today, Moreno spoke to reporters about the impact that this very public fight is having on his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): This is truly the seventh level of hell. This has been a horrific experience for my entire family. My daughter lives in constant fear of this man.

Not like something that's existential, but deeply in her heart, she fears what this guy is capable of. You can't fathom what that makes me feel like when the dad's number one job is to protect your kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIP: Then in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Miller again denied the allegations against him and said that President Trump was his inspiration to keep fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MAX MILLER (R-OH): He called me and he said, Max, he said, Maxie, it's going to be a tough race. And he said, I don't know if you're going to be able to pull this one out. And you know what, Jake, I reminded him of the same resilience that he had when people told him that he was going to struggle in 2016 and he became the 45th President of the United States.

I am never going to give up. And what I mean by that is my daughter is going to grow up one day and she's going to see all of this. And she's not going to see that her father caved to political and social media pressures for something that he never did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Resilience, that's the word that he used to describe his decision to stay in this race. I mean, I don't know that I've really ever seen anything quite like this before. And even if you want to just put aside, we don't know where the allegations are going to fall.

We know that there are allegations that have been investigated by numerous entities. And for some people, that's enough. And should it be?

PETER MEIJER (R), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE, MICHIGAN, U.S. ARMY IRAQ WAR VETERAN, INTELLIGENCE ADVISOR, AND CO-FOUNDER AND HEAD OF STRATEGY, THE NEW INDUSTRIAL CORPORATION: No, I mean, I think the challenge here is you have what is inherently going to be a deeply personal dispute, which is around custody, around divorce. That is getting broiled up on the political side.

And I think right now Max Miller is trying to mount more of a political defense. He's viewing at it as his back is against the wall as a member of Congress. And I think that is the absolute wrong way to look at this.

As somebody who's a father, I have a kid right around his daughter's age. The idea that you want to look tough for them, I get it. But what consequence, right?

I think he fears that if he leaves this race, if he somehow bows down to this pressure as he's framing it, that that is somehow validating the accusations. When if anything, leaving the race could show that you care more about taking this out of the public eye, not as a public issue, not as a political issue, but as something that, again, is an inherently family-based thing.

So I hope that he thinks what's best for his child, what's best for his family. So he removes this from being something where we're talking about his three-year-old daughter's stuffed animal on cable news. ALLISON: Peter, it was literally like two weeks ago we were sitting on here having the same conversation about Graham Platner and allegations, and you were like, he has to go. Max Miller has to go.

MEIJER: Oh, he absolutely should go.

ALLISON: He has to go.

MEIJER: I'm saying he should step down from this race.

ALLISON: Race and from Congress? Should he resign from Congress?

MEIJER: I think we can have a nice party with him and Katie Porter, both have domestic abuse allegations against them involving Spaulding Hot Water. But my priority here is on this.

ALLISON: This is the problem.

PHILLIP: I also just want to be clear, I think one of the really important things about this story is that this is not the only thing.

ALLISON: Only woman.

PHILLIP: She is on the abuse front because the abuse front, I mean, yes, there's a divorce, there's a custody battle, that's all important. But there's also abuse allegations that's at the heart of this story, and it's not the only one.

[22:40:08]

Jake Tapper asked him about it today. Let me just play that exchange.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you realize what it is in terms of how tall an order it is for voters and your colleagues and everybody watching right now to believe that three women who don't know each other made up accusations of you being violent and you are telling the truth here, they are lying? That is a difficult thing for people to believe, right?

MILLER: No, not in this instance, because every single one of these things that you're brought up, unlike other candidates throughout the country, I've already had investigations into.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: I'm sorry, the fact of the investigations is also the problem.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER DNC SPOKESPERSON, AND FORMER DOJ PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIRECTOR: Yes, it's also the problem. And in that interview, I was wondering, why would someone like this do an interview and put your family through this? And he obviously was either lying, he was, I mean, it was, the whole interview was disgusting. But the one reason he did that interview was because there was an

audience of one, and that was Donald Trump. He understands that if Donald Trump tells him to resign or tells him not to run, that is it for his political career. And my question is, where is Donald Trump? Why won't Donald Trump call on him to resign? And why won't he tell him to get out of the race? Where is Speaker Johnson?

The Democratic Party was calling for Graham Platner nonstop to get out of the race. Eric Swalwell, all of them.

When it comes to the Republican Party and their allegations of abuse, of assault, of whatever it is, where is the Republican Party?

ALLISON: You know why? Because the margins are too small.

HINOJOSA: It is insane that he's a little girl who is being --

ALLISON: So that's the hypocrisy.

PHILLIP: She was literally being traumatized.

HINOJOSA: She's being traumatized around this, and Donald Trump needs to step in. He is the leader of the Republican Party. Get up and do something.

SCOTT MACFARLANE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: Max Miller calling for a House Ethics Committee investigation is frigging rich. That's really not the place to go to clear your name in short order. You're better off taking a unicycle on a cross-country trip.

You're never going to get there, and he knows that. He's buying time for Trump to intervene, and he's clearly speaking to an audience of one. You can see in the mannerisms and in the tone he's using.

What's more, though? To your point, maybe it's not about standing down from a race, maybe it's about standing down from office.

Your constituents are not getting your unbridled full attention while you're dealing with this. This is why people are cynical of politicians for being selfish and self-interested.

ALLISON: And that's why we call them insurgents, but that's why people who are disassociated with the establishment can win, because people do not call a spade a spade.

We literally, all summer, talked about how terrible a Democratic candidate in Maine was, and I sat down here, and I was like, I agree. I don't think he should run, and you've said it, and you've said it, and I just want all the Republicans who wanted Graham Platner to step down, and he finally did. He wasn't even in office, he was just running for office.

I want them to have the same moral clarity right now, but they don't, and that is the hypocrisy, and that is why voters are showing out the way they are. MEIJER: Part of the problem with Graham Platner is we need to pick

some random guy just because he's an oyster farmer, and he don't want to get people to vote for him.

ALLISON: I don't care. We need to pick people who don't abuse women.

MEIJER: And you need to get people in office who actually care about what they're doing.

PHILLIP: Yes, but also, I mean, look, you can choose anti- establishment, Peter, or you can choose establishment. Max Miller is as established as they come. It doesn't really matter, it's about what's being said about it.

MEIJER: But Max Miller brought in unseated Anthony Gonzalez.

PHILLIP: But just Ashley's point, let me play what John Thune said to Manu Raju about these allegations today, okay? And I just want to be clear, this is after an entire weekend of insane allegations against Max Miller.

Listen to what Thune said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: One of the members of your conference, Senator Bernie Moreno, is publicly calling on Max Miller's former son-in-law to resign from Congress amid these allegations. Do you side with Senator Bernie Moreno? And should Max Miller resign?

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I just, one, it's a very sad and unfortunate case, it is a family matter. And I just, I don't have any observations beyond that. Those decisions on the future there are going to be made ultimately by the people of Ohio.

And I think that's true. And I would say that of any similar case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIP: Is this a family matter, Scott, or is it a matter of character? Is it a matter of moral clarity, as Ashley pointed out?

I don't understand how Republicans at this stage, given everything we've been through this year, can say that about all the things that we've learned over the last three or four days and more about his actions in this marriage and also his actions in two other encounters with women.

[22:45:07]

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT UNDER PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH, AUTHOR, "A REVOLUTION OF COMMON SENSE", AND RADIO HOST, "THE SCOTT JENNINGS SHOW" ON SRN: Yes, well, I think it's actually both. And in this case, one of the members of the family is a member of the Senate Republican Conference. And they really ought to listen to Bernie Moreno.

I was texting with him tonight. And what his family has gone through here, it's hard. I mean, there's a lot of families in America who've dealt with, and by the oftentimes victims of domestic violence, the people who hurt them never face any justice.

Sometimes investigations don't yield justice. And so for him to come on CNN and say, well, they never caught me is essentially what he was saying. That is not a proper deflection.

So look, my advice to the Republicans here would be, it's a big district. A lot of Republicans live there. And my advice to Mr. Miller is, whatever you think your future is going to be, put your family first, this job is not, look, it's a political job.

The only thing that matters is you had a kid. And this kid needs to have some kind of a functioning family. And litigating this in the middle of a campaign on national television day after day is the opposite of that. And it's not going to yield the results you want.

My advice to any Republican here would be, let's just move on from this. And the President, I agree with you, Xochitl, he has a lot of leverage here because he knows Mr. Miller. And so it would be proper, I think, for the party to get a candidate here who, and I agree with you, can pay their full attention to representing the people of Ohio and let this guy go and try to heal himself because he's obviously a troubled person.

PHILLIP: All right. Next for us, the quiet part out loud, an outgoing Republican senator spurned by Donald Trump, says that Congress can't do anything to rein the president in. We'll discuss that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIP: Tonight, Todd Blanche's nomination as attorney general is hanging by a thread after Maine's Susan Collins says that she will vote against him.

Collins cited Blanche's role in approving Donald Trump's $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, among her reasons, and accused him of eroding the Justice Department's independence. But earlier today, two key Republican holdouts voted to advance his nomination. Here's how Senator John Cornyn explained his decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN III (R-TX): Well, there's nothing we could do to rein in the president when he said he likes the fund and he wishes it still exists, but the fact of the matter, it's dead. And that's all we could do under these circumstances.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIP: Scott, what an admission, man.

MACFARLANE: I'm not sure people are shocked considering Senators Cornyn and Tillis did vote to acquit Donald Trump in the impeachment after the U.S. Capitol insurrection, a horrific attack on American democracy. That they've gone soft on something with tethers to January 6th is not shocking, but they do seem kind of feeble in exercising their Article I authorities. That's your job to contain the President.

PHILLIP: And they could have done more on the tax settlement. I mean, they definitely could have held out.

Yes, and they could still do more now. Just to be clear, there is still going to be a final vote. They could still decide that they don't want to advance that.

HINOJOSA: There was no teeth in the agreement that, and then honestly, Cornyn and Tillis got played here. I mean, at the end of the day, if you were trying to prevent funds going to January 6th defendants, and if you're trying to prevent the president of the United States not committing, or his family, not committing IRS crimes in the future, or looking at anything in the past, they didn't necessarily accomplish that.

They can still move forward with settlements with January 6th defendants without anybody knowing, as long as the January 6th defendant brings a claim to the Justice Department. And the most important thing is that they didn't get Donald Trump's sign off on this.

This was an agreement between two parties, between the Department of Justice and between Donald Trump. The only way to undo it is to get Donald Trump's sign off on it and an actual signature and Donald Trump was never going to do that. So at the end of the day, we are back to where we started on day one, and they just completely caved.

PHILLIP: But this whole thing is up in the air now, with Collins saying no. You've got Murkowski, and you've got Cassidy, who are question marks.

JENNINGS: So the way the vote sits right now, he has to get at least one of Murkowski or Cassidy. Can't lose them both on the floor.

And so, you know, neither has said, I guess, what they're planning to do. So a little bit of drama here. But we've talked about this for the last several months.

The Senate for the President, because of the personality dynamics in play, a little bit ungovernable and a little bit unruly right now. And so you're going to have some votes where, you know, you may come down to the wire on it.

This is going to be one of them. I don't personally know what's going to happen, but it does seem to be in the hands of Murkowski and Cassidy. ALLISON: Well, some of it is because he made sure that some of those

folks won't be senators anymore. So it's like, if you want the votes for the next six months, then maybe keep the people in the seats.

[22:55:04]

JENNINGS: Cassidy, of course, is one of them.

ALLIN: I know, yes.

PHILLIP: Maybe don't try to pull one over on not just the Senate, but the legal community. I mean, the brazenness of this whole thing is part of the problem.

MEIJER: And when it first came out, it was, okay, let's try to find the steel man argument for this. I know there are a number of members of Congress who were, you know, like, well, we haven't really seen any of the details yet.

I just, I don't think it was very well thought out from that inception to the point where if you can't have folks sitting there being able to defend it, it's one thing. But let's also not lose sight of what we're actually talking about.

You know, the confirmation of Todd Blanch as attorney general, he's the acting attorney general, he's Senate confirmed, he can do all of the current, you know, aspects of the role that he could if he was the actual attorney general, just what an idea is acting in front of his name.

HINOJOSA: And he doesn't have a number two, which is also important.

PHILLIP: All right, we'll leave it there, everyone. Thank you very much for being here.

Next, the race in Michigan is tightening up at this hour as the progressive left and the establishment battle in the swing state. We're going to be back in just a moment.

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