Return to Transcripts main page
CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Trump Lashes Out as His Popularity Hits a New Career Low; Trump Claims High Prices Not His Fault Despite Tariffs, War; Another Trump Meme Coin Contest Vows Dinner With President. Trump Meme Coin Firm Launches Contest Offering Exclusive Dinner and Gold Watches to Top Crypto Holders; DOJ Holds Presentation on Nixon Watergate Theory; Calls Grow for Fire Squad Return. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired October 01, 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 VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight, as the president's approval hits a new career low, he begins to campaign in deep red states while living in an alternate reality.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I give us an A+ on the government, on economics, on everything.
PHILLIP: Plus, if you make Donald Trump richer, even if you lose money, no worries, have a dinner with the Memecoin president.
Also, the Trump administration continues to focus on issues that Americans care about, like did Richard Nixon get a raw deal?
And what exactly is cruel and unusual punishment? After an execution gone awry, people have thoughts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lawyers here have said, why not use the firing squad?
Live at the table, Scott Jennings, Ashley Allison, Hogan Gidley, Bill de Blasio, and Kmele Foster.
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, just weeks away from the midterms, new career lows for Donald Trump and concerns that he's losing his grip as he embarks on a midterm blitz in red states his party once considered safe. A new A.P. poll finds that just 26 percent of Americans approve of Trump's performance on the economy. That's a new low for him. And just 17 percent of Americans approve of Trump's handling of the cost of living. And to make matters worse for parents, Americans aren't blaming external factors. They are pointing the finger directly at him. By an overwhelming margin, Americans say that Trump's policies and not outside factors are the cause of higher than usual prices. And it's a stunning rebuke of his agenda.
But as the red lights continue to flash, the president appears to be in fantasy land about all of it. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I would say this. I give us an A+ on the government, on economics, on everything. Look at inflation. I inherited the worst inflation in history, under Biden. Worst in history and now it's great. It's really good. We got it down. And oil is going to come down very, very soon. Oil is coming down as soon as Iran is finished, and they're finished pretty much right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: 33 days from Election Day, Trump is campaigning in the red states of Texas and Oklahoma, he says, to thank them for voting for him. But in Texas, where GOP hopeful Ken Paxton recently complained that Trump's presence was a drag on his polling numbers, Trump offered more of the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And everyone thinks that the prices are high because of me, but they're not. We're the ones bringing down the prices. I just hope you can note.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: And before we open it up at the table here, we invite you at home to join the debate. Go to cnn.com/abby and weigh in there. We'll get to some of your comments as we go throughout the show.
Tonight is the kickoff of a kind of red state blitz, which is not what you would expect to hear a few weeks before the midterms, but I think there are two things going on here. One, it's not just that Trump is shoring up some places where, yes, they really actually have some problems, one of them being Texas, but maybe it's also because they're trying to keep him out of the places where he is very unpopular. Putting him in Oklahoma in front of an adoring crowd is a great use of the president's time right now.
ASHLEY ALLISON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I agree. I think that when you look at those approval ratings, no matter what Donald Trump says, the candidates on the ballot are like Heismaning him. Like stay away from me, right? Like don't come. They might not verbally turn their back on him, even though some people when they get leaked tapes or Ashley Hinson with saying, don't come to Iowa, but like Alabama, I don't even think he probably wanted him in Texas again.
J.D. Vance goes to Florida. They think they're pretty safe there, even though Byron Donalds is taking Trump's name off his website. The Republicans are seeing they're in trouble, but the leader of the team, the coach of the team, Coach Trump, doesn't care. He's going to keep running the same play even if they lose the finals.
PHILLIP: At what point is this going to sink in, Hogan? This A.P. poll has some really stark numbers in terms of his net approval on a whole host of issues, cost of living being by far the worst, a negative 65 percent net approval, the economy, negative 45 percent.
[22:05:03]
But you can go down the list, immigration, negative 21 percent, border security, negative 3 percent. Voters are saying pretty loud and clear they don't think he's handling anything well right now.
HOGAN GIDLEY, FORMER PRINCIPAL DEPUTY WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: Well, first of all with regards to his campaigning, he's got, what, Ohio, Texas, Georgia, New York, Alaska, Montana, Kansas, Arizona, Nevada just in the next ten days, plus, of course, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Nobody better than rallying a base, getting them excited about an election to turn out. And as we all know, midterms are about distinctions between, of course, your opponents, but also getting your base ginned up and excited, and then pulling some of those independents as well, which brings me to the numbers that you just read.
It is very obvious that you cannot fix four years of record-setting failure with two years of record-setting success. Donald Trump is going on the road and telling people, we've got another couple years that we need control of the House and the Senate in order to make good on a few more of the promises. Because he's already delivered on reducing crime to the lowest numbers in 150 years, the steepest decline in prescription drug costs. He's closed the southern border with net negative migration, the largest tax cut in American history. 70 percent of the people in this country didn't even know there was a tax cut in the big, beautiful bill --
PHILLIP: What about the number one thing?
GIDLEY: No tax on tips.
PHILLIP: What about the number one thing that voters care about?
GIDLEY: No tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security.
PHILLIP: What about the number one thing that's voters care about, which is the cost of living?
GIDLEY: But gasoline is always the Democrats' response. Last I checked --
PHILLIP: Gasoline, groceries, housing --
GIDLEY: Which gasoline affects all of that, as we know. And last I checked, it was Democrats who want higher prices for gasoline because they want this country to run on unicorn hair and gumdrops. PHILLIP: Yes, but let me just ask you to -- let me just ask you to finish your thought. Explain how Trump has performed on the number one issue that matters to Americans, which is the cost of living, the things that they need to spend money on, getting to work, gas, feeding their families, groceries, and housing themselves, rent and housing costs.
GIDLEY: Inflation, gasoline, all of those numbers are lower than they were under the Joe Biden administration.
PHILLIP: No, they're not.
GIDLEY: They are.
PHILLIP: Okay. Well -- okay --
GIDLEY: The average price of diesel is $5.11, which is, what, 47 under Donald Trump?
PHILLIP: Luckily for you, I've got the numbers in front of me just to help us out with this conversation. Today, gas prices are $4.41. Before, right at Trump's inaugural, they were $3.11.
GIDLEY: Right, and they were over $5 with Joe Biden and inflation was over 9 percent.
PHILLIP: Diesel prices today are $6.39. Trump's came into office, they were $3.72. The consumer price index is 3.4 percent right now under Trump. In December, 2024 under Biden, it was 2.9 percent.
So, okay, we've got the numbers, we know what they are. The American people also don't care about the numbers. They care about what's going on in their lives, and the president just keeps telling them, I'm doing great, guys.
FMR. MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): And to make matters worse, they had a chance to do something and the House and Senate left. And people are watching. I think you should never underestimate the voters. They're watching this really tough situation for them go unanswered consistently. And then there's a doubling down on tariff wars, a doubling down on the situation in Iran.
You know, you'd think the president would say, I am devoted to getting us out of there immediately. Here's my plan. Instead, a lot of the time he says, oh, we're going to be there for a while.
So, think about this, and I'm coming from a party -- I want to admit, I'm coming from a party that historically could often be off message and incompetent about dealing with the lead up to elections. I don't understand the malpractice of the Republican Party right now, having had a chance to pass some meaningful legislation, do something dramatic about affordability before it was too late, leave an imprint, make a closing argument. They literally went home with no major accomplishment.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Like what? Like a tax cut?
DE BLASIO: Brother, I'm saying to you --
JENNINGS: No, I'm asking. Like what would you have passed?
DE BLASIO: You had a chance, for example, get out of the war.
JENNINGS: You voted against that.
DE BLASIO: Get out of the war would've been a good one. Stop --
JENNINGS: So, surrender to the people that we've beaten. Go on.
DE BLASIO: Excuse me. So, listen --
ALLISON: Wait, can I just say you always argue about 80/20 issues. We got 80/20 right now on this economy.
DE BLASIO: Yes
ALLISON: 80 percent of the people think that this is going in the wrong direction. You don't even have 20, you have 17. So, you and 17 of your little friends need to figure out how to get a little bit more on your side because the American people are saying, wake up.
And as your friend, I'm going to tell you, we did this two years ago. We kept telling people, believe me, believe me. And they're like, I can't because when I open my wallet, there is nothing inside.
So, if you're the party of the working class, if you're the party of the working class that's saying, help me, you are in the -- you control the House, the Senate, and the White House, and people are struggling. So, what is your pitch to make them feel better?
DE BLASIO: And the war is hurting the average American.
[22:10:01]
They don't care. They're not -- listen we don't want to see anything bad happen in the Middle East, but that's not what the American people are thinking about. You know it, Scott. They are saying, this war is coming home to their kitchen table, to their inability to pay the bills, and they don't see the president doing anything about it.
JENNINGS: So, you're arguing that the Congress should have passed legislation. I'm just curious, because I think it would be insightful if you could tell us what bills Democrats would pass.
DE BLASIO: How about the Congress saying, stop this war now, the War Powers Act? They had the ability to say, stop this war now.
JENNINGS: So I know Democrats desperately want to have Iran -- surrender to Iran who we've -- they're on the brink of collapse. No, we don't.
DE BLASIO: That's what you're arguing for. JENNINGS: No. Surrender.
DE BLASIO: We're saying stop hurting our own people.
GIDLEY: It might be that what --
JENNINGS: Also, the strait is open, the oil is flowing, and you want to surrender to Iran?
ALLISON: Just not to us or the gas prices.
JENNINGS: You want to surrender to Iran?
KMELE FOSTER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, TANGLE: Why are we preparing to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve again if the oil is flowing? I think at the end of the day, Scott --
JENNINGS: You know the oil -- don't do that.
FOSTER: At the end of the day, Scott --
JENNINGS: You know where the --
FOSTER: At the end of the day, I think we have to acknowledge that the president of the United States set expectations for this conflict. It was supposed to be over very quickly, that seemed like maybe this will be just like Venezuela. It turns out to be something else.
And that TIME Magazine interview today, which is an extraordinary thing, not to read, but to experience, because I don't really know that you can call that reading, you have the president of the United States referring to it as a war, not a war, demonstrating the kind of incoherent messaging around so many of the various initiatives that they've selected. Not even policy choices, even this new press to make him the centerpiece of the midterm races.
It seems like Ken Paxton can admit in private, and pretty much everyone else in public understands this, except the president of the United States, at the moment, he is radioactive. He is radioactive. Everyone blames him for the current state of the economy. And whatever we want to say about the numbers, the perception on the part of most of the American people, is that things aren't nearly as good as they ought to be and that he is responsible.
JENNINGS: Just as a tactical matter, though, he has been at the center of American politics for ten years. To argue that you could somehow disappear Donald Trump, the president of the United States, with a month to go is crazy talk.
FOSTER: I'm not arguing that.
ALLISON: We know.
JENNINGS: The only thing you could do -- the only thing you can do in a political campaign is make your argument and draw the line, hence my question to the Democrats. What bill would you pass? What taxes would you cut? What would you do? And that's what Republicans are going to have to do.
I'm not disputing you on the poll numbers. The question is, if you voted for Democrats, do you anticipate that they would be able to, after years of advocating against, say, domestic energy supply, do you anticipate them being able to bring down the cost of gas or anything else? That's crazy.
So, there's an argument to be made in spite of the poll numbers, and the president is going to have to be part of making it, hence the schedule.
ALLISON: Two points. I actually agree. I don't disagree with you in terms of turning out your base. There is a bet that Donald Trump is placing right now that the voters who do not normally turn out when he is not on the ballot, that if he shows up, they will turn out for him. I mean, he ran a PSA saying as much. Please vote like I am on the ballot using our tax dollars.
So, that is actually like a strategic play because I do believe they think when they look at the coalition of voters that they're going to need, they're not going to be able to get those Obama/Trump voters or Obama like Clinton/Trump -- like he's not going to be able to get those folks because the middle is more likely to, ready to vote for Democrats than for Republicans. So, strategically, him coming out is for that 17 percent. Particularly in a very tight race, he thinks that will, could help you win.
I will also agree, Democrats have to do more than just run against Donald Trump.
DE BLASIO: That's true.
ALLISON: We need a proactive vision, and I think that we are seeing that in some candidates.
Now, you all will then say, they're the crazy DSA candidates, but the American people are saying --
JENNINGS: They say that.
(CROSSTALKS)
ALLISON: No.
JENNINGS: They say that.
ALLISON: They are talking about affordable housing. They're talking about healthcare and access to all.
DE BLASIO: They're talking about Israel and corruption.
ALLISON: But not even their people in their party. I mean, yes, they are talking about the war in Gaza. They're talking about the war in Iran. Yes, they are talking about it, but they're also talking about the things that those poll numbers say. And so the reason why there is just a new part of the party bubbling up is because they are putting a proactive vision that Americans are looking for, just like the Tea Party put a proactive vision forth.
PHILLIP: So, everything that Ashley said I think is definitely true. But I also think you have to ask when the president does go out on the campaign trail, what is he saying he's going to be doing?
DE BLASIO: That's right.
PHILLIP: And one of the problems for him is that all the things that he says he's going to be doing are things that Americans want him to stop doing, okay? So, they asked, has he gone too far when it comes to remodeling the White House, Kennedy Center, D.C. landmarks? 68 percent say yes. Imposing new tariffs on other countries, 64 percent say yes, he's gone too far. Trying to influence or change state voting procedures, 61 percent say yes, he's gone too far. Deporting immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, 55 percent say yes, he's gone too far.
[22:15:00]
So, when he goes out on the campaign trail and he tells Americans he's going to do all of those things and more for two more years, they're like we told you we don't want you to do that. So, it's not just Democrats, what are they doing? It's also what -- is Trump doubling down on the things that are making him unpopular?
GIDLEY: There's another part of this as well, and that is, as everyone around this table knows, how you run your race matters. The non-sexy part of politics, the turnout apparatus, the door-knocking, the getting people to the polls, that's not Donald Trump.
Now, what he can do is rally people with his words and his rhetoric and his presence, but these candidates and how they're running their own campaigns in their respective Congressional districts matter and -- or states if you're a senator, whatever. But it goes back to your point of messaging. Everyone always wants to blame the messengers. It's always the messenger's fault.
But understand, and you just made the point, too, what Democrats are saying. You said what Democrats are saying, right? But what did they do? They voted against the largest tax cut in American history. They voted against doubling the child tax credit. They voted against keeping the border closed, bringing down crime. They voted against all of these things that the American people like.
Now, it's up to the candidates at the local level to not run from that. And if you want to lean in and say, yes, gas prices are higher, but do you really trust the party who shut down the Keystone Pipeline, who prevents us from drilling for natural gas using LNG, using oil, everything else --
DE BLASIO: You're in a time warp. Do you realize how fast things are moving? What you're talking about is, like ancient history when the voters right now, honestly, we're seeing this, these poll numbers are staggering. I've never seen 17 percent approval on anything. The American people feel like the situation's out of control. They literally cannot make ends meet. They do not see relief coming. They don't care about what happened in the past.
GIDLEY: But you voted against every one of those pieces of the relief. That's the point.
DE BLASIO: Be honest. They don't care about what happened in the past. Where is the vision to get them out of their situation?
GIDLEY: And your future is what you just said, free everything. And a lot of people do think that's a reality, but it's not, and we all know that.
PHILLIP: We're going to leave it there.
Next for us, the critics are lashing out at Trump's efforts to cash in once again on his meme coin. He's invited high rollers to a dinner. We'll discuss that.
Plus, the Justice Department is now focused on deciding whether Richard Nixon got a raw deal from Watergate.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: Critics called President Trump's first meme coin dinner last year, quote, textbook pay to play. But that's not stopping him from launching a sequel. The firm behind his Trump coin is holding a contest for its top investors and branding it the most exclusive dinner in the world.
The top 185 investors by November 12th will have access to this private dinner in D.C. The top 29 will have a VIP reception with their, quote, favorite president. And the top four will receive an 18 karat gold Trump watch. The website, which crashed today, stated that none of the attendees will have a private meet and greet with the president and wouldn't accept any gifts.
But just a quick reminder, Trump made more than a billion dollars in crypto ventures in 2025, according to his annual financial disclosure. Senate Democrats responded to this dinner on X, writing, another day, another grift by Trump. His self-dealing has no limits.
Care to explain, Scott?
JENNINGS: No, because I really don't, I really don't know much about it other than what I've read in the press. My assumption is that when the president engages in these private arrangements, that it's cleared by the White House counsel. And so I would rely upon them.
My other advice is that all of these arrangements, whether it's this one or anything else, you really, really have to dot all your I's, cross all your T's, and anticipate that every single bit of this is going to be investigated should you lose control of either chamber. And you have to be ready to be fully transparent about that when that day comes.
And so I don't know what the future holds. I'm not in the prediction business. But on arrangements like this, I think they need to be prepared for a tsunami of investigatory activity.
PHILLIP: I mean, the president is in office, and he is using his office to help himself and his family make tons of money off of effectively a scam coin that is trading at $2 right now. Is that right or is it wrong? That's the simple question.
I don't know -- you're not a lawyer, so I'm not asking you if it's legal. Is it right or is it wrong?
JENNINGS: Yes. I'll be perfectly honest. These kinds of things make me uncomfortable because I don't like the idea of his name while he's the president being used for things, you know, where people could get hurt. I mean, let's be honest. In something like this, people could get hurt. So, that makes me uncomfortable.
At the same time, you know, you do have a phalanx of lawyers there that give you advice on what you can and can't do, and --
PHILLIP: I don't think they care.
ALLISON: No, they don't.
PHILLIP: Because why would they do this --
JENNINGS: And I'm certain that they have run it by them.
PHILLIP: Why would they do this four weeks before a midterm election? I mean, they must really not care. I mean, the Trump family has made $2.29 billion off of crypto. Their investors have lost $2.28 billion. I mean, everybody's losing their shirts in this except for them, because they make money just on the trading.
And then people come to this dinner and they come with the expectation that they're going to get something out of it. Here's one example from last year's dinner. Other guests included a man named Vincent Liu, the chief investment officer of Kronos Research.
[22:25:04]
That's a crypto fund in Taiwan. He says, with a nod from Trump and his regulators, Mr. Liu wants to enter the U.S. market. His firm bought enough of the Trump coins to ensure that he had a seat at the dinner with the hopes that he might get Trump's ear. I will definitely not hesitate to share my perspective.
It's just another way to buy into this administration, buy favor.
FOSTER: Whether you are seeking favoritism for your business or a pardon for some crimes that you have committed or allegedly committed, this is viewed as an administration where you can pay for access. Whether or not that is exactly true, it is certainly not clear that this is criminal conduct. But I would say that it's morally repugnant in a way that not many things done by a sitting president have been morally repugnant, and I think transparently so.
And I appreciate you, Scott, admitting your discomfort with this. I would go further and say, look, these scam coins have taken so much money from so many people in desperate situations, people who are seeking fortune, who are trading on some -- these crypto dealers are trading on people's reputations, their hopes and their aspirations, and giving them nothing in return.
Most of these people will not make any money who purchase these coins. Most of them can't afford enough of the coin to gain access to this elite circle of people who are gaining access to the presidency, whether or not they're gaining favors.
And, again, this should be frowned upon, but more than that, there ought to be legislation passed as soon as possible, it should be bipartisan, that ensures that this kind of thing can no longer happen.
ALLISON: I totally agree because there were people who actually probably engaged in buying these coins because his name was on it, his supporters.
PHILLIP: Yes, people that just love Trump.
ALLISON: And love Trump, right?
PHILLIP: Yes, I mean --
ALLISON: And they lost that money. But could you imagine losing that money, but also hearing that he made a billion dollars in 2025 and you can't afford groceries? Or you are in that 80-plus percent of people who feels like the economy is going the wrong way, but not for the man that made a billion -- like that is the twilight zone. That is the dystopia I feel like we're all living in, is like make that make sense. Like say that on the campaign trail.
Maybe cut those $5,000 checks he was talking about out of the billion he made in these crypto coins. I don't know. But it's like he is enriching himself, and people just don't have money.
JENNINGS: Can I add one other thing? I think this fits into a bucket of stories that people are absorbing. So, you have this kinds of issue, then you have these insider deals where people are trading on these prediction markets and they appear to have some sort of inside knowledge. Then you have the idea that members of Congress can trade individual stocks, which they tried to ban this week, but Democrats voted against. You get all these things that are going on.
And I do think the average person looks at all of this maybe in total and says, there's a whole system here I don't really have access to, but other people, more powerful people do. And some cleanup needs to be done.
PHILLIP: It's called -- JENNINGS: I think a lot of it --
PHILLIP: Well, I think in a word, Scott, it's called corruption. And that actually has become Hogan, one of the, one of the things that is actually being talked about on the campaign trail by a lot of Democratic candidates because it resonates. People are seeing things like this, and they're saying, this guy claimed to want to drain the swamp, and now he's literally making money off of his office? And then no shame about it either?
GIDLEY: A couple things. Scott, I believe you're correct. I don't want to be talking about this just a month before the midterms. I have some other focuses I'd rather be drilling down on. And one of those things, as you just mentioned, was voting against, you know, these Congress people being able to trade the stock market. Democrats all voted against that. So, again, the hypocrisy here is problematic as well.
And I think the apparatus writ large is viewed as one big behemoth of corruption for good reason. This administration has uncovered almost a trillion dollars in fraud, waste, and abuse across Medicare, Medicaid, all kinds of ridiculous programs, and we don't hear much about that when you're trying to potentially make the government and these social programs solvent for the first time ever, when you're getting rid of all this money that's going to give healthcare to illegal aliens and all types of things like this. I think the American people don't like the look of that regardless of who is doing it.
Now, I would argue, as Scott said, having worked in a White House and having dealt with White House Counsel, they are very meticulous here on trying to make sure that everything is on the up and up from a legal point of view.
DE BLASIO: Yes, but the problem --
GIDLEY: And how that looks is a different conversation.
[22:30:00]
BLASIO: I hear your argument. I don't agree with it, but I hear it. The problem is when the leader of the free world is personally benefiting and his family is benefiting.
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: Right. Just hear me out.
DE BLASIO: Every time you want to talk about four years ago or whatever, you can, it's just not what the American people are thinking about. They're thinking about right now, right now, the Trump family is enriching themselves on an unprecedented level while the American people are hurting. So in the end, he is that swamp so profoundly.
This is a guy who ran effectively as an outsider in 2024, as a guy who was bluntly, and you said it, I agree, sounded closer to the reality of the American people than my party did. And now, this level of overt personal enrichment is so much more in people's minds than what happened four years ago or what's happening with the social service program. Because the guy could be about the American people, but he obviously just doesn't care.
(CROSSTALK)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: We're not standardly talking, Hogan, about one individual. We're talking about one individual and billions of dollars, that is an unprecedented, that is an unprecedented situation. He is, Hogan, the president in one year in office made a billion dollars.
(CROSSTALK)
KMELE FOSTER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, TANGLE: He is the prize. He is allowing himself to be the prize for this crystal --
(CROSSTALK)
FOSTER: He's the prize. And look, if you wanted an analogy to Burisma, what would have to -- have to have happened is Joe Biden would have had to have an internship with them, a paid internship with them while in office. That might be almost equivalent to what we're seeing happen here.
The President is a sitting board member of this organization. He is the name and the face behind the entire operation. And if you buy enough of this coin, he is the prize you get at the end of the rainbow. That is what is taking place here. It pales in comparison to everything else.
ASHLEY ALLISON, FORMER NATIONAL COALITIONS DIRECTOR, BIDEN-HARRIS 2020: The only thing I'll just say is that the White House counsel, but just for the viewers, the White House counsel is at the discretion also of the president, like that is a part of his.
So these are Trump's lawyers, basically. They're not, they're dotting their I's and crossing their two T's the way of Mr. President --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: We have got to go. Next for us, a new claim that Richard Nixon was the victim of lawfare during the Watergate investigation, and the DOJ is reportedly investigating that 52 years later. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:37:15]
PHILLIP: President Trump's Justice Department is reportedly looking into whether prosecutors mistreated Richard Nixon during the Watergate scandal. According to "The Wall Street Journal," a former Nixon aide and Watergate revisionist recently gave a two-hour presentation at the DOJ laying out his theory that the deep state took Nixon down. A DOJ spokesperson confirmed the presentation to the journal, but said that it doesn't constitute an investigation. A quick history lesson for you, the Watergate scandal stemmed from a botched attempt authorized by Nixon aides to bug the DNC offices at the Watergate Hotel.
After investigations by the press and Congress, we learned that one, Nixon was aware of the break-in. Two, he directed hush money payments to the burglars to cover it up. And three, he pressured the CIA to help stop the FBI investigation into the matter.
Now, of course, it revealed Nixon was secretly recording his White House conversations, including some conversations where he admitted to that conduct.
So, can anyone just walk into the DOJ now and get airtime with whoever about their latest conspiracy? Or is this telling us something about what the Trump administration thinks needs to happen in order to validate the current president?
DE BLASIO: That's right. This is all about trying to cover his tracks and trying to rewrite history. Because look, Donald Trump is not stupid. He understands a lot of trouble is coming his way. He's going to lose these midterms, investigations are coming, and then there's life after he and his family are out of office.
But beyond that, what I find so striking about this is, Watergate basically shaped our modern political reality. Watergate brought on a lot of distrust that pervades this country, unfortunately. But Watergate also showed in some ways the system did work and did actually address the issue to the point that the most important person in the entire country could be found guilty of a crime and have to leave his office.
Look at where we are today, where this president is acting without any sense of check and balance. And I think that begs a really big question about how do we repair after this? How do we get back to a country where people can actually believe in institutions? Maybe those two pieces come together and what happens to Trump after office shows people there are actually some checks and balances.
PHILLIP: Let me play with this Republican congressman. Riley Moore said today, I don't know if this is a coincidence or not. This is about Nixon. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RILEY MOORE (R-WV): People are coming now to the truth. And that truth being that Richard Nixon was absolutely cooed out of office and was framed. All of this was fake.
[22:40:00]
And we now know more about the deep state and its power, and its ability to literally change things at the top. President Trump faced this in his first term with the fake Russia collusion hoax and all that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DE BLASIO: It's on tapes, like you said.
PHILLIP: First of all, first of all, open the schools, open the textbooks, let's teach history again. What is he talking about? And is this actually a real thing that's bubbling up in MAGA circles?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, there are Republicans who have believed for years that Nixon was treated unfairly for one reason or the other. I don't personally have a problem if somebody takes a meeting, listens to a presentation. The DOJ itself said they haven't opened a formal investigation into this.
I guess I have a somewhat different view, though, of law enforcement resources right now, which is this. We have seen a 100-year low in crime, violent crime is plummeting. It's one of the Trump administration's best success stories, and I want every single law enforcement resource focused on that, and also on illegal immigration.
This to me seems more like an academic or dorm room debate. I want all of the President's resources, all of the government's resources to continue this enormous success that we have going in getting rid of crime.
DE BLASIO: Do you worry that your party is re-embracing the guy who had to resign his office because he violated the law?
JENNINGS: Well, he's dead, so I don't know.
DE BLASIO: But do you worry that --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: Bill Clinton rolled out at every convention, are you worried about that?
DE BLASIO: As Abby said, on tape he admitted to crimes, he had to resign his office, the first president --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Under pressure, by the way, from his own party.
DE BLASIO: His own party, exactly. His own party said get out, not the deep state. Does it worry you your party wants to re-embrace the guy who most people believed before Trump was the worst president in American history?
JENNINGS: I -- look, people can debate in, you know, history all they want and it doesn't worry me in particular. What worries me is that if anybody's time is spent on this and not on running down bad guys, which is what I would want the Department of Justice to be fully focused on, because again, I think it's one of the president's best vectors. ALLISON: It's no surprise that it is this president and this
Department of Justice that would decide to take Nixon as the person to open up the cold case and see what's going on here. It's like, it wipes itself almost, you know?
Like, I can't wait to watch SNL on Saturday, because of course he's doing it, because he thinks that exactly what, he probably won't get booted out of office, but he will be, when we look back at history in 50 years, there'll be buckets of presidents, and I think Donald Trump thinks he will be in the bucket of presidents like Richard Nixon.
PHILLIP: Is that the fear, you think, Hogan, that he has?
HOGAN GIDLEY, FORMER PRINCIPAL DEPUTY WH PRESS SECRETARY, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: No.
PHILLIP: Or that people around him have?
(CROSSTALK)
GIDLEY: No. Look, I think we would all acknowledge the fact that Donald Trump was wrongly accused of a whole bunch of things in the first administration. The lies told about the Hunter Biden laptop, the 51 intel agents, the Russia collusion hoax. All of that stuff kind of proves the point here.
I will say, though, Bill, you brought up the norms that we need to have in Washington D.C., the checks and balances, and, you know, I get it. Donald Trump's in the White House, so you're going to make the argument Donald Trump is doing all these things, but it was Obama who said all he needs is a pen and a phone to make things happen. It was Joe Biden who said he was going to ignore the Supreme Court. All of these things --
PHILLIP: What does that have to do with --
(CROSSTALK)
GIDLEY: Well, he brought up how the norms need to be brought back, and I'm simply pointing out the fact that Democrats' presidents are so far from the norms and the checks and balances. But the fact is, Donald Trump has been wrongly accused and vindicated on countless issues from the last term. And so, if people want to litigate Richard Nixon again, whatever.
DE BLASIO: Again, if your party's embracing him, I would be worried about you.
GIDLEY: Embracing what?
DE BLASIO: Richard Nixon. The worst president in American history. The only one who resigned.
GIDLEY: Oh, I don't know. Joe Biden was pretty bad.
DE BLASIO: The only one who resigned. GIDLEY: Someone who got ripped off the ticket.
DE BLASIO: My friend.
GIDLEY: Sure.
PHILLIP: He didn't leave office. He served his entire term.
GIDLEY: He got ripped off the ticket.
PHILLIP: Next for us.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: The botched execution of Krista Pike in Tennessee last night, it is leading to some new calls to bring back the firing squad. We'll debate what that's about, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:49:07]
PHILLIP: A botched execution by lethal injection in Tennessee is prompting calls to bring back other methods of capital punishment, for example, the firing squad. Death row killer Christa Pike is in critical condition tonight after surviving two doses of pentobarbital. She was convicted of torturing and murdering 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer more than 30 years ago.
Tennessee has since halted its last remaining executions scheduled for this year while a third party review is taking place. And before her scheduled execution, Pike reportedly requested a death by firing squad, which some say should not be off the table.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN YOO, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL: The thing here is that Tennessee is trying to use what is considered the most humane method of capital punishment, which is lethal injection. The court has allowed, and Tennessee could use, far more, I would think, hurtful, you know, methods like firing squad.
[22:50:05]
Firing squad's been permitted. In fact, I think the lawyers here have said, why not use the firing squad? So, I think what's going to have to happen is that Tennessee is going to have to go back and try again, perfect these methods, or use some other kind of execution method.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: It's a morbid story all around. I mean, the crime, the execution, and it once again puts this issue back front and center.
Look, Americans, let's just put this out there. Sixty-six percent support the death penalty. But you can't talk about this without noting that there's a reason that most developed countries in the world don't do this anymore.
ALLISON: Yes, I don't support the death penalty, but I also was thinking about the family of the victims, as well. A lot of times when people talk about using the death penalty, there's a closure that happens for the victim's families, and now they are actually sitting in purgatory, as well.
And so, it's a very complicated, unfortunate situation. I think that people can serve their life in prison until death. That is just as bad as, I don't think an eye for eye all the time has to be the case. But it is here, and there definitely needs to be, not just a third party review, but an evaluation of how you can, if you're going to have the death penalty be your state law, how you can kill someone humanely, because I still believe that people should die in dignity.
PHILLIP: I mean, so the firing squad thing, technically, I'm going to show you this chart. But keep in mind, yes, by firing squad, there have so far been zero botched executions, which has not meant, necessarily, that they've gone swimmingly in terms of the person dying immediately or anything like that.
And all of the other methods you see there, they've had botched executions, even by hanging, by the electric chair, which is what Senator Marshall Blackburn suggested we use in this situation. It's not a fool proof situation in pretty much any of these records.
JENNINGS: Yes, lethal injection was the worst number on there, from a botched perspective. I mean, look. The law in Tennessee is, they have the death penalty. And this is a level of incompetence that I think, people are looking at this and saying, we can't even do this thing, which, you know, humans have been somehow doing for millennia.
So I think people are sort of horrified by the incompetence in the situation it's put the state of Tennessee in. I do think the lethal injection question, the drug, and, you know, whether, I mean, did they not know that there was a strong possibility it might not work? There's obviously --
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Yes, there are definitely problems with this particular drug.
(CROSSTALK)
DE BLASIO: But hold on, with all of these methodologies, as your chart shows, and we're a country, one of our founding concepts was to not have cruel and unusual punishment. So, I don't agree with the death penalty, especially because we've found that some people got the death penalty and didn't deserve it. But beyond that, how do you do it without cruel and unusual punishment? It's an unanswered question.
PHILLIP: Kmele?
FOSTER: Yes, I'm morally opposed to the death penalty. I don't think the state should be in the business of killing people. I don't trust them to deliver my mail reliably. I don't trust that they'll always get the conviction correct, and I don't trust them to even carry out the sentence appropriately.
I think the notion that sort of dignity should be a centerpiece of our justice system is something that we shouldn't lose sight of. The fact that we've seen another botched -- this is the second botched execution in this state this year. They've already suspended another.
We were talking in the break earlier about the fact that it's become much more difficult to get these cocktails, so they're trying more novel concoctions to try to bring about death in these circumstances. I think that this sort of desperate attempt to keep this practice alive is something that we ought to be scrutinizing.
It is a bizarre situation where you go from murdering, trying to murder someone, or kill them if you prefer, and then trying to save their life and resuscitate them at the hospital, only to go and kill them again exposes the utter insanity of this process.
PHILLIP: Yes, I don't know honestly what they're going to do in this situation. She is still alive in a hospital, so we'll see what happens.
Next for us, we'll react to your feedback from cnn.com/abby. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:59:06]
PHILLIP: Now, a view of feedback from cnn.com/abby. The first one for you, Scott.
Excellent point, Scott. Take it to heart. Trump has been the most influential political figure in the last ten years, therefore, where we are today is at least 60 percent of Trump's fault.
JENNINGS: Well, look, I mean, the point is, he has been at the center of our politics. I hear all these people arguing that he should somehow be forced to take a backseat or hide for the next 30 days.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: People are arguing that he should at least take responsibility.
UNKNOWN: And fix things.
JENNINGS: He's taking responsibility --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: He's taking responsibility --
(CROSSTALK) ALLISON: I want Donald Trump all over the campaign trail. Take him everywhere. Take him every state. Have him campaign in every race. I am not saying disappear Donald Trump. I'm saying like, for you, I'm being kind and saying, I don't know if it's helping your candidates.
[23:00:00]
PHILLIP: All right.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: Okay. Keith from Yonkers says, yo, Kmele, pick up your phone.
(LAUGHTER)
FOSTER: I don't know who said -- Siri (ph)? I mean, honestly.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIP: I'm sorry.
UNKNOWN: Wow.
Phillip: All right. Before we go, you can stream the show live or watch on demand anytime with an All Access subscription. Scan the Q.R. code on your screen. Go to cnn.com/watch to learn more.
Thanks for watching "NewsNight." "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
