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Dems Far More Energized than GOP About Midterms; Interview with Rep. Mark Amodei (R-NV): Senate Sends Trump's DOGE Cuts Package to House for Final Approval, Tax Deduction for Gambling Losses; AG Bondi to Visit Notorious Shuttered Prison Alcatraz Today; Trump Suggests Fed Renovations Could be Fireable offense for Powell. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 17, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ELINDA LABROPOULOU, JOURNALIST: ... they have asked for justice, they thanked Greek authorities for proceeding with this arrest. And soon enough on Monday, we'll get to find out more about what has been going on -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. A lot more to learn here. Please keep us posted. Thank you.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New CNN polling for you this morning, offering some new hope for Democrats, but also some historically bad numbers for them. And the numbers show they are more energized about next year's midterms. But can the party turn that energy into actual votes?

And Congress closing in on signing off on those massive DOGE spending cuts. Overnight, the Senate approved slashing billions in funding already promised to foreign aid and public broadcasting. Now the House takes its turn.

And the future of Fed chair Jay Powell may lie in the renovations of the Federal Reserve. After President Trump has slammed it as a palace, is he going to try to use that as an excuse to fire Powell after months of criticism?

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And new this morning, those new CNN polling numbers data just in, offering some important insight into the mindset of voters right now. As the political world begins to turn the focus to the midterm elections, Democrats are far more motivated to get out and vote. But the Democratic Party as a whole remains pretty much wildly unpopular, setting a new record low mark for Democrats since CNN started polling back in 1992.

At the same time, the American public also largely agrees that full Republican control of the White House and Congress is bad for the country. Add it all up, it equals we need David Chalian for help here. CNN's Washington bureau chief and political director David Chalian is here with much more.

There is a lot in here. I find it all really interesting. What sticks out to you?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF AND POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, I mean, those enthusiasm numbers to me, if you if you were looking at the midterm election sort of starting point that we're going to now be in and be in for this next year and a half game, those are critical numbers for any party looking to win an election. You want your folks to be more motivated than the other side. Seventy two percent of Democratic and Democratic leaning independents in our brand new polls say they are extremely motivated to vote in the midterms, 22 points higher, Kate, than that 50 percent mark there among Republican and Republican leaning independents.

Democrats are more fired up right now than they were even in advance of last fall's presidential election. But as you noted, there is a problem here. That's the opportunity for Democrats.

But the challenge is that they're broadly unpopular as a party. Now, so, too, are Republicans. I don't think the country is really happy with either party.

But look at these numbers. I mean, 28 percent favorability for the Democratic Party among Americans in this poll, a record low that 33 percent favorability, not much higher for Republicans. That's its low point since January 2021 in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection.

But here's what I think, Kate, is important to note. Democrats seem to be more disappointed in their own than Republicans are. Look at the favorability broken out this way and you'll see that views of your own party.

So among Republican and Republican leaning independents, 76 percent have a favorable view of the Republican Party. That's only at 58 percent among Democratic and Democratic leaning independents rating the favorability of their own party.

BOLDUAN: So facing historically bad numbers, I think anyone could say, is not something any party is looking for on any -- in any category. But I mean, incumbents will see that and they're going to pay attention to it, right?

If the party is not looking good, we're in trouble. But do you think incumbents should be worried?

CHALIAN: Well, listen, I think we have a long track record here of reelecting a great vast majority of incumbents in this country. But but clearly, I think if you are the Republicans in power, there are warning signs. I mean, historic warning signs about a midterm.

But also, as you noted at the top, our poll shows that majorities think that it's bad for the country to have complete unified Republican control of the White House and Congress. What you're looking at here is among Democrats, one of the things

that's keeping their numbers down is this generational divide inside the party we keep talking about. So if you look at the folks among Democratic and Democratic leaners who are under 45 years old, they split evenly in terms of whether most Democrats deserve reelection.

But if you're older than 45 and you're a Democrat or a Democratic leaning independent, pretty overwhelmingly you think your party does deserve reelection. So Democrats there have work to do with young voters as well -- Kate.

[08:05:00]

BOLDUAN: I think -- my kind of like broad takeaway of is just like dissatisfaction across the board amongst voters with politics today and how things are going. You know, some of that is obvious reality and other is also just like how politicians talk about each other. It's just so caustic still. It's good to see you, David. Thank you so much.

CHALIAN: You too, Kate. Thank you,

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, the Senate passed a rescission package, the request from President Trump to claw back funding that had previously approved. It now goes back to the House where a version passed once.

Now, this would cut about $8 billion from congressionally approved foreign aid programs and a little bit more than a billion dollars will be cut from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR and PBS and local public stations around the country.

With us is Congressman Mark Amodei, Republican from Nevada. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us.

When the House first voted on this rescission package, you voted against it. You're one of four Republicans, I believe, to vote against it. It's coming back. How are you going to vote this time?

REP. MARK AMODEI (R-NV): Well, I'm going to look and see what they did to those stations in public broadcasting, John. Because when you focus on the stations instead of the folks back east and the editorial stuff, it's an entirely different story to be told and I don't think that was evaluated. So we're going to take a look at it today, see what the Senate did.

I think they did some stuff in a tribal context for stations, which is appropriate. But when you look, at least in our neck of the woods, John, and overlay it from the 2024 election results, those public broadcasting stations in the west, overlay them with who voted for President Trump, and it's like, guess what? These were the president's people in a voter sense.

They have done nothing to be punished for their editorial views since they don't have editorial views like the main corporation does.

BERMAN: You're talking about your neck of the woods. I have another question about your neck of the woods. In this tax and spending bill, which just was signed into law and you voted for, there are tax changes regarding gambling.

That's a little bit complicated to explain, but basically it means if you go and gamble for a full day, you know, and you break even at the end of the day, which is a pretty good day for a lot of gamblers, you're still taxed. You're still taxed on your winnings. So starting, you know, January of 2026, breaking even is losing.

Do you support that measure?

AMODEI: Absolutely right. Absolutely right, except that was put in in the Senate. I did not vote for that. Nobody from Nevada in the House voted for that. So now the question when it comes back is, how do we fix that?

And so we moved the bill because on balance, but I can assure you that I expect the Senate through the unanimous consent process, and if not, we've already introduced a bill and working across the aisle with Dean of Titus to get that fixed. You shouldn't be taxed on income that wasn't really income, regardless of who you are.

BERMAN: But sorry, didn't you vote to pass this bill after it came back from the Senate?

AMODEI: I voted to pass it back because it had that in it, but I wasn't going to kill the whole bill over something that we think we can fix. So if your question is, do I support that provision? No.

BERMAN: But you did vote to pass. It wasn't enough to keep you from passing the bill?

AMODEI: Correct.

BERMAN: All right. I want to ask you about a story that has been in the news some, I don't know if you've noticed, but people seem to be talking, including a lot of Republicans, about the Jeffrey Epstein case. The president has said he wants to release if there is credible information, he wants it release.

And then last night in an interview with a conservative outlet, he seemed to go further saying that he would support some kind of new investigation. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are the things that are most important that you would like to see the FBI get to the bottom of?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think they could look at all of it. It's all the same scam. They could look at this Jeffrey Epstein hoax also, because that's the same stuff.

That's all put out by Democrats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

TRUMP: And, you know, some of the naive Republicans fall right into line like they always do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So they could look at this Jeffrey Epstein hoax. He's talking about the FBI. How would you feel about, I guess, an FBI investigation into the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein investigation?

AMODEI: Well, I can tell you first, John, that the Epstein issue as it's become is not on the top half of the radar screen in Nevada, and especially northern Nevada. So I guess these folks will work it out. I know there's people are having a blast with who said what, when and all that sort of stuff. And it seems to be like one of these firing squads where it's circular.

But it's like, hey, folks, work it out or whatever. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have work to do on appropriations and other sort of stuff.

[08:10:00]

So I'm hoping that some of the air gets put back into the room on other issues as opposed to who shot the sheriff or didn't shoot the sheriff in the Epstein deal.

BERMAN: Well, no one shot the deputy, as Bob Marley said.

But let me ask you this, Congressman, how do you think -- how do you think that the White House has done in terms of moving on. If their goal is to move on from this, how would you grade their attempt to move on?

AMODEI: All I would say is you should pursue that goal vigorously.

BERMAN: All right, Congressman Mark Amodei from Nevada. Great to talk to you this morning. Thank you for your time, sir -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, storms have been slamming the East Coast for days now. Rain setting off deadly flash flooding from Virginia to New York and tornadoes in the Midwest.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking more of the storms. Allison, where is the big concern today?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. So the biggest concern for today, Sara, is actually going to continue to be across portions of the Midwest, namely around the Kansas City area. You can see behind me.

This is a live look at Kansas City. You can see some of these flooded roads. This is Interstate 435 near 23rd Street. Again, you can see that road completely underwater. They have blocked it off. And unfortunately, there is more rain expected for the Kansas City area.

And that's on top of what has already fallen. And it's been a lot of rain. It's all thanks to this front here. It's not really moving all that much. And so it's allowing a lot of rain to fall over a tremendously long period of time.

Now, we zoom in a little bit closer. We have had several flash flood warnings in effect through the last several hours. They're still in effect now. The good news is, though, the heaviest of the rain is finally starting to push out of Kansas City.

But not all of it. You're still going to have some of those lighter rain bands over the next hour or two, adding on top of some of the rain that we've already had. And for some of these areas, it's been at least half a foot of rain that has already fallen.

Keep in mind that Kansas City only gets about five inches of rain for the entire month of July. And they've had that in the last 24 hours. So imagine getting a month's worth of rain in a very short period of time.

We're also keeping an eye on the Gulf Coast. Here's why. This area of rain and thunderstorms could potentially cause some flooding across areas of Louisiana and into Mississippi.

That's why you have roughly five million people under these flood watches. And it's not just a threat for today. This will continue into the weekend.

And it's all thanks to this, a totally different system. The front was the concern for Kansas City. This system is more because of this tropical disturbance that's just kind of sitting here along the Gulf Coast.

And that's what's going to bring the very heavy rainfall along the Gulf Coast region, not just today, but all the way through the weekend.

SIDNER: That's a lot. And we're seeing a video of this tornado taken by a bystander who's watching this happen, showing the power of all this. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for your reporting there -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: President Trump seems to be looking for any reason to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell right now. What that now has to do with a building renovation that's gotten little attention, it does now.

And hikers confront and detain a man for allegedly starting a fire in Los Angeles. We've got details on that.

And a look at -- let's look together -- market futures right now. As we're standing by for new economic data, what the latest retail sales report could tell you about how consumers are feeling about the president's ongoing global trade war.

[08:15:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Breaking news just in. CNN is learning that Attorney General Pam Bondi will be heading to California to visit Alcatraz.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House following this one. What are you learning about this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, so Attorney General Pam Bondi as well as the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are traveling to California to visit Alcatraz. Remember, one of the most notorious former prisons, I should say. It has been shuttered now for roughly 60 years.

But look, it's interesting because this comes just two months after we know President Donald Trump had floated the idea of wanting to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz. In a May post on his True Social, he essentially said that he was directing the Bureau of Prisons, which Bondi, I should note, oversees together with the Justice Department, FBI and Homeland Security to, he said, reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt version of Alcatraz.

Now, look, this is interesting from my conversations and granted this kind of came out of nowhere this week. These were conversations I had back in May when the president had first posted about this. They said that he thinks that rebuilding it would be a great symbol, despite it having been shuttered now for roughly 60 years. Part of that was because it was really expensive to keep it open and operating.

Now, the source I spoke to is familiar with the plans for Bondi and Burgum today, didn't give me a lot of details, but then we did get this message from the office of former Speaker House Speaker, but now Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi. They essentially told us that they had been advised that Bondi and Burgum would be making an announcement at Alcatraz before tours there open today on the island.

All to say, it does seem like they are getting kind of ready and gearing up to make an announcement about potentially reopening the prison.

Now, questions, of course, that I've been getting are, is this, you know, some sort of distraction with all of the Epstein case and criticisms of it? That's still to be seen, but more on that later, and hopefully we'll get some images of their visit there later today -- Kate.

[08:20:00]

BOLDUAN: All right, we will see. It's good to see you, Alayna. Thank you so much -- John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, where exactly is President Trump on Fed Chair Jerome Powell and if the president is going to try to fire him? He left a lot of lawmakers that he met with the other day with the impression that the firing was about to happen. But then yesterday out loud, he said, No, no, no. We had no intention

of firing him necessarily. But then there was a new interview overnight, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'd love if he wants to resign, that would be up to him. They say it would disrupt the market if I did. But you know, there are many people say he should be removed because of the fraud of what he's doing at the Fed with regard to the $2.5 billion. He's spending $2.5 billion to, I guess it's a renovation, I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, seen as Brian Todd has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR (voice-over): Sitting on a coveted property alongside Washington's National Mall, two stately marble facade buildings now ringed by construction fencing covered in scaffolding, so-called blue skin waterproof coverings on the windows. The two buildings headquarters of the Federal Reserve and their costly renovation are President Trump's latest weapon in his war against Fed Chairman Jerome Powell.

TRUMP: I mean, it's possible there's fraud involved with the $2.5, $2.7 billion renovation. This is a renovation.

TODD (voice-over): The president indicating while it's unlikely he'll fire Powell, it could still happen if fraud is involved in the $2.5 billion renovation, a project that's been hammered on by the president and his allies for weeks.

TRUMP: The one thing I didn't see him is a guy that needed a palace to live in. I think when you spend $2.5 billion on really a renovation, I think it's pretty disgraceful.

TODD (voice-over): Of course, Powell doesn't live in the building, but that hasn't stopped Trump from tying him to the renovation. The cost of which has shot up in recent years from $1.9 billion to 2.5 billion. The Fed says the buildings had to be upgraded because their electrical grids, plumbing, HVAC, and fire detection systems were antiquated. The buildings were constructed almost a hundred years ago. There have been claims that the renovation would include expenditures for lavish items like rooftop gardens, water features, and VIP elevators.

SEN. TIM SCOTT (R-SC): It sends the wrong message to spend public money on luxury upgrades that feel more like they belong in the Palace of Versailles than a public institution.

TODD (voice-over): But Powell and the Fed say those features were either not in the plans or were scaled back.

JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: Some of those are just flatly misleading. The idea of elevators, you know, we -- it's the same elevator. It's been there since the building was built. So, that's a mischaracterization. And some of those are no longer in the plans.

TODD (voice-over): The Fed says the cost overruns are really due to things like the cost of removing more asbestos than anticipated, soil contamination and inflation.

DAVID WESSEL, THE BROOKING INSTITUTION: I think the building is just a sideshow. It's an excuse to make life miserable for Jay Powell because President Trump, who of course appointed him, doesn't like what he's doing.

TODD (voice-over): What Powell is doing is not moving aggressively enough for Trump's liking to lower interest rates.

TRUMP: He's a knucklehead. He should have cut interest rates a long time ago.

TODD (voice-over): Powell's resisted rate cuts out of concerns that Trump's tariffs could spark more inflation, but Trump and his allies continue their relentless pressure on Powell. Trump's budget Director Russell Vought sending a recent letter to Powell saying the president was extremely troubled by his management of the Fed, including his, quote, ostentatious overhaul of the headquarters.

TODD: Now, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to CNN, Jerome Powell has asked the Fed's inspector general to conduct an additional review of this renovation. Powell has only 10 months left in his term unless Trump can find cause to remove him sooner. Analyst David Wessel says he doesn't think the controversy over this renovation would stand up in court as a credible cause for removing Powell.

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: All right ahead. President Donald Trump calling some of his most loyal voters weaklings because they're criticizing his handling of the Epstein case. Is the fury, though, over the Epstein files, hurting his approval numbers with Republicans as a whole.

And a mother and son rescued after being stranded in a remote California forest. How a note helped police track them down.

Those stories and more ahead.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning, President Trump trying to turn the blame on, surprise, Democrats for the furor surrounding the failure of his DOJ head to release the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump is also blasting, though some of his own fervent supporters for continuing to call for those documents to be released.

CNN's Harry Enten joining us now. I guess the question here is, is this whole saga with Epstein having any impact on Trump's approval rating overall when it comes to the grand old party?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, I mean, look, I think this one surprised me a bit because of all of these complaints online going after Trump and the Epstein files, you might think his approval ratings were going down Republicans. If anything, they're going up. Republicans who approve of Trump -- look at our CNN poll -- the prior one, 86 percent, the one out this week, 88 percent with Republicans.

How about Quinnipiac? The prior poll, 87 percent approval with Republicans. This week out, 90 percent with Republicans. If anything, Donald Trump's approval rating has gone up since this whole Epstein saga started. He is at the apex or close there, too, in terms of his popularity with Republican voters, Epstein files complaints or not.

SIDNER: You just proved that not everything online is real.

ENTEN: Yes, yes, who knew? Who knew?

SIDNER: Amazing.

ENTEN: Twitter actually not reality.

SIDNER: Is there any reason that you can find that this hasn't taken hold and hurt him?

ENTEN: Yes, I mean, on X, all you hear about is the Epstein files. But how about out in the real public? Republicans who said the top issue was Epstein case.

The answer is one, one and not 1 percent, one responded. This is a great little finding that Ariel Edwards-Levy, who, of course, is part of our polling unit, found just one single Republican said that the nation's top problem is, in fact, the Epstein case.

Not much of a surprise that therefore Donald Trump's approval rating has not suffered with Republicans because of the Epstein case. Because the bottom line is, most Americans say it's not up high up on their priority list.

SIDNER: Still, congressional Democrats have been trying to seize on this. You hear them also parroting what you're hearing online, saying release the files, this is terrible, blah, blah, blah. I mean, is that working for them?

[08:30:00]