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Inside Politics
Texas GOP Face Drop In Latino Support As Midterms Near; CNN Poll: Trump Approval With Independent Drops To 26 Percent; GOP Rep. Jim Jordan Previews Trump's State Of The Union; One-On-One With GOP Rep. Jim Jordan; Democrats Split On Whether To Boycott Trump's State Of The Union; TSA Agents, DHS Employees To Miss First Paycheck Due To Partial Gov't Shutdown; Poll: Graham Platner Leads Gov. Mills By Nearly 40 Points In Maine Dem Senate Primary. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired February 24, 2026 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
[12:30:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everybody's a little bit exhausted talking about politics. I tend to turn the TV off a little bit more than I used to.
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You also hear a bit of Trump fatigue in this chat with a handful of Reina (ph) friends and coworkers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aren't they the fake news?
KING (voice-over): Four of five are Latinos. One voted for Kamala Harris.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel he's creating a lot of chaos.
KING (voice-over): All four Trump voters say he's mostly doing a good job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What he ran on, he's addressing, he's been working on it. And I think he's doing a good job.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I tend to agree with Mike. I think he's doing a good job. Probably 80 percent positive, 20 percent negative.
KING: Raise your hand if Trump's endorsement will influence how you vote in the primary.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a good question.
KING: Nobody. So he's lost his juice with you a little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's lost his juice just because of the methods of the way he's doing it.
KING (voice-over): One, possibly two, of the four Trump voters, though, are open to voting Democrat in November.
CELESTE MONTEMAYOR, CORPUS CHRISTI RESIDENT: I think some things do need to change. I just think what we're doing may not be working.
KING (voice-over): The new map was designed to make this seat an easy Republican pickup. But right now, Trump's troubles include at least one slice of Texas.
John King, CNN, Corpus Christi.
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MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Next, Republican Congressman Jim Jordan joins me to talk about just how high the stakes are for tonight's State of the Union. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:35:36]
RAJU: As we look into President Trump's State of the Union address tonight, I want to bring in one Republican member of Congress who, of course, will be in the audience, one of Trump's closest allies, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan joining me now. Thanks so much for being here, Mr. Chairman.
JIM JORDAN (R), CHAIRMAN, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Yes, good to be with you, Manu.
RAJU: OK, so President Trump, you look at the polls, they're not good right now. It's -- yesterday, before you jump in --
JORDAN: OK.
RAJU: -- this is the -- among Independents, 26 percent of Independents approve of Trump's handling of his job right now. He's now going to have the biggest audience that he'll have up until the midterms.
JORDAN: Yes.
RAJU: But how concerned are you about the President standing among Independents right now?
JORDAN: Well, there's plenty of time to change that. And I think tonight's speech, the President's going to do what I think he'll have to do in all campaigns. He's going to tell them what we've accomplished. He's going to tell them what we still need to do. And I think, frankly, he's going to remind the 30 million or so Americans who watch this that, you know, the left is crazy.
Every policy position they take is truly crazy --
RAJU: He's going to say the left is crazy?
JORDAN: I think he's going to give examples of all that. I mean, it's crazy to defund the police. It's crazy to say you want to abolish ICE. It's crazy to say you want men to compete against women in sports. It's crazy not to have a border, which was the situation under Biden.
It's crazy to have these sanctuary city policies, which are just telling local law enforcement not to cooperate with federal law enforcement, which, frankly, I think led to that -- the environment where the tragic stuff happened with Mr. Pretti and Ms. Good up in Minneapolis.
So I think tell them -- you know, I always say we make the job too complicated. It's pretty simple. Why'd you tell the voters you were going to do when you ran for it? If you get elected, go do what you said. No one does that better than President Trump.
He said he'd cut taxes, he did. He said he'd secure the border, he did. He said he'd deal with Iran, he did. I mean, everything he said -- told the voters he was going to do, he's done. And --
RAJU: But you know what? Let me jump in, because he also said he was going to reduce prices on day one while in office, and just as his own data from the -- from his own government says that the rate of price increases for all food up 3 percent, up meat, poultry, fish, and eggs up 2 percent, all the way down the list. A number of items.
Prices are still high. And on top of that, voters don't think he's doing a particularly good job about the economy or concerned about the state of the economy. 72 percent of the American public thinks the economy is fair or poor, and that's consistent with other polling.
JORDAN: Yes. It's not easy to recover from all the ridiculous things and the rapid inflation, the record inflation that we had under Joe Biden. But we're in the process of doing that. Market's at record high.
RAJU: Should he acknowledge the pain that Americans are feeling?
JORDAN: We had a 4.4 percent growth. We want to bring down prices. He's working on that. We want the market to take off. The tax cuts are just now kicking in.
I think when people file their tax returns and see the refunds they're going to get this year, money that will then be put into the economy, I think you're going to see all this really begin to happen where the Big Beautiful Bill and the things we did there are going to kick in and improve the economy.
RAJU: Should he that -- should he acknowledge pain -- the pain that people are feeling?
JORDAN: I think he should just acknowledge, here's what's going to happen because of what we passed last year. We said we would cut taxes. We did. Democrats want to raise taxes. You put them back in power in the midterms, you're going to get higher taxes. That's what they're going to push for.
He said he would secure the border. He did it in record time. I remember a year ago when he did the joint address. One of the best lines in his speech was he said, people said you needed new legislation to secure the border. Turns out all you needed was a new president.
RAJU: Yes.
JORDAN: Which is true. Record time he secured the border which was a key issue in the 2024 campaign. So I think he's going to highlight all that stuff. Still talk about what we need to do on housing costs --
RAJU: Yes.
JORDAN: -- what we need to do on health care and remind the voters how crazy the left is.
RAJU: So, at the speech tonight, a number of Democratic members are bringing in survivors -- Jeffrey Epstein survivors as their guests.
JORDAN: Yes.
RAJU: Some of those survivors have asked President Trump for a meeting to meet with them. Should the President meet with them?
JORDAN: I leave that up to the White House.
RAJU: But what would be? A good interview?
JORDAN: Everyone knows that the President didn't do anything wrong because if he had, you don't think the Garland Justice Department and the Biden Administration would have brought something up? I mean, everyone knows he didn't do anything wrong here.
Our Justice Department is complying with the legislation we passed and with the courts, getting that information out there as the law requires and as the courts have required, making sure you protect people who should be protected but getting the information to Congress as we -- as it said in the law we passed last fall.
RAJU: You speak about President Trump, Congressman Robert Garcia said today that the DOJ appears to have withheld FBI interviews with a survivor who accused President Trump of serious crimes. Are you aware of DOJ withholding?
JORDAN: I'm not.
RAJU: Are you going to ask about it? Do you want to see this information?
[12:40:00]
JORDAN: I'm not -- I am, but I'm confident that Attorney General Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Blanche, the Justice Department is complying with the law, complying with the courts, and getting that information to Congress as the statute requires.
RAJU: Congressman Nancy Mace, one of your Republican colleagues, has been raising concerns, and others have too, that -- of the lack of prosecutions that have happened in the aftermath of the release of these Epstein files. We've only seen really Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell being prosecuted.
And this is what Mace said about this. She said, "We pushed to release millions of pages of documents, and the British are acting on them faster than Washington. It is time to start making arrests here at home." Of course, we've seen some fallout in the U.K.
JORDAN: Well --
RAJU: Do you agree, though, that the Justice Department needs to begin to prosecute?
JORDAN: If people have done things wrong, then they will be prosecuted. In my understanding, in the U.K., it's driven by -- it looks like they're talking about people who gave illegal information or, you know, treasonous kind of actions, it looks like. That's the concern there.
So the U.K. can prosecute people for that. They're doing that. And if there's individuals who need to be held to account and prosecuted, I'm confident the Justice Department will do it.
RAJU: Have you yourself gone and reviewed the unredacted?
JORDAN: I have not. We've had -- we have staff members who went -- because the week that we -- that it was made available was the week we had Attorney General Bondi in.
RAJU: Yes.
JORDAN: I was getting ready for that hearing.
RAJU: Sure. But it's been a couple of weeks, and people say that in those files, there are members who've seen that said there are people in there who could be prosecuted. That's a handful of people.
JORDAN: Well, and if that's the case, then I'm confident the Justice Department will prosecute.
RAJU: Do you plan to go and review those documents yourself?
JORDAN: Normally, we will -- I will have someone probably do that, look at that, the staff. That's normally how we do it on the Judiciary Committee. That's on the Oversight Committee. But on the Judiciary Committee, we will have -- we have people who will look at that information and then get the information to us.
RAJU: OK. So, there's another controversy. There's always controversies in the Capitol. One involving your fellow Republican Congressman, Tony Gonzales. There's some really serious accusations right now that he had an affair, allegedly, with a former staffer. She later killed herself. And now there's text messages that have been revealed that suggest he was acting very improper.
Now, he has denied some of this, but he's also not really addressed it as well. Some of your fellow Republicans want him to resign over this. Should he resign? JORDAN: I leave that up to the voters in San Antonio and South Texas and Mr. Gonzales's district. That's a call for the voters. I've always sort of taken that position. In the end, it's we, the people, who decide who represents us. There's an election in seven days.
RAJU: Are you supporting him for re-election, Tony Gonzales?
JORDAN: We were, but there's also the guy who's now some of our colleagues are supporting Mr. Herrera. If Mr. Herrera wins, that's fine.
RAJU: Are you going to support Herrera and --
JORDAN: No, I've -- I mean, look, we're for the voters deciding.
RAJU: So you're neutral?
JORDAN: Well, no, I've done -- yes, we're -- I've done events for Tony in the past, certainly to help our -- maintain our majority. And if Tony wins, again, that's a call for the voters. Next week, we're going to know in seven days.
RAJU: OK. I want to ask you one other thing before we go.
JORDAN: Sure.
RAJU: There was this viral moment with Kash Patel, the FBI director, when he was celebrating the great victory over the United States over Canada in the hockey game.
JORDAN: Yes.
RAJU: Of course, I'm sure you've seen it. He was celebrating in the locker room. There it is on the screen. You know, that aside, there have been just questions about his use of government jets, FBI jets, for personal travel. There was --
JORDAN: I mean --
RAJU: -- questions about visiting a girlfriend, a golf trip in Scotland, a luxury hunting retreat. You know, Patel himself was critical of Comey, a former FBI director for the use of personal -- the government jets. Should your committee look into his use of --
JORDAN: I mean --
RAJU: -- of federal jets for personal issues?
JORDAN: Manu, this was as all-American, apple pie moment as possible. The America --
RAJU: I'm talking about all this, though, not just this.
JORDAN: The American men's team, the American women's team played unbelievable hockey.
RAJU: No one doubts that. No one doubts that. It was a great game.
JORDAN: I mean, did you see Jack Hughes' interview? Jack Hughes, he said, I'm so proud to be an American. I'm proud of my team. It was, like, it was as apple pie as it gets. And you guys are going to talk about Kash Patel.
RAJU: No, I'm talking about his --
JORDAN: Come on.
RAJU: -- use of government resources to do personal things, which I'm sure you've got to be concerned of, because Kash Patel, I just want to say, when he said about Chris Wray, he said back in 2023, I'm just saying, Chris Wray doesn't need a government-funded G5 jet to go onto vacation. Maybe we ground that plane. $15,000 every time it takes off.
JORDAN: Well, I think on this specific trip, he's probably -- I mean, celebrating with the American team because it was a great American moment, unbelievable American moment. You know, but I think he was over there because of security -- looking at security. We've got the Olympics coming to L.A. in two years.
The FBI, I'm sure, is going to be involved in making sure things are secure for the spectators, for the athletes, for people who are coming there. From my understanding, he's doing all that.
RAJU: If James Comey was using his private jet for personal things, you would be all over him.
JORDAN: Well, it depends on what it was. I mean, I think this one, this is, again, there's a security focus, I think, that's there. And oh, by the way, our team just won in this amazing game. I mean, Hellebuyck was like Jimmy Craig back in 1980. You weren't born then.
RAJU: I was born then.
JORDAN: I remember that.
RAJU: I was born.
JORDAN: And of course, the movie was --
RAJU: Yes.
JORDAN: -- tremendous.
RAJU: Yes, yes. No one doubts.
JORDAN: (INAUDIBLE) moment.
RAJU: No one was -- no one doubts that. Absolutely.
[12:45:11]
All right. Congressman Jordan, thank you so much for taking the time.
JORDAN: You bet. Thank you.
RAJU: Really appreciate it.
All right. Could we see a repeat of last year's joint address where Democrats waved paddles and heckled President Trump? Will Democrats show up at all? I have one Democratic senator talking about all of that when we come back.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: It's shameful that they would boycott an address. We don't do that. Republicans don't do that. It doesn't matter if there's a President from the opposing party. We don't skip out. Our constituents want and need us to be here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Joining me now is a Democratic Senator who's planning on skipping the State of the Union tonight, Tina Smith of Minnesota. Thank you so much for joining me, Senator. So what do you say to the Speaker who says what you're doing tonight, skipping the State of the Union, is shameful?
[12:50:03]
SEN. TINA SMITH (D), MINNESOTA: Well, listen, every one of us are doing our jobs tonight. And I have colleagues that are going to be on the House floor listening to Trump, holding him accountable, putting up with what is going to be, no doubt, a very, very, very long speech. And then others of us, me included, are going to be out on the Capitol grounds, and we're going to be with our constituents and telling the real story about what a rough year it has been for Americans in this country.
And I think both of those ways are a very important way of responding to what we know is going to be a very divisive and exhausting speech that I think will not bring our country more together at all.
RAJU: But is this going to become the new normal that a minority party just skips the speech of a president they don't like?
SMITH: I mean, this is not about just a President that we don't like. This is about a President who has imposed illegal tariffs that have cost Americans billions of dollars. This is about a President who is seeking to overturn our elections, it seems, by demanding voter files. This is about a President who is waging an illegal war in the Caribbean and threatening to go to war in Iran.
So I don't think this is about just general disagreements on policy. This is about what is a lawless administration. And those of us who are deciding to be out on the Capitol steps to talk to our states and our constituents about what is going on in our country I think are playing a really, really important role. I mean, I represent a state that is just beginning the very long process of recovering from this lawless ICE raiding in our state that has literally killed people. So I think it's reasonable to be out there telling that story tonight.
RAJU: You know, last year at the State of the Union, or the President's address to Congress, Democrats really engaged in some outbursts. There was that moment of Al Green, the congressman of Texas, who shouted at the President. He was escorted from the chamber. There were the waving of signs that the Democratic leadership was, frankly, not really excited about to see, they were concerned about. Should Democrats who are in attendance restrain themselves from such outbursts?
SMITH: Well, listen, it's sometimes hard, but I think that if you're going to be in the chamber, honestly, that what you ought to do is to not make the story be about you. It should be about what the -- what lies the President is going to be telling. So I expect that today people who are in the chamber will be quiet and we'll see what happens.
RAJU: Yes. Let's talk about the Homeland Security Department shutdown, which is now on its 11th day. This week, TSA agents and other DHS employees will miss their paychecks. Some FEMA disaster relief funding is now being restricted. How much pain for those who rely on these services, FEMA, TSA, other DSA agencies, are you willing to tolerate?
SMITH: Well, first, let's be really clear that the Republicans and the Trump administration sent literally over $100 billion to the Department of Homeland Security for ICE and for other activities. And so there's no doubt in my mind that if the President is fully capable of figuring out how to pay people.
But what is really at stake here is what's important. We're struggling to get our colleagues in the Senate and the White House to even have a reasonable conversation about basic guardrails around the lawless and irresponsible and aggressive behavior of these ICE agents. That, I think, is the story here.
Why can't we at least agree on some basic guidelines for how these agents should be operating? And then we would be able to move forward. And that's what I'm hoping will happen. Because I can tell you, in Minnesota, my constituents are looking for some way of minimizing the great harm that's being done.
Now, in Minnesota, but where they go next is --
RAJU: All right.
SMITH: -- for, you know, for everyone to see.
RAJU: Are you willing to compromise, though, off of the list of Democratic demands? There are a lot of demands that your party has made here. Are you willing to compromise off that list?
SMITH: I mean, I'm looking for any kind of common ground that we can find here. But let's, again, be real. All we're saying is that these federal agents should be abiding by the same rules of the road that any local police department follows. And I've supervised police departments. I know what it means to hold good officers to account. And that's what this is about. So I'm just looking for some sign that they are ready to actually come to an agreement.
RAJU: Senator, I want to talk about the race for your seat in Minnesota. You jumped into a contested primary by backing Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan over to Congresswoman Angie Craig earlier this month. You said that you trust Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan to respond to the ICE crackdown in Minnesota. So I guess I'm wondering, are you worried that if Congresswoman Craig gets the nomination, it could cost you the seat?
SMITH: I am quite confident that Democrats will hold this Minnesota seat and that we will keep this seat in the United States Senate. And what I have done by endorsing Lieutenant Governor Flanagan is saying, because so many people were asking me, look, I think this is the candidate that best reflects my views and would be the best candidate to represent all of Minnesota. There will be a contested primary and we'll see what happens.
[12:55:07]
But I'm quite confident, I have great confidence that Peggy will win that primary.
RAJU: Yes.
SMITH: But I'm quite sure that whoever wins will be the next senator.
RAJU: One other question in --
SMITH: Yes.
RAJU: -- there's been reporting that you were part of this, what's called an unofficial fight club pushing back on the establishment aligned candidates who have received backing from Senate Democratic leadership in the race here in the midterms. There's a new pullout today that shows that Graham Platner up in Maine is upset 64-26 over Chuck Schumer's recruit Governor Janet Mills. Are you concerned that your party leadership might be getting behind the wrong candidate in that race?
SMITH: Well, isn't this incredible to see how Graham Platner is surging and doing such a good job. And I think what it shows is that voters around the country, in Minnesota and in Maine are looking for people that they think are ready to challenge the status quo and try to do something different.
And I think that that's really exactly what we need in Washington. As somebody --
RAJU: Yes.
SMITH: -- who's retiring in about nine months, I think that's really important.
RAJU: And you're neutral in that Maine race, to be clear.
SMITH: I am right now, that's right.
RAJU: OK, OK. Senator Tina Smith, thank you so much for joining me. Really appreciate your time.
SMITH: Thanks, Manu.
RAJU: And thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after a very quick break.
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