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Inside Politics

Musk Has Given At Least $276M To GOP Group Since July; Talarico Back On Trail After Recovering From The Flu; KS Sen. Marshall Pays Off 6-Year-Old Campaign Cookie Bill; Federal Officers Carry Out Search At Rep. Ilhan Omar's D.C. Home. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired October 12, 2026 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: The richest man in the world is pouring a historic amount of cash into the midterms. Will Musk's money turn the tide for Republicans?

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

There are just 22 days until the election, and we are tracking the races, candidates, and stories that could shift the balance of power here in Washington and across the country. Here's what's on our midterm radar.

Trillionaire Elon Musk is smashing records for political spending. Since July, he's given Republicans at least $276 million. Most of that money went to the main Senate Republican super PAC, which is pouring money into Senate races across the country. "The New York Times" says he gave at least $90 million to Republicans before July. That means he's given at least $366 million to Republicans this cycle, and likely more to groups not required to disclose their donors. It's a lot of money but get this, you can see it on the screen. Elon Musk is so rich that $366 million is less than 0.04 percent of his fortune.

President Trump kicked off a busy week of campaign travel with a rally tonight in Ohio, his second time in the Buckeye state in just 10 days. He'll spend the rest of the week traveling to Alaska, Arizona, and Montana, all states he won in 2024. By the end of the week, the president will have campaigned in at least 11 states in two weeks.

And James Talarico is laughing off conspiracy theories about what took him off the campaign trail in the past two weeks. Right-wing influencers were spreading unsubstantiated rumors that Talarico had some sort of mental health episode. He says the real reason he's been home is a lot more mundane.

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JAMES TALARICO, (D) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: I had the flu. This is the craziest thing I've ever heard. It's wild that someone can just post something on the internet and then the media just runs with it.

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BASH: His GOP opponent Ken Paxton said on Fox yesterday that he doesn't believe Talarico's explanation.

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KEN PAXTON, (R) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: Two weeks is a long time to be away with the flu, and it's just a very strange time to disappear.

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BASH: He also has type 1 diabetes, which might be part of the reason that he was out so long. In the Palmetto state, Republican Senator Darline Graham and Democratic challenger Annie Andrews faced off in their first debate, and one familiar Republican attack came up.

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SEN. DARLINE GRAHAM (R-SC): My Democratic opponent is pretending to be someone she is not. She's the most radical liberal that's ever run for state office in South Carolina. Annie Andrews will not stand up to the Socialist Democratic Party. She's only going to join them.

ANNIE ANDREWS, (D) SOUTH CAROLINA SENATE CANDIDATE: She's been told to come out here and call me Bernie, Ocasio, Mamdani. That's what's in her script, but the truth is, my name is Annie Andrews, and there shouldn't be any confusion about that because unlike my opponent, I haven't changed my name recently.

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BASH: South Carolina hasn't elected a Democratic senator since 1998. I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters on this fabulous Monday. Hi, everybody. OK, let's start with the Elon Musk if it all. It's just hard to comprehend, really, all of it. The fact that he's a trillionaire, number one. But then the money that he's spending, and we talk so much in the 2024

presidential year about how much Elon Musk spent during the entire cycle. This is a midterm year. He's been spending just a few months, and it's already outpaced what he spent in the entire presidential cycle. I mean, look at that, David.

DAVID CHALIAN, POLITICAL DIRECTOR & WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: I mean, he was the largest single donor on the outside, you know, funneling money to outside groups in the presidential, and he clearly is this time as well. I mean, to have a single person able to put that much money in, it is astonishing. But the question is, will it matter, or how much will it matter?

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I mean, just -- I recall just on Friday, you said you were talking to Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report. They had moved 18 races in the Democrat direction, and one of the things they stated in their analysis was, because they are not seeing the needle moving, given even with all the money that has been injected. Now, a lot of this money given since July, this is infused into the system already. Three more weeks to go, no doubt, more of it will seep in.

But so far, the overwhelming money advantage that Republicans have and that Elon Musk is turbocharging for them doesn't seem to be altering the playing field in some way that we've seen sort of Republicans able to take races off the map or shut things down. The competitive battlefield still seems to be the competitive battlefield.

BASH: Yeah. And I was talking to a Republican strategist working on one of the campaigns, not Texas, who was reminding me that a big part of the reason why Elon Musk is putting this much money in, and it is TBD how much it's going to matter, is because, a, it's Texas and he cares about Texas, he lives there, and b, Texas is really, really expensive, but we don't know how much is being funneled into Texas. I'm guessing it's a lot.

And to your point about just the overall advantage, the total midterm election buying September 8 through election day, what we have right now is Republicans 1.9 billion, Democrats 1.5 billion. Also, just -- we just say these numbers as if it's just like a number, but just like -- can we put that back up on the screen? $1.9 billion, $1.5 billion. So, you're talking $2.5 billion -- $3.5 billion -- $3.5 billion just through September 8. That's since September 8 through election day.

AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND "UP FIRST": And that is the American election system now, right? Like that's the way things are. It's money, money, money. I think that's some -- I think the problem for Republicans is that they're spending a lot of money, but are they putting any in the pockets of Americans? And I think that's the issue. Is like, OK, you're spending all this money, but what they're coming up against is people don't feel good about the money in their bank account, right? Like, and I think that's hard to overcome.

Now, I'm not saying that the money won't matter because I think part of what they're trying to do is you could have for Republicans, you could have a bad day or you could have a bloodbath, right? And I think the money could help to stave off the worst-case scenario, and I think that may be a part of it too. But I also think that Trump should be thinking about this because long time ago, when he was running for president the first time, he was outspent by Clinton and the Democrats, and he won. So sometimes, you know, you can be outspent and still win, and that's the thing that Republicans have to worry about.

BASH: Let's get back to Texas, Jeff Mason, and just hear from the Democratic candidate James Talarico and then his Republican opponent Ken Paxton about these -- the fact that he was gone from the campaign trail for two weeks -- two weeks plus. He says he had the flu. Again, he has type 1 diabetes, so it's not just like a person who doesn't have that pre-existing condition getting the flu, but he's going back at Ken Paxton and trying to make the most of what is coming at him.

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TALARICO: I've heard credible reports that Ken Paxton has a serious medical condition that causes clinical levels of cowardice. It's why I haven't heard from him after 85 days when I first challenged him to a debate. He has asked for proof of life from me. I'm asking for proof of spine from him.

PAXTON: We've been working on that for months with him, and of course, we can never quite work out the details because he always wants something we can't do.

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BASH: Jeff?

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: His response to that on Twitter was, here are the details any time, any place, any network. So, James Talarico is certainly pushing back --

BASH: You say it here, it comes out there.

MASON: I read it ahead of the show, Dana. So, he was ready for that, and I mean, I think the question there is, does Paxton want to debate? And the answer seems to be no. And that's because so far Talarico has run a campaign that certainly Texas did not expect to be as successful as it has been for a Democrat.

As far as sickness and health go, I mean, I've had the flu that's laid me down for that long before, and I don't have a preexisting conditions, but there -- that's my investigative reporting on the flu. But certainly, the issue of illness and how much you disclose about that and what takes you away from the campaign trail has hurt other candidates before.

I mean, I remember going back to the Hillary Clinton campaign against Donald Trump in 2016 when she was out for a while, that also became an issue, and she didn't disclose it right away. So that's -- it's not uncommon in political campaigns for illnesses like that to come up and for that to become an issue. But certainly, the prospect of a debate, it's pretty believable what Talarico is saying.

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BASH: It is. If you kind of again take a step back, the fact that this is such a marquee, critically important race, and there isn't a debate on the schedule, unusual.

CHALIAN: But not unusual for Ken Paxton in the history of his campaigns. He's not somebody as a candidate that has --

BASH: Yeah, but he's never run for Senate before.

CHALIAN: -- no, no, yes, that has been eager to debate, but yes. And by the way, we're seeing it in some other places too where just candidates are little reluctant to debate in this modern media environment. Which, by the way, this modern media environment or modern information environment is also what has allowed for a vacuum to be filled about theories about where Talarico is.

What I find so curious is why is that the message that Paxton wants to lean into in these closing days? Some -- that is obviously answered by Talarico now being back on the campaign trail. So, why is that -- where do they think they're going to get mileage of that with voters rather than sort of addressing what voters are saying are the most important issues to them. And it's just an intriguing decision in the Republican ecosystem around Ken Paxton that they're leaning into this and have been doing so for the last two weeks in this.

BASH: Can we talk about Kansas for a minute? Again, not a state that we talk often about in the midterm battleground map, but the incumbent Republican Roger Marshall is still dealing with some news that he would rather not. They're just putting up a bunch of headlines about the fact that he paid a six -- paid off a six-year-old campaign cookie bill. This is -- and put it on his Amex bill apparently -- Amex card and put that on social media to make clear that that's been done.

This is on top of reports of him charging 18 percent on medical bills. He's a physician. And then questions from a local report about blurring lines between taxpayer dollars and campaign cash. He is up against a Democratic candidate who is a pastor, and he is the leader of a megachurch, Adam Hamilton.

RASCOE: Yeah. You know, I think that this is part of the another issue for Republicans is that they shouldn't have to be going this hard in Kansas, right? I do think that we should be clear that even with all of the headwinds against Senator -- against Marshall. The thing of it is he is an incumbent, he is a Republican in Kansas, and so even with this and with the polls where they are, a lot of them are in the margin of error, right?

So, it's not like you have a Democrat up by nine points or something like that. So, in races like this, it is very likely or it is possible that the Republican is going to pull it out. The problem is you got to spend money to make sure that's the case. And so that's where you have to put resources into something that you should not have to put resources in where there are -- these other purple states that you should be focusing on. So, I think that's the problem. That this is a resource issue. Maybe he'll pull it off, but you have to spend money on that when you shouldn't have to.

BASH: Everybody, stand by. Coming up, breaking news this morning. Federal agents search the home of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. The latest developments after a quick break.

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BASH: This morning, federal officials carried out a search at the D.C. home of Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Moments ago, Congresswoman Omar made her first comments about the search, saying, I'm OK. Make no mistake. This is an attempt to target political enemies and weaponize federal law enforcement for 10 years. Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns. This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation.

Our crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz is tracking this story. Katelyn -- she's right. She has long been a target of President Trump's and other Republicans. What do we know about what these law enforcement officials went in to look for, what was the subject?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Dana, there are only a couple details that we know, but by piecing together what we see from those images from outside of Representative Omar's home in the Washington D.C. area today, that's Homeland Security investigators (HSI) on site there doing the investigation. That signals that this has some sort of immigration enforcement component to it.

On top of that, we do know, according to a statement from the Justice Department spokesperson today, this is saying that today in the Washington D.C. area, HSI executed a judicially authorized search warrant secured by the Department of Justice. This enforcement action is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation. So that adds to what we know about this as well. It would be a criminal investigation related to immigration in some way, and of course, involves or potentially targets Representative Omar herself. Now her statement, her response here is that this would be an escalation in a campaign of political intimidation.

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And Dana, there are multiple things here to keep in mind. Right now, this is someone that the president has often criticized very harshly. That Republicans have criticized. We know that the White House border czar Tom Homan has said that there is an investigation here that's been ongoing for a while. We also know that we're right in the middle of election season. Not only is this a sitting member of Congress, this is someone who is on the ballot in the midterm elections for the Democrats in Minnesota. Not even a month from now, with voting already beginning across the country and in that state.

BASH: And just real quick, on that last note. I know that norms have just been shattered up and down about what DOJ normally does or doesn't do, but it is practice historically that the DOJ doesn't go after people who are on the ballot this close. Am I right about that, or has it changed?

POLANTZ: You are right. No, that is exactly right, Dana. The historical practice and internal policy at the Justice Department has been that 60 days before an election, you are not supposed to take overt political or overt investigative steps that could influence politics, specifically electoral politics. You should not be doing anything that would harm a candidate or help a candidate. And if something like that were to potentially take place in an investigation, it would need to go through a long clearance process and discussion within the Justice Department.

I did learn today that -- from a source that at the Justice Department, top Justice Department leadership did sign off on this. There was thorough deliberations over it, and of course, they did have to go to a federal judge for sign off to do this search at this time. There aren't charges filed here, but having investigators in those HSI jackets outside the candidate's home, the congresswoman's home today, that is quite an unusual step to see something we often don't see before an election like this that would require top Justice Department officials talking about it and weighing in.

BASH: Katelyn, thank you so much. I appreciate it. We don't know a lot of what went on, the reason for the judge approving the search, what they were looking for, all of that, as Katelyn said, we just know that Homeland was involved, which suggests there's some immigration question there. What we do know is that the president talks about Ilhan Omar all the time? Has done so for years. Here is some -- here are some examples.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I love this Elon, Omar, whatever the hell her name is, with the little shoe, the little turban. I love her. She comes in, does nothing but -- she's always complaining. She should get the hell out, throw the hell out. She does nothing but complain. Elon, Omar, one of my favorites. She ought to get the hell out of our country. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be in our country.

How about Elon, Omar? She comes from Somalia. All they have is crime and squalor, and she comes into our country, and she says my constitution allows me. She's talking about our constitution, what they've done to Minnesota, these people from Somalia, what they've done to Minnesota, should never be allowed.

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BASH: And Jeff, that was Saturday. That was just two days ago, the last one.

MASON: Yeah. And you're right to say, it's been happening for a long time. I mean, I remember being in a rally during the president's first term when he was going after her and the other members of the squad, and it led to the crowd chanting, send them back. And it was a really dramatic and, for many people, upsetting moment to see. So, he has absolutely targeted her for some time, we don't know the details to what extent this is connected to that, but she's certainly drawing that conclusion, and based on her experience, you can see why she would.

RASCOE: Well, and when you have a president speaking that way, and we should say that this is racism, you know, to say that someone's from a country, so -- or they were born in a country in their analysis, and they don't have the right to speak here because their country is dirty and squalor. That is racism, and we need to be very clear about that. But when you have a president making statements like that, it does not inspire confidence that a -- that the Justice Department would be neutral in situations like this, because he continually says she needs to get out of the country, right?

BASH: Right.

RASCOE: Like so, that's the -- that's part of the problem.

BASH: Never mind mocking her --

CHALIAN: Yeah. And in the first term, not only did he complain about the squad or sort of allowed the chance of send them back, he actually raised very specific questions about her immigration story. Specifically, the other three members of the squad were all born in the United States. And when we learn, I'm going to be very curious to see if that like matches up in any way in this investigation with a narrative that the president has been trying to sell about her immigration story for years, and again, we'll have to learn more here, but this is not new material for Trump.

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BASH: All right, everybody. Coming up next, President Trump has a busy week. He is going to campaign in four states over the next three days. Some Republicans say, you know, what, maybe it's best if he just stay home. We have new CNN reporting after a quick break.

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BASH: This week, the president is kicking his campaign schedule into overdrive to back candidates in two key Senate races and visit two House districts. But in brand new CNN reporting from Adam Cancryn, Lauren Fox, and Patrick Svitek

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