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Inside Politics

Terror Attacks Rattle Sense Of Safety In American Communities; FBI: Synagogue Ramming A "Targeted" Attack On Jewish Community; American Jews On Edge After Attack On Synagogue; How Political Will The Oscars Get?; Conan O'Brien "We'll Find The Right Tone" For Hosting Oscars. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 13, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Perhaps some of the rhetoric may be contributing to anti-Semitism. Some of the rhetoric may also be, you know, allowing people who already have an inclination for, you know, affinity towards Iran or some of the groups that are considered the opposition, the people we're attacking, now, you know, not liking that fact.

And so I think that all goes into the context of what we normally would hope our leaders in our security agencies, our federal law enforcement agencies, are being thoughtful about and being careful about so that more Americans are not put unnecessarily at risk. But I also think you asked about, you know, people in Congress, people at home.

There's a lot of fear now, you know, as you saw in that poll. People are concerned, you know, could there be an attack? Could it be even deadlier than what we've seen thus far? And that also, I think, is important context that our elected officials have to remember, not only about their own safety, but about the political implications of this conflict with Iran.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: And this is happening now against a backdrop of the Department of Homeland Security, a big chunk of it, actually all of it being shut down, but they say that they still have the ability to do what they need to do. But I think we're about to get to the point where there are employees who are not going to get a paycheck and how that is going to have a ripple effect.

Listen to what the Republican House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said about this. He said, "With multiple attacks on Americans in a matter of days, our nation is on high alert. Yet Democrats refuse to fund our Department of Homeland Security. This is reckless and dangerous. How many more attacks until Democrats give up their political stunt?"

Then listen to what Democrat Elissa Slotkin, who was at a press conference in Michigan where this anti-Semitic terror attack happened yesterday, what she said about the Department of Homeland Security.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D), MICHIGAN: Certainly, we need to fund the Department of Homeland Security. And we need, in my view, to cut away all the conversation on ICE, which is its own conversation, from all the core missions of the Department of Homeland Security. But they're essential. They're on the job. They're working today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. And that's the difficult part when it comes to DHS, because we know them largely as a largely immigration agency. But this is an agency that is very sprawling, it's massive, it's got TSA, Coast Guard, Secret Service, other very critical homeland and counterterrorism and all those operations folded up in an agency that has faced a lot of controversy because of the Trump administration's actions on immigration.

And that is why this -- Republicans really want to use this to highlight the core missions that DHS has. But because of that immigration piece of the puzzle, and how controversial it is, and how, you know, how Democrats feel that they are on the right ground with voters when it comes to how the Trump administration's immigration acts are viewed, they're not budging anytime soon, despite what is going on.

BASH: But let's just -- I just want to inject -- no, I just want to inject another really important dynamic into this discussion about preparedness. And that is Homeland Security -- these are just a couple of headlines in recent weeks, "Homeland Security missions falter amid focus on deportations." This is actually a headline from November.

But then this from our colleague Hannah Rabinowitz last week, "Kash Patel gutted FBI counterintelligence team tasked with tracking Iranian threats days before the U.S. strikes." And her reporting is that the reason that they were ousted is because they were involved in the investigations of President Trump.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, I mean, I thought it was really intriguing yesterday in the aftermath of the anti-Semitic attack in Michigan, that the officials there talked about that when the Iran war began, they immediately started upping their drilling. I mean, they drill regularly for this, but it was an immediate heightened alert scenario, right?

And that just wasn't in Michigan. That was across the country. That's exactly what law enforcement should do and did do. And I'm talking in cooperation from federal, local and state, understanding that this was going to be a heightened threat environment. That's just the reality of how this all plays out.

I do think the politics of it -- you know, as you noted, the Democrats feel they're on good footing with voters making the argument that this needs reform, this agency, given the immigration enforcement action. And so they're not budging. Although you did see what they offered this week, Patty Murray, Chuck Schumer, you know, we went to the floor and was like, to Elissa Slotkin's point, let's fund everything in DHS other than the -- KIM (?): Right.

CHALIAN: -- immigration. And so they're asking Republicans, slice those off. Let's vote. We're ready to fund the rest of DHS. And of course, the Republicans didn't want to do that because they see political leverage in attaching this moment in this context to getting the whole thing funded.

[12:35:00]

BASH: That's right. Go ahead, real quick.

MITCHELL: I was going to say DHS and ICE are already funded from the --

BASH: Exactly, yes.

CHALIAN: Yes.

MITCHELL: -- Big Beautiful Bill. So Democrats are saying if DHS and ICE already have the funding, let's fund the rest and not give DHS and ICE more money. And that's what Republicans are saying no to, because I do think they think they're scoring political points by saying Democrats are shutting down DHS entirely.

I also think the White House kind of muddies it up because they have moved around money to pay the Coast Guard during the other shutdown. Last year, they moved around money. So why aren't they moving around money to pay TSA?

BASH: All right, we're going to take a quick break.

Up next, the terror attack on a synagogue, rather, in Michigan leaves American Jews once again scared and high alert is certainly what they are feeling. I'm going to speak with a member of the House Intelligence Committee next.

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[12:40:27]

BASH: American Jews are gutted, shaken, and deeply afraid. The threat to Jewish institutions across the U.S. was already high, but it's spiking as the war with Iran escalates. The FBI is investigating yesterday's attack on the Temple Israel Synagogue in Michigan. Authorities say a naturalized citizen born in Lebanon rammed the building in a vehicle full of explosives.

An official now says he had family members killed in an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon last week. The suspect was fatally shot by security officers. No one in the building, which includes a preschool with more than 100 children, was injured.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GRETCHEN WHITMER (D), MICHIGAN: This is not a political moment. This is not a political debate. This is targeting babies who are Jewish. That's anti-Semitism at its absolute worst.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Joining me now is New Jersey Congressman and member of the House Intelligence Committee, Josh Gottheimer. First, just your reaction to the horror in Michigan, which could have been so much worse.

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): Well, I think, Dana, using the word horror is exactly right. You think about the 100 children who were in there, preschoolers and staff targeted for their religion, right? And nothing's more important, as you know, and being able to go to a house of worship and to not worry that your life's in danger.

And we know that in far too many religious institutions right now, people don't feel that way when they're going to pray. And that's unacceptable, in my opinion. And, obviously, we're seeing a lot of incidents like this, a huge spike in anti-Semitism, but a lot of other targeting. And I'm hearing about it from a lot of my rabbis and -- that I represent in my district.

BASH: What happened in Michigan, and you're sort of getting at this, Congressman, is just the latest in several attacks on Jews. This is before the war in Iraq. The oldest synagogue, excuse me, Iran, the oldest synagogue in Mississippi, was set fire. That was January.

But last week, two men were beaten in San Jose, California. The men say that they were speaking Hebrew at the time. You sit on the Intelligence Committee. So I want to know from you, has the actual threat level to American Jews gotten higher, sort of behind the scenes, with regard to the intelligence community? And how does that translate to what we're seeing happening in a scary way across this country?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, certainly the numbers are way up. They were already at record numbers, as you know, before -- after October 7th, before this latest conflict. And now we've seen even more of a surge. You see what's going on on social media, the back and forth, the comments that were made from the administration last week. And that's in saying, blaming Israel for the war, that only leads to even more anti-Semitism and hate.

In my district, just a couple days ago, in Teaneck, New Jersey, some students, Jewish students, were walking at night and were shot at outside of a synagogue with a BB gun. You know, so -- and these are incidents that happen every day with swastikas across our state that are found.

And for many members of Congress and for other elected officials, these are calls you're getting nearly every day now. Totally unacceptable, but we know how hot things are running and we know what happens online and how disinformation spreads, but also hate spreads and comments being made. There was an Islam, and you add to it, spikes in Islamophobia, right?

Let's not leave that out, because I think that's serious too. A colleague of mine yesterday making comments that were deeply Islamophobic, completely unacceptable. So, you know, I think it's really important that we bring the temperature down and that we do everything we can. Although, as you know, Dana, we unfortunately have spent way too many minutes on your show talking about the latest anti- Semitic incident.

BASH: Can I just go back to something that you said there? And you said the administration blaming Israel. I think you were referring to the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, I think in the first week after the war began, saying that the U.S. needed to go in because -- to sort of -- to protect Israel or to -- because Israel was going to get attacked, and then he walked that back. Is that what you're referring to?

[12:45:02]

GOTTHEIMER: Yes, exactly. And then the President walked that back, and so did the Secretary, but that had an impact. You know, I spoke to several religious leaders in my district about -- who called me after those comments and said, you know, that they were, you know, not only should we put our synagogues and religious institutions on higher alert from a security perspective, but, you know, how scared they were after hearing comments and what that might mean for their community.

BASH: I want you to listen to what Senator Elissa Slotkin said this morning. She, of course, represents Michigan, and she spent time at Temple Israel growing up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SLOTKIN: Whether anti-Semitism is coming from the left or the right, whether it's coming from some group that you like or don't like, you have a responsibility to call it out. The Jewish community suffers 10 times the number of hate crimes than any other community in this country. So it is an epidemic. And until we push back on that permission, we're going to see incidents like this continue to proliferate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Congressman, you have not been afraid to call out anti-Semitism when you see it coming from some corners of your party, just like you have and others have called it out when it's coming from the right. I mean, I'm going to ask you maybe an unanswerable question. What more can be done?

GOTTHEIMER: Yes. Well, first of all, Elissa's totally right. We've got to call it out wherever we see it and not be afraid to. You know, even -- by the way, some people say to me, like, how many more incidents are you going to call out? I said every single one of them. We've got to stop this.

And we -- if you don't call it out, someway -- suddenly, someone starts accepting it, and the line moves of what's OK. And, you know, whether that is in my own party with, you know, the -- with Graham Platner and comments with his -- with the Nazi tattoo in Maine running for the Senate, which I think is totally unacceptable, or, you know, comments that are made by Mayor Mamdani, who's refused to condemn globalize Infata (ph) or, of course, you know, Nick Fuentes and others, Candace Owens and others on the other, and Tucker Carlson and others on the other side, who've made outrageous anti-Semitic comments.

Everybody needs to call this out and I think -- and not worry about which party it is. This is not political. This is about making sure we educate our children, we stand up to hate, and we make it clear that's not who we are as a country. Because the minute we start accepting this and it becomes a political fodder for either party, you know, forget it, you know? And then it's just a runaway train. And that is not who we are as a country.

BASH: Congressman Josh Gottheimer, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks, Dana.

BASH: Coming up, will the Oscars wade into politics or skip the drama? It's a big question, and the Oscars are Sunday. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:59]

BASH: This Sunday is the 98th Academy Awards and in addition to who will go home with the Oscar statue, who will be there, who will be on the carpet, it is Inside Politics. So we're going to be watching to see how political it gets. Politics is always seeping into the Academy Awards. It's nothing new.

Last year, President Trump's name, though, was barely even mentioned during the ceremony. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister joins me now from the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. She will be live on the carpet with Variety's editor-in-chief, Ramin Setoodeh, on Sunday evening.

Elizabeth, how political do we think the Oscars are going to be this year?

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: You know, I don't know how political they will get, Dana. And the reason why, first and foremost, is because Conan O'Brien is returning as host. And Conan is a fairly apolitical comic, compared to certainly Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted for so many years. When Kimmel was hosting, we knew that you were going to hear a lot about Trump. With Conan, it's really a toss-up.

Now, I also have to tell you that before last year's Oscars, I interviewed the CEO of the Academy, Bill Kramer, and he told me that he was hoping that the Oscars wouldn't get political. So you have to assume that he is hoping the same for this year.

But let's be honest, there is so much happening in the world right now that it's hard to imagine that someone doesn't say something on stage, right, Dana? Something is going to happen. We usually get a political moment in an acceptance speech or from a presenter. This year, among the presenters, you have Javier Bardem, who has been very outspoken about the Middle East.

We've also seen a lot of celebrities throughout awards season at the Golden Globes and the Grammys, wearing ICE outpins on the red carpet. And a few of the films this year in the international feature category are inherently very political, both about Palestine and about Iran.

You have one of the greatest filmmakers from Iran, Jafar Panahi, who is nominated twice. He is incredibly outspoken against the regime. So you can expect to hear from these people, but that is if they win, Dana.

BASH: Yes. OK, we have to talk about Timothee Chalamet, Elizabeth. He obviously is nominated for best actor for his role in Marty Supreme. At the end of last month, he made comments about ballet and opera during a CNN and Variety town hall. He got some serious backlash about those.

First, let's listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHEE CHALAMET, ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE: If people want to see it like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they're going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it. And I don't want to be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it's like, hey, keep this thing alive, even though it's like no one cares about this anymore.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

CHALAMET: All respect to the ballet and opera people out there. I just lost 14 cents in viewership. But I just took shots for no reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I mean, the way that that went viral and the backlash, it's kind of -- it's all over my Instagram feed. What do you think about how that's going to affect his chances where you are?

[12:55:08]

WAGMEISTER: Yes, this is really what everybody is talking about. And as you said it, Dana, this has gone viral in a way that things rarely do. Now, here is the catch. This went viral just as voting closed last Thursday.

So Timothee may skirt by with this really not impacting his chances because most Academy voters had probably already submitted their ballots. That said, there is a chance that it could have had a small impact. And I have to tell you, though, a lot of Academy voters, from what I am hearing, they were not really jiving with Timothee's campaign.

His performance in Marty Supreme, I have to tell you, is phenomenal. He is such a talented actor. He was the front runner in this category as the Oscar season kicked off. But it may not have even been these viral comments about ballet and opera that could have hurt his chances. It could have been the way that he campaigned.

And now who people are talking about is Michael B. Jordan, of course, the star of "Sinners." He plays two roles. He plays twins in Sinners. People are really now saying, is he going to win? But I have to tell you, I'm going to throw a curveball here. I also think that Wagner Moura could win.

So this category is wide open. And so many of the races are wide open this year, Dana.

BASH: We are very excited to see the Oscars and to see you, Elizabeth, just back from maternity leave with your beautiful boy, Harry. You're going to be on the red carpet with Variety as well. Please tune in this Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts after the break.

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