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Ken Paxton to Face James Talarico in Texas Senate Race; RFK Jr., the Snake Wrangler; Trump Administration Proposes All Federal Workers Sign an NDA. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired May 27, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: He kept hopping away from the officers. And the kangaroo, named Bingus, was safely captured and returned to a local wildlife rescue after a short pursuit there.
[06:00:11]
My goodness, how fast do you need to run to catch a kangaroo? That's the big question.
Does it -- that does it for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brad Smith. CNN THIS MORNING with Audie Cornish starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Today in the group chat, a Texas triumph for Trump pick Ken Paxton. But can he lasso enough support to keep that Senate seat from turning blue?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS SENATORIAL NOMINEE: He can never become our senator. But I need your help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And a dangerous mission, deep underground. Is there still hope of finding survivors trapped in a flooded cave?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last week, they found live worms in their food.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: We're now seeing protests and a hunger strike at an ICE detention facility. I'm going to be asking a congressman who's been inside what he saw.
And President Trump convenes his cabinet in just a couple of hours. Are we going to get substance or performance?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do not want to lose our only congressman, our only African-American congressman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: New voting maps that would favor Republicans blocked in two different states. Is the tide turning on redistricting?
And then this happened. RFK Jr., bare hands, a pair of snakes. His wife, Cheryl Hines, is all of us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHERYL HINES, WIFE OF RFK JR.: Honey, let them go. Oh, my God. Bobby, please.
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SECRETARY: Jesus, their -- their mouths are huge.
HINES: Bobby, please!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: If Paxton wins the nomination, could you vote for him in the general election?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hell no.
RAJU: If he gets the nomination, Paxton, could you support him in November?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. Absolutely not. No.
RAJU: Would you vote for Talarico?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: All right. A landslide victory for Ken Paxton in Texas. But can the Republican nominee now get John Cornyn voters on his side?
Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and we are going to start with this, with John Cornyn, another Senate incumbent fallen.
He lost his primary to Trump-backed opponent Ken Paxton. And Paxton already looking to November and his new foe, Democrat James Talarico.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAXTON: Some people know him as Tofu Talarico. Some people call him Six-Gender Jimmy. I've even heard some people call him James Talafreako.
He can never become our senator. But I need your help. We know James Talarico is going to raise more money than any Democrat in America.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: So, if the primary was any indication, Paxton has a lot of work to do. A jaw-dropping $130 million spent on ads between Paxton and Cornyn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): The truth is that that's money that could be and should be better spent in places like Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, and -- and New Hampshire.
If the Texas Senate seat is in jeopardy, that really jeopardizes our majority, because it will take away necessary resources to win these other seats that we're depending on to maintain the majority and perhaps grow it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst; Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project; and Antjuan Seawright, Democratic strategist.
I want to turn to what happens now when you look like you have the two candidates for the general.
And Terry, since you're here, you know a thing or two about writing an ad for Republicans. OK? And I noticed the ones, when it comes to Talarico, are pretty familiar, talking about past statements related to trans rights, talking to past statements -- I don't know -- accusing him of being a vegan, which I didn't know was an accusatory act, now punishable by law.
Here is how Talarico has generally sort of sold himself in his pro ads, right when he's saying, hey Texans, this is who I am. This is the kind of commercial he's running.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES TALARICO (D), TEXAS SENATORIAL NOMINEE: When I was 28, I almost died. I was diagnosed with type one diabetes. When I picked up my first insulin prescription, it cost me $684. I couldn't afford that. Most Texans can't either.
So, when I got to the Texas House, I took on big pharma and capped insulin at $25 a month.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, some of the stuff he mentions in here, whether it's big pharma, or -- these are things Republicans have been talking about.
So, is there a lane for him? Is there a Cornyn voter that's going to be won over by this messaging?
TERRY SCHILLING, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PRINCIPLES PROJECT: Well, first of all, I don't think so. We've been told in 2008, in 2014, in 2020, and now in 2026, that Texas is going to turn purple, and then turn blue.
[06:05:10]
It's -- it's just not going to happen. The demographics aren't there. The state is very conservative. It's Christian-oriented. And with Talarico, you have a candidate. I know. I know. You're shocked that they're calling -- using tofu against him.
But this is Texas. And I've spent a lot of time in Texas and invest a lot of money in Texas elections. That's actually devastating for him.
You need someone -- if the Democrats really wanted to take out any Republican in that state -- Ted Cruz, or even Paxton -- they would nominate an oil man. They would nominate someone that's out there working on the oil rigs, not some leftist professor or leftist teacher from -- from Austin who says that the incarnation of Christ justifies abortion.
CORNISH: I heard all -- I heard all your fighting words. Austin.
SCHILLING: It's crazy.
CORNISH: Teacher. Yuck.
SCHILLING: But they'd be better off going with an oil man.
CORNISH: Let me turn to Antjuan. Because I'm sure you guys -- true. Texas is the white whale for Democrats.
Also true: Trump-backed candidates that didn't do so well in a state like Georgia, a Southern state where maybe the Democratics were -- the -- the demographics weren't supposed to work out in his favor. And now, there are Democratic senators there.
So, do Democrats feel like this is the year?
ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Conservative does not mean Christian. GOP does not mean God's Only Party. I want to just say that to my dear friend to my right here.
But politics is a game of matchups. And when you have an indicted election denier who helped lead the effort to overturn the 2020 election and someone who is impeached, I think we welcome that to the conversation.
I think that Democrats are well-positioned to take advantage of a very fertile environment, not only because Republicans have failed in Washington, but also, I think people in Texas are feeling the residue of the failed leadership in Washington.
CORNISH: Yes. Let me bring in Ron.
SEAWRIGHT: And I think that matters in this environment.
CORNISH: Because I think we're also not talking about whether -- what has changed in Texas. RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.
CORNISH: Meaning I really would like to know who's doing the polling on Latino voters in Texas. I would like to know the polling in these new districts that have been redrawn. Like, there's some --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I was just in South Texas --
CORNISH: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: -- several weeks ago.
Look, the baseline, obviously, for Democrats in Texas is 2018. Beto O'Rourke got within --
CORNISH: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: -- 2.6 points of Ted Cruz, their best performance since the early 1990s. I remember being down there for that '94 governor's race.
CORNISH: And he had a skateboard. So --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, the last time.
CORNISH: -- we don't even -- Are you OK with those?
SCHILLING: No.
BROWNSTEIN: If you look -- if you look at what's changed in Texas since 2018, when Beto got to within two and a half of Ted Cruz, all of the growth in the state has been nonwhite. OK? All the population growth.
White voters -- white voters were 51 percent of eligible voters in 2018. Now they're about 46.
CORNISH: Eligible citizen voters.
BROWNSTEIN: Voters were 51 percent white in 2018. Now it's about 46. The growth has been urban.
Trump is in a weaker position today than he was in 2018. In the exit poll in 2018, he was at 49 percent approval. Latest U.T. polling, he's at 45.
His polling is particularly down among college-educated white voters who are those kind of suburban, Cornyn-ish Republican on economic voters.
CORNISH: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: Now, Paxton is, in some ways, weaker than Cruz. He's, in some ways, stronger in that he has maybe an even bigger connection to the rural voters.
It's obviously uphill for Democrats in Texas for a lot of reasons, mostly because of this vast white, rural population --
CORNISH: Yes.
BROWNSTEIN: -- that -- some that vote Republican.
CORNISH: You know that we're just trying to figure out of how much bigger is the hill.
BROWNSTEIN: But the hill -- the hill. You know, the demographics of the state have changed enough that Richard Murray of the University of Houston calculates that, if everybody voted the same, every group voted the same way they did in '18 but are present in the proportions they are today, Beto would have won. So that is -- that is the possibility.
SEAWRIGHT: Can I make one point?
BROWNSTEIN: Sure.
SEAWRIGHT: What Paxton is going to have to do, he's going to have to bring along the Cornyn primary voters, as well as -- that means he's going to have to grow his coalition.
He can't just rely, in a general election, on his primary voters.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
SEAWRIGHT: Because of what I said in the beginning. Texas is now --
CORNISH: Although I don't think it's --
SEAWRIGHT -- fertile ground because of the demographics.
CORNISH: It's not been proven that these Republicans who get upset with the MAGA candidate magically decide that they're going to vote --
BROWNSTEIN: Some of them may not vote, though.
CORNISH: Yes. They just might not vote.
BROWNSTEIN: That's -- that's the most Democrats can hope for.
CORNISH: That's -- Let me just play one more thing. This is Ted Cruz because, you know, these guys lost a teammate in the Senate. They're not -- they like John Cornyn. They're a little annoyed. And they're worried about how Trump is putting his finger on the scale, getting these wins.
Here is Ted Cruz on his podcast.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): Bill Cassidy, Thom Tillis, John Cornyn, Rand Paul. Those are four senators. We have a 53-47 majority. If you lose four senators, you're below 50, and you can't get anything done. I don't envision suddenly anything becoming hunky-dory and they're
being happy. Like, that dynamic for 2026, the rest of the year, we're going to have interesting challenges.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, like, cautiously optimistic. "Interesting challenges," translated is "real worry." Is that fair?
SCHILLING: Absolutely. Look, I just want to reiterate: Ken Paxton just had $130 million spent against him and won by over 30 points in that race. That's a very strong candidate, to be able to withstand that in a primary.
[06:10:12]
CORNISH: Would you have wanted to have spent that money, as a person who's bought ads? Would you have wanted to spend that money in Texas?
SCHILLING: Oh, no.
CORNISH: And not New Hampshire. Like, just literally anywhere else but a place --
SCHILLING: Audie -- Audie, I couldn't agree --
CORNISH: OK.
SCHILLING: I couldn't agree more with you. But here's the problem.
CORNISH: Because that doesn't say strength. That says, oh my God, are we losing this?
SCHILLING: No, no, what it says is the country club Republicans are trying to keep their grasp on the Republican Party.
And we're seeing this all across the country, these populist uprisings.
In South Dakota, we have the speaker of the House, John Hansen. He's the populist. It's now a one-point race between three candidates at the top.
And Dusty Johnson -- or, yes, Dusty Johnson, he spent so much more money than the rest of us.
But the people that are actually rising up and speaking to --
CORNISH: Yes.
SCHILLING: -- what the voters want, they're the ones that succeed.
CORNISH: Well, we're going to talk more about this. So, you guys --
SEAWRIGHT: We won't be having a family values conversation in Texas.
CORNISH: Stay -- stay with me. And to your point, the -- "The Wall Street Journal" opinion page was not happy with Paxton.
SCHILLING: Of course they weren't. Of course they weren't.
CORNISH: Needless to say, to your point.
But now, I want to turn to this. Some of the president's critics looking to flip the script, saying that they want a cut of that so- called anti-weaponization fund.
And then here's just RFK Jr., you know, wrangling snakes. and in fact, this is just his latest animal encounter.
Plus, we want to bring you back to that chemical tank that implodes at a Washington state paper plant, because that site could still be a danger.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:16:10]
CORNISH: OK. It is now 15 minutes past the hour. Here is your morning roundup.
President Trump is saying his physical exam at Walter Reed Medical Center went, quote, "perfectly." The soon-to-be 80-year-old president spent about three hours getting what the White House called a routine medical and dental exam.
The White House doctor is expected to release his report on the exam within a few days.
At least one person is dead. Nine employees remain unaccounted for after a large tank of chemical treatment ruptured at a paper and packaging facility in Washington state.
Nine others were injured, and the ruptured tank contained a chemical mixture that's used in the paper making process.
And Alabama's plan to use a new congressional map that favors Republicans in a key House race in the midterms, temporarily blocked by federal judges.
In South Carolina, the Senate just rejected the president's call to redraw congressional maps and target Congressman Jim Clyburn's seat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do not want to lose our only congressman, our only African-American congressman.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to be part of the movement that demonstrates how important this election is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Voter turnout was high in South Carolina, and Congressman Clyburn told reporters, quote, "People tend to vote when they get angry."
And let's just add snake wrangler to his resume. RFK Jr. posting a video of him capturing two snakes barehanded. This was on Dr. Oz's porch.
Now, RFK's wife can be heard in the background, asking the thing we were all asking: if they're biting. He confirmed they were.
She then says, "Why? Let them go?"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HINES: Look, they're dangerous. Huh?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Yes, let's take this to the group chat. We have such a weird mix of animal stories about this man.
SCHILLING: You know --
CORNISH: Bears.
SCHILLING: Trump nominates --
CORNISH: Whale things.
SCHILLING: -- one Catholic, and he turns out to be a Pentecostal. I don't -- I don't get this.
CORNISH: Oh, wow. Jokes -- jokes on jokes.
SCHILLING: No, no, no. But -- but in reality.
CORNISH: Jokes on jokes, this guy.
Look, these are -- I'm not even bringing up the worm in the brain. OK? I'm just going with the dead bear in Central Park. Ha, ha.
And then the eating a dog denial, which is a problem I haven't had yet. I haven't had to deny that.
And then also sawing the head off of whales. So actually, the snakes, like --
SCHILLING: It's pretty tame.
CORNISH: Pretty tame.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: Pretty tame.
And the Pentecostals can write their notes to Terry Schilling at TerrySchilling.com.
OK. After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, the rescue of a flooded case [SIC] in Laos. A live report just ahead.
Plus, President Trump wants all federal workers to sign NDAs. What could be the downside of cracking down on leaks?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:23:22]
CORNISH: So, the Trump administration is determined to stop the federal workforce from leaking information to the media. And they're proposing a government-wide NDA for all existing and new federal employees to sign.
So, workers would have to agree to safeguard nonpublic, confidential, or proprietary information created or obtained through their official duties.
And leaks have been a real concern for the president. Just last month, he openly expressed his displeasure with the leak of classified information from an ongoing U.S. rescue mission in Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're going to go to the media company that released it, and we're going to say, National security, give it up or go to jail.
We have to find that leaker, because that's a sick person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. Group chat is back.
Now, obviously, as reporters, Ron --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: -- you and I are biased, because all kinds of stories come from this. And the OPB actually put out a memo, and they noted the stories that concerned them.
One of them was a website leaking the information of ICE agents. Another one was a story about the NDA proposal, and another one was about -- let me see. Oh, reporting on the Maduro raid, which interestingly enough, there's actually a U.S. service person who is on trial for betting on that in prediction markets.
BROWNSTEIN: This proposal is actually very revealing, obviously, first, about Trump's view of the media in a free society, in a democratic society, and how limited his -- his view of that is.
But even more importantly, he views the public sector government employees not as working for the public, but as working for him.
[06:25:08]
CORNISH: But can I stop you there? The Supreme Court, after the -- the -- the release of that early leak --
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
CORNISH: -- of the abortion ruling, they have new security policies in place.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. Yes. This is -- this is his -- his vision is that is that the federal government are there to execute his will: to reward his friends, punish his enemies, advance his goals, with essentially no obligation to the public.
And this is of -- this is of a piece, I think -- this is very kind of philosophically consistent with the way he views the Justice Department and the way he views all of the departments, the way he overruled the FDA on flavored vaping.
This is his vision of the federal government. It is an extension of his will with no independent statutory or constitutional obligation to the public and in defense of --
CORNISH: So, one of the things, I guess, that's not working are the random polygraph tests, which again, were reported, I guess because of a leaker. But it's information I'm glad I know.
Can you talk about, like -- I understand their preoccupation with this, but given his pitch to the voter as a transparent figure, why keep going to these lengths?
SCHILLING: Because look, no one has been betrayed, or backstabbed, or maligned and lied about as president more than President Trump. I think that's undeniable.
SEAWRIGHT: Come on.
SCHILLING: OK. The Russia, Russia, Russia collusion hoax turned out to be a total hoax. It was totally exaggerated. And it was all based on lies.
We want to avoid things that are distractions. We want to avoid the noise and get back to the signal.
CORNISH: There's already laws about this.
SCHILLING: And there are already laws that protect whistleblowers, right?
CORNISH: Yes.
SCHILLING: So, it's important that we protect the security of the United States.
This is all coming in light of the new ballroom, by the way, which needs to have NDAs around it.
SEAWRIGHT: Oh, man.
SCHILLING: It's a security measure for the White House. You can't know everything about the White House and its designs for it.
CORNISH: No, I like this. You have 100 percent trust in the government at all times.
SCHILLING: No, I don't, but --
CORNISH: You do.
SCHILLING: No, I don't always. But I just think that the leaks are cheap. The leaks -- you can go to any reporter and lie about it.
CORNISH: Fair, yes.
SCHILLING: There's an official process through whistleblowing. And these anonymous sources, nonstop.
CORNISH: Let me -- let me go to Antjuan for a second.
Antjuan, before you start, though, through the whistleblowing question: the president since January has fired or forced out 21 inspectors general.
(CROSSTALK)
CORNISH: Seventy-five percent of those positions are open, and 23 percent of their budgets have been -- the proposal is to cut. So, the people the whistleblowers would go to, their -- their chairs are spinning empty -- Antjuan.
SEAWRIGHT: Loyalty is a top requirement to work in and around Donald Trump.
SCHILLING: And every administration.
SEAWRIGHT: Loyalty is a -- that's not true.
Secondly, I would just add, it's clear that they are actively pursuing aggressively state-run media, because any story or any reports contrary or anti-Trump, it becomes problematic. And so, they're trying to suffocate and silent voices within government who want to reveal the truth.
The bigger issue I have here, Ron, is the fact that usually Congress, whose job is to oversee the executive branch, will provide some sort of intervention here when things like this happen. Yet, we see a rubber stamp from this majority in Congress.
And I think that's where we have to draw the line. If you're not doing anything wrong, then why should we be signing NDAs when it comes to the federal government that's funded by taxpayers like you and I?
SCHILLING: We wouldn't have to do it if there weren't lying people that leak this stuff.
SEAWRIGHT: How would you feel if this was Joe Biden?
SCHILLING: We saw it under Joe Biden. There was a lot.
SEAWRIGHT: When did the -- when did the Biden-Harris administration implement NDA signings, or attempt to, in the four years that Joe Biden was president? You just tell me when. And I will agree with you.
SCHILLING: I can tell you there was a lot of coverage --
SEAWRIGHT: You never answered my question.
SCHILLING: Because --
SEAWRIGHT: When did it happen?
SCHILLING: Because there were tons of leaks under the Trump administration. That's why this is happening. It didn't really happen under the Biden administration.
BROWNSTEIN: But there are leaks under any administration. I mean, this -- this -- this is a distillation of his view of the federal government. This is the distillation of his view that it is his -- it is the extension of his personal will. It has no independent statutory or constitutional obligations to the public.
CORNISH: Well --
BROWNSTEIN: And that is -- and that is, you know, for better or worse, that is how he envisions the federal government working. He envisions it as a way to reward friends, punish enemies, advance his goals, but not have any kind of independent -- independence to serve the public.
CORNISH: Let me -- this is going to be -- a next segment is going to be connected coming up today, because it's about that weaponization fund, right? The anti-weaponization fund.
And I'm sure a lot of people are going to want to know where that money is going. And if it's all under the Justice Department, and they don't want to share and no one leaks, that is where you start to have people --
SEAWRIGHT: Not to mention his family cannot be investigated.
CORNISH: Well, I'm just saying, like, this is where people feel like if the government's not being upfront with them, they're actually going to be hopeful for a leak.
So, coming up, we are going to be talking about that. There's even some people who say, look, they might deserve a piece of it, but they're not going to apply. We're going to explain why.
