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Trump Pushes Election Doubts Ahead Of Midterms Dems Favored To Win; Trump Accuses China Of Meddling In 2020 Election To Help Biden; Epstein Survivors Slam Meeting With Todd Blanche; Truth Social Will Sell Wall Street Quicker Access To Posts. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 17, 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: What does the president's speech casting unfounded doubts on America's election system tell us about how he will react to the critical midterms less than four months from now?

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

President Trump said he'd reveal, quote, really big news. The White House said it would, quote, shock you. Instead, we heard old claims about America's election system with a fresh coat of alarm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Every American deserves to know that when they cast their vote, that vote will be counted accurately in a system, and that is to make that system secure, one where cheating and interference are not just difficult but virtually impossible. Unfortunately, the system we have today falls catastrophically short of that standard. Tonight, I'm announcing the immediate declassification and release of critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNN has been combing through the hundreds of newly declassified documents from the White House, and my colleagues found they largely address vulnerabilities that have been known for years, and in some cases, they undermine the president's claims. In fact, none of the documents show any U.S. election results were manipulated by foreign interference or fraud to the point that it would have changed the outcome. That includes the 2020 election that President Trump lost.

So why hype up this White House address and declassify all this intelligence. Well, we know the president is trying to push Republicans to pass his election overhaul legislation that is currently stalled in the Senate. And based on everything we know about President Trump, this address was about sowing doubt in America's election system with less than 16 weeks until the midterms, which are currently not headed in his party's direction.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters today on this fine Friday. David, your takeaway?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR & WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah. I mean, I think -- I think you laid it out correctly. His focus on this issue, and I don't mean just his denial of like his loss in 2020, but like, on this issue about sowing doubt in the election system and on this piece of legislation, it's relentless. He believes truly, I believe, that the SAVE America Act will prevent his party from having losses in November. Like he thinks it's almost like a silver bullet to the political environment, which it's not, and it has a whole other host of things in it that, you know, you explore regularly on this show.

I would just say, this is a president. I thought it was really intriguing to see the Washington Post poll come out just, you know, hours before this speech because I think it all is of a piece. When you say not headed in the Republican Party's direction, I mean the president is at a political low point, and he is searching for something that is going to generate enthusiasm among his base, which has not been there as enthusiastically of late as it has been for his entire political career, and I think, he thinks this is part of that project.

BASH: I want to play what Jim Himes, he is the congressman -- Democratic congressman from Connecticut, he's also the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said about this speech.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): The president was setting the context. He was setting the basis for him to turn around at midnight on election day, and say, I warned you. I warned you back in July that the Chinese were doing X, Y, Z, and the Venezuelans were doing X, Y, Z, and all this terrible stuff. It happened tonight. I am deploying federal officers from the Department of Homeland Security to seven states. They will be seizing ballot boxes in those states because we know that lots of undocumented aliens voted in those states. What happens when all of a sudden we've lost the chain of custody of 70-ballot boxes in critical. That is the moment in which American democracy dies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:05:00]

BASH: And here's the thing. It sounds apocalyptic, but it's not far- fetched given what we have seen in the past and given the seeds of doubt that the president keeps sowing. And as I bring you in, Nia, I just want to say that the president keeps talking about people are not sure about the election system. They don't think it's accurate. They don't think it's fair. The person who talks the most about that, without having claims to back that up, is the president himself. So, I wonder why people think that?

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICAL & POLICY COLUMNIST & CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No one has sown more doubt in the security and integrity of American elections than Donald Trump. This has been a 10-year crusade. It goes back to his election against Hillary Clinton when he was sowing doubt on -- in the run-up and even afterwards when he didn't win the popular vote.

Listen, Himes does sound dramatic. He sounds a bit hysterical. But flash back to January 6 and what Americans saw unfolding on their TV. Donald Trump basically summoning folks to go to the Capitol and overturn that election. Listen, this is the big fear that part of it is to sow doubts, but part of it is to lay out a predicate for actually interfering in the election.

In May, I believe he was asked by a reporter, would he rule out sending the National Guard, sending ICE agents to polling places, and he didn't rule it out. He essentially said, you know, he's going to do anything possible to make sure that there is an honest election. We know that Donald Trump's version of an honest election means an election in which he wins and Republicans win.

So, listen, I think we saw something last night that was really the most high-profile, I think, concentrated attempt, not only around the SAVE Act, but also to sort of lay a predicate going into November.

BASH: He's been on the ballot for president three times. He won two times. There's only one time that he complains about, and he says that it was -- it was rigged and it wasn't an accurate election. So that I think gives us a little bit of a sense of what's going on. Seung Min, I do want to play specifically what the president said about this new declassified intelligence that he said was so important.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: China engaged in other election-related activities to undermine my first administration and our 2020 campaign. They did not want and they just didn't want it. They fought like hell not to have it. Donald Trump, to win the Chinese government's strategy against the United States was focused on undermining domestic confidence in the U.S. president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I want to read to you some of the fact check reporting from our colleague Sean Lyngaas. China considered trying to influence the outcome of the 2020 election but chose not to out of fear of upsetting U.S.-China relations. This is according to U.S. intelligence agencies' conclusion in a report declassified in 2021. But there was a minority or differing view in the intelligence community that China had in fact acted primarily through social media and official public statements and media.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP & CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right. I mean, as we comb through the information that was declassified last night, both you know, your news organization and ours. You know the early reviews are showing that there is -- that this is all evidence that's been out there that was in that 2021 intelligence assessment that you just mentioned. And also, the president specifically did not point to instances where the voting outcome had changed as a result of, you know, actions from a foreign government. And I thought what, you know, some of our colleagues in the White House press corps caught John Solomon, who is the conservative journalist who has been tasked by the White House to play a role in all this. And he was asked specifically to identify where the outcome had been changed in the 2020 elections, in the '22 and '24 elections, and he also could not point to an instance where the outcome had specifically been changed.

So yes, I agree with, you know, this is a clear attempt by the president to really sow this doubt in the election system, and I thought one quote that really encapsulated that from his speech. So when he said the system was not defensible, that it was basically broken, and I think those, you know, very -- that word, you know, from the president is certainly going to resonate with people who already don't have, you know, confidence in the election system for all the reasons we just pointed out.

BASH: Listen, I, you know, sometimes feel like I might sound a little bit like a Cassandra on this -- on this show about this issue, but I am mildly obsessed with it because --

CHALIAN: What is your sanctity of our democracy?

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: It's a pretty good obsession to have.

[12:10:00]

BASH: Yeah. But -- yes. But in all seriousness about -- concerns about what is going to potentially happen when the voters go to the polls in electing or not reelecting all members of the House of Representatives, a third of the governor mansions, a third of the -- of the Senate, and on down the ballot. And I just want to just take a moment for you to have a moment, David, to give you your -- for you to give our audience and us here at the table your sort of sage thoughts on that.

CHALIAN: First of all, there are, as we have seen in election after election, a lot of benefit to having this sort of decentralized election system. And we've seen the volunteers in some places or paid, like people who actually administer the elections and oversee in all these localities the casting and counting of ballots really stick up for the process, and that has -- that has held it together. I also don't want to dismiss. There is a difference between influence and interference. There are foreign actors who try to influence the outcome of American elections.

BASH: No question.

CHALIAN: That is something our intelligence gathering, our Congress should guard against. There's no doubt about that. But that is different than interfering and actually changing the outcome of votes. It is -- we are -- you are always going to find flaws in this system. You're always going to find individual cases. That's just -- that's the reality. But what is also reality and fact based is that it is a system that is not like completely broken or completely vulnerable to being overtaken and not be able to deliver results that every American can have faith in, especially if people in our leadership, like the president stop questioning its reliability.

BASH: All right. Well said. Don't go anywhere. Up next, will Todd Blanche and the face-to-face meeting he had with some Epstein survivors be enough to win over Republican senators he needs to win confirmation as attorney general? Plus, Senator John Fetterman says he has a red line, and if Democrats cross it, he'll leave the party.

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[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Quote, a waste of time and just lip service. That's how survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse summarized a highly desired and long-awaited meeting with the nominee to be Attorney General, Todd Blanche. The meeting came together quickly after Republican Senator Thom Tillis made it one of the requirements to get a yes vote out of him for Blanche's confirmation. Blanche himself told CNN after the meeting, quote, it wasn't all cordial because there's something that they want that I don't think I can give them, which is some form of justice.

CNN's M.J. Lee spoke with the survivors yesterday and has been doing so throughout this investigation, and she joins us at the table now. What are you hearing from them, M.J.?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: You know, these survivors have had so many ups and downs over the last year or so. But standing outside the DOJ yesterday, waiting for them to come out and seeing them file out, I mean they really just looked stricken. They mostly didn't talk to reporters. You could tell that they were upset, and speaking with them afterwards, and reading their public comments, I mean this meeting went as badly as they could have anticipated, I think, for starters, they said the tone was problematic.

They, some of them described Blanche having been condescending. There were very tense moments, but beyond the superficial, I think the one thing that really just put them in a state of despair, I think, is this idea that Todd Blanche continued to tell them, look, you need to go to the FBI and report what you can, and by the way, take cooperation with you.

And they're hearing this and thinking, we did that. We did that so many years ago, and nothing came of it, and this was clearly the nominee, making the case and digging into the idea that, despite the millions of files that we've already examined, there are no investigations to be had right now. So that was very upsetting to them. Yeah, this is the moment that they came out.

BASH: That's when they came. That's Virginia Giuffre's brother, and I know you were speaking to him and to some of the -- of the survivors who were there. Let me just report what Thom Tillis, who is the Republican senator who forced this meeting to happen, said afterwards. I commend Todd Blanche for doing what all his predecessors over the last two decades never did, meet with the victims of Jeffrey Epstein's horrific crimes. I appreciate his willingness to directly engage and listen to them.

I want to listen to some of what the survivors who did have that meeting said afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANI BENSKY, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: It wasn't substantive. It was not productive. It just felt like, OK, well, we have -- we have a half hour area grievances. Great, I met with survivors. It's like, that's not what we're asking for. We are asking for investigations.

SKY ROBERTS, VIRGINIA GIUFFRE'S BROTHER: I said, Mr. Blanche, respectfully, like, what is it going to take to get investigative leads? It's like -- it's subscribe that to me. And he said, well, I need testimony and I need evidence.

LIZ STEIN, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: He would be open to meeting us again. However, he would be open after we go to the FBI. Survivors have been going to the FBI for 30 years. For 30 years, we've been going to the FBI. And why should we have any confidence in the FBI or the DOJ right now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:20:00]

BASH: So, M.J?

LEE: And Thom Tillis thing, which is what, you know, got us to the point of this meeting taking place. I am curious how he will respond, if at all, to the survivor saying, OK, so we've met with him and our minds have not changed. We do not think that he should be leading the Justice Department, and something else just to keep in mind.

I think in the bigger picture is that the reason that this is going to be, whether it's Blanche or not as the confirmed attorney general, this is going to remain a huge issue and a problem for the Trump administration going forward because what the survivors are asking for, they are really significant things. They are asking for investigations and prosecutions, which Blanche is clearly not ready to give.

They want the millions of files that have not been -- that have not been released, to be released. He has been clear he doesn't want to do that. They want answers. They want investigations. And I just don't think this administration and this Justice Department is going to give them what they want on that front. Not to mention, if and when the House ends up changing hands, and it is Democrats leading the House Oversight Committee, for example.

I mean, they are going to be handing out subpoenas left and right. They are going to be bringing in more people. And as an additional wrinkle, I think they are going to be a lot more interested than a Republican-led Congress to investigate anything that might be related to President Trump.

KIM: Right. I think the Epstein's survivors were get kind of getting to this point in the interviews that we played, but a lot of this does seem kind of a check in the box step to get towards Blanche's nomination. I was talking with some allies of Blanche yesterday. They were kind of annoyed at Thom Tillis for making the demand that he did, but they feel confident that Tillis will eventually get to a yes. Thom Tillis has said, despite these, you know, conditions that he's laying out, that he wants to be able to get to a yes.

But of course, the Epstein matter is just one of several complicating factors with his nomination. I mean, I am actually very closely watching Senator John Cornyn, who sits on the Judiciary Committee, who really did not let up on that $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund when he was grilling Todd Blanche in his confirmation hearing over the, you know, earlier this week.

He was talking about how, you know, why is this in writing? You know, can we get further confirmation? And remember, he is, you know, he's still angry, I'm sure from his primary defeat, which President Trump certainly engineered and is very much freer to act as he wants to do on his way out.

BASH: Yeah. That's a very good point. All right. Thank you for that reporting. Don't go anywhere. Coming up, President Trump may be about to make a lot of money via his Truth Social platform. It has ethics experts once again sounding an alarm. We'll explain after a break.

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[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: President Trump's media company is going to start selling Wall Street firms faster access to Truth Social posts, including the president and his sons. It appears to be yet another example of the Trump family profiting off of his presidency.

Let me go to Dave Goldman to help explain what this really is, what it means. Take it away, David.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS, SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. So basically, what the company is doing? Is it selling access to what's known as its API, which gives instant access in this case to high-speed trading machines. Now, those are the kind of machines that really make money on Wall Street. And we're talking about -- when we're talking about high speed, we're talking about milliseconds, right? And those milliseconds can make millions of dollars for Wall Street firms and really put retail investors like you and me at a disadvantage.

And now we know that President Trump makes news and really announces policies often before his own administration knows that it's coming on Truth Social. And so, by selling instant access to that, Wall Street can make more money by buying or selling, depending on what President Trump is saying. Now, the company has a statement about this. It says that until now, no official integrated API has existed, and firms that prioritize tracking influential Truth posts have relied on manual monitoring. That's crucial.

Truth API closes the gap for organizations that place a premium on immediate verified access to information. So basically, this is the company saying, yes, we acknowledge that people are buying and selling stocks based on what the president says on Truth Social. And now we're going to sell even faster access to it, so that the company can make money.

BASH: I think this is one of those moments where I have to ask you the bottom-line question that probably everybody watching is asking. How is this not insider trading?

GOLDMAN: Yeah. It's legal, and this isn't the only company that's doing this, right? X owned by Elon Musk and Meta, others either offer for free or sell high-speed access to the data that's, you know, available on their platforms. But here's the key. President Trump owns the platform that he's making news on, and so by selling access to it, he is there by making money. Remember, he owns 41 percent of the parent company, Trump Media, which owns Truth Social, and the company could use some money, Dana, because it owns.