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Trump: "We No Longer 'Need' Or 'Desire'" NATO's Help In Iran; High-Ranking Trump Intel Official Resigns Over War In Iran; Now: Illinois Primary Voters Choose Key Democratic Candidates; Illinois Democratic Senate Primary Tops $55M In Spending; AIPAC Spends Around $22M On Illinois Democratic Races; Airport Security Lines Grow As TSA Goes Unpaid Amid Shutdown; Sources: Democrats Sent DHS Funding Counteroffer To White House. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired March 17, 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]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: -- 24 hours later, it seems we got our answer that he's not getting the help that he wants, so he's lashing out.

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think that a Coalition Building 101, it is hard, tedious, you've got to be patient, it's capital by capital, you're not going to get all of NATO. In fact, we built a naval coalition in the Red Sea a few years ago, and I helped do that.

We couldn't get the French and the Brits to agree, so the U.K. led our coalition and the E.U. formed a separate coalition. It gets complicated. But to just shut the door like that and say, OK, fine, like everybody said no, I think that's really self-defeating, because even if you had all the countries lined up now politically, Dana, we're about a month away from having ships in the water working together.

Think about what you have to do to build a coalition. First, you need a legal standard. So every capital needs a legal standard. They need the political decision from the political leader, prime minister, whoever it is. Then the military's got together rules of engagement, it is really complicated work. So I wouldn't shut the door.

BASH: Which is why it's always done on the front end.

MCGURK: So, yes, a lot of things could have been done differently here. I understand there's a lot going on behind the scenes, including with the U.K. I think the U.K., which has a very good navy, I think we could use them, for when the CENTCOM military campaign kind of comes to its fruition, and I understand that's a few more weeks. I think the president made some news there saying his trip to China delayed five to six weeks.

BASH: Yes.

MCGURK: That suggests to me we have about three more weeks to go from what CENTCOM's doing. Hopefully, then, there might be a more permissive environment, you can get coalition ships in the water. I would just stay at it. I wouldn't give up on it.

BASH: And there are lots of things that we need to sort of fact check. One of them is pretty rudimentary and basic, which is that he said that -- well, he said NATO is making a foolish mistake. I long wondered whether or not NATO would ever be there for us.

They were. In fact, I think the only time Article 5 was actually invoked was when the United States was attacked, David Chalian, by Osama bin Laden --

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Right, I mean --

BASH: -- on 9/11.

CHALIAN: Right, and in advance of the mission in Afghanistan --

BASH: Right.

CHALIAN: -- and then bringing in the coalition of the willing, speaking of coalitions. So the proof is there already, right? NATO was there for the United States. He continually says that he has no belief that they will be there again in the future, despite that one proof point.

But what is so interesting in listening to him in the Oval Office today, and this was yesterday as well, he's so aware of where the American public is on this military action in Iran right now. Everything, everything he's saying is framed around preventing Iran from a nuclear weapon, preventing Iran.

Because that piece, that piece of it, is popular with the American people. That is something the American people support. And he keeps taking every bit that we're talking about, whether it's what's going on in the Strait, or going on with the lack of diplomacy in the coalition, he brings it back to, in the last two days, constantly, to this notion of having to rid Iran of any ability to have a nuclear weapon.

BASH: Yes. OK, I do want to talk about something else that the president was asked about. Pretty big news here in Washington this morning. The head of the National Counterterrorism Center announced that he is resigning over his differences with the president on the war in Iraq.

Kent is not a typical intelligence official. He is a Trump appointee known for his ties to white nationalists, Nazi sympathizers, and an embrace of the January 6th conspiracy theories that we have seen so much on the far right. In a post on X today, he wrote in part, "I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it's clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby."

Let's just pick up the conversation, Eli, there. I mean, you've seen a lot of good riddance from a lot of members of Congress. He was confirmed by Republicans in the United States Senate, OK, even though there is a lot of information out there, which we'll get to in a second.

But just one example of the good riddance, Mike Lawler, a Republican congressman from New York said, "He was a leaker who spent more time undermining our foreign policy than doing his job. Now he's out the door and blaming Jews on his way out. Good riddance." And that's a reference to that part of his statement that I just read about, that this is all Israel and, you know, the coalition of media misinformation.

ELI STOKOLS, WHITE HOUSE & FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, POLITICO: There were a lot of things in the letter from Joe Kent, and a lot of people did focus on some of the statements that they saw as anti- Semitic, and others pointed to the fact that he's criticizing a war that is not popular, that is dividing the president's base on the MAGA right. I mean, this is not what he ran on.

He's not the first person in that movement to be complaining about it. We saw Marjorie Taylor Greene essentially resign her seat because of a falling out over this, and that was before the Iran war. That was from Trump's first year of this term, being too focused on foreign policy before he went to war with Iran.

[12:35:14]

So there is a lot of -- there's a fissure that is taking place, especially among young people about this war and whether it's essential, and there's an argument about that. We've seen the White House push back now on Joe Kent. We've seen allies of the president dismiss him as a leaker, not just Mike Lawler, but people who, you know, former senior administration officials.

And the president was asked about this, and he just said --

BASH: Yes.

STOKOLS: -- he's weak. He's weak on security, which begs the question, why appoint him to this job overseeing counterterrorism?

BASH: Yes.

STOKOLS: But, you know, clearly there is -- the tensions within the administration that we haven't really seen them bubble up to the surface within the White House, but there are people in the White House who are not fully on board with what's happening in Iran. We're seeing it bubble up from different corners. I'd say this is the latest and maybe most public example yet.

BASH: Yes, and I just want to underscore what you said. This is a man who the president appointed to a very senior role in his administration dealing with intelligence at the head of the NCTC. And the president just said, "I don't really know him, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security."

So why did you put him in there, especially -- that was kind of a rhetorical question, you know, of the answer --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BASH: -- specially given the fact that, yes, and I think you're going to talk about this. He has served America in the Army in a remarkable way. He did 11 combat tours, primarily in Iraq. He lost his wife in a suicide bombing in Syria in 2019. But he also ran for Congress in Washington State.

And during that, a lot of things came out about him. This is from our K-File back in 2022. "Despite disavowing white nationalism last spring, when Nick Fuentes endorsed him, Joe Kent subsequently gave a previously unreported interview in June to a Nazi sympathizer and white nationalists."

Just going on, this is about somebody who helped run his campaign, who is a well-documented -- had a well-documented history of making white nationalists racist, anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi statements. This is the podcaster who he went on with. And then it goes on and on from there.

MCGURK: Yes, Dana, I don't know Joe Kent. I respect anyone who wore the uniform to serve our country. I think there's an issue here, and also following up what the president said, Dana, who is running the NCTC? The NCTC, I've been there a number of times.

This is -- it's not glamorous work. It's a building, you know, kind of room like this, where people are following every threat vector into our country. And we just had two terrorist attacks last week. One ISIS and one -- the synagogue in Michigan, which is still being investigated. There are threats out there.

We -- a jury in New York just convicted Pakistani nationalists sent here by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards to kill senior political figures, including perhaps President Trump, the individuals arrested in the Biden administration, just convicted. These are real threats.

And it's the NCTC that like literally connects the dots from intelligence coming in --

BASH: It was created post 9/11.

MCGURK: That's what they do, yes. It was created in the early 2000s after 9/11. So my question is, if the president said he didn't have confidence in Joe Kent, well, who's leading the NCTC? And is that institution doing what it needs to do, particularly at a moment like this, where I'm sure threats are coming in, you know, nonstop in terms of the terrorist threats to the country, which very much exist.

BASH: All right. We're going to sneak in a quick break.

Coming up, it is Election Day in Illinois. Democrats are testing out their tactics ahead of November. We are live on the ground in Chicago after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [12:43:21]

BASH: It's election day in Illinois, and today's primaries there could answer key questions, especially for Democrats ahead of this fall's midterms. Will Democrats continue to show record enthusiasm? And what kind of leaders do Democratic voters want in Washington?

Steve Contorno is live in Chicago at a polling place. Steve, what are you seeing so far?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN REPORTER: Dana, there's been quite the lunch rush here so far as voters weigh in on the elections here. And I will tell you that early voting in Illinois was up about 56 percent compared to four years ago, so a sign of that continued enthusiasm that we are seeing so far in some of these primary contests.

And at the top of the ballot here is a U.S. Senate race that hasn't been open in a generation. Some of the voters we have been talking to weren't even alive the last time it was open, and that is the race to replace Senator Dick Durbin. And there are three main contenders on the Democratic side, U.S. Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi and Robin Kelly, and the state's Lieutenant Governor, Juliana Stratton.

It has been a tough battle between these three Democrats. Whoever wins is likely to be the winner in November just because of how Democratic this state is. And voters here telling us why they and how they are making this difficult choice. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JADE BROWN, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: The Senate race was a particularly difficult one to make a pick in, but ultimately I voted for somebody who I think represents, like, Illinois' values and who is going to represent the people, so.

CONTORNO: Do you mind sharing who that person was for you?

BROWN: I voted for Juliana Stratton.

JENNIFER PARKS, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: The reality for me is that here in Illinois, any of the three candidates will be a voice against this administration, so that I feel very confident about.

RACHEL EVERSON, DEMOCRATIC VOTER: Yes, it's not necessarily a pressure race, so I wouldn't say I was satisfied. I would say that I showed up and I cast my vote with what will, you know, help me sleep at night.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:45:14]

CONTORNO: I've been asking a lot of these voters, do they want someone who's going to stand up to Trump or someone who's going to work with him in Washington? And almost to a man, Dana, it's let's fight Trump.

BASH: And Steve, part of the storyline so far, I mean, this is only the second set of primaries that we're seeing in this election year. But the storyline has been just a huge amount of money being spent, and that is very much true where you are in Illinois.

CONTORNO: Absolutely. $57 million spent on advertising coming into today. Half of that is coming from the Krishnamoorthi campaign. Another big spender has been Juliana Stratton's, Super PAC supporting her with $14 million on the air. Now, a lot of the money from that Super PAC is coming from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who has endorsed his lieutenant governor.

Obviously, very interesting to watch what happens with his handpicked choice here because he is someone who is interested in potentially running for president in 2028. So this will be a first look at his political strength.

I also want to point out that a pro-crypto Super PAC named Fairstrike (ph) has spent almost $10 million on advertising in this cycle. It's become a bit of a hot-button topic between Krishnamoorthi, who stands to benefit from this spending, and Stratton, who says that Krishnamoorthi has some of these pro-Trump allies defending him in this race.

BASH: Steve, thank you so much for being there. Appreciate it.

And my smart panel is here to dig on this. Marianna, you're joining us now. David, I want to start with you. And let's just actually start by playing some clips of ads that Illinois voters are seeing from two of those Super PACs, started with -- starting with the one funded by JB Pritzker's group, and that is to help Juliana Stratton. And the other is that crypto Super PAC.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Raja Krishnamoorthi is scared. So he's misleading you about Juliana Stratton because he has something to hide. He's been taking donations from an ICE contractor for 10 years. During that time, he voted to fund ICE.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Juliana Stratton isn't being honest about who she is. In fact, Stratton's massive Super PAC is funded by the very contractor running Chicago's largest ICE detention center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHALIAN: It's fascinating, Dana, because you just saw in both of those ads, they're using ICE and who can be the toughest opponent to ICE, given the ICE enforcement controversies that we've seen over the last year, some of which played out in Illinois in very robust fashion. And yet, that's not the actual issue that either of those are really being funded for. As you noted, it's like a pro-crypto Super PAC on behalf of Krishnamoorthi.

And JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois who very clearly is planning a run for president in 2028, has a lot of political capital on the line here. I mean, he's got billions of dollars, so he has the money to spend it. But he has gotten behind his lieutenant governor here. And so this will be a test of his political prowess in his home state.

BASH: Yes. I mean, also, just as a reminder of what Steve was saying, Senator Dick Durbin, who has -- who was in the House when I first got to Washington, but he's been in the Senate for so long, it is true that it's been more than a generation.

OK, so that's the Senate race, which is huge. There are also House primaries. And part of the storyline here is written by our colleague Isaac Dovere, is as the politics around Israel shift, many Democrats are seeking distance from AIPAC. And the question is whether or not the way that AIPAC is playing in some of these primaries, particularly one in the House's 9th District, how that is going to affect the outcome of these Democratic primaries in Illinois.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes, it's been interesting. We've seen how involved AIPAC has been over several elections. But this is really the one where, as you mentioned, Democrats are saying, OK, wait, I need to really distance myself now.

And this is -- it's interesting to see even in the last couple of weeks. Remember, New Jersey 11, a special election there. AIPAC got involved. They were critical of Tom Malinowski, former congressman. They were so critical that ended up boosting a progressive challenger who was very vocal and for a long time against Israel. So it seems like AIPAC is somewhat starting to learn lessons from that race --

BASH: Yes.

SOTOMAYOR: -- into this one because Daniel Biss, he's the Evanston mayor. He was someone that they were going against. He's Jewish. His grandparents survived the Holocaust.

They started to notice, oh, my gosh, there's a progressive that's starting to come up in this race. So now they've turned their eyes on her. And you're just kind of starting to see this all play out. And it really will whoever ends up winning this primary in that congressional race will show kind of the impact that AIPAC has.

[12:50:03]

BASH: And just to sort of put a finer point on what you're saying, the AIPAC strategy, regardless of how controversial it is, but the AIPAC strategy during these primaries is to try to stop people who don't totally wholeheartedly support funding Israel and could potentially have a very prominent voice if they win.

STOKOLS: Right. I think what's interesting is they've switched horses in that Illinois 9 race. They're not really sure. I mean, in a lot of Democratic primaries now, there may not be a perfect AIPAC, but because the center of the party has just moved so far away from the AIPAC position.

I don't think the Iran war is helping with that. But the other interesting thing, to your point, is how they're adapting their tactics. AIPAC seems to recognize that. I was talking to someone following this race pretty closely, and they were saying AIPAC has never really funneled money through other shell organizations now, but they are doing that so that when the ad airs, it's not funded by AIPAC.

It's less clear where it's coming from. That seems to betray a recognition that the AIPAC name is not going to help whatever candidate they're trying to help with ads they're putting on TV. And they've spent, what, $20 million or so in these races. So it's not like they're sitting it out.

BASH: Yes.

STOKOLS: There's just a lot of confusion and maybe an awareness that their brand is not what they want it to be in the -- at least in a Democratic primary.

BASH: Yes. All right, everybody stand by. Hundreds of TSA workers are quitting their long lines. Very frustrated travelers. This is what airports across the country look like a month into a partial government shutdown.

What is Congress doing about it? I'm going to give you a spoiler alert, nothing. We'll check in on Capitol Hill after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:56:20]

BASH: Across the country, travelers are waiting in hour-long TSA lines a month into a partial government shutdown. Now, hundreds of TSA workers quit. Others are taking unscheduled time off. And today, the acting TSA deputy administrator said airports could shut down.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADAM STAHL, TSA ACTING DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR: Well, at this point, we're fully stretched. And so, frankly, there's not much else we can do. As the weeks continue, if this continues, it's not hyperbole to suggest that we may have to quite literally shut down airports, particularly smaller ones, if call-out rates go up and we can't -- a lot of these officers can't afford to come in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I want to give a treat to CNN's Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill. Lauren, these people need to put food on the table. They need to feed their families and pay rent and their mortgages. And they're not getting paid and it's because this shutdown is continuing where you are. Any conversations at all about trying to get out of this?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Dana, I mean, as we've seen in the past, when it comes to these kinds of shutdowns, TSA sick-outs, as well as air traffic controllers not coming to work, those are usually the breaking points. And yet, when it comes to this partial government shutdown for DHS, we just have not seen the robust negotiations that we typically see when we are in a shutdown posture. Instead, what we have seen is really a slow back-and-forth between Republicans and Democrats, as they have traded proposals from the White House to Senate Democrats and back and forth. In fact, it had been nearly 20 days between when the White House had last sent their last counterproposal and when Democrats last night sent another proposal back to Republicans. That just gives you a sense of how slow- moving these negotiations are on Capitol Hill.

Now, Leader John Thune did read out that, despite the fact that Democrats put forward another negotiation marker last night, he said that the talks just are not accelerating in any real way. Instead, he argued that he believes the White House has made some concessions, including $100 million in body cameras in their last proposal. That is up from $20 million that was in the originally negotiated appropriations bill.

He also said that the White House is willing to review any misconduct of officers on the ground. But, again, that is just not enough for Democrats. And they're arguing they're going to hold steadfast in their calls for major reforms on ICE before they are willing to negotiate any further on other areas.

Dana?

BASH: All right. Lauren, thank you so much.

Back with our panel. Sometimes what happens is when these lawmakers actually feel the pain because they're trying to get back to Washington or get back home, the talks could accelerate.

SOTOMAYOR: Yes, that's exactly what happens. It's what happened in November, right? They wanted to travel for Thanksgiving. The American public wanted to travel for Thanksgiving. You saw those conversations start on funding the government.

That's like -- that's what I'm hearing from Republicans and Democrats. Either something horrific, unfortunately, has to happen to get these people to act, or it's going to be Easter or Memorial Day soon, and that's going to reopen the airport.

CHALIAN: And let's be clear, I mean, this is just a failure of your government working for you --

BASH: Correct.

CHALIAN: -- completely. And blame is not easy here because it applies to all sides here, right? Like, from the president and Republicans to the Democrats in the Hill and the minority, they all have to come up with a solution here that actually serves the people.

BASH: Yes, and the reason why this is happening is because Democrats had political wind at their back when the horrible things were happening to people on the ground in Minneapolis. They're still demanding changes, but those things aren't in the headlines anymore, which probably is why Republicans don't feel the need to negotiate as much. STOKOLS: And I asked the White House official earlier this week, what happens? When does this end? They said, when the president gets involved. Well, when's that going to be? He's obviously focused on other things right now. It could take this getting to a crisis point where you see airports closing, you see those TSA lines.

The president sees that on TV and decides, OK, I need to cut this off. I need to get involved now because he hasn't been, from what I'm told, for several weeks.

BASH: Thank you all so much. Thank you for joining Inside Politics. News Central starts right now.