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Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is Interviewed about the State of the Union Address; Numbers on State of the Union Addresses; Madison Mills is Interviewed about Stock Reaction to the President's Speech; Utah Trial for Children's Grief Author; New Lawsuit Against Amazon. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 25, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:20]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, after just one year, I can say with dignity and pride that we have achieved a transformation like no one has ever seen before, and a turnaround for the ages. It is indeed a turnaround for the ages.

And we will never go back to where we were just a very short time ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A turnaround for the ages, the president said in his State of the Union Address.

With us now is the Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York.

Senator, thank you for being with us.

A turnaround for the ages. What's your reaction to that?

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Yes, John, this was not America's State of the Union. This was Donald Trump's state of delusion. He's in a bubble. He doesn't even know what the average American is going through. And as Americans sit and watch that speech filled with hype and fluff and it doesn't answer the basic questions they want their president to answer, how are you going to make things more affordable? My electricity bill is up six percent. My health care costs are going through the roof, up $500 to $1,000 a month. The cost of meat and other things is way up. And what are you going to do about it? And he doesn't even talk about it.

In fact, he had so little positive to say that he had to spend a whole lot of time saluting people who deserve to be saluted, but who have nothing -- he had nothing to do with. He didn't have anything to do with us winning the gold medal in ice hockey, which I'm very glad we did. He's just in his own bubble. And you compare, John, his speech to Spanberger's. She was right on

the money. She talked about what the American people really care about, which is affordability. Donald Trump mocked it. And the contrast between the parties and the contrast between where Donald Trump is and where America is, is glaring.

BERMAN: You talk about a contrast. There's one point that a lot of the president's supporters are pointing a finger at this morning when he asked you all to stand. Let me play that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support. The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.

You should be ashamed of yourself not standing up. You should be ashamed of yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHUMER: No, it's Donald Trump who should --

BERMAN: So, you didn't stand. Democrats didn't stand.

SCHUMER: Yes.

BERMAN: Well, just -- is it --

SCHUMER: He should be ashamed of --

BERMAN: What did you think when he asked you to stand?

SCHUMER: Bottom line is very simple, we agree we need to protect Americans. He's not by his reckless ICE agency in Minnesota, two Americans were killed. Americans are being pulled out of their cars and beaten. Americans' houses, the doors are being knocked down, you know, without a warrant. And no other police department in America, run by Americans, has done what ICE has done.

So, yes, we want to protect Americans. He's not doing it. And that's why the American people are against what ICE is doing.

BERMAN: Did any --

SCHUMER: So, it was legitimate and right not to stand.

BERMAN: Rahm Emanuel, former ambassador, former member of Congress, former chief of staff, former mayor, was on with Kate a little while ago, and he said that he -- a lot of Democrats skipped this speech. He said that Democrats should not have skipped. He also said Democrats should not have taken the bait from President Trump and yelled back at him, like Congresswoman Ilhan Omar did and Rashida Tlaib, what do you think of that? SCHUMER: Well, given how hostile and nasty Donald Trump was to

Democrats over and over again, calling them epithets and things that had no relevance to making Americans lives better, I thought the Democrats were extremely reserved and well behaved.

And so, the bottom line is, compare what maybe a few Democrats did to what Donald Trump did for the whole speech and it ain't even close who was more out of line, who was more raucous.

BERMAN: Senator, you were briefed on Iran yesterday and what the United States is considering there. How close is the United States to taking military action against Iran?

SCHUMER: Well, I can't talk about a classified briefing. I can tell you two things. Number one, it was very serious. And number two, the bottom line is, he has an obligation to lay out to the Congress and to the American people his goals. That is -- that is how foreign policy should work. When you're forced to lay out your goals, you have to meet potential criticism. I am very worried about how Donald Trump conducts foreign policy, and particularly in this area of the world.

[08:35:05]

BERMAN: He said that he wanted to ensure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon. Needs Iran to swear they will never try to get a nuclear weapon. Is that enough?

SCHUMER: Look, I'm not going to comment given the briefing I had.

BERMAN: OK. OK.

SCHUMER: Donald Trump should come clean with the American people and tell them what the goals are here.

BERMAN: I want to ask about -- he talked a lot about the SAVE America Act, which I do understand is different than just voter I.D.

SCHUMER: Yes.

BERMAN: What's being put before the Senate is asking for people, is asking for people to have Real I.D. or a passport or a birth certificate to register. When people are generally asked about voter I.D., they're being asked to show an I.D. when they show up to vote.

But what I'm asking you, Senator, because I know you're against the SAVE America Act, what kind of voter I.D. could you support? Is there a middle ground?

SCHUMER: Look, look Democrats support voter I.D. And many states do. But that's not what the SAVE Act does. It will purge tens of millions of Americans from the voting lists. And they won't even know they're purged until they show up at the polling place and they say you're purged. And how is -- what is the mechanism for purging them? DOGE. What Elon Musk put in, in terms of the policies of what to do. Do people want ICE to determine who should vote and who should not vote? That is so un-American. So, the -- so, the SAVE Act is -- goes way, way beyond mere voter I.D.

when you show up at the election place. It goes to purging tens of -- it's estimated 20 million, 30 million, 40 million Americans would not be allowed to vote if this act took effect. It is outrageous. And as I have said, it is Jim Crow 2.0. It's doing the same kind of thing that has been done.

BERMAN: So, forget the SAVE Act, but is there -- is there -- is -- not the SAVE America Act or SAVE Act, but is there some kind of voter I.D. you could vote for?

SCHUMER: Yes, there is. Democrats support -- have voted for voter I.D. at the polling places over and over again. And that's not the issue with the SAVE Act.

BERMAN: OK.

Senator Chuck Schumer, thank you for your time this morning. Appreciate you being with us.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good to have him this morning.

So, in this deeply divided nation, the question is, what impact does a State of the Union Address have on the public's view of a president and a President Trump?

Running the numbers, CNN's Harry Enten. He's here now.

So, give me a baseline. Does the State of the Union Address traditionally move numbers?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You know, State of the Union Address, simply put, usually do diddly squat. Diddly doo.

Why do I say that? Because take a look here. OK, average shift in approval rating post State of the Union Address. Since 1977 the average president has seen a shift of zero, zero, zero, zero points when it comes to their approval rating. You look back at Trump's first term. Well, I guess it's a shift of one point. But when it's zero or one point, you know that state of the unions, simply put, don't really move the needle. To quote Stephen A. Smith, we don't care as an American public. We don't care.

BOLDUAN: That said, do you see any evidence that it could be different for Donald Trump this time?

ENTEN: Yes, OK. So, you know what, history is one thing, right? But the idea is, you know, Donald Trump's a unique figure in American politics. He can do things that other people can't. But if you look at our post poll, right, after the State of the Union, I, simply put, don't see it for him.

Why do I say that? OK, view of Trump's speech to Congress, very positive. Among speech viewers who are more Republican than the electorate overall, this was actually the least well-received speech. We're talking about 38 percent of speech viewers who viewed the speech very positive, and that is lower than in 2025 when it was 44 percent, lower than in 2019 when it was 59 percent, lower than in 2018 when it was 48 percent, and lower than it was in 2017 when it was 57 percent. The bottom line is this, State of the Union Addresses, simply put, do not move, traditionally speaking, the American electorate. And this Trump speech, especially so, is not likely to move things because, simply put, it was the less -- the least well received one among speech viewers of any of the speeches that Donald John Trump has given to a joint session of Congress.

BOLDUAN: So, this was of people who were watching the speech. And we talked a lot about the CNN polling going into the speech of the public's view of his approval rating, which was not good.

ENTEN: No.

BOLDUAN: So, where does this leave the president?

ENTEN: Yes, OK, where does this leave the president? This is the key thing. Look, Donald Trump has been underwater for nearly a year now. Nearly a year. A negative net approval rating every day in my aggregate since March 12, 2025, that is 351 days in a row. Look, the bottom line is this, Donald Trump went into the speech not well liked very much to a near historic degree, to a historic degree for any president at this point in their second term. And based upon the reaction last night, I see no reason to think that Donald Trump won't continue to be swimming in the deep blue sea, well underwater, because, simply put, that speech was not as well received as his prior ones and, simply put, State of the Union Addresses don't move things. And that leaves Donald Trump again underwater and likely this 351 will become 365 pretty soon.

[08:40:02]

BOLDUAN: Yes, I was saying, moving quickly to 352.

ENTEN: Yes. Exactly right.

BOLDUAN: Thank you so much, Harry.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, taking a look at futures this morning after the State of the Union Address. And you can see that markets are slightly higher ahead of the opening bell. Now investors around the world are digesting right now President Trump's defense of the American economy. Trump claimed during his speech that the roaring economy is roaring like never before. The economy grew 2.2 percent in 2025. Even though that was the slowest pace since 2020, it was in line with the last three years of economic growth. The first year of Trump's second term wasn't a great one for the labor market as the U.S. added only 181,000 jobs in 2025, but stronger than expected hiring in January suggests 2026 may be better. The president also outlined several new policies he says will address financial concerns.

Joining me now is Madison Mills, a senior reporter for "Axios."

Thank you so much for being here.

Look, you, I know, are watching the futures, as we are. What has been kind of the immediate read from you on how the global markets are responding to this?

MADISON MILLS, SENIOR A.I. REPORTER, "AXIOS": Well, Sara, I was just thinking about what you were saying in your intro about any of the new policies that we got overnight. And what I'm hearing from investors is that some of them are annoyed that they stayed up late last night because there was really no new policies announced when it comes to affordability outside of one flag about a potential kickback for people on retirement accounts.

Having said that, the market is very focused on anything with regards to geopolitics and specifically Iran. And the president did not rule out military intervention. We've already seen oil prices hitting a seven-month high over the last week, just off the back of the market pricing in any potential escalation. So, that's something that the investors I talked to were really monitoring last night and they don't feel this morning that there was much to assuage their concerns about any escalations. So, the market is still pricing in even further escalation of tensions there.

And then, as you mentioned too, the president, very much so pitching this affordability win message. And it's unclear to me, based on the polling this morning, that that resonates with how voters are feeling who were watching last night.

SIDNER: One of the things that stood out to me is that the president floated this idea that tariff revenue could replace income taxes. This is something that has happened in the olden days. But is that even remotely feasible?

MILLS: It's not remotely feasible. I was -- I was listening to an economist this morning talking about this. Traditionally, that is something that happens in countries where the economy is under such duress that there's no other way for the government to collect taxes than through tariff revenue. This is not something that is ever feasibly going to happen in the United States, and it's not really something that you would want to happen because it's a sign that consumers can't pay taxes, so the only way for the government to get some revenue is through tariffs. So, it's an important thing to fact check that that is very unlikely.

With regards to tariffs, it's also interesting that the president could talk about the Supreme Court's decision on tariffs as a potential win on affordability, because if the tariffs go away, then there is this potential for companies to not have to raise prices to counteract the cost of tariffs. Obviously, we don't know if companies are going to do that, but that is the one thing I'm also hearing this morning is that if the president is so focused on affordability, then there is that potential there with regards to tariffs potentially being less intense than they have been throughout his presidency so far.

SIDNER: Yes, ultimately, the Supreme Court could have helped him out, at least when it comes to the economy, but he is insisting he's going to be putting these tariffs across the board. And so, companies still saying they're uncertain about what happens next. And we know what happens with uncertainty, Madison Mills, in the world of the -- of economics.

Thank you so much for walking us through that. Do appreciate it.

John.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, Sara.

Amazon will soon head to court in a landmark case after being sued by families for selling so-called suicide kits. We are hearing from one of those families this morning.

Plus, widow or murderer. The trial of the woman now accused of killing her husband and then writing a children's book about grief. That trial picks up this morning as jurors hear autopsy results.

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SIDNER: All right, we got some good stuff for you this morning.

Olympian Alysa Liu's historic gold medal win caught everyone's attention, but so did her hair. And now we're learning who's responsible for that viral do. So, what and who is the mastermind behind what is known as the halo hairstyle? Well, it turns out a Saint Louis hairstylist, Kelsey Miller. One of her clients knew someone in figure skating, heard Alysa needed her hair done and put Miller in touch with Alysa's coach. She said it was an honor to do Alysa's hair.

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KELSEY MILLER, SYLED GOLD-MEDA WINNER ALYSA LIU'S HAIR: Once you have hair that you love, I mean, it truly just makes you feel like you are on top of the world. And I love that.

For someone who's such a role model, like, I think definitely people are going to be wanting that. I've already had people ask me, like, oh, what do I ask my hairstylist for to achieve this?

Just do it and be you and don't listen to what other people say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And, by the way, this was the first time that she'd ever done a halo hairdo. Alysa has said she was inspired by rings on tree trunks. That is how she came up with the idea, John. What do you think? Should I do it?

BERMAN: I think we should all do it collectively. Halo hair.

SIDNER: All right. I think only Alysa can pull it off. But, hey, you do you.

BERMAN: Well, I'll do a triple axel and get the halo hair.

All right, this morning, new testimony in the trial of a Utah woman accused of killing her husband and later publishing a children's book to help their three sons cope with the grief.

[08:50:07]

Prosecutors allege Kouri Richins poisoned her husband Eric with a lethal dose of fentanyl in 2022. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including aggravated murder.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here to explain what's been going on in this case.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the medical examiner took the stand yesterday. And this is a pivotal witness. I mean, in any prosecution, but especially in this case, determined that the cause of death was fentanyl intoxication. The manner of death, undetermined. And that's why we're having this trial, right, because manner of death can be homicide, death at the hands of another, it can be accidental.

But the former medical examiner also testified that there was acetaminophen (ph) in the system of Eric Richins, as well as an anti- psychotic drug. Now, according to the charging documents, the defendant had said that she currently was on at that time an anti- psychotic drug. But the defendant also said, you know what, we take THC, so I bet the fentanyl came as a byproduct of the THC. Medical examiner said, no. Forensic pathology is my -- is my doctorate and my medical degree and the answer is no.

Also, Kouri Richins' mother had said on body camera that maybe it's a reaction from the allergy shots, and that's why he died. Medical examiner said, no, that's not the case. But there was an empty bottle of a painkiller on the side of the bed. They noticed that the bottle was empty. It was a prescription that Eric Richins had from 2016. But while they were at the house, at that death scene, a deputy from the Summit County Sheriff's Department testified yesterday he watched the defendant and just saw something very unusual.

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DEPUTY VINCENT NGUYEN, SUMMIT COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: While I'm on scene at a death call, normally, you know, the victim, they have tears. They look at me when I ask them a question while they respond. They're pretty direct when they ask a direct question. It just -- every time I spoke to Ms. Richins, it just seems like her face was in her hands and I couldn't see her face. I think at one time I even leaned down and just tried to look to see her emotions. But, you know, it was just a little abnormal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Eric Richins had testified on the first day -- Eugene Richards, who is the father of Eric Richins, and he had testified that the defendant had told him that her husband had died of actually Covid-19 and a lung fungus. Well, he did have Covid-19. The forensic pathologist said there's no correlation with the death. But he had no lung fungus.

BERMAN: Huh. All right, again, new testimony today. And we should note that you can follow Jean covering this trial, so many trials, on CNN All Access all the time.

CASAREZ: And Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty.

BERMAN: Important to note that. Thanks, Jean.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: The police in Australia have now confirmed today that the body of an 85-year-old man, a grandfather, who had been kidnaped from his home, his body has now been found. Adding to this tragedy, authorities say that it was a case of mistaken identity that led to this. That the suspects had a different intended target and they were demanding ransom money. A new video shows the moment that grandfather was kidnaped. Two suspects approached his home. We will show you the video at some point. Approached his home last week. They were later seen pushing him out of the house and into a car. Police now have two suspects in custody, but officials say more arrests are coming.

The battle for how the military uses artificial intelligence faces a new deadline this week. A deadline set by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth telling the CEO of Anthropic that the company must give into the Pentagon's demands to lift safeguards that they have wanted in place over the military's use of Anthropic's Claude A.I. model, and that they must, the Pentagon saying, must give into those demands by this Friday or risk being retaliated against by the federal government. Hegseth is threatening to blacklist this major tech company.

At the center of this -- we've been reporting on this with the help of "Axios." At the center of this fight is Anthropic's insistence that the military have some safeguards over how they use this model, not be able to use their A.I. model for things like fully autonomous weapons and mass surveillance.

So, a suspect on the run from police in Ohio thought a trash bin was the perfect hiding spot. It turns out it was trash day, though. Police dash cam video show the moment that the suspect jumped -- he pops up out of the trash can and he runs off. Tries to. The suspect took off, but the police eventually did catch up to him.

[08:55:03]

According to John Berman, and I'll leave -- I will leave this as a single source of proof from him, they're nicknaming him Oscar the Grouch.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Kate.

New this morning, a watershed moment potentially over whether Amazon is liable for what it sells. The Washington State Supreme Court ruled a lawsuit against Amazon can go to trial after several families sued the online retailer saying it sold what amounts to suicide kits. They say Amazon sold the compound sodium nitrate, which has been linked to several suicides. It can be used in things like meat preservation.

Now, Amazon responded to the ruling, saying, "we extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones personally affected by suicide. Customer safety is a top priority at Amazon. We are committed to a safe shopping experience and require our selling partners to follow all applicable laws and regulations when listing items in our store." Now, "sodium nitrate is a widely available product offered by retailers to preserve foods, such as meats and fish, and for use in laboratories as a reagent. High concentration sodium nitrate is not intended for direct consumption, and, unfortunately, like many products, it can be misused. To minimize the potential for product misuse, we prohibit the sale of sodium nitrate in concentrations greater than 10 percent. And while we disagree with the court's ruling, we remain committed to the safety of all of our customers."

Joining me now is Carrie Goldberg, who represents several families in this lawsuit. And we also have Ruth Scott, the mother of Mikael Scott, who passed away at age 27 from sodium nitrate.

First, I want to talk to you, Ruth. Tell me what happened in your case.

RUTH SCOTT, MOTHER OF MIKAEL SCOTT: I came home to the worst, worst thing I can ever experience in my entire life, to my son's -- my son's dead body, all because of some substance that nobody knew about. Nobody knew how to use. That had no place to be on a marketplace as it was being sold so recklessly.

And I'm here just to -- I want to let people know that this is not a substance to toy with. This is not something that the normal person knows how to handle safely. This should have never, ever been there so easily, readily available. I don't know of any company who says that they care about people, their shopping (INAUDIBLE) experience, their safety would allow something like that and allow their algorithms to put things together to make it easier for people that are sick, that are in just a moment of pain, that just want it to go away, and they're looking for help and they have this company that says, here, take this. You don't know how to use it safely. You don't know that this -- you will never come back from this. And this is what I am here to let people know, that this is just not a simple meat preservative. Nobody knows how to use 98 percent pure sodium nitrite safely. There was no directions on Amazon how to safely (INAUDIBLE) direct -- just how to safely even remedy. If there was an accidental ingestion, there was nothing, no material data safety sheets, nothing. They were totally aware of this. All I wanted to do was find out what this stuff was. I had -- I'm a nurse. I had no idea what sodium nitrite was. None. And nobody knew. EMS didn't even know what this bottle was on the floor. I wanted them to know they had a substance that was volatile, that I figured this company that is so huge would care about people, that would say, oh, my goodness, let us -- let us make sure that this doesn't happen, that children, people's kids can't get this.

But, no, they -- all they did was for me here, for me there, hey, give me a random email to send my complaints to. Nothing. And then they continued, continued to sell this. Continued.

[09:00:00]

And more people died. More people died after Mikael.

SIDNER: Ruth, I am so sorry for what you've gone through. I see that you're sort of using that