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Inside Politics

Now: Hillary Clinton Testifying In House Epstein Probe; More Resignations In Wake Of Epstein Files Release; GOP On Edge Over Texas Senate Primary; Huge Democratic Turnout In Early Voting For Texas Primary. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired February 26, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Yeah, a cultural titan, as we call it.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: And as I say, our deepest, deepest condolences to his family. May he rest in peace and may his memory be a blessing. Ryan Young, thank you very much for that update. And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning.

BROWN: Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts right now. Have a great day.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Right now, Hillary Clinton is behind closed doors, answering questions about a convicted sex offender. She says she never met and knows little about.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

Hillary Clinton is no stranger to congressional investigations. It's hard to count how many times Republicans have sought to grill her on everything from a failed Arkansas land deal back in the 1990s to the attack on the American consulate in Benghazi in the 2010s. Right now, the former first lady, senator, secretary of state and presidential candidate is testifying in Chappaqua, New York before a Republican led committee about Jeffrey Epstein.

Now Secretary Clinton says, she has no recollection of ever even meeting Epstein. So why does the committee actually want to hear from her? Well, here's what the Oversight Chairman James Comer had to say about that this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Rep. JAMES COMER (R-KY): We know that obviously Maxwell was a guest at Chelsea Clinton's wedding. There weren't many people that went to that wedding. So again, we're not accusing Hillary Clinton of wrongdoing. We know that Jeffrey Epstein said many times in emails that he was the first person to raise money for the Clinton initiative, the Clinton Foundation. There are a lot of questions pertaining to Secretary Clinton, with respect to Epstein and his involvement in the Clinton initiative and her relationship with Ghislaine Maxwell. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, Hillary Clinton just released her opening statement that she is going to give behind closed doors to the committee, and it says, in part, quote. I had no idea about their criminal activities. I do not recall ever encountering Mr. Epstein. I never flew on his plane or visited his island home or offices. I have nothing to add to that. Now her husband, Bill Clinton, will testify tomorrow before this same committee. Unlike his wife, he has many documented ties to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

My panel is here now to discuss this. Nia?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICS & POLICY COLUMNIST: You know, listen, Republicans have long been obsessed with Hillary Clinton. This is just the latest chapter of it. You know, if you think about what the Epstein conspiracy theories were among Republicans and sort of QAnon and conservatives. It was always this idea that it was Democrats who had, you know, most involvement with Epstein.

And so, this is kind of part of that. It's ridiculous in so many ways, that Hillary Clinton is there given that she's never met Jeffrey Epstein. There are many more, much more powerful men who did meet and consort with Jeffrey Epstein, Howard Lutnick being one of them. So, it is quite ridiculous. I think that she is being called to testify today. She wanted to be out in public before an audience, so that Americans could see sort of the ridiculousness of this. I think that's not happening. It's happening behind closed doors.

But yeah, I mean, this certainly feels like an attempt to humiliate and embarrass her, which has been sort of what Republicans have always wanted to do, and sort of bring her down and bring her down to size. And so, you know, we'll see what, what it comes -- what comes out of it? More interesting, obviously, tomorrow Bill Clinton did have contacts with Epstein, like a lot of other powerful men. But, you know, we'll see what happens out of this today.

BASH: I want to sort of pick up on one of the points you were making about people who, like her husband is one thing, Bill Clinton, and he is going to talk tomorrow, but others who are not being called by this committee. And that's one of the many things that Hillary Clinton points out in this statement, this opening statement, which is almost four pages long, and no, there is explanation and then there is offense.

This is part of where she goes on offense. If this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein's trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement. It would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: That comment right there is part of the reason I think you saw some Democrats in Congress actually vote with Republicans to basically agree to have the Clintons actually testify here. It's because when you have this effort by the Dems saying, we want transparency here, we want to hold everyone accountable, including the Trump administration.

[12:05:00]

Well now, you know, you're not giving by having the Clintons also testify here. You're not giving Republicans the chance to say, OK, well, you want transparency and accountability for some officials, but you won't put other officials up.

Now you have the Clintons actually testifying, which means you can add even more fuel to these calls for, you know, various powerful figures, including those in the administration to actually commit to transparency here, you got the people that you wanted essentially to talk. Well now, you know, you're not going to have as many excuses if you're the Trump administration, when you face even more calls to have others that you're politically allied with to actually also be transparent.

BASH: And on that note, I'm going to read another quote from this opening statement that we just got from Hillary Clinton that she's giving behind closed doors. A committee run by elected officials with a commitment to transparency would ensure the full release of all files. It would ensure that the lawful redactions of those files protected the victims and survivors, not powerful men and political allies.

It would get to the bottom of reports that the DOJ withheld FBI interviews in which a survivor accuses President Trump of heinous crimes. It would subpoena anyone who asked on which night there would be the wildest party on Epstein's island. There a reference to Elon Musk at the end.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Epstein files are such a target rich environment for accountability in this country, and you're starting to see that around the world, right? And yet, Hillary Clinton is going to spend probably upwards of five plus hours today. It's hard to predict exactly how long she's going to be in there, answering questions that she really doesn't have any answers to. And if this were a real investigation, time would be running out, right?

I mean, there are statute of limitations on some of these crimes. There are questions about whether or not they have pursued everything diligently, and this is in some ways wasted time. Obviously, Republicans want to talk to Hillary Clinton. They have wanted to talk to her on a myriad of political issues over the course of the last several decades. This is their opportunity, and yet, it is on an issue that she has literally nothing to do with. Her name does appear in the files, largely because she was running for president and it are -- its news links to those articles.

BASH: Yeah. And it is apparently true that Ghislaine Maxwell was at Chelsea Clinton's wedding. I was told this morning that they think that she was a plus one. She came with somebody who was actually invited, and that Ghislaine Maxwell was at Clinton Global Initiative events and seems to have been involved in it beforehand.

So, she's going to be asked about that. She, neither she nor her husband, former president, wanted to do anything like this. They said, if you want us to testify, we'll do so in public. And that, of course, was the tug of war, and it was the fact that Democrats broke on the question of whether they should be held in contempt. Only three broke on the issue of Hillary Clinton, nine on the question of Bill Clinton, that they just said, OK, we're going to do this. We're going to do this in private.

On the question of why she is being called if she actually never even met, she said, Epstein. Andy Carney has a story in The New York Times this morning on this whole question of her -- of Hillary Clinton having to answer for her husband's behavior for Hillary Clinton's entire adult life, and certainly Bill Clinton's entire political life, which is Hillary Clinton's entire adult life.

And Andy quotes, Patti Solis Doyle, who was a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton, including in the Senate. For almost the entirety of her married life, she has had to answer questions about her husband's actions. She has supported him throughout. There is no reason for her to have to suffer this last indignity. She has nothing to do with it. It's infuriating.

I mean, you know, look, she is somebody who has so many titles and has done so much on the national stage, on the international stage, stage being elected and Senate confirmed. This is an example of her getting sucked back into Bill Clinton and not that.

HENDERSON: Yeah. And we all remember, you know, the standby your man interview that she did when he was running for president in 1992, you fast forward to her candidacy for the White House in 2016, and Donald Trump having the press conference with some of Bill Clinton's accusers. And so, this has followed her. It has marred her, I think, in so many ways, it has blocked her ascendancy, perhaps in many instances, even though she has been secretary of state, she was obviously a Senate and a Democratic nominee.

[12:10:00]

But yeah, she has had to spend her entire life sort of explaining some of Bill Clinton's failings, which have been many, particularly when it, -- when it comes to his relationship with women, and here she is having to do that again. And listen, I think it's her power and her intellect and her prestige that makes her an even bigger target for Republicans. She's powerful, she's smart, she best them, you know, in any of these hearing --

BASH: Remember the 11-hour Benghazi.

HENDERSON: Yes, Benghazi, where I think she literally, like, brushed off her shoulders. And listen, and that's why she wanted this public, and that's probably in many ways why they didn't want it public because it would point to how ridiculous this is.

BASH: There's Benghazi right there. I mean, those -- the hand gestures, more than what she said, her body language, remember at the time was sort of key and classic. And, you know, she's a woman, she's a preparer, and I'm told that she definitely has been, you know, preparing for what she's doing as we speak behind closed doors.

Real quick. While this is happening, there have been other ramifications, not legal ramifications, but with employment of really big figures, both in the democratic world and in the Republican world. And we'll put some on the screen. Larry Summers actually resigned from Harvard or said he would.

Bob Carey, a former senator from Nebraska and presidential candidate. And it kind of goes on and on. And again, this is resignations from academia and from the business world. We still haven't seen anything from the Justice Department about whether or not it's going to go through the legal system.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Right, right. We've seen, you know, not even ripple effects, like a tidal wave of accountability when it comes from -- when it comes to the Epstein files, mostly in the business world. And I think that's also because the, you know, standard for the business world is different than the legal standard, right? It's a completely different sort of question of whether or not somebody should be criminally investigated or charged, or whether someone deserves --

BASH: It's optics and bottom line.

KANNO-YOUNGS: The business, yes, yes, exactly, too. So, you know, it's and -- it's having global impacts as well, whether it's Davos, whether it's the U.K., you know, or the private sector here in the U.S.

BASH: Yeah. All right, everybody stand by. Up next. We have brand new data on early voting in the crucial Texas senate primaries. Democrats are happy with the turnout so far. That's for sure. Plus, can Charlie Kirk's movement still drive young voters to the polls? I'm going to talk to a local Turning Point USA leader. Stay with us.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: Democrats are saddling up in Texas. New early voting and the data that we're seeing shows a huge rise in Democratic turnout ahead of Tuesday's Senate primary between state Rep. James Talarico and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. It's up nearly 60 percent from the same point in 2020, which was the last statewide primary to feature a major competitive Democratic race.

My panel is back now. And Lauren, so you have that about the Democrats, and let's just kind of look because you have primaries on both sides. Early voting data compared to the last time there was a midterm 2022. For Democrats, it is up 130 percent, the same point during the last midterms in 2022, for Republicans, it's up but only 15 percent.

FOX: Yeah. I mean this -- if you're a Democrat in Texas, and this has been your white whale, that Democrats perhaps could win a Senate seat in this state, which they've been trying for a long time to do. This early voting data is really, really making you excited because suddenly it looks like Democrats are mobilized. They are excited, but the candidate is going to matter here.

Who wins in this primary? How they mobilize in a huge state like Texas, an expensive state like Texas. That's going to matter. And who the candidate is on the Republican side, I think could even further mobilize Democrats potentially. I mean, if you have a Ken Paxton race, that could certainly make a big impact here.

BASH: And I want to go to a quote from John Thune, the Senate majority leader on that point. Now, sometimes when leaders speak, they're doing so to try to goose turnout on their side. But still, this is a pretty big statement to POLITICO. Honestly, if you look at the polling in the general election setting, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility that the seat flips, depending on who the Democrats nominate.

So, he's saying that about the Democrats. He's also, I think, trying to, not so subtly talk about what's happening on his side of the aisle because there are three major candidates voting for -- running for the Republican nomination. Two of them are challenging the incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn.

The Republican Committee, the National Committee that set out and spends money to help Republicans, released this ad in support of John Cornyn, and it's really much -- a very much against Ken Paxton, one of his opponents.

(PLAYING VIDEO)

[12:20:00]

BASH: I mean, wow.

KANNO-YOUNGS: That was a lot. This -- that's wow. Yeah, I mean --

BASH: I didn't know.

KANNO-YOUNGS: -- both the quote and that ad, right? The quote from Thune there, like, I mean, you almost see him trying to inject a bit of sense of urgency into the Republican base as well and maybe send a flare out to the larger Republican Party. And you -- there's still no endorsement from the White House, from President Trump too. This is very competitive at this time. You have Ken Paxton, who is obviously an ally of the White House too, after bringing a lot of litigation during the Biden era.

Obviously, John Cornyn, too, has been, you know, a veteran in Congress. So, really competitive primary here will obviously be a different scenario in terms of the Democratic chances in the general, it's still Texas as well. But even the fact that you have Republican leadership saying right now that there's a possibility of this being flipped. I think that's when you get sort of desperate ads like we just saw.

BASH: There's so many layers of drama and intrigue on this Republican side and among these three candidates, and also how it relates to President Trump. I mean, obviously John Cornyn has tried to be an ally of President Trump. He is much more of a traditional Republican than Donald Trump ever was. My understanding is that President Trump feels like he did a lot for Ken Paxton back when Paxton was almost impeached in Texas, and the president helped to make sure that that didn't -- I mean, he was impeached, but he wasn't convicted to make sure that that didn't happen. So, there's a history and there is sort of drama on this.

HENDERSON: Yeah. And Donald Trump will be there tomorrow. I think he has -- he sort of has endorsed. He's endorsed all three of them, right? He has said he likes all three of them. That's not going to do --

(CROSSTALK)

HENDERSON: Yeah. That's not going to do John Cornyn any good. Listen, I think we know why he doesn't want to endorse John Cornyn because John Cornyn has been down pretty significantly in most of the polls for months and months and months. And so, Trump likely doesn't want to support somebody who might go on to lose the Republican side, very exciting. And then you have the Democratic side, right?

Talarico, who is -- his objective is to see if he can convince white evangelicals in Texas to vote for him. He's a pastor in training. And then you have Jasmine Crockett, who is trying to see if she can jazz up the traditional Democratic base, young voters, black voters. She's all over TikTok. She's been in churches. She's having a real non- traditional campaign. Let's just put it like that.

And can she get people to turn out who don't typically vote out in this cycle? So, it's a real battle. She's been in the lead for most of the time, I think in a lot of these polls, even though she entered late. Isn't great with fundraising, but we know, sometimes money doesn't matter in these races.

BASH: I do quickly want to talk about Tony Gonzales, the Republican congressman who was also on the ballot this Tuesday in a pretty stiff primary race. The husband of the woman who died by suicide after allegedly having an affair with Tony Gonzales was on with Aaron Burnett last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADRIAN AVILES: I'm not saying he's the one that went out there and did it himself, and I'm not saying that, but yeah, he played a role in it, you know. He predatorized my wife, you know, and he pushed her to the sense of having an affair. He runs his whole campaign on family values. And he runs everything, you know, saying that he's some family man. You know, he's actually quite of a sick man, you know, I have all the messages that shared between them two. And you know, the things that, you know, I just released a tip of the iceberg of the things that this man was telling her.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Now just an example of some of the text messages that came out over the weekend of Gonzales allegedly saying, send me a very sexy pic. And then, this woman responding. And I should say, Lauren, that Gonzales emphatically denies that they had an affair.

FOX: I think one of the things to keep in mind about this whole dynamic is the fact that it is still against house rules to have a relationship with a staffer when you are a member of Congress --

BASH: She was a staffer.

FOX: She was a staffer. She was a district staffer. And obviously there is a power differentiation here that exists when someone is your boss, when someone is a sitting member of Congress. He has said repeatedly to our colleague, Manu Raju, that he is not going to resign this office. But obviously, there are still so many questions.

[12:25:00]

The other dynamic here is in any past Congress, you might have expected a speaker to make very clear that someone was maybe not welcome anymore in the conference. There is such a slim majority in the House Republican conference that perhaps that is never going to happen, but the speaker is going to be dogged with questions about this day after, day after, day.

BASH: Yeah. All right, everybody stand by. Up next. Heads are rolling at the FBI. We have new details on the Justice Department firing even more employees who investigated than former President Trump.

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