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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Democrat Senator After Briefing, U.S. On Path To Send Troops Iran; Pentagon Says, U.S. Destroys Iranian Ships And Minelayers In Strait; Deleted Tweet From Cabinet Official Rattles Oil Markets; House Speaker Johnson Acknowledges Speaking With Ogles And Fine On Muslim Comments; Trump's Pick To Replace MTG Heads Into A Runoff Against A Democrat. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired March 10, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[22:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST (voice over): Tonight, as one Republican calls for troops to Iran --
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I go back to South Carolina. I'm asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Mideast.
PHILLIP: -- the skepticism to Donald Trump's war grows louder.
JOE ROGAN, HOST, THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE: It just seems so insane based on what he ran on. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right?
PHILLIP: Plus, a massive escalation. Iran is laying miles of minds in the world's most important waterway for oil, and the president makes a big threat.
Also, after that attempted terror attack against New York's mayor, two Republican lawmakers say Muslims don't belong in society, and the Republican speaker doesn't condemn.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): That's a serious issue.
PHILLIP: And --
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country.
PHILLIP: -- that promise before the last major election. Now, the White House wants to avoid that slogan before the next major election.
Live at the table, Ana Navarro, Joe Borelli, Adam Mockler, Lydia Moynihan, and General Mark Schwartz.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do. (END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIP (on camera): Good evening. I'm Abby Phillip in New York.
Tonight, are American forces on the verge of hitting the ground in Iran? Well, one senator says that the Trump administration is on that path while another is actually preparing for them. After the Trump administration gave a classified briefing to senators today, Democrats were unsatisfied, to say the least. They called the strategy totally incoherent and the beginnings of a forever war. They accused the White House of not providing any sound justification for the conflict, and one says boots may be part of that plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): I emerged from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate.
We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives here.
I am fearful that's the path that we're on right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Now, remember, the president himself has said that it's possible but that they were, quote, nowhere near it. Pete Hegseth, says the president's always going to leave his options open. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: People ask boots on the ground. No boots on the ground. Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks, go in, go in. President Trump knows, I know you don't tell the enemy, you don't tell the press, you don't tell anybody what your limits would be on an operation. We're willing to go as far as we need to in order to be successful.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: So, I'm not surprised that they don't want to answer that question directly, but given that they keep. Saying that the scope of this is limited, that it has clear objectives, shouldn't they be able to say whether those objectives can be met without putting American soldiers on the ground?
ADAM MOCKLER, COMMENTATOR, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: It seems like they've been contradicting themselves every single day since this conflict began. Donald Trump said yesterday that the United States was not the one who killed the 160 school girls in Iran. He said that it was actually Iran that did it. Then he was contradicted by his own intelligence. This entire administration doesn't have a plan, it seems.
And I honestly think Israel is the one that pulled us into this and is now dictating a lot of the policy. They released a Twitter thread earlier where they lay out their ideal, optimal regime change, and they call for regime change, which there is nothing I would like to see more than the dismantling of the Iranian regime and the people living there to not be repressed anymore. But when Israel is contradicting the United States, it leaves a lot of questions, people watching this war.
JOE BORELLI, FORMER REPUBLICAN LEADER, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: Look to echo what the secretary of war said, and, again, you know, I haven't served, certainly I wouldn't supersede some of the people on this panel who have, but my Sun Tzu for armchair quarterback certainly indicates that telling the enemy exactly what your limitations are in a combat operation probably doesn't sound like the smartest strategy.
Framing the plan in a way that limits what you can do or how you can respond just seems like allowing them to make more time to prepare the defense and injure American troops. So, I don't blame -- as you even pointed out, I don't blame Secretary Hegseth or the president for not wanting to just place a handcuff on the administration's reaction.
That said, I do think that most people don't want to see ground troops in this conflict. I think that's a fair, you know, critique from the public. I think that's a stretch. However, if ground troops are needed to secure enriched uranium, then what is the entire purpose of this conflict, but for securing that uranium?
[22:05:07]
PHILLIP: That's a very good question, and I think more questions tonight about whether that's actually the goal. Because, General Schwartz, Chris Murphy, the senator, came out of the briefing and he just posted this thread on X not too long ago.
A couple of key things, he says, they were told that this classified briefing, war goals do not involve destroying Iran's nuclear weapons program. They were also told, he says, that regime change is not on the list, so he concludes the hardliners are going to be still in charge after all of this. And then the final thing, what are the goals, he asks, well, destroying a lot of missiles and boats and drone factories. And then he said they hinted at more bombing, which, of course, is endless war if the Iranians resume production of those things.
So, do you disagree with his conclusion that if all of those things -- if those things are not on the table and they're just planning on bombing for now, and then they'll keep bombing if it resumes, we might never get out of this?
MARK SCHWARTZ (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: That's a possibility. And I think certainly the objectives and the goal line has continued to slip since the outset of this campaign. And, you know, the fact that we're walking back now to say -- or the administration's walking back based on what was said in this briefing that now getting security of the enriched uranium's not an objective, and their nuclear program's not an objective, I mean, that's a significant departure from the whole premise for why we decided to go to war after the negotiations, you know, broke down and military operations started. So, extremely difficult to do because you got to know where the heck it's at.
PHILLIP: And do you think that it would require boots on the ground for that?
SCHWARTZ: I think, absolutely, it would require. If that is a goal, which has been a stated goal from, you know, throughout the course of the lead up and the execution of this campaign, it would require that, because there's no other way to secure it.
PHILLIP: So, how does Trump go from saying he wants to end forever wars, saying that the other candidates are going to bring the United States into conflict with Iran specifically, he campaigned on that, to being in a position where if the stated goal is to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, that would involve putting Americans on the ground?
LYDIA MOYNIHAN, CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK POST: I don't think this is a contradiction. He's always been very clear that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon. So, I don't think this is a shock to anyone that he would be willing to take action in this way.
And I would like to just provide some context here. I mean, there never is a good war or a bad peace, so I don't want to be glib. But I think what we've seen in the last ten days is pretty astonishing. I mean, we've destroyed, according to some reports, 75 percent of Iranian missiles. We're looking at the number of missiles that are able to fire has decreased, I mean, dramatically from 130 to UAE to now, just about 18 as of today, I believe.
So, I do think we're making progress and I say it's been ten days. Let's give it another ten days and see where we are.
I would acknowledge as well, though, I mean, Condoleeza Rice has warned that mission creep, if you will, was obviously a huge problem in Iraq where the goalpost changed. And so I think that's something the administration needs to be super cautious of. I think they are. Trump is very aware of his base's sentiment. He doesn't want to get involved and entangled foreign war.
And I think what I would say too is the American people love to win. If you go back and you look at Desert Storm, and obviously you can speak to this much better than I, I mean it was very successful. The amount of time they had troops on the ground for was days, not even weeks. And you look at Bush's ratings coming out of that, and he had an 89 percent approval rating.
So, the fact of the matter is we don't know how this is going to end. And if it is a month, I think that's going to be huge if it's --
PHILLIP: It's already been much longer than Desert Storm and it's also all of the conflicts that we've seen over the last, you know, 50 years. This is perhaps the most unpopular. The American people are already unhappy with this.
And earlier this week, Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, was asked about subscription and mandatory drafting, and here's what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX BUSINESS HOST: Mothers out there are worried that we're going to have a draft, that they're going to see their sons get in -- and daughters get involved in this. What do you want to say about the president's plans for troops on the ground? As we know, it's been largely an air campaign up until now.
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: It has been, and it will continue to be. And President Trump wisely does not remove options off of the table.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: To that, Marjorie Taylor Greene says, by the way, a bunch of psycho Republicans want to not only draft your sons but your daughters too.
ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And, of course, there's like a Stephen Miller tweet that says, you know, if you want your sons and daughters drafted and put as boots on the ground, go and vote for Kamala.
[22:10:04]
PHILLIP: Kamala will send your sons to war, he said, yes.
NAVARRO: Right. Look, if you are going to enter a war and regardless of what they want to call it, we all have eyes, we all have ears, we all have reading comprehension, this is a war. If you are going to enter a war, if you're going to put American lives at risk, we now know that over 140 have been injured, we know seven have died, we know there's been innocent civilians, like school girls in Iran that have lost their lives at a cost of $891 million a day, you've got to make the case to the American people.
I have actually been surprised and it's felt very impromptu to me. I have been surprised that there hasn't been a coherent message made by everybody in this administration. I've been surprised that one of the first to be singing off the -- off-hymn was Marco Rubio, who was the one who said that it was Israel that led us into this war, which then had to be cleaned up.
So, no, they have not made the case. They keep changing what the objective is. Donald Trump told us the objective was regime change. Lindsey Graham was out there on T.V. today saying that if there is not regime change, this is not a win, that we did not win if there is not regime change,
BORELLI: Lindsey Graham is probably not the best messenger for Republicans right now. I think the point is --
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PHILLIP: To your point, let's just play a little bit of Lindsey Graham just to Joe's point here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM: We're going to blow the hell out of these people.
We're going to unleash holy hell on them here any minute now.
If somebody threatens me and my family multiple times and over 47 years tries to hurt me and my family, I'm going to do something about it.
Mr. President, unleash the American military with Israel on Hezbollah tonight. Finish these bastards off. They have American blood on their hands.
I go back to South Carolina. I'm asking them to send their sons and daughters over to the Mideast. What I want you to do in the Mideast, our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, step forward and say, this is my fight too. I join America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NAVARRO: You may say he is not a good messenger, but Lindsey Graham spends a hell of a lot of time on the phone and in person with Donald Trump, plays golf with him and it goes on Fox to give him direct messages, speak to camera and say, Mr. President, do this and that. And we know that Donald Trump listens to people like Lindsey Graham.
MOYNIHAN: I think he's already facing a lot of backlash, especially after The Wall Street Journal report that suggested he was the one to try and push Israel to then persuade Trump. I don't think people are happy with Lindsey Graham right now.
PHILLIP: Lindsey Graham is still talking every single day and he's still beating the bush.
NAVARRO: Oh, honey, he'll be dead and will still be talking.
PHILLIP: And, listen, but I think it's so fascinating because back in the day, Trump used to call Lindsey Graham and his ilk warmongers. He used to suggest that it was like Dick Cheney and Lindsey Graham and cabal together. He now has Lindsey Graham's in his ear every day. And I think that's what some people are worried about is that the mission creep has already begun. Trump has already shifted from saying that he was anti-war to being very interested in doing whatever he thinks he needs to do.
MOCKLER: You want to know what makes me so angry listening to people like Lindsey Graham and listening to the $1 billion a day toll is that the neocon boomers surrounding Donald Trump are mortgaging my generation's future for another endless -- maybe endless, but another very expensive Middle Eastern war. We tried this with Iraq. We tried this with Afghanistan. It left us in trillions and trillions of dollars in debt.
We pay $1 trillion per year just on the interest for our debt. This is amassing and it's going to affect my generations for decades to come because the old people know they can start wars because young people don't have the power to stop them, so the old people make us foot the bill.
And you know what I don't like the most out of all this is the gaslighting. They say that it's fiscally irresponsible for us to invest in healthcare to us, for us to invest at home and my generation in the future. The Affordable Care Act subsidies that they were arguing over were $50 billion, and they've already (INAUDIBLE). They've already asked for $50 billion. So, there's just no (INAUDIBLE).
BORELLI: I am, you know, from the wing of the party that doesn't ascribe to the Lindsey Graham, you know, let's root and tootin shooting kind of stuff, like I just don't believe that. But the thing he said that we didn't put on the T.V. screen, and I think it's very accurate, is that you can't allow a regime that routinely chants death to America to have enriched uranium. You can't allow a regime that routinely, and often, and frequently --
PHILLIP: But what if they do? What if they don't get the enriched uranium, which it seems like they acknowledge to lawmakers that they won't? And it which case, all of this --
BORELLI: In their acknowledgement, they're acknowledging that, number one, the bombing raid last year wasn't complete, that the JCPOA was moot, that this country has continuously sought to enrich uranium for weapons purposes over the last 40 years. You cannot let the --
MOCKLER: The JCPOA wasn't moot.
BORELLI: I'm talking. You let this country exist for 40 years where they routinely empowered and financed their proxies to attack innocent civilians in the entire region.
[22:15:06]
You cannot let this country have a nuclear war.
That is the moral justification of the war. Maybe Lindsey Graham --
PHILLIP: If they don't actually accomplish that objective, then what's the point?
BORELLI: That should be the objective.
PHILLIP: I think that's really where we are right now.
MOCKLER: I agree that they shouldn't have the clear weapons, but it just bothers me that eight months ago they named this the 12-day war. Maybe that war was contained within 12 days, but we're like 200 days out and there is still a war going on. So, they are just saying that the war is over and then changing the guidelines or the goalposts on their justification over and over.
PHILLIP: He's talking about the one last year. MOCKLER: The 12-day war that is still going. Yes, it's not a 12 days.
PHILLIP: Let's hit pause here because we have more on the other side.
More breaking news, Iran is now laying in the Strait of Hormuz, a significant escalation in this war, despite the administration claiming that the U.S. has wiped them out.
Plus, the Republican speaker is refusing to condemn two of his lawmakers who say that Muslims don't belong in American society after they attempted a terror attack in New York City. We'll discuss that next.
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[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: Tonight, a massive escalation. Iran is laying minds in the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important waterway for oil. Sources tell CNN that the mining is not extensive yet, with just a few dozen having been laid in recent days, but Iran's forces could feasibly lay hundreds of mines in the waterway, effectively cutting a fifth of the world's oil.
On social media, Donald Trump threatened military consequences to Iran at a level never seen before. And just hours later, the U.S. military announced that it has destroyed multiple Iranian naval ships, including 16 mine layers.
And we also learned tonight that the U.S. just recently decommissioned some dedicated demining pieces of equipment in that region. And one of the messages that Chris Murphy sent tonight as well that I didn't show was that he came out of the briefing believing they didn't have a plan for keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.
And it sounds like what the administration's saying to ships is basically be brave and just tough it out. And if you get blown up, what happens, right?
SCHWARTZ: I heard American a captain today saying that, you know, being brave isn't what allows freedom of navigation. It's, you know, mine clearance. But I was surprised, I heard earlier tonight as well, that some of our mine clearance vessels that we have had been sent back to the United States and that we don't have the capability at least, you know, available to the public that I certainly thought that we did.
NAVARRO: So, when those vessels are decommissioned, because I heard that story again, what does it take to get them back?
SCHWARTZ: It depends on the state they were in, you know, the decommissioning state, if you will, because they basically will, you know, the end state is they'll strip it down, it'll become, you know, scrap metal or we sell it off. But I don't know that those vessels have gotten to that point. PHILLIP: My understanding, according to our reporting, is that there are other vessels that could also do it. They have other roles, but they're not as effective or reliable.
SCHWARTZ: And we have a range of capabilities. It's not just those vessels.
PHILLIP: And, look, I mean, this is a major problem, because as weak as Iran might be, their ability to shut down commerce through the Strait of Hormuz is -- could be catastrophic. And there have been some analysts who have suggested that that would force the administration's hand to limit their war goals. Was -- why was this not something that was thought through beforehand?
BORELLI: First of all let's talk about -- we're quoting Chris Murphy and Dick Blumenthal, two of the most partisan senators in the United States, leaving a classified briefing and basically pooping on what the American military is doing and what the planning is. So, I take what they say with a huge grain of salt.
And I have to imagine that if we're sitting here debating mines in the Strait of Hormuz on a CNN panel in New York City, I have to imagine that Secretary Hegseth and the leaders of our military are also thinking about the same thing and working on it right now. They've sunk, they said, nine mine-laying ships or ships that have the capacity to lay a few mines at a time. I have to imagine our drones are in the air, our aircraft are in the air targeting those very same ships.
Is closing the Strait of Hormuz an economic problem? 100 percent, right? And that is the only strategy right now that Iran has and the only leverage they have.
PHILLIP: It's the only effectively closed. All that being said, everything you just said is already -- it's basically closed.
NAVARRO: And you know what's open as a result?
PHILLIP: And so it's a question of how long, right?
NAVARRO: Well, you know, talk about catastrophic consequences as a result of what's happening at the Strait of Hormuz, we've now lifted -- Trump lifted sanctions on Russia. And so, you know, I feel very bad for Ukraine today.
MOCKLER: Just think about how much chaos the Trump administration has caused in the past few weeks. They have spiked oil prices. They've shuttered stock markets across the globe. They posted a tweet today. Our Energy Secretary Chris Wright posted a tweet today saying that a ship was escorted through the Strait of Hormuz, and he deleted it within ten minutes, which just like absolutely blew up markets across the globe.
Donald Trump has made the world more catastrophic after saying that he would be America first, anti-interventionalist. He said that he was a populist, make America great again person. But instead, Russia now has more ability to not only kill Ukrainians, but to target or to help Iran target U.S. troops.
We saw eight U.S. troops die. Hold up. We saw eight U.S. troops die. And/or when we learned that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence, this administration is apathetic to it. They're like, oh, they're not doing as good of a job as they could. They said that Russia might not -- what did they say? Russia isn't doing a good job helping Iran because Iran's not doing well. They're just apathetic to the fact --
BORELLI: if Iran is denied a nuclear weapon, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
[22:25:00]
MOCKLER: Of course, it's a good thing, of course.
BORELLI: So, is it worth taking some strategic risk? Is it worth taking some economic risk --
MOCKLER: The word strategic -- I'm going to take problems with the word, strategic. There was no strategy from this. Listen --
(CROSSTALKS)
MOYNIHAN: How do you know?
MOCKLER: One minute ago --
BORELLI: Are you on the phone? Are you going with Pete Hegseth on that phone.
MOCKLER: I'm not. It's funny to me that one minute ago you said, Senator Chris Murphy was not trustworthy, but in your mind, Pete Hegseth is trustworthy?
BORELLI: I actually said he was partisan.
MOCKLER: Okay. But in your mind, Pete Hegseth is not partisan?
BORELLI: I said he is extremely partisan and left a classified briefing just to come out and poop on the American military.
MOCKLER: Is Donald Trump partisan and his rhetoric around this? Is Pete Hegseth, is Lindsey Graham? I can point to anyone in this administration that is leading this effort and they're hyper-partisan and they're honestly making us look bad. We -- Americans should be terrified about this.
PHILLIP: Lydia?
MOYNIHAN: I mean, Zelenskyy actually was very happy to see intervention in Iran, and, of course, Iran and Russia are allies. So, if Iran is taken out, that's actually bad news for Russia. So, I think it's all somewhat interrelated.
I mean, the fact that we see Iran putting mines in the Strait of Hormuz is exactly why they need to be taken out, this is a murderous, barbaric regime that will do whatever it can to destroy human life. So, it seems like that's a point in the administration's favor.
And I would note, yes, obviously, it's a disaster for the Strait Hormuz to be closed for us, for every country, but especially for Iran. This is their entire economy. This is going to destroy them.
PHILLIP: Well, look, I mean, I think it's true that, you know, sort of dealing with Iran has always been on the agenda as something that needs to happen. But I guess where we are right now, General, they keep saying, we're close to meeting our objectives. We're close to incapacitating them. But are we? And, I mean, how much capacity does Iran need to still be a nuisance, to still keep that strait close? Because it only takes one mine blowing up one ship to keep that thing closed indefinitely.
SCHWARTZ: Yes. As far as the strait, there's still a lot of capability that Iran has to employ. You know, we are a long way from -- they've got dozens and dozens of these fast-attack ships and they have an estimated of 5,000 to 6,000 mines. But in terms of the military objectives, I think, militarily, you know, U.S. Central Command and all its subordinate elements have done a fantastic job to this point in terms of what they've been asked to do and what they've been asked to target and go after.
But, you know, infrastructure can be rebuilt. The production of missile capability and components can all be rebuilt. So, you know, I was talking to someone earlier today, never underestimate that part of the world. And, you know, we've seen it in Iran, we've seen it in Afghanistan, we've seen it in Iraq, the ability of a population to suffer, and as important is to never underestimate the ability of a regime, an authoritarian regime to prevent a population from, you know, being able to find their own way.
PHILLIP: Yes.
SCHWARTZ: And I think that's the case here. It's something that's sobering.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, if the reports are true that they did in fact kill maybe tens of thousands of protesters just a month ago, the suffering of the Iranian people is not really on the mind of this regime. It's not controlling their decision-making.
General Mark Schwartz, thank you very much for being here.
Up next, two Republicans say Muslims don't belong here after an attempted terror attack against New York's Mayor Zohran Mamdani. And the House speaker, Mike Johnson, says nothing really to condemn those comments. Another special guest is going to be with us at the table when we come back.
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[22:30:00]
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PHILLIP: Speaker Mike Johnson has a rhetoric problem on his hands after two of his members made anti-Muslim comments. This week, Congressman Andy Ogles wrote on social media that "Muslims don't belong in American society," that "Pluralism is a lie."
And in a post today, he called Muslims, "barbarians." Congressman Randy Fine is also facing backlash over his post calling for Muslims to be deported and pushing to denaturalize American citizens. And tonight, Johnson acknowledged speaking with both men but stop short of condemning their language.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R) HOUSE SPEAKER: Look, there's a lot of energy in the country and a lot of popular sentiment that the demand to impose Sharia Law in America is a serious problem. That's what animates this, and that's the, you know, the language that people use. It's different language than I would use. But I think that's a serious issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Founder and executive director of the National Security Institute to Jamil Jaffer joins us in our fifth seat. And Jamil, do you think that this is really all about the fear that there's really going to be Sharia Law installed here at the United States?
JAMIL JAFFER, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Well, that's not what Randy Fine or Andy Ogle said. What Andy Ogle said was Muslims don't belong in America, that they have no place here, that they shall go home. Even the ones born here, apparently, should go, God knows where but somewhere, apparently.
And Randy Fine said if it's close between dogs and Muslims, I'll take dogs. Now, I have three dogs. I love my dogs but we're a Muslim household and we're fine with dogs. It's all good.
ANA NAVARRO, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I have to choose between dogs or Randy Fine.
JAFFER: I will say my wife might choose the dogs over me. So, you know, there are some Muslims who might lose out to dogs.
PHILLIP: And Speaker Johnson, coddling this bigotry, I think is the other part of the story to be honest.
ADAM MOCKLER, COMMENTATOR, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: A few things. First of all, my grandpa moved from Syria in early '80s.
[22:35:01]
And my dad's whole side of the family, they are Muslims. So, anti- Muslim bigotry has been around for decades and decades. I will say my grandpa who moved here, the Muslim community he lives in Indiana is full of doctors, heart surgeons, people who have helped their community. I also find it very ironic that Republicans are so welcoming to any form of bigotry.
They're so welcoming to anti-trans bigotry. They're so welcoming to anti-Muslim bigotry. You're making a face but these are bigoted comments they made. But the moment that bigotry is targeted towards them, freak the hell out. You have to stop any bigotry before it enters your movement.
I just find it funny when Randy Fine will be super Islamophobic, but then he'll be on the floor whenever something is directed at Jewish people, which by the way, you should never be bigoted towards anybody. Stop the bigotry before it enters your movement. But how do you only micro-focus on certain forms of bigotry? I just don't --
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: What I find ironic is, so supposedly some of these comments are as a result of the attempt against Mayor Mamdani in New York who was raised Muslim -- was he not -- himself? So, they're being anti- Muslim to -- and they're finally defending Mamdani over something.
JOE BORELLI, FORMER REPUBLICAN LEADER, NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL: To be clear, the attack wasn't on Mayor Mamdani.
NAVARRO: It was at his house.
BORELLI: It was attacking protesters, people protesting Mamdani.
NAVARRO: Bu his house.
BORELLI: To frame it as an anti-Muslim attack would actually completely reverse what happened.
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: Someone who Allah Akbar to a bomb that didn't go off at the protesters.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: No, I'm not saying that at the same time Muslims -- I'm saying they're finally doing -- the Republicans are finally doing something in defense of a Muslim, in this case, Mamdani.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: But okay, let me just finish at this point. I don't think there's anything any Republican in Congress could do right now that would get condemned by Mike Johnson because the practical thing is he has got a one vote cushion, a one vote margin because Thomas Massey often votes against Republicans.
And so, you know, we saw him for the last couple of weeks stay mum and not condemn Tony Gonzalez, and make him resign despite that he had been having an affair with a staffer who ended up dousing herself with gasoline and setting herself on fire and dying. And so, there is nothing that any Republican can do right now that Mike Johnson is going to condemn.
PHILLIP: Is that -- is that true that Mike Johnson will not draw a line anywhere, even here?
LYDIA MOYNIHAN, "NEW YORK POST" CORRESPONDENT: What Mike Johnson said is he said, "People who refuse to assimilate and follow a radical ideology that seeks to commit violence and terrorist acts have no business being in the country." I think most people would --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Well, that's not what he was asked about. He was asked about --
MOYNIHAN: -- would agree with. Most people with --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: He was asked about two congressmen who said Muslims have no place in American society. And one of them saying, as Jamil points out, that if it's a choice between dogs and Muslims, it's not a difficult one. He wasn't asked about people with radical ideologies. He was asked about --
(CROSSTALK)
MOYNIHAN: The only reason -- obviously, vast majority --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: So, I don't -- I think it is a great tactic to try this to answer a different question than was asked, But the actual question is, is there a line anywhere right now on Capitol Hill or elsewhere in the Republican movement when it comes to anti-Muslims --
(CROSSTALK)
MOYNIHAN: I can't speak for Mike Johnson, but I would say we've had two terrorist attacks here in the last 10 days.
PHILLIP: And? And?
MOCKLER: What does that have to do with Muslims?
MOYNIHAN: So, can we condemn those? Why are we --
MOCKLER: Of course.
PHILLIP: What does that have to do with Muslims?
MOYNIHAN: There is a radical strain of Islam -- ------
PHILLIP: Okay. There are -- there are violent people with terroristic ideologies here and all around the world.
MOYNIHAN: -- that's led to these terrorist attacks. Obviously, the vast majority of Muslims are peaceful.
PHILLIP: What does that have to do with whether Muslims belong in American society as a group?
NAVARRO: Yes, I'd like to her to hear the answer.
MOYNIHAN: I'm talking about what Mike Johnson was saying.
PHILLIP: That's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about what he didn't say.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: What I'm talking about is what he didn't say.
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: -- his full quote. He said --
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: -- extremism without compromising our commitment to religious liberty. He was chiding those two members of Congress. And by the way, as a Republican --
PHILLIP: Was he? Was he, when he said there are strong language --
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: As a Republican, I believe that the same amendment that gives those two members of Congress--
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Is it strong language or strong bigotry, Joe?
BORELLI: The same amendment gave those two members of Congress the right to say offensive -- I find it actually offensive as well, is the same amendment that permits Muslim people to be here probably --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Nobody said that Mike Johnson should throw them in jail. I think the question was, is he going to clearly say that they crossed a line. And he characterized it.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: He basically characterized it as strong language.
BORELLI: I think --
PHILLIP: It's not strong language.
BORELLI: I think he said the language that uses --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Okay. But you just said he didn't say it.
BORELLI: I read what he said. He said, "We can be tough on Islamic extremism without compromising our commitment to religious liberty."
PHILLIP: Jamil, you were going to say --
JAFFER: I mean look, as a Muslim Republican who worked for the Bush administration on counterterrorism matters, I can tell you there are tons of Muslims who oppose Islamic ideology -- Islamist ideology, who oppose ISIS, who oppose throwing bombs at Americans.
[22:40:02]
And the Speaker of House should just say that. The Speaker of House should represent the real Republican Party, not the B.S. Republican Party of Andy Ogles, who's a racist Islamophobe, okay? Or the B.S. Republican Party of Randy Fine who compares any religious sect to dogs. It's not appropriate. The Speaker should just say it.
Now, it's true. He has a thin margin. He's in a very tough position. It may be hard to say certain things but it should be easy in this country a country that believes in the First Amendment, that believes the freedom of religion to say those kind of remarks are wrong, they should be condemned. It's not a hard thing. Mike Johnson is a smart guy. He's a lawyer. He knows what he's saying. He knows he's playing games awards He should stop.
NAVARRO: And the other thing that he could have said is that people should go take a walk around Arlington Cemetery, particularly now that we are at war and that Donald Trump is putting our service members at risk, and take a look at all of the tombs at Arlington Cemetery that have a crescent moon for the Muslims that have served and lost their lives for this country.
MOCKLER: I was going say really quickly, to build on your point, it's unrealistic to think that Mike Johnson will lead in this capacity when the person setting the tone for the entire party is someone posting A.I. memes of Obama as a gorilla, calling for 100 -- like the DHS account called for 100 million deportations in America. They clearly have racially biased policies and I think that that's manifesting with a silence around this stuff.
PHILLIP: All right, next for us, the White House has a new message for House Republicans -- stop talking about mass deportation. So, why the change in messaging? We'll debate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:46:13]
PHILLIP: The Trump administration appears to be shifting its messaging on immigration. The source telling CNN that a White House aide told Republicans to stop talking about mass deportations and instead, remind voters that the party stands for deporting criminal undocumented immigrants. The GOP made mass deportations a central part of its 2024 campaign message. But tonight, Speaker Mike Johnson is acknowledging that something went wrong along the way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNSON: We got a little hiccup with some of the Hispanic and Latino voters for certain because some of the immigration enforcement was viewed to be overzealous and you know, everybody can describe it differently, But here's the good news. We're in a course correction mode right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: A course correction mode. I was told many times that mass deportations was hugely popular with the American people and that they voted for it so they want to see it.
BORELLI: That was probably the most honest take you ever see from a Republican.
PHILLIP: You rarely see it. I almost wonder if he knew he was on camera when he said that.
BORELLI: Yes, you rarely see that directive of take. Look, you know, no one poll is conclusive, but when you see poll after poll indicate something, it's certainly a trend. And two things can be true. The administration ran on closing the border and deporting the worst of the worst, right? Those things are still wildly popular with Americans.
The part that isn't is what happened in Minnesota is where these raids took on a different aura, let's just say, than what people expected. And I think that's where Republicans genuinely did lose vote. I'm not saying that. The polls have been pretty clear.
PHILLIP: Yes.
BORELLI: So, if you want to compete in the midterms in 2026, I think the party is doing the right thing by focusing on what they did. That's a win. Border incursions --
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: -- border incursions have --
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: -- effectively zero.
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: Let me tell you what happened this week. So, at the, Rio Grande Valley, congressional district number 15 in Texas where Donald Trump managed to do an incredible turnaround. He won it 58 percent plus. This week, they decided to detain an entire family including two young teenage boys, members of a mariachi band. In the Rio Grande Valley, mariachi is a varsity sport, a varsity
activity. It is huge. It's something that everybody follows and everybody roots for. They're members of Mariachi de Oro. They made a movie about these mariachi bands.
Well, they sent them to Dilley Detention Center, wrongly detained this entire family. They have a pending asylum application. There is a very close congressional race going on there. Bobby Pulido against Monica de la Cruz, the Republican. Guess what? They had to release the kids because nobody wants to see kids like those be detained. And we have seen it over and over and over again.
Just as last weekend in Miami, in a place that voted massively for Donald Trump, I heard a Trump supporter crying on TV because his common law wife of 25 years, a Cuban, was deported. And when she went to the immigration check-in, he said to her, don't worry about it, they don't deport Cubans. Guess what? Some of these Cubans are being sent to Sudan and Eswatini, if you know where that is.
BORELLI: We don't.
NAVARRO: Okay. Well, though -- it's in Africa. The woman was detained initially, what was on her record is that she had been in a traffic stop 20 years ago and she had three Xanax pills in her purse without prescription. You start deporting every Latino without prescriptions with tranquilizers and then nobody left --
(CROSSTALK)
BORELLI: Well, that sounds like she had a drug condition.
NAVARRO: For three Xanax pills?
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: For three Xanax pills?
PHILLIP: Hold on, this is clear turnaround. This is a clear turnaround for the Trump administration because they definitely ran on mass deportations.
[22:50:04]
Not just ran on it, but came into the administration on that very agenda. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: If the Republican platform promises to launch the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.
(APPLAUSE)
STEPHEN MILLER, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY ADVISOR: The simple part is seal the border, deport all the illegals. No illegals in. Everyone here goes out.
TRUMP: And we're going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country.
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I think it's interesting that people focus on, well, how do you deport 18 million people? Let's start with one million.
TRUMP: We are going to start the largest mass deportation in the history of our country because we have no choice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: It was clearly -- once they started doing it very unpopular. But that was actually clear if you were really paying attention long before this moment. What took them so long?
JAFFER: Well, I think the fundamental problem here is that what the administration's been doing is (inaudible) being the worst of the worst, that Joe pointed out, which pulls like 70, 80 percent amongst American voters, they decided to go after a ton of other people, which only pulls a 50-50.
Can you imagine you'll be deporting illegals only to pull the 50-50 because of the way it's being carried out, because what happened in Minnesota, because the masked men. No American wants masked people running around the country picking up people on the street and throwing them in vans. Regardless of whether they're here legally or illegally.
Sure, even if you believe all illegals should be deported, the reality is that deporting violent criminals pulls a hell of a lot better. The Republican Party, Mike Johnson, is finally figuring that out. It's costing votes amongst not just Latino voters, but a lot of other voters. There are moderate Republicans that are losing, too.
This is a huge error, a huge overplay by the administration, and they're learning the lesson of it. By the way, you start killing American citizens in Minnesota? That's a fail.
PHILLIP: Just -- it's layers -- yes --
JAFFER: Lawful gun owners? That's a fail.
PHILLIP: Yes, its layers of problems for them. It might be, too, -- it might actually be too late. The damage may have been done already because even -- just to be clear, they're saying don't talk about this, but the policy is functionally the same. Every day, there are stories of m immigrants with no criminal record being picked up.
Last week, a journalist being picked up who has a pending asylum claim and is married to an American citizen and a pending green card application. So, if they talk out of one side of their mouth and then act another way, I don't know if that's going to work.
MOYNIHAN: Yes, they're in a rock and a hard place because obviously, this was the issue that won Trump the election. People cared so much about immigration because we had a poorest border. Well, the border closed and independents now are much more focused on affordability and other issues.
At the same time, that's the rock. The hard place is that Trump's base is still overwhelmingly supportive of mass deportations. And we've seen that the White House did issue a statement a few hours ago saying, "Nobody is changing the administration's immigration enforcement agenda."
And so, I think the administration is in a situation now where they could potentially alienate some of the base who wants to see these mass deportations at the same time that independents are going frustrated.
PHILLIP: Yes, they're going to have to decide if they want to win elections. I mean, I think that's where we're at.
MOCKLER: To build on that, Stephen Miller and Donald Trump were the ones who placed themselves in between the rock and the hard place by using this insane immigration rhetoric that the Department of Homeland Security account posted a few months back that they wanted to deport 100 million Americans.
There are 50 million immigrants both legally and illegally and then 50 million other people in this country who could be deported by this administration. They want to deport 50 million -- or sorry, 100 million immigrants. They've talked about immigrants --
(CROSSTALK)
MOCKLER: The Department of Homeland Security posted that and called for remigration. So, they're definitely pushing an extreme policy that the American people don't like. I just want to say the American people will not forget the images of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti being shot.
The American people will not forget the constitutional rights that were trampled on. They won't forget homes being entered with no warrant or people being pushed to the ground because they're simply recording which is a constitutional right. So, this administration is overstepped. Now, they're running away from their core policy but keeping the same position which is not a good look for them.
BORELLI: I don't know where he's getting the 100 million number.
MOCKLER: They said that on the Department of Homeland Security account.
BORELLI: Just to go back to the --
PHILLIP: That was sort of like a meme post that they posted. I'm just saying that they did post that number. It doesn't make any sense. I think you're right, Joe.
BORELLI: The other issue with the polling is that the issue itself is not polling as ranked high in Americans' views of what's determining the midterms, what's the most important issue facing Americans. That's in part because under Joe Biden, we had this crisis. It was on our TVs every night. It was in our urban areas, right?
We were seeing migrant shelters all over this city in particular. The issue has subsided because of the success of the border. So, continuing to make the policy about immigration is just not going to have the same impact on the base as it is because it's not as bad of an issue anymore.
PHILLIP: I think it's that plus. It is an unpopular issue for Republicans. So, it's now being weaponized by the other side. They can not talk about it all they want, but Democrats are going to talk about it because it's actually a motivating issue for a lot of voters who helped put Donald Trump in the White House, especially Hispanic voters now --
[22:55:02]
(CROSSTALK)
NAVARRO: And there's a lot of people in the base who voted for that but didn't realize that it was going to mean their tias, and their abuelas, and their girlfriends, and their boyfriends, and their employees, and their friends, and their colleagues.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: -- being deported. I think that is very true. Everyone, thank you very much for being here. Breaking news. The President's influence put to the test tonight in the state of Georgia. How Trump's endorsement fared in the special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[23:00:09]
PHILLIP: The President's pick to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene will now head into a runoff against a Democrat. Former prosecutor Clay Fuller was Trump's choice in the Georgia special election race but didn't secure an outright win, so he and Sean Harris will face off next month for that seat.
Thank you very much for watching "NewsNight." You can catch me anytime on your favorite social media -- X, Instagram and TikTok. "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
