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The Lead with Jake Tapper
Texas Senate Expected To Pass Trump-Backed Map Favoring GOP Soon; Rep. Joe Morelle, (D-NY), Is Interviewed About Law Enforcement In D.C., Redistricting, Mail-in Ballot; Trump Plans To Join Law Enforcement On D.C. Streets Tonight. Aired 5-6p ET
Aired August 21, 2025 - 17:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much to this terrific panel for having really interesting conversations. I love hearing what you do with your corporate clients and we learn all the tricks of the trade. Thank you so much. If you missed any of today's show, you can always catch up by listening to The Arenas podcast. Just scan the QR code at the bottom of the screen there and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
Phil Mattingly is right next door standing by for "The Lead." I learned a lot from you. Tricks of your trade, too, Phil, all the time.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean --
BASH: And the party (ph) tricks, all of them.
MATTINGLY: -- you can't -- you can't set me up like that. You're like the goat. That's not fair. Like I can't match up with that.
BASH: Please.
MATTINGLY: Dana Bash, you are always the Brett Best. We will look for more tomorrow in "The Arena."
BASH: Have a good show.
[17:00:46]
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tonight, Trump himself is hitting the D.C. streets. The Lead starts right now. President Trump is heading out, getting a firsthand glimpse himself of the law enforcement takeover in Washington, D.C. how he describes the purpose of his mission. That's ahead.
Plus, a decision expected tonight for the Menendez brothers. After decades in prison today, a parole hearing for one of the siblings. Could they get a chance at freedom more than 30 years after admitting to killing their parents? But first, the political maneuver expected tonight that could jumpstart an ugly fight for control of the House in 2026.
Welcome to The Lead. I'm Phil Mattingly in for Jake Tapper. In just a few hours, the state of Texas is expected to finally pass its Republican drawn congressional maps. This redistricting plan, a plan backed by President Trump, would create five more GOP leaning House districts in time for next year's midterm elections. Republicans try to hang on to their oh so narrow House majority.
Tonight's vote will take place in the Texas Senate. The state House passed the bill last night after weeks of roadblocks from statehouse Democrats who left the state to slow down the vote and bring attention to Republican tactics. In just a moment, I'll speak to a Democratic state representative who spent two nights on the Texas House floor protesting a Republican demand to be placed under surveillance after that Democratic walkout.
Now, while the Democratic minority in Texas couldn't stop the Republican redistricting there, the Democratic majority in California, well, it's looking to offset the Texas move by taking up a proposed constitutional amendment which would allow them to temporarily redraw congressional maps of their own, potentially creating five new Democratic seats. We have CNN team coverage of all of these efforts. Arlette Saenz is in Austin, Texas for CNN and Steve Contorno is in Sacramento, California.
Arlette, I want to start with you. Texas Democrats, they threw out pretty much everything they had to try and stop this proposal, but the bill finally set for a full vote in the state Senate. What are you hearing from Republicans at this point?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Texas State Senate could approve this bill in the coming hours, really finalizing those GOP plans to redraw congressional maps in the hopes of picking up five U.S. House seats in the next midterm elections. This move from Republicans really sparked this nationwide battle over redistricting and it could be coming to an end here in Texas tonight if the Senate does in fact pass that bill. It is expected to pass at some point and then be signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Now, earlier today, the Senate Redistricting Committee held a meeting to consider that House passed bill from last night. Here's a sample of some of the arguments being made by Republicans and Democrats.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PHIL KING, (R) TEXAS STATE SENATE: I want us to maintain a Republican majority and hopefully increase a Republican majority in the U.S. Congress. And that's my purpose for being willing to carry this map.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now, Democrats are frustrated that there were not hearings on this specific map, but really they have few are no legislative tools yet to stop this from moving forward. Democrats do plan on filing lawsuits quite quickly after Texas Governor Greg Abbott signs this bill into law. But then certainly there will be a lot of big questions going forward for Texas Democrats, Texas Republicans as they are heading closer to those midterm elections.
MATTINGLY: Yes, no question about that. Over to you, Steve. Obviously you're tracking the latest on California's redistricting efforts. This is different than what's happening in Texas. You explained this earlier today in such a succinct way. Tell people why that's the case and where this is going.
STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, right now Democrats and Republicans are in the state legislature debating these bills, but Republicans don't have the votes to do to block it. They don't even have the numbers to pull a move like Texas Democrats and leave the state and try to block a quorum. They have been making their objections known saying that Democrats are acting like, quote, "props of Newsom" and that these maps are a murder weapon of killing democracy. Democrats, though, saying that they didn't start this fight, it started in Texas, but their voters expect them to fight back. Take a listen.
[17:05:03]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARC BERMAN, (D) CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY: There is currently no check on Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., only people who do whatever he demands that they do. But not here, not in California. California is responding to this emergency by empowering our voters with transparency, with respect for our independent commission, but with an unwavering will to act.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CONTORNO: So we expect this legislation to pass today and Newsom, the governor, to sign it shortly thereafter. And then, Phil, it begins a mad dash to November. Unlike in Texas, which can pass these maps on their own, Democrats will need first the approval of state or the voters in the state of California. And that is going to be a difficult challenge. These -- basically they're asking voters to override a independent redistricting commission that voters put in place with overwhelming support 15 years ago.
It's still very popular. And there's going to be a significant opposition. It's going to include the former governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as lots of money raised by former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. In fact, I've been talking to both sides, Phil, and they tell me that they expect when this is all said and done that California's ballot initiative will ultimately be the most expensive race in this entire election season in any state. So that's what's at stake and that is what we are going to be seeing over the next 75 days here.
MATTINGLY: So much money is about to pour in. Arlette Saenz in Austin, Steve can turn on Sacramento, thank you guys, as always.
And joining me now, Texas Democratic State Representative Nicole Collier. Really appreciate your time. I think just to start with the Senate set to vote in just a few hours, is there anything else Democrats can do kind of last ditch wise before that vote takes place?
NICOLE COLLIER, (D) TEXAS STATE HOUSE: In the Texas Senate, no, there's just not enough numbers. This bill is going to pass. They're going to get what they want and Trump's going to have five more seats in -- from Texas. So that's why we're relying on California.
MATTINGLY: There's also, I think, a legal pathway on some level after the fact. And I'm interested, you and your colleagues, there will be a challenge, I assume, in federal court saying it's a violation of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits redistricting based on race. But one of the questions I've had is kind of people try to figure out this path forward. There's a federal appeals court recently who ruled -- or that ruled in another Texas case, the Voting Rights Act protections do not extend to multiple racial or ethnic groups joining together. Governor Abbott has been citing that ruling pretty repeatedly as a justification here. Do you not view that as a potential roadblock for the lawsuit as well?
COLLIER: Look, that's our only hope right now. We know that when Trump made the call to Abbott, we saw that Abbott is going to comply. We know he doesn't have the courage to stand up against him and push back. So we know that this is -- that's the only hope that we have right now, to set the legal record and have the courts take a look at it and make the decision. And the Democrats in Texas firmly believe that this is a violation of the Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
MATTINGLY: You mentioned the effort that our colleague Steve Contorno was just reporting on in California. I want you to listen to what former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told CNN today about that redistricting push by Democrats there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: This is something that could be very dangerous nationwide if the Democrats move forward because Republicans could do this in more states --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
MCCARTHY: -- than the Democrats can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: I think that's one of the questions I've had when, you know, Trump is talking about he's got Missouri, he's pushing Indiana State Republicans as well. This kind of arms race here, is there concern that this doesn't net out for Democrats in the end?
COLLIER: Look, Republicans need to be concerned that this is going to backfire on them. Trump is so blinded by his greed that he doesn't see what's happening. He's willing to throw other Republicans under the bus. In California, we saw the Republican Congress members pleading, asking to stop this mid-decade redistricting, but they don't care because they're so blinded by the agree that they're willing to throw them under the bus to get what they want. And that is more reinforcement in Congress, in Washington.
Now, Trump could call Abbott right now and tell him to back off, but he won't because he's too greedy. MATTINGLY: You spent two nights on the Texas House floor rather than accepting a temporary police escort mandated by the Republican speaker who is seeking to make sure the chamber could reach quorum for the vote. Can you just take a step back? I know it's been an intense couple of weeks here, but what does it tell you about where this chamber is going in the future, in the weeks, the months ahead in legislative sessions?
COLLIER: Yes, I'm very concerned because what is -- what we're seeing happen is that they are no longer listening to the people. We're seeing them drive this ship right into the ground by continuing to push efforts, listening to just one person, Trump, he's giving the directives and that's all that they're following. So our body is fragile in terms of the collaboration.
[17:10:17]
I'm not going to -- I don't think we're going to see further collaboration between the Democrats and Republicans in Texas because this is dividing us. This is drawing a line in the sand and people are taking sides. And I hope that if we want to have a nation of unity, of working together for the greater good, this has got to stop. But for now, since they're playing dirty, we got to play dirty, too.
MATTINGLY: Yes. Certainly seems to be the pathway forward from both sides here. Democratic Texas State Representative Nicole Collier, really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.
COLLIER: Thank you.
MATTINGLY: Well, redrawing maps is not the only way lawmakers are trying to tip the scales in the 2026 midterm elections, ahead I'll speak with the top Democrat whose committee oversees federal election rules. How he sees another attempt to change the rules, that's next. Plus, we're standing by to see President Trump, who says he will be going out in D.C. to meet with police in the National Guard. What that could actually look like and why he says he's doing it. That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:15:23]
MATTINGLY: Now to our politics lead in today's major announcement from the White House. In a radio interview earlier today, President Trump said he'll join the National Guard and federal law enforcement officials on the streets of D.C. tonight. Here's Trump talking about that this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONLAD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITE STATES: I'm going to be going out tonight, I think with the -- with the police, with the -- and with the military, of course. So we're going to do a job. The National Guard is great. They've done a fantastic job.
(END VIDEO CLIP) MATTINGLY: I want to get straight to CNN's Kristen Holmes in the North Lawn of the White House.
Kristen, do we know what this actually is going to be later tonight?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: No, no. And at one point I asked a White House official, you know, what is President Trump going to be doing on the streets with the National Guard and with the military? And they said, I don't know where you're getting that idea that he's going to be out on the streets with them. And I said, obviously from the president himself, who said it in a radio interview.
Now, there are a lot of logistics that would have to go into that and a lot of law enforcement, a lot of security. So likely this is not going to be some kind of President Trump out on the streets patrolling up and down with law enforcement. But more likely this is going to be something along the lines of what we saw yesterday from Vice President J.D. Vance and the Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. They sort of meet and greet, talking to the troops, giving them a pep talk and thanking them for their service.
I mean, we are seeing an all-out campaign around the fact that President Trump has federalized D.C. they are touting it at every turn. They are talking about crime numbers and they believe in President Trump specifically believes that it is working. Now, of course, you know, as we know, he has floated the idea that this is essentially an experiment that he might try in other parts of the country. We've heard a lot of pushback to that as well. He is able to do it here in D.C. because of the fact that D.C. itself is not a state and because of home rule.
But even with pushback from Democrats in other cities and from people that live in D.C. who say this is overkill, it's too much. The White House is very happy with what they have seen. They like the way that this has been working. So now you're going to see President Trump go out there and do what he likes to do best, which is shake the hands of these men and women and do probably a photo opportunity, Phil.
MATTINGLY: I can't believe the White House official wasn't listening Todd Starnes. I thought we all heard. It's a very long interview.
Kristen Holmes, I suspect we'll be coming back to you at some point over the course of the show. Great reporting as always. Thanks so much.
Joining me now, Democratic Congressman Joe Morelle of New York. He's the top Democrat on the committee that oversees federal election laws.
Congressman, just to start this idea, President Trump could be planning to join law enforcement on the D.C. streets tonight, what's your take on that?
REP. JOE MORELLE (D-NY): Well, look, I think we're all concerned about violent crime everywhere in America, and we certainly support victims and want to do everything we can to support law enforcement. But I will say the president likes to pick and choose because he pardoned many, many violent criminals who attacked and beat police on January 6th. So, you know, it's sort of, you know, Donald Trump has a variable degree of interest in violent crime. It's only certain people that he's concerned about.
But look, I think it's mostly a distraction from all the other things that he's doing that are highly unpopular with the American people.
MATTINGLY: When you talk to your colleagues in the House, I know it's district work period, August recess right now, there's not a ton of conversations really going on every day, but this is clearly an issue that Trump, the White House, believe is a winning issue for them, they're talking about it constantly, trying to draw attention to it constantly, are there concerns inside the caucus that perhaps it is a winning issue for Trump?
MORELLE: Well, I think what they recognize is, look, we passed just about a month ago this large budget bill which is deeply unpopular, which will take away health insurance from 15 million Americans, will cut nearly $900 billion out of health care, and Medicaid will cut half a billion dollars out of Medicare. That's what we're hearing from people back home. So I know that's what I'm hearing about. I'm also hearing about his attacks on democracy.
I think this is just what Donald Trump does, he tries to distract because it's bad news and people are facing rising costs because of tariffs. His economic policies are bad. So he does things that he thinks will make people happy and distract away from the important issues that most people care about. And frankly, I don't hear, Phil, very much in Rochester about crime in Washington. Obviously, people are concerned about crime everywhere, but that's really what they care about.
What's happening to their families? Are they paying more for goods and services? Is democracy going to live through the next several years? I mean, those are the things that people truly care about.
[17:20:05]
MATTINGLY: What are people in your district saying about the kind of redistricting arms race that Trump started without any question about it, basically telling Texas to move forward on these maps? New York, California, there are other states that are now involved. Do you -- what are you hearing from your constituents about where New York may go from here?
MORELLE: Well, look, I think my constituents are very angry, but this is what they've come to expect. I mean, Donald Trump cheats on golf, he cheats on his taxes, he cheats his business associates, so why would it be surprising that cheats in politics? And that's how they see this. Literally cheating because he's afraid of the verdict of a midterm election. I think we recognize that what he has done in his first six or seven months on economic policy, tax policy, is deeply unpopular.
And so what's his response is to do everything he can to subvert the will of the American people. That's what the district lines are. When the president says that the Republicans are entitled to five more seats in Texas, as though he gets to decide who represents people instead of their ability to choose who their own representatives are, I think people recognize that is deeply flawed, deeply troubling to them. We're going to continue to push back against it.
MATTINGLY: And does pushback mean Democrats should be fully supportive of their own efforts, what we're seeing in California, the discussions that have taken place in New York, maybe other blue states as well?
MORELLE: Well, look, we're going to continue to support nonpartisan district line making around the country. But I think what we realize is we can't just do it in Democratic states and allow Republicans to do whatever they want as it relates to redistricting. So I think we're taking a different view of it. It's either got to be a national standard or states are going to do what they do. I think that's unfortunate.
But I also don't think Democrats can just sit idly by and watch this democracy destroyed by the president and those who, instead of acting like independent legislators in Texas and apparently in other places, just act as though they're completely subservient, almost like employees of Donald Trump. And I think that's deeply troubling. And it's not only that, it's what he's doing as it relates to mail-in balloting and voting machines and the things that he is talking about, which are so detrimental literally to the foundational elements of American democracy.
MATTINGLY: Yes, I'm glad you brought that. That was actually my next question that I want to ask you about. I was really happy to hear that you were going to be on so we could talk about this. On Monday, the president taking aim at mail-in ballots. He said this in the Oval Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Mail-in ballots are corrupt. Mail-in ballots, you can never have a real democracy with mail-in ballots. And we as a Republican Party are going to do everything possible that we get rid of mail-in ballots.
((END VIDEO CLIP)
MATTINGLY: Now the same day posted this on Truth Social, quote, "Remember, the states are merely" and quote, "agent for the federal government and counting and tabulating the votes." The White House press secretary says the administration plans to work with Congress and State Houses on this issue.
First off, that's not necessarily my understanding of how states actually work when it comes to elections. But what is your expectation of what Congress is going to do here, particularly if Trump really forces this issue on the Republican majorities when he comes back?
MORELLE: Well, look, the -- what the president has suggested is unconstitutional, it's unlawful, it's unserious, and we're going to fight it every step of the way. The truth is Donald Trump is voted by mail. Only he would suggest throwing out his own ballot in order to avoid a fair election and the verdict of the American people. So, look, the states will continue to drive elections. That's how it's done.
Congress can certainly intervene and we have. But this is largely a local and state election exercise. It should continue to be the purview of the states to do it. And we're not going to get rid of mail-in ballot. It's been around for decades.
No one has ever suggested it's been fraudulent. And frankly, when the president starts taking electoral security and electoral advice from Vladimir Putin, we have entered a very, very dark place in America.
MATTINGLY: Real quick, before I let you go, in your role on the committee, how much are you kind of collecting documentation, getting ideas, thinking about things you want to ask for if Democrats take control of the majority in 2027?
MORELLE: Oh, I spent a lot of time. And what we really want to do is expand the franchise to all Americans. And I continue to say this to my Republican colleagues, we have such a small percentage of voter participation even in presidential elections. Why aren't we focused on making sure every single American uses their inalienable right to participate in this democracy? That's where our focus ought to be instead of conjuring up these falsehoods and these grievances that the president has personally, which then all the Republicans in Congress run around trying to follow Donald Trump's every word, even when it contradicts something he might have said just a few weeks or a few months ago.
[17:25:00]
So we really cared about this. We'd be thinking about how to expand the franchise. Let's make sure every single American votes, every single ballot is counted, and then let's live with the results. I think that's what we believe. We lose an election, we'll lose an election, we win election, we win elections. But let's make sure that they're fair and let's make sure they carry out the will of the American public.
MATTINGLY: Congressman, really appreciate your time. Thanks so much.
MORELLE: Thank you.
MATTINGLY: Well, we're also following breaking news. In California, a pending decision on whether or not one of the Menendez brothers is eligible for parole. What's at stake right now after decades in prison? And breaking news at Villanova University just outside Philadelphia, police there are responding to reports of a shooting and students there have been told to shelter in place. We're going to keep monitoring this one as well. Much more ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[17:30:13] MATTINGLY: Breaking news, in our Law and Justice Lead, after spending more than 30 years behind bars for killing their parents, Erik and Lyle Menendez are the closest they've been to freedom. A California Parole Board is expected to decide today whether Erik Menendez should be released from prison. His brother, Lyle, will learn his fate tomorrow.
CNN's Jean Casarez is closely following this story. And Jean, how is the California Parole Board weighing whether the Menendez brothers should go free?
JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's very interesting. The overall question is really, will this offender, if he is released, will he provide safety? Will it be safe for the community? Will there be no risk if he's amongst society, amongst the community? Now, let's look specifically at what they're looking at to answer that question.
First of all, the criminal history. Well, we obviously know the double murders, premeditated, heinous, atrocious and so cruel, with all those shotgun shells that -- that the pellets went into their parents, killing them. Also, though, before that, a year before that, they burglarized numerous homes in the Beverly Hills area, carting out hundreds of thousands of dollars of items from the homes.
Now, Erik actually received a diversion program for that. His father had to pay back everything in monetary checks and then also returning some of the things that were taken. But rehabilitative work is another important aspect. They have done -- focused on so many programs in prison. They have started programs. They have helped other inmates.
They have really done a lot of that. And they have gone to school. Erik is currently enrolled at UC Irvine. Disciplinary records, prosecution has that he has nine. The defense says eight. And according to the defense list, there were two that actually involved physical violence. One was mutual combat. The other one was called battery.
However, one was in 2011. One was in 1997. Personal development, that would be some of the courses that they designed and took in prison. And risk assessment, this is interesting. Both of them had psychological testing based on the clemency process. And both of them, Erik though also, were assumed to be and determined to be a mid-level risk. Not a low risk, not a high risk, but mid-level risk.
MATTINGLY: So under California law, it's the governor, I believe, in this case, Gavin Newsom, who has the final say over paroles -- parolees for convicted murderers. Have we heard from Governor Newsom about where he stands on this?
CASAREZ: No, he has not spoken out. But what he did do not too long ago was Sirhan Sirhan. The Parole Board had recommend release for Sirhan Sirhan. And he determined because there was not an acceptance of that responsibility, because there was not any remorse for what he had done publicly emitted and --and truthful and honest repentance. He decided that he didn't believe he should be released. So he was not. MATTINGLY: All right. Jean Casarez, please keep us posted as this plays out the next day or two. I want to bring in civil rights attorney Areva Martin now. Areva, both Menendez brothers are considered, I think, low, mid-risk, according to Jean, prisoners despite being convicted of murder. But because they were 18 and 21 at the time of the killings, they are considered youth offenders under California law. How crucial is that for a Parole Board?
AREVA MARTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it's really important to this case, Phil, because but for that California law that said that they could be resentenced because they committed their crimes before they were of the age of 26, we wouldn't even be here today. It was their lawyers filing, requesting that a resentencing hearing take place, saying that there was additional evidence, evidence of sexual abuse, particularly with related to Erik, from related to his father that got us to this point today.
So that law and the fact that they committed these crimes before they were 26 is very important to where we are. And Jean is right. The governor ultimately has all of the power with respect to what happens to Erik and Lyle Menendez. So despite what the recommendation is today, we -- we are not going to see them, Erik in particular, walk out of prison today. It's a very lengthy process, even if the recommendation is for parole.
MATTINGLY: In your view are -- actually we have some breaking news, Areva. I really appreciate your time. We're going to break away for a moment, breaking in our National Lead. President Trump is joining law enforcement on the streets of Washington, D.C. Let's go straight to CNN's Kristen Holmes. Kristen, what are we looking at right now?
HOLMES: OK. So we are not on the streets of Washington, D.C., just to be clear, but he is at the Park Police Operations Center. And I'm sorry, I'm watching it as we go by to see who's with him. He's with his chief of staff, Susie Wiles. He's with the attorney general, Pam Bondi. Looks like he's just come out to make remarks. Oh, there he is standing right there. And so he's clearly going to be thanking the troops here. It looks like there's a bunch of National Guard.
[17:35:10]
TRUMP: -- somebody I know.
HOLMES: Oh, here we go.
TRUMP: We don't want that to happen. Where are we going, Margo? Over here? Hello, everybody. It's great to be with you. You guys are doing a fantastic job, and gals doing an amazing job, and we appreciate it. The -- the numbers are down like we wouldn't believe, but we believe it. Where do I stand here? Right where? OK. Hello.
It's a healthy, attractive-looking group of people. It's good. Well, I just want to thank everybody very much for being here. I wanted to do this. We've had some incredible results. The results have come out, and it's like a different place. It's like a different city. It's the capital. It's going to be the best in the world. We're going to do what you're doing with law enforcement. And very importantly, also, we're going to physically do it. We're going back to Congress for some money, and we're going to redo a lot of the pavement, a lot of the medians, a lot of the -- the graffiti is all coming off real fast. It's going to come down real fast.
We're working with Clark Construction there, one of the big ones. They're the biggest here by far, actually. And we're going to be not so much building. It's cleaning and fixing and redoing and putting brand-new surfaces down on your roads and streets. And when people come in from the airport all the way to the capital or the White House or any place else, they're going to say, boy, this place is spotless. So we're doing that.
Most importantly, though, we're going to have a crowd of people that are going to be happy. You know, I've received more phone calls from people in the last four days than I ever have. I've been here now four years-plus. And, by the way, I think we had about the best seven months, they're saying, that any president has had. We've done a lot of work. We've done a lot of good work, including the biggest tax cuts that you've ever had.
I know you guys don't care about taxes, so you don't care about saving a little tax, but you saved a lot of tax, actually. But we've had a great -- great period of time. But I've never received so many phone calls thanking me for what we've done in Washington, D.C., from people that haven't gone to a restaurant literally in four years. And they said, you know what you've done, is -- it's unprecedented. Because what they -- they -- they said, it was just unsafe. We couldn't do it.
We'd go out and you'd see the stories, you'd read the stories, you'd see all of the things that are happening. And they said, we just -- we couldn't -- we couldn't stand it, sir. And now I take my wife and my kids to dinner. One of them said he's gone out four nights in a row and he hadn't gone out for four years. So it's a -- it's a great tribute to you.
And when I look at you people, I understand why, because they -- there's no games, right? We're not playing games. We're going to make it safe. And we're going to then go on to other places. But we're going to stay here for a while. We want to make this absolutely perfect. It's our capital. And I guess it used to be many years ago, say, but it's certainly not had a very good run.
And you've got to be strong. You've got to be tough. You've got to do your job. Whatever it takes to do your job, you've got to do your job. But the crime numbers are way down. I'm looking at, you saw some of the stats. They just read them out to me inside. They're numbers that we haven't seen here ever, actually ever.
And I think it's probably right now. To me, I -- I feel very safe now, and I'm hearing people are very safe. But I know within two weeks it's going to be, Pam, it's going to be at a level that's even far superior. So I just came -- I just wanted to thank you all. You're doing incredible. You're incredible people. You make the country run, frankly. You make the whole place run. We're going to have the best capital ever. We're going to have the -- it's going to look better than it ever did. Even at the White House. I'm building a ballroom. They've been after a ballroom for 150 years, but they never had a real estate guy as a president. You know, I've done a lot of ballrooms. And we're going to make this one the best of them all.
But we're doing a real job. As far as the country is concerned, we're respected again. We had a country that was laughed at a year ago. They think -- they thought -- they couldn't understand what was happening. And it's about leadership. But we had a country that was a dead country in many ways. I went -- I went to Saudi Arabia. I went to Qatar. I went to UAE. We came back with $5.1 trillion of investment in this country.
And we're over $17 trillion. Now, a lot of you don't know what that means. And nobody knows what it means because it's never happened before. In five months, because, really, it's a five-month, even though we're here seven, but we started five months ago in terms of investment. And we have -- because they see what's happened to our country, we're going to be over 17 trillion, trillion with a T, dollars of investment.
[17:40:06]
There's never been anything close. If we did 1 trillion in a year, and we're talking about over a five-month period, maybe six months if you look at it but 7 -- over $17 trillion. We're building plants, auto plants, A.I. plants, all sorts of plants all over the country. I'm giving them the right, Lee Zeldin has done a fantastic job. We're giving them the right to build electric plants. They've become almost like a public utility because we have old grids.
We have a lot of stuff that's old. We wouldn't be able to compete with China A.I. And now we're totally leading the A.I. race and the artificial intelligence. It's a big deal, and it's the hottest thing there is for probably in 35, 40 years. It's -- a lot of people don't know what it is. Just trust me, it's very hot. It's big. But they need massive amounts of electricity. They need more electricity than we have right now in the whole country servicing everything.
In other words, we have to at least double it up to be competitive and to be leading. And we're more than doubling it up. And what I'm doing is I'm letting all of these very rich companies, and they've got nothing, but they've got a lot of money, and they want to invest it in the United States. And they're building big plants, but they're building electric plants with it.
I said, you build your -- your building, and these are buildings that cost 30, 40, $50 billion when you include everything that's inside, all the technology. I said, I'm going to let you build electric plants to fire your own electricity. And anything that you have left over, you sell it back into the grid.
So all of these big factories that are being built are building their own electric plants, fired by oil and gas. They're not fired by wind, by the way, because wind doesn't work. But we won't say that. It destroys everything. It looks terrible. It's -- it's a very expensive form of energy. And we're not doing wind. We're going back to fossil fuel.
I hope not too many of you people are going to be upset. But we have to go back to what works. We can't be foolish. But we're -- we're building massive electric plants all over the country.
MATTINGLY: We're going to continue to monitor the President's remarks. I do want to go back, though, to CNN's Kristen Wilson. Kristen, there were two things that stuck out to me. I think we're now in the portion that you and I have heard a lot of over the course of the last several months. But at the very beginning, there were two things that stuck out to me.
One, when he said, we're going to stay here for a while in terms of the -- the federal presence in the District of Columbia. I believe the statute they're utilizing is kind of a 30-day time window, at least on the Home Rule side of things. And the second is going back to Congress to ask for money to build out roads, construction, using Clark Construction here in D.C. Do we know anything about the latter one?
HOLMES: No, that was the first time we'd heard that. Him talking about going back to Congress sounded like for more security and for, as you said, more construction to rebuild certain parts of the city. On that 30 days, what's been very interesting is there were a lot of questions as to how long this would last.
At one point, there was some belief that this might not even last the 30 days, but the White House has kind of pushed that aside, saying that once the 30 days are up, they expect that they will go to Congress because that's what they have to do in order to extend the National Guard presence, extend the federal presence there.
I will say, you know, President Trump has gone down there. He's thanking a lot of these men and women. We know there are roughly 300 people there. They're from different agencies, DEA, ATF. And I've got to tell you, Phil, I'm sure for a lot of them it is appreciated because we have seen a lot of protesting, a lot of shouting at these men and women, a lot of people in D.C. who are unhappy with their presence.
So I'm sure to many of them it is nice to have somebody in -- in the highest office thanking them for their service.
MATTINGLY: Yes, no, it's a really important point. These are folks that a lot of them sit down here or deployed here. It wasn't their idea.
HOLMES: Or not by choice.
MATTINGLY: They're here because that's what they're supposed to be doing, and that's what their commander-in-chief has told them to do. I want to get to Charles Ramsey in a second. Kristen, before I let you go, inside the White House right now, it's clear they view this as a winning political issue. Is there any concern about kind of the tail of this over the long term?
HOLMES: Not really right now. I mean, they believe anything that they can say. You are -- you're saying that you are against us fixing crime, right? This is the same way that we've heard them talk about immigration. If you talk -- if you push back on any of their immigration policies, you to them are saying, the way that their narrative is, is that you want, you know, illegal criminals in this country. But then, of course, that's how they feel about crime as well, Phil.
MATTINGLY: All right. Kristen Holmes, I'm sure we'll be coming back to you. Keep us posted as -- as you hear news from the President as he continues to speak. I want to bring in former Washington, D.C., police chief, Charles Ramsey. Commissioner, Trump just said that now with the extra law enforcement in D.C., the crime numbers are way down. What's your sense right now of the statistics? There's been a lot of questions about where they were, where they could be now, what's responsible for what at this moment?
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, first of all, I'm not surprised if the numbers are down. With the number of law enforcement and military personnel that's been sent to the district, it's pretty easy to suppress crime. But suppressing crime is not the same thing as solving the crime problem.
[17:45:12]
These numbers cannot remain forever. Eventually, they're going to leave. And when they leave, what happens then? So you have to put in place a strategy, a plan, to be able to sustain whatever gains you make during this period of time. And unless I see that, then this is going to be something that is very temporary in nature. There is a problem in terms of violent crime, not only in D.C., but in cities around the country. But just throwing hundreds of National Guard at it is not necessarily the solution.
MATTINGLY: Have you seen any threads of -- of -- of a broader plan, a longer-term plan? Because I think you make a really good point. There's kind of a snap reaction to the scale of the operation here without acknowledging the fact that that's going to have an effect, like without question it will have an effect in terms of the numbers. But -- but in terms of when you talk to people, is there any sense that there is a plan being put into place?
RAMSEY: No, I haven't heard anybody really talking about any kind of real coordinated plan. You've got a lot of law enforcement agencies that work in the district and they coordinate on a regular basis, but they all have their different missions. But what I would like to see would be, for an example, you know, if you want to have greater police presence, not so much the Guard, but police presence, expand the area of patrol for Park Police, expand the area of patrol for the U.S. Capitol Police. All these kinds of agencies, along with metropolitan police, they need a plan, they need a strategy.
What you're seeing right now is nothing more than just suppressing crime. And you could put hundreds of people anywhere in the United States for a period of time, and I guarantee you the crime numbers will show a reduction because you're suppressing it. Criminals aren't stupid. They are -- they're just going to lay low until you leave.
MATTINGLY: Charles Ramsey, always appreciate your time, especially in a breaking news event like this. Thanks so much. We'll be right back.
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[17:50:07]
MATTINGLY: In our tech lead, a lawsuit against the popular video game Roblox, alleges the platform allows sexual predators to victimize kids. The state of Louisiana filed the lawsuit, and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill joins me now. Attorney General, I really appreciate your time, especially as a parent who sees this game often on the T.V.s in his -- his home. To start with, what precipitated this? Was there a single event that kind of prompted you to move forward here?
LIZ MURRILL, LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, you know, we've had some incidents here involving our Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force that drew some attention to this -- this platform, this app in particular. And we had a situation in one example of that where the parish sheriff was executing a warrant and encountered an individual who was masking his voice as a 14-year-old girl while he was actively using Roblox to, you know, prey on young -- young children.
MATTINGLY: Your lawsuit alleges the company prioritizes profit over child safety. Do you have specific examples that are really kind of at the core of this?
MURRILL: Look, there's a lot of examples of that. I think that, you know, everything about this particular app's growth and all the way through when it -- the company went public, you know, everything they do is designed to increase user engagement numbers, which increase their profitability.
And about 60 percent, almost 60 percent of the users that are, you know, enrolled for to use Roblox are -- are 16 or under. That's an enormous, you know, amount of exposure to liability and an enormous amount of exposure for sex predators to get access to our children.
MATTINGLY: Also an enormous amount of responsibility for a company, you'd think. Roblox's statement --
MURRILL: It is.
MATTINGLY: -- about this lawsuit begins by saying they don't comment on pending litigation, but it also says, any assertion that Roblox would intentionally put our users at risk of exploitation is simply untrue. No system is perfect, and bad actors adapt to evade detection, including efforts to take users to other platforms where safety standards and moderation practices may differ. Do you think it's true that bad actors will always adapt to any safeguards a tech company puts into place? MURRILL: I mean, I think -- I think they'll try, but there's still a lot of safeguards they have in place. So it's simply not true that they've done everything that they can do. I mean, that's just flatly false. From the time they started this app, from 2009, I think, to 2016, I don't think they made a single tip or forwarded a single tip to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
So, you know, other apps do that. You can just look at those statistics and see the dramatic difference in the way that Roblox operates compared to other apps. You know, I just don't think that the facts bear out their statements that they are doing everything that they can do. In fact, I think what they show is they're not doing -- they're doing the most, the minimum that they can do, and that that keeps their engagement numbers up.
MATTINGLY: Well, we'll certainly be watching going forward. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, thanks so much for your time.
MURRILL: Thanks for having me.
MATTINGLY: Well, in our Health Lead, the evolving medical advice on your heart health and high blood pressure. We're paging CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and note the QR code on your screen to scan and submit a question. Sanjay, the fancy medical word for high blood pressure is hypertension. There's new guidance about how to control it. What do we need to know here?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the headline here, Phil, was that hypertension is something that will be recognized with lower numbers. It used to be 140 was the number you really paid attention to before thinking about treatment. Now it's 130, and they want to talk about treating that more aggressively. So, you know, it's interesting.
If you look at 120, most people know these numbers, but 120 over 80 and lower, that's considered normal. 120 to 129 is considered elevated, but that 130 number is where people are really starting to pay attention. If you have blood pressure that falls into that range, for three to six months, you should try, you know, basic lifestyle changes, which you know, diet, exercise, cutting back on salt.
But if that doesn't work, after six months, you probably need to be thinking about medication. One thing that is new here, Phil, they say is part of the lifestyle changes. Cutting out alcohol completely is now recommended as well. As you know, Phil, they've gone back and forth on this.
MATTINGLY: Yes, that's what I was going to ask. There was a time when we heard having a glass of wine was actually good for the heart.
GUPTA: Yes, I mean, I've got to say, as long as I've been a medical reporter, I think there's been a -- there's been back and forth on -- on alcohol. In fact, it goes back to, like, the 1800s. There was these -- these op-eds in "The New York Times" debating the -- the value of alcohol when it came to health.
[17:55:03]
But I think over the last 30, 40 years or so, I think the drumbeat has become increasingly clear. In the 1980s, there was an association between alcohol and breast cancer, for example. There was this thing called the French Paradox back in the early 90s, Phil, where basically they said, hey, look, the French, they eat whatever they want, they don't exercise, they smoke, and they're still pretty healthy. Could it be the red wine? I think that's what sort of got a lot of people's interest.
But then over the last 30 years, the -- the negative health impacts of alcohol have become increasingly clear. And I think that's really what's driven the concern about alcohol, especially when it comes to blood pressure. Phil, by the way, I thought this was interesting. Only about half the country, 54 percent of adults, say they drink nowadays. I don't know if that number sounds high or low to you, but that's where it stands now.
And it's sort of, you know, it's changed over time over the last 30, 40 years. About half the country says even a small amount of alcohol, one or two drinks a day, is bad for your health. And this is overwhelmingly young people, Phil, that are saying this. So the attitudes toward alcohol really seem to be changing, and more so among younger people. So we'll see what this means in the future.
MATTINGLY: That has been a dramatic pendulum shift, it seems. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, as always, my friend, thanks so much.
GUPTA: Yes.
MATTINGLY: And again, Sanjay is taking your questions. Scan the QR code on your screen to submit a question. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will be back tomorrow to answer some of those of your questions.
Well, the breaking news right now, President Trump just wrapping up his visit with National Guard troops in D.C. More of his message there, that's next.
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