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Senate Approves $9B In DOGE Cuts In 51-48 Vote; Trump Lashes Out At MAGA Base Over Epstein Fallout; U.S. To Destroy 500 Tons Of Taxpayer-Funded Emergency Food; CNN Poll: Record Low View Dems Favorably At Just 28 Percent. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 17, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:31:09]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish, and thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It's half past the hour.

And here's what's happening right now.

The Senate has signed off on DOGE spending cuts, passing it in the early hours of this morning. Just two Republicans oppose the $9 billion in cuts, Senator Susan Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski. The bill will now return to the House for final approval.

Brand new CNN polling shows Democrats are far more energized about voting in 2026 than Republicans, outpacing them by 22 points. But Democrats are also facing historic lows when it comes to favorability, the lowest since CNN started polling in 1992. Republicans seeing their lowest since the aftermath of the January 6th riot.

And a massive fire rips through a shopping center in Iraq, killing at least 61 people. People had to be pulled through windows of a five- story building as the fire grew out of control. And that building, which housed a restaurant and supermarket, had only been open for a week.

And we are now entering the finger pointing phase of the Jeffrey Epstein mess, a mess that President Trump is trying hard to clean up. He's now recommending the FBI investigate the investigations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They could look at this Jeffrey Epstein hoax also, because that's the same stuff that's all put out by Democrats. And, you know, some of the naive Republicans fall right into line like they always do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, here's the thing. Trump, of course, has been accused of pushing conspiracy theories so hard that this is why they stick. And if you do that, sometimes they're going to blow up in your face. And that's the problem for the president right now.

It may have started years ago with his embrace of QAnon, a group of conspiracy theorists who are fully committed to the belief that Democrats are running a clandestine pedophile ring. And Jeffrey Epstein has now become a central character in the QAnon narrative.

That never seemed to be a problem for the president in the past.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't know much about the movement other than I understand they like me very much, which I appreciate, but I don't know much about the movement. I have heard that it is gaining in popularity. I've heard these are people that love our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: We're going to bring in Will Sommer, senior reporter for "The Bulwark".

Good morning, Will. Thanks for being with us.

WILL SOMMER, SENIOR REPORTER, THE BULWARK: Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: So that tape of Trump was from a few years back when kind of QAnon was at its most sort of public version of it. But now, in a way, it's come back, right, with the support from many other communities within the MAGA world.

And you've been reporting that Trump's get over it post on Truth Social actually got ratioed, which I didn't even know a Trump post on Truth Social could get ratioed.

So, what does that mean? What are we looking at?

WILL SOMMER, SENIOR REPORTER, THE BULWARK: I mean, this means Trump is really sort of at war with the base right now. I mean, I was shocked that this has been kind of roiling since the DOJ memo came out two weeks ago, two weeks ago now.

And but then yesterday he came out and said, you know, he basically called his supporters idiots. He said, "You've fallen for this Democratic hoax. You're weaklings." And so they're mad.

And, you know, a lot of the right-wing media figures who sort of tell them what to think or who give them ideas are mad too. And so, Trump really is disconnected from the base right now in a way I don't think we've ever seen.

CORNISH: And we're saying base, but you've identified five distinct Epstein factions inside of MAGA. You listed the get over it crowd, the dead enders, the show trial compromisers. Which of these -- is these groups is the most enlightening about this moment?

SOMMER: Sure. I mean, I think it's interesting to see the sort of the Epstein dead enders, the people who are not moving on here. [06:35:02]

And, you know, perhaps with good reason. These are people like Tucker Carlson, people who are saying, you know, well, wait a minute. There did seem to be a lot of weird stuff going on with Jeffrey Epstein and the Trump administration was telling us up until two weeks ago that it was a big deal.

J.D. Vance was saying he wanted to see the client list. Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, now the heads of the FBI, were both talking about Epstein and how important it was. And all of a sudden, we've hit this point where they're saying it's over.

And so, this really has sort of fractured the MAGA movement. And people are, you know, even now, still really fighting over it.

CORNISH: Well, as you're saying, names, I want to compare notes with you for a second because there are a lot of people you're talking about are also people who have lost major policy fights with this White House, right? When it comes to Iran strikes when it comes to Iran, when I think of someone like Tucker Carlson, I think in my notes there's some conversation here, he's part of the Mossad Epstein conspiracy angle.

And it just feels like there are people, maybe, who -- it's in their interest to have a win against Trump right now.

SOMMER: Yeah, a lot of the people were seeing who are most vocal about their disappointment with Trump and Pam Bondi are the same people who are really opposed to a war with Iran, and part of that is because of this conspiracy theory that Jeffrey Epstein was working for Israel. And so, as a result, a lot of the -- sort of falls on the same axis there.

On the other hand, there are like just a lot of, I think, rank and file MAGA people who are upset about this too. You know, certainly when I look at social media comments, basically under any kind of Trump related post, people are saying, you know, great, but why can't we find out what happened to Jeffrey Epstein?

We saw polling yesterday from Quinnipiac that said Republicans are just about even in terms of how they think he handled it, which in terms of their normal support for the president is kind of a disaster.

CORNISH: Before I let you go, this plan to basically say, somehow this is now a Democrats thing and a Democrats hoax. I mean, is that an off ramp for people who still want to support Trump but still want to buy into this hoax? Or are you going to be listening for a shift in language?

SOMMER: You know, it does seem like this is what's being offered is basically I think they're saying, well, what if we go after we somehow redirect this to being Trump's broader, you know, quote, unquote, deep state enemies, people who investigated the Russia connection, people who maybe in Jack Smith's special counsel operation. And it seems like there's a lot of effort on the White House to spin

things that way. They're declassifying a lot of documents. But none of this is really related to Jeffrey Epstein. And so, I think, at least for now, I'm seeing a lot of skepticism among the base about this new effort to sort of redirect in that way.

CORNISH: Will Sommer of "The Bulwark". Thank you so much.

SOMMER: Thanks for having me.

CORNISH: All right. I want to turn next to this, an agency targeted by the Trump administration for alleged waste, fraud and abuse is now being forced to waste nearly 500, I'm going to say this, tons of food aid.

The food aid has been sitting in Dubai for months, but now it has to be destroyed after the administration lost track of it. One former USAID official tells CNN the personnel, who typically track the expiration dates, of course, have been fired by the Trump administration. So it's going to cost the U.S. $100,000 to destroy.

So, reporting in "The Atlantic" estimates the emergency in this case, there were biscuits. They would have been enough to feed 1.5 million children for a week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICHOLAS KRISTOF, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK TIMES: Elon Musk, Marco Rubio, and President Trump said that they were going to eliminate waste in USAID, and instead they've created it in many ways, in many places. And it's a waste not only of money, but of human lives around the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Group chat is back. I wanted to talk about this because this rescission package as well is a major cut to foreign aid. And for a long time, certainly Bush era Republicanism said spending money abroad was a kind of soft power, giving biscuits to hungry children is a thing that made people feel better about the United States, and it was worth doing.

Someone else, this is a jump ball. What do you think when you think of this pile of food rotting?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, I think from this administration to come in and say, we're going to make cuts to have tons of food that are now going to have to be spent to destroy it, I think flies in the face of DOGE. And I think the other thing here is that we are losing our soft power capabilities. At the end of the day, the United States does not do anything out of the goodness of our heart. While these are good things and good initiatives that we do to provide aid and lifesaving services around the world, at the end of the day, it is all a strategic play for our own reputation.

So, we get closer to government so that they don't turn to our adversaries like China. And because we are pulling back and because we are destroying aid like this, that could go to saving lives, you know, wherever it was meant to go, China is going to seep in and China is going to start flooding these countries with aid. And these countries are now going to turn to China, Russia, others for support.

[06:40:02]

CORNISH: So, that's the foreign policy angle. You know, now that this vote has gone through, I'm thinking about how American farmers supplied 41 percent of food aid to those agencies so that even the people here who were benefiting from this goodwill loop, so to speak, are about to get hit.

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Look, I'm in agreement with you on this, and this is one of the -- this is going to be one of the fallouts of the speed at which DOGE moved at the beginning of this administration. I think we're talking and this goes back to what we were talking about with ICE as well.

I mean, there is a speed to this administration that is going to cause problems. And this is one of those areas that that we see it. I actually, though, would say that it would be unfortunate if we continued, if we did not continue with the soft power of the United States in providing food.

I think we do do it to a certain extent. Maybe I'm naive here. I think we do do it out of the goodness of our heart. Weve got a tradition from World War II in handing out Hershey bars and other things.

SINGH: Sure, yeah.

DUBKE: There is a value to the United States and combating China and Russia and others.

SINGH: It is strategic.

DUBKE: It is strategic and we should not lose sight of that.

So, I think part of this whole larger issue, is there waste, fraud and abuse? Sure. But should we also be focusing on some of these soft power gestures? And I think the answer is yes. In terms of the farmers --

CORNISH: Let me bring in Betsy for a second, just because to your point, I think the administration is also saying we shouldn't have something for nothing. That's not just a DOGE thing. There's a reorientation of the thinking of foreign policy.

So, to your mind, are they hoping this blows over? No one notices. What are you hearing?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think the point is. That they are watching to see how Americans react to this. At the same time that they are saying they are making good on a campaign promise, they are cutting the waste, the fraud, the abuse. But they also just codified these rescissions packages in the senate

and heading to the house. And essentially, this is putting into law all of these DOGE cuts that they have been asking for, and it's going to be sent to the president's desk. It also included a massive cut for public broadcasting, including the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, NPR, $9 billion. No more funding for those programs. That was something that was a huge priority for the president.

And so, he's going to say, look, we're going to stop funding these things that he believes are partisan and liberal, and that is a win for him.

CORNISH: Can you say your message to farmers? You were saying, what's on that? You're thinking?

DUBKE: Well, I -- my message to farmers is on this, that I think that part of what we're -- what we're going through here is where subsidies were being used for farmers to provide this aid. I don't think that that is going to end. And so we'll see. We'll see on these -- on these rescission packages.

But not every part of the aid that we were giving was part of the rescission package. So, I just want to make that clear as well.

CORNISH: That's -- yes, totally fair. It was a democracy fund. Millennium fund. There were all kinds of things. But I think a lot of people are waking up this morning with a changed reality as a result of this.

You guys, group chat. Stay with me. We're going to discuss more.

Still ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we've got new CNN polling showing the Democratic Party is more unpopular than ever. Up next, we're going to talk with one Democrat in Tennessee hoping a promise of generational change will lead her party forward.

Plus, a massive stage fire threatens one of the biggest music festivals in Europe. We're going to have more in the group chat after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:47:44]

CORNISH: It's now 47 minutes past the hour, and here is your morning roundup.

The Trump administration killing Californias plan for a bullet train pulling back $4 billion in funding. President Trump has dubbed the project the train to nowhere, calling it overpriced, overregulated and never delivered. The states governor says theyre looking at other options.

And the House voted late Wednesday night to take up a crypto bill. The vote broke the record for the longest vote in modern house history. It took more than nine hours and 40 minutes. The so-called Genius Act aims to regulate the multibillion dollar stablecoin market. It passed the Senate with bipartisan support.

And the show must go on. The main stage of one of the world's most famous music festivals goes up in flames. Tomorrowland will go on as planned tomorrow in Belgium, but yesterday, the massive mainstage actually caught fire. Festival organizers say no one was hurt and they're looking for a solution.

And they are not getting divorced. Barack and Michelle Obama shooting down rumors about their marriage being on the rocks. The former president using humor to set the record straight on his wife's IMO podcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE OBAMA, FORMER FIRST LADY: It's my husband y'all.

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: She took me back.

M. OBAMA; Now don't start.

B. OBAMA: It was it was touch and go for a while.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Our former first lady says she's a better person because of who she married, and that she has never considered leaving her husband.

Turning back now to our top story. New polling into CNN shows Democrats are fired up for the midterm election. But there are some red flags for the party as they look to retake some control in Washington, D.C.

The new poll finds 72 percent of Democratic leaning registered voters are extremely motivated to vote in 2026. That is ten points higher than the month before the 2024 election. But even with that rise in enthusiasm, the favorability of the party is at all-time lows. The same poll finds the Democratic Party has a favorable rating of just 28 percent, and that's the lowest CNN has found since we started polling in 1992.

Potential Democratic presidential hopefuls like, say, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, believes that there's an opening with voters.

[16:50:06]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D), KENTUCKY: People will give their votes to people they sometimes disagree with, but you got to show them the respect. That's the deal I made with Kentuckians, and that's the deal Democrats need to make with America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about this, Aftyn Behn. She's running as a Democrat for Congress in Tennessee.

Aftyn, good morning. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING.

AFTYN BEHN (D), TENNESSEE STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you so much for having me.

CORNISH: Okay. So, I feel like you're among the younger generation that is trying to run for some of these new seats.

And we were looking at our polling earlier and it found there's a good number of voters in the Democratic Party who are actually -- like their satisfaction with who they have, it breaks down by generation. Some of the older voters are like, I'm fine with this. The younger voters are complaining.

How do you win over that older crowd?

BEHN: I think the energy is palpable. I think the electorate wants to see young voters, young leaders lead this charge. They want to -- they want to see us usher in a generation of prosperity. They want to see us take charge, elbow our way into the table, and to really be vocal about the issues that are affecting us.

This country has been full of broken promises and a lot of unfulfilled commitments. Young people are suffering, and we've had to figure out how to resist and organize against that. And so now, we really just want a seat at the table.

CORNISH: Do you feel pushback in the establishment?

I mean, things --

BEHN: Yeah.

CORNISH: -- may be better for you in Tennessee. But if you look at, say, I think the special election -- you had Deja Foxx lose in Arizona, David Hogg had a big falling out with the DNC.

You know, where do you stand on something like this where he's saying, look, we should actually primary those folks who we think should be out?

BEHN: Well, for me, I mean I'm focused on my race. I'm running for the seventh congressional district. I think in Tennessee, there is a lot of good old boys club, good old boys network.

But I will say that the energy is palpable to see young -- especially young women, running for leadership positions and breaking the mold when it comes to Congress.

CORNISH: Zohran Mamdani of New York, he's got the buzz right now. You were talking about energy. He was just on Capitol Hill, where I guess Democrats were basically kicking the tires.

And here's what they had to say after they met him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Anybody that's staying out at this point, instead of endorsing this incredible, dynamic leader, is missing an opportunity.

REP. LUZ RIVAS (D-CA): We were just learning skills from him, communication skills. It was not about whether we're supporting him or not.

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): I think he's a very personable, smart, young man, and I hope we're not going to have a lot of circular firing squads.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: She hopes. But she's raising it because there may be.

Does he help or hurt?

BEHN: I think he helps. I mean, his message is one of helping working families across New York. My message is one of helping working families across Tennessee.

We need to go back to pocketbook issues, especially in states like Tennessee, where people are living unaffordable lives and suffering as a result of Republican policies.

CORNISH: But I think that some of these things, some of these divisions are generational and they don't go away. We were just talking about Israel earlier in the show and its new offensive against -- in Syria.

And when it comes to the Democratic Party, there was a Quinnipiac poll that found Democrats overwhelmingly sympathize more with Palestinians, 60 percent, compared to 12 percent sympathy for Israel.

And I bring this up because this even breaks down further on generational lines.

Are there some issues, like Israel, where a Mamdani becomes a problem, where just the position of young Democrats becomes a problem?

BEHN: I think it's a moment of reckoning for the Democratic Party. And I think they need to look at where young voters' appetites are, where their policy and their hunger is towards the political processes. And I think that they really need to lean into it. Young voters are the future.

CORNISH: Even if, like as we saw in our polling, independents are not loving Democrats, right? Like the approval rating for Democrats is not good, is it? Because on some of these issues, Americans feel like you guys are just too far from where the rest of us are.

BEHN: Well, I think, you know, the culture wars are a distraction from the real issue, which are economic issues. And I think the economy is affecting both young people and older generations, like I see in Tennessee and especially in this congressional race.

And so, these issues, you know, cheaper groceries, affording rent, these are issues that really resonate with young folks. And I think if the Democratic Party can become a party of the economy, of economic populism, that then they can rein in both independents and young people.

CORNISH: One more thing. You've called in your current race. You're saying it's a referendum on the big B.S. bill.

And as soon as I see something like B.S., I'm like, oh boy, here we go. Dark woke.

Are you in that -- all of a sudden, there's this sense that, like Democrats, they need to sass their way back into authenticity and be more direct and say tougher things. You know what I'm talking about, right?

BEHN: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

CORNISH: And that there's a generation that somehow respects that more.

Are you of that thinking?

[16:55:00]

At a certain point, is just getting more vulgar a race to the bottom? Like, help me understand that line of thinking.

BEHN: Well, I'm a pissed off social worker. And in the South, you know, I'm often known for cussing a few times in my state legislative committees and on the floor.

I think for me, it's a moment where people are angry, I'm angry. I'm upset that my constituents are losing their benefits. I'm upset that people are struggling to afford basic living, basic cost of living. And I think that, yeah, I'm just --

CORNISH: Is it show anger to compete in the rage economy? Is it show anger because your voters think people aren't actually fighting?

BEHN: I think -- I think voters want to know you care. They want to know that you care loudly for their issues and for their families, for their safety, and for them to have a better life than their parents. And I just -- that that is why I'm running for this congressional race.

CORNISH: All right. Aftyn Behn, thanks so much. Thank you for not cursing on the show. I appreciate it. It's a morning show.

She's, of course, running for Democrat -- for Congress in Tennessee. You can follow that race on CNN.

And before we go, I'm going to dig in a little bit on what appears to be the new strategy for Donald Trump on all the Epstein conspiracy theories. Blame the people who believe them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They could look at this Jeffrey Epstein hoax also, because that's the same stuff that's all put out by Democrats. And, you know, some of the naive Republicans fall right into line like they always do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: That's not stopping Republican leaders in Congress from their calls for more transparency from the White House on the Epstein files.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: As far as I'm concerned, I think the president, Attorney General Pam Bondi, they will make the right decisions. But I'm always a believer in transparency. I think more is always better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So all this is going on, and as we've learned that Maurene Comey, who worked on both the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell criminal cases, was fired yesterday, she's fresh off the Sean "Diddy" Combs case as well. Comey is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, who Trump fired early in his first term.

And to be clear, we should note that Epstein was charged, and he was awaiting trial, and he died in prison, all under the Trump administration's watch.

So, I'm going to bring back the group chat. The reason why I wanted to point that out, because I don't know if anyone's going to call for Bill Barr soon, I don't know what's going on here, but clearly, Congress is starting to say, let's take some of the heat off of Trump, right, with Mike Johnson talking about this?

KLEIN: That's exactly right. And the thing is that we are essentially witnessing the Frankenstein scenario. This is Trump versus MAGA, the movement that he created to the point where the president is now saying, if you're not on my side on this, I disavow your support and --

CORNISH: Wait, what? Where disavow? Yeah.

KLEIN: Well, yesterday, with his post on Truth Social essentially saying, if you're not on the same page, if you continue to ask for this, I don't want you, as my supporter.

CORNISH: Does a -- does a Maurene Comey firing do that?

DUBKE: No, not at all. No, this episode. I'm frankly a little surprised that this has been going as long as it has this week within the administration. This Epstein, for better or worse, is not going to go away. It's going to stay as part of the conversation, and it will be interesting how congressional members try to sort themselves out through all of this.

The worst thing this administration could do, though, is to appoint a special counsel. And I want to say that over and over and over again.

CORNISH: Wait, you think that's the worst thing?

DUBKE: Do not -- yes. I don't care what Laura Loomer says. I don't care what others say. Do not do that. That is a fever dream of D.C. insiders for this administration to appoint.

And the president inched his way there yesterday and I'm very concerned --

CORNISH: OK, let me defend, is it not also a path to transparency as Sabrina saying?

SINGH: I think you opened the box. You said you're going to be the most transparent administration in history. You campaigned on Jeffrey Epstein and this -- a lot of the conspiracy theories you ginned up the base.

The box is open. You're going to have a very hard time to close it. And so, I think appointing a special counsel is now what the base is calling for, because they want to see accountability and they want to see transparency.

CORNISH: Yeah. It's an interesting moment watching this all play out within a community. Right. It is a civil war. As much as Democrats are, you know, throwing popcorn at me like, yeah, we want a special counsel. Sounds great. Like it feels like this is internal warfare.

DUBKE: I have never seen transparency come out of a special counsel's report ever.

(CROSSTALK)

SINGH: Oh, really? Check on the administration, I would have to push back on that.

DUBKE: -- D.C. that get taken over.

CORNISH: More importantly, Trump may not want to go through something like that again because as we said, this happened during that administration. You can't do this. And then like call Biden people in, right? I mean, this is going to be tough.

KLEIN: Yeah. The president's preference here is for all of this to just go away. He thinks -- he tried to downplay the controversy. He said, this is sordid. This is not interesting. He wants people to move on.

CORNISH: And the people listening to it are naive. And like he's starting to insult them. Yeah.

Okay. You guys, I'm sure unfortunately for you, Dubke, people are still talking about this. Betting markets are now involved.

Thanks to the group chat. Thank you to waking up with us.

I'm Audie Cornish.

And "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

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