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CNN Obtains DNC Autopsy Report; Iran Rebuilding Military Forces?; White House Postpones A.I. Executive Order; Outrage Grows Over DOJ Compensation Fund. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 21, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: And thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Bipartisan backlash. A growing number of lawmakers are criticizing the Justice Department's so-called anti- weaponization fund, but, in a new CNN interview, the acting attorney general is defending it.

Plus: rebuilding and reloading. U.S. intelligence now believes Iran is restoring its military capabilities much faster than expected. Ahead, what this means for the war, as President Trump weighs his next steps.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And after months of delaying its release, a version of the Democratic National Committee's long-awaited autopsy on the 2024 election is finally out. We will bring you the findings in just moments, as we follow these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

We begin with growing pushback to President Trump's nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund. We have learned that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche actually changed his schedule today. Instead of going to Minnesota, he's now on Capitol Hill meeting with Senate Republicans in a bid to save the fund.

KEILAR: And his visit comes as more Republican lawmakers openly reject Trump's plan to give taxpayer money to those who believe that they were unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors, including potentially those convicted in the January 6 attack of the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not believe that individuals who were convicted of violence against police officers on January 6 should be entitled to reimbursement for their legal fees.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): It sends a signal, hey, go breach the Capitol, destroy the building, assault police officers, and you may even get compensated someday. That's absurd.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Does it make sense to you why they won't just rule it out for the people who were literally beating up law enforcement?

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): No, it should be an easy question to answer. I don't know why they're having such difficulty answering it. I can answer it. Not a dime should go to them, not a single dime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Marshall Cohen is with us now with the latest on this.

The acting attorney general sat down with CNN for an interview. He is completely defending this.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, our colleague Paula Reid had the opportunity to talk to him yesterday and posed the question that we're all wondering: Can you say that no money will go to anyone who violently assaulted police officers? And the acting A.G. wouldn't rule it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, U.S. DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: One of the factors the commissioners have to consider is what the claimant did, the claimant's conduct, OK? So, in the hypothetical you just described, the claimant would have to say, I assaulted a cop and I want money.

So, whether the commissioners will give that person money, that claimant, it's up to them, but that's one of the factors they have to consider.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. COHEN: I will be honest, that answer came as a huge relief to members of the January 6 community, who are rushing to talk to their attorneys, talk to their family members and try to get their claims into this fund.

We have spent the last few days talking to a lot of people, prominent election deniers, like Mike Lindell, Tina Peters, who's finishing her sentence in Colorado in an election breach there. Folks are thinking about tapping this fund, fake electors from 2020 that tried to subvert the Electoral College process and even the far right pro-Trump media outlet OAN.

They said they lost a lot of business after 2020 and they're seriously considering applying for some of this money.

SANCHEZ: What are we hearing from these convicted rioters specifically who are planning to ask for funds?

M. COHEN: Well, a lot of them have said their lives were destroyed by January 6 and they now want compensation.

Our colleague Donie O'Sullivan talked to a few of them earlier this week. Here's what they had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BRANDON FELLOWS, CONVICTED FOR JANUARY 6: But that's why I rationalized people, even violent people, getting paid for that day, because the government set it up. And also, on top of that, they stole the election.

RACHEL POWELL, CONVICTED FOR JANUARY 6: Then having to endure everything I did through prison and getting a five-year sentence on top of that, that's clearly weaponization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

M. COHEN: All right, so who are these folks? I will tell you what they did and what they were found guilty of.

It was -- the first guy you saw was Brandon Fellows. He breached the Capitol. He smoked marijuana in a senator's office. He was found guilty of five counts, including felony obstruction. And a Trump- appointed judge sentenced him to 3.5 years in prison.

[13:05:08]

And that, of course, ended with a pardon from President Trump. The woman you saw, Rachel Powell, she used an axe to break windows and get into the Capitol. She shoved a barricade against a police officer. She was found guilty of nine charges, including destruction of government property.

She got nine years in prison, and she also was pardoned by Trump, like the rest of the 1,600 folks that were prosecuted for January 6. They think that they should be at the front of this line for the money that they feel like they have deserved for getting their lives turned upside down.

SANCHEZ: Wow. We will see what comes of these meetings between the acting attorney general and these Republican senators if the fund moves forward as planned.

Marshall Cohen, thank you so much for that reporting.

Pivoting now to the White House, where a signing ceremony for a new executive order on artificial intelligence was just postponed again. The federal government has yet to define its role overseeing this powerful new disruptive technology.

KEILAR: Yes, so far, U.S. A.I. companies have had a free hand, despite warnings that the technology could be dangerous. According to sources, some of America's biggest tech giants have been talking to the White House about the order.

CNN A.I. correspondent Hadas Gold is here with more on this.

Hadas, do we know what the White House is hoping to achieve with this?

HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we had been all set up for this signing ceremony for the executive order. It was this afternoon. Some of all the biggest A.I. companies and their executives had been

invited to come to the White House to be part of this ceremony. And we know, according to my sources, that a lot of the major A.I. companies had been talking to the White House extensively about the details of this executive order.

And then, just a few hours ago, we got word that it was postponed. And now we're hearing from President Trump himself. He's saying he was the one that decided to postpone this, saying that he was worried that it would hamper the A.I. industry. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I didn't like certain aspects of it. I postponed it. I think it gets in the way of -- we're leading China. We're leading everybody, and I don't want to do anything that's going to get in the way of that lead.

We have a very substantial on A.I. It's causing tremendous good. And it's also bringing in a lot of jobs, tremendous numbers of jobs. Again, we have more people working right now that we have ever had. I really thought that could have been a blocker, and I want to make sure that it's not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLD: So, I had been spending the last couple of days talking to my sources across the industry on what was in this executive order.

And one of the biggest aspects in this executive order was that there would be a voluntary framework where these A.I. companies would submit their models for government review up to 90 days before they are publicly released. There was also calls to have -- get more federal technology workers. And we know, again, that these A.I. companies were heavily involved in working on this executive order with them.

The reason that the government wants to have potentially access to these models before they're released is, as we're seeing with some of these new models in the last few weeks and months, is that their cyber capabilities, in particular, their ability to find cybersecurity vulnerabilities, especially in really critical infrastructure, like the power systems, like the banks, they are unprecedented.

It's like having a team of millions of hackers being able to work 24/7 to find these vulnerabilities. So, you can see why the government would want to have a hand in reviewing these models before they're released, being able to shore up their own defenses, help important industries like banking shore up their defenses as well.

Now, I do know, according to my sources, there was a bit of push and pull between the industry and the White House especially on the time period. How long do you give the government to look at these models before the release?

I have to tell you, 90 days is a lifetime when it comes to the A.I. industry. These models are developing so quickly that, within 90 days, you might have two or three new versions of these models coming out. I know that the industry was pushing more for a 14-day review period.

So there was some push and pull both from the industry and from the White House. But now we're hearing from President Trump himself that he had issues with this executive order. And it goes to show that there's still a pretty big split between the government of, how much of a hand is the government going to have in potentially not even -- this wasn't even regulating.

This was a voluntary framework, that the A.I. companies were going to voluntarily give their models. But I think, from President Trump, he's saying there was such a fear that any sort of framework from the government was going to hamper the A.I. industry. And there is an arms race with China right now when it comes to A.I. model development.

And that's why President Trump said he wanted to stop this executive order, at least for now -- guys.

SANCHEZ: Yes, at least for now. We will see what comes of it.

Hadas Gold, thank you so much.

Still to come: a U.S.-bound flight forced to divert to Canada after a passenger from an Ebola-hit region was able to -- quote -- "board in error." What we have learned about new screening requirements for some incoming passengers.

KEILAR: Plus, a key agency just signed off on President Trump's massive arch, with a few changes. We will tell you what those are.

That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: We're learning some new details about how quickly Iran appears to be rebuilding key parts of its military, and that includes its expansive drone program, which, according to a source, could be fully rebuilt in as little as six months.

Multiple sources telling CNN, U.S. intel indicates, during this now six-week cease-fire, Iran is reconstituting its military capabilities a lot faster than expected, one official saying the Iranians have -- quote -- "exceeded all timelines" the intelligence community had.

CNN senior national security reporter Zach Cohen, is with us now.

This really raises questions about the extent of damage done by joint U.S-Israeli strikes.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: It really does, Brianna, because we're told that Iran is actively rebuilding production facilities and military capabilities that were destroyed by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, and they're doing so much more quickly than the U.S. intelligence community initially thought they could.

[13:15:11]

And that's something that we're hearing concerns about from U.S. officials even, who are saying that Iran is reconstituting and doing so on a very rapid timeline. And that includes things like trying to replace missile sites, launchers, and their industrial base writ large, which the U.S. and Israel did inflict serious damage on.

But we're told that the timeline for reconstituting those capabilities is now months, not years. Now, that does seem to conflict with what we heard from Admiral Brad Cooper, who is the top general and top commander, U.S. commander, in the Middle East, just on Tuesday, when he testified before the House Armed Services Committee.

Take a listen to what he said about the impact of damage to Iran's industrial base and how long that may have set them back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADM. BRAD COOPER, CENTRAL COMMAND COMMANDER: Operation Epic Fury significantly degraded Iran's ballistic missiles and drones, while destroying 90 percent of their defense industrial base, ensuring that Iran cannot reconstitute for years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Z. COHEN: So not only does Iran still maintain significant ballistic missile and drone capability, but we're told that they are already producing more drones to replace the ones that they have lost during the conflict.

One U.S. official telling me that they could completely reconstitute their drone attack capability in a matter of six months, so a much more accelerated timeline than the one Cooper was laying out yesterday.

KEILAR: Yes, that's a huge difference.

And just as the president is coming off of this trip to China, where he says that Xi basically gave him assurances they're not giving weapons to Iran, you have also learned that one of the reasons they have been able to reconstitute is because they're getting help from Russia and from China.

Z. COHEN: That's right, their friends, so to speak. We know that Russia and China have both been providing varying levels of support to Iran during the conflict.

With China, it's a little bit more of a contentious issue. There has not been real evidence that they have actively transferred full weapons systems to Iran while the war was going on. But we are told by sources there are indications of China providing dual-use components, things that can be used for military purposes, including to help rebuild their missile capability.

And so pairing that with the drone production that we're currently being told is ongoing, that does raise concerns, particularly amid regional allies, including Israel.

KEILAR: And there -- speaking of Israel, you have learned about a contentious phone call between the president and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

Z. COHEN: That's right.

The two leaders did speak yesterday, our colleagues are told, and it really does capture sort of where we are in this moment. And it does lay bare the seemingly different priorities that Israel and the United States both have in this moment. Israel has consistently pushed the U.S. to restart combat operations against Iran.

And they have voiced serious concerns that Iran is using the cease- fire to rearm, which would, ironically, be backed up by what we have learned about U.S. intelligence related to Iran's efforts to reconstitute their military capabilities.

KEILAR: Zach Cohen, great reporting. Thank you so much.

Next: a neglectful White House and a campaign that took too much for granted. We have all the details from the long-awaited DNC autopsy report on the 2024 presidential election.

Plus, an update on the American doctor who's being treated for Ebola.

We will have that ahead here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:22:52]

SANCHEZ: So, the DNC is releasing a long-awaited report on what it says went wrong with the 2024 election and why Vice President Kamala Harris lost the presidential race.

KEILAR: This was an autopsy conducted at the request of DNC Chair Ken Martin. It was supposed to come out last spring, but it was withheld until CNN obtained extensive details about its contents. And now the DNC has given CNN what it says is the entire report, which had been in -- which has been independently verified and published.

One item that stood out, the Biden White House being partly to blame for Harris' loss, saying here in this report that it failed to set her up for success.

Let's discuss with CNN senior reporter Isaac Dovere.

A lot of blame for the former president and those right around him.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, but I think what's important here is, number one, there was no plan to release this autopsy before I was doing the reporting that brought it to them and forced their hand here.

Also, the DNC has literally on every single page of the autopsy disavowed its findings. And then, in the statement from Ken Martin, he also has disavowed it. So, this is, yes, some things that were written about the campaign, but...

KEILAR: Wait, disavowing their own findings?

DOVERE: Well, that's part of the trick here, Brianna, is that there's a -- Ken Martin, who's the DNC chair, hired a friend of his named Paul Rivera, who worked as a part-time volunteer putting together this autopsy.

There was all sorts of problems with how the reporting and the interviewing and the data collection for this was done over the course of the year, which in part explains the delays. And then Ken Martin, his decision after managing it through that was to not release it at all.

So this is not really a statement from the DNC about how they feel about it. It's a -- what's in a document that was prepared.

SANCHEZ: So what does the document say about the loss in 2024 for Democrats, what responsibility Biden had, what responsibility Harris had?

DOVERE: Like, it does not get into Joe Biden's debate performance or the decision to drop out of the race. It doesn't get into Kamala Harris becoming the nominee without primaries.

[13:25:06]

It doesn't get into an issue that a lot of people thought would be in it, which is Gaza and how Biden's position and Harris' position on Gaza may have affected voters and maybe kept some of the turnout down. It is missing a lot of things that people thought would be in there.

And then it becomes a question of what the DNC does now, since that was -- there was all this stuff lacking. There is a quote in the story that I have that explains the whole story of what went wrong with this process from a woman named Lavora Barnes, who is the -- who was the Democratic state chair in Michigan, of course, importantly Michigan, where a lot of these things came to a head.

And she said to me: "There's no document that's going to point directly to the one thing that could have been done differently, the one person that could have behaved differently to fix what happened in the election. It's not on this one thing. It's many, many things."

And she said to me: "And we all know what those things are."

(LAUGHTER)

DOVERE: So that's what this document is. And what -- really, what it gets to is what has become a real existential crisis for Ken Martin and his leadership of the DNC, which is the official arm of the Democratic Party, of course, just a couple months before the midterms, and then when we get into the presidential primary process and everything with the 2028 election. KEILAR: OK, but not everyone's in agreement on what went wrong. I'm

sure that, if you talk to different people, different people are going to have opinions.

And so it's generally important after some kind of big failing in this case to have some consensus or certainly some discussion of this.

DOVERE: Sure.

KEILAR: What does it suggest that Democrats do in the future?

DOVERE: Well, again, the -- part of what is in the story is how few people were asked those questions, including almost all the senior leadership of the Biden and Harris campaigns.

So what it get -- what this report says is not necessarily a document that captures what even those people had to say about what went wrong.

SANCHEZ: So, perhaps Martin is right when he says this document was not ready for prime time.

DOVERE: Perhaps, and then he's going to have to figure out what that means about his leadership and his...

SANCHEZ: Right.

DOVERE: ... enabling this process all the way through. And there are a lot of people who were asking those questions before the story published, and now many more.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

Isaac Dovere, thanks so much for the reporting. Appreciate it.

And, FYI, CNN has obtained the full autopsy. It's posted on our Web site. You can find it at CNN.com.

Coming up, more on Iran's race to rebuild its military and how they have already started producing drones again. We will discuss in just moments.

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