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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump Warns He Might "Annihilate" Iran In UN Speech; GOP Senators Back Call For Investigation Into Donald Trump Jr.; GOP Senators Criticize Trump's Ban On Media Outlets. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired September 22, 2026 - 21:00 ET
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That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: As more Americans say President Trump doesn't have a clear plan in Iran, he dodges my questions about when the war is going to come to an end.
I'm Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
Tonight, with voters and even President Trump's own allies urging him to end the war in Iran, his message on the world stage, at the United Nations today, was decidedly not that.
Instead, the President argued that he has, quote, A big decision to make, and in his words, that decision is this: quote, "Will a deal be made with Iran that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before -- maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world? Or" as the President continued, "do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again?" The President asked, quote, "Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or generations?"
As the President debates the fate of more than 90 million people, the fighting in the Middle East tonight is only expanding, with Iranian- backed Houthis upping their attacks on Gulf nations. And the President actually met with the leaders of several of those Gulf nations today, as his long-promised deal to end the war with Iran has failed to materialize.
I should note that today we did hear from Steve Witkoff, who said that the officials -- the U.S. officials, had talks with the Iranian delegation here, through mediators, at the United Nations today.
And this comes as around the world, oil prices remain high, and here at home, opposition to the war is actually hitting new highs, as documented in our latest CNN poll. It shows that three quarters of Americans now say they don't believe the President has a clear plan for handling the situation in Iran. 78 percent say he's not doing enough to end the war. And about two-thirds of Americans say the United States is not winning the war with Iran.
That last number is one that I asked the President about today as he entered the United Nations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Mr. President, two-thirds of Americans, two-thirds of Americans don't think the U.S. is winning the war with Iran. When will it end?
REPORTER: Mr. President--
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: So it's an honor to be here. I'm surprised that CNN is here covering me. You should--
COLLINS: The United Nations allowed us in, sir.
TRUMP: You should not be here covering me. You said you weren't going to cover me. You shouldn't be covering me.
COLLINS: Two-thirds of Americans don't think that the U.S. is winning the war with Iran. When will it end?
TRUMP: But I will tell you, it is an honor to be at the United Nations, and we're making a lot of progress. Our country is doing really, really well.
Thank you very much.
REPORTER: Mr. President--
COLLINS: Americans don't think the United States is winning the war with Iran. What's your message to world leaders today?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: CNN never said it wouldn't cover the President. Of course, that is our job. And thanks to the United Nations, we were able to do so today as the President arrived.
And while the President might avoid answering our questions about what the numbers show when it comes to opposition to the Iran war, it might prove harder to avoid the growing opposition from within his own party. A number of Republican congressional candidates are looking to distance themselves from the war, despite what we heard from the Vice President, JD Vance, earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Just hoping to get a response about a growing number of Republicans in battleground states calling to the end of the Iran war. JD VANCE (R), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I haven't seen that break. What I've seen is people who are very excited about what we've done, and frankly, who don't want to give Washington -- control of Washington, D.C., over to the far-left Democrats.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: But it's actually the Republican senator who took the Vice President's seat, when he and the President won the White House, Jon Husted of Ohio, who told Politico this tonight: The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible, so that we can lower gas prices.
My first source tonight is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey.
And thank you, Senator, for being here.
How do you see, first off, the choice that the President laid out in front of the world when it comes to Iran today?
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): First of all, I just want to say, the way the President disrespected you should outrage all Americans.
[21:05:00]
And there's been this unifying moment where you see press from every background, from Fox News on the right, to MS NOW, all condemning what this president is doing with the press, who's banned them from the Pentagon, banned them from the White House, who's attacked this precious, sacred part of our First Amendment by using the Justice Department to go after reporters in ways that even federal judges have said is way out of bounds.
So, in a war against the First Amendment and the press, consider this a unifying thing for our country to see so many people coming together in defense of CNN and, frankly, the kind of treatment that you endured today.
COLLINS: Well, obviously, we do appreciate the solidarity from our colleagues. Because I think the point that we've made during this is that if it could happen to CNN, it could happen to any other outlet, and that really is the point here.
But in terms of the substance of what the President was saying, after he passed us there in the entrance of the United Nations. He laid out a pretty dire circumstance for Iran, saying basically, it can be this great nation, maybe one of the greatest in the world, or maybe I'll annihilate them.
When you listen to those stark terms, do you really think that that is the decision that is before the President that he is considering right now?
BOOKER: Well, you afforded him the word, substance. There was nothing substantive in what he did before the United Nations. Frankly, it's nothing we haven't heard before. This is not the first time that the President of the United States of America has threatened to annihilate a country of 90 million people. This level of crass cruelty and chaos that he has wrought upon that region and wrought upon Americans is clearly, to me, indicative of his weakness and his inability to get himself out of the trap that he walked willingly into. And the people that are suffering for this, around the world, they're suffering, but the American people are fed up.
All up and down my state and all across this country, Republicans and Democrats know that the costs that they're paying, the inflation rates that they're suffering, the diesel prices and gas prices, are all because of this President's stupid actions in getting us into yet another Middle East quagmire. And he did nothing today to give anyone faith that this was going to end anytime soon.
COLLINS: Well, a lot of Americans were told at the beginning of this war that it would only last four to six weeks. That was the projection from the President and from a lot of his staff.
Then in June, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, he testified before the Senate, and this is what he told you in June.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOOKER: Mr. Rubio, you keep telling us how we're winning this war. The President keeps saying--
MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, the war's over now.
BOOKER: --completely annihilated. The war is not over. And yet the American people see how we're losing at the pump and with their costs, and yet this thing still hasn't been resolved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Obviously, it's been over three months since that question- and-answer session where Marco Rubio told you, the war is over.
If you were -- if he was in front of your committee today, in front of the body he used to serve in. What would you ask the Secretary now?
BOOKER: Well, again, he lied then. You saw the face of Brian Schatz barely being able to hold in expletives at that point.
Looking the American people into the eye, and the people that are enabling him to do this. They cannot admit at this point that this is an unmitigated disaster. None of their goals, that they said they wanted to achieve in this war, were achieved.
And now, we're in a worse situation. It's not just the Strait of Hormuz anymore. Now we have the entire peninsula on both sides, with the Houthis shutting down and interfering with commercial traffic in one area and the other one being clogged. This is actually getting worse. The theater is getting wider, and the crisis is growing. And we have a president has proven himself incapable, number one, of achieving any of the goals that he said, but incapable now of getting himself out of this sinking quagmire.
And the people that he's dragging down with him are those American families struggling economically just to stay afloat in the face of all of these rising prices.
COLLINS: Well, I mean, speaking of the Houthis, which are backed by Iran, they've been firing on Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia asked for the United States' help in conducting joint strikes, and the President said no for right now.
I mean, last night, the Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, was basically arguing, that's up to him, it's his decision, despite that defense agreement that the U.S. signed with Saudi Arabia last year.
Do you believe, because of that agreement, that the United States should be helping Saudi Arabia with this?
BOOKER: Well, let's understand. This is shameful. The Saudis tried to stop and advise the President not to start this war. He dragged them into that. Now the Saudis, the Jordanians, the Emiratis, the Bahrainians, all our allies in that region have been suffering missile attacks, have been taking damage. And here again, the Saudis have had their oil pipelines attacked and their infrastructure, and now their population, and this is flaming up again.
[21:10:00]
So, yes, we have an obligation to work with our allies. The Saudis sit in CENTCOM with our other allies in that region. We have an obligation to stand up and bring this to an end, not just because of the damage and the hurt that we're incurring, but because Donald Trump's cancer is spreading to other countries who are facing real imminent threats, like the Houthis firing at their population centers as we speak.
COLLINS: So, you think that the United States should be helping Saudi Arabia?
BOOKER: I think the United States should be ending this damn war, ending this nightmare, and stop having it spread so that the Saudis need defense in the first place.
COLLINS: Well, I just was wondering because, you know, when you were running for president in 2019, you were critical of American involvement on behalf of Saudi Arabia and Yemen. You talked about needing to examine that entire relationship. So, how do you view it in this moment?
BOOKER: Well, look, let's be clear. That shows you this consistency. We're under multiple presidents. This is when we were fueling Saudi jets to drop bombs on Yemen without any declaration of war. I criticized President Obama for doing it, for taking war powers away from Congress and the Senate, and I'm criticizing this president even more so for starting an unconstitutional war.
But this is a simple Colin Powell idea. If you break it, you own it. Donald Trump broke this, and Americans are paying the price for it. He must bring this to an end. Our regional allies depend upon that. They've been dragged into this quagmire along with the United States. And this is unacceptable to me. It's unconstitutional. It is unacceptable. And we are being led by a guy who stands before the world of nations, the United Nations, and uses words like, annihilate a civilization. This is shameful. It is an embarrassment, and this president is an unmitigated disaster.
COLLINS: There's a war powers vote probably coming up. Maybe I think as soon as tomorrow potentially.
John Thune is saying he wants Republicans to stay unified on that.
Tim Kaine seems to think that more Republicans might start voting for it as this war gets more and more unpopular.
Do you expect more Republicans to vote for that?
BOOKER: Well, that was our strategy. Tim, myself, and a number of other senators said, Let's push these war power votes in hopes that the rising public ire, the frustration with Americans who are paying higher and higher prices, the anger about this war, would finally dislodge Republicans from being just doing whatever the President wants them, to do to start doing what the American people want them to do.
So, we're going to put this pressure on, again, and let's hope that more Republicans -- some have already, we've won at least one of these votes. Let's hope more Republicans will listen to the people they swore an oath to represent, and not the president who is leading them continuously into disaster, both political disaster and in addition to an economic disaster for Americans.
COLLINS: We've been talking about this war and how it factors into the midterms. We'll see what that means for Democrats and Republicans.
But in terms of trying to get more Democrats elected to the Senate. The former Vice President Kamala Harris was campaigning with Abdul El- Sayed in Michigan today. He's the Democratic Senate candidate there. Why do you think he's the Senate candidate that she chose to make her return to the campaign trail for?
BOOKER: You'll have to ask the former Vice President.
Look, we have many pathways now that are opening up to get the majority. If you had asked me a year ago whether we would have this much opportunity in states like Iowa, with a phenomenal candidate, Texas with another great candidate. Whether we would have chances in places ranging from Kansas to Florida to Mississippi is actually a winnable race now, if it could get more support, more financial resources there.
This is a party that is being pulled down like an albatross around the neck, like an anchor around the neck of a party by a president who has broken every single promise, from keeping us out of foreign wars, to I'm going to lower your prices, to I'm only going to go after the worst of the worst, as opposed to bringing ICE literally shooting and killing Americans.
And everything that this president has touched, it's been disastrous, and his one signature bill has actually raised health care costs for all Americans, as he gutted health care for millions, all to give the wealthiest in our country, the small 1 or 2 percent, big, huge, epic tax cuts that have also helped to fuel the largest deficit in American history.
COLLINS: When you were asked about how much Republicans are talking about Abdul El-Sayed, you said that they want to focus on a few fringe people. Do you consider him to be a fringe candidate?
BOOKER: No, that was in response to the DSA noise that I'm hearing all around the country. I hope we win Michigan. I'm hoping we win -- I just -- I just met with Florida's candidate Angie Nixon. I'm going to do everything I can to help Democrats win up and down the ballot. Because taking back the House and the Senate, right now, forget politics left or right, it is vital just so we have a check and a balance on an out-of-control president.
COLLINS: Senator Cory Booker, thank you for your time tonight.
BOOKER: Thank you. Thank you very much.
[21:15:00]
COLLINS: Up next. Speaking of Republicans on Capitol Hill. There's new calls tonight for an investigation into President Trump's family. They're not coming from Democrats, though. This is a Republican senator who is calling for an investigation into Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding, amid that report that part of it was paid for by a Russian oligarch. More right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Breaking tonight. Three Republican senators are now openly supporting a Senate Judiciary investigation into Donald Trump Jr.
[21:20:00]
Now that comes after a ProPublica -- after ProPublica reported last week that some of the Bahamas wedding festivities of President Trump's eldest son were actually secretly funded by a Russian oligarch who has close ties to Vladimir Putin. Now, ProPublica says that the payments were in the hundred -- the range of hundreds of thousands of dollars. They also included the rental of a private island where one of the receptions was held.
And now, in light of that report, Republican Senator John Curtis has written to the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, requesting an investigation, and here's why. He says, quote, "A toaster is a wedding gift. A private-island party paid for by a Putin-connected oligarch is something else. Republicans nearly wore out the subpoena machine investigating Hunter Biden's foreign relationships. We should not unplug it now." John Curtis added, quote, "'Trust us' was not enough then, and it is not enough now."
Now, on top of that, it's not just John Curtis. Republican senators John Cornyn and Thom Tillis have also joined his call for an investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I think the Chairman got a letter Friday, so I think he wants to do his due diligence, but I would support Senator Curtis' request.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Just colossally bad judgment at best, and so I don't, I don't have any problem with it. I'm on Judiciary. I think it'd be an interesting subject matter, but I mean it should have never gotten to that point.
REPORTER: Do you encourage Grassley to do an investigation?
TILLIS: I, uh, we'll have to take a look at the letter. I mean, the biggest challenge we're going to have here is time to get it done, or maybe something that would be the focus of the next Congress.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My political sources are joining me now, including:
Our Chief Data Analyst, Harry Enten.
Former Obama administration official, Van Jones.
And Republican strategist, Shermichael Singleton.
And Shermichael, as the Republican here, what do you make of this?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Look, I'm not certain that leadership is going to prioritize this. I mean, the focus right now, Kaitlan, as we've been discussing ad nauseum for several weeks, is trying to make sure that the Senate majority stays with Republicans.
You've had a number of Senate seats that leaned R, they're now toss- ups. They're far more competitive. As the Senator stated. Maybe this is something that comes up with the next Congress. But I just cannot see Majority Leader Thune prioritizing this right now when you're trying to hold on to the Senate by the threads.
COLLINS: Well, I mean, I think in terms of where those senators are, Van, and as they are trying to hold on, as Shermichael put it, by the threads. The fact that three Republican senators say that they're -- even if it's John Cornyn whose career Trump ended, Thom Tillis who's not running because of Trump, and John Curtis who's not up for re- election.
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes.
COLLINS: Still, three Republicans calling for that is pretty notable.
JONES: Well, it's because it keeps it alive. And I think this idea of the corruption. I think people talk about the war, they talk about the gas prices, et cetera. But the termites eating into his support of the corruption.
That's why you see Jon Ossoff, when he's on the stump, he's a Democrat trying to get elected in a red state, he talks about the corruption. People really don't like the idea that because you're President of the United States, your kid can go get a private island and a back rub from Russian spies and all kind of weird stuff. It just doesn't seem like America First.
COLLINS: Well, and when John Curtis says in his statement, a wedding gift -- a toaster is a wedding gift, not a private island paid for by a rich Russian.
I mean, that was kind of what Donald Trump Jr.'s wife said in this statement, confirming the reporting, saying it was just a wedding gift. And I think that was the end of it. A wedding gift sometimes is just a wedding gift.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: There have been so many parallels that myself and other folks have been seeing when looking at the numbers comparing the 2026 midterm with the 2006 midterm cycle. Now we can add another variable to that parallel because corruption played such a key role back in 2006, and it's something that cuts across party lines.
All of a sudden, that state that you say, you know, it's probably a little too Republican to go Democratic. Even in a wave, you go, you know what? You add a little corruption to that. Hey, maybe a state like Kansas, all of a sudden, you feel like maybe that could elect its first Democratic senator in the longest of times.
COLLINS: Do you think that's true, Shermichael? Because I think--
SINGLETON: Nope.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: Go on.
SINGLETON: And I love Harry.
ENTEN: I'm just saying, Kansas is out there. Probably not, but hey, you never know.
COLLINS: But Shermichael, to the point about, you know -- I mean, we had Bernie Marino on. He defended Don Jr. He brought up Hunter Biden. But I mean that was the whole point, was you did investigate Hunter Biden.
JONES: To death.
SINGLETON: Because that -- look, that's the Senator's point.
COLLINS: Does it not raise questions?
SINGLETON: I mean, the Senator is making a point about moral and ethical consistency here. And under the ordinary set of circumstances, I think we could have that debate.
But when you're looking at the cost of living being through the roof, when you're looking at no end to this war in Iran. The American people are begging and pleading for one thing to be resolved, and that is affordability. Make sure that they can make their ends meet.
[21:25:00]
And right now, for the vast majority of people -- Kaitlan, I'm not talking about just Democrats. A whole swath of Republicans. You know, our entire electorate has changed because of Donald Trump. We're more diverse, more working-class. Those people are looking at the Republicans that they gave power to in the House, the Senate, and the White House, and they're asking, Where are you guys on these economic fronts that you promised to improve from the last administration?
JONES: I know where they are. I know where they are.
SINGLETON: Now, there are some things that I think we've done well with.
JONES: They're on a private island. That's where they are.
SINGLETON: But -- but it's simply not enough. These are real problems for people who are wondering if the livelihoods of their children and their grandchildren will be better than theirs. And right now, I'm not exactly certain that either party has really answered that question thoroughly enough, but we're trying. And we'll see what the results will be, come November.
JONES: Hey, listen, what he's saying is true, but it's why this corruption stuff is so bad. You're sitting here looking at $947 to fill up your car, and your President's son is hanging out on private islands with spies. Like it just -- it just -- it under -- it's like it's salt in the wound is what I'm saying.
COLLINS: Well, Tommy Tuberville, who is the Senator from Alabama, my home state. He's running for governor. What he said today, Harry, about gas prices and a willingness to pay more to fill up your car stood out to me.
I just -- I want everyone to listen to Tuberville's exchange with Manu Raju.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How much is that hurting your constituents right now?
SEN. TOMMY TUBERVILLE (R-AL): Well, it's -- what's going to happen is in Alabama, obviously the gas prices are high. They've been high before. People deal with that. They know it's going to go up and down.
But you know, our people in Alabama know that you know, they voted for President Trump. They know he -- they gave him the opportunity to go back and -- and--
RAJU: They're willing -- they're willing to pay higher prices, you think?
TUBERVILLE: Yes, they're -- yes, sure they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENTEN: What the heck did I just hear? The President of the United States' approval rating on gas prices is like 20 percent, and I don't just mean, like 20 percent. It is 20 percent. He has the highest disapproval rating of all time of any president on gas prices.
And in polls where you ask the question, Hey, you know, is the war worth the cost? Americans over and over again say no. The Senator from Alabama is just making up stuff that is not supported by the polling data.
And Shermichael hit on that. Yes, corruption is not the number one issue. It is the cost of living. You want to talk about the cost of living? The President of the United States has negative net approval ratings in the minus 60s in some polls, by far the worst numbers ever.
Democrats are begging pretty, please, please, can this election be about the cost of living? Because if it is, then that Republican majority, not just in the House but the Senate as well, is adios amigos, goodbye, see you later.
COLLINS: Who's the 20 percent that does approve? Because people who don't have--
ENTEN: I think Tommy's part of it.
COLLINS: People who don't have cars?
ENTEN: It could be -- it could -- well, those people in New York, I don't think that those are the people. I think it's a lot of very hardcore conservative Republicans. Perhaps it's--
COLLINS: But if you're paying for diesel and you're a farmer right now--
JONES: Yes.
ENTEN: It's horrible. It's--
JONES: It's two--
COLLINS: --it is brutal.
JONES: It's up -- it's up 2x. Yes.
SINGLETON: I mean, these are very real issues. And right now we're having a discussion, at least many on the right would like to have discussions, about capitalism. And our friends on the other side who are far -- too far to the left, I would argue. And we're trying to talk about creating a capitalist society and system that works for everyone.
Now, JD Vance, regardless of what you may think about him, hit on this a couple weeks ago, and he said to Republicans, You cannot ignore that things are difficult and challenging for the average person. If Republicans are to win the next generation of voters, if we are to continue to articulate that there is an American promise that continues to persist and live and thrive for the next generation of Americans, then we have to deliver on the principles that are the foundation of the Republican Party.
JONES: Well he blew that.
SINGLETON: And that is recognizing that -- and that is recognizing the pain--
JONES: Oops.
SINGLETON: --and that is saying we understand that things haven't necessarily gone the way they should have--
JONES: Shermichael, I don't know what you're running for.
SINGLETON: --and here are the plans in terms of how we're going to fix it.
JONES: But it's too late.
SINGLETON: And I think that's what the American people, again, including many Republicans, want to hear from every single Republican, Kaitlan, that's running for re-election right now.
And I think that's why you see many, all across the country, who are realizing, they have to run their own races, regardless of where the President may be on some of these issues. And if we're smart, we're going to allow those candidates to do so, if we want to try to stop some of this bleeding.
COLLINS: I mean, Van seems to disagree with you.
JONES: No, I'm just -- I'm just saying. Whatever you're running for, Shermichael, I hope you win. But it's too late. It's too late. All this -- all this stuff you got to--
(LAUGHTER)
SINGLETON: Well, Van, will you vote for me? Do I get your vote? JONES: I'll vote for you. You'll get two votes, me and you. But what I'm telling you is that your party had the chance to do everything you just said. And what did they do? They passed a bill that was the most -- they were running against inflation. They passed a bill that gave tax breaks to gazillionaires, made everything worse for everybody, took health care away from people. And then they said they weren't going to be in foreign wars. They're in foreign wars -- they said they're going to.
So now you can try to spin this thing all you want to, but I think the American people are rendering a judgment, and that's why people are not afraid to walk away from Donald Trump, including--
SINGLETON: Well, Van--
[21:30:00]
JONES: --including the guy running for governor in Florida who just took down every picture of Donald Trump on the website of him.
SINGLETON: Well, Van -- Van, it's--
COLLINS: Actually can I -- can I bring that up? Because I did want to note that, that Byron Donalds has removed part of his -- what Van's talking out there. Byron Donalds, big Trump ally, has defended him multiple times. His website looks a lot different now--
JONES: Yes, a little bit different.
COLLINS: --and it doesn't feature Trump as heavily, which I do think is indicative of what Republicans are feeling right now.
SINGLETON: Well, it's the point -- it is the point that I'm making, Kaitlan. Republicans -- Donald Trump isn't on the ballot this November, but every single Republican is, and they have to listen to their constituents. They have to listen to the independents in their districts. Now, you don't want to have too much separation from the President because you still need those voters to turn out. This becomes a math problem. But I think -- but I think it's--
JONES: Quit filibustering.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: Harry's -- Hold on. Harry's trying to weigh in.
JONES: Let Harry talk. Let Harry talk. Quit filibustering.
ENTEN: No--
COLLINS: Hold on My numbers guy is dying to weigh in.
(CROSSTALK)
ENTEN: I would just say this.
SINGLETON: I'm not trying to filibuster, Van. I'm sorry.
JONES: You are.
ENTEN: Look, I would just say this: Byron Donalds in particular, you've seen a 40-point drop in Hispanic voter popularity for Donald Trump in the great state of Florida. That is a big problem in a heavily Hispanic state like Florida.
COLLINS: Yes.
ENTEN: But more than among independents, I mean, we're talking about a President of the United States whose net approval rating among pure independents, that is ones who don't lean to one side of the aisle or the other, that's like minus 65 points.
JONES: Ooh.
ENTEN: Minus 65 points. What are we even talking about? You never see numbers like this anymore.
JONES: Yes.
ENTEN: And yes, these folks could try to run away from the President of the United States. But you talk about inflation, right? The cost of living? I believe the last Fox News poll had Democrats up by a margin that I have not seen them lead on inflation since, like the Carter administration? I mean, when you're mentioning Jimmy Carter and inflation, you know you're going back a long period of time.
SINGLETON: Yes, but you know what's interesting about this, Harry?
ENTEN: Yes.
SINGLETON: When you look at the generic congressional ballot, there's only a five point advantage that Democrats have. There are far fewer congressional--
ENTEN: You're referring to the NBC News poll, and it was four.
SINGLETON: Correct.
ENTEN: Yes, go ahead.
SINGLETON: And there are far fewer competitive districts than there were, let's say, 2018, 2010, 2006--
JONES: They've been gerrymandering.
SINGLETON: --when George W. Bush was running, and we had the conflicts in Iraq and -- Iraq.
COLLINS: Yes, it's because of the redistricting though right?
SINGLETON: Also, when you look at the approval rating of the Democratic Party--
JONES: You gerrymandered it. You--
SINGLETON: --the approval ratings aren't that great for Democrats when you pair them to the Republican Party.
ENTEN: No, they're terrible. They're absolutely--
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: Yes.
SINGLETON: And so, Harry, I take the points that you're making. I guess what I'm trying to say is, this is still very competitive as we get closer to November.
JONES: Yes.
SINGLETON: More competitive than what it would have been 10 years ago.
ENTEN: I've been told to shut up, so.
COLLINS: But it's not because of redistricting, Shermichael?
SINGLETON: I'm sorry. Say that again, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: The redistricting played a major role in that.
SINGLETON: Oh, of course it played, and I'm not negating that fact. It absolutely played a role in it.
JONES: You had to cheat. You had to cheat.
COLLINS: OK.
JONES: And you're still going to get whoop. Whoop. I'll see you in November, Shermichael.
COLLINS: Shermichael Singleton.
JONES: Whoop.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: I don't know, Van Jones said he would vote for you. Maybe for homecoming king.
(LAUGHTER)
COLLINS: Shermichael. Harry. Van. Thank you all.
SINGLETON: Good to see you guys.
ENTEN: See you later, Shermichael.
JONES: Not later enough.
COLLINS: Up next. Artificial intelligence has been the topic among politics lately. President Trump had a different message than what we've heard from some leaders today. My congressional source tonight: the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee ahead of the Chinese president's arrival in the U.S.
[21:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Despite warnings from artificial intelligence leaders. Today, President Trump asserted that the United States, quote, totally rejects calls for any slowdowns when it comes to the development of AI.
He was addressing over a 100 world leaders today at the United Nations, here in New York, when the President said this. Quote, "I'm not going to stifle growth of something that will be bigger than the industrial revolution... or the internet itself."
The President also announced his plan to start referring to artificial intelligence as super intelligence or SI. He told the world leaders it sounds, quote, much better and is much more accurate.
Of course, super intelligence is a phrase that's actually already used in the AI community. It's used to refer to a potentially dangerous hypothetical benchmark for when AI intelligence fully surpass it -- for when artificial intelligence fully surpasses human intelligence.
On that note, my source tonight is the Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee. Democratic Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut.
We are seeing calls to regulate AI, to put in guardrails from AI leaders, from some lawmakers in your party. The President is saying we're not going to do that. What happens if there's nothing on that for two years?
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Well, I mean, the irony here is that the President is the one person, and somebody's whispering in his ear, obviously because, I doubt that he's PhD-level AI guy, but you know, he's the one guy who's saying that, right? The people who run the companies, Republicans and Democrats in the Congress, pretty much everybody is saying, Hey, we ought to -- we ought to just be careful here.
And the thing is that it's not about stopping it, as maybe Bernie Sanders would have us do, or doing nothing. It's about imposing some basic transparency. It's about sort of having -- every time a model does something scary, like they did several weeks ago, with the hack into Hugging Face, they tell us about it. Right now, they don't need to do that.
And so, look, there's a lot of stuff that you could do that would make us a lot safer that isn't actually about slowing this thing down. It's just about increasing visibility and transparency, and allowing us to see what this very rapidly changing technology is doing as it grows.
COLLINS: And what happens if we go at least two years without that?
[21:40:00]
HIMES: The risk is huge, right? Now, we tend to focus on the extinction risk, and somebody is out there saying that it's 10 percent probability of human extinction. Look, set that aside. I think that's a low probability thing.
But what happens if -- and remember, this -- three weeks ago, a bunch of rogue models that weren't supposed to do this broke into a cyber company, called Hugging Face, and deceived their human users and everything. What if that happens at J.P. Morgan? Or what if that happens at the Chicago electricity utility, and all of a sudden Chicago is two days without electricity, or--
COLLINS: Or the FBI. I mean--
HIMES: Or the -- well, I mean, you don't--
COLLINS: --Kash Patel says the FBI uses AI--
HIMES: --you don't need to go to extinction--
COLLINS: --with guardrails.
HIMES: --to see that some really bad things could happen.
Now, the one thing that would come out of that, you know, the Congress is a reactive body, right? I don't think we're going to aggressively move on regulation any more than we moved on Dodd-Frank before the financial crisis. We're going to move when we actually see something that causes some pain to our constituents. And so, all we can do, given where the President is, is to hope that that is bad, but not too bad.
COLLINS: That's not super-inspiring, though.
HIMES: No, it's not. No, it's not. But again, did--
COLLINS: I mean.
HIMES: --did we -- were we--
COLLINS: We had to have a financial crisis-level issue before Congress will do anything on AI, you think?
HIMES: Did we have a perfectly-configured pandemic response before COVID? No, we did not. Did we have a perfectly-configured financial regulatory system?
Like it or not, the Congress is made up of 535 people, half of whom are not quite sure what AI stands for. And so, again, I hate to be cynical about this, but it may take a -- and I hope it is bad, but not too bad, example that causes our constituents to say, You guys got to get on this to change people's mind. COLLINS: The Chinese President is coming to the United States tomorrow for a state visit. The President is going to greet him. They're going to have this big meeting at the White House. What do you think that conversation looks like between the two of them, on AI?
HIMES: I think it's probably going to be largely noise on AI, right? You know--
COLLINS: You don't think there'll be any breakthroughs?
HIMES: I do not. I absolutely do not. Why? Because the President himself, you quoted him, is not interested in working on regulation, and the Chinese aren't either.
And if you sort of go beneath the surface here, what's informing the meeting tomorrow? We know that Donald Trump is susceptible is too kind of word -- is too kind a word -- but people with unchecked power, and Xi fits that bill, he admires. He wants to be like them.
And look, the President learned the lesson of his first year in office when he threw slapdash tariffs on China, and China said, Fine, we're pulling back on our minerals to you, and all of a sudden those tariffs went away.
So, Donald Trump is under no illusions about who has the whip hand in these discussions.
COLLINS: In terms of all this, and you were saying, Something bad, but not too bad, is going to have to happen.
We reported here at CNN last week. I mean, this was stunning that an AI-assisted intelligence report that ended up being incorrect, in the words of one source to CNN, quote, Almost started a war because the United States military was prepared to intercept and board a Chinese ship because the AI report was basically wrong in what it felt that ship was going to do.
When you read a report like that, I mean, what is your concern of what that could look like?
HIMES: Well, I mean, that's a perfect example of why we should be training our people in how to use AI. I don't know the specific circumstances of what Pentagon employee may have looked at an AI- generated report. But that's precisely what I mean right now. And by the way, we need to do this too. When we see on Facebook, some politician giving a speech, it may be AI-generated.
So, again, the choice is not between full speed ahead and stopping. The choice is about the -- the smart thing to do right now is to put in place transparency measures, visibility measures, and to begin to train, yes, the Pentagon, but everybody else, on what this AI stuff can do, so that we begin to acculturate to this new and very powerful tool.
COLLINS: The other thing the President said today that stood out to me was he talked about capturing Maduro. Obviously, he's meeting with Delcy Rodriguez, the new leader of Venezuela, tonight. Maduro is not far from where the President was speaking today, being held in a jail cell. He touted the deal giving the U.S. a majority control over 65 billion barrels of oil in Venezuela as, quote, it's basically the -- to the victor belong the spoils.
What did you make of that from the President of the United States today?
HIMES: I mean, that was kind of what the way we thought about things in the 14th century, right? Take the village, rape the women, kill the men and the children. Like, this is not the way we operate in the 21st century.
And it will have implications in Latin America for a generation to come. I mean, if you study the history of Latin America. I was born and grew up there. You know, the idea that the Yankee is going to come in and take our natural resources and overthrow our leader, as much as Maduro may have deserved being overthrown. That is everything that these people hate about the United States.
[21:45:00]
So, if what you're interested in is getting their oil now -- and by the way, I don't think that's going to work. It's not going to work. Eventually, there's going to be a reaction and who knows what that'll look like. But if the idea is to build partnerships with the nations that are important to us, either because of oil or because of narcotics or because of trade, you know what you don't do? You don't lead with the United States Marine Corps. That's what we did in the 20th century, in the 1920s, when we overthrew any number of people there.
So anyway, look, it was very -- the military raid that took out Maduro was exquisite, superb. No one else could pull it off. The problem is, as in so many American military adventures, what happens the next day, and that's a lot harder.
COLLINS: Congressman Jim Himes, thank you for joining us tonight. Appreciate you joining us on set.
Up next. In just a few hours, as you heard the President at the beginning of the show, that battle with the press that he is waging is going to be in a courtroom tomorrow. But the President might already be signaling defeat. What he said today to reporters.
And my legal source joins me right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:50:00]
COLLINS: Tomorrow in court, it will be President Trump's attorneys, of course, for the administration, facing off against that lawsuit from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico, over the President's attempt to try to ban all three outlets from the White House. The lawsuit is arguing that the ban violates the First Amendment and reporters do process protections under the Constitution.
Any moment, we are expecting the Trump administration to file its response to that lawsuit.
And as we wait for the filing, we're even hearing from some Republican senators who are criticizing the President's ban on media outlets today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I don't agree with the cure. I don't -- I don't agree with cancel culture.
I think you have to treat everybody the same in terms of their access to go.
TILLIS: It's absolutely inappropriate. I can't be critical as I have been with Pete Hegseth, and when you see the same behavior, not have the same observation. So, I think it's a mistake. You know, it's never good. I mean, the better -- the better approach to tough questions is a good answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My legal source tonight is CNN Senior Legal Analyst, Elie Honig.
I like that quote from Thom Tillis: The best response to a tough question is a good answer.
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER ASST. U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NY: I mean, that's the essence of the First Amendment.
And I want to make this point right off the bat. Donald Trump and his team have the First Amendment exactly backwards, right? The--
COLLINS: How so?
HONIG: Because the rationale they've given for banning CNN, MS NOW, and Politico is, We don't like their coverage. It's unfair to us. It's unduly negative.
OK. Let's go now to the text of the First Amendment. It begins, Congress shall make no law. That means Congress, interpreted to mean the whole government, the government shall not mess with the media. It does not say, The media must be nice to the government.
To the contrary, the First Amendment has a long tradition of protecting all types of speech, whether coverage is negative, positive, in the middle, whether it's left-leaning, right-leaning, down the middle, all of that is equally protected. And if you're picking out certain networks or outlets and saying, I don't like what you're saying, that is the epitome of a First Amendment violation.
COLLINS: So, we haven't seen what the administration's response is to this?
HONIG: Yes.
COLLINS: What do you think they're going to argue?
HONIG: Well, first of all, tactical tip to the lawyers out there: if you have a brief due the day before your hearing, file it before 09:52 p.m. that night because you want the judge to have a chance to read it and absorb it.
If they go into court, and this is why I'm so eager to see this brief and say the same things the President and JD Vance and Marco Rubio have been saying, We're doing this because we don't like their coverage? They're going to get blown out of court.
Wouldn't surprise me to see some sort of pretext added on late. We've seen this before when they tried to ban the AP, when they tried to ban Jim Acosta. They say, well, it's security or it's logistics or it's space considerations. But you can't go back to that now that you've already said it's because the content.
COLLINS: So, Trump always complains about judges that he doesn't like.
HONIG: Yes.
COLLINS: I mean, he even complains about his own judges. This is his own judge.
HONIG: He picked this guy.
COLLINS: This is -- this is someone that he appointed and put here in this position. What do we know about him?
HONIG: Judge Timothy Kelly, appointed by Donald Trump, first term 2017. The most relevant case that this judge handled before this was when Jim Acosta got his pass suspended. And this judge made a ruling. He actually didn't even get to the First Amendment question. He said, Acosta was denied his due process. And CNN is making that same argument tonight, saying, We were given no notice, there was no standards, we were given no chance to respond.
So, don't be surprised if there's a ruling against the Trump administration, during the hearing tomorrow, or potentially just very shortly after. I think the judge understands time is of the essence.
COLLINS: Elie Honig, we will be waiting to see what the judge decides.
HONIG: Thanks, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Thank you as always.
Up next. It is time for Source Code. We give you a number at the center of a story that's in the news. Can you figure out what that story is before we get back from the break? Tonight's Source Code is 1,152. I'll be right back with the answer.
[21:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight's Source Code is 1,152. That's because that's how many stock trades President Trump's money managers made on his behalf in just the month of July, according to these new financial disclosures.
A Bloomberg analysis shows that Trump or his managers have executed more than 28,000 trades in his second term. Of course, that's an astronomical number compared to his predecessors. It's also more than every member of the House and the Senate combined.
So, just to put in perspective, the scale of the trading, which included as much as $25 million in sales of shares of both Microsoft and Amazon, raises concerns about the potential for corruption. Unlike past presidents, this president has refused to place his assets in a blind trust, meaning he can see which stocks his money managers are buying and which ones they are selling.
The White House told CNN, quote, "All investment decisions are made entirely by independent managers. There are no conflicts of interest."
[22:00:00]
Just a shout-out to Jim (ph), our loyal Source viewer who actually guessed what the Source Code was tonight. That doesn't really happen that often. So, congrats to you, Jim (ph), and thanks for watching.
Also, as a reminder, you can stream THE SOURCE live. You can also watch it on demand anytime with all-access, an all-access subscription. You can scan the QR code that is on your screen right now. Or just go to CNN.com/Watch to learn more.
Thanks for joining us here tonight.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT" is up next.
