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Inside Politics

Republicans Push Back On Trump's Ballroom, "Weaponization" Fund; Blanche Meets With GOP Senators To Defend "Anti-Weaponization" Fund; CNN Obtains Long-Private DNC "Autopsy" Of 2024 Election Loss; DNC Chair Ken Martin Apologizes For How He Handled "Autopsy"; Trump: "I Don't Know" If I Have Control Of Senate GOP. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 21, 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: So, it's true, we were just a vehicle for the stories of those devastated by the floods. And the award really belongs to them, especially those little girls who died at Camp Mystic and the heavens 27 families. I'm so grateful to their families who have joined us on this show to keep their memories alive, and the fight to ensure something like this never happens to any other camper.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Your coverage was really so personal. You were a camper there, but so amazing and I'm grateful to you. Congratulations on this honor.

BROWN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We're very happy for you and very proud of you.

BROWN: Thank you so much.

BLITZER: And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. And don't go anywhere, Dana Bash will have a special interview. The Pitt actor, Noah Wyle, up next on Inside Politics and that starts right now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: The Trump administration dropped a $1.8 billion stick of political dynamite.

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

As we speak, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is on Capitol Hill, trying to stem a Republican revolt over President Trump's so-called anti-weaponization fund. Democrats say, it's a slush fund, which will be used to pay off Trump allies and supporters who were investigated for and in many cases convicted of crimes over the past decade, including January 6 insurrectionists.

Senate Republicans, including those who are really loyal to President Trump, have questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): But I just don't know how this puppy dog will work. I'm not sure where the money is coming from. I'm not sure who's going to decide. I don't know anything about anything, which is why the attorney general is coming.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not support the weaponization fund as it has been described.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: It's just one of two really big examples this week of Republicans, at least some of them, standing up to the president in just a couple of areas, this and also the $1 billion that the president is demanding for White House security, which would include money for his ballroom. Senate Republicans appear poised to drop that money from a bigger spending bill, are pushing through this week.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here today. Lauren Fox, it's kind of amazing the way the week has gone, starting out with the president being able to show that he has a very tight grip on the GOP, defeating Bill Cassidy, who voted to, or at least to convict him in his impeachment. He vanquished the Republican Tom Massie in the Kentucky primary. And here we are, just two days later, and you're seeing some major GOP push back on these two big issues. But let's start first of all with what's happening with Todd Blanche as we speak on Capitol Hill.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, Republicans are going into this meeting essentially to have a conversation about how this fund would be structured. And I think to voice some serious concerns about the fact that they are being asked to support such a thing in the first place. I talked to Thom Tillis this morning, Republican from North Carolina, who is retiring, and he essentially said it was the payout pot for punks. He is not going to support and he--

BASH: It an alliteration.

FOX: --he did. He did say that if it is included, he potentially could find a way to not even support moving forward with this DHS funding bill that they are trying to put forward. So that just gives you a sense, Dana, of just how frustrated Republicans are, and obviously, the political dynamics earlier in the week can't be ignored because a lot of Republicans are looking around, and saying, what happens if we never stand up to Donald Trump. And they're watching their colleagues be taken out, and that is potentially also fueling some of this frustration.

BASH: And Betsy, you covered the White House. What are you hearing from sources there about the fact that Blanche, I mean he was on Capitol Hill trying to answer questions which obviously didn't go over very well when he was at an oversight hearing earlier this week. Now he's back there behind closed doors.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, I think the question here is, why didn't Blanche or someone at the DOJ go to the White House earlier, before this was public, to socialize this idea with Republicans. They had to imagine that this was going to get a lot of push back. And one thing--

BASH: Maybe that's why.

KLEIN: --exactly -- is that maybe, you know, they have a massive messaging problem, and they just aren't doing a good job of getting ahead of these kinds of tricky issues that we're seeing.

BASH: I want you to listen to what Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who is a Republican from Pennsylvania. He's one of only three districts that Kamala Harris won in 2024 that is represented by a Republican. What he said to Kaitlan Collins last night about this fund.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): The people that I represent, very intimate, independent-minded people in Bucks and Montgomery counties in Pennsylvania. You know, they want me to look into this, and I'm going to, and we're going to -- we're going to fight hard against it. Every dime that we spend ought to be going to, and especially with people in mind, over half of Americans that are living paycheck to paycheck. That's got to be at the forefront of every single House and Senate member's mind with every dime that we appropriate, so for that and many other reasons, I am completely objecting to this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:05:00]

BASH: OK, so we say we're going to go behind the headlines at Inside Politics here. This is a prime example, because we're going to marry these two conversations. Brian Fitzpatrick needs Democrats and Independents to win reelection. He no longer is worried about a primary because that primary happened on Tuesday. So, he's done with the threat of Donald Trump, and now he can turn to what he needs to do to win reelection in a very blue district.

DAVID WEIGEL, POLITICS REPORTER, SEMAFOR: You can, and he was making basically the Democratic argument, because this fits into the superstructure of the Democrats' midterm message, which is Donald Trump is focused on revenge for himself, or on his donors, or on billionaires, and not you. Inversion of what Democrat would Trump you successfully in 2024 is that Democrats are focused on these interest groups and these special groups, and not you.

And what he was saying there is defensive, because Democrats are very comfortable saying, he is focused on the ballroom. He is focused on everything we're just talking about, and not you. And Republicans who are trying to message the tax cuts and the refunds that are mostly out now. That story is kind of over, can't pivot.

The other thing I'd add to this is Trump knew this was a liability in 2024. They had polling in the campaign that went when -- it looked like he was going to get revenge if he came back to office. He used a Fox News town hall to say, I'm too going to be too busy for revenge, because I'm going to be making America great again. Anything that contradicts that, Democrats are going to use it. Republicans in a district like that are going to try to prepare themselves.

BASH: I mean, there's been so much revenge, it's hard to count. At this point, I want--

WEIGEL: But they knew it was a risk.

BASH: It was a risk.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: This is -- there are a lot of political things going up against each other here. There's people who want to -- the Republicans and Donald Trump to be focused on affordability and on the cost of living and seeing that this is now billions on top of billions that President Trump wants for his own use and for his own people. They're saying, what about the money for me? What about the costs that I'm paying?

But there's also -- yeah, this dynamic about the primaries where Republicans are seeing with Bill Cassidy, is a great example. He was a very loyal Republican senator for Donald Trump in everything that he did, including voting for RFK Jr. above his own personal reservations on that as a medical doctor, but he voted to convict Trump in the impeachment and that was unforgivable and unforgettable for Donald Trump. That's why he's not going to be a senator anymore.

Thomas Massie not going to -- but then they have to figure out, well, what do you do about the people who want some level of distance from Donald Trump, especially when they're looking at the president with approval ratings in the 30s going into November.

BASH: And let's dig in once again to why they are so upset. It's not just because it's generally speaking a nearly $1.8 billion taxpayer funded pot of money that they can dole out, depending on what these five Trump appointed commissioners say. But it's about the fact that the door is wide open for people who were involved in January 6 and even convicted and then pardoned about what happened on January 6, and even those who potentially assaulted police officers to get some of this money, again as part of this cleanup campaign that they're trying to figure out.

Todd Blanche talked to our colleague Paula Reid. Here's what he said about the January sixers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: One of the factors the commissioners have to consider is what the claimant did, the claimant's conduct. OK. So, in the hypothetical you just described, the claimant would have to say, I assaulted a cop and I want money. So, whether the commissioners will give that person money, that claimant. It's up to them, but that's one of the factors they have to consider.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: He also said that it's abhorrent every time someone touches a law enforcement officer, and that's why DOJ prosecutes those people. Just a reminder, DOJ prosecuted those people, they were convicted and this president pardoned all of them.

FOX: Yeah. And I think that one of the dynamics that we sometimes forget about is the fact that these senators walk through the security doors every day, have conversations, have relationships with these police officers, not to mention that many of the Republican senators were also at the Capitol on January 6.

And that this weighs very heavily on them too, as human beings, even though perhaps publicly they have been shy or sheepish about defending the fact that perhaps these January 6 defendants should not have been pardoned. There have been very few Republicans who have spoken out against that, but, you know, Thom Tillis again today made that point.

DOVERE: But there's also how this money will be doled out. There's no oversight. They're basically saying, trust us, and we don't know what process would be here. There is a reason why this is unique in American history, as far as the fund being set up with this level of lack of oversight.

[12:10:00]

BASH: Stand by, because we want to take a quick break and get back to exclusive CNN reporting. Thanks to Isaac, who you were just hearing from, about the DNC's 2024 election autopsy. We'll break down what's in it, what's not, and the massive drama behind the scenes. Plus, you know him as the beloved TV doctor, but actor Noah Wyle is here in Washington to advocate for real-life healthcare professionals, and he'll join us live on set this hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

BASH: Now to a first on CNN exclusive. 18 months ago, DNC Chair Ken Martin promised an autopsy of the Democrats' sweeping 2024 election loss. It was supposed to come out last spring. It didn't, and then Ken Martin said, it never would, which made donors and activists really mad. But today, thanks to our own Isaac Dovere, we have it. It's now published in full on CNN website. You can scan the QR code below that you see there and you can read all of it. The DNC says, it's a draft of a report that was never finished, which you can see since it's filled with typos and even some factual errors, but there's lots to chew over.

Among the report's findings, the Biden operation neglected Kamala Harris throughout her vice presidency, quote, the White House did not position or prepare the vice president. Had the White House explored and evaluated ways to leverage Kamala Harris earlier in the administration, perhaps it would have improved the president's standing, and it certainly could have helped her prepare to lead the ticket. But it also says the Harris campaign took too much for granted. Quote, the Harris campaign appears to have relied on Trump being unacceptable rather than building an affirmative case for Harris. It also says Harris lagged in rural areas nationally, which proved to be insurmountable in swing states. Harris wrote off rural America, assuming urban-suburban margins would compensate.

Another key takeaway of the report is what is not in it. It's silent on President Biden's decision to run again, the impact of the war on Gaza, and the fact that Kamala Harris was allowed to take over the ticket without any competitive process.

My panel is here, including Isaac. Again, just staying on for a second, what we have learned in here, and then I want to get to the big drama around it. What is your overall take away from the bids that they actually were able to complete?

DOVERE: A lot has been picked over of what happened in the election. There's not a lot of new information actually in here. It's put together in a way that some people found very compelling, a lot of people found at best incomplete, if not wrong or contorted in ways that didn't make sense. I don't think that it's news to a lot of people that Kamala Harris was not given the kind of platform in the Biden administration that she had hoped for, and that probably would have positioned her better. I did several articles about that myself, so I'm--

BASH: But you're not a Democrat.

DOVERE: That's true.

BASH: And you're not running the Democrat--

DOVERE: Right. And I think the question that the Democrats were hoping that this process would help them answer is, OK, look, when's the next time that there's going to be an 82-year-old incumbent president running for reelection who flops on the debate stage and then has to be switched. That's not a thing. But how do you systematically go through and think about what the party can do better, and what -- and so those questions about organizing, about outreach, about messaging, about social media, and other ways of communicating, that was what was hoped for in this.

BASH: Right, OK. So, let me get to a couple of other points, because yes, I think it's very unlikely we'll have an 82-year-old president who's decided to run for reelection anytime soon. What they say that the Republican Party does better? At times, it seems Democrats are trying to win arguments, while Republicans are focused on winning elections. Democrats operate in an ecosystem defined by reason, even in cycles when the electorate is defined by rage.

One more, which I think is fascinating. This is what the Democratic Party is saying about its identity politics. Focus less on abstract issues and identity politics and connect with voters on the issues they say matter most, including the economy, disaster relief, and addressing housing affordability. And they are talking there specifically about Governor Josh Stein's win in North Carolina and how that could be kind of a template.

DOVERE: But I think what's important here is this is a document that was written by a person who was working as a part-time consultant volunteer for the DNC, that the DNC Chair Ken Martin has in a statement to be completely disavowed. So, is this about what the Democratic Party believes? Not even the chair himself is saying that that's what it is.

BASH: Well, let's go back to kind of the genesis of your reporting, because I think, you know, that's key because we heard for months and months and months as we said at the beginning, a lot of anger that Ken Martin didn't either complete this or release it. You got your hands on it.

DOVERE: Yeah.

BASH: You did some tremendous reporting and forced their hand.

DOVERE: Yeah, that is what happened here. There was a lot of conversation about this, a lot of conspiracy theories going around, why it hadn't been released. What was going on? Maybe it didn't exist at all. And I started calling through a lot of people, including people who had spoken to the consultant who was doing this, and others who had seen parts of it, and people who had been in presentations that had been made off the report.

[12:20:00]

And I started to compile pretty deep detail. What was in this report and what wasn't? Who, among other things who wasn't spoken to? The Biden-Harris campaign leadership was almost all of whom left out of the process. The uncommitted movement, when it comes to the Gaza issue, was left out, as was groups like Democratic majority for Israel. So, both sides of that issue.

And when I brought it to the DNC, they had not planned -- they had planned to never release the report, any of this, and their response to being presented with the reporting that I had was deciding to release it to CNN with these annotations that are on there and you can see it up on the website that they had their lawyers go through that undermine and question a lot of the things that are in there.

BASH: Yeah. And then you write the following in this terrific piece. The fight over the autopsy has become much more about -- about much more than a document. As Democrats think ahead to the next long, bitter presidential primary battle leading into a long, bitter general election, multiple senior operatives and others involved with the DNC argue Martin's handling of the autopsy proves he's not ready to lead the party. Here's what Ken Martin told you in a statement.

When I received the report late last year, it wasn't ready for Prime Time, not even close. And because no source material was provided, it would have meant starting over. I could not, in good faith, put the DNC stamp of approval on the report that was produced after last November's massive Democratic wins. I didn't want to create a distraction, but by not putting the report out, I ended up creating an even bigger distraction. For that, I sincerely apologize.

DOVERE: Yeah. Look, this is an existential crisis for Ken Martin for his leadership of the DNC. A lot of people have talked to me that saying, they wonder whether he -- before the story even came out, as I was reporting of whether he could survive the -- all that was being stirred up, and now we'll see what the response to the story is, but it's not just about the leadership of the DNC.

Remember, these -- the midterms are not that far away. These elections are underway in a deep way already. They organizing for them is underway, and then it gets even more complicated because it's all the presidential primary process, the debates, the which states are voting in which order. All of the things that go into that, and then it gets even more complicated with the general election 2028, which is going to probably be harrowing in all sorts of ways that we can, in part, imagine already, in part not yet imagine.

And the basic feeling that I have heard from a lot of people is, if this is how Ken Martin managed this, then what do we -- what can we say about how we would manage all of that, which will be more intense and more complicated?

BASH: Dave Weigel?

WEIGEL: That I -- it's hard to say it better than Isaac, but I've heard Democrats start to deal with some of the problems they had that were cited on screen. For example, in 2019 there were a lot of forums the candidates went to where they were pushed to the left on various issues, and LGBTQ forums, climate forums, things like that. There's is quietly less interest in letting activist groups define what the party's discussion is.

But you just said it, Ken Martin is going to be in charge of that process. Is he decisive enough to corral the candidates, to corral the parties? There's going to be debate about whether South Carolina should go first if it loses its only black congressional district, where I think Jim Clyburn would be the only black Democrat in the state.

It is about the decisiveness and whether the party is confronting these endemic issues, which is -- it's a very diverse party with lots of interest groups that contradict each other. You mentioned DMFI and Muslim American and Gaza activist groups, they're in the same party. They don't want to become Republican. So, looking, this is not going to be the (inaudible) they look to going forward, but those are the questions they have going forward, all worse and unanswered because of this report.

BASH: And Lauren, from the perspective of all the Democrats you cover on Capitol Hill.

FOX: I mean, I think there's just really a sense that you're on your own if you're running for reelection right now, and you are seeing Democrats have this affordability conversation. They're very happy to talk about high gas prices. They're very happy to talk about the ballroom, for all the reasons that they believe that affordability is a winning issue. But I think Democrats are going to have to just be in their own driver seat when it comes to how to message the election, because clearly the party is still grappling with it.

BASH: All right, everybody standby. I want to get you on what we're about to get to after the break because the president is talking right now. And he apparently said, he doesn't know if he's losing control of the Senate Republicans. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: As we speak, President Trump is taking questions from reporters in the Oval Office, and he had some remarkably candid comments about the whole question of Republicans in the Senate pushing back against him, especially on that nearly $1.8 billion fund. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, with many Americans concerned about affordability ahead of the midterms. There is some backlash among Senate Republicans to some of the other priorities, the ballroom and that anti-weaponization fund. You clearly still have a stronghold in the Republican Party. Your candidates did very well this week during the primaries. But are you losing control of the Senate?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: My candidates did well. Not all candidates did well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But are you keeping control of the Senate, sir? Are you losing control of the Senate, Senate Republican?

TRUMP: I don't know, I really don't know. I can tell you. I only do what's right. I don't need money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK. He said, I don't know. I only do what's right. We're back with our panel. Betsy, just talk about that answer, especially in the context of again what we have seen over the last several days, that he was trying to send a message to Senate Republicans very clear one. Number one, by ousting Bill Cassidy, the Republican senator from Louisiana, supporting the Republican

[12:30:00]