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Judge Rules Against Trump's IRS Lawsuit; Polls on Trump's Foreign Policy; France and Spain Play in World Cup Semi Final. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired July 14, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:30:11]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: A federal judge ruled that the president's lawsuit against the IRS was improper and accused him of misusing the court. So, the president filed this multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the IRS back in January over the leak of his tax returns. But in a scathing ruling, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams said the lawsuit, quote, "was not brought to vindicate rights but to manipulate the judicial process." Judge Williams also referred several top Trump attorneys for possible disciplinary action.

With us now, CNN legal analyst, criminal defense attorney, Joey Jackson.

So, this suit in this whole deal was what led to the $1.8 billion legal defense fund that is now not happening, we think, but also led to the president's immunity from tax audits in the past, which we think is still in effect here. But basically, what did the judge say happened?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Nothing good.

Good morning to you, John.

So, the judge was very annoyed because the judge felt, and I think that it's a fair reading, objectively, to believe that this is a complete misuse of judicial process. Why? Just think about the effect of a president essentially suing his own executive agencies, and he's in charge of those agencies, OK. So, it's the president, other plaintiffs being his children. And what you're doing is you're filing a $10 billion, as in b, dollar lawsuit against the IRS, of which you control, against the Department of Treasury, of which you control.

Remember, who has to defend the lawsuit also, John. That's the Department of Justice. They vigorously defend lawsuits like this. And when you file it, you did it outside of the statute of limitations. What does that mean? A statute of limitations gives you a defined period to file. Based upon the fact that the person who leaked his tax documents was prosecuted in open court, actually did 60 months -- is doing 60 months in jail, you were aware back then, in '23, two years later is '25. Why is that relevant to this discussion? Because the first thing any

lawyer does, if you're in DOJ or elsewhere, is you're attacking, from a defense perspective, the propriety of a lawsuit. Do you think DOJ, John, got up and said, hey, judge, you got to dismiss this case. It's outside the statute of limitations. No, they said nothing. This was brought to light because of what we lawyers call, right, the law calls amicus curiae. Those are friends of the court. Friends of the court, a panel of about 35 judges and interest groups said, this is ridiculous. And the judge was additionally annoyed because it wasn't meant and designed to be a lawsuit. It was meant in designed to give a sweetheart deal cover. And that's a problem.

BERMAN: So, to what end? This judge is very, very angry, right?

JACKSON: Yes.

BERMAN: As we said, the legal defense fund, or retribution fund, as some people call it, that isn't happening, at least now. But what still is happening, we think, is the president is more or less immune from audits, you know, of his taxes in the past. Is that still in effect?

JACKSON: Not so sure. Not according to this judge. Now, to be clear, the judge blew up the deal, right?

What -- now, look at what DOJ tried to do. They tried to dismiss the lawsuit to take it out of judicial jurisdiction. No, judge, you can't touch it. We have dismissed the lawsuit. It's out of your purview.

The judge said, no, that's not the way it works. You filed your lawsuit. I will have my say as it relates to the lawsuit. And the judge certainly is.

How? The judge is saying, judge, essentially, the deal is scuttled. You mentioned that fund of $1.8 billion, a weaponization fund, to award the allies of the president who feel that they were abused by agencies that will be no longer in terms of the actual settlement to avoid present or future audits. Well, there's a little law against that and it says that executive agencies in the White House cannot interfere or otherwise be involved in those types of investigations. So, that calls into question whether that's going to be standing. According to this judge, no.

And she went a step further, John, as you know, to sanction lawyers. Sanction, what does that mean? It means, you're going to be reported to the bar association because they handle ethical views and values. You're going to be reported to the bar association. Not just the private lawyers, but the governmental lawyers who were in collusion.

Just one last thing, John. Think about how lawsuits work. You usually have two competing sides and you argue in court, OK. And one side carries the day ultimately These all, people, right, the president's lawyers, were in collusion with, oh, the president's lawyers. Who are they? Department of Justice officials who should represent the government. They were representing the president. That's a problem.

BERMAN: Todd Blanche, by the way, the nominee to be permanent attorney general, hearings tomorrow. What role did he play in all this?

JACKSON: A pretty big one. When he was testifying before Congress previously, in front of a House committee, they asked him about, hey, what about this settlement? And he essentially said a couple of things. Number one, I could represent both sides of the equation.

[09:35:02]

The -- I represent the president, but I could represent the other side. And by the way, the judge had nothing to do with it, and can't have anything to do with it because she doesn't have jurisdiction. Nonsense. I think it's going to come up big time in the confirmation hearings. And the fact that this could have been a ruse just to give this settlement judicial cover will come up in a confirmation hearing, in addition to whether this was corrupt, unprecedented, and a number of other things that we can talk about.

So, you're going to hear a lot about this.

BERMAN: Some fodder for senators to ask their questions.

JACKSON: Yes.

BERMAN: Joey Jackson, counselor, great to see you. Thank you very much.

JACKSON: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. And very soon two Supreme Court justices will be testifying before Congress. This is something that once was an annual appearance, but on Tuesday it will be the first time today in seven years two sitting justices, Elena Kagan and Amy Coney Barrett, are scheduled to testify at the Capitol. Officially they are set to answer questions about the court's $228 million request for the budget year that begins October 1st, but they'll definitely face big questions by both a House and Senate committee about the request for tens of millions of dollars in additional security funding.

Justice Barrett has been the target of several security incidents since she joined the court -- since she joined the high court. Most recently in May there was a swatting attempt on her home. The judiciary overall is asking for $29 million more for security than last year. Their request includes making members of the Supreme Court police available to protect justices and their families, and for frontline security at federal courthouses.

Their appearance also comes after, as we've discussed many times, a divisive Supreme Court term which could be a part of today's testimony.

Much more ahead for us.

The World Cup semifinals kicks off today in a match not to be missed. France versus Spain. We're going to take you live to Dallas, where all of the action is about to happen.

And the new video in of a truck losing control on an interstate and driving off the side of a bridge. What happened here?

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[09:41:50]

BERMAN: So, the largest one-day increase in oil prices in six years. A new blockade on Iranian ports. The president says the U.S. will charge tolls in the Strait of Hormuz, contradicting all his senior cabinet officials. A very interesting day in U.S. foreign policy.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

So, how's the president doing on foreign policy?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Bad. Bad. I mean, you know, he came into office, oh, you know, during the campaign, you know, I'm going to end the wars. Well, the wars aren't ending. And if anything, we're adding to them. And you can just see it right here.

I mean, Trump and foreign policy. In 2024 versus Kamala Harris, foreign policy was a strength for this president. He was trusted more on foreign policy than Kamala Harris by a ten point margin. Among independents he was trusted more by 14 points.

Come over to this side of the screen. The net approval now on foreign policy in 2026, down he goes right into the Strait of Hormuz. Look at this, 22 points in the negative direction. A minus 22 point net approval rating. That is a drop of over 30 points. And among independents, he is now at minus 30 points. You know I love those notes at the bottom of the screen, Johnny B. So, that is a movement of 44 -- 44 points among independents. Foreign policy, which was a strength for this president during the 2024 campaign, has become a weakness for him here in 2026 leading up to this midterm campaign.

BERMAN: This may be because of Iran, but the president said he was going to end the Russian war on Ukraine in one day.

ENTEN: Yes, he said he was going to end it in one day. Well, I don't know about you, but here in reality, the war is still going on. And, obviously, that has been in the news very much recently. And you could see it right here. Trump and the Russia-Ukraine war. Look at this, in 2024, again it was a strength for him. Slightly more trusted than Kamala Harris by two points.

You come over to this side of the screen. Again, the net approval. The shift very much in the negative direction. Down he goes. Now at minus 19 points. That's a 20-point switcheroo. And among independents we're talking about a shift from plus seven points, them trusting Donald Trump more on the Russia-Ukraine war, to now his net approval rating negative 36 points. Again, a 40 -- over a 40 point shift away from the president of the United States. Again, foreign policy, which was such a strength for this president during the 2024 campaign against Kamala Harris has become an anchor for his presidency. We're talking foreign policy at large. We're also talking about Russia-Ukraine, war.

BERMAN: On Iran, what direction are his numbers moving right now?

ENTEN: Yes. You know what, they started in the negative and they've become more negative. I mean, look, Trump's net approval rating in Iran, in March it was minus 19 points. You talk about here, look at this. Again, you start in the negative at minus 19 points. You say it can't get any worse. It absolutely has gotten worse. We're talking now at minus 28 points. A shift again of about ten points in the negative direction from an already low point. And I'm not thinking that the rise in gas prices will help him out very much.

BERMAN: Well, let's talk about rising gas prices here because that's been really a big factor when you talk about consumer sentiment here. And gas prices have decreased.

ENTEN: They have.

BERMAN: They did decrease.

ENTEN: They did.

BERMAN: They started to creep up again. What are the prediction markets saying? How do people feel like they're going to go over the next few weeks?

ENTEN: Yes, you look at the prediction markets. You know, that was -- we had seen some slight increases in Trump's approval rating. Still very negative. But slight increases as the gas prices went down.

[09:45:03]

While I wouldn't be surprised if that upward trend in -- the slight upward trend in Trump's net approval rating starts going down again because chance gas prices in July rise above $4 a gallon. July 12th, just a few days ago, was a 32 percent chance according to the Kalshi prediction market. That has more than doubled, up to a 75 percent chance now going in the wrong direction. And that means Trump's net approval rating will likely follow.

BERMAN: That is a very quick change there.

ENTEN: That's a -- you've got it.

BERMAN: You can see the sentiment there shifting.

Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, Johnny.

BERMAN: A lot of news this morning. We'll be right back.

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[09:50:04] BOLDUAN: The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is being drained and drained again. You're looking at -- this is new video. Looks completely drained now. New video that came in just minutes ago showing that the pool is almost completely drained this morning. President Trump wrote on social media about it last night, saying this, "we drained the beautiful Reflecting Pool today in order to fix the scars and damage that was done by the vandals two weeks ago."

A CNN crew that shot this new video of the Reflecting Pool did not notice any obvious signs of these slashes -- long slashes in the recently installed lining. But we could not access the full length of the pool due to the fence that is around it.

Also this. There is new video that's in showing a wild scene on a highway when a pickup truck, as you see we have highlighted it for you, loses control and then crashes through a guardrail and falls off a Wisconsin interstate into a marsh. Another driver is actually seen getting out of the way just before the truck hits the guardrail. The Milwaukee County Sheriff told a local affiliate that the driver did survive, thankfully, and was able to free himself from the truck. My goodness.

Olive Garden bringing back its famous endless pasta pass. After six years, the long wait is over. $100 passes go on sale Thursday, but only 10,000 are available. And Olive Garden expects that they will be snapped up in minutes. The pass allows you to eat as much -- this is getting -- making me dizzy. The pass allows you to eat as much pasta, plus breadsticks and soup or salad -- it's killing me -- as you want. The never-ending pasta pass is good from August 31st to November 22nd. I don't know what was so funny about that one from backstage, but here we are.

BERMAN: Yes, I have no idea either. There are strange people. But I know you'll be first in --

BOLDUAN: That wasn't pasta.

BERMAN: You'll be first in line.

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BOLDUAN: It's not real pasta. What do --

BERMAN: OK.

BOLDUAN: I don't know what's -- I don't know why I decided to engage Phil from offset. One of my many mistakes that I've made in my life. I digress. Phil is one of the most wonderful members of our team. Still hits Phil. Yes, the one and only.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Olive Garden is not real pasta.

BOLDUAN: Oh my God. We're moving on. We apologize, Olive Garden. He doesn't speak for CNN and CNN makes no judgment on the realness or not realness of pasta. There we go. BERMAN: All right, in the meantime, what an incredible matchup.

Arguably the two best teams in the world face to face in the World Cup semis. Two-time winner France and one-time World Cup winner Spain, 3 p.m. today. I cannot wait.

Our Don Riddell is at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, which FIFA has mandated we call Dallas Stadium. So, don't slip up there, Don. But this game will be fantastic.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: It should be. It really should be. It's been described as the final before the final. You've laid out kind of all the accomplishments of these two sides. And, you know, it's just going to be so exciting to see how it goes. The French are being described as unstoppable. The Spanish are supposedly impenetrable because they've only conceded one goal. And La Roja, the Spain team, have already been celebrating. They actually marked not one but two birthdays yesterday. One of them, the extraordinary youngster Lamine Yamal, who's only just turned 19. And what he has already accomplished in this game is just remarkable. He's already played 13 games in major tournaments. He's already a European champion with Spain. He's already won three La Liga titles with Barcelona. He's already a runner up in Ballon d'Or.

Now, he hasn't had the best tournament yet. Certainly not living up to the hype that we were expecting. But that's because he entered the tournament carrying an injury. But he was the man of the match in their last game. Their win against Belgium. So perhaps Lamine Yamal is peaking just in time.

The French are in full voice. This is a whole bunch of their fans around town in Dallas yesterday. They are looking really, really good. Just irresistible. They've got such an incredible attacking lineup with Mbappe and Dembele and Michael Olise. They've scored 16 goals. And they look so much fun. It really is hard to call how this game is going to play today. But maybe if Spain keep the ball away from the French, which they're good at, then the French can't do any damage with it.

Anyway, that's the semifinal today. It's, of course, now a week since the United States team went out and Flo Balogun really emerged as their breakout star, remember scoring three goals. But then he got that red card and the suspension and the suspension was suspended because President Trump made a phone call to FIFA. Balogun was back in the game as a result for Belgium, where the U.S. really didn't turn up for that match. Balogun has been speaking to CBS today, reflecting on the impact that that all had on his team.

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FOLARIN BALOGUN, USA STRIKER: I was happy to be back in the team.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BALOGUN: But when I kind of started to reflect, I knew it was going to cause a lot of controversy. And I could almost see within my teammates a bit of nerves because it was something that's so unique. [09:55:08]

But the closer we got to the game, I tried to just focus as best as I could.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BALOGUN: But it was difficult, you know? Aa lot of outside noise. And that's hard to avoid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIDDELL: All right, kickoff here in five hours' time. You can probably tell, I've just about lost my voice. That's what five weeks of World Cup will do for you. I'll probably leave it here in the Dallas Stadium.

Back to you.

BERMAN: Yes. You've got three games left, pal. I mean, your voice -- if this is your voice now, imagine what it's going to be like in a few days after these semis, which are going to be fantastic.

Don, thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: Don's the best. Poor guy, don't make him laugh. The poor man's going to lose it.

Then there's this, Norwegian star Erling Haaland has a new friend, a taxidermied raccoon holding an empty bottle of gin. We'll show you. The origins of this majestic creature can be traced back to a little shop in Dallas called Wild Bill's Western Store. Haaland does need help, though, naming his new friend, and he's asking for help on his Insta Stories. The options are "Cowboy," "Ranger," "Tex" or "ROW," ROW standing for raccoon on wheels. There you go.

BERMAN: Is a taxidermied racoon the same thing as a stuffed raccoon? Just to be clear.

BOLDUAN: Don't you dare get me involved in this. I don't know. I just know --

BERMAN: I think it's a stuffed raccoon.

BOLDUAN: Erling Haaland is a national treasure.

BERMAN: No comment from the raccoon.

Thank you for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL THE SITUATION ROOM is up next.

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