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Trump Tries to Unseat Massie; Florida District Maps; White House Proposes NASA Cuts. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 19, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:30:53]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: All right, good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It is now half past the hour. And here is what's happening right now.

There is another round of severe weather. A tornado once again touching down in Nebraska. So, this is what's called a stovepipe twister caught on camera as storms ripped through the Plains. This type of tornado is actually pretty rare and generally has the same width at the ground and at the cloud base. Either way, some farms were damaged. Luckily, no injuries were reported.

And later this morning, the NTSB is going to hold a hearing on last year's deadly UPS plane crash that killed three crew members and 12 people on the ground in Louisville, Kentucky. Now, the plane crashed moments after takeoff, and the NTSB later found that a mount responsible for keeping the engine intact had been cracked. Officials with UPS, the FAA and Boeing are all expected to testify.

And President Trump is holding off on resuming attacks on Iran. New reporting from "Axios" saying that the president is expected to convene his top national security team in the Situation Room today to discuss military options. Trump says in a social media post that the U.S. military will be ready at a moment's notice for a, quote, "full, large-scale assault" of Iran if a deal is not reached.

And meanwhile, Iran's deputy foreign minister is saying that its latest proposal to end the war continues to insist on Tehran's right to enrich uranium. They're also asking for the lifting of sanctions and the release of frozen funds.

I want to turn back to politics here today because the president is pulling out all the stops to force out the congressman he has been calling disloyal, Thomas Massie. Now Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stepped away from the Pentagon, amid a war, to campaign for Trump's pick, Ed Gallrein. And the president called into a rally to ease voters fears about high gas prices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Gasoline is going to come tumbling down as soon as the war is over. And they want it. Iran wants it to end soon. They've taken big punishment. And it's very simple, they cannot have a nuclear weapon to blow up Kentucky and to blow up every place else. We're not going to let that happen. So, we're getting very close. And as soon as we get that one finished, you're going to see the gasoline and energy is going to come tumbling down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: But will voters go with Trump or flip on Massie?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thomas Massie has burnt every bridge he could possibly have to be effective. He can no longer take care of his positions. He can't take care of the Fourth District.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But I'm still going to vote for Thomas. I think he's a great guy. He's very careful about he wants -- how he wants our taxpayer money to be spent.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So, if Trump came in here and said, don't vote for Massie, what would you say?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd say, well, if I want to vote for him, I'll vote for him. If I don't want to vote for him, I won't vote for him. It's my -- it's my choice, not yours.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Joining the group chat, Republican Congressman Mike Haridopolos of Florida.

Thank you for being here.

So, I loved hearing that mix of voters there, especially the person who said, you are no longer effective at a certain point. And I think Massie sort of represents what I would call whatever the oppositional energy is left in the Republican Party, meaning people -- he feels like he can say no to things. And Trump has been found to be able to primary the people he does not like when you look at what happened with the Republicans in Indiana. Do you think that people who stand up to Trump, the way he does so specifically, can survive primaries?

REP. MIKE HARIDOPOLOS (R-FL): Well, we'll find out today. And I think that what most Republicans I talk to are frustrated by is, when we had the big, beautiful bill, for example, when we cut taxes on overtime, tips, Social Security, the commonsense measures we put into place to secure the border, Thomas Massie voted no. It was the fundamental reason, what gave us the opportunity to win in 2024. And he has chosen to go his own path. And today is decision day. It --

CORNISH: Because he burned every bridge the way he's -- somebody implied here?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I think a lot of members see that he is looking out for Thomas Massie, as opposed to what the agenda is for the Republican Party.

[06:35:04]

And today's decision day. We'll have to see what happens. We saw what happened last week in Louisiana. We'll have to see what happens tonight in Kentucky.

CORNISH: Yes, and also what happened in Indiana, as I mentioned.

Jeff Zeleny was talking with Massie yesterday, if he thought that he was in trouble here. And here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I don't think so. They don't know what happened to Bill Cassidy or to those senators in Indiana. And both of those situations are unique from mine. Bill Cassidy voted to impeach the president. That's something I've never done and I would never do. And his constituents were mad about that, right.

I'm still with my constituents in spite of the billion -- billionaires spending millions of dollars to convince them I'm not. I think most of my constituents know that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Terry, can he make those distinctions?

TERRY SCHILLING, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PRINCIPLES PROJECT: Look, I think the biggest weakness that Massie has, along with everyone else that identifies this way in Congress, is that they're libertarians. Libertarians are inherently independent minded. They support rugged individualism over the rest of the team. And it's not very practical. I think that the -- I really do like, though, the lady that was working in the kitchen who's saying, you know, I'm going to vote however I want. That's so American.

CORNISH: Well, that's why ask, but there are certain states, New Hampshire, et cetera, places where people are like, we don't want to be bossed around. We thought that about Indiana. And then five of the seven Indiana Republicans that said no to redistricting are out of a job.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, and that's why Trump has already won. Even if Thomas Massie actually defeat -- you know, wins and pulls this out tonight, the message has been sent. You crossed the president. There is going to be a huge political cost.

And even if you do survive the primary, I mean, Thomas Massie is now fighting for his political life, just as a result of that.

CORNISH: Yes.

THOMPSON: And the message has been sent. And you're going to see Republicans stay in line, at least through the midterm. CORNISH: It's a very expensive message. This is the most expensive

primary in history so far. $35 million as of Monday. There are a lot of donors also from AIPAC, from Republican Jewish Coalition, because of Massie's comments on the war in Iran. And I did wonder with Hegseth there, with the military base there, is this also a little bit of a proxy for that conversation?

CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It absolutely is. And $35 million is not even getting past the surface. If you look at what happened in Louisiana with $50 million, if you look in Texas with $150 million. This is what's great for a Democratic strategist is, none of that money was spent beating up Democrats. That was money beating up Republicans, each other, saying why they suck. It wasn't about us. And so, we like to sit back and watch that just (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: I'm glad you're weighing in with that.

ROCHA: And I'll also say this. Let me finish.

CORNISH: Yes.

ROCHA: I'll also say that Donald Trump is still very popular in one little piece of the American electorate, and that is these Republican primaries. To your point, Alex, is like, love him or hate him, I've always given Donald Trump credit for being a good tactician when it comes to politics, but he is very popular in the democratic primary. And again, boys and girls at home, in a democratic primary, just a little bit of voters make a decision for the entire congressional district, because most of these guys, Democrat or Republican, are in very safe seats to where those primary voters determine who will be your congressman.

CORNISH: In the meantime, do you think that Pete Hegseth should be campaigning for anyone right now?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, its common things where cabinet members campaign. There's no doubt about it.

CORNISH: Not defense secretaries during a war.

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, they --

CORNISH: Unless I miss Rumsfeld hanging out in the midterms. I would have seen it.

HARIDOPOLOS: Well -- no, I mean, this is -- this is their reality of politics today. He's out there aggressively pushing for the president's person.

CORNISH: Reality, meaning no one is immune from the requirements of having to go onto the ground no matter what your gig is?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I think this is politics. Welcome to it. And this is -- and talk about money. This is almost as much money as the Democrats burned in Virginia doing a bad idea on reapportionment. But that said, I think that Thomas Massie will have his day in court

today, and we'll see the verdict. And I'm interested to see it just like everyone else.

CORNISH: OK. So, speaking of which, because you've got your own day in court coming up of public opinion. We've got you facing a new challenger because there are new maps pushed by Florida, pushed by Florida's Governor Ron DeSantis. Now, this map, I want to show folks, could increase Republican advantage in Florida's House delegation to 24 to four, up from the current split of 20 to eight.

And I want to first just talk about the fact that this map exists. Were you into this push? Were you happy or just going along with the team?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, as I said publicly, and will say it again today, it's a state decision. And whatever the decision they made, I was comfortable with it. In Florida, we have very specific rules. If you look at the maps, for example, what they tried to do in Virginia, and they have already done in states like Illinois, it looks like a Rorschach test. You look at the map in Florida, you actually keep counties and cities together. That's the way that I had to live under it when I drew the lines back in 2012, when I was president of the senate. Whatever the verdict is, I'm ready to run for re-election. I'll run on my record and keep the promise that I make.

CORNISH: Yes. And we should be clear, there's a bunch of lawsuits filed against DeSantis about these maps, especially because it's supposed to be voter approved.

[06:40:05]

There are supposed to be some gerrymandering standards there. And as we are learning, this is like, in each state, the rules are a little different.

I want to play for you guys some voters from Tallahassee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what we are here to do is to make sure that our voices are heard, to make sure people understand that what is happening is actually illegal. It is a violation of the Constitution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: What's going on with redistricting wars that keeps us going?

THOMPSON: I mean, we've already set off legal trench warfare. That's not -- and it's going to go well beyond these midterms. But also, I actually think you're going to see it ramp up as soon --

CORNISH: Yes. I normally don't like war analogies, but I feel like that's fitting. Like, because you're just in there hurting each other to what end? THOMPSON: Yes. And it's also -- you know, it's going to be -- we're

going to pick up one seat -- you know, one seat in Maryland. Then we're going to -- the Republicans are going to pick up one seat in Indiana. You're going to go state by state by state, and it's going to go through '27, 2027, 2028, and likely beyond. We have set, you know, I think what Donald Trump has done and the Democrat's backlash to it has set off sort of an unprecedented retaliatory (ph) war (ph).

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, but let's say, it didn't start with Donald Trump. It started in 2023 in New York state. That is where this all began in 2023. I just want to clarify it.

CORNISH: Yes.

HARIDOPOLOS: Of course, we had the reaction with Donald Trump, but this started in New York state in 2023.

CORNISH: I kind of feel like this started in the 1800s in Massachusetts. But I might be biased because I'm from Massachusetts. Like --

HARIDOPOLOS: That is accurate.

CORNISH: I think, for the public, they don't look at the start, they look at the outcome and whether or not they're on the losing side of that. Because over time you're -- you know, if we look at Trump's approval rating, it's 59 percent disapprove, right? And it starts to look like, is all of this happening just to somehow mitigate their voice if they decide to vote against him?

Here's a look at your new district. Florida Eight. It's now going to add a portion of eastern Orange County, incorporate University of Central Florida. Is this going to make things easier or harder for you? I know you've got a challenger.

HARIDOPOLOS: I -- as we expected. As we should. And we had one last time.

I think it's going to be pretty much the same district. I -- the bulk of my district is Brevard County, where I represent Kennedy Space Center, where NASA is booming. SpaceX is booming. Blue Origin is booming. It's a -- it's an area that's really enjoyed an economic comeback. And I can't wait to get on the campaign trail and talk about what we can do to make life better.

CORNISH: What are you going to say to voters who come to you and say, I don't think all this is fair. I don't like this. I don't like the redistricting wars.

HARIDOPOLOS: I think -- it's the same I just said to you, Audie. This is something that two things happen. One is, that the state decision they chose to do this. Second, of course, the United States Supreme Court has ruled on the -- on the race issue, that back in 18 years ago, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. And we want to have color blind elections. As Martin Luther King talked about in 1963, I think August of '63, it's not the color of your skin but the content of your character. And that's what people want to be -- have elections on, not worried about the race issue as much as it is picking the person that's best for their district.

CORNISH: Yes, I've heard a lot of this message that evokes civil rights activists in the conversation about the legislation that they helped bring to this country, right, the Voting Rights Act, that somehow we've reached this race neutral point.

How do Democrats talk in response?

ROCHA: We're going to have a real-time test in less than six months. The American public sent a message to Washington when they elected Donald Trump in '24. And Democrats, again, I sat here and said, you should heed this. The American public is frustrated. They're not liking what Democrats are selling. They think this guy, as crazy as I think he is, is something different.

But they're also going to send a message in these midterms. The Congressman could (ph) be exactly right. I'm not going to sit here and drive him and say he's ignorant or dumb. I'm just going to say, the American people are going to tell us in six months the way they feel about these maps and about the corruption.

There's one thing that Donald Trump did that was very good. He let the American people go, the American government, corporate America, whoever, they're getting it over on you. And right now, that anxiety is not being felt by anybody except you. And nobody's doing anything about it because the system is corrupt. And what these maps show, Democrat or Republican, is that the system is still corrupt.

CORNISH: Well, I will just put in one note for the voter, which is, one of the things I feel is like, oh, wait a second, no matter what I do or what my vote is, someone, somewhere else can decide, well, let's just wiggle this line this way and wiggle this line that way, and that will somehow negate what this voter thinks. It almost feels like a slap in the face when Congress has passed so little legislation. Like the only thing they're excited about is this.

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I'd say a couple things. One, you went back to history, gerrymandering. That's a reality. And as I've -- I said -- hey, when folks look at maps, they look at Illinois. You talk about drawing some unique lines, go look at Illinois or what they tried to do in Virginia. In contrast, look at the Florida maps. They actually keep counties and cities together.

And that said, again, the voters have the ultimate say. I would actually agree. I think the voters do have the ultimate say here. But in general, what we pass, the big bill, I -- you say that we haven't passed a lot of legislation, that's --

CORNISH: No, I mean historically compared to other congresses, it's not a lot of legislation.

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, but, again --

CORNISH: Yes. HARIDOPOLOS: When you look at the big bill we passed in July, that was like 15 bills in one. It was a massive bill, no doubt, because we had to handle the problem of illegal immigration.

[06:45:02]

We wanted to help people out hardest hit by inflation. That's why we cut taxes on overtime, tips and Social Security. And now we're, of course, we're struggling with this final measure, will hopefully pass this week, to finally fully fund our national security apparatus.

CORNISH: So, why are his --

HARIDOPOLOS: Gas prices --

CORNISH: Job handling approvals so low?

HARIDOPOLOS: I think it's as simple as gas prices right now. There's no doubt about it. And I think the president is correct. When this conflict ends, gas prices go down. Because, as you know, Audie, when he, in 2025, gas prices got lower than $3 a gallon because we were finally producing more oil in America.

CORNISH: Yes.

HARIDOPOLOS: We've gone from less than 9 billion -- million, excuse me, million barrels a day to over 13 million. And we're also fracking. We actually have --

CORNISH: But now people can point to a specific policy shift in the attack on Iran as the cause.

HARIDOPOLOS: But we would also say that every Republican and every Democrat president since 1979 says Iran has been a problem. Now, every neighbor of Iran can't stand them so much. They're siding with America and Israel. Let's hope this conflict ends soon because gas prices are bad. They're horrible right now. But we can turn this around once this war ends.

CORNISH: OK.

HARIDOPOLOS: And remember, Venezuelan's oil is coming online soon. And that's two million to three million barrels a day.

CORNISH: So, I hear the message. The message is, wait and see. I hear you.

HARIDOPOLOS: That's fair. That's fair.

CORNISH: Don't think I'm not hearing you. But the message is wait and see.

HARIDOPOLOS: Yes.

CORNISH: I want to turn to something else because it is related to funding, which is this nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who have been wronged by the government. The Trump administration is calling it an anti-weaponization fund, but it's an unprecedented move. So, we're going to talk more with the congressman about how he feels about this use of taxpayer dollars.

Plus, later on "CNN NEWS CENTRAL," a global scramble to contain the Ebola outbreaks. We're going to talk about how worried Americans should be.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:50:53]

CORNISH: So, we've been talking this morning about this massive anti- weaponization fund set up by the Justice Department. But we're asking also, is this just more of the president using the government to reward his friends and punish his enemies? On Monday, the president ended his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. But here's the thing. In exchange, the Department of Justice created a $1.776 billion fund to compensate Trump's allies, who they claim were unfairly treated by the Biden administration.

The group chat is back, along with Congressman Mike Haridopolos, Republican from Florida.

So, I want to play for you guys somebody who did feel like they were harmed by the actions on January 6th, for example. This is a Metropolitan Police Officer, Michael Fanone.

Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FANONE, FORMER METROPOLITAN POLICE OFFICER: It's rubbing salt in the wound to all of the officers that fought to defend the Capitol, that fought to protect the lives of members of Congress, many of -- many members of Congress who are celebrating this payout as if it is somehow, you know, some type of a legitimate, patriotic act to make these individuals whole. And so I, you know, it's -- man, what a wild world we're living in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Congressman?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I don't know as much about this guy, Mr. Fanone. I know there's some kind of thing where they showed a video of him being inspected after the attack, and then something dramatically different in his testimony.

But that said, what happened on January --

CORNISH: Is he wrong about people protecting congressmen on that day?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I think, first of all, I give them credit for protecting the Capitol, no doubt about it. And I think that people who made the mistake of entering the Capitol are paying a high price for it. And it was the wrong thing to do. I mean we settle elections in America at the ballot box, not by violence. And it was the wrong thing. Political violence is wrong. Whether when the -- when they shot at Steve Scalise --

CORNISH: Yes.

HARIDOPOLOS: Let alone gone after the president three different times, killed Charlie Kirk, et cetera.. But this January 6th thing, this -- I want to see justice being served. And this particular fund that's being created, they're going to make their case. If there is abuse, I guess they'll be compensated. If they can't justify it, they're not going to be compensated.

CORNISH: So, it's a five-member commission. Members can be hired by Todd Blanche, fired by Trump at any time. Again, this is all through the executive branch. There aren't a lot of constraints on who can apply. So, it's not as though you have to be harmed by the IRS to get this money. That's from a settlement with the IRS. Trump is going to get a formal apology out of it, and the deadline is December 15, 2028.

I was bringing up earlier that something like the 9/11 fund went through Congress, established there. Why create a fund that doesn't have transparency, that isn't approved by Congress?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, I think this and a lot of other measures is something we need to take a look at. This is a lot of money. And before we spend that money, I think that Congress is going to take a look at it. We -- after all, we do control the purse. And I think that the attorney general, I believe, is actually on The Hill this week. I'm sure we'll be talking a lot about it, because I want to understand this fund better. I heard about it for the first time literally last night.

CORNISH: Really? OK. Well, a Treasury attorney has actually quit as the government settled with this suit. And a couple Republican congressmen -- senators, Joni Ernst, et cetera, have said the same thing as you, how is this going to work? We need to see it.

Reality check. Would Congress even really do anything about it given that it's something that Trump wants? Like, do you see a Republican- led Congress suddenly setting up an oversight commission to know the ins and outs of how this thing is going to work?

ROCHA: They're going to vote that guy out today, just FYI. They're going to vote him out tonight. But y'all go ahead.

CORNISH: Oh, OK. Well, but to your point.

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, first of all, as I've experienced, my --

CORNISH: You said you want to know and can you force the issue?

HARIDOPOLOS: Yes, I do want to know. No, I think -- look, like, as we -- as I found out in my first term here in Congress, to get anything done in the United States Senate we need 60 votes to spend some money. So, I think this is going to be something that they put out there. And I think that Todd Blanche will effectively defend the position. And let's see if it carries the day.

ROCHA: Let me say this real quick --

CORNISH: Yes.

ROCHA: Is that, you think about these primaries and you think about -- I make light of it, but if Massie was to lose tonight, he's still in Congress till the end of the year. The Louisiana senator who just got beat in his primary, who dared to go against Trump, he's still going to be there till the end of the year.

[06:55:05]

Watch these folks who are all out of give a damns, who've already lost a race, they're going to be a spur in the side of all these folks in Congress.

CORNISH: Yes, there's a lot of people exiting Congress as well.

You know, people were looking at how much money this is going to cost. You say it's not that much money. It's just $1.776 billion.

ROCHA: (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: And there's a lot going on. But there is also a push to cut 23 percent of the budget for NASA.

I want to play for you, this is Jared Isaacman, the new NASA administrator, and Senator Chris Van Hollen in an exchange. This was in late April.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED ISAACMAN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: NASA has not always been the best steward of taxpayer dollars. Every canceled program, every cost overrun, every schedule delay comes at the expense of science and discovery.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): Everyone in this room knows that without space science, there is no space exploration. Without space science, there is no new planetary discovery. Without space science, there is no NASA.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, my space coast congressman, you looking forward to these cuts?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, first of all, they're not going to happen. That's the good news. If you look last year --

CORNISH: Wait, why aren't they going to happen?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, no, let's look at the facts as opposed to the hyperbole here.

CORNISH: OK. Yes.

HARIDOPOLOS: Last year there were proposals to be cut as much as 40 percent out of NASA. We didn't --

CORNISH: Yes, I want to show the 2027 budget. I'm just going to put it on screen so people know what you're talking about. These are the, as you said, proposed cuts, going from $24 billion to $18 billion. You're saying I should get rid of this graphic?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, what you should do is look at last year's proposal and what happened at the end of Congress. There was a proposal to cut NASA by a significant amount. We did not cut NASA. We fully funded it over $24 billion. And we added almost $10 billion in the big, beautiful bill in July. We have record funding going on right now at NASA. I work very closely with the House and Senate to fully fund NASA. I think you're going to see a fully funded NASA because we are going to win the space race and we haven't --

CORNISH: So, why does the White House keep asking for less money?

HARIDOPOLOS: Welcome to politics. It has -- you know, the president's put together a budget. And what comes to Congress is something radically different. We all know that. And that's exactly what happened here.

Not only does Florida, but the entire Congress, Republican and Democrats alike, support NASA. When I -- when I pushed with Dr. Babin, the chairman of the overall committee, I chaired the subcommittee on space, we have bipartisan support for NASA. And you're going to see that, in my opinion, a fully funded NASA once again because we're going to win the space race. And we also had these amazing new commercial jobs coming online, which is the reason why my district is doing so well financially in the north part of the county.

CORNISH: Let me ask one more thing. Some of these cuts are specifically aimed at climate science and some of the climate science activity of NASA. Are you OK with that if these other things you're into, the space race, are protected?

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, it's the overall budget of NASA. And all of us look at the overall budget of NASA. And I'm confident that NASA's budget is going to be fully funded, just like we did last year, despite the president's push.

And, as you know, the president created the Space Force. He strongly supports it. And this is where, again, Congress will have their say. And I'm pretty confident we'll be fully funding NASA because we need to beat the Chinese to the moon, because we want the ultimate high ground. And, of course, the importance that satellites and military technology hold. And the key to that, of course, is NASA.

And by the way, Jared Isaacman is doing an amazing job. Look at how successful Artemis was.

CORNISH: We will get to talk about that in a minute.

We are now at the time, gentlemen of our group chats. We've talked a lot about Republicans today. So, Chuck, what in your group chat?

ROCHA: Here we go. My group chat is, y'all know I'm the head of all Mexicans in the United States and I'm in a group chat with all of them.

CORNISH: That's not a thing. That's not a thing.

ROCHA: That may not be true, but a lot of the politicos text me all the time.

CORNISH: Let's make that clear.

ROCHA: And we're making fun of you, Audie. We're making fun of your show because three days ago --

CORNISH: Is this about the tacos?

ROCHA: About the tacos from a bunch of folks from New York City.

CORNISH: Taco-gate.

ROCHA: I'm Texas. I'm Mexican. And we have breakfast tacos all the time. And I love the potato, egg and cheese.

CORNISH: Me too. What happened was, I was like, who's another group of people who complain about their breakfast delicacy.

ROCHA: A bunch of New Yorkers, really? This, to New Yorkers. Texas tacos is what I got for you people (ph). All of this.

CORNISH: Well, OK, question, where do you come down on taco-gate? Was the potato, cheese thing a problem?

ROCHA: No, it's good for us.

CORNISH: Or was he one chorizo away from not having a problem?

ROCHA: We are making fun of y'all. People in Texas are like, this is the shit we eat every day. We love this talk.

CORNISH: You know -- you know who's happy about that? Talarico. Because now you guys are complaining about us instead of him.

ROCHA: Oh, and we're making $5 (INAUDIBLE).

CORNISH: What is in your group chat, father of eight (ph)?

SHILLING: By -- I just got to say, I'm a huge fan of chorizo con huevos (ph) and (INAUDIBLE) for sure (ph).

CORNISH: Oh, oh, now we got a con huevos.

SHILLING: But look, I'm turning 40 this year, along with several of my other friends.

CORNISH: Yay!

SHILLING: And we're all planning out our midlife crisis.

CORNISH: Like it.

SHILLING: One of my friends is going to get the new cybertruck. I already have one. But I -- it hit me that I'm actually doing the same thing in my midlife crisis as I was in my senior year of high school, which is changing diapers and burping babies. So --

CORNISH: Oh, OK. Well then.

Last one to you, Congressman. You're not getting away.

HARIDOPOLOS: Well, look, in my group chat, of course, we're all interested in the verdict tonight. It's going to be very interesting night.

CORNISH: You're calling it the verdict. Do you mean the Kentucky primary?

HARIDOPOLOS: It might be.

ROCHA: Conviction.

CORNISH: OK. Yes.

HARIDOPOLOS: It will be interesting to see tonight. I think the point is well taken. A lot of these members who have lost are going to be voting for the remainder of the year. I think we know how they'll be continuing to vote.

[07:00:03]

And that's -- what in my group chat this week is actually about the excitement of the 250.

CORNISH: Oh, yes.

HARIDOPOLOS: I mean the idea that it's the 250th anniversary, and all the amazing events that are going on to celebrate America. As the United States history teacher, I love the story of America, and I'm glad that we're really looking back at our --

CORNISH: Are you buying the merch? Do you have any of the --

HARIDOPOLOS: I absolutely am buying the merch. You can count on it.

CORNISH: That's your group chat is just like an America pin and a melting emoji, which, well, that's mine.

Well, you guys, thank you so much for being with us. Headlines are next. I'm Audie Cornish.