Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT) is interviewed about Iran; Jess Michaels and Rep. James Walkinshaw are Interviewed about the Epstein Files; Signs of Resistance. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired February 25, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: That sounds like the Inflation Reduction Act and saying, like, this is a bill that would help people.

BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: I would say this. The problem -- the problem -- the problem you have with --

CORNISH: Why didn't you -- you can't see it. It's going to kick in, in a few years.

LANZA: No. No. I -- listen, I think the problem you have with the Democrats is they actually contributed to inflation. You know, and that's why -- you know, that's why the voters never felt the changes under Democratic policies because there was --

CORNISH: Yes. I mean both parties voted for the packages that helped people, but --

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: The question is not --

LANZA: But Trump didn't.

DOVERE: You cannot reasonably assume that voters will think about all of the historic economic trends over the last 20 years.

LANZA: True.

DOVERE: The question is, how do people feel right now and how will they feel in November when it comes to this issue in the midterms?

CORNISH: Yes.

DOVERE: And then how are they going to feel about it going forward? They're -- they are going to be thinking about what their grocery bills are like each week, not what it was five years ago.

CORNISH: Yes.

LANZA: But I think the administration has until November. Because historically, you know, if you look at polling, voters make decisions on the economy on July of an election year. So, we only have four months to sort of change this. V. SPEHAR, DIGITAL JOURNALIST AND CREATOR, UNDER THE DESK NEWS: And 2.4 million people that he kicked off of food stamps, that he was so excited to talk about yesterday, certainly feel the difference in their grocery bills. And I don't know that that's -- that's speaking to the working class people in a positive way.

CORNISH: All right, you guys, stay with me, straight ahead, because the president also talked about immigration. He left out kind of a major part of the story, the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, two Americans who are protesting deportation tactics. We're going to hear firsthand from a Republican who is in the room. Congressman Ryan Zinke joins the chat right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:36:11]

CORNISH: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It's half past the hour. Here's what we're talking about now.

Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff meet with Iran's foreign minister in Geneva tomorrow. It could be the final opportunity to reach a diplomatic breakthrough and prevent a war.

Now, under Trump's direction, the Pentagon has assembled the largest military buildup in the Middle East since the U.S. invaded Iraq. And the president used his State of the Union Address to justify an attack, if necessary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy. But one thing is certain, I will never allow the world's number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon. Can't let that happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, group chat is back.

And we're joined by Republican Congressman Ryan Zinke of Montana.

Always like to talk to you. Of course, former Navy SEAL. And I like to get this perspective.

We've been hearing so much, because these talks are happening, about preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. You've talked about that. The president talked about that. Do you agree that war with Iran is now effectively inevitable? And are you prepared to tell the American people that, yes, the U.S. should send U.S. forces into another Middle East conflict if these Geneva talks fail?

REP. RYAN ZINKE (R-MT): Well, I think the president's advice to Iran is take the deal, because he made it, in no uncertain terms, that Iran is not going to have a nuclear weapon.

CORNISH: Iran is not known for taking U.S. advice.

ZINKE: Well, you know, in this case it's pretty clear what the choices are. I mean we have -- we have the largest force assembled. We have an overwhelming force. And if necessary, I think the president made it clear is that we will use it.

Now, remember --

CORNISH: The force meaning troops?

ZINKE: Well, and, remember, force. So --

CORNISH: OK. Yes, what is that?

ZINKE: And remember Iran has -- we know they have nuclear material. That's not in debate. What the president -- what the president is asking this --

CORNISH: So, I'm hearing you say you support the U.S. sending forces to the Middle East. You would support a war with Iran if they do not follow through with what the president is asking. This is where you're sitting, in the support column?

ZINKE: This is where I sit. We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. We know they have material. They have to have inspections, no notice inspections, anywhere in the territory of Iran. If they don't do that, they will pay consequences.

I think the mission is really twofold. Is it to replace or is it to disable? And that mission is still in the president's mind, I'm sure. Do they take out Khamenei and the three h's, Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis? I think -- I think the world would be a better place. And imagine a Middle East, imagine a Middle East without a radical Iran regime.

CORNISH: I think most people can imagine it. What they also are imagining is what U.S. involvement would mean. And I'm going to leave that for now because the Geneva talks are still happening and Iran is --

ZINKE: And I'm hopeful.

CORNISH: Yes, putting forth its counter measures.

ZINKE: But I'm telling my Iran friends, take the deal.

CORNISH: I want to turn to something else, tariffs. The president got up last night, said tariffs are the center of my whole deal. One day they'll replace the income tax. And also, I don't need Congress. Is that true?

ZINKE: Well, this is where I will disagree. Article One, Section Nine the Constitution is this, no money should be removed from the Treasury unless by consequence of appropriations, by Congress, by law. So, I think he does have the right to tariff. But the money should go into the United States Treasury and then the Congress is the one that appropriates the spending. So, I don't think the president has the authority under the Constitution to spend money out of the Treasury without going through Congress. So, on that -- on that point I'll disagree with the president.

CORNISH: I want to -- correct me if I'm wrong here. Montana farmers and ranchers, basically in a lawsuit, they're among those who are saying the president had them paying illegal tariffs.

[06:40:06]

They want their money back. Should they get it?

ZINKE: I don't think they're going to get their money back. And, you know, Montana also, we trade, I think, 70 percent or so with Canada.

CORNISH: Yes.

ZINKE: We are by far the most exposed state. Wisconsin is maybe 30 percent. So, when a tariff on energy or grain hits Montana, Montana is going to feel it a lot -- a lot more than anyone else. And the farmers and ranchers, which grain prices are tight.

CORNISH: So, should they get their money back?

ZINKE: I don't think they're going to get their money back.

CORNISH: You said they won't. Should they?

ZINKE: I think -- I think it's problematic. I don't believe they're going to get their money back.

DOVERE: But it's their money that they're not getting back?

ZINKE: All right, well, tariffs, you know, what's the purpose of a tariff is to make a trade deal. And I think that's where -- you know, three things have to happen. The economy has to feel better. And I think it is feeling better. Two is, I think the trade tariffs have to go to trade deals. And lastly, what was mentioned is, look, the cost of money is too expensive. Interest rates have got to go down. And there's no one that's been punching more than President Trump on the Fed to bring interest rates down. It's hard with the spending. You know, that's the key. But I think those three things are important. And I think he nailed it last night on the economy

CORNISH: Does anyone have any other questions about this? I have one other topic. But I want to ask.

So, there were Epstein victims last night who were there in attendance to the speech. Did you speak to any of them?

ZINKE: I did not. No. And I certainly would. You know, look, I think everyone agrees that this man was an evil predator. The people he associated with are, you know, are people that were the highest, in some cases, you know, with a crown and world leaders. This type of behavior is unacceptable in our society, period.

CORNISH: Do you think Trump -- a, people have real questions about this administration and its transparency. Trump and the administration have always said, we've been the most transparent on it. What do you say to survivors who say, no, not enough, lots of stuff missing, and they don't agree that the administration is doing all it can do?

ZINKE: Well, millions and millions and millions and millions of pages have been released. I think for a lot of people they were hoping something in it was -- that would implicate Trump. There wasn't.

SPEHAR: Why wasn't there though? Because the FBI spent so much time removing and redacting his name.

ZINKE: You know what, I don't -- I don't believe that's the case.

SPEHAR: We have new reports showing that many of those pages were pulled out. I mean that's just the fact of the --

ZINKE: I don't -- I don't -- no, I don't believe that's the case.

CORNISH: I understand what you're saying. I do want to at least flag some reporting, NPR, CNN, finding that there were documents that they definitely -- the FBI record says that they have, right, of an accuser who was putting allegations against Trump specifically and that the interview notes from that are missing from what they've made publicly available. And I'm asking this because each time there's a report like that, somebody says, are we really getting the whole deal from these people?

ZINKE: I think we are. And look, if there was anything on Trump at all, it would have been released under Merrick and President Biden. I mean, for a moment -- for a moment --

DOVERE: Well, but there isn't --

ZINKE: Anyone who would think that would be different, I don't understand that logic.

SPEHAR: There was the active investigation --

DOVERE: But there was the law that you voted for in December, though, right?

ZINKE: Right. Yes.

DOVERE: Along with almost all of your colleagues that said a full release of the documents.

ZINKE: Right.

DOVERE: So, we actually don't know what happened because that law is still -- we're in violation of that law still, right?

ZINKE: Well, all right. Full release. Should there -- should there be things redacted because it's lawful, not only lawful, it would violate the law if they weren't? You know, some of these victims were 13 years old at the time.

CORNISH: OK.

ZINKE: And so -- and so some of the victims do have rights.

CORNISH: Yes.

ZINKE: And so I think that -- that has to be looked at carefully, too.

CORNISH: Because we should be --

ZINKE: Do I think we should hide anybody that was -- that was a perpetrator? No, absolutely. And I think we need to be absolutely transparent about who this evil guy hung around with.

CORNISH: And to be clear, Trump is not accused of wrongdoing, right?

ZINKE: He's not. No.

CORNISH: But the longer this conversation happens about transparency and whether or not it's happening, it doesn't go away. Are Republicans just kind of hoping this is going to peter out by midterms?

ZINKE: Well, it in some way it just feeds on itself I think. You know, people are looking for something that's not there.

CORNISH: The survivors or you just mean --

SPEHAR: Partisans.

CORNISH: Yes. No, say more.

ZINKE: Well, I mean -- I mean you were saying that there are -- there's somehow this great implication of wrongdoing on the president. There isn't.

CORNISH: Uh-huh.

ZINKE: There never was.

CORNISH: Do you ever wish that Kash Patel and Bongino and all those people never, like, ginned this up in their podcast days?

LANZA: Oh, yes. Of course. Of course. I wish this topic was, you know, was resolved long ago, but you had, you know, Pam Bondi, who botched the release of it. You had Bongino and all these guys talk about it for years. We're sort of now stuck dealing with the consequences of those things. And it's a distraction. Does it move voters? It's to be determined, but it certainly distracts and it just keeps on popping up and never ends.

[06:45:03]

CORNISH: OK.

ZINKE: It's a never-ending ice cream cone. CORNISH: Congressman Ryan Zinke of Montana, thank you so much for

being with us.

ZINKE: Oh, it's always a pleasure.

CORNISH: Appreciate it.

ZINKE: Good to be with you today (ph).

CORNISH: If you missed any of that conversation, maybe you want to share it. Know that we're a podcast too, and you can do both. Scan the QR code now to find it. CNN THIS MORNING is available anywhere you get your podcasts.

Also next on CNN, we're going to speak live with an Epstein survivor as the president did not mention his handling of the files in his speech.

Plus this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: How Democrats are hitting back this morning against the president's State of the Union Address.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. KATERINE CLARK (D-MA): Let me be clear to Donald Trump, this is not going away. These survivors, and all of us, are not going away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: A clear message from lawmakers and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein ahead of last night's State of the Union, that they're not going away, even if the president ignores them.

Now, President Trump spoke for a record amount of time. But during his one hour and 48 minute remarks, he didn't really mention Epstein survivors. And even if we didn't hear about them from the president, they definitely made their presence known. Some survivors sat alongside members of Congress. They wore pins reading "release the files."

Joining us now, Epstein survivor Jess Michaels, and also Congressman James Walkinshaw.

Thank you for being here. And you just heard Congressman Ryan Zinke --

JESS MICHAELS, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Yes.

CORNISH: Talking about whether or not he feels as though the president has done all he can to release these files, whether or not they're in compliance with the law. Is there anything you wanted to say about what you heard?

MICHAELS: Yes, I wanted to stop him in the hallway, introduce myself as a 1991 Jeffrey Epstein survivor. And if he believes that, it means he hasn't actually read the files.

CORNISH: What do you mean?

MICHAELS: Because there -- even the egregious redactions that have happened, you know, victim statements where four pages of a seven page victim statement was blacked out, there was telling information. One of them I saw on page four, she says, I am feeling fearful of the abuse of power of wealthy men. And then the rest of it's blacked out. So, there are clear indications that information was not investigated the way that it should have been and there is not transparency happening right now. So, he can't be making that opinion, obviously, if he hasn't even looked at something as simple as a victim statement.

CORNISH: OK, I want to turn to you, Congressman Walkinshaw.

The administration has said, first of all, Trump's not accused of wrongdoing specifically. But they've also always said that he's done more for victims than anyone by signing the disclosure rule into law.

Do you have a single, concrete outcome you can offer Jess and others, a special prosecutor, a full declassification, subpoenas? Other than bringing them places, what do Democrats have to offer survivors?

REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): Well, what I would like to see happen is, get all the files released, unredacted illegal redactions, and then for the Department of Justice to investigate whatever needs to be investigated based on the full information.

We have seen, across the world and to some extent in the United States, individuals being held accountable in different ways by institutions they're involved in. I don't think that's enough. But we need to have all of the files. We need to unredact the illegal redactions and investigate what needs to be investigated.

CORNISH: Yes, we've been seeing a lot in the private sector, whether it's the attorney who is at Goldman Sachs, the resignation of Peter Attia from CBS, lots of people sort of stepping aside from their positions and then, of course, what's going on in Europe with the arrests in the U.K.

Do you agree that, is any of this accountability? Is any of this comforting to see these resignations?

MICHAELS: It's a level of public awareness that they're agreeing that something has happened, but we're not seeing them testify in front of the committees, we're not seeing any further investigations.

I just have to mention a story last night. So, when we were in the gallery, we were sitting -- some of us were sitting with Republican staffers. And at one point I just turned to him and I said, so what do you think about this whole release the files thing? And he said, well, he goes, my Congress member voted for it twice to release the files. I said, great, what do you think about it now? And he said, well, it should have been released ten years ago. And I said, no, it's not that it should have been released ten years ago, it was, arrests were supposed to happen ten years ago. And that's why we're here, sir, because arrests never happened then, and they're not happening now.

CORNISH: Yes, there's a little bit of, like, this other person should have done it.

MICHAELS: Exactly.

CORNISH: This other person should have done it. And you're not getting answer for now.

MICHAELS: A real lack of responsibility. Yes.

CORNISH: If you don't mind, I got to turn a little bit to the speech, since I have the congressman here.

I heard the president say this is the golden age of the economy. I can't tell you in a sentence what the Democratic response is in a sentence for the economy. What is the message and who's in charge of it?

WALKINSHAW: Well, the golden age is only taking place in Donald Trump's golden ballroom that he's planning. And to listen to him last night tell the American people that they're living in the midst of a roaring economy, when 10 million of them are about to lose their health care coverage because of the so-called big beautiful bill, where hardworking American families, including Virginians I represent, are struggling under the weight of costs driven by tariffs and other policies.

[06:55:04]

On average, $2,000 a year additional costs weighing down hardworking American families. The idea that that's a golden age is absurd and laughable.

CORNISH: I hear a critique. I do not hear a plan.

WALKINSHAW: Well, look, the Democrats' plan is, a, roll back the health care cuts, extend Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, build three to five million new homes in this country to bring down the cost of housing. Focus, focus, focus on affordability and the cost of living.

CORNISH: And also billionaire taxes, where we can get them. Like, it just feels like it's very messy right now going into the midterms. WALKINSHAW: Yes, look, I think you will see over the course of this

year Democrats, and we have been spreading out across the country listening to the American people in session after session, developing a very clear, coherent, I hope, in my view, brief agenda that we will take to the voters in November.

CORNISH: I want to say thank you so much for being here. Jess, thank you for being here, as always.

MICHAELS: Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: You do an amazing job articulating what's going on.

MICHAELS: Thank you.

CORNISH: I want to talk about one other thing with our group, resistance on full display from Democrats last night. So, there were signs and outbursts on the floor. There was like a counter event on the National Mall. Some sort of pointed rebuttals afterwards. And this criticism, as we just heard, it's blunt and it's clear.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): He's enriching himself, his family, his friends. The scale of the corruption is unprecedented. There's the cover up of the Epstein files, the crypto scams, cozying up to foreign princes for airplanes and billionaires for ballrooms, putting his name and face on buildings all over our nation's capital.

SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA) (through translator): We just finished listening to Donald Trump do what he does best, lie. He lies about the economy, he lies about his enforcement of immigration laws in a violent and out of control manner.

ROBERT DENIRO, ACTOR, ACTIVIST: If you want our leaders to be accountable, if you're devoted to the Constitution and the rule of law, if you want the United States of America to be worthy of your love, be ready to take to the streets together and we will take our country back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, group chat is back.

I wanted to round those up because there is a broad message here. But let me tackle one thing. The one in Spanish from Padilla, really fascinating to me. Latino, particularly Latino men, were part of the coalition that helped Trump. He did not speak to them last night. He told them that they were murderers who crossed the border over the last couple of years. You're saying no. So, give me an answer. Did he --

LANZA: He didn't really call me a murderer (ph)

CORNISH: If you're a -- if you're one of these voters --

LANZA: Yes.

CORNISH: Are you happy with what the president had to say last night?

LANZA: No. Listen, I think from the standpoint with what Senator Padilla spoke about, and I'm actually, you know, thankful he spoke in Spanish, is, there is a -- you know, we did have a tremendous amount of support from the Latino community with Trump's election.

CORNISH: Uh-huh.

LANZA: We had the same effect in California when Proposition 187 passed, where it restricted services to illegal aliens. It had -- it had broad support. It had Latino support. And in two years the Republican Party collapsed because of the tone and language that took place in installing those policies.

I'm fearful, and you've seen the data, that we're now starting to lose more and more Latino support because of the antics that we've seen in Minnesota, because of the verbiage that we've seen. And that's a concern because in politics it's a game of addition. And we're now subtracting a major block of Trump's coalition to institute policies in an aggressive way that doesn't need to happen. And so, it's a political --

CORNISH: V. -- yes.

LANZA: It's a political sort of self-wound here.

CORNISH: Yes. And I see Democrats trying to step up a little bit and have that conversation directly. The --

LANZA: Yes, the problem with the Democrats is they want open borders.

CORNISH: Hold on, before you go into the problem of Democrats, because you're very good at that --

LANZA: Yes, got to analyze the facts.

CORNISH: I want to make sure V., can you at least tell me, what are you seeing in this range of rebuttals?

SPEHAR: So, what I watched last night was Summer Lee's response from the working families party. And I think that what we saw last night was the -- this huge division of the Democratic Party. You have --

CORNISH: Let me play it for -- so people have some context for what you're saying, compared to Spanberger's (INAUDIBLE).

SPEHAR: Yes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SUMMER LEE (D-PA): Trump promised accountability and transparency, but his DOJ is violating our subpoena, protecting pedophiles and burying documents that name him in the Epstein files. He said he'd make government more efficient, but now seniors can't get anybody on the phone to explain why their Social Security payments stopped. While Americans' bank accounts are being drained, Trump and his family have gained billions of dollars from foreign payments and corrupt oligarchs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SPEHAR: I mean she speaks to the 92 percent of black women who do -- are a major part of the Democratic Party. She speaks to young people. She gives a future that progressives can believe in. So, I think last night we saw folks like Chuck Schumer and the Democratic establishment sort of sit politely, clap like you're supposed to for tradition. We saw folks like Summer Lee freezing out on the National Mall doing some alternate programming, trying to keep people together and present a better future.

[07:00:01]

CORNISH: Last word to you.

DOVERE: But, look, the Democrats' problem is that all of these speeches were speeches to a camera with flags behind them talking about Trump. They still are searching for what it is really that they're going to do to address these problems that Americans have, this feeling of affordability. What are they going to do about it in a way that people can trust?

CORNISH: Yes, and it's a bit of a hangover from the Biden era, that messaging issue, around people's (ph) economy.

DOVERE: Well, they have no credibility.

CORNISH: All right, you guys, thank you so much for being here. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish, and the headlines are next.