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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

CNN Projects Trump-Backed Ed Gallrein Will Defeat Rep. Massie; Dooley, Collins And Carter In Georgia GOP Senate Primary Showdown; DOJ Bars IRS From Investigating Trump, His Family For Past Tax Issues; Blanche Defends $1.8B "Anti-Weaponization" Fund; CNN Projects Jones & Jackson Headed To Runoff In GA Gov. Primary; CNN Projects Trump Critic Raffensperger Defeated In GA GOP Gov. Primary. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired May 19, 2026 - 20:00   ET

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

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I wasn't surprised, I wasn't surprised at all because the bottom line is this, Donald Trump is the general of the Republican Party and the Republican primary voters are his soldiers. And if you look at Thomas Massie, you can see it very clearly. You look in 2020, 2022, 2024, he was getting 75 percent upwards of 81 percent of the primary vote in 2020. And today he gets less than 50 percent of the vote, that's the story.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Incredible, because you look at it so consistent, time after time after time and then, wow, look at tonight, Donald Trump.

ENTEN: Boom.

BURNETT: Thank you very much and it's time now for AC360.

[20:00:44]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening, welcome to another election night in America. And it has happened again. The President has just taken down another Republican who has crossed him. Americans in six states voting tonight Oregon, Idaho, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Georgia. But all eyes are on Kentucky, where CNN has just projected that incumbent Republican Congressman Thomas Massie will lose to a Trump-backed primary challenger, retired Navy Seal Ed Gallrein.

Earlier today, the President put in one more bad word for Congressman Massie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Thomas Massie is a terrible congressman. He's been a terrible congressman from day one. Dealing with him is just horrible. I don't think he's a Republican. I think he's actually I think he's actually a Democrat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, the President has gone so far as to threaten to back a challenger against another Republican, Congresswoman, Lauren Boebert, for her support of Congressman Massie.

And a look ahead to next week's primary runoff in Texas. The President today endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who's running against longtime Republican Senator John Cornyn.

The President posted about Cornyn, saying he's, "... good man and I worked well with him, but he was not supportive of me when times were tough."

We're also focusing on Pennsylvania, where Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro has been campaigning, even though he's unopposed tonight. He is, however, also considered a potential 2028 presidential contender and we'll get to that later this evening.

First, I want to go to CNN chief national correspondent John King at the Magic Wall -- John.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, you focused on this race here. It's the biggest race of the evening because its pit's the President of the United States against a prominent Republican Congressman, who the President simply has decided he doesn't want to tolerate anymore. And the President of the United States has won yet again.

One of the weakest moments, if not the weakest moment of his presidency. Nationally, the Presidents poll numbers are tanking. Democrats are very confident about November, but the President is proving here in Kentucky, fourth Congressional District yet again tonight, that he still has a pretty iron grip on the Republican Party primary electorate anyway.

Ed Gallrein, former Navy Seal, he is the President's favorite challenger endorsing this race. He's winning by about nine points, eight points, if you round that up, I guess at the moment over an incumbent Republican Congressman, Thomas Massie, who's won comfortable in his district for quite some time.

Anderson, most of the people who live here, the Cincinnati suburbs, Tri-County here and the Northeast Louisville suburbs here and you see that's Ed Gallrein's red all across there. You see Massie is winning two -- only two counties in the district. They are out here, they include his home county, Lewis County, significant, maybe a moral victory that Massie's winning here because Donald Trump did win 87 percent in this county in 2024.

But moral victories don't count when this math is overwhelmingly against you. Again, 54 to 46. If you round that up, this is where the population lives and more competitive in the suburban counties than in the rural counties, but Gallrein is still winning.

You know, so even here, this was Massie's only hope most of the people live up here, and it's 52-48 here. It's 53-47 there and it's 55-45 there. If you round it, and again, the only place where we are still waiting for a decent amount of votes still is Oldham County, which is just outside of Louisville to the northeast of Louisville. It's a suburban area. But even if even if Massie, it's just not enough, Anderson, in the math.

So, if you look at it, it's pretty convincing. Donald Trump has always run very strong in Rural America. He's always run very strong in rural Kentucky and in the rural parts of the district, with the exception of Massie's home base right here, the challenger is winning. And this is more interesting to me in the more upscale suburban areas. It's closer. But even there, Republican voters are listening to the President and voting against their congressman. Again, put the pieces together. Massie tonight in Kentucky, Senator Cassidy, over the weekend in Louisiana, those five Indiana State Senators just a few days weeks ago in Indiana. Five out of seven as a recount in one of those races, who wouldn't vote with the President on redistricting?

The one footnote I will add to this, though, even as Donald Trump shows his grip, Anderson, on the Republican Party, they are spending tens of millions of dollars to defeat the President's critics and a lot of Democrats are saying, thank you very much. You know, you won't have that money when it comes to the fall. And again, the President's overall numbers are miserable.

Democrats still favored come November. But the President, I'm told by people close to him, is very much enjoying this. And they also say that it's been hard to break through to him sometimes about the national numbers and about his weakness and about the trouble the Republican Party is in, because he sees results like that and thinks he's just fine.

COOPER: Yes, John, thanks very much. We're going to check in with John throughout the hour for a number of races around the country. I want to go to Jeff Zeleny, who's following developments in Kentucky from Congressman Massie's headquarters. Jeff, obviously not the outcome they were hoping for there.

[20:05:15]

JEFF ZELENY, CNN, CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It certainly is not, Anderson, and it still feels and looks like a party atmosphere, but it is anything but a celebration. A wagon wheel is playing for the second or third time here. And the anthem of this candidacy is going to be one of defeat by President Trump. I mean, the only county, as John was just saying, that the Congressman Massie is winning is Lewis County. And that is where we were with the congressman last night at his final rally in Vanceburg, Kentucky, on the banks of the Ohio River. And the Congressman said that the Trump side has panicked. That's why they're spending so much money against him.

Well, actually, that has proven to be incorrect. They were spending so much money against him to defeat him. And that is exactly what has happened in a fairly dramatic fashion. I mean, the overwhelming deluge of ads here and mailers and other things is sort of difficult to describe. And people were turned off by it. But as we know, negative advertising works.

And Massie, of course, spent a lot of money as well, more than $10 million. But it was absolutely the latest stop in Trumps retribution tour. President Trump has loyal supporters, and this was a closed Republican primary. That means only registered Republican voters, if they registered last year, last December, could vote in this primary today.

So, there's no doubt the base of this party is with the President and his victor here tonight. His name is Ed Gallrein. He's been barely mentioned. He's a farmer and a former Navy SEAL. He appeared yesterday with the Defense Secretary, one of his first big public events of the entire campaign. But again, this was about the President and the congressman and the President tonight is victorious -- Anderson.

COOPER: Jeff Zeleny, thanks very much.

Joining us now, CNN senior political commentator, talk radio host Scott Jennings; CNN political commentator, former Trump White House communications director in the first term, Alyssa Farah Griffin; CNN senior political commentator, former special adviser to President Obama, Van Jones, journalist and founder of "Lift Our Voices", Gretchen Carlson and CNN chief political analyst and former senior adviser to President Obama, David Axelrod.

Scott Jennings, you know Kentucky well, surprised at all?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, not surprised. I actually live in the Fourth Congressional District. So, I've been on the receiving end of all this mail and T.V. ads and text messages. And the money really did pour in. It was the most expensive U.S. House primary in American history, and money came in from all corners of the Republican Party and the conservative movement to defeat Thomas Massie. They followed the President's lead on this.

You know, what's the old song? You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask off the old lone ranger, and you don't mess around with Trump in a Republican primary. And that's what Thomas Massie has done by becoming his chief antagonist in the U.S. House. And this became really a referendum on, is Thomas Massie on the team or not? And Trump said he wasn't, the voters followed.

COOPER: Alyssa, I mean, you said he was kind of MAGA before MAGA.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, when I worked for the Freedom Caucus, he was actually too right to be part of the freedom caucus. He kind of marches to the beat of his own drum. He's more libertarian than anything. And this is someone who voted with Trump about 89 percent of the time, doesn't vote for Continuing Resolutions, often votes against government funding bills and foreign aid.

But the real issue here, we have to say, is Jeffrey Epstein. It's the Epstein files. Thomas Massie was one of the leading voices with Ro Khanna about accountability around Epstein, sticking it to the Justice Department. And that's why this happened.

I mean, House leadership has supported him in the past, despite him being a bit of a pain at times. This was really over Epstein accountability. But to Scott's point, the base of the party is still with Trump even with Epstein looming large.

JENNINGS: I somewhat disagree. The key vote that House leadership turned on him over was The Big, Beautiful Bill. I mean the working families --

GRIFFIN: House leadership, not the President.

JENNINGS: Well, that's the President's domestic policy agenda. And you cannot become an apostate on two issues in a Republican primary -- taxes and immigration. Massie voted against Trump's immigration security. He voted against Trump's tax cuts.

So, when you become a chief antagonist -- when you're voting with the squad against Donald Trump's domestic policy agenda, it's not Epstein, it's the problem.

GRETCHEN CARLSON, JOURNALIST AND FOUNDER OF "LIFT OUR VOICES": But that's because he was against raising the national debt, which used to be a Republican talking point. So that's exactly why he says he voted against The Big, Beautiful Bill and Republicans seemingly don't talk about the National Debt as much as they used to. So, I think we need to be fair in what he said he was voting for.

COOPER: The person I heard the National Debt talked about --

CARLSON: Exactly, that is why he voted against The Big, Beautiful Bill and against the Iran war. But as Alyssa said, 90 percent of the time, he was voting with the President.

JENNINGS: That percentage is much lower now. I think this Congress has been more like 70. I mean, look, when you're voting with the Democrats that often, look, politics is a team sport. He's just not been on the Presidents team, that's a problem.

COOPER: How much of a chilling effect do you think this has, David?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I think it will. I mean, it's not love that binds all these Republican officeholders to Donald Trump. It's fear and his willingness to use all the power at his disposal to punish them if they are in any way an apostate and Massie discovered what Cassidy discovered, what the five legislators in Indiana discovered. So, yes, I think this is going to trouble Republicans who are thinking or might.

Now, here's the problem for Republicans. They can't live in the Republican Party without Donald Trump, and they can't live outside of the Republican Party with Donald Trump because he's an epically unpopular President who is popular among his own tribe, and his own tribe is not big enough to win elections. He's got a 23 or something percent approval rating among Independents. He's got virtually no support among Democrats. And it's in some ways; it reflects the way he has governed. Donald Trump has governed to be President of the Republican Party, to be President of MAGA.

This country is bigger than that. So, if you're in a swing district, if you're in a swing state, you're kind of in a bind here. VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I mean, I just think this is weird and I think we should not act like it's not weird. President Obama had people in his party that didn't like him, voted against him. He didn't go and knock them all out and raise $30 million to beat him up. Sometimes people in your party don't agree with you. That should not be the end of someone's political career. But what you're seeing now is, he's going to manhandle.

COOPER: I like his criticism of Cornyn and why you shouldn't vote for him. It was like he's a good guy, but he just hasn't been there for me.

JONES: He's a great patriot, but he's not like me every day. But listen, Donald Trump can hold his teddy bear tonight and feel good about it. The reality is he can manhandle a bunch of people inside his party. He can't manhandle inflation. He can't handle Iran. He can't handle a lot of stuff that matters to the American people so, good for him. But I don't think it's good for the party.

JENNINGS: Voters have some agency here, okay? These people who live in Kentucky's fourth congressional district, strongly support Donald Trump. It's one of the most conservative districts in the country. They overwhelmingly vote for him. And if they perceive that their Republican congressmen, who they also voted for is voting with the Democrats against the agenda of the President, that they overwhelmingly supported, they take notice of it. That's what I --

CARLSON: A Republican is going to win no matter what in this district. And so, a lot of voters still --

JENNINGS: Do you want one that helps Trump or not?

CARLSON: A lot of voters in the primary didn't have incentive to come out and vote today, because they know that whomever wins between these two tonight is going to win in the Midterm Elections. So, there's less incentive.

AXELROD: I think Alyssa was closer to, I mean, what you were reciting were the talking points of the campaign, which were around these issues, broader issues but the question is what was the President's motivation. And you know, with Cornyn when he says, weren't so good for me, when he was in political trouble, Cornyn wasn't there for him.

He was enraged and you know, let's be honest, he was enraged by what Massie did on Epstein, which was a huge headache for him and I think a personal headache for him as well.

So, I understand that you're campaigning you can't say, let's beat him because he wanted to get the Epstein files out.

And say oh, he was against the Big Beautiful Bill, or he was against, you know, I get that, but the President's motivation here is very, very personal. Loyalty is loyalty to him not to legislative initiative.

COOPER: Alyssa, we've got to go then. GRIFFIN: Well, I would just remind you guys, Marjorie Taylor Greene voted with the President 98 percent of the time, if Massie is not loyal enough, she was and he still turned on her because of the Epstein files. It was because when the headwinds were bad against him, they were pushing the other direction and he ultimately pulled the support.

COOPER: We're going to take a quick break; we're going to Georgia next where one of the Republican Senate contender is a member of the States college football -- we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:18:27]

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): Maybe I can get him out here to take some credit or if he's in the crowd, just pick him up and surf him over here.

(CROWD chanting "Cliff, Cliff, Cliff, Cliff, Cliff!")

MASSIE: I see, by the way I see one of my online influencer heroes, Bobby Sauce, over here.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

MASSIE: There were a lot of surreal moments in this race and frankly, in being in Congress. But being in a side-by-side racing through the woods with Bobby Sauce was definitely on my -- it wasn't even on my bucket list. It was amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: That's, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie thanking supporters, conceding to his Trump-backed primary challenger. Over the weekend, it was Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy who lost to an opponent backed by the President. Next week, the President is hoping to defeat Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn.

Tonight, in Georgia, though, there's a Republican Senate showdown with no MAGA candidate, Derek Dooley, who we're going to show you on the left, has the backing of the term-limited Governor Brian Kemp there on the right, Dooley is a big name in the state. He's the son of the late, legendary university of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley. The younger Dooley once coached the University of Tennessee football team.

Also, on the Republican ballot for this Senate Seat Congressman Mike Collins and Buddy Carter.

CNN's Arlette Saenz joins us now from Dooley watch party in Atlanta. So, President Trump did not endorse a Republican in the Senate primary. Governor Kemp did make an endorsement. Is it clear how that's impacted the race?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp has put a lot of his personal political capital on the line here in endorsing his friend and former football coach Derek Dooley. But it's unclear just yet if that will be enough to get him across the finish line.

The expectation here among Republican strategists in Georgia is that this primary will likely head to a runoff if no candidate is able to secure more than 50 percent of the vote that would send this contest into another four weeks to a June 16th runoff.

Heading into tonight, Congressman Mike Collins, who is a real MAGA staunch supporter of the President, was leading the field, which is leaving Derek Dooley and Congressman Buddy Carter battling for second place.

[20:20:47]

But while Republicans have been duking it out here in the GOP primary, Senator Jon Ossoff has been in general election mode. He is the only Democratic Senator who is up for reelection, or up for reelection in a state President Donald Trump won in 2024, and he has been stockpiling his financial resources for the November race.

He has about a $32 million war chest, which is going to leave the eventual GOP candidate playing catch up trying to catch up to him. But tonight Governor Brian Kemp is hoping that he can get his endorsed candidate, Derek Dooley, across the finish line, as this is really serving as a major political test for Brian Kemp, the governor, and whether he can hold sway with Republican voters here in the state.

COOPER: And what about the race for governor in Georgia? Trump endorsed Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones in the Republican primary health care executive Rick Jackson has put a lot of his own money into the race.

SAENZ: Yes, Anderson, I can tell you, in talking with voters here in Georgia, that governor's race has really dominated the conversation. And that is because of the sheer amount of money that has been spent in this race. Health care executive Rick Jackson, a billionaire, is self-funding his campaign. He's poured more than $80 million into television ads that are constantly running on T.V. He's spending more money in this race than the entire GOP gubernatorial field combined.

Then there is the Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who is running with President Trump's endorsement. The expectation is that these two men will be facing off heading into a runoff. That is what a lot of Republicans here in the state believe. But one thing that has been clear is that this governor's race has drawn a lot of attention because of the money that's been spent here and Georgia voters will soon decide who they may be sending to runoffs.

COOPER: Yes, and a lot more money to be spent. Arlette Saenz, thanks very much.

Want to go back to CNN's John King at the Magic Wall. John, what are you looking at in Georgia?

KING: So, to the point Arlette was just making. So, you're at 27 percent of the vote. So, we still have ways to go in terms of the math. But this has been fairly consistent, right.

You have Mike Collins on top with about 41 percent, if you round that up. But then you have here, you know, well see if as we get from 27 to 30 to 40, if there's any way he can get to 50. But your eyes tell you and the probabilities tell you right now, as Arlette noted, this is likely going to a runoff.

So, the top two, so no offense to Mike Collins. Looks like he's going to stay on top here, Anderson. So, we're going to watch closely here to see who that other candidate is. And then you get into, you know, then you get into a runoff campaign, which Democrats like because I think Republicans have to go on longer spending money fighting each other and we'll see how it goes.

But this is a fascinating race in the sense that, number one, you're watching a primary play out today. But this is an absolutely critical Senate race. If you look at the Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff, you always love this to be in a primary night and be unopposed because you want to show that picture of your kids, you got 100 percent, right. So that these nights don't they don't happen in November. They only happen when you're uncontested in the primary.

But this is a Senate Seat, Ossoff won in 2020. Remember, Anderson, what a big surprise that was. Democrats picked up two Senate Seats in Georgia in that cycle. History tells you if you're going to beat an incumbent senator, your best option, your best opportunity, is the first time they run for reelection. And that's this year for Senator Ossoff.

Plus, remember, Democrats are probably going to take the House back. They have a possibility of taking the Senate back if the President's numbers stay so bad. But you're looking at can they pick up Texas? Can they pick up Maine? Can they pick up Ohio? Can they pick up North Carolina? Can they pick up Alaska? Can they get four of those five?

If you're the Republicans, you want to take this away to mess with that math, right? It's a steep hill for the Democrats anyway. But the Republicans want to make it steeper by getting a strong candidate to run against Senator Ossoff.

So, we're going to watch this play out tonight. You know, you're looking at this right now. I could go through some counties and show you. You know, Derek Dooley is winning right here. The counties the yellow right around Atlanta. Is that because the governor is on his side? And that's where the center government is. You know you could look this. But that part, the county part here in a primary doesn't matter as much as the simple raw math, which is can Mike Collins get to 50 plus one, which at this moment looks unlikely.

So, that means the Republican campaign goes on. But of all the places around the country, this one is huge for the Republican Party because they understand what a tough environment this is for them. They understand that because of the Iran war, rising gas prices, the Presidents approval numbers, which are tanking. So, the President will celebrate tonight knocking off Congressman Massie after knocking off Senator Cassidy after knocking off the Indiana State legislators, defeating all of them in primaries.

He will celebrate that. But the bigger picture is the President is at the weakest point of his presidency of either term right now. So, Republicans are hoping they can flip this seat to help them with math they know is really difficult.

[20:25:22]

COOPER: John, thanks very much. We'll talk to you again in a few minutes.

I want to bring back the panel, Scott Jennings, Alyssa Farah Griffin Van Jones, Gretchen Carlson, David Axelrod. David, how much weight do you think governor Kemp's endorsement actually has?

AXELROD: Well, I think Kemp is a very popular figure in Georgia, and he has a good political organization there. The question is primary in general. Would you -- I think that you'd rather be Kemp's candidate in a general election than Trump's candidate this year. But can you overcome what we've seen in these other primaries if, you know, if Trump were to lean in into that that race? Does his endorsement carry the day he hasn't endorsed yet in the senate race?

COOPER: I mean, the amount of money that Warnock has $30 million. And that's obviously

JONES: Ossoff.

COOPER: Oh, excuse me, Ossoff. That's obviously just going to grow.

JONES: Yes, look, I mean and he's very, very impressive. And I think for the general, Black voters are coming out. There was a major rally this weekend in Alabama. I think people feel that the Voting Rights Act being flushed down the toilet is a personal affront. It's lit a fire.

And so, if in Georgia, we can save all our money, we love seeing these Republicans spending money making fun of each other and being mean to each other because it gives us a chance to build up. And so, and then by the way, you know, we've got a decent candidate for governor in all likelihood as well.

CARLSON: I think it's crucial, though, who is going to end up being the Republican candidate. Because if it's going to be Dooley, who may not be as MAGA-ish, then you might see people really shifting more to the middle in the midterm election because the primaries are done. They don't need to appease Trump as much anymore. And you're still going to be fighting the Iran war, ostensibly, inflation, gas prices, grocery prices. And that's where it's really going to come down to at the end.

The second really important point is that Independent voters are nowhere to be seen today. And Independent voters decide every major election. And so, which way will they go in a now purple state of Georgia? AXELROD: One subtext to this is that Kemp is someone who is talked about as a potential candidate for President in 2028. And so, he's going to be measured a little bit by what he produces here.

GRIFFIN: Well, and keep in mind, too, that if not for 2020, in the aftermath of Donald Trump losing the election, refusing to concede the election, we would have likely had two Republican senators in Georgia. And the fact that we have Ossoff and Warnock was a result of that. And in that, you've actually had this Democratic superstar, I would say, an Ossoff who's much more hard to contend with now than he potentially was six years ago.

I think to Gretchen's point, having somebody who's going to play better in a general election is what you need here. This is not going to be an election where you want the most MAGA candidate going up against a heavyweight like Ossoff.

JENNINGS: Yes, these are fascinating races in Georgia. This governor's race down there, Burt Jones and Rick Jackson, they're very close. Trump is for Burt Jones, who's a Lieutenant Governor. But Rick Jackson comes in at the last minute and spends tens of millions of dollars of his own money, ran a very innovative advertising.

COOPER: Was Jones one of the fake electors?

JENNINGS: He's the sitting lieutenant governor right now.

JONES: Okay, he's making Jones' look bad.

JENNINGS: But he is, I think he's slightly ahead right now. But that, you know, he's got Trumps endorsement. Jackson made a strong push. They'll end up going to a runoff there. But Republicans think Keisha Lance Bottoms actually is going to be a little weak statewide in Georgia. So, I think Republicans in Georgia feel pretty good about the governor's race, the senate race. Look, anytime you're facing an incumbent with $30 million after a very divisive primary, it's a difficult thing.

JONES: Look, I think Keisha Lance Bottoms is likely to get the nomination, will do. She will run up Black turnout and that will help Ossoff. So even if you have a stronger chance to stop her in-- , her race is going to bring folks out. But you're going to see a major rise in the Black vote in Georgia.

JENNINGS: People are pretty happy with Kemp as was noted by David. And so, if you like the direction of your state under his basic sort of style of governance, I mean, that's what the Republicans are going to argue is, the State Capitol has been pretty well run under Brian Kemp. Why would we change parties at this point?

But a lot of people, of course, are only motivated these days by national politics. They feel one way about the national parties. And so they go, and they vote that way down the ticket. You know, you look at Georgia, possibility of a split ticket. Iowa is another state where you've got a governor and a senate. Ohio is another state governor and senate. And so, it will be interesting to see if we see any split tickets between State Capitols and federal offices.

AXELROD: You were right about Burt Jones, by the way, he was one of the fake electors and one other thing.

JONES: Making Jones looked bad.

AXELROD: Ossoff also is a guy who's getting ballyhooed as a potential 28 candidate if he comes through this well. So, he really is --

COOPER: Jones might be eligible for some of this. Now, one point, nearly $1.8 billion that the President has set aside.

AXELROD: Is that a segue?

COOPER: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Exactly.

COOPER: We're going to also look in depth at what's going on Texas with the race there. That's fascinating but we want to break away from the primary politics for a moment.

When we come back, new revelation about the already stunning agreement between the President and his IRS, which could send hundreds of millions of dollars to January 6th insurrectionists.

Theres more, now. The deal includes potentially huge tax relief for the President and family members. We're keeping them honest.

[20:30:40]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:35:19]

COOPER: Keeping them honest tonight. It seems the President of the United States has made a deal to block the IRS from pursuing any pending tax claims against him, his family, or his businesses. Now, the language of it, as you'll see, is remarkably sweeping. The terms are laid out in a newly released page of the larger agreement we reported on yesterday to pay alleged victims of what the Justice Department calls, quote, "weaponization and lawfare."

Today, Michael Caputo, a longtime Trump adviser and former administration official, made the first known claim on the $1.776 billion fund, all taxpayer dollars. In a letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, he said that he and his family suffered from his being targeted in the FBI's crossfire hurricane probe into Russian election interference. He's asking for $2.7 million.

Blanche, as you know, is the President's former criminal defense attorney. According to reports, he's very interested in becoming a full-time attorney general. He'll be picking the five-member panel to decide who gets this money, and those members will decide how much or how little to disclose about the recipients and dollar amounts. They'll also file quarterly reports to the attorney general on who has applied and who's been granted money, but those reports, according to the terms of the settlement, will be, quote, "confidential." What the agreement does not specify is whether those recipients could include violent felons.

Today on Capitol Hill, the acting attorney general would not rule it out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Will individuals who assaulted Capitol Hill police officers be eligible for this fund?

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, as it makes plain, anybody is --

VAN HOLLEN: Just let me know if they're eligible for the fund.

BLANCHE: As was made plain yesterday, anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they're a victim of weaponization.

VAN HOLLEN: Mr. Attorney General, let me ask you this. Are there going to be rules that say that if you've assaulted a Capitol Hill police officer or committed a violent crime, you will not be eligible? Why not make that a rule?

BLANCHE: I expect that the -- well, because I'm not one of the commissioners setting up the rules.

VAN HOLLEN: You're appointing four of the five members, aren't you, Mr. Attorney General?

BLANCHE: Pardon me?

VAN HOLLEN: You're appointing four of the five members.

BLANCHE: I am appointing all five members.

VAN HOLLEN: You can certainly set up the rules.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who is doing the questioning there, joins us shortly. As you saw, though, the acting attorney general would not rule out payoffs to felons who attack law officers. About 140 that day were beaten and tased, pepper sprayed, some crushed, others trampled.

Some of their attackers, who've all since received presidential pardons or sentence commutations, have gone on, in some cases, to commit other serious crimes. Still today, as you saw, Todd Blanche would not commit to keeping them from collecting taxpayer dollars, nor would Vice President Vance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JD VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not trying to give money to anybody who attacked a police officer. We're trying to give money, not give money, we're trying to compensate people where the book was thrown at them, they were mistreated by the legal system.

We do have people who were accused of attacking law enforcement officers. That doesn't mean that we're going to completely ignore some of the claims that they're going to make.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: So it looks like attacking a law officer who's defending the Capitol will not rule out getting paid millions in taxpayer dollars, at least not according to the current Vice President, whose first-term predecessor, Vice President Mike Pence, the mob wanted to hang that day.

Not according to the man, Todd Blanche, who once led the President's defense against federal election interference charges connected to that day. But, as we said, that was not all.

Today, the other shoe dropped, this agreement barring any pending federal tax claims against the President, his family, and their businesses. It's a mouthful, quoting from it now, "The United States releases, waives, acquits, and forever discharges each of the plaintiffs from, and is hereby forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing any and all claims, counterclaims, causes of action, appeals, or requests for any relief against any of the plaintiffs."

Plaintiffs being the President and company, or as the agreement continues, "any related or affiliated individuals, including without limitation, family, or other filing jointly, or parties, including trusts, parents, sister, or related companies, affiliates, and subsidiaries, by reason of, with respect to, in connection with, or which arise out of any matters that were raised or could have been raised in the case or the pending agency claims."

The agreement would also apply to, quote, "Any matters currently pending, or that could be pending, including tax returns filed before the effective date, before defendants or other agencies or departments." In short, seems to insulate the former plaintiffs, meaning the President, Don Jr., Eric, and the Trump organization from any legal or financial fallout from anything to do with the IRS up to this point.

Some perspective now from Senator Chris Van Hollen. I spoke to him just before airtime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Senator Van Hollen, what is your reaction to this new settlement terms that bar the federal government from pursuing any cases involving tax issues connected to the President, his family, and their businesses?

[20:40:02]

VAN HOLLEN: This is absolutely outrageous and unprecedented. Of course, they waited until after our hearing today to disclose this part of a really rotten deal for the American people. Never before has the federal government essentially given somebody a get-out-of-jail- free card on their taxes the way this administration is doing. It's another example of self-dealing.

COOPER: I want to ask you about this so-called compensation fund that the President has set up, nearly $1.8 billion. Both the Vice President, the acting attorney general, they refused to rule out that January 6th, rioters who assaulted members of law enforcement could receive compensation from this fund. Do you think that that is going to happen? Do you think -- and is there anything that can be done to stop that?

VAN HOLLEN: Well, I'm going to be offering amendments, Anderson, to say that no monies from this fund, which, by the way, I think is illegal, but making it clear that no monies from this fund can go to people who have committed violent crimes, including assaults against police officers, including nonviolent crimes but awful crimes like child molestation, that that will be out of bounds. They should have set that up as a rule from the start. I'll be putting that to a vote in the United States Senate.

COOPER: I want to play another exchange that you had with Acting Attorney General Blanche in the hearing today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VAN HOLLEN: Mr. Blanche, in response to Senator Coons saying that Capitol Hill police officers were worried that people who assaulted them on January 6th might benefit from a slush fund, you said that couldn't be true because it hadn't been set up.

BLANCHE: I didn't say it couldn't be true, Senator. I didn't say it couldn't be true. I said it was surprising it was true.

VAN HOLLEN: OK. So it is very possible that people have been anticipating getting payments from the administration, people who were part of the attack on the Capitol on January 6th, right?

BLANCHE: You're asking me to speculate on the possibility of something?

VAN HOLLEN: Have you not heard of anybody anticipating getting payments from that?

BLANCHE: No, I haven't --

VAN HOLLEN:

BLANCHE: I don't know what that means, actually.

VAN HOLLEN: All right, all right.

BLANCHE: But I won't speculate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Do you think the acting attorney general hadn't heard about it or even consider the prospect of convicted January 6th rioters likely, you know, jumping at the chance to get compensation from the federal government?

VAN HOLLEN: I think he had to have known, Anderson. I mean, you have to be in a complete bubble. I mean, you have to be in hibernation not to know that the January 6th rioters and their attorneys had been pushing for this kind of compensation for a very long time.

COOPER: The other question is, will the public, whose money is being given to these people or will be given to these people, even know who it's getting awarded to? Senator Coons had an exchange with Blanche in today's hearing that I want to play.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D), DELAWARE: Will you commit to making these reports fully public so Americans know who's getting taxpayer dollars out of the settlement fund? This says they'll be confidential. This is Section 4, Part E of the settlement agreement.

BLANCHE: The reason why I want to be careful in my answer is because there's obviously laws that exist around privacy that would may prevent some of the information that the commission takes in from being fully public. Beyond that, there will be full transparency, and I commit to you that, beyond the applicable laws that exist around privacy and privileges and whatnot. But as far as being transparent and having those quarterly reports released, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: You're talking about quarterly reports. Do you know anything about those quarterly reports? Would that just be sums of money that were distributed? Would it be names of actual people who got it? Is that answer good enough for you?

VAN HOLLEN: No. And that was just a lot of lawyer words to say that they're not going to commit to making information public about who is receiving these funds. And, Anderson, you shouldn't be surprised because the purpose of this fund is to reward people who committed violence on January 6th, to include people who beat up Capitol Hill police officers. That is part of their objective here, and they want to keep that quiet. They couldn't get away today with saying that couldn't happen because that is part of their original goal here.

COOPER: The other thing that Todd Blanche said to you in this is that he's going to be picking the five members on this. I mean, in the writing, it said that, you know, there'd be consultation from Congress, or members of Congress, I believe, on one of them. But, Blanche, you said four out of five, and he said, actually, I'm selecting all of them. VAN HOLLEN: Well, look, you know, Todd Blanche's current title is acting attorney general, but he's really continuing to act as the President's personal attorney, which, of course, is the job he had before he went into the Justice Department.

[20:45:15]

And he is the one, the President's personal attorney, will pick four of the five members. The others will be selected by the Republican majority right now in the House and Senate. In other words, Todd Blanche and the President will pick that person, too. And these are the people that are going to make decisions about payouts from this slush fund.

So the reality is that this is completely under the President's control. As I pointed out to Todd Blanche today, when you walk into the Justice Department, you will face these huge banners with Donald Trump's face staring out at you. And what Todd Blanche is doing is turning the Justice Department into the instrument for Donald Trump to commit and follow through with his political vendettas, to use the Justice Department to support his friends and go after his adversaries.

COOPER: Senator Van Hollen, I really appreciate your time. Thank you.

VAN HOLLEN: Good to be with you.

COOPER: Just ahead, back to tonight's key primary, race is another defeat for a Republican Trump critic. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:50:34]

COOPER: Returning to our CNN primary coverage, CNN can report that another Trump critic has lost tonight. Georgia gubernatorial candidate and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. You'll remember he was a prominent debunker of the President's 2020 election claims.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Atlanta. I want to go back to her. Arlette?

SAENZ: Well, Anderson, the governor's race here in the Republican side in Georgia is expected to head to a runoff between Rick Jackson and Burt Jones, the state's lieutenant governor, extending this contest for another four weeks. Now, Rick Jackson is a healthcare executive, a billionaire, who has poured $80 million into this race, flooding the state with TV ads throughout this contest.

But then you also have Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who was a fake elector back in 2020 and was running with President Trump's endorsement. Now, one person to fall in this governor's race is the Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. He is one of those people who had stood up to President Donald Trump when he had urged him to try to find more votes here in the state when he was running against or after former President Joe Biden had won the election against him in 2020. So we have seen one of President Donald Trump's biggest foes fall in this race, while one of his biggest and controversial supporters, the Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, has advanced and will face off against Jackson. Now, GOP voters will face another four weeks of campaigning from these candidates, potentially even more money spent. Jackson is a billionaire who has self-funded this campaign and really flooded the zone throughout Georgia as he's waged this race.

COOPER: Arlette Saenz, thanks very much.

I want to check in back with John King of the Magic Wall. John?

KING: Anderson, it's interesting when you look at this race, as Arlette just noted, we're going to a runoff in Georgia. You have to get 50 plus 1, 50 percent plus 1 to win the primary. Others are going to the runoff.

So, number one, you mentioned the big national implications of this. Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State, remember that phone call? Trump called him saying, I need you to find 11,000 plus votes for me. He joins a very long list of one-time rising stars in the Republican Party who are going to lose an election or be out of office, at least temporarily, because their relationship with Donald Trump turned toxic. It's a very long list over the last decade.

Now we head into a runoff in a very important governor's race between the Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, and Dr. Jackson here. You see the numbers here. Interesting when you look at the map, right, when you look at the map, you see the purple. The purplish, that is Burt Jones, the Lieutenant Governor, who had the Trump endorsement.

He's getting a lot of support. These counties in his favor are the rural counties where Donald Trump runs strongest, right, all the time. So the Trump endorsement helped there. Arlette mentioned the money. That's what the White House will say. It was all the money that Jackson spent. It was not the Trump endorsement.

But this is going to be studied by Republicans. We were talking earlier that Trump's, you know, Trump went after Thomas Massie, the Republican congressman in Kentucky, and he beat him. Had to spend a lot of money there, too, to beat him.

Here, Jackson's pretty much self-funds his campaign, and he's pretty competitive with the Lieutenant Governor who had the Trump endorsement. So Republicans are going to have to look at this, and you see where Jackson is winning.

Right now, I'm just going to pull up Fulton County, Atlanta. We don't have any results here yet. You know, it's a Democratic county, overwhelmingly, but it's also a very populated county.

So if you're trying to win where the people are, right, Raffensperger actually winning in DeKalb County, even though he's running third in this race, and he will be out. Jackson winning here in Gwinnett County. The most votes are in that circle around Atlanta, right, Atlanta and the suburbs right here. And as you can see, it is Jackson running stronger than Burt Jones. Jones running better in the suburb -- I mean, in the rural areas mostly. We have another four weeks. They'll have the runoff. Then we go on into it. But one of the subplots here is, you know, the questioning Trump's power, right?

As I said earlier, nationally, he is at the lowest point of his presidencies, whether first term or second term. But within the Republican Party, he's trying to show he's still a force. These two candidates will go into the runoff. Lieutenant Governor Jones will obviously still have Trump's endorsement.

It'll be interesting to watch as we play out. Again, how much money does it take for the Republicans to settle their primaries, their -- and their internal party feuds that are part of those primaries. The Democrats just -- you know, the Democratic message is keep spending, please.

But again, the Senate race here -- let me just take a quick peek as we switch over just to see. This one looks like it's going for runoff, but we don't know that yet. We haven't projected that quite yet. And so you'll have both the Senate race and the Governor's race in Georgia, which are big races in this midterm campaign year for the Republicans, going on four more weeks.

COOPER: Yes. John King, thanks very much.

Back now with our panel. Alyssa, this -- you know, as we were talking to Senator Van Hollen, the -- what he called a slush fund that the President is setting up, will that have any impact, do you think, on any of these races?

[20:55:07]

GRIFFIN: Well, listen, he ran on draining the swamp, and it's the swampiest thing I could possibly imagine. Listen, in a tough midterm race, no Republican wants to be asked about this, wants to be having to defend it. It's indefensible.

And we didn't talk much about Texas. I do want to weigh in on this quickly, that you have the President not supporting Cornyn, a sitting U.S. Senator, in favor of Paxton, somebody who has incredible, incredible vulnerabilities, his ethics, his own personal dealings. This actually makes Texas potentially in play for Democrats.

Donald Trump has an incredibly winning record when it comes to priming Republicans in primaries. It's much harder when you get to the actual midterms. We were all here midterms 2022. Donald Trump's candidates did not do very well. This hurts Republicans going into the midterms.

COOPER: Scott, do you think it's a mistake for the President to back this fund, which essentially might be giving money to people who attack police officers?

JENNINGS: Well, I don't think you should give money to people who attack police officers. I think those people ought to have to give money to the police officers' families, if you want my honest opinion.

Now, if people got swept up who didn't go into a building, who didn't attack police officers, who got unfairly targeted or overcharged compared to other comparable things, and they have a valid claim, I think everybody ought to be able to petition their government if they've been unfairly targeted. But if you violently attack police officers, no, I don't believe you deserve any of our money.

JONES: I agree with that. I do want to say though that I know people who've been horribly mistreated by our justice system. They've never got a penny. People who've been in jail for 20 years, 30 years now, they're completely innocent.

To pick out this tiny group of people and give them $1 billion, I just think is an insult to the people who've been trying to make our criminal justice system better. This is -- it's inconceivable that this is the most worthy group of people who've been mistreated by our criminal justice system.

CARLSON: I think we need to look deeper into this whole slush fund though because the release of the information today about the Trump family's tax reports and being, you know, not liable for anything there. Keep in mind that this lawsuit against the IRS, which is how this started.

Many legal scholars said it was illegal on its face to begin with. Then you were going to have a judge rule on it potentially this week and suddenly instead we have this settlement announcement. So I think we should be paying more attention to --

AXELROD: Yes.

CARLSON: -- that part of this story and maybe this slush fund is a way for the news and Trump's excellent at doing this flooding or --

JENNINGS: But why did this all start though? This -- you took us back almost to the beginning --

CARLSON: Yes.

JENNINGS: -- but why did this whole Trump lawsuit start? Do you remember?

GRIFFIN: His taxes.

JENNINGS: Because his tax returns --

CARLSON: Yes, yes, at Mar-a-Lago.

JENNINGS: -- were illegally leaked. He was victimized by somebody in the federal government. That is true and that's why this whole thing started.

COOPER: Some guy leaked it.

GRIFFIN: To the tune of $1 billion. COOPER: Right. And so they're suing the taxpayers for $10 billion.

JENNINGS: I mean, look --

COOPER: By some guy -- and people leak stuff --

JENNINGS: Not some guy, somebody who works for the government. It's not fair what happened to Trump in that case. And I think other people's tax returns got leaked as well.

GRIFFIN: This was arguably an overcorrection, I think we could all agree.

CARLSON: That's my point.

COOPER: I mean, haven't there been generations of people who have been discriminated against by the federal government who have been denied jobs, who have been thrown out of jobs, who have been -- I mean, to your point, incarcerated and have not received -- I mean, I thought Republicans were against reparations and this sounds like reparations for people who attack police officers.

AXELROD: I -- yes, exactly. I kind of agree with you. I think this is -- the whole thing is kind of a subterfuge because Trump wanted to get the IRS office back is what this was about.

COOPER: And by the way, the person who leaked is in jail for five years. I don't know if he's --

AXELROD: Yes, which is probably the appropriate way to handle something like that. Not saddling the taxpayer with billions of dollars. But the idea that you're going to have a fund that it's going to be distributed without public knowledge by a group of people that are appointed by the Attorney General and --

COOPER: Who is the former President's attorney.

AXELROD: Who is the former President's criminal defense lawyer. I mean --

COOPER: And also -- I mean, it's up to them whether they release any information about who is getting the money.

AXELROD: Yes. Now, you know, you ask will it have an impact. There is a cumulative effect of all of these. There is a stench of all of this. This comes a day after we learned the President made 3,400 stock trades in the first quarter of the year.

We've had report after report after report of his businesses doing business with foreign leaders who he's now negotiating with on other issues and so on. The aggregation of it is it is a big old swampy mess as you say. And if people begin to say what about -- his family is doing real well. What about mine? I think that becomes a problem for him.

CARLSON: But I don't think -- when we go out and poll people as we're approaching the midterms or the presidential election and you ask how important is the slush fund to you, it's not going to be anywhere on the list because it's going to be the economy and gas prices and immigration --

AXELROD: The police officer thing -- and I think Scott was right to say he didn't support it. Van Hollen raised a really -- I mean, I don't know how many Republican senators want to cast a vote in favor of giving money to police officers -- people who assaulted police officers.

JONES: Get them on a record.

COOPER: I want to thank everybody. Our primary night coverage continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now. I'll see you tomorrow night.