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CNN Live Event/Special
Attorney General Pam Bondi Clashes with Democratic Lawmakers during House Hearing on Epstein Files; Trump Supporters Express Disappointment with Attorney General Pam Bondi's Testimony During House Hearing; FBI Raids Georgia Election Office Based on Debunked Claims about 2020 Presidential Election; Some Accuse Conservatives of being Too Sensitive about Bad Bunny Performing at Super Bowl Halftime Show; President Trump Proposes Golden Arch Monument in Washington D.C. Taller than Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired February 14, 2026 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN ANCHOR: -- privacy concerns relative to their written work. His answer is to say if you want to protect the privacy of your work, you better type it on a typewriter, but I think sums up exactly where we are. I love the privacy when it breaks a crime case like the one that we're following, but I think the concerns expressed in the poll result are very realistic.
OK, if you missed any of today's program, you can always listen anywhere you get your podcasts. We thank you for watching, and we will see you next week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Today, a stunt to please an audience of one.
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Don't you ever accuse of me of a crime.
PHILLIP: But Pam Bondi's behavior backfires with MAGA as new revelations emerge about the Epstein files.
DANA LOESCH, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST AND FORMER NRA SPOKESPERSON: She made an absolute -- of herself.
CARL HIGBIE, NEWSMAX HOST AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST: I want somebody to go to jail for it.
PHILLIP: Plus, the motive for the FBI's raid on a Georgia elections office is finally unsealed. It turns out the claims come from one of Donald Trump's favorite election deniers.
Also --
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: When did the right become such -- pussies?
PHILLIP: As MAGA loses its mind over bunnies and Olympians, are they the real snowflakes?
MEGYN KELLY, JOURNALIST: There should be a meatloaf, maybe some fried chicken, and an English speaking performer.
PHILLIP: And new warnings that Trump's golden arch will be an eyesore, an air hazard, and, quote, "entirely too big."
Here in studio, Elie Mystal, Pete Seat, Natasha Alford, and Arthur Aidala. It's the weekend. Join the conversation at a "TABLE FOR FIVE".
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Hello everyone. I'm Abby Phillip.
It has been a significant week in the chase for truth and justice in the case of Jeffrey Epstein. A Trump cabinet official admitted to being on the pedophile's island after lying about it. Ghislaine Maxwell floated a quid pro quo, promising to clear Donald Trump and Bill Clinton if she is granted clemency. Republicans began to see the unredacted files, only to find even more redactions. And the Justice Department spied on those lawmakers making searches, something that caused even Speaker Mike Johnson to condemn the administration.
And speaking of the DOJ, Pam Bondi acted more like a campaign surrogate than the attorney general. She refused to answer basic questions about her handling of this case and of the files.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAM BONDI, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Excuse me. I'm going to answer the question.
REP. JERRY NADLER, (D-NY): Answer my question
BONDI: No, I'm going to answer the question the way I want to answer the question.
NADLER: No. You're going to answer the question the way I asked.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe you just lied under oath. There is ample evidence in the Epstein files --
BONDI: Don't you ever accuse me of a crime.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN, (D-MD): I believe I told you about that attorney general before you started.
BONDI: You don't tell me you washed up, loser lawyer.
RASKIN: I did tell you because we saw what you did in the Senate.
BONDI: Not even a lawyer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: That episode may have pleased an audience of one, and even that is uncertain. But it backfired with MAGA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA LOESCH, CONSERVATIVE RADIO HOST AND FORMER NRA SPOKESPERSON: Pam Bondi is a horrible speaker. She made an absolute ass of herself. This is one of the most embarrassing things I've ever witnessed from a lawmaker.
REP. NANCY MACE, (R-SC): I personally lost all faith in our justice system. It is a system of injustice.
TIM POOL, RIGHT-WING COMMENTATOR: I ain't cutting Trump any slack now that we know that they've covered up the coconspirator, conspirator document. I would say it's shocking to the conscience that Trump called it a hoax, shocking.
ALEX JONES, RIGHT-WING RADIO HOST: You watch. This is going to bring the country down. It's your -- fault, not mine.
CARL HIGBIE, NEWSMAX HOST AND POLITICAL ACTIVIST: This is either a cover up or it's incompetence. And I want somebody to go to jail for it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Usually a Pam Bondi performance like that would be just fine in MAGA world, but I think it actually says a lot about this Epstein situation that it didn't work this way. They still do want some answers. And the fact that she was stonewalling and yelling and all the theatrics about a sex pedophile ring, to MAGA's credit, that really rubbed them the wrong way.
ELIE MYSTAL, JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT, "THE NATION": Don't you dare accuse Pam Bondi of doing her job, right? Because that's really at the heart of the problem here. Pam Bondi is the attorney general of the United States. She does not represent Donald Trump. She does not represent Bill Clinton. She represents the people, and in this case, the victims of the Epstein scandal, right.
And so the most arresting image for all of the toxicity, right -- and honestly, the last time I saw something that toxic Britney Spears was involved. But for all of that ridiculousness, the most arresting image of the entire hearing was when all of those Epstein's victims stood up and Pam Bondi refused to look at them in the face. Pam Bondi refused to look at her clients in the face. The people she's supposed to be representing and defending, she couldn't look them in the face.
[10:05:05]
And that is going to be the story of that hearing, no matter what Pam Bondi said and how she yelled and carried on.
NATASHA ALFORD, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I think one of the most striking moments was when she brought up the DOW, because what did that -- what did that have to do with Epstein's survivors and victims and the case, right? So it was all about performing for Donald Trump. And that's because he rewards that. What did he do after her testimony? He praised her. She stuck it to the lunatic leftists, right. So she absolutely had him in mind.
And every deflection was very obvious to people. And that's the problem. You worked folks up. You said you were going to fight the elites, and then you go in there and you actually don't get the job done. It looks as if you're hiding things. People are, it's not about red and blue anymore. It's about justice.
PHILLIP: Before you jump in, let me just disclose to the audience that you once represented Ghislaine Maxwell.
ARTHUR AIDALA, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, we handled her appeal from her trial. But putting my lawyer's hat on, and I don't mean to correct you, but as being an attorney, those are not her clients. In other words, a criminal defense attorney has to zealously represent his or her client. A prosecutor is in a much more luxurious position. They have a quasi-judicial function. They are the ones who decide, do we prosecute a case or we don't prosecute a case? They don't just take someone for their word. They have to do an investigation and they figure it out. So her role is not what my role would be if someone hires me. I have to fight for them, no matter what a prosecutor's role is -- and even to the
MYSTAL: Is she investigating Donald Trump? Is that really what we think is happening?
AIDALA: I don't think I don't think Donald Trump is the target here. There is no target. The target was Jeffrey Epstein, and he's dead. So, and the only person in jail is a woman, Ghislaine Maxwell.
MYSTAL: So you're saying that Pam Bondi has no job, that she has no role in this, that she has no role?
AIDALA: So, all I said is those are not her clients.
MYSTAL: Those are the people --
PHILLIP: Can I say, in this in this paradigm, Pam Bondi's, working on behalf of the people collectively.
AIDALA: Correct.
PHILLIP: And justice as a concept, which would involve, we know for a fact there are victims, right? And many of those women say they have been victimized.
AIDALA: How do we know that for a fact. I'm not questioning, I'm asking you a question. How do we know for a fact? Because you realize, you realize --
PHILLIP: Because Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both prosecuted for victimizing girls and women. I mean so, is that under dispute?
AIDALA: OK, so let me be a lawyer once again. In your opening, you refer to him as a pedophile. You realize he's -- that he's not a pedophile. A pedophile is someone in the law -- in the law -- is someone who goes after a prepubescent person. So he has never been accused of going after someone who is prepubescent.
PHILLIP: Some of the victims in the documents were, according to Jamie Raskin, who saw the documents in the classified setting, were as young as nine years old.
AIDALA: OK, that's a new fact to me.
PHILLIP: OK, so I'm just saying we are talking about a range of victims who can be extremely young in some cases. But I don't, Arthur, there's no question there are victims here, OK. Pam Bondi's job is to determine whether there is justice to be had. And those victims are sitting in that room and they're saying, hey, we think there is more here. Please do more. And rather than saying, you know, were going to do our best to make sure that we leave no stone unturned, that no one is going to get away with something if they are still around and they have committed a crime. But instead, she did what she did. And people are -- I mean, people on the right are disgusted, people on the left are disgusted. This is not about politics.
PETE SEAT, VICE PRESIDENT, BOSE PUBLIC AFFAIRS GROUP: She did what she did because Pam Bondi is a triple threat. she is inept, incompetent, and incapable. And that's what we saw in that hearing. And it's what I've been saying for months at this table and elsewhere. She has botched this. Bondi has botched this from the very beginning. They do not communicate well with the American people, even internally and externally, to say, hey, here's what we're redacting. Here's why we're redacting it. Here's when the next tranche of documents are going to come.
You recall a couple of weeks ago I said this was just the beginning of our national nightmare, and it's proving to be true. This nightmare is going on, and it's not going to stop until President Trump swaps her out, just like he swapped Tom Homan in to Minnesota. He's got to get her out and someone in the job that knows what they're doing.
But I do want to follow up to what you said. Did you once ask why the Biden administration didn't look those survivors in the face, even one time? And don't roll your eyes because it is no, you don't get to just erase that.
MYSTAL: No, no, no. We're not going to play whataboutism over the Epstein files.
SEAT: It is a whataboutism --
MYSTAL: The person in charge right now is Pam Bondi and the Trump administration, and they should be investigating. And if you want to talk about things that I think Merrick Garland should investigate, you don't want to get me started on who I think Merrick Garland should have in jail right now, because if Merrick Garland was doing a good job, Trump wouldn't have even been able to run for president.
[10:10:05] SEAT: You're incredibly skilled at deflection.
MYSTAL: I'm not deflecting.
SEAT: You are, because you won't answer the question.
MYSTAL: What, what --
SEAT: Did you wonder why the Biden administration did not seek justice for those survivors for four whole years?
MYSTAL: They didn't not seek justice. I'm not deflecting from the question. I am disagreeing with your -- with your incorrect premise. They did seek justice. I didn't think Merrick Garland went hard enough. I didn't think Merrick Garland did a great job. I do not think that Pam Bondi is doing a great job. I do not think Donald Trump is doing a good job. Is that a full enough answer? Nobody involved here is doing enough to defend the Epstein victims. Are you satisfied with that answer?
SEAT: Sure.
MYSTAL: OK.
SEAT: Good job.
PHILLIP: Pam Bondi, when she went up to the Hill, she had these images of the search history of the members who went up to the DOJ to take a look at the unredacted files. She seemed to be convinced that this was, I guess, a defensive measure if any of those issues came up while she was on Capitol Hill. But here's what Mike Johnson said about the appropriateness of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON, (R-LA) HOUSE SPEAKER: My understanding is that there are computers set up where the DOJ was allowing access to the files, and I think members should obviously have the right to peruse those at their own speed and with their own discretion. And I'm not -- I don't think it's appropriate for anybody to be tracking that. So I will echo that to anybody involved with the DOJ, and I'm sure it was an oversight. That's my guess.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: I don't think a printed -- a printout of a specific congresspersons note is an oversight. That's the first thing. But why do you think, Natasha, that the DOJ decided to do that? I mean, it seems, again, it seems like a defensive move, like they're trying to protect themselves from something.
ALFORD: I honestly have no idea. I don't know why they would do that. It certainly feeds into a narrative that, again, this is not a straightforward investigation. It's not one that's focused on victims. It's extremely politicized. And the people who should be front and center, who should be held accountable, are redacted, are protected, are essentially not being put forward to have to answer difficult questions. So -- but it is interesting that mike Johnson gave the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure that it was just an oversight. It's not really anyone's fault.
PHILLIP: Next for us, we finally learned what was behind the FBI's raid of the elections office in Georgia. It involves election deniers.
Plus, after a week of losing their minds over Olympians and halftime shows, are MAGA members the real snowflakes here?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: Remember what you hated about liberals? Oh, perpetually offended, safe spaces, censoring free speech, culture of victimhood. Remind you of anyone?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:17:29]
PHILLIP: The motive for the FBI's raid on an elections office in Georgia has finally been revealed. The call came from within the White House. Shocker. And it relied on debunked and disproven claims from one of Trumps favorite election deniers. Also shocking. According to an FBI search warrant affidavit that was unsealed, the investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, a Trump adviser who was involved in Trumps legal efforts to overturn the 2020 election. And notably, the affidavit does not describe any claims of foreign interference, raising even more questions about why Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, was present during that search.
Now, Arthur, I do actually -- I think a lot of people have questions about how this even got to this stage. You know, a magistrate judge took a look at this document, which was littered with errors and debunked claims, and approved a search warrant. How does that happen?
AIDALA: Let me give you another disclaimer. So I represented Mayor Rudy Giuliani having to do with his claims about the election. And I know a lot about it, and I know a lot of people around it. And this is not my personal opinion, but there are many people who very much believe, especially the Georgia part of it, that that there was -- even if Trump didn't actually win, there was a lot of improprieties that took place. And they have evidence that they point to, and they can articulate it.
It doesn't take that much to get a magistrate under these circumstances to sign a search warrant. I don't know the background of the magistrate, so I don't want to speak to that. I don't want to know where their mindset is or their politics is. But for them to sign and say, go ahead, go in there --
PHILLIP: And so they don't even like look at the facts that are laid out and --
AIDALA: And of course they do.
MYSTAL: You're defending this warrant?
AIDALA: No, I don't -- I come on here with Abby to just try to tell you what the law is on both sides.
PHILLIP: I mean, I think, and what -- and this is why I want --
AIDALA: I'm telling you how this works.
PHILLIP: -- to source this out. Because I think, honestly, the main question that people have this week is, how does a document like this get through a judge and and produce a warrant on an extremely sensitive place, an election office?
AIDALA: Well.
PHILLIP: And then there are things in there that are like obviously false, that have already been debunked.
MYSTAL: Like do you think Judge Posner gives that warrant?
AIDALA: I think there was another warrant that was given about a journalist's home or place of business. That troubled me even more than this, because now you're getting people's sources.
But in terms of this, look, Abby they went, they went to try to get a warrant the other night in the Nancy Guthrie case.
[10:20:06]
And that guy had nothing to do with anything. Judges are put in these positions where someone comes before them, raises their hand, tells them what they think, what they believe.
PHILLIP: It's just rubber stamp.
AIDALA: It mostly is. I mean, it typically is all over the country.
MYSTAL: I do not think most judges would have given that warrant. That was a particularly weak affidavit. That was a particularly weak claim. I do not think most judges in the country would give that warrant.
However, you can find one, and it only takes one, right? Which is why I'm not so much concerned about this particular 2020 raid. I think that if there is a hell, and I'm not saying that there is, but if there is a hell, it will include Donald Trump forever trying to find 11,780 votes. Like that is, like he will be like Tantalus, just trying to find these votes right? That is 2020. I'm not concerned about 2020.
I am concerned about 2026. I am concerned about 2028. If you can find this kind of judge to give a warrant on these -- on this affidavit to go seize ballots from 2020 in Fulton County, then what will she say you can go seize in 2026? What will she say you can go seize in 2028? Like, that's the actual problem. And that's not just me saying it.
That is election law professor Rick Hasen. That is Marc Elias. That is people who are concerned about the integrity of our elections saying that the granting of this warrant doesn't really matter about 2020, because he lost 2020. He's never going to not lose 2020. He can only remind people that he lost 2020. But what does this say about what the system is willing to give him the authority to do in 2026 and 2028?
PHILLIP: Pete, one of the witnesses, or the witness that they relied on for this affidavit, is a current -- is a current Georgia resident and a chemical engineer who filed this 2022 complaint with the state board of elections alleging that, quote, "extra ballots were injected into the absentee ballot count." Other witnesses included, Republican appointed, Trump aligned members of the Georgia state board of elections who described missing ballot images in Fulton County records. These are things that are not only not substantiated, but also disproven. Disproven by the multiple vote counts and recounts. So what is this FBI, what is this DOJ up to? And also, by the way, why is Tulsi Gabbard even on the ground in Georgia?
SEAT: Well, it's been proven that the election in Fulton County was mismanaged. It was very sloppy. We know --
PHILLIP: Was it?
SEAT: Yes?
PHILLIP: Proven by whom?
SEAT: "The Atlanta Journal Constitution" or whatever the paper is called, has done multiple stories about this. We know that --
PHILLIP: About what?
SEAT: Can you let me finish, Abby? There were votes that were double counted. Now, was it enough to overturn the election? No.
PHILLIP: Let me just -- let me clarify. When you say votes that are double counted, are you suggesting that those double so-called double counted votes ended up in the final count?
SEAT: Yes.
PHILLIP: They did not.
SEAT: Yes, it was --
PHILLIP: These votes were counted and recounted three times.
SEAT: You sent us the link to read before the show. It's in the actual article you sent us. Number one --
PHILLIP: It was recounted three times.
SEAT: OK, number two, if you let me finish, Abby, is to back up on election fraud, voter fraud, is when Republicans lose, they say the election was rigged and it was fraudulent. When Democrats lose, they say it was rigged and voters were disenfranchised. And yes, there is an obsession among some Republicans to continue relitigating the 2020 election just like there is a complete lack of desire from the one time candidate for governor in the state of Georgia, Stacey Abrams, to concede that she lost in 2018.
PHILLIP: She has conceded.
SEAT: No, she has not conceded that election.
PHILLIP: She has conceded.
PHILLIP: She may have conceded in 2022, but throughout that entire campaign she refused to concede --
PHILLIP: She didn't concede, I will give you that, that she did not concede in the immediate aftermath of that race.
SEAT: If she did, it took her years, it took her literally years to concede if that's the case.
But the bottom line is both sides, because they live in algorithmically created, concocted cocoons of information, don't know how to lose. And this is on both sides. You don't like whataboutism, but it is the facts that both Republicans and Democrats act this way.
ALFORD: It's very difficult to hear you bring up Stacey Abrams when it wasn't Stacey Abrams on the phone asking for votes to be found. Like, this is --
SEAT: She refused to concede an election.
ALFORD: They are not the same thing.
SEAT: If a Republican does that --
ALFORD: Are you living in an alternative universe? Like someone who is in power asking brazenly, openly to find votes? Do you not understand how destructive that is for democracy? It's not about taking a position based upon political leanings, like it's extremely problematic. And this is --
SEAT: I'm not condoning that.
ALFORD: And what's happening is that this is becoming more brazen.
SEAT: But I think you need to be honest as well about a Democrat who refused to concede an election.
ALFORD: No, you have Kurt Olsen from Stop the Steal getting sensitive material from intelligence agencies because Donald Trump has said that it's OK.
[10:25:02]
So people who normally would be on the most -- on the fringes, who would not have access to this information, are now legitimized because of this president and the way that he's handled it. That's not OK.
MYSTAL: I'll just point out the votes in Georgia in 2020 have been recounted more than the votes in Florida in 2000.
SEAT: I said that there was no --
(CROSS TALK)
SEAT: I literally said that.
PHILLIP: Hold on one second. We got to go. But Pete, just to your to your point about any errors, which by the way, human errors occur in every single election in every part of the country all the time. But those errors were recounted and recounted and had absolutely no effect on the final vote count in in the county or in --
SEAT: And I acknowledge that nothing would have overturned the election. I said that, Abby.
PHILLIP: Not just it didn't overturn the election. Those errors were not carried over into the final count. That's super important for people to understand.
But next for us, is the right turning into snowflakes, the ones that they've been calling Democrats for years? We'll debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[10:30:38]
PHILLIP: Has MAGA become the leftwing snowflakes that they've been railing against for years? Well, Jon Stewart thinks so.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: When did the right become such -- pussies? When?
(APPLAUSE)
STEWART: Remember what you hated about liberals? Oh, perpetually offended, safe spaces, censoring free speech, culture of victimhood. Remind you of anyone?
These people, who control every branch of government, are so triggered by someone singing in Spanish for 20 minutes, they need to create their own safe space alternative halftime show where trad bunny over here is singing songs about how he can't even enjoy sitting in a truck and drinking beer because he knows that somewhere out there, there's a trans person.
(LAUGHTER)
STEWART: It's actually -- pathetic.
The gap between the power you all wield and the victimhood you all claim is the real offense.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Pete, what do you think?
SEAT: I occasionally give a speech that I have titled "Safe spaces are for liberals." And I give this to conservative audiences for the very reason that Jon Stewart was mocking my conservative friends. And that is far too many of them defiantly shy away from discomfort when we need to be more comfortable playing away games. We need to go to the places where people don't want us to be, where we are unwelcome, because that is how Republicans and conservatives win.
Politics is about addition. It's not about subtraction. But too far on my side of the political equation, Republicans like to subtract in the name of purity, and we lose the narrative. We lose the conversation when we do that. It's not a winning mindset at all.
So I hear what he's saying, and I agree with what he's saying. We've got to stop acting like liberals have acted for all these years as delicate flowers, and stand up and be proud of what we believe in.
PHILLIP: But isn't this whole backlash culture, or cultural backlash, really about a lot of people on the right being deeply uncomfortable with the fact that the culture has moved beyond their desire to have everything be Anglo-Saxon and white? I mean, literally this week they had a self-described white nationalist on Capitol Hill talking about the demise of white culture and how terrible that was for America. A lot of this is just an unwillingness to just say, hey, we didn't win this one. Sorry.
ALFORD: And the diversity that the party says it wants, it spits in the face of those people. I'm watching Megyn Kelly lose her mind over people speaking Spanish when it was Latinos who helped in certain states to bring Donald Trump over the finish line, right. So you can't have it both ways. You can't say you're a party that wants to welcome and you want to bring new generations and new people in, you're looking out for the African American, and then you're tearing down black history exhibits. You're losing your mind when Bad Bunny speaks in Spanish. So that's one place where you and I actually agree, that when they could be adding, they're excluding and saying assimilate, right? This is what a true American is, and they're losing the rest of America.
AIDALA: Because I'm just looking at the list of the acts of the Super Bowl. Now, you're talking to me. I like the ones where it was the college band, it was a tribute to Duke Ellington one year. I'm not joking. It's a tribute to Louis Armstrong.
PHILLIP: That's not what I remember. But go ahead.
AIDALA: It's the truth.
(CROSS TALK)
AIDALA: So, you know, the very first individual performance, because it was mostly college bands, was Michael Jackson. But if you look at the list of recent history, it's almost all people of color. It's Beyonce, it's J.Lo.
ALFORD: What's wrong with that?
AIDALA: Nothing. No.
PHILLIP: Shakira. Rihanna, I mean, you --
AIDALA: But I don't remember there was an outrage. I think the Bad Bunny thing had to do with the language more than anything else. I think --
PHILLIP: I think it also had to do with the fact --
SEAT: Because everything has been politicized.
PHILLIP: I mean, I think --
MYSTAL: I remember some outrage last year with Kendrick. But in any event, I think the language thing is a red herring, right? Because if we had put Nirvana up there, right, if we had put Nirvana, if we had resurrected Kurt Cobain and put Nirvana out there.
(LAUGHTER)
[10:35:05]
All American Nirvana out there, do you think people would have understood the words? They wouldn't have? You're my age. Tell me -- give me the lyrics that "Smells Like Teen Spirit." You can't. Nobody understands Nirvana, but they like it because it's rock, right? It's the same thing. So the language is a is a is a is a feint. It's a red herring to --
AIDALA: There was such an easy way out of all of this. They could have had Lady Gaga sing --
MYSTAL: She did.
ALFORD: She sang in English. She sang in English.
AIDALA: Here's the truth, Abby. The half time show, four year old Ariana (ph) decided, daddy, I got to go poops. And I was in the bathroom. And so I didn't see much of it.
PHILLIP: You know what, it happens to the best of us.
MYSTAL: I'm happy for Bad Bunny because he got my kids excited to go to school and learn more Spanish, and that's all you're looking for.
PHILLIP: That's a win. So, Elie, I'm going to read to you something from someone that I know you don't like, but you might agree with him. He says, "The problem with the annual conservative outrage cycle over the Super Bowl halftime show is that it has no impact on the NFL and makes conservatives look weak and left behind. Kid Rock does not change this calculus. He reinforces it. The ghettoization of conservative culture. I'm a right winger. I love country music. But come on, Kid Rock did not "mog" Bad Bunny. This wasn't a stunning culture war victory. Advertisers are not going to flock away from the Super Bowl. Conservatives have started lying to themselves and to their audiences.
MYSTAL: Yes, I'll go that guy, whoever that is, one better. And I'll say if I had a problem with the show, if I have a problem with any of these shows, it's that it's entirely performative. We're talking about a league that is owned by 32 different white men, a league that will not hire black coaches, a league that is consistently ensconced in white supremacy. But they're going to throw us Bad Bunny. They're going to throw us Kendrick. They're going to throw us Usher in the middle of the halftime show so we can all say, yes, Colin who? Kaepernick what? Football!
Like, that's what they're trying to do. And so when we have these cultural moments, yes, it's great. I love Bad Bunny. I loved Kendrick last year. I loved Usher two years ago. I loved Rihanna three years ago. That's all great. I would like to see a black coach. Right. I would like --
AIDALA: I think Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who is a Hall of Fame coach who's won, I don't know, two Super Bowls --
MYSTAL: Who just got fired?
PHILLIP: Or a black owner. I mean, the ownership --
AIDALA: After 15 years, 18 years.
MYSTAL: Eleven coaches were hired this cycle. Do you know how many of them were black? Absolutely zero. Do you know how many of them were black that were seriously considered for position? One, Scheelhaase. That's not OK, right.
And I would much rather have more black coaches in the NFL and then go on and then put Metallica up there for the halftime show. I would make that --
AIDALA: The NFL players I know who are African American men, you know what they tell me? They've made so much money as being athletes, they don't want that job. It's too hard. It's a tremendously difficult job. I've asked Lawrence Taylor more times than I can count. Lawrence, you were the greatest ever. He goes, that's too much work.
PHILLIP: Unfortunately we don't have time for a football conversation OK?
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIP: We're going to lose people like me who don't know anything about football.
(LAUGHTER) PHILLIP: All right, how high is too high? The president's latest plans for his so-called triumphal arch are raising concerns from the ground up. We'll discuss that next.
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[10:00:00]
PHILLIP: New warnings that Trumps golden arch will be an eyesore, an air hazard, and quote, "entirely too big". As Donald Trump seeks to reshape D.C. in his image, the president wants an American version of the Arc de Triomphe, but 100 feet taller. Experts say this structure would dwarf the Lincoln Memorial and block iconic views of Arlington National Cemetery, and, perhaps even more importantly, sitting only a few feet away from the final approach corridor for flights arriving at Reagan National Airport. The proposed arch is raising concerns about a narrow margin of error for pilots in one of the nation's tightest sections of airspace.
I don't know if people can even conceptualize, because well put the graphic up again -- 250 feet is really freaking tall. That is almost as tall as the United States Capitol, which I believe is still the tallest outside of the national, the Washington Monument, the tallest object in Washington, D.C.
ALFORD: It's a vanity project. And when you are creating these vanity projects, you're trying to draw attention to something else, right? Maybe so we're not talking about the economy. Maybe so we're not talking about people who can't find jobs for months and months and months. He did the same thing with the ballroom. It's all part of projecting his image into D.C., but also he knows we're going to go back and forth about it. He knows people are going to be upset about it, and it's another distraction.
AIDALA: For us New Yorkers, it's so typical. I mean, it's so typical. Every building he has is Trump, Trump, Trump. And then once you go in the Trump building, there's the Trump cafe and the Trump store. And ready for this? I went to one of his golf establishments. I don't golf. I went with Mayor Giuliani, and Mayor Giuliani ordered a hamburger -- I'm not making this up. When the bun came, on the top of the bun was seared in a profile silhouette of Donald Trump on the bun.
PHILLIP: I thought you were going to say his name, but it was his face.
AIDALA: No, no, it's his face. I've got a picture of it. And you go into the bathroom, and the hand towels have Trump. I mean, it is -- this look, that's what he does. That's his thing.
ALFORD: And it fits for somebody who is making money off of the presidency. So after it's over, we'll still think of him. That's what he wants.
[10:45:05]
MYSTAL: And I want to start there, after it's over, because I really need Democrats to just come close, come close, and listen to me, right. Because the next Democratic president, if we're allowed to have one, one of their first jobs they need to do is to nuke all of Trumps gaudy establishments. I want the arch gone. I want the ballroom gone. I want ICE gone. I want all this stuff gone.
Trump needs to end up like Ozymandias, all right. Like, that is that is what we should be going for in the future. And I think, I fear, unfortunately that establishment Democrats, if they're allowed to have power, will get in and be like, well, we're not going to do the knuckleball stuff. We're not here to talk Mark McGwire, right. We're not here to talk about the past. My focus is on the future, as opposed to undoing some of the symbols, some of the symbols of this regime, which will need to be undone.
PHILLIP: There is a gaudiness -- there's a gaudiness to it that is beyond. I mean, obviously, we know it's probably going to be decked out in gold and all that stuff. It is taller than the Arc de Triomphe. And also it defies what most, actually, every former president of these United States have said, which is that while they are living, while they are in the office, they do not name things after themselves.
Here is Gerald Ford. Congress unanimous unanimously tried to name a building after him. He said, "I know of no federal office buildings that have been named for a president while still in office. This legislation might begin a precedent I believe is best not to establish." Why does Trump insist on, making him the main idea, the main story, when really he works for the American people? He is not the king of this country.
SEAT: In the introduction of this segment you called it the golden arch, and not one person made a McDonald's joke.
AIDALA: I was thinking it.
SEAT: I'm disappointed in every single one of you.
AIDALA: I was thinking it.
SEAT: I expect more.
I fully support a structure, a monument, something that commemorates Americas 250th birthday. We deserve something. This arch ain't that. And I also look at it as, you know, America's exceptionalism is grounded in our ingenuity, in our creativity. It's not grounded in being copycats and just trying to do what France did, but just a little bit bigger so we can say it's the tallest. We should have something that marks this momentous occasion of the American experiment, but not the arch. Find something else.
AIDALA: I'm just curious, did we do anything for the 200th anniversary? I mean, I remember we had a big party. I was nine years old, but.
SEAT: I wasn't around then so I can't say.
PHILLIP: I don't know that we built any major structures. But I could be wrong.
I mean, I think the copycat point is well taken. I mean it is also a little bit gauche, if you ask me, to copy another country again. We've done it many times, but we continue to do it.
Next for us, the panel's panels unpopular opinions, what they're not afraid to say out loud.
A quick programing note for you as well. Ed Lavandera is in Tucson with the latest on the unanswered questions in the search for Nancy Guthrie. "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" airs on Sunday at 8:00 p.m. eastern and the next day on the CNN app.
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[10:53:05]
PHILLIP: We're back, and it's time for your unpopular opinions. Arthur, you're up.
AIDALA: All right, in a very deep moment here, I want to talk about shoes, shoes and having to do with men's attire. There's this new thing where men wear suits with, like, white sneakers? So you have a beautiful suit and a tie and a pocket square, and you're wearing white sneakers or the white sole around the shoes. When you're getting dressed up, you see the shoes, like you --
PHILLIP: I'm looking at yours. They're very nice.
AIDALA: There we go. I mean that's what you're supposed to wear when you wear a suit. So put the sneakers on for Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon. But when you're getting dress up, do it 100 percent or don't do it at all.
PHILLIP: All right, Natasha?
ALFORD: I love that. Mine is that African American history and Puerto Rican history should be required in schools. You would not have people who don't understand that Puerto Ricans are citizens maybe if Bad Bunny comes back to the Super Bowl. And also at a time when monuments are being torn down, people need to be reminded who built the foundations of this country, and its African Americans.
PHILLIP: All right. Elie?
MYSTAL: The Utah Jazz were up by 17 points against the Orlando Magic earlier this week, and they lost on purpose. They sat all of their starters to lose on purpose. Utah Jazz are tanking. There are many NBA teams that are tanking. I believe that these organizations should be investigated on racketeering charges and held accountable for manipulating gambling outcomes.
If a player tried to lose on purpose, that player would be indicted and banned from the sport. I don't see why coaches and organizations should be held to any other standard. They are manipulating gambling outcomes by their disgusting tanking, and they should be investigated and held accountable for crime.
PHILLIP: That might be the hottest take we've had so far.
Go ahead.
SEAT: I feel as passionately about this, but I wont say it as passionately as that. We have got to ban these blinding headlights on cars. This has been a hot topic back home in Indiana.
[10:55:00]
When it gets dark early at night in the winter and you're driving through rural parts of the state and the oncoming traffic, I mean, literally, you have to turn away because the lights are so bright. I do not understand, for the life of me how there have not been more accidents. But something has got to be done.
PHILLIP: It's a hazard, and it's only, as far as I can tell, really, for vanity. Like, you can see just fine with the other lights.
All right, everyone, thank you very much for joining us.
A special note. In addition to our "TABLE FOR FIVE" family, on Tuesday, Alyssa Farah Griffin and her husband Justin Friffin welcomed their baby boy Justin Patrick Griffin Junior, weighing seven pounds and 19-and-a-half inches. Welcome to the world and congrats to the Griffins.
Thank you all very much for watching "TABLE FOR FIVE". You can catch me every weeknight at 10:00 p.m. eastern with our Newsnight Roundtable, and anytime on your favorite social media, X, Instagram, and on TikTok.
In the meantime, CNN's coverage continues right now.
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