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Polls Show Ossoff Leading in Georgia Senate Race; Pride in America Falls; Trump's Crypto Profits. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired July 03, 2026 - 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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[06:34:28]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It's now half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.

That dangerous heat wave tightening its grip on the eastern U.S., leaving more than 160 million Americans under extreme heat risk today. Temperatures will soar near 100 degrees in major cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and here in D.C. with a feels like temperature of a brutal 110. That means parades and fireworks have been canceled or postponed from Delaware to New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

[06:35:04]

And Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed all data centers in the mid-Atlantic to use their backup power supplies instead of drawing electricity from the public grid that way there's enough power for residential air conditioning.

And in Venezuela they're celebrating a miraculous rescue more than a week after those devastating earthquakes. A mall security guard was pulled from the rubble Thursday. Officials say he survived in an air pocket. His rescue comes as the death toll continues to rise. More than 2,200 victims have been found so far.

And today, Pope Leo XIV will accept the Philadelphia Liberty Medal. The pope, who's been honored for promoting liberty around the world, will attend the ceremony virtually. Leo is the first American pope. He will not visit the U.S. at all during its 250th year, despite the president's invitation. Leo will visit an Italian island that is an migrant hotspot on July 4th.

And Senator Jon Ossoff almost didn't run for another Senate term, but now his campaign is in full swing and going viral online. New polling from Fox has Senator Ossoff out front with an early, double digit lead in Georgia's Senate race. Behind the scenes there's growing chatter that if Democrats are looking for their next national leader, Ossoff's name belongs on the short list. And the group chat is back to talk about it. Why? Because Isaac Dovere has been writing about this. You actually went down there to talk to Ossoff.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes.

CORNISH: What is he doing differently than the conversation we've been stuck having here? Democratic socialists on the rise. Moderates upset. Who is he in the spectrum?

DOVERE: Well, you know, I asked him about that and he said, I'm not really interested in getting into Democratic factions. I couldn't get him going on it. We sat for quite a while in Savannah last week, and then his rally in Savannah on Saturday that I attended.

What he does talk about is not really the big base issues or the national issues that are coming up. Everything he does on the stump, and even in the conversation with me, he very carefully directs back toward the issue of corruption. And not just talking about corruption --

CORNISH: Corruption.

DOVERE: Corruption.

CORNISH: OK.

DOVERE: And corruption of the Trump presidency. But also linking that very directly to how it affects people's lives.

So, look, he had a line that got a lot of people laughing at the beginning of the rally where he said, oh, the Iranians closed the Strait of Hormuz again and so the -- his quote was, the president threw his toys out of the stroller and didn't pass the housing bill.

But again, that's -- or didn't sign the housing bill. That's making it about how it's relevant to people's lives. He talked about -- when he talks about the ballroom being constructed, he says, what's going on is donors who got tax cuts are writing checks to -- for the ballroom, but those tax cuts paid, Ossoff says, and it's true when you look at the math of it, for the subsidy cuts on Obamacare that made health care prices go up for people.

And he's always talking about things like that, but also highlighting things that many people haven't been even thinking about when it comes to the questions around corruption. There is, for example, in Albania, something going on right now called the flamingo revolution. And it's because Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have been trying to buy an island to develop a resort there. It is causing such protests in Albania that it may topple the government there. And yet it is not something that is being talked about here.

CORNISH: Well, you know -- exactly. So let me bring it to this side of the table because I think that's what's interesting. Taking something like corruption, which is a big amorphous concept, I think, for a lot of people. Even I, on air, you know, I'm trying to explain, this is how this crypto deal works. This is how this contract works. It's complicated. So, what do you think of using that as a way in to the voter?

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. All the polling I have seen is that Americans care about corruption, but they really care about it when you talk about how this family or the Trump administration or this billionaire is getting rich and richer and richer either through deals, et cetera, and your average American is paying higher prices.

CORNISH: So, they have to be connected to taking the hit financially.

HINOJOSA: They are taking the hit. They are doing something on the backs of the working people.

CORNISH: Yes.

HINOJOSA: I will say that it's smart for him to talk about that because we all know that the number one issue is the economy. That's what American voters care about. But when you're looking at Ossoff moving forward and his potential future, the other thing you know about the Democratic Party is, they want a fighter. They don't want someone who's going to talk about love and unity in a primary.

CORNISH: Are you sure? Because let's look at Ossoff's campaign image, the "o" for Ossoff looks suspiciously like, I don't know, an o that feels like one, that reminds one of hope and change.

JESSE ARM, VP OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS, MANHATTAN INSTITUTE: Three stipes through it.

HINOJOSA: But I will say -- but in the primary, yes, but it --

CORNISH: So, this is what the -- when they go low --

HINOJOSA: That -- I don't think -- I think Democrats have retired that.

[06:40:01]

CORNISH: No, not so much. Let me let you get a word in.

ARM: No, I just --

CORNISH: Are we looking at another Obama? And if you are, is that good or bad news for Republicans in the age of Trump? We're in a way different time now where you fight off a candidate like this with a Romney.

ARM: Ossoff has managed to maintain relatively inoffensive so far --

CORNISH: Yes.

ARM: To both the mainstream liberal majority of the Democratic coalition, as well as the ascendant far left flank.

CORNISH: And we're going to show the cash on hand while you're speaking.

ARM: Yes. Yes. That works.

Look, I think that Ossoff, ultimately the big challenge for him will be that the far left ascendant flank will continue to demand more and more and more. And as they extract that from him, there will be a price to play (ph) with the more moderate majority of the Democratic Party. Ultimately --

CORNISH: In a Senate race or do you mean for 2028?

ARM: Oh, no, no, no, I think he's going to win the Senate race.

CORNISH: Oh, got it. OK.

ARM: But we're already talking about 2028, and that's part of the --

CORNISH: Yes, I was going to say --

ARM: That's part of the allure of this guy. Republicans really had a damaging dynamic where the popular incumbent governor of Georgia endorsed one candidate. The president endorsed somebody else. They're both coming out of that bruised. You know, Mike Collins is going to be the nominee. This was supposed to be one of the biggest pickup opportunities for Republicans this cycle. And now Ossoff is poised to run away with it because he is having this viral moment. But we'll see if he can sustain it. I don't know that he --

CORNISH: Yes, viral without being all about the internet, which I find interesting as well.

DOVERE: Yes. And, look, he's done some of the things that are like basic stuff. People, Republicans -- from Republicans to people on the far left talk about his constituent services in Georgia. But it is really stunning. Georgia is a purple state at best. It's really like a red state that has elected some Democrats.

CORNISH: Yes.

DOVERE: And Ossoff is running comfortably there.

Now. I asked him, does he think of himself as being in a strong position? He said, I'm the underdog. But look, you showed that money there. The polling that's there. It is -- it is striking to see.

CORNISH: Yes, the vibe is not underdog.

DOVERE: They're -- the last time a Democrat was elected to a second full term in the Senate from Georgia was Sam Nunn in 1990.

CORNISH: OK.

DOVERE: And this race is being thought of by Democrats as basically a shoo-in at this point. We'll see if it remains that way. But it is a real testament to what Ossoff has been able to pull off. And the way that, you know, he gets this -- he has -- he said to me no on the presidential stuff. He -- it comes because he pops up once a month with these speeches and gets people talking.

CORNISH: OK. Well, we love a good, he's running story. So, I'm sure we'll be back.

I want to turn back to America's 250th birthday. The country is, frankly, still arguing over its founding. We've gone from debates about confederate monuments, to fights over critical race theory and diversity, equity, inclusion, and how history should be taught in schools. And now there's this new Gallup poll showing just 33 percent of U.S. adults are extremely proud to be an American, but that is the lowest level recorded on that question in 25 years.

So, what does that tell us about where America is in its own story? So, I'm bringing in Leah Wright, CNN political historian and associate professor of history at Johns Hopkin's University, and Alexander Heffner, host of the PBS show "The Open Mind." He's also the co-author of a documentary, "History of the United States."

So, I wanted to talk to you guys because with this Trump administration, they have made restoring pride in our country actually a kind of guiding light. When you look at some of the executive orders, for instance, one of the things they do is try to correct for what they see as too much dogma in politics. One of them saying, they want to "instead focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people, respect of natural features, beauty, abundance, and grandeur of the American landscape."

If that's the case, and I want to start with you, Leah, why are we seeing this Gallup poll number and pride actually dip further?

LEAH WRIGHT, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND HISTORIAN: Well, I think one of the things to point out here is that the Trump administration's actions are having the exact opposite effect, at least amongst the public, and how the public understands and wants to understand American history and America at 250.

Now, for the Trump administration, this is their vision of what America should be. And that's not unusual. We've had a lot of -- you know, we've had a lot of work, a lot of ,scholarship that shows us that arounds -- that around America's anniversaries there tends to be a push from administrations to whitewash American history, to focus simply on the great acts, but a very specific great acts by specific great people, predominantly white men.

But that's not the mood that Americans are in today. Americans want to hear about all of the messy, complicated aspects of American history, of United States history. They understand just simply by virtue of their experience within the United States. Even the experience today of, you know, of inequality, lack of social mobility.

CORNISH: Yes. But can I jump here on that because --

WRIGHT: Right. Yes.

CORNISH: I do wonder, what you're talking about is this feeling that the social contract is frayed, right? WRIGHT: Right.

CORNISH: That somehow the -- we're not holding up our end of the bargain here as institutions.

[06:45:07]

I want to come to you, Alex, because I'm looking at this polling where it says, do you think the American dream still holds true? Fifty-one percent said once held true but no longer. Just 15 percent said never held true. So, I don't think I'm looking at a populist that is like, the American dream is always BS. There's plenty of people who seem to have thought, yes, there was a lot of things sort of promised and being here and we don't think we're trending in that direction.

ALEXANDER HEFFNER, HOST, PBS "THE OPEN MIND": Audie, I call this a kind of delinquency of futility, or you could also call it the futility of delinquency in American politics. Many people have commented on the paralysis as a result of the partizan division, the ad hominems, the viciousness of the discourse.

And it's not even that it's so bellicose. It's that it has strung us up in a constant state of impasse that we can't feel the achievement of the present. And I always think it's important to return to those founding documents and to hold them up for both the aspirations and the resentments that we experience and have experienced as a country.

But I think part of the problem is the gaslighting. You know, when you look at something like the Emoluments Clause, earlier you were talking about corruption in the Trump administration, and the fact that the United States Supreme Court, during the Trump administration's first go, essentially said, that doesn't exist. And now we have a president who's flying on a plane, in Air Force One, recently debuted that is a gift from Qatar.

So, there are things that just don't add up in the republic right now.

CORNISH: Yes.

HEFFNER: And let's just be honest about this. We have to be equal opportunity critics. And the golden rule of American political life ought to be intellectual honesty. So, when people talk about Speaker Pelosi --

CORNISH: Well, let me jump in here then --

HEFFNER: Yes.

CORNISH: Just because you're in the modern politics, and I brought you guys on because it's been a time for historians in the last couple of years. I imagine your group chats are all a mess. And I remember a few years ago when the 1619 Project came out, we never heard the end of it. The backlash, the arguing, what should be taught in schools. As we speak, people are talking about textbooks.

I think the Trump administration, and many supporters have pushed back harder on 1776 as the time.

Very quick to you both, to your mind, what year do you see as historians yourself? Is there a particular era you look at and think, that was the real start of America. It doesn't have to be either of those two numbers, or it can be. And can I go to you, Leah.

WRIGHT: 1852 Frederick Douglass' speech, July 5th speech on the anniversary of the 76th anniversary of the Declaration -- signing of the Declaration of Independence, because it's Douglass who's the first person to really call out in a really concentrated way this idea of the hypocrisy of liberty, a nation for liberty and justice for all that is intimately and violently rejecting that premise for the bulk of the people. So, that becomes the story of the nation. That's the one that we remember.

CORNISH: OK, that's one for you. Every historian has one.

Alexander Heffner, for you, when do you think this country began?

HEFFNER: Yes. 1776, we didn't achieve the blessings of liberty -- life, liberty and happiness for some decades and centuries. But I think that the founding period is indisputable as a matter of fact. I think part of what created the controversy of reevaluating that was, we have to be true to facts. So, if we're talking about the founding of this new nation, birthed from our mother country, England, it was 1776 and the Continental Congress.

CORNISH: OK. Well, here from the desk where we write the rough draft of history, usually, I want to thank you guys for being here. I hope you have a good Independence Day holiday.

WRIGHT: Same to you, Audie.

HEFFNER: You too.

CORNISH: And we're going to kick off America 250 with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen as they count down to midnight for historic ball drop honoring the nation's birthday. "Independence Eve Live with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen." Coverage begins tonight at 8 p.m. on CNN or, of course, stream it on the CNN app.

Next, we're going to be talking about the president on defense, why he says he did nothing wrong when it comes to the profits he has made in the crypto industry.

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Later on CNN, your holiday travel. We know you're on the road. And we're going to be live from Atlanta's airport. Millions of Americans plan to head out this Fourth.

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CORNISH: So, the president, not shying away from the fact that he made more than $2 billion in his first year back in the White House. And this includes more than $1.4 billion in crypto ventures. When asked about it on CNBC where he spoke, the president says, look, there's nothing to see here.

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JOE KERNAN, CNBC ANCHOR: In the disclosure this week the amount of money that you and the family made in crypto, it was an outsized number.

[06:55:04]

I was just asking, did you -- were you in -- know about the crypto ventures?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No.

KERNAN: So, that was just something --

TRUMP: By the way --

KERNAN: Yes.

TRUMP: I could know about it.

KERNAN: That's what I said.

TRUMP: I didn't.

KERNAN: Right.

TRUMP: I mean, there's nothing illegal. There's nothing wrong with it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Group chat is back.

I wanted to play this because we made such a deal out of it yesterday. And he actually got to speak. And I think, interestingly, with a business outlet, right? These are guys. They're no -- they're not foreign to outsized paydays. What do you make of how he's defending it?

DOVERE: Do most Americans know people who made $1.4 billion, $2 billion over the last 15 months or 16 months? I think that that's really what this comes down to for a lot of people. It's, do most Americans know people whose sons got a good deal on a tungsten mine in Kazakhstan? No. What most Americans are seeing is prices that they are fighting with and struggling with. And that is the real --

CORNISH: Yes. We were playing tape yesterday where Megyn Kelly was like, this is grifty (ph). I don't like what the sons are doing. I don't like -- so there's this world of people who were the Hunter Biden hunters who are now, like, OK, guys, wait a second, this doesn't feel good that we have to defend it.

But I do want to bring up this one thing. Mary Trump, longtime Trump critic, but she was on "AC360" and she brought up this issue, which I had not thought about. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY TRUMP, Donald TRUMP'S NEICE: The problem here is not so much the ways in which Donald and his family continue to rig the system in their favor, it's the number of people who are willing either to look the other way or to enable it.

This is the president of the United States endangering the national security of American citizens because he is willing to take money from any foreign entity, no matter how potentially hostile it might be to American interests.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. I'd like to fact check that. I can't, because, guess what, the IRS is barred from ever looking at the Trump family financial records in terms of audits. It says in that last deal they made, "plaintiffs hereby release, waive, acquit and forever discharge defendants and are hereby forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing any claims." We might not actually know the sources of some of this money.

ARM: Yes. I mean most Americans don't know people who have made billions of dollars off of crypto. Most Americans also don't know the president of the United States. But most Americans also are totally willing to accept the fact that Trump is a --

CORNISH: But they're also not running Mideast policy, right? No, no, pause for a second.

ARM: Oh, sure.

CORNISH: If you're in charge of policy, isn't that what's supposed to make it distinct?

ARM: Yes, well, I think, again, most Americans sort of take the effort to be rich, stay rich, get richer with Donald Trump baked into the equation. I don't think anybody who voted for him or voted against him in 2024 is going to be shocked by these developments. This is kind of (INAUDIBLE) response.

HINAJOSA: Well --

DOVERE: I mean he said years ago, long before he ever ran for president, I'm the only person who could run for president and actually make money on it. So, this is part of the equation.

CORNISH: Yes. Well, promises made, promises kept.

ARM: Yes, and he talked about making money from foreign adversaries. I do think that is something that Trump looks at the balance sheet and sort of says, let's have these guys pay us, rather than us doling out money to the rest of the world. And certain populist --

CORNISH: Xochitl, let me let you get a word in here. I love when these men are talking, but just in case. HINAJOSA: Yes. No, I -- Donald Trump ran for president in what it

seems like now for two reasons. One, it was a get out of jail free card because you cannot prosecute a sitting president. Two is to essentially benefit financially off the presidency. The difference, while he might say it is not illegal, the difference is that, if this were a Democratic president and there was a Republican Congress, you would have oversight -- the Oversight Committee and all sorts of oversight of his family about their -- the financial dealings within this administration under potential contracts.

CORNISH: Yes. Well, let me end there because --

ARM: (INAUDIBLE) Congress well have that.

HINAJOSA: Well --

CORNISH: Yes, I was about to say, we're heading to the midterms, so you may get your wish.

Let me do group chats because Alex is new to the group chat. And I need to understand your vibe. So, what are people talking about in your world?

ARM: Yes. Well, I've been reading this new Dave Portnoy book, which is kind of a best seller now.

CORNISH: He talked about maybe running for office, Dave Portnoy.

ARM: You took the words out of my mouth.

CORNISH: Yes, I saw that.

ARM: This is the other thing sort of in my group chat. Actually more so than the book, because as Portnoy says in his book, books are for losers and overrated anyway.

CORNISH: Sure. Sure. Open (INAUDIBLE).

ARM: He's talking about running for mayor of New York City against Zohran Mamdani.

CORNISH: Nice.

ARM: That was something he made headlines with this week. Curtis Sliwa bit back, I think saw someone running into his lane potentially there. So, you know --

CORNISH: Someone got a beret and they started the starting gun.

ARM: It should be interesting.

CORNISH: Xochitl, what about you?

HINAJOSA: So, my group chat is actually called "shake it off." And it is all about Taylor.

CORNISH: Xochitl -- of course.

HINOJOSA: And it is all about Taylor Swift. We already covered it. But I want to say, people are wondering who is invited. More importantly, who is not invited to the wedding.

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Things like the dress, what the decor looks like, all those fun things.

CORNISH: OK. OK. We'll come back to it tomorrow.

Isaac, (INAUDIBLE).

DOVERE: I mean I guess pretty -- it's the World Cup. This game tonight with Argentina and Cape Verde and what is going to happen there. Could there be a major upset? Perhaps. Or will it just be like a showcase for Lionel Messi to do all of his stuff?

CORNISH: Love the Cinderella story. Love it. Yes. Baby, just say yes.

I'm Audie Cornish. The headlines are next. Thank you so much for being with us here on CNN.