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Supreme Court Strikes Down Trump's Sweeping Global Tariffs; USS Gerald R. Ford Enters Mediterranean On Way To Mideast; Trump Weighs Option On Iran Action, Extends Timeline To 10-15 Days. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired February 20, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:32:49]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, and we are back with our panel. Paula, you have gone through the majority opinion and a lot of the dissenting opinions. Just more of your takeaway on, actually, before you do that, I want to read one thing from Gorsuch, Neil Gorsuch, who is another one of the Trump appointees who voted against what the president wanted.

And here's what he said. He said, "Yes, legislating can be hard and take time. And, yes, it can be tempting to bypass Congress when some pressing problem arises. But the deliberative nature of the legislative process was the whole point of its design. Through that process, the nation can tap the combined wisdom of the people's elected representatives, not just that of one faction or man."

That, to me, as I bring you in to talk about, you know, the other takeaways, is so amazing, actually, because it's so simple and so basic and so antithetical to the way President Trump sees his role as the chief executive of this country.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And, of course, the messenger is a justice you've appointed. And this is --

BASH: Exactly.

REID: -- not what the president wants to hear. Now, Justice Gorsuch doesn't get a lot of limelight. He's usually not at the center of really any controversies. But it'll be interesting to see if he's called out by name here, because one of the things that, you know, President Trump is most proud of is the fact that he, you know, made this, a conservative 6-3 majority court.

And this really is the first time that they have pushed back, particularly on a big case, in his second term. But I also just want to remind people, he's going to have this press conference soon. He has to go back before these justices in just a few weeks on an even sort of bigger test of his executive power, his move to end birthright citizenship through executive order, even his own lawyers, who are really confident, I've got to say, don't necessarily think they're going to win on that.

So I'm really curious to see how hard he goes, not only at the court as a whole, but specifically these justices that he appointed that are really giving him a slap on the wrist here.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, absolutely. When you look at this press conference, though, you know, I'm so interested to see if we see the version of President Trump that comes out and is, you know, furious at a lack of loyalty that he demands, is thinking more about future cases --

REID: Calling that, find that.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- and birthright citizenship coming out.

[12:35:15]

I mean, that's going to be pivotal when you look at these remarks. I remember just last year when there was a sort of incremental decision on the birthright citizenship case. He came out and took what seemed like a preliminary victory lap with Pam Bondi at a White House press briefing, too.

So how is this going to square with that? The comment that you also highlighted from Gorsuch, I mean, it doesn't really align with the unitary executive theory that we usually --

BASH: No.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- talk about with this administration here. When you look at the reality, this is a Congress that in many cases has placated to the president, has not been a check on his power. And now you have the Supreme Court actually acknowledging that that is their role here. It's pretty extraordinary.

BASH: By the way, I like that you just acknowledged that we go full dork here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With monetary (ph) executive.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: So we talk about the --

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I'm going to --

BASH: Thank you. I'm owning that.

WILLIAMS: I want to keep us in dork land for a moment, only because -- no, it's -- Justice Gorsuch is absolutely right. That is why the framers set up Congress. It's why they put it in Article 1 of the Constitution, made it in many ways the first among equals, not even a co-equal branch of government.

The problem is that the way Congress operates today, and this even predates Donald Trump, is that we can't really expect Congress to act meaningfully and quickly on most things because of how divided Congress is. Now, in the abstract, intellectually, Gorsuch is absolutely right. But he knows, and I think the president knows, that getting Congress to even act in his favor is something very challenging.

BASH: But he acknowledges that, yes, legislating can be hard and it can take time. The irony, not to just go like super deep into this, but is that --

MARIO PARKER, NATIONAL POLITICS TEAM LEADER, BLOOMBERG: We're already there.

BASH: I know, we're already there, is that they also have the Voting Rights Act, which they might --

WILLIAMS: Yes.

BASH: -- strike down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BASH: And that come -- with that comes all kinds of questions of how these members of the legislature, the House of Representatives, are actually elected, which speaks to the division and the partisanship, which is part of how we got to where this place is, that Congress isn't legislating a lot because they're too polarized.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, and I do think, to me, that is like it's the most -- it's Congress being called out in a way that they haven't before. But quite frankly, throughout the first year of Trump's return to the White House, we've repeatedly pointed out places where Congress has ceded its power to the Trump administration in ways that are unprecedented, in ways that Republicans would be, you know, going crazy if, you know, Barack Obama had tried some of these things.

And the question is now, what do they do on, you know, on tariffs, on voting rights, you can go on and on and on. You know, when -- forget the partisanship -- I mean, you can't forget it, but, like, I guess in -- on top of the partisanship, I would say, when is Congress going to do its job? When is Congress going to take its power back?

When is Congress going to say, hey, you know, the checks and balances and the separation of powers are what our founding fathers intended, and we're going to honor that and do what the voters sent us here to do. And we just don't see that nearly as much.

BASH: Well, I was texting with some Republican leadership aides saying, you know, they're holding their breath because they expect, assuming that the president finds some other way to maybe follow Brett Kavanaugh's whatever roadmap that he put into his dissent, they expect that the president is also going to say, OK, Congress, you know, get it together, try to get this passed, which won't be easy.

We're going to take another quick break. We are moments away from President Trump's first public comments since the Supreme Court struck down his use of sweeping tariffs. And while we wait, we are going to talk next about a different crisis facing the president, one that is going on also inside the White House, inside the Situation Room, his deliberations over whether or not he is going to strike Iran. Stay with us.

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[12:43:35]

BASH: A live look at the White House where we are waiting for President Trump to make his first remarks on the landmark Supreme Court rejection of his emergency terror policy. We're going to bring that to you as soon as he starts. It's slated for just a couple of minutes from now.

We are also following developments in another part of the world, just into CNN. We want to show you some images, new images of the USS Gerald Ford. It's the world's largest aircraft carrier and it is crossing into the Mediterranean Sea as it moves toward the Middle East along with other major military assets. As President Trump weighs military action in Iran, already nearly a dozen naval ships are nearby, including the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which was rerouted from the Indo-Pacific.

The Ford carrier has been in the Caribbean supporting operation in Venezuela. So as we look at these images, I want to play what President Trump said yesterday about the status of nuclear negotiations with Iran ahead of his deadline.

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DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we're going to make a deal or we're going to get a deal one way or the other.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But with a military strike is it to wipe out their nuclear program --

TRUMP: I'm not going to talk to you about that, but we're either going to get a deal or it's going to be unfortunate for them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And then you said today 10 days, are you giving them a deadline, firm to make a deal?

TRUMP: I would think there would be enough time, 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:45:06]

BASH: And our panel is back now. I seem to recall the last time the president gave a deadline when the U.S. military bombed Iran's nuclear facility. He jumped that. It was kind of --

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, right.

BASH: -- a bait and switch.

KIM: Right. I think we recall he gave sort of the typical 10 days, two weeks deadline but it was just in a matter of days that he went ahead and took action, which is why I think we're watching so, you know, watching so intently, you know, when he gave that -- when he gave sort of this time about whether action is going to happen this weekend or somehow imminently.

He did tell reporters this morning before they were kicked out of the room from the governor's breakfast that he is definitely considering limited strikes on Iran. But we know, especially from the talks that happened in Geneva this week and also just the talks that have been going on for a very long time, that they are not close to an agreement on Iran's nuclear program.

And, obviously, Iran would like the talks to focus on its nuclear program. But we know that, you know, the U.S. allies in the region, particularly Benjamin Netanyahu, who met with the president recently, he would also like -- they would also like the talks to focus on the ballistic missile program.

There is just a lot of moving parts here. We don't see any sort of consensus towards an agreement yet, which is why we're really watching this 10 to 15-day or even shorter timeline that the president teased yesterday.

BASH: And, you know, this is potentially huge. And there hasn't been a lot of preparing the American people for this. It's -- I mean, the nuclear strikes, the strikes against Iran's nuclear program, they were big, but they were one and done.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Sure.

BASH: This could be a whole different ballgame, maybe even an attempt at regime change.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right. And the reasoning, the justification for this is still ambiguous, right? I was reading a story from my colleague David Sanger today who was talking about that before the war in Iraq, that George Bush is traveling around the country --

BASH: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- laying out the justification --

BASH: I remember.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- for this (INAUDIBLE).

BASH: I was covering the White House then.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes. Now, of course, that reasoning, right, and much of it ended up not being based off of --

BASH: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- evidence, right? But there was still a communication --

BASH: At least they took the time to make it up.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- to the American people. Here, we haven't really been given any clear reasoning or messaging or really just a case at all from this administration. You've heard talk of the protesters in Iran. You've heard talk of you want to, you know, target their ballistic capability as well. Ballistic missiles, too.

But we have not -- the administration really hasn't made a clear case for this potential action. And there's not only going to be on the ground implication. If it was to happen, we don't know. But also, obviously, political implications, too, for a president that has framed himself as an American first president, right? And did campaign, it wasn't too long ago on military restraint.

PARKER: And just the fact just to dial back. Remember last year, this time when he struck Iran, he said it had been obliterated, right, as well. So there's been this discordant messaging to the American people about this. I was speaking to a Republican source just a few days ago as we look ahead to the State of the Union, and they were saying they don't want to hear anything.

This was before the massive buildup. They don't want to hear anything about solving eight wars. They don't want to hear anything about Venezuela. They don't want to hear anything about the Nobel Peace Prize or Iran. Americans have little interest in those things.

In fact, they see it as a distraction because he hasn't made the case as to why there should be U.S. intervention in some of these places. And then it does strike it again, the core, his base, that he's going against this MAGA doctrine that he established over a decade or so ago.

MITCHELL: Yes, I think -- I don't think we can underestimate how little or overestimate how little American voters are paying attention to this. I think if Donald Trump were to call for a strike for Iran -- in Iran, it would take a lot of people by surprise.

The fact that he moved one aircraft carrier from Venezuela, something that he didn't really explain to American people while we were there, and had them travel now to Iran, another place that American people haven't been told exactly why we're there and what we're going to be doing. Again, it does strike to the core of, you know, is this America first? Is this what Donald Trump was elected to do?

And this perception, again, among many Republican voters that instead of ending foreign wars, he is starting new conflicts. And that just really, we know, isn't playing well with voters.

BASH: All right. We are waiting for the president to come out into the White House briefing room, talk about this massive Supreme Court rebuke, canceling much of his tariff policy. Don't go anywhere.

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[12:54:14]

BASH: At any moment now, we are expecting President Trump to appear in that briefing room to talk to reporters and to the American people about his clear anger with regard to the Supreme Court decision this morning. Six justices struck down his sweeping use of tariffs as we wait for the president.

Let's talk about it with our panel. And -- I believe he's walking in now. He's not walking in now. We'll see him, I think, in the side. That's where he comes out of that side door.

So let's continue to talk. And I do want to just kind of table set here with what the American people think about these tariffs. And Zolan, this is Marist, the poll that they took just a couple of weeks ago. The question is whether -- it is among registered voters -- whether or not tariffs help or hurt the economy. Help, 32 percent, hurt, 58 percent. So almost 6 in 10 say they hurt.

[12:55:17]

And this is, I think, fair to say, one of those issues where people aren't just -- it's not just conjecture, it's what they're feeling.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right. That's right. They're -- they hear often that this is the president's main tool. And they have that in their mind when they go to the grocery store, right? When they are going through -- when they're experiencing economic frustration, right?

And now questioning the person in power. This again, we talked about it. This is the president who very much wrote a return to the White House through his economic promises, through talking about tariffs. But polls show that the American people are still frustrated and feeling economic anxiety here.

The administration has tried to almost translate tariffs to a return of, you know, U.S. manufacturing, domestic manufacturing. That takes time.

BASH: Yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right? It takes time.

BASH: I mean, that's one of his big arguments.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's one of his big arguments. But it takes a lot of time. And in the short term before then, you have consumers bearing the brunt of this, right? So that, I think, explains some of those poll -- that poll -- the polling that we're seeing so far.

BASH: And, Paula, let me -- you referred to Mike Johnson, the House speaker, what he has said, and I'll just read it now. "No one can deny that the president's use of tariffs has brought in billions of dollars and created immense leverage for America's trade strategy and for securing strong reciprocal America first trade agreements with countries that have been taking advantage of American workers for decades. Congress and the administration will determine the best path forward in the coming weeks."

REID: I mean, even the justices said that this is likely going to be decided by the lower courts. This is going to be a lawyer full employment act. There's going to be litigation. I will see, maybe Congress will do something. But ultimately, this will go back down to the lower courts to decide that question of the money.

Does it get refunded? How does it get refunded? Look, maybe they'll surprise us and get together and do something. But this will ultimately all be just in the courts for months, if not years.

BASH: OK, we are going to sneak in another break. We are waiting for the president. Please don't go anywhere. And by the way, tune in on Sunday morning for State of the Union. I will be interviewing California Governor Gavin Newsom. He will be my exclusive guest, among others.

Stay with us. Don't go anywhere. We're waiting for the president.

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