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Inside Politics

New Snags In Effort To End DHS Shutdown, Pay TSA Workers; Trump Lashes Out At Democrats In Series Of Social Posts; Dems Flip Florida State House District That Includes Mar-a-Lago; New Poll: Trump Gets Lower Marks On Economy Than Biden; Will Trump Deploy ICE Agents To Polling Stations? Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired March 25, 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]

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: From high hopes to low expectations, bipartisan frustration puts any funding deal on shaky ground. I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

You're looking at -- we're going to show to you now live pictures of Capitol Hill where yesterday's optimism is crashing into today's reality. Senate Republicans were feeling bullish about their plan to end the 40-day DHS shutdown that's wreaking havoc on airports across the country, but over the last 24 hours, both President Trump and Senate Democrats push back.

So, unless something changes again and fast, these massive TSA lines won't clear up anytime soon. Of course, this political stalemate is a huge inconvenience for travelers, but for TSA agents working without pay, the situation is dire. Here's what the agency's acting administrator told lawmakers this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HA MCNEILL, ACTING TSA ADMINISTRATOR: Many in our workforce have missed bill payments, received eviction notices, had their cars repossessed and utilities shut off, lost their childcare, defaulted on loans, damaged the credit line and drained their retirement savings. Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood and plasma and taking on job -- second jobs to make ends meet, all while being expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Just awful. And it's not just the TSA. We also heard from top officials at the Coast Guard, FEMA and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA. They warn the DHS shutdown poses a risk to America's national security.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here at the table. Lauren, 24 hours ago, I was talking to you from here you were on Capitol Hill, talking about the optimism. What happened?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, what happened was Democrats have yet to return a counteroffer to the Republicans. They rejected this potential deal, arguing that they wanted additional reforms for ICE. And what you're hearing from Republicans is we're not giving additional reforms when you're not completely funding ICE. So, they are stuck in this stalemate.

And I think if you zoom out, the biggest issue is, if you're someone waiting at the airport, if you are a TSA worker, you don't really care about the small minutia that they are trying to trade back and forth. I mean, at some point this has to come to an end. And I think Democrats are looking at Republicans viewing this as them in disarray, in part because the president has not come out publicly and said that he would support even the Republican deal that they were putting on the table. And Democrats are saying, look, there's a lot of political pressure on Republicans right now, maybe we can get a little more.

BASH: And there's political pressure on Democrats, obviously, too. I mean, one of the things that we were talking about here yesterday was the fact that if this deal went through, Democrats wouldn't have really gotten much except a lot of attention to the issue, which I guess, is not nothing, but on the policy changes that they had been demanding on ICE that wasn't going to happen.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Right. And if you go back to sort of the start of this shutdown, Democrats were demanding some real restraints on ICE that didn't seem to be on the table here, having to do with ICE agents and whether they needed a warrant or not going into private residences, as also whether or not they could ban them from wearing masks as well as they go on the sort of sweeping raids that we have seen.

The push back that we have seen recently, I found it to actually be kind of expected because the Republican proposal didn't include even some of the restraints that the White House has signaled they be open to. Earlier this month, Tom Homan sent a letter to Congress and noted that they were open to some of these restraints, including having ICE agents publicly identify themselves when on patrol and when going on these raids. So that even wasn't in this latest proposal.

So, I think you're right. There's also pressure on Democrats here. It wasn't too long ago that Americans and many Democrats were watching what was happening in Minneapolis and saying they needed to see changes when it came to the way the administration was using ICE.

[12:05:00]

BASH: And what we talked about this time yesterday, the big question until Democrats kind of push for new changes was whether the president was going to agree to this because he has been wanting what he calls the SAVE America Act, voting -- Federal voting changes to be included in this funding bill.

Just this morning, the president put this on his social media platform. Blame the Democrats for the airport's mess. They want our country to do badly. They want our country to fail. They broke the already signed bill because they want to take care of criminals who enter our country illegally rather than American citizens. Thank you to our great ICE patriots for helping. It makes a big difference. I may call up the National Guard for more help.

JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NOTUS: Yeah. I mean, the president has been a looming question mark in all of this. We reported this morning in the NOTUS newsletter that part of the pitch that was made to him in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon was, let's deal with these TSA lines as we know that there have been significant threat assessments in the country because of the war on Iran and we'll deal with that SAVE America Act in reconciliation as much as we can.

I talked to a White House official who basically said that argument wasn't what swayed him, and that he hadn't been actually swayed. And that's evident from his comments yesterday when he said that I will wait to see the actual bill. I think that Democrats have said that we want to know where the president is before we send over some of this counter argument. I don't think that that's coming, but the president clearly from that Truth Social understands that this is an issue.

He knows, just from the last shutdown, how detrimental it can be, not just to GDP growth, but to how Americans feel about the Republican Party. I think that that was a huge concern from him last year when they shut down the government in September. And I think you're seeing from that Truth Social that that perhaps is another concern for him now.

Now we haven't seen a lot of polling see which way Americans are breaking who they are blaming for their shutdown, but as his TSA lines grow and grow and grow, they're going to get angry, and perhaps angry at the party in power, which, of course, is the Republicans.

BASH: And today is Wednesday. Congress is supposed to be gone, starting probably tomorrow, maybe more likely on Friday, for spring break, for Easter, for Passover. And that is, of course, sort of a built-in potential deadline for Congress. We know that that tends to work in the favor of any deal that is out there, but are you getting a sense from your sources that that's the case this time around?

FOX: I think that that was the hope, because traditionally, a deadline will focus the mind, especially if it means a two-week recess and a break from your colleagues, both in your party and across the aisle. Lawmakers are frustrated. Staffers that I'm talking to are saying we got to get them out of here because they are ready to go home, or we may be in a situation where, you know, frustrations just boil over, and it almost gets harder to get a deal the longer you keep frustrated members in a room together.

But I will just tell you that there is so much pent-up anger at the fact that this is just taking so long. When you think about the fact that there is so many -- there are so many people at the airport who feel like, why isn't this getting dealt with tomorrow, or why isn't this getting dealt with in the next 20 minutes? I mean, they are taking days to get proposals back from one side to another at this point. There is just no urgency. BASH: Well, there is urgency, obviously there, but you're saying there's no urgency among politicians. But the urgency is very real among the people who are -- who are working in a public service and not getting paid. Just some examples, these are some quotes from the Associated Press. This is from Philip Marcelo, and what he said is. I never thought I would be in a position where working for the federal government, I would need to go to a food bank to supplement my groceries.

And then somebody else, Rebecca Wolf, who was a TSA officer and union leader said, they don't understand why grandma is crying. I try not to cry in front of them, but sometimes it's just too much.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Plus, you hear the testimony there as well about TSA agents really being forced into some desperate options here, being forced to sell plasma as well to sustain. I mean, DHS has often conducted these internal reports to measure morale of all the agencies in their department. And for years, TSA has ranked at the bottom of all of their agencies when it comes to morale.

Situations like this are why, often, when you have shutdowns, they bear the brunt of it. And remember, CBP and ICE, they still have a vast windfall from the bill that was passed last year. TSA doesn't have that and that's where you're seeing a lot of these problems.

BASH: All right, everybody standby. Up next. An upset at Mar-a-Lago. How a Democrat flipped the seat representing President Trump's Florida home and what that could mean for momentum in other races ahead this election year? Plus, Democratic Senator Cory Booker will be here. We'll talk about everything from the Iran war to his message for Democrats in 2028. Stay with us.

[12:10:00]

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BASH: Democrats are celebrating near Mar-a-Lago today. The special election for President Trump's own state House district turned blue. Democrat Emily Gregory bested Trump endorsed Republican Jon Maples by about two percentage points. It is a deep red district, or at least it was that Trump won in 2024 by 11 percentage points. That means a 13- point swing towards Democrats. Gregory told CNN's Randi Kaye, that what happened in her district won't stay in just her district.

[12:15:00]

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EMILY GREGORY, (D) FLORIDA STATE REPRESENTATIVE-ELECT: I think it's a real reaction to the current policies at the national and state level. And I think that is a clear indication from voters, it's the wrong track and go ahead. Legislators Go ahead. Representatives focus on property insurance, healthcare, education, focus on the things that Floridians care about.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Democrats are also poised to flip a state senate seat near Tampa, but the race remains too close to call. Our smart reporters are back. Jasmine, what are you hearing from your sources in the Trump orbit about how they really feel about what happened?

WRIGHT: Publicly, I think they're saying it's a one-off ---

BASH: No, I know. What do you hear in privately.

WRIGHT: Privately. Obviously, this is not spell well for them, right? And this is just the next example, the next instance in which you're seeing seats in which Republicans comfortably won under President Trump not doing so well, and that it's happening in the president's backyard, so to say. Obviously, that doesn't bode well for the president, who we know follows these races, basically number by number across the street.

I talked to one official who said that he can basically, at any time, name a race that's happening and who is in that race and how they're doing. And so, the president is following this closely. I think that you are, you know, the Republican Party and those folks around the president have sunk a lot of money into trying to make sure that the midterms go their way, and this type of moment just doesn't break in their way. And I think that that's concerning to a lot of people.

BASH: Yeah. And I know their public line is that this is a one-off. It's not a one-off. I mean, yes, in a state --

WRIGHT: It's multiple instances.

BASH: Exactly. In special elections, really, across the country so far, and not to mention the 2025 actual elections that happened. I just want to look at an example of where sort of the president's economic approval rating is because that is what drives the way that people feel. No question about it. So, if you go back to when Joe Biden was still president, but Trump was president elect, 34 percent then when Donald Trump took office 2025 -- January 2025 was 42 percent, March 17, 35 percent. Now 29 percent. March 17, that wasn't that long ago -- was like last week.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yeah, yeah. And even then, too, though, there was concern among Republicans and the president's allies about him facing a decline and support on the issues that were once his strongest issues that being the economy and immigration. Now you have the decline that you've seen since the start of the war in Iran as well.

Gas prices can be -- are some of the most politically toxic, you know, measure, right? This is something that I remember in the Biden era, Ron Klain was like tweeting every week because of the backlash they were getting, particularly on gas prices. So, you have the fact, I think, of right now, this precarious time that the president and Republicans are in. You know, these races and these wins, when you look at them in tandem with the decline in support he's facing on those issues.

You think about also James Blair, White House official telling Republicans in a closed-door meeting, you know, we need to recalibrate our language on something like immigration. Stop talking about mass deportations. You think about Chief of Staff, Susie Wiles, also saying the presidents can travel more and talk about the economy. That speaks to issues that were once political strengths turning into vulnerabilities at a time when Democrats are picking up some wins right now. So, all of that together does create some anxiety.

BASH: And the repercussion from the Iran war, and this is what you were getting at, makes the vulnerabilities that he has on the economy even more dire for the president .It's not easy to turn that around, even if and when the Iran war stops.

Lauren, look at these numbers, 31 seats, 31 seats in the House of Representatives that Republicans won and Trump won by 10 points or less. Why are we putting that up there? Because in a situation this November when people are upset and they want to take it out on the party in charge, Republicans. Those 31 seats are the most vulnerable and the most in danger of flipping to the Democrats.

[12:20:00]

FOX: Yeah. When I look at Republicans, the two vulnerabilities that I see in these House races are the fact that they are the party in power, which we just generally know there's a historic trend there in mid-terms. And then the second vulnerability is, what is their message right now, because I'm not sure what it is. I talk to these members every day. And everyone has things that they are passionate about, excited about.

There are people who support the effort in Iran. There are people who support the effort in Iran. There are people who are worried about the effort in Iran. There are people who love the SAVE America Act. There are people who are worried about disenfranchising voters who vote by mail, because that is a large part of their constituency, and they are hashing this all out at all times, and no one is really talking about the big, beautiful bill that they passed last summer. And so, I'm just at a loss for what the message is right now.

BASH: But isn't the sort of age-old problem or the 10-year-old problem since Donald Trump has been on the scene, that it almost doesn't matter what their message is, because what Republicans will be judged on isn't by what they say. It's about what Donald Trump does.

WRIGHT: And I think that was evident in that House meeting, caucus meeting, when they were in Florida, right? And we had people on the ground there, and the members kept wanting to talk about affordability, but the president wasn't really talking about affordability when he addressed them. The members were wanting to talk about things that Americans are -- cared about day in and day out, but the national conversation was about Iran.

And so, you know, I think that the members are, you know, talking amongst themselves, trying to figure out a way to market themselves come November. But the White House is kind of off on their own, doing their own thing, where we, you know, before Iran, it was Venezuela. Before Venezuela, it was something else. And so, I think that not just you're questioning what the message is amongst Republicans on the Hill, but what is the messaging in tandem with the White House. And shouldn't the White House be leading some of that messaging? And I just don't think you're seeing that because the White House is preoccupied with other things.

BASH: I mean, they kind of are leading the message, and by day, we know that's one person, and that's the president. All right, everybody standby. Thank you so much. Coming up from the airport to the voting booth. We have new reporting on whether Democrats are right to fear President Trump could send ICE agents to polling places this November.

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[12:25:00]

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BASH: President Trump's decision to send ICE agents to U.S. airports is energizing MAGA allies and rattling Democrats. Both sides anticipate polling stations could be next. Here's what Steve Bannon said on his podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE BANNON, HOST, "THE WAR ROOM": We can use what's happening with these ICE helping out -- helping out at the airports. We can use this as a test run, as a test case to get really perfect ICE's involvement in the 2026 mid-term elections.

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BASH: And here's what Maryland Governor Wes Moore told me about this yesterday in Baltimore.

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GOV. WES MOORE (G-MD): This is a much larger plan about how do you hold on to power and using military and law enforcement personnel to try to do so.

BASH: Are you thinking about November?

MOORE: Oh, absolutely. I think the president is thinking about November.

BASH: With ICE.

MOORE: Oh, yeah. I think that -- I think these are all tools of how the president is trying to think about a much larger plan, which is, if you cannot hold on to power through democratic elections then adjust democratic elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNN's Gabe Cohen has been digging into this. So, Gabe, we have Steve Bannon publicly pushing the president to do this. Could it actually happen?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously Steve Bannon and other MAGA allies think that it could. What Federal law says, and that's 18 U.S. Code section 592 essentially says that armed Federal officers or the military are not allowed at any location where an election is happening, unless such force be necessary to repel armed enemies of the United States. So that's what the Federal law says.

Now, could the president, the administration, argue that? Well, there is a threat, whether it's foreign interference, whether it's the idea of non-citizens voting, or whatever evidence that they've obtained over time. Is it gangs, drugs? Could there be that emergency?

Well, the state election officials I've talked to, the voting rights attorneys I've talked to, say that would never hold up in court. There would certainly that would be struck down. There would be repercussions, but it could create some chaos, obviously, along the way, especially given what we have seen with ICE in recent months.

Now, the administration has addressed this in recent months, and they've said over and over again that there's no firm plan at this point that any federal officers, any immigration agents are going to be sent out to polling places. But what we have seen is that when some Trump officials have been pressed a little bit more, would they guarantee that ICE will not be sent to the polls in November, some of them have given not fully committal answers.

Let's play that clip, which is Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and the new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can't guarantee that an ICE agent won't be around a polling location in November. I mean, that's frankly, a very silly hypothetical question.

SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI): Do you feel you have the authority to put uniformed officers at polling locations in 2026.

SEN. MARKWAYNE MULLIN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY NOMINEE: Ma'am, we said this in your office. The only reason why my officers would be there if there was a specific threat for them to be there, not for intimidation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: And Mullin's predecessor, Kristi Noem, also in recent weeks, said again, there's no plan for this. And she repeated this, Republican attack line. That we have heard again and again, which is, why are Democrats so concerned about ICE being at the polls? If non- citizens don't really vote, then there's no issue? What's the problem?