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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Trump Extends Deadline for Iran to Open Strait of Hormuz; McChrystal Says, Hegseth's Braggadocios Rhetoric is Dangerous; Trump Orders DHS to Pay TSA Officers Despite Standoff. President Trump Attacks Gavin Newsom's Dyslexia; Trump's Signature To Appear in American Dollar Bills for the First Time. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired March 26, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, conflicting messages from the White House as a deadline gets extended.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: In Trump time, a day, you know what it is? That's an eternity.
HUNT: And the president downplays the war's economic toll.
TRUMP: It hasn't been nearly as severe as I thought.
HUNT: Plus, Donald Trump declares an emergency and says he'll pay TSA agents. Should he have done it sooner in this shutdown standoff?
HUNT: Also --
TRUMP: I believe he took himself out of the running when he says he suffers from mental disability.
HUNT: -- the president says, Gavin Newsom's dyslexia is disqualifying while demanding White House contenders take a cognitive test.
TRUMP: I aced it all three times in front of numerous doctors.
HUNT: And in addition to putting Trump's name and face on more things, MAGA is now adding trophies to the collection.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We're going to do something we've never done before. We're going to honor him with a new award.
HUNT: Live at the table, Tim Parrish, Sabrina Singh, Marc Short and Ashley Allison.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT (on camera): Good evening. I'm Kasie Hunt in for Abby tonight.
The state of America's war with Iran is currently extended hours after President Trump warned Iran that they better get serious soon before it is too late. He announced that his five-day pause for not attacking energy sites will be extended for ten additional days. That delay had been set to expire tomorrow.
But why now? Earlier, President Trump claimed that Iran gifted him eight ships filled with oil, and that present may have tipped the scale.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They said to me very nicely through my people, could we have more time? They asked for seven. You're going to say, oh, Trump's a terrible negotiator. They asked for seven. And I said, I'm going to give you ten, because they gave me ships. We talked about the eight ships, you know, the present that I talked about the other day. But they asked for seven and I gave them ten. You got ten days. And they were very thankful about that.
Now, they may say, oh, we're not speaking. I don't like that because that wasn't true the last time, as you found out. But we are speaking and it's going fairly well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: So, it does buy both sides more time potentially to come to a deal. But according to President Trump, he doesn't care if they ultimately reach one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They want to make a deal. The reason they want to make a deal is they have been just beat to shit. I read a story today that I'm desperate to make a deal. I'm not. I don't. If I was desperate, he'd be the first to know me. Let's get the hell out of there. I'm the opposite of desperate. I don't care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: I don't care. I mean, Marc Short, I do. If you're going to put this in like a dating metaphor, right, I mean, not caring is bad.
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you don't care anymore?
HUNT: Or is it about -- I mean, sometimes it's just about convincing the other person that you don't care anymore, and that's the important part of negotiating the relationship. Is that what's going on here?
MARC SHORT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR, FIRST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Well, you probably have more experience with that than I do, Kasie. I think the reality is that the president -- I think this is awfully similar to Liberation Day. You know, when the markets reacted to the announcement of the giant tariffs and bond yields started going up, then he gave a pause, but he kept all the cards and then ultimately began assessing the tariffs to the point that we have more tariffs today than are before.
I think in this case, he basically said, I'm going to take a pause, but at the same time, we're sending more troops. We're talking about Kharg Island. And so he's keeping all those options available to him while also trying to soothe markets.
And so I think he's negotiating, as he always is. But I think that there's -- I think it's off -- it's pretty much a response to the markets. And certainly Iran knows that too, right? So --
SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICS AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, both sides are projecting an internal message and an external message. I think Iran is also saying, you know, we're not talking to the Americans, but the reality is that there are some negotiations happening through a third party. And President Trump saying that he doesn't care, I mean, that also sends markets into a bit of a spin, but also is a message to the Iranians that we will keep going.
So, it's a bit of a cat and mouse game, but I don't know who's who at this moment.
SHORT: But I think one of the concerns, Sabrina, and you would know this best, is that for the other nations in the Middle East, they want to see this regime removed, because at this point, if you don't actually terminate it, they know that Iran's going to come back after them when China and Russia re-arm them.
[22:05:06]
And so there's got to be a lot of concern for the other Middle Eastern nations right now too.
ALLISON: I mean, I just feel like it's really hard to hear the president say that he doesn't care about us being in war and that we have had troops that already died. Like imagine if you're a family who has lost somebody to this war, and you hear your commander-in-chief say, I don't care, or imagine that you are a military family and you're afraid that your family is going to be deployed, or imagine you're just a person like us sitting at the table, it's like, I want you to care, sir. I really do. Like I want you to care. I am like, I want you to be bought in this moment.
And to your point, when you started, it's like when people lose interest is one thing, but when people are indifferent, that's a dangerous place to be. And I think those other countries in the region want him not to be indifferent in this moment.
HUNT: Yes. I mean, Tim, you've served in military.
TIM PARRISH, CONSERVATIVE STRATEGIST: I have, and I've talked to people that are deploying right now that are going overseas to support these missions and actually asked them, actually a few of them, and as a veteran myself, the comment that the president made, I don't believe in context was that I don't care about the operations writ large. I think his comment was, I don't care if Iran thinks that I'm desperate or not. I don't care about the opinion of Iran in this situation.
So, I don't know that the --
HUNT: Well, he was saying explicitly, I don't care if they make a deal or not, which, you know, this deal is supposedly going to keep us from potentially putting boots on the ground in Iran.
PARRISH: Right. And as I said, I think the president, in context, his comment was, I don't care about Iran's opinion about us making a deal or not, not that he doesn't care writ large. As you said, he's the commander in chief. Every time you brought up the service members that were killed, every time we've had a dignified transfer, the president has been there. He's spoken to these families.
So, I think it's a little disingenuous to say that the president doesn't care writ large about these military operations. I do think it's fair for him to say in concert that he doesn't care about the opinion about --
SINGH: But he's pretty flippant about how he uses his words. And I think when you say something like that, even if it is in the context of a negotiation and a deal, we're still talking about the fact that if you're saying, I don't care about negotiations, prices for gas and oil are so high. I mean, I think 20 states are now facing gas prices that have risen over a dollar. Airline prices are going to go up because fuel is now double for those airlines. So, the airlines are going to shift the cost to the customers.
And so when you say these words, like I don't care, to the average person, you know, that's not sitting here talking about this but goes to the gas pump and is like, but I care about these prices, I care because I can't afford to fly home to see my family for Easter, because, I'm sure we'll get into it, the long lines and also the prices. Especially in wartime, words matter. And I think truth especially matters, and we are not seeing that from this administration. And I think that's what's hard to digest when you see comments like that.
HUNT: Yes. Well, General Stanley McChrystal, who, of course, well known part of many of the wars that the United States has been fighting in recent decades, talked to The New York Times about -- it seems his comments were about how the administration, potentially Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary of the president, the top is how he put it. He talked about being disappointed by how the top of our country is talking about military operations right now. Watch and we'll talk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEN. STANLEY MCCHRYSTAL (RET.), U.S. ARMY: I'm disappointed by the current atmosphere that is communicated from the top. I had the honor and opportunity to serve with some of the most elite forces, people who really did some extraordinary things, but they didn't beat their chest about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. MCCHRYSTAL: And they weren't braggadocios. And they didn't talk about, yes, we love killing people. That's just not the way they behaved.
Now, the danger though of some of that verbiage now is much of the force is 18 years old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.
MCCHRYSTAL: And it's influenceable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And he was specifically talking about the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth. But the point that he is making is the one we were just discussing, words matter.
PARRISH: Absolutely. And I think the comments that the journal's talking about is, like you said, the statements that were made by the secretary. I would not have used those words, you know, that will negotiate with bombs. I think it's a specific quote that he's referencing.
Now, I'll also say at the same time that, you know, I won't take a lesson in civility, in statesmanship from the Iranian regime, right, who's killed hundreds of thousands of their own people on their streets, who don't have the greatest record with women or members of the LGBT community or Americans, you know, that they've killed around the country or around the world. I'm not going to take a lesson from the Iranians because their feelings are hurt because the secretary of defense made that comment, but I would not have made that statement in that context.
HUNT: Marc?
SHORT: Look, Pete has served in multiple combat arenas. He's somebody who's been decorated for his service.
[22:10:00]
But I think that the administration would be better served if General Caine did more of the press briefings. I think Pete's in that role, as we know, because of his performance on Fox. And I think that General Caine would probably give a little more assurances to a lot of the American people watching.
ALLISON: Yes.
HUNT: I appreciate your understatement on that.
ALLISON: Yes. I think that there -- right. I think that there are performative moments in this administration when it actually plays really well for them. I don't think war is one of them. I think people feel instability economically. People feel unsafe in some moments when not -- maybe not like there's going to be an attack in your neighborhood right now, but we need to be stabilized as a country. And so the performative, I could be a reality T.V. show star, is not what the country needs in this moment.
SINGH: Yes. And I think, just to your point, like Pete Hegseth, we see him time and again using the language of like lethality and the warrior ethos and all of that, the joint force is an incredible force and will continue to be an incredible force who comes after Pete Hegseth and was when I was serving in the administration. And I think just some of the language that he uses unfortunately is going to tarnish our military and has frankly politicized our military even more so.
PARRISH: Sorry, what's wrong with warrior ethos and lethality? That is --
SINGH: It's more how he uses it in the context of we're going to go negotiate with our bombs.
PARRISH: Sure.
SINGH: I think those words matter. I think also his focus on just the politicization that we've seen is I personally feel is unlike any other administration that we have seen before.
PARRISH: But our focus on lethality and a warrior ethos is absolutely legitimate for a Department of Defense.
SINGH: That is -- I'm just saying like his focus on some of these words and the continued repetition of how he uses it.
PARRISH: Right, and I'm just clarifying.
SINGH: The purpose -- I'm going to clarify for you really quick. But the purpose of the military hasn't changed on its lethality and goals.
PARRISH: Okay, perfect, yes.
SINGH: I'm just saying like how he uses his words and like doing push-up contest in the pack is not really getting as far though.
SHORT: Can we also stipulate that again? I think they do better serve by General Caine doing more of the press briefing.
SINGH: I agree, yes, totally.
SHORT: But having said that, during Pete's time as secretary of war or defense, he's had incredibly successful operations in Venezuela, attack on the nuclear site in Iran. And so far, by all accounts, whether the politics of this current incursion, the military success has been remarkable.
SINGH: I actually don't dispute that. I don't dispute -- and Operation Midnight Hammer. I think the Maduro operation was a success, and that shows the prowess of our military, of our joint force. And -- hold on. And Operation Midnight Hammer was something that was pulled -- has been dusted off the shelves by multiple administrations, including in your first administration under Donald Trump. That is an operation that continued to get refined under Democratic and Republican presidents. So, it was executed with refinement because our military practice that's so much. And so I'm not --
SHORT: But it wasn't executed by a Democrat.
SINGH: I'm not. It was not. But I'm not disputing the operation being a success. I actually have on this show touted -- like when he said that the review of what happened at the school in Iran of those girls being killed is under review, I think I was on the show with you and I said, that is the right language to use. That was the right thing to do. So, I will give him where credit is due, but the language that he uses with our military has further politicized it, and that is a problem.
PARRISH: I don't think that's an accurate characterization. Again, having been one of those 18-year-old kids that they referenced in there, people are not -- military members, many I talk to hundreds of them a week, is not -- they're not politicized. They're actually motivated. They're actually ready to go execute their function to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic under the leadership of Pete Hegseth. They don't look at the politics of it. We sit here at this table in our ivory tower, in our nice suits and we talk about these things, but the men and women in the military don't have that --
SINGH: I would actually push back on that because I did talk to some people last night in uniform that do feel uncomfortable with what's happening, that do feel uncomfortable with the language.
PARRISH: Writ large, that is not the opinion of our military.
ALLISON: But I would say is that, yes, that is the military does fall under the command of Pete Hegseth. That doesn't dismiss though the fact that he has politicized the department. It's not even the Department of Defense anymore. It is the Department of War because of like there are just some truths to be here. It doesn't mean that the men and women who are serving are not going to follow command. What it does mean that Pete Hegseth and this administration have done some politically-charged things.
HUNT: And if you do, I mean, what -- how do you view the social media videos that have been put out that seem to basically gamify war? I mean, look, anyone that's gone to war, anyone that has loved someone that has gone to war knows it's not a game.
PARRISH: Of course, it's not a game, but I'll say that the facts sort of disagree with these characterizations. Our military across all the branches have the highest recruiting numbers that they had. The last four years in the last administration, our military was hemorrhaging. It was suffering because people didn't want to join.
HUNT: It did --
PARRISH: So, you're talking about that --
(CROSSTALKS)
PARRISH: With the exception of the Marine Corps, of course, I have a bias. The Marine Corps kept its fund -- or its numbers for recruitment. That's right, semper fi. But I would say that the military, the facts disagree with this point, that people were honing the military --
[22:15:02]
SINGH: Were permanent efforts were going up under Secretary Austin, under the Biden administration? Yes. They continue to go up under --
PARRISH: They failed every year.
SINGH: No, that is actually not -- that is absolutely not true. It was continuing to go up.
And I will say --
PARRISH: They failed every year.
(CROSSTALKS)
SINGH: (INAUDIBLE) get to the gamification of what we're seeing in war? I mean, you have Call of Duty videos and SpongeBob being spliced together as if it is some type of game, and people are coming home in caskets, and that I think is a real detriment to our military.
PARRISH: I agree. I agree with you that we should --
SINGH: Well, we can agree on that.
PARRISH: -- that we should take them serious, and I agree we shouldn't gamify combat. It's a dark and ugly thing. I agree with you on that point. Well, I would say that some of the characterizations just weren't accurate about the secretary and how they're approaching combat operations in Iran.
HUNT: Well -- and, look, it circles back to when we say how much we care, how much we don't care, when, you know, members of Congress are coming out of briefings, looking at plans that potentially have significant U.S. casualties. You know, none of this is light.
All right, coming up next here, we have much more breaking news. Tonight, the president has ordered the government to pay TSA workers as the chaos continues at our nation's airports. So, why didn't he do this earlier?
Plus, Trump says Gavin Newsom's dyslexia is disqualifying for the presidency and calls it a, quote, mental disability. We'll discuss.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
HUNT: Breaking tonight, after weeks of stalled talks in the Senate to fund DHS agencies, like the TSA, President Trump now says he's going to do it himself, or at least that the government will. In a post, he says he's using his power to, quote, immediately pay our TSA agents and, quote, to quickly stop the Democrat chaos at the airports. It is unclear what that authority is, or if he has it, why he waited until now? But Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins told reporters today that there was funding available to legally pay TSA and the Coast Guard.
It's sort of telling to me, Marc, that he feels -- the president feels like he needs to do this, and he tries to call it the Democrat chaos. But I have to say, when our reporters, who have been hanging out, mostly in Atlanta and Houston airports have talked to people, right, the main person they know in the United States, government's the president and the president doesn't do a lot unless he feels he's under pressure.
SHORT: Yes. Look, I think there's -- nobody understands the federal appropriations process better than Russ Vought. And so I think that he's got a strategy here. I don't think this is probably ultimately legal, but I also think they don't -- I don't think they're worried about that, because, politically, they think this really helps them. Because, ultimately, what's going to happen if they've tried to fund it and a court says you can't, and all the Democrats say, yes, we're not funding TSA, it puts Democrats in a really tough position of having to say, we're the one stopping funding of TSA. And to your point, if the American people is looking at the president, he's saying, look, I'm taking action to fund TSA right now.
ALLISON: I don't disagree with that assessment up until like the third point. I think --
SHORT: You are like, if you give me two, actually --
(CROSSTALKS)
ALLISON: Yes, like we're working with something tonight, right?
Well, I think that this is them throwing -- not throwing up the white flag, but saying like we're trying, right? And kind of like also throwing the Republicans in the House and the Senate under the bus and like, I'm going to do it, not these guys.
I would suggest Democrats not be the ones to call it legal or illegal, like let somebody else do the lawsuit or say that it -- the question of the legality of it. And Democrats still pound the pavement that we will fund the Coast Guard, we will fund FEMA and we will fund TSA. Give us a bill to pass. That is like the best posture Democrats have right now. But Trump is doing this to take some pressure off of him, not the senators that are currently in office.
SHORT: Right. So, your plan, Ashley, is to once again have Democrats say, we're not going to fund border security. I think the Democrats are stealing --
ALLISON: ICE, they already are funded --
SHORT: They're basically still defeated from the jaws of (INAUDIBLE).
ALLISON: They are already funded. They are already funded. SHORT: Look, the message is we're going to fund TSA, all this stuff, but we're not going to fund CBP, we're not going to fund ICE.
ALLISON: They're already funded.
SHORT: From the one big, beautiful bill, but they're not funded in addition to this appropriations.
ALLISON: They don't need it anymore.
SINGH: I do think, and like the point of pushback here is like, I don't disagree with two of your three points. I would agree with that. I would say what I disagree with is the fact that Democrats hold no lever of power.
And I know we've talked about this. I know that you're going to come back at me with filibuster and all that, but we still do not have control of any lever of power. The president is in the White House. He can work and try and --
HUNT: Well, you do actually control the filibuster. And here, to that point, the president put on his platform this morning, terminate the filibuster and get our airports and everything else moving again. Also add the complete all five items, Save America Act, go for the goal.
SINGH: But if you control every single chamber, you have to work with some consensus here. And so you have to come to the table and also strike a deal. I mean, this could be the longest shutdown, I think, in almost history. It's almost going to 40 days. You know, these are not people that make a ton of money that are now sleeping in cars, I've heard, and that's horrible. And they should be fully funded.
SHORT: You know it requires 60 votes in the Senate. So, you know the Democrats have the leverage. And you know as well that so far Kristi Noem has been fired. Tom Homan's in charge. ICE agents have left Minnesota. And so, basically, Democrats have won. But they want to -- they're basically going to defeat themselves over this by basically saying, hey, we're not going to fund TSA and the border.
[22:25:03]
ALLISON: If I was Democrats, ICE agents aren't sleeping in cars. ICE agents are showing up and working just fine at the airport and getting paid.
SHORT: And saving a child's life just today.
ALLISON: There is going to be -- no. I will just say, I think you all should play this really carefully. I don't think that American people are going to have much sympathy for ICE in this moment based on how they were feeling with the overreach.
I understand Tom Homan is done. This is -- I mean, Kristi Noem isn't. But ICE agents are being paid right now. It is the TSA agents that are -- and you're literally saying, pay ICE more and the TSA. Why don't you just pay the people not getting paid right now, or the Coast Guard?
PARRISH: I would say this. I would say, and I'm going to take the position here that it is a Democrat shutdown. I actually agree with the president's point. And I'm sorry to break up this great love story --
ALLISON: Surprise.
SINGH: Well, no, Marc didn't agree with that.
PARRISH: But here's the fact of the matter is that there is the filibuster. There is the filibuster. And so you keep saying Republicans need to come to the table. Republicans are at the table. They're waiting --
SINGH: Every single lever of government --
PARRISH: But there is the filibuster and you know that.
SINGH: Yes.
PARRISH: And the Republicans are waiting for Democrats to come to the table and the Democrats --
HUNT: Hold on for one second, on the Republicans, okay? I'm just going to throw this in and then continue.
PARRISH: Sure, big point.
HUNT: Okay. Senator John Kennedy, a Republican, says this. I think part of the problem is that we have in the Senate Republican Conference a whole lot of chefs and they apparently don't know what they're doing.
PARRISH: That -- look, that may be fine. But the Republicans have been -- I think, of course, the senator's probably frustrated this has been gone on for a long time. The Republicans are at the table. The Republicans have been at the table and Democrats, under the leadership of Chuck Schumer --
SINGH: I actually don't agree with that.
PARRISH: The Democrats under the leadership of Chuck Schumer have held out using the filibuster, and their main point, to the point that you made earlier --
SINGH: The Senate is about to go on recess.
PARRISH: It is that they don't have ICE funding, which has been funded --
SINGH: The Senate is about to go on recess.
PARRISH: -- through the one big, beautiful bill. And so the whole thing is a farce. HUNT: I mean, they're using the power that they have. They are using the power that they have, which is, to your point, very limited in Donald Trump's Washington to try to affect policy changes for ICE.
PARRISH: And Americans are dying as a result.
HUNT: And the pain that they have created is at the airports. And the question is, is it worth it?
ALLISON: But you -- I think you just said they are funded. So, why do they need more money?
PARRISH: Ask Chuck Schumer. Call Chuck Schumer and ask him --
(CROSSTALKS)
SHORT: They're funded but the salaries -- they've funded all the operations but not salaries. Not salaries. So, this is a bigger deal.
ALLISON: So, ICE is not getting paid?
SHORT: I think the Democrats are going to --
ALLISON: ICE is not getting paid?
SHORT: The salaries -- they funded all the operations, but not a lot of the salaries, which is why they need it.
ALLISON: So, ICE is not getting paid?
SHORT: Individuals, correct. And that's why I think, ultimately, the Democrats are going to once again be in a position --
SINGH: ICE is getting salary.
SHORT: The Democrats are going to once again be in a position of saying we don't support the border. And I think that's big --
(CROSSTALKS)
SHORT: Kasie, I think there's a problem also strategically for Republicans here. If you're going to say that, ultimately, we're going to do this in a second reconciliation, I think the chances of a second reconciliation are slim to none.
HUNT: Are they just saying that to try to convince Trump to --
SHORT: Yes.
HUNT: -- drop the --
SHORT: Yes. But it's going to -- ultimately, they're not -- I think it's slim to none they pass a second reconciliation with a one vote margin in the House. And so what's going to happen then is Democrats will succeeded in funding ICE. And so I think that right now, I think this is a big strategic error by Democrats who are the ones stopping the funding for Homeland Security. But, ultimately, I think this is going to be a challenge as well for Republicans if you say you're going to do on a second reconciliation because that's doomed to fail.
PARRISH: And you have to understand the gravity of this, right? This is not -- I don't think this is -- it's fair that we say it's Republican versus who's Democrat, Although I stand on the ground and I do think this is a Democrat issue, they won't break the filibuster. Americans, as a result, are dying. 41-year-old Stephanie Minter in Fairfax County, Virginia, because of this whole thing of local sheriffs won't work with ICE because of this Democrat agenda --
SINGH: Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Renee Good in Minnesota.
PARRISH: There was a 40-year-old woman waiting for a bus --
SINGH: There are people, American citizens are dying by ICE.
PARRISH: The young lady from Ukraine on the train in North Carolina that was killed in cold blood. Spare me -- don't tell me that that is --
(CROSSTALKS)
SINGH: Spare me, I also saw that story and that was (INAUDIBLE) too.
PARRISH: Democrats' inability to come to the table and, in fact, govern is why we are in this position. They have to filibuster and they will --
SINGH: You have control of everything. You are in a governing power.
HUNT: It is also possible to hold both of these things at the same time, okay, that there are criminals in the United States who've committed horrific crimes because there was a problem at the border, that it needs to be solved, and also that there have been problems that we have seen in the polling have turned Americans against ICE, which, quite frankly, causes problems for all of us.
All right, coming up next, President Trump once again attacking California Governor Gavin Newsom, calling his dyslexia a mental disability that disqualifies him to be president. We will discuss.
[22:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Tonight, Donald Trump says Gavin Newsom isn't qualified to be President because of his struggle with dyslexia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I believe he took himself out of the running when he says he suffers from mental disability and a reporter said it was terrible that I talked that way about somebody with mental disability. I said I have no problem with it but I don't want a person with mental disability to be my President.
And Gavin Newsom said that he can't read a speech, he can't do almost anything. He's actually a very stupid person so I believe he's out of the running. I think that statement that interview he admitted that he's a stupid person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[22:35:00]
HUNT: Elaborating on that point, Trump outlined some new criteria for candidates running in 2028.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't want a stupid person being President you know I'll say it right now I say it because no press ever reports it. I'm the only President that ever took a cognitive test, I took it three times.
I would love to see anybody that's a President or Vice President or anybody that has any chance of being a President. I would like to see them take a cognitive test.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: There's a lot here. Ashley Allison, you were a special educator at one point in your career. What does it mean to have dyslexia?
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, PUBLISHER, "THE ROOT", AND FORMER NATIONAL COALITIONS DIRECTOR, BIDEN-HARRIS 2020: Well there's different variations of it some can be very severe and some can be more milder, but there are techniques and tactics it does not -- it is not a indictment on your intellect. It is an indictment on how, or it's not an indictment on your intellect, it is a way your brain processes information.
And most people with dyslexia have other really strong strengths that people who read and write in the quote-unquote "traditional sense" aren't able to do. They might be more creative, they might be stronger with music, or something like that. So I think also it's not a mental disability like first of all it's a learning disability and there are techniques and ways to overcome it, and some of the best and brightest minds that we know and some of the best in their career suffer from dyslexia.
And the thing about us want to say is that we don't have a Department of Education and special education is a main thing that is funded through the Department of Education. And so when you start to rip away systems and there's protections that those students who need maybe a little extra time to take a test or some more quiet area to take the test and not in the bigger area. Some of those things get stripped away when we devalue some of the institutions that have been put in place to protect our students I think.
HUNT: I would like to put up a list because my guess is you know of someone if you don't know someone in your own life who has struggled with this. You know who one of these people are: Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin group; Barbara Corcoran, Shark Tank, Roald Dahl, beloved novelist, "Charlie the Chocolate Factory" is my favorite; Albert Einstein, who is frequently cited as having shown traits consistent with this.
I guess you know I kind of wonder like does President Trump think that Albert Einstein would be smart enough to be President. Whoopi Goldberg, Jay Leno, Steven Spielberg made some of our most beloved movies; and Marc Short. I mean you have spent time in the first administration spent a lot of time around President Trump.
What is it about this about his sort of fixation on what it means to be smart, he's often talking about you know he has an uncle who worked at MIT, he was talking about today in the cabinet meeting right? He talks a lot about credentials like where does this come from and why does he do this?
MARC SHORT, FORMER WHITE HOUSE LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR DURING THE FIRST TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Well let me say that my concern probably is the reverse my concern is actually Newsom has been incredibly effective at turning California into a socialist state. And I think that's disqualified and why I wouldn't want to see him become President United States.
HUNT: That seems like an utterly fair policy-based argument like support or not support somebody.
SHORT: But I'm not going to try to justify the President making the accusation.
HUNT: Yeah I'm not asking you to do.
SHORT: But I think the reason is so that we talk about it on cable shows because then he believes more Americans will know the Gavin Newsom has dyslexia. He thinks that'll be a political handicap for Gavin Newsom moving forward. So it's like we're all talking about it is kind of what he's hoping for by making the accusations.
SARBINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR, AND FORMER DEPUTY PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY DURING THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: That's kind of interesting though because millions of Americans have dyslexia if anything it's sort of normalizing talking about something that so many people be struggle with and then you know it's almost like oh I see someone like a governor like they're very successful whether you disagree with policy-wise positions or State of California.
But I mean he's the governor of California with the fifth largest GDP in the world. I think the fact that he became governor means that he has successful. I think--
TIM PARRISH, CONSERVATIVE STRATEGIST: This is a very different California than he was when he took over his--
SINGH: We can argue the policies. I'm saying just on the merit that he is the governor and that the President denigrated a man with dyslexia that is not -- that is a learning disability that does not mean you have something wrong with your brain. He is an incredibly successful man that he became the governor of the state. You want to disagree on policies of how it's run, that's fine but he is the governor.
PARRISH: I would say there's probably like a HIPAA violation in here somewhere I don't want to talk about his supposed condition, but I will talk about though.
[22:40:08]
What I will talk about is the comment that he made just after this statement or maybe just before where he looked at a bunch of black people in this room, and he said I'm dumb just like you.
HUNT: Hold on, we're going to play. Okay we're going to play it, and then we're going to also play some of the other times the news has talked about his SAT score.
So first let's play this moment that Tim is talking about, this was when Newsom was in Atlanta and he was talking to an audience that we will then explain afterwards, watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): I'm not trying to impress you, I'm just trying to impress upon you. I'm like you, I'm no better than you, you know. I'm a 960 SAT guy, and you know, and I'm not trying to offend anyone you know trying to act all there if you got 940, but literally a 960 SAT guy.
I cannot -- you've never seen me read a speech because I cannot read a speech, my dyslexia, I haven't overcome dyslexia, I'm living with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PARRISH: I think that so the thing I actually talked to someone who was in that room, and the laughter that you hear was like kind of a uncomfortable laugh that people had, and some of the person that room that I spoke to actually said to me that that was Gavin Newsom's, like Joe Biden if you don't vote for me you are not black moment.
ALLISON: I wasn't there you weren't there I've heard different accounts of the situation.
HUNT: Eric Erickson defended Gavin Newsom in this moment.
ALLISON: Yes and the mayor of Atlanta who he was actually being interviewed I came out and said set the context, that's not the point here that has been litigated and voters will get to decide if Gavin Newsom runs for a primary. What we are talking about is that the President of the United States said somebody that had a learning disability -- had a mental disability and they called somebody with learning disability stupid and those two things do not have are not necessarily aligned.
And I'll just say from my time in Ohio politics working with parents with students with disabilities, that's one crew you don't want to mess with. And tonight he said something those are some of the best advocates and they go on both sides of the aisle, and they will cut the party politics and take you out if you talk about their kids.
PARRISH: We don't you shouldn't make fun of people if they have a learning disability and I agree. It's not a mental disability so I was very clear and I told you appreciate--
HUNT: Okay, right in Donald Trump's, you know that one of the most significant changes in our politics right is how we talk to each other of course since the President has been elected.
SHORT: I think we come on these shows and rationalize a lot of things that President Trump says and tell people they shouldn't be so sensitive. So it's kind of hard to get upset at Gavin Newsom's comments there I think.
PARRISH: Which comments?
SHORT: I'm going to be upset.
SINGH: I think that was upset, I think if you're -- I'm not a parent but I imagine a parent that has a child struggling with dyslexia, I would imagine that's kind of hard to hear.
ALISSON: But also, can I say one thing--
PARRISH: I agree.
ALLISON: -- imagine if you're the student yeah if you're the person. When I was a teacher students sometimes walked around with shame feeling like they had done something wrong, because kids are kids, and kids can be mean, and kids can tease people when they have a student, right? And so if the person that is supposed to be setting an example, the bully in school got a permission slip to kid to tease the kid with a disability, and we as adults have to say not on our watch.
HUNT: Alright, coming up next here, President Trump is determined to leave his name everywhere across this town Washington DC and now he's found another place to put his signature this time it's in your wallet.
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[22:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: Tonight a new push by President Trump to leave his mark across the federal government his signature will soon appear on the U.S. dollar in honor of America's 250th anniversary. It is the first time a sitting President's John Hancock will appear on paper notes. The currency joins a long list of things that Trump has slapped his name on: the Trump Kennedy Center, there's the fleet of Trump battleships, there are National Park passes, that's just a few.
The President can also add a brand new award to his growing trophy collection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: We're going to do something we've never done before, we're going to honor him with a new award that we will present annually from this point forward. But he is the recipient of the first ever America First award, we can think of no better title for what that is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: First ever America First award. I feel like I keep coming to you out of this, just like can you give us the pathology.
SHORT: I think that the President is masterful at branding as we know. But I think if we're really honoring the 250th anniversary of America we do the exact opposite. Our first President was humble and didn't want his name affiliated with many things, and I think that's the way that we should be honoring the 250th anniversary of our country.
[22:50:05]
HUNT: Well and let's to that point put up, just how long did it take for George Washington to be featured on American currency 135 years. Okay, Jefferson was featured on the nickel 129 years after he left office, Jackson the $20 bill 92 years, Washington gets his face on the dollar bill, it was the quarter, his face was on the quarter 135 years after, his face goes on the dollar 72 years after, Lincoln $5 bill 49 years, Lincoln the penny 44 years now.
Of course the President currently still in office, let's also put up the number of self-branded things by recent Presidents, okay. And we went through the list of some of the things that President Trump has branded after himself, okay. Jimmy Carter zero, Ronald Reagan zero, George H.W. Bush zero, Bill Clinton zero, George W. Bush zero, Barack Obama zero, President Biden zero, Donald Trump and--
PARRISH: I would ask, is that 10 across both of his times in office?
ALLISON: It doesn't matter.
PARRISH: I'm cracking a joke. I think there's actually some legality issues to this potentially because I think the federal law says that you can't put your likeness on U.S. currency while being alive, let alone being in office. So I think this might play out in the courts as Mark said the President is a masterful brander of things and so I think this is just a long line of his -- what he does.
But I said I think there's going to be some legality here with the courts.
SINGH: I think it's so funny that Mark also was like George Washington humble, and then it's like contrast Donald Trump tent like his names on ten different things. It's just -- it's a very different.
ALLISON: I'm still laughing. SHORT: I didn't know you had that
HUNT: But we have a crack team here, okay. They deserve all the credit.
ALLISON: But let me tell you why they also because there was a picture of Donald Trump on that and it said "Dollar dollar bill you all." That is where we at in America.
HUNT: So here are the awards that the President has received in his second term, let's put this up.
Undisputed Champion of Beautiful Clean Coal award, Maria Corina Machado's Nobel Peace Prize also received that was a gift a legitimate gift, the FIFA Peace Prize previously not in existence, and the Richard Nixon Foundation's Architect of Peace Award. I will say I recently attended a Pinewood Derby which is a Cub Scout tradition, if you didn't win the race you didn't get a trophy, and the six-year-olds were very upset by this which is understandable but they still didn't get a trophy.
ALLISON: And they're six --
SHORT: -- dissipation trophies. I think there's a big difference as well between people who are trying to curry favor with the President and appealing to his ego and giving him awards versus federal government and choosing the name pieces of the government a taxpayer expense in your name.
SINGH: I'm just trying to like picture speaker Pelosi giving an America First award to Barack Obama like it would be such a joke, and so I think like the capitulation and watching Mike Johnson, oh stop.
I just think like the capitulation and watching Mike Johnson, just kind of fold and just like give this, I don't know like who went and got this like fake trophy made. It's just so sad to see the Republican conference in this state.
ALLISON: Okay I'm going to take a slightly different tilt to this. I think that whether you like the President or not he is the President United States, and I do think that Presidents some way shape or form deserve to be honored and history actually will decide whether those that legacy stays. So like the money I think there's just a taste to it right there's like, that some of this is just distasteful like if you know I run an organization or a publication and we give out awards and like I'm going to do a publisher award and people might be like oh that's so cute but like I'm not surprised people are giving Trump awards.
I just think the fact that he named stuff like he gives himself awards is what --
SINGH: When you own NRCC, like you own NRCC, is giving you an award for being amazing, like this is--
PARRISH: When you get many awards from being amazing from like we are--
HUNT: We are unfortunately out of time. We could talk about this for quite some time. I think that the general idea is that for the most significant figures in our country's history, it is history that honors them, it is the people that come after them who make those decisions to lift them up.
Thank you all very much for being here, I appreciate it. Coming up next, much more on the President's plans to sign an executive order requiring DHS to pay TSA officers immediately.
[22:54:57]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: America's favorite pastime is back guys. This day it's so much better today than it was yesterday. My Baltimore Orioles celebrated their home opener with a win. But baseball doesn't just live in the U.S., in Japan, baseball is considered more than just a game and the Japanese stars in the MLB carry that pressure back to the United States.
CNN's new film takes a look at our nation's enduring love for baseball when Shohei Otani and Japan's biggest major league stars return home.
[23:00:07]
"Homecoming: The Tokyo Series", it premieres Friday on the CNN app.
Thank you all for watching "NewsNight." Don't forget you can catch my show "The Arena," it's tomorrow at 4 P.M. right here on CNN. Don't go anywhere, "Laura Coates Live" starts right now
