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Erin Brings Life-Threatening Rip Currents To East Coast; Today: Texas House Expected To Vote On Redistricting Maps; Trump On Smithsonian: Too Much Focus On "How Bad Slavery Was". Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 20, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:02]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It is 31 minutes past the hour.

And here's what's happening right now. We've got the latest forecast for Hurricane Erin. A tropical storm watches and warnings are issued for the North Carolina outer banks and southern Virginia. Erin isn't expected to make landfall, but beachgoers along most of the east coast are being warned against swimming due to life threatening rip currents.

In just a few hours, the Texas state house is expected to finally take up their bill on redistricting. It could add as many as five additional Republican congressional districts. President Trump escalated his attack on the Smithsonian. He says the exhibits are too focused on negative aspects of American history.

In a Truth Social post, Trump said the Smithsonian is out of control, where everything discussed is how horrible our country is, how bad slavery was. The comments come a few days after the White House announced a sweeping review of the Smithsonian institution.

And the Group Chat is back to talk about that.

This seems like it's part of our ongoing conversation in this country about how to tell our history, good, bad, ugly, and otherwise. What do you see in this moment that the Smithsonian is coming in for attack?

JERUSALEM DEMAS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE ARGUMENT: Yeah. I mean, how we tell our history is also a comment on what we think our country should stand for and what our values are. And I think it's a strange dichotomy that Trump and others are setting up to say, acknowledging parts of our history where we overcame bad things, like we as a country decided, no, slavery is not going to be part of our history. We decided, no, we're going to try and fight for equal rights.

Many Americans are part of it. I mean, the National Archives, I go there on July 4th every year. The entire exhibit is about how Americans redefined rights to be more expansive and more and more, in line with the values of the declaration. So to me, I think that this dichotomy is a way of yet again, bringing this culture war idea that in order to talk about the harms that have happened to minorities or any kind of group that that did not fully have the rights as American citizens before, its somehow a knock on, on anyone believing that America is a -- as a country they want to be a part of.

CORNISH: How are you guys seeing it?

DANIEL KOH, HOST, "THE PEOPLE'S CABINET" PODCAST: I think what's concerning is if you look at the letter that was sent to the Smithsonian, it was sent by two of the most powerful people in the administration, the Office of Management and Budget director oversees $7 trillion, and the domestic policy adviser, who's in charge of every single aspect health, education, et cetera., of our nation's policy.

So, these are people who are taking their time instead of trying to figure out how to make prices cheaper for people at the kitchen table on what they see --

CORNISH: But you're saying there's something about the people who sent it to you that's concerning?

KOH: The people who sent the letter to the Smithsonian are the people who are shaping our policy as a nation. And the fact that they are spending their time on exhibits in a museum, to me, signals a lack of prioritization and a focus on things that they should not be focused.

CORNISH: Matt?

MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I'm really not interested in relitigating slavery, candidly. I think politically --

[16:35:00]

CORNISH: Why do you think it's happening at a museum, of all places?

GORMAN: I don't know. I literally saw that as we came out there today. Look --

CORNISH: I've been talking about this for a while.

GORMAN: I think they want to evaluate what the Smithsonian, right?

CORNISH: Yeah.

GORMAN: I think that's clearly what the priority is. But, look, I think from a political point of view, I would much rather let's talk about Ukraine. Let's talk about that. Regarding slavery gets us nothing politically.

DEMAS: But it's bad for Trump to be talking about the Smithsonian.?

GORMAN: Well, I think bad for him to be relitigating slavery.

CORNISH: I think one of the things that's interesting is we talked so long about taking down statues. Then there was a massive fight over the 1619 project. It does feel as though this project conservatives have had to say, look, there is a way to talk about our history and we don't like the way you guys are doing it. They're winning, right? Like you, that this is a success story for them.

GORMAN: I think I think in large part because I think the left went way overboard when it came to a lot of that stuff, when the 1619 Project and others. So, it certainly allowed for, you know, the other side to then come in.

DEMAS: But I think the thing that's different is the 1619 Project is a journalistic project by a private corporation that, you know, I think we all believe in free speech here. People do that. It's different when the government is saying, I'm sending letters from Russell Vought at OMB telling you that you need to change your exhibits at, you know, a -- I mean, to me, that is such a different -- that's a false.

GORMAN: Not to relitigate 1619 Project, but I think it was really -- it got far more attention. It was "The New York Times" bestseller for how many times? It wasn't just this random stray project, right? It got -- it got a --

DEMAS: Private corporation.

GORMAN: I understand. I understand, but like, it was a massive cultural phenomenon, especially on the left, right? And so, it punched above its weight, even though it was a private thing. It certainly had a lot more cultural influence than just being some arbitrary book.

CORNISH: Well, it'll be interesting.

I'm going to pause this for a second. It will be interesting to see, because fundamentally, once the government starts telling you these things versus "The New York Times", is there a difference? Can people have questions about free speech rights?

It's now 36 minutes past the hour. I want to give you a few more headlines.

The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, revoking the security clearances for 37 past and current national security officials. A memo obtained by CNN shows people impacted include those involved in the investigation about Russian interference in the 2016 election and former members of President Biden's National Security Council.

And the House Oversight Committee says it will make some of the Epstein files public. But first, they want to redact certain parts to protect victims. The panel has subpoenaed a number of documents and should start receiving them by Friday.

And you've got Alligator Alcatraz, the speedway slammer, and now the cornhusker clink. A new migrant detention facility will soon open in Nebraska. It's just west of Lincoln at an existing minimum security prison work camp. About 20 national guard troops will begin training there next week. There's a recall on frozen, raw and apparently radioactive shrimp sold at Walmart. The FDA asked the big box company to pull three lots of great value shrimp because it contained a byproduct of nuclear reactions. The shrimp sold in 13 states, had a best by date of March 15th, 2027.

And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, were the numbers fudged? The Trump administration thinks so. But mayors across America say their crime statistics are going down. I'm going to talk to one of them next.

Plus, what do good moral character and citizenship have to do with one another? We want to know what's in your group chat as well. Send it to us now on X. We're going to be talking about ours after this.

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CORNISH: We continue to monitor the threat from Hurricane Erin. The storm is currently moving north through the Atlantic. Its rain bands have triggered tropical storm alerts for much of North Carolina's outer banks.

Officials want residents to take the threat seriously. They say stay away from the beaches and definitely stay out of the water.

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SAM PROFFITT, DIRECTOR, WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH OCEAN RESCUE: It's a lot of people out here. We can't, you know, get everybody and prevent everybody from going in the water. So, we are asking you, please just don't go out in the ocean today.

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CORNISH: CNN correspondent Michael Yoshida is in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, with the latest.

Good morning, Michael.

I don't know if you're seeing people on the beach, but what are the conditions you're dealing with now.

MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Audie.

You mentioned were here in Wrightsville beach, and you can see the surf behind me. See the waves. That's been causing impacts here over the last few days. On Monday, we had around 60 or so water rescues. Yesterday, more than a dozen.

And already this morning, again, you can see people out on the beach. But if we look, even though there's that no swim advisory, something that's pretty unprecedented for this area, we have some surfers, others out in the water. Again, that's not what local officials, what ocean rescue wants to see. They've been begging everyone to stay out of the water, but they've admitted it's been a real challenge because even though Erin is far off the coast, even though it's not going to make landfall, this really is sort of the perfect storm, if you will, for them, because it's sunny, it's warm. People want to go into the water.

So we've had those rescues over the last few days, and the challenge with these currents and these surf from this storm is really the amount of the currents, were told, but also the strength of emotion rescue, saying that some of these rip currents, they're a block or two wide. So you're not just impacting 1 or 2 swimmers, you're impacting sometimes six, seven, eight at one time that are needing to be rescued.

But it's not just the currents. We're also worried about the impacts of those high waves. Estimates maybe 15, 20 feet in some areas. The outer banks of North Carolina, a big concern we've seen over the last few years, some homes there washed away. Theres several at this point that are being closely watched.

And when we talk about these impacts here in North Carolina, a state of emergency issued to help free up some resources that may be needed over the next few days as the storm continues to make its way through the Atlantic.

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Obviously, something local officials are keeping a close eye on, something well be keeping a close eye on. But again, the main message right now, the danger is real and stay out of the water if you can, Audie.

CORNISH: All right. CNN's Michael Yoshida, thank you so much. We'll check in with you later today.

Washington, D.C.'s mayor has pointed to falling crime stats as proof that Donald Trump's aggressive takeover of the city is unnecessary. Now, the Trump Justice Department is investigating if those numbers are manipulated. Two sources tell CNN the U.S. attorneys office in D.C. is leading that investigation and a Truth Social post. He seemed to confirm the report, accusing the city of giving, quote, fake crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety.

Now, this investigation comes as hundreds of additional national guard troops flood the streets of D.C., deployed by red state governors and D.C.'s mayor is pushing back.

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MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, D.C.: It doesn't make sense. The numbers on the ground in the district don't support a thousand people from other states coming to Washington, D.C. The question is really not for us. It's for why the military would be deployed in an American city to police Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: Joining me now to talk about this is Mayor Van Johnson of Savannah, Georgia. He's also president of the African American Mayors Association.

Mayor Johnson, thanks for being here.

MAYOR VAN JOHNSON (D), SAVANNAH, GEORGIA: Thank you so much. And good morning.

CORNISH: Now, many people have pointed out that when you look at the cities that Trump has talked about in terms of potentially deploying the national guard beyond D.C., it's Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles, Oakland. We're looking at a lineup of black mayors.

So, how is the association seeing this? Do you think they're being targeted for their race, or is it just their party?

JOHNSON: Well, we say that if it smells like a duck, it looks like a duck. Quack, quack. For us, when you look at that, Black mayors lead three of the five largest cities in this nation. When you look at mayors that are perceived to be Democrat and you look at the fact that many of these cities, including a lot of cities that are led by Black mayors across the country, are experiencing historic decreases in violent crime. Then we wonder why this why now?

CORNISH: So, D.C. mayors pointed out falling crime rates as well. You heard her talking about that. And so she's talking about this as a federal overreach.

Your city, your numbers in 2024 do show a similar downward trend, a 20 percent drop, particularly in violent crime reports. Compared to 2023, 7 percent down for property crime. But are you worried that you could have the federal government intervening or collaborating, supporting as they've offered?

JOHNSON: Well, we think that, you know, collaboration is when partners work together. This is not collaboration. This is absolutely overreach. We welcome partnership from our federal government.

For example, the federal government has -- Justice Department has slashed over $1 million from, programs that could help cities. I'm sure that our mayors can think of 100 different ways that the federal government can partner with them.

But this unilateral overreach to us is unwarranted. It's unnecessary. It's not supported by facts.

CORNISH: But what is your response to this question about the data itself? I mean, in D.C., you've got this issue where D.C. police commander was actually suspended, was accused of changing crime stats by the police union. It's actually not all that unusual to hear about all kinds of cities, because you volunteer this information, this data.

So, do you hear the criticism about the data itself? JOHNSON: Well, there's always been criticism about the data itself.

But I think the issue is this is, that you would mean that mayors, city managers, in many cases, police chiefs, police officers would be complicit in being able to work together in some kind of way, some orchestrated attempt to be able to fudge crime statistics.

The reality is, you know, we don't -- we're not going to jail and we're not going to hell. When the crime rates were going up, our cities were the ones admitting that we had an issue. We had to face this every day.

We did not have the opportunity to play the rhetoric game, but because the numbers are going down, the fact of the matter is, we're not dancing in the end zone. We're continuing to work, and we want our federal government to be a partner with us and work with us as we continue to help our citizens, both locally and federally, to be safe and feel safe.

CORNISH: When I think back to the '90s, there were so many cities where you had black community members talking about the problems of crime.

[16:50:02]

And when people talk about crime and they feel unheard, you have a problem.

So how should Democrats be talking about this to people who are saying, look, maybe we think Trump is going too far, but also our city leaders aren't hearing us.

JOHNSON: Well, I think it's bigger than the Democratic problem because mayors by association, may be Democrat, they may be Republican, they may be independent. This is an issue of people of goodwill, administrators of goodwill, citizens of goodwill. Understanding what data is.

The fact is that these numbers come from the Justice Department. We volunteer them when they we're bad. We volunteered them. Now that they're better.

And the fact of the matter is, we want our federal government not only to recognize the work that mayors have done in New York, in Baltimore, in Chicago, in L.A., in Atlanta, in Savannah, working with communities and very, very creative ways to help drive down numbers of violent crime and work with us in the ways we need help instead of this kind of, throwing fireballs from heaven and expecting for us to be grateful. It's not the best way for us to keep our communities safe.

CORNISH: All right. Mayor Van Johnson of Savannah, Georgia -- thank you.

JOHNSON: Thank you so much.

CORNISH: The Trump administration toughening the criteria now for assessing good moral character in U.S. citizenship applications. The subject line in this new homeland security police policy memo says restoring a rigorous, holistic and comprehensive good moral character evaluation standard for aliens applying for naturalization and the agency wants certain immigration benefits to be contingent on vetting applicants for anti-American ideologies, or whether the person is supported antisemitic groups or views.

There's been some backlash. A senior fellow at the American Immigration Council tweets the term anti-Americanism has no prior precedent in immigration law, and its definition is entirely up to the Trump administration. He added the move reminded him of McCarthyism.

The Group Chat is back.

Let's get to that point right away. What is anti-Americanism? How should the government determine that? I don't know whose thoughts.

KOH: The concerning line in there as well was adherence to societal norms. This is a president and MAGA larger has been trying to redefine what it means to be an American. On CNBC, President Trump reacted to 1.7 million foreign born workers losing their jobs as a good thing. He is indicating that if you were born outside of this country, you can never truly be American.

Matt Walsh did the same thing, implying that New York 40 percent foreign born means that New York isn't an American City anymore. That's what should concern people, the subjective nature of this criteria that could change how we define --

CORNISH: There are some aspects of it, though, that are like repeated traffic violations, right? DUI, it's basically expanding on the law that already says murders, felonies. You can't come in. It's expanding into these other areas.

Matt, you're nodding.

GORMAN: No, this has been part of the law since 1790s. So, this is not something that is all of a sudden new. And some of the things that the memo list is family caregiving, community involvement, scholastic achievement, things we should be applauding. So again --

CORNISH: Those aren't the changes.

GORMAN: Again, but discretion is always in these sorts of things. We have always taken this into account, right. Whether it's scholarships or how we determine punishments for crime. Theres always a measure of subjectivity when it comes to this sort of thing. Good moral character.

And look at the -- at the -- at its core, what it comes down to is that coming to this country and settling, whether it's a green card or some sort of permanent legal status, is a privilege. It is -- it is something to be attained. It is truly wonderful to be an American. It is not something we take lightly. And it is candidly, not just something we should give away willy-nilly. It is -- it is a privilege. And that being said -- DEMANS: I think this is the -- I mean, I agree that of course we

should have standards for who were giving immigration papers to. We already do have standards and they are quite rigorous. Like my family went through the exact same thing when we came here. And I think it's what's -- what's interesting here is the debate between the literal thing that's happening and the concern about the discretion and how it's going to be used.

I don't think anyone would disagree that you would want people with good moral character coming into the United States. The concern is, are you going to use this to purge people because they simply have a different view than you about Palestinian statehood, even if that is not an anti-American view. Many Americans believe in Palestinian statehood, and they've pointed that out. It's not antisemitic to believe that.

CORNISH: Yeah. So I hear you saying the concern is not just about the approval of which these things have long been a concern, but the revoking of which the Trump administration has leaned further into.

GORMAN: You have a right. Certainly, I take the point. You have a right to believe a Palestinian state that understand, but you also don't have a right to harass Jewish students, say, for instance, at university. Right. And I think that's what you're saying, certainly. But like, I think that is a difference, right?

Like, that is antisemitic behavior. And again, as we come down to the point --

CORNISH: Behaviors aren't listed. Do you think they should be. Excuse me, what other kinds of behaviors aren't listed? Like you can't be. It's not racism, right? It's very specific. Do you think it should be expanded?

GORMAN: I think -- I think that's probably what it's in response to, is a lot of what we've seen over the last year on campus, right?

[06:55:03]

And I think what they're responding to is also the State Department, as Marco Rubio has talked about, a lot of these folks coming to these schools harassing Jewish populations were on some sort of visa like this.

DEMAS: I honestly feel like it's largely a continuation of this larger project of redefining what Americanism is and who can be an American. And I think that, again, the real problem is for people who are liberal, who are pro-immigration, is to not let this become a debate about whether or not we just think anyone should be allowed into the country or not. Everyone believes in standards. Everyone believes that people should be in if they have good moral character, if they haven't had solicitation violations. These are bad things that we don't want people coming here and doing. We don't want native born Americans doing those things either.

But the problem is just that, again, the question is going to be that when a -- when a consulate official, when anyone is trying to implement these, these priorities or these, these standards, are they going to be really doing it in a way that is consistent with American values or in ways that most Americans would find really problematic?

CORNISH: Okay, you guys, I want to turn to something else. The California governor is getting a lot of attention for his trolling of the president, whether it's the tweets saying that, quote, Donald is finished. He's no longer hot or, those familiar saintlike and heroic photos that you might associate with Trump. They're making waves with MAGA.

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DANA PERINO, FOX NEWS HOST: You have to -- stop it with the Twitter thing. I don't know where his wife is.

If I were his wife, I would say, what? You are making a fool of yourself. Stop it. Do not, do not let your staff tweet. And if you're doing it yourself, put the phone away and start over.

And if you got a big job as governor of California. But if he wants an even bigger job, he has to be a little bit more serious.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So who are the people behind those posts on Newsom's account? It turns out, small team led by Camille Zzapata, Newsom's digital director.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: Tried to sort of take what he's doing and push it back in his direction. Now everyone's so offended, so unbecoming. They're scared to death because he'll cancel them. He'll stop some merger. There;s so many things we don't even know that are happening behind the scenes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Okay, Group Chat is back. We heard two different bits of interesting tape. There, I'd like you to react to Daniel. Why don't we start with you?

KOH: I think it's funny to hear Republicans who support Trump saying, put away the phone and don't tweet. Look, there's a lot about the prominent things he's doing. More subtle things.

If you notice, when he did the press conference, it was a red sign. Election rigging response act, right? Very clear. This was a response to what was happening in Texas. He is designing the legislation so that it goes back to an independent commission in 2030. He's sending a very clear message. This is not something that he instigated that he wanted to do, but he's doing it for the good of the country and to fight back against the gerrymandering we're seeing.

CORNISH: It feels like the vibe shift we saw with the Kamala campaign. Are you nodding your head? You remember when all of a sudden --

DEMAS: I just think that everyone's being cringe all the time now? I mean, I get it --

(CROSSTALK)

CORNISH: He's entered the chat, right? Like they are now working in.

DEMAS: I mean, it works. I mean, the thing is, like the thing that I think the Trump era has really shown in general is that like Trump is a very, very successful communicator online. He's very, very, very good at like, I mean, being funny even to people who really detest him. It's like kind of like we heard earlier in the chat, him talking about how he wants to go to heaven, and that's why he's really concerned about making a deal with Ukraine.

I mean, this is a thing that Democrats are now trying to implement in their own conversations, particularly when it comes to like having a new Joe Rogan of the left or things like this.

CORNISH: Okay, Matt, why did MAGA take the bait? Why are people actually --

GORMAN: I will say this too. I think Democrats are obsessed with tactics. I think they're learning the wrong lesson from that, right? It's the same thing where they thought that summer was going to help them out, or that terrible joke at the at the Madison rally was going to suddenly swing the election against Trump. Online is not real.

And I think when they come and they solely look at the tactics, let's all start a podcast like Gavin did, or its all like, talk like Trump. I think they missed the forest for the trees. Look, that really was not why he was elected, right? It was -- it was far deeper than that. And they can chase tactics. But I think that's really not what they're doing.

CORNISH: Although messaging as it turns out, is he's uniquely positioned for messaging of this age.

Daniel, can I give the last word to you?

KOH: I think it's pretty funny. And you're seeing the response from Republicans to show that its clearly getting under their skin.

CORNISH: All right. Let's talk. What's in your group chats? I don't know what you guys are talking about. I assume its probably a bit nerdy not looking at you, Daniel, when I say that, what's in your group chat?

KOH: My boys are all over me about fantasy football. Feeling pretty good about Travis Kelce. Its going to be not a cruel summer for Travis Kelce.

CORNISH: Not betting?

KOH: Not betting. CORNISH: Not betting.

Okay. Matt Gorman, for you?

GORMAN: The radioactive shrimp.

CORNISH: That is officially now a group chat.

GORMAN: Shrimps can glow in the dark.

CORNISH: All these images.

GORMAN: I was reading this online and I was reading okay. Recall shrimp. Okay. Fairly normal. And because of a radioactive isotope, I'm like, that was like a mad lib. Yeah, but yes.

CORNISH: Okay. Science fiction.

DEMAS: Well, my group chat, and I know Audie's group chats --

CORNISH: Oh, yeah.

DEMAS: Are filled with my new media company, "The Argument", which is a new magazine that is trying to make a positive and combative case for liberalism for the 21st century. So were bringing together socialists, libertarians, self-described liberals, of course. And conservatives to talk about the biggest issues of the day and to argue about them in public. So, the argument --

CORNISH: Yes. People were intrigued. This is not just regular promo. I'm interested and feel for anyone who tries to start a media company in this environment.

You guys, thank you for being here.

Thank you for waking up with us.

I'm Audie Cornish and "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

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