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Inside Politics

As Trump Arrives In China, New Data Show Inflation Soared In April; Poll: Voters Turn On Trump Over Economy, Blame Him For Inflation; Republicans Weigh Trump Demand For $1B For Ballroom Security; Trump In China For High-Stakes Meeting With Xi; Trump To Push Xi To Help Open Strait Of Hormuz, Secure Iran Deal; FBI Director Spars With Senator Over Drinking Allegations. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 13, 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]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: President Trump arrives in Beijing for a high-stakes superpower summit, trailed by new evidence of economic trouble here in the U.S.

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

President Trump just descended from Air Force One in Beijing to the type of fan fair you see there. He loves and almost the exact same moment, there was another reminder back here of why the stakes of this summit are so high. The war in Iran is pushing inflation to its highest level since 2022, wholesale inflation soared to 6 percent in April, higher than expected.

It was just yesterday that a report showed consumer prices up as well. And you can see there's a spike there. It's pretty hard to miss. That shows since the war in Iran began two and a half months ago, it has really gone up inflation and Americans are blaming President Trump for the economic hit. Remember the CNN poll we brought you yesterday, eight in 10 Americans say the president's policies are increasing their cost of living. That includes a majority of Republicans.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters on this Wednesday, David Chalian?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR & WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah. I mean, the context of this trip is so interesting because given everything you've just said about the economy, and given the trade relationship, which was the original sort of context of this trip. Now we have this overhang of the Iran war that is sort of disrupting what I think was initially designed purely as sort of a trade and economic mission.

The other thing about these numbers that adds context to this trip, which you showed the pomp and circumstance that the president loves. But China, it's not like these numbers just stay here, right? And that Xi Jinping is not aware of what Americans are saying about their economic circumstances, what that's doing to the president's political standing, and therefore, how Xi Jinping needs to -- feels that he can interact with Trump on this. All of that plays into this moment of this high-stakes trip.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP & CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right, right. It's certainly a high-stakes trip. And I was really interested in looking at that graph because we saw how much the consumer prices are going up. Well, the producer price index numbers that we saw today, that's -- those are the numbers that come before the -- before the cost is translated into consumers.

So basically, the numbers mean there's even more pressure for companies to raise prices even further in terms of what you actually pay at the grocery store or in other places. The president is certainly going to try to get economic wins when he's in China. He's bringing over a massive fleet of, you know, top CEOs, corporate executives, to try to tout those economic wins. But it's really hard to, you know, kind of divorce your view from the bad economic numbers, the fact that the Iran situation has not ended and what people are actually paying right now.

BASH: And then, there was a moment that President Trump had when he was speaking to reporters before he got on the plane to go to China. We have been around long, long enough, some of us, longer than others, to know that there are times when a politician or an elected official says something that you know immediately will come back to haunt them.

I want to play in its entirety what President Trump actually -- first of all, the question that was asked of President Trump, and then the answer that he gave about Iran and Americans' financial situation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're negotiating with Iran Mr. President, to what extent are American financial situation motivating you to make a deal?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters, when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody. I think about one thing, we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all. That's the only thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, it was that one part, I don't think about Americans' financial situation. Again, it was important to show it as we did in context, but that's not how politics works.

RON BROWNSTEIN, BLOOMBERG OPINION COLUMNIST: You get what he was trying to say. It's clear what he was trying to say, that preventing Iran from having a nuclear weapon is a preeminent goal, more important than anything else. It's not clear at all, by the way, that this war is advancing that goal, which is -- which is really part of the problem he's got. But this was kind of what the famous Michael Kinsley definition of a gaffe in Washington is, when you say what you really mean, and he said, what he -- what he really means.

[12:05:00]

The important thing here is that by far the number one issue Trump voters gave when they voted for him in 2024 was that they felt their cost of living was out of control. In the CNN poll yesterday, the economy and the cost of living still was three times larger than any other issue. When people said -- were asked what the most important problem facing the country was. Three quarters disapprove of the way Trump is handling inflation.

And to me, the really critical point is it's not just he -- that he is standing there while it's raining and he's getting caught in the downpour. It's that they think that his policies are actually compounding the problem by a ratio of almost 10 to one.

CHALIAN: Two thirds. Two thirds in our poll roughly say his policies are making things worse and that number goes up to three fourths. When you look at independents or Hispanics in our poll, by the way, those are two voting groups. And I think if you look at the map in 2026, have some sway.

BASH: This is basically going to be like giving candy to babies here, because especially you, Ron Brownstein. I'm going to give you some debt --

BROWNSTEIN: I like that --

BASH: Well, this is, you like, this was Demographics.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, look at it. Yeah.

BASH: OK. So, we're going to show our viewers something that I know you're going to be excited to talk about. I mean, the numbers are not exciting, but it's telling. And I want to give your analysis. The question, again part of this poll is whether people think economic conditions are poor. So, these are some of the key demographics that help get Donald Trump elected. Independents, 81 percent say yes. Young people, 18 to 34, also 81 percent Hispanic voters, also 81 percent, and people on the lower end of the income scale under $50,000, 79 percent.

BROWNSTEIN: There are two separate issues. The one -- the first is the one that David just cited. Groups that moved toward him in 2024 are extraordinarily negative, not only on the economy in general, but on the policies that he has pursued. They elected him to solve their cost-of-living problem, and not only they feel that he has failed to do so, they feel he has compounded the problem.

But the second issue is the group that was alluded to, mostly in the lower on the income scale there, but not specifically whites without a four-year college degree. Those have been the foundation of Donald Trump's coalition. From the beginning, he's won two thirds of them in each of his three races for president, more than anybody since Ronald Reagan in 1984. In our CNN poll yesterday, his approval rating among them is down to 50-50, consistent with half a dozen other polls. On the economy, it's below 50-50, and that is critical, because in 2018 Democrats already won a lot of the white-collar suburban seats that are pretty easy for them to win.

The battlefield this year in the House are these blue-collar seats in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Iowa, et cetera. And the Democrats will face a lot of headwinds with those voters. They're still skeptical of them, but the disillusion with Trump over the economy gives them their best opportunity, really in years, maybe decades.

BASH: And some -- and sometimes you just need, if you are a party like the Democrats right now, something to latch on to that people can understand and get angry about, and they're hoping that that's President Trump's ballroom. Listen to the exchange that he had with the reporter on that again as he was leaving for China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We have a ballroom that's under budget. It's going up right here. I've doubled the size of it because we obviously need that, and we're right now on budget, under budget and ahead of schedule.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: I double the size of it, you dumb person. It's double the time. You are not a smart person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. First of all, I don't know who that was, but she's not a dumb person.

KIM: She's definitely, I know her. She's definitely not a dumb person.

BASH: Second -- nobody there is a. Second of all, to say that he doubled the size of it, I'm not sure helps his case.

KIM: Right.

BASH: Whether or not, it costs, you know, a lot or not, who's spending the money? Speaking of that, this is a huge hot potato in Congress right now for Republicans. I want you to listen to what the House speaker said about it this morning, and then the Senate majority leader as well.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Well, that provision is in the bill and its security only. There's a section of the bill that specifies that. It's very clear. We do need enhanced security measures. We'll see what comes out of the Senate.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (D-SD): The ballroom is being financed privately, but the security associated with it is, I think, represents about 20 percent of what this request was, this secret service request.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: He said initially he was going to pay for it all. Now we know that there are security enhancements going into the ballroom, and they have asked the taxpayer to help pay for that.

KIM: Right. And I think --

BASH: A lot of money.

KIM: Right, right. And I think from the start, I mean, we were pretty skeptical that it would be completely privately financed, because at the end of the day, this is a public, you know, building a public entity. And the security -- the security apparatus required with such a place like the White House, it was kind of difficult to kind of mix up private dollars with that. But you don't have a lot of Republicans racing to defend the president on this.

[12:10:00]

I think Susan Collins, obviously she's going to be a very important to watch through the course of this year with her reelection race, and just what she has to do. She was very clear to reporters like, you know, I thought this was going to be privately financed, so we are really going to have to weigh this request and look at it. There are a lot of House Republicans who are uneasy with this. I think the vast majority of Republicans would be very happy if either the procedural parliamentarian did her thing and just kind of dropped it out of the package.

CHALIAN: I will say also the White House is scrambling here to get up to the Hill, to brief Republicans on this, to re-reframe their messaging on this because they see a warning like some trouble within their own party about that --

BASH: Yeah. They just -- they just sent a memo that CNN obtained this morning, telling Congress that it really is $220 million for White House complex hardening. So that really speaks to what you're saying. We're going to have to sneak in a break. Hold that thought.

Coming up. Beijing is rolling out, as we showed you, a really lavish welcome for President Trump. But will the vibes shift dramatically when they go behind closed doors? Plus, life is a highway. Senator John -- excuse me, Senator John Cornyn is taking Tom Cochrane's lyrics to heart as he still tries for that elusive presidential endorsement in the critical Texas GOP runoff.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: President Trump is in China now for the biggest foreign trip so far of his second term. Tonight, he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. And again, here you see it that enthusiastic greeting, red carpet rollout may be the pomp and circumstance the president absolutely craves. But the high-stakes meeting that he's slated to have with President Xi could really have a different vibe as the war in Iran persists in its third month with no peace deal in sight.

CNN's Betsy Klein is in Beijing. Betsy, we won't see the president until late tonight. What are you hearing from your sources about the accomplishments that he's laying out at least privately?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Dana, this is certainly not the China trip that President Trump originally envisioned. The war with Iran just complicating and overshadowing his goals and strategy for this trip. And this conflict you might recall, Trump has said would be over in a matter of weeks. A peace deal remains elusive. The president himself casting new doubt on the integrity of that ceasefire earlier this week. And in a sign of how the focus has shifted.

Leading up to this trip, the president is traveling with two of his top national security officials, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. There are also top economic officials along fort the trip, including U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, along with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who spent some time earlier today, local time, meeting with his Chinese counterpart in the run up to this meeting. There are also about a dozen high profile business leaders along for the ride.

Now, China has very close ties to Iran. It is the largest consumer of Iranian oil. So, there is going to be so much to discuss, but Iran is likely to dominate this conversation. We do expect President Trump to push President Xi to pressure Iran to accept a peace deal and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Now this also comes just days after Xi met here in Beijing with Iran's foreign minister, so he should really have an idea of what Iran is willing to accept here.

Now they're also accept -- expected to highlight new trade deals, including aerospace, agriculture and energy, some wins that the president can bring back home. The president also expected to raise the case of jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, among other topics. Now, analysts say that President Trump is walking into a situation where President Xi may hold all the cards, and they warn that he could use that leverage to push Trump for more control over Taiwan. Dana?

BASH: All right, Betsy, thank you so much for that report. Appreciate it. And back here at the table. Seung Min, I want to play what the president himself said before he left about what he expects.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is your message to President Xi as it pertains to the Iran war?

TRUMP: Well, I think, number one, we're going to have a long talk about it. I think he's been relatively good, to be honest with you. You look at the blockade, no problem. They get a lot of their oil from that area. We've had no problem and he's been a friend of mine. He's been somebody that we get along with. And I think you're going to see that good things are going to happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KIM: Yeah. I mean, that's a great example of how in particularly in foreign policy, although in many facets of his life, the president really relies on his personal relationships, his personal rapport with leaders abroad. President Xi is certainly one of them. I mean, every single time you mentioned President Xi around President Trump, he talks about the good relationship that they have, the good relationship that contrasts with perhaps a relationship that President Biden had with President Xi.

[12:20:00]

But again, you know, what -- Betsy's last point about the leverage, I think is really going to be key because we talked earlier in the show about the numbers here, about the public approval rating overall, and on the economy, and how the president Xi is very acutely aware of that and that could certainly be a leverage point for him, but the president is going to want to tell wins, perhaps selling more American soybeans, beef really help with the price issue and also help farmers, which are also a very critical constituency for the president.

CHALIAN: I'm also curious to see on Betsy's last point about Taiwan, specifically. If the strategic ambiguity, you know, structure that the United States has been operating on for some time, which we've seen not just Donald Trump, Joe Biden, others like, get out -- like get out ahead of or recreate, and then aides have to come in and clean it up. I'm curious to see how he navigates that.

BROWNSTEIN: The president always seems to me a little surprised when the target of his pressure or aggression pushes back and doesn't just kind of capitulate to his overwhelming force and strategy. I mean, he -- since his first term was talking about decoupling from China, that was the word he used on the economy. And then China said, OK, well, we're going to restrict access to rare earth minerals and some of the other things that the western supply chains need.

And the goals have suddenly become much more conventional. Go to a foreign country, have a summit, sign some big business deals. It's similar to what's happened in Iran, the idea that they could push back in an asymmetric way, surprising. The same thing really, in a way, happened in Minneapolis, with people with cell phones and whistles push back against ICE and basically stop that vision of deportation in its track.

That kind of second day response to the, you know, he feels he has the biggest hammer in the world and he does. All the economic and military force of the U.S. But that doesn't always mean you can coerce someone into doing what you want, and when they push back, he sometimes sees -- often seems a little bit at sea.

BASH: All right. Up next. A Democratic senator asks the FBI director if he drinks on the job, and it went down Hill from there. He'll see the stunning exchange between Kash Patel and Senator Chris Van Hollen after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: FBI Director Kash Patel is in the midst of a defamation lawsuit against the Atlantic after its story alleging that Patel drinks excessively and it was impacting his job performance. Patel vehemently denies the allegations, but Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen took the opportunity when Patel was under oath before Congress yesterday to have him officially address the claims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): And so, there have been no occasions when your security detail had difficulty waking or locating you. Is that right?

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: Nope, it's a total farce. I don't even know where you get this stuff, but it doesn't make it credible because you say so.

HOLLEN: I'm not saying it, Director Patel. It's been written and documented.

PATEL: You are literally saying it.

HOLLEN: No, I'm saying that these are reports, Director Patel.

PATEL: No. Unlike your baseless reports, the only person that was slinging margaritas in El Salvador on the taxpayer dollar with a convicted gang banging rapist was you.

HOLLEN: You know the fact.

PATEL: The only person that ran up a $7,000 bar tab in Washington, D.C. at the Lobby Bar was you. The only individual in this room that has been drinking on the taxpayer dime during the day is you.

HOLLEN: The fact that you mentioned that indicates you don't know what you are talking about. Now here --

PATEL: The only thing I know is, you're the one drinking margaritas with felons.

HOLLEN: Actually, that's a false statement, and I'm asking you about your statements.

PATEL: I've answered that.

HOLLEN: Are you willing to take the test that, it's called the audit test that members of our active-duty military and others take to determine whether they have a drinking problem.

PATEL: I'll take any tests you're willing to take.

HOLLEN: I will take it, Director Patel. I'll take it. I'm ready to take it.

PATEL: Let's go

HOLLEN: Yes or no?

PATEL: Let's go.

HOLLEN: Side by side.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So that was a lot. Let's start with the margaritas. The Trump administration posted this photo of Senator Van Hollen in El Salvador when he was visiting Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had been wrongfully deported to El Salvador. Now, Van Hollen says, Salvadoran officials put the salt rim glasses on their table. Glasses were placed in front of us, but we did not drink them. I know that may be a confusing concept for Director Patel. That is Van Hollen quoting. It's a Van Hollen quote from post. Now, I should note that it is true that Abrego Garcia entered the U.S. illegally. He is not a convicted rapist.

Ron Brownstein, this, you know, obviously this is a lot of theater, but it does speak to a lot of underlying questions that it's not just Democrats.

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah. I found myself watching that thinking not only the questions about his behavior and whether or not he drinks, but this is the FBI director who is engaging in that level of partisan conflict and name calling with, you know, a sitting senator of the other party. We've spent -- we spent 60, 50 years trying to get away from that, after Watergate, after J. Edgar Hoover to the FBI as a more non- partisan institution.

And it, to me, it was just a dramatic illustration of just how far the guardrails have collapsed. I mean, like much of Pam Bondi is term. And I just wonder, can you get back to that joke that was kind of an animating principle of Joe Biden's presidency, a return to normalcy and voters would reward you. Turned out they didn't. So, is this now the new normal that you have an FBI director who is essentially an attack dog for the administration that appoints them, because that's above all what I took away from that exchange.

BASH: Speaking of the new normal, you did hear Van Hollen say that he challenged the FBI director to take what's known as an audit, alcohol use disorders identification test. Well, you see there that Van Hollen post