Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Republicans Need Base from 2024; El-Sayed Again Disavows the Muslim Brotherhood; Obama Comments on Omar Investigation; Talarico Enlists "Friday Night Lights" Cast. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired October 19, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Calling for calm after violent protests over the weekend. In the next hour, what these demonstrators are demanding.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CORNISH: We're talking about farmers and Latinos, two groups crucial to Trump's win in 2024. Now, Republicans are struggling to energize them this time around, and it may be because of prices.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE KULPER, PRESIDENT, IOWA CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION: Everybody in agriculture is tired, it would be -- it would be the best way to put it. They're just tired. They feel very beat up right now.
MAYUMI CASTRO FERNANDEZ, VOTED FOR TRUMP IN 2024: The gas, their food, everything go up.
We need to (ph) change.
[06:35:01]
Yes, I changed my mind. They can change too.
He no make one promise that he did in this time. It's impossible stay in his side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, there's new polling showing voters trust Democrats over Republicans on just about every issue at this point. And that includes inflation and cost of living. Now, the only issues where Republicans win out was crime.
Joining the group chat, Nathan Gonzales, editor and publisher for "Inside Elections."
So, we've been talking about the big battleground states and even limited to that where Trump is going this week, which is still seven places. But Sara brought up earlier, like, we're not even talking about House
races. Is the map actually bad there as well or we're looking at a bunch of incumbents who are fine?
NATHAN GONZALES, EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, "INSIDE ELECTIONS": I mean, I guess that depends on which party perspective. But, I mean, the map is bad for a Republican perspective, not just because of the --
CORNISH: In the House?
GONZALES: In the House.
CORNISH: OK.
GONZALES: Not just because of the toss-up districts, but now the president's approval rating has fallen to a point where we are talking about a whole host of Republican seats that we would not be talking about under normal situations. In a rural --
CORNISH: Again, in the House?
GONZALES: In the House.
CORNISH: OK.
GONZALES: Rural, rural areas of Nevada, South Carolina, Wyoming. I mean, there are a lot of places that Democrats never even dreamed that they would be polling or taking a look at, and now they're vulnerable because Republican support is low right now.
CORNISH: Now, right now, there was a Reuters report where they actually looked at sort of voting records and public statements and campaign materials, and they found that candidates in 41 out of 62 competitive congressional races were basically trying to put some distance between themselves and Trump.
GONZALES: Because the president is so unpopular. But Republican candidates are in a rub because they need Republican turnout in order to win. But they also need independent voters in order to win. So, when the president says, I'm on the ballot, pretend I'm on the ballot, that might boost Republican turnout, but it boosts Democratic turnout. It reminds independent voters of who's in charge at a time when the -- they don't believe the economy is going well. So, it cuts both ways.
And the president -- if the president was actually on the ballot this year, he would lose. I mean he's just in a fundamentally different position than what he was two years ago.
CORNISH: What about the cash on hand? Is there enough cash? Aren't Republicans pouring enough money into these races to close the gap?
GONZALES: Not in the House. The money is not going to -- it's not going to make a difference.
CORNISH: I keep going, "in the House," because I'm just like, these are smaller races. Like, this should not be hard. Redistricting. GONZALES: Yes, it's not -- it's not going to -- but what's -- what out
-- what we're -- what we're spending on House races now is what Senate races used to be. I mean it's just been escalation. And the margin is so small in the House. It's just a net gain of three seats. There doesn't have to be a Democratic wave in the House, whereas the Senate, it needs to be -- it needs to be a little bit better.
But I think, in the end, Democrats are, of course, going to wish that they had more money and there are going to be some close races that Democrats lose that they wish they had enough. But I don't think it's going to be -- money's not going to make a difference in the majority.
CORNISH: What do you guys think?
TIANA LOWE DOESCHER, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Trump just cares about judges, right? I mean, the Republican House has not pretended that it is -- like interested in passing legislation for many months now, right? So, I -- the legislative part of Trump as a project is most likely done unless there's somehow like the SAVE America Act is tethered to, I don't know, something popular on housing. So otherwise, I mean, really, isn't the priority to avoid investigations, avoid another lengthy, complicated impeachment circus and really passing the judicial nominees, right?
GONZALES: Yes, I mean, those are the significant ones. But also, you know, in maybe another world where Democrats take over Congress, I think President Trump, at his core, is really a dealmaker. He wants a deal. It's going to be the best deal in the history of the world. And he wants to move on. So, is there an opportunity for Democrats to work with the president on solving some of these economic issues? I think there's a possibility. But then the realities of politics come in and Democrats working with Trump is going to be -- is going to be hard.
CORNISH: Yes, so that's what I was going to say, Democrats working with Trump. Probably a no. When you listen to them on the campaign trail, what they're offering instead, it's not clear if voters are won over.
Here is an example with El-Sayed talking about his numbers among black voters in particular, which is notable because there -- while black voters largely went for Harris, the president doubled his figures with them in the last election.
So, here is El-Sayed taking a little bit of a dig at his competition last night with Laura Coates.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: It's cute that he opened an office in Detroit. He invited all of his friends from the suburbs to come open it for him.
Look, we've been campaigning in the city of Detroit for a long time, but I didn't just show up to ask for votes.
We're going to continue to fight for every single vote, have those conversations, share what it is that I have done and what it is I'm looking to do to make life easier for black Detroiters and for Michiganders all over our state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Now, I know you work with the Texas Democratic Party, but can you talk about this kind of answer? It -- because this is where people are having trouble reaching the parts of the coalition that went to Trump.
KURT BARDELLA, SENIOR COMMUNICATIONS ADVISER, TEXAS DEMOCRATIC PARTY: Yes, I mean, it's a good answer. And one of the only constituencies where Kamala Harris actually performed really well in the last election was with black voters in Michigan.
[06:40:02]
And, you know, whether El-Sayed can continue to do that, we'll see. I think having Obama come out there, he's probably the most popular surrogate you're going to find right now in really either party at this point. That will hopefully move the needle for him.
But we talked about the challenges during the break here of both parties trying to cobble together different parts of the coalition that Obama had back in the day, that Biden had for a second, that Trump had in the last election. And what we're finding out is, no one has ownership or a monopoly on any of these coalitions. They fracture. They go to different places. In Texas, I'm seeing what's going on with the Latino community and how they've gone from one end of the pendulum to the complete other, shifting a lot of places, including plus 15 House races, like Bobby Pulido is experiencing right now in Texas.
So, it is a race to try to grab as much of that coalition as possible. And it's not easy. And no one's going to have a monopoly on it. We're going to be seeing this pendulum swing every other year.
CORNISH: Nathan, last word to you.
In the end, the big push to redistrict and manipulate the maps state by state, did that put them in a -- Republicans in a better position or worse?
GONZALES: Well, on paper, there are more newly drawn seats that help Republicans than newly drawn seats to help Democrats. But that -- but the environment is completely different. And we're watching states like Texas and Florida, where Republicans may have relied too much on the 2024 coalition when drawing those lines and --
CORNISH: So, they drew themselves a map without knowing if they had locked those people?
GONZALES: Well, with the assumption that they had locked in that coalition. And that coalition is not locked in, particularly among Hispanic voters, because it's not just about immigration and ICE now, it's about the economy. And those voters are -- everyone is struggling in this economy. And so that coalition -- so that redistricting advantage is not as apparent as what Republicans were hoping.
CORNISH: OK, Nathan Gonzales, thank you so much for being here.
Next on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about the president, President Obama, speaking out for Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. Will that backfire?
Plus.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are in the fourth quarter. It's time to leave it all on the field.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Sure, the cast of "Friday Night Lights" gets behind James Talarico. Could Hollywood support actually hurt his campaign?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:45:13]
CORNISH: All right, what are we talking about next? This exchange. Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed saying that he disavows the Muslim Brotherhood. But he's also wondering why he has to keep doing it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you disavow the Muslim Brotherhood?
ABDEL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: Sure. Yes. Absolutely. But I want to -- I want to ask to the question that you're asking, why are you asking the question?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, because they're a terrorist group.
EL-SAYED: OK. No, no, but what are you implying? Do you assume that I wouldn't?
You're asking the question because implicitly you assume that I'll have dual loyalties, right? You assume that somehow I wouldn't disavow or that I'll have some higher order allegiance than to the Constitution.
And I'm just telling you that, for me, that Constitution is the guiding light.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Group chat is back.
I wanted to talk about this answer. We were just rating J.D. Vance earlier on his answer. What did you think of this one? SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: I thought that was pretty
good. I mean, to say that the Constitution is your guiding light is positioning yourself as being, obviously, America first, putting the priorities of the country before the priorities of your faith. And that's different also because we've seen a lot of politicians, who are not Muslim, who lean very heavily into their faith and don't feel the need necessarily to draw that distinction. He clearly needs to need to -- feels the need to distinguish it here.
The question becomes, as Kurt had pointed out, this group is not a monolith. There are very different types of constituents within Michigan who feel differently about whether or not you should be associating your religion with your political sort of campaigning.
BARDELLA: Right.
FISCHER: And I'm curious to see which other people come out and continue to back him amid this, because can you have an outside voice come in, and I think about this with Obama and Ilhan Omar, an outside voice come in to try to create that distinction.
BARDELLA: Right.
FISCHER: And will it be effective?
BARDELLA: Well, and El-Sayed --
DOESCHER: And --
BARDELLA: I'm sorry. And El-Sayed made a really good point when he was in his answer of, you know who else got asked a question similar to this at one point? John F. Kennedy did. If his allegiance being a Catholic nominee would be to the pope or to the country, and his answer famously was, you know, I'm not -- you know, I'm not a Catholic first. I'm a politician who happens to be Catholic. And his finished answer was, you know, I'm a Senate nominee who happens to be Muslim.
CORNISH: Yes.
BARDELLA: Why would I not put the Constitution first?
CORNISH: Well, the roots of this come certainly from online, where people had unearthed tweets from his half-sister back in 2012. If people think back to the Arab spring, et cetera, where she talks about her mom's activism in the Muslim Brotherhood in the early '70s, I think the rub is that he was not raised with his half-sister or his mom. He was raised by his step-mom in Michigan.
BARDELLA: And his mom was divorced when she was -- when he was three years old. He was raised by his American father and --
CORNISH: But the point is, people can unearth this and say a bunch of things.
So, Rogers actually was defending this line of questioning, saying, hey, this is why it's fair game. This is why I'm not asking a Catholic. This is why I'm asking a Muslim this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE ROGERS (R), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: What has become the issue is his relationship and his family relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned in five Muslim countries. You know, he wants to play the victim. This is not about that. This is about the way you think, not the way you pray. This is about your ideology and how dangerous it is.
He didn't disavow it. He goes on this word salad, trying to get around the fact that he can't do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Kurt, what's wrong with that?
BARDELLA: The --
CORNISH: It's how you pray. It's how you think.
BARDELLA: Well, the idea, again, that you would be somehow tethered to someone that divorced when you were three years old, who didn't --
DOESCHER: It's your mother, who you wrote about in your memoir how close you are.
BARDELLA: Who didn't -- who didn't -- who didn't raise you -- who didn't raise you. Like, I just think that that's a real challenge to make, that like, oh, what your mom did in that -- in the '70s when she was in college has something to do --
DOESCHER: But the sister had also tweeted that they have similar (ph) -- that they --
BARDELLA: The -- his half-sister?
DOESCHER: Yes.
BARDELLA: His half-sister?
DOESCHER: Yes. His --
BARDELLA: Yes, so --
DOESCHER: I don't know, most people are fairly close with their half- sisters and mothers.
BARDELLA: They are?
DOESCHER: Yes. Yes.
BARDELLA: Oh, OK. All right.
DOESCHER: His sister had to --
CORNISH: You're both wading into territory you don't know. So, let's address this.
DOESCHER: His sister had tweeted also that they currently, in I think as of 2013, currently had family who were active in the Muslim Brotherhood, when we all knew what they were doing. And the reason why it's relevant is because, look, I know, I have plenty of Muslim friends who are perfectly capable of saying, I don't know if I like Trump's words, but of course Israel is less of a threat to the United States than Iran. The Iran is run by lunatic terrorists that terrorize their own population of Muslims. And El-Sayed can't do it.
CORNISH: Can I -- yes, just to add another thing. Right now the administration did actually ban Muslim Brotherhood, designate them as terrorist. I want to note, they did not do that in countries where we are allies. So, if you're in the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey, in Qatar, you're fine. No one's coming -- in Kuwait, you're fine. But there are certain places where we have done that.
So, the reason why we want to talk about this more going -- talking about the Muslims.
So, first, here is Trump on Friday talking about El-Sayed in a very subtle way.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: His name is actually Abdullah some Abdullah. It's Abdullah bah bah bah bah bah. Mohamed El- Sayed.
[06:50:02]
So, his middle name is Mohamed. So, I was right, almost. Oh, by the way, how about that guy? He's a jihadist.
ABDUL El-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: The only time Donald Trump knows how to pronounce names like mine are when he's begging the Qataris for a jet, or he's begging the Saudis to invest in his son-in- law's private equity firm. You know he knows how to say it perfectly then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, another Muslim politician dealing with our government right now is Ilhan Omar. Former President Barack Obama is coming to her defense in a lengthy social media post. The former president called suspicion of the Somali-born congresswoman, that she fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship appalling. And Barack Obama went on to say that, "the fact that any president, or any administration, is willing to engage in such transparent efforts to intimidate someone should outrage all Americans. Because if this becomes the new normal, there's no reason to believe it will stop with her -- or that future presidents, in either party, won't do the same."
The president -- Obama coming off the sidelines in this area is interesting given all the questions about literally his birth certificate brought up by Trump himself. So, he has intimate knowledge about what it's like to have Trump questioning your citizenship.
FISCHER: Yes, it's a very powerful surrogate for Ilhan Omar. And by default, also for Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan, because he is going to get the halo effect of that commentary.
I think this comes down to, can you figure out, as a politician, when asked about these things, a solid answer that's going to allow you to speak on your own behalf and so that you don't always have to rely on president Obama, because you're not going to get that halo effect at all times.
I do think, in terms of what Kurt was saying, like whether or not it's worth bringing up, any politician is going to lob any attack at you at any time. It is your job to figure out what's the smartest and best defense. I thought that that comment from El-Sayed on the president's son-in-law was pretty quippy and pretty sharp. Whether or not Omar can continue to figure out how to handle these herself without having the president -- the former president having to step in for her is going to be another test.
CORNISH: Right. Right now she is dealing with an investigation into her immigration records, questioning whether or not the age on her citizenship application actually differs from her birth date. People are looking at her financial disclosures. They're looking at her marital history.
Markwayne Mullin, of the Department of Homeland Security, was on "The Charlie Kirk Show." Here's what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARKWAYNE MULLIN, DHS SECRETARY: We had a judge sign it, and we expect to be able to take the case to a grand jury. But I will tell you, we wouldn't move forward, and President Trump didn't want to move forward either, unless we knew that it couldn't be politically driven. Now, they want to try making it political driven. This individual wants to try making it about them -- about theirselves. This is -- this was about enforcing, once again, our nation's laws. And it's a strong case.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The only thing I think I would ask is, they have not said if she actually broke a law. They've just said she's looking to see if she broke a law. So, right now it's like, they've never said this is the law she broke.
DOESCHER: There's no indictment, right? There are no charges. This probe was started under the Biden DOJ, right? And in --
CORNISH: Yes. And we should say, in 2019, Trump officials investigated her and came away with nothing.
DOESCHER: And now -- and then it was revived under Biden. And now Markwayne Mullin, who is --
CORNISH: Meaning, everybody's had a look at this point. Yes.
DOESCHER: Everyone's -- which is why I'd like to wait to see the facts when the FBI and HSI go dumpster diving, looking for DNA, that's something where you don't actually need a warrant, right? Because once it's in the dumpster, you do not need a warrant. That means --
CORNISH: Wait, I'm sorry, Tiana, are you advocating for this? Are you suggesting that dumpster diving --
DOESCHER: I want to wait until we see what it is, right, because a this --
CORNISH: All right. You'd better tear up your trash, OK? Get a shredder.
DOESCHER: I mean -- this is just -- this is just Fourth Amendment, you know, precedent.
CORNISH: I'm just saying. OK.
DOESCHER: But look, with Ilhan Omar, there are facts that, look, I went to Minneapolis in 2019 reporting on the allegations of, was her second/first husband, you know, was he her biological brother or whatever. I didn't find anything about the brother. What I did find was that the marriage was clearly not real, right? She was always living with her -- with the father of her children as --
CORNISH: Is the point, though, just to say it out loud, meaning --
DOESCHER: No. No, I -- it's --
CORNISH: Even now, just being like, might have been married to her brother. Like, it's not a thing.
DOESCHER: No, it's that -- it's that if you -- if you marry your biological brother because you are a citizen and they --
CORNISH: Which she did not. But you're saying it out loud as though it's part of a reality.
DOESCHER: Well, I believe it's part of the probe. I mean, it seems more -- it seems more accurate that it's -- it has to be about her age, about her parentage.
CORNISH: It's -- right. They won't tell us that. Yes.
DOESCHER: Let's wait and see, right? But the fact that, you know, there has been a history of dishonesty, obfuscation, and now with her current husband, her third or fourth depending by the count --
CORNISH: But what we are saying officially is, you don't have to commit a crime for it to trigger an immigration investigation, which is the opposite of, we are going to get criminals out of the country. It is -- the act of being an immigrant is a potential violation, and we should occasionally look into it.
FISCHER: And what a dicey communication situation that puts you in.
[06:55:02]
This is what I was trying to say, because anytime you try to defend yourself from something like this, you're bringing it up into the public even more. Even the fact that President Obama is coming in draws attention to this issue when, if you don't believe that you have anything to be investigated over, you're now having to defend yourself for something that you don't want to be talking about. So, they -- even if the investigation itself, you know, doesn't land anywhere, just by making an investigation, putting it out there in the public, forcing her to defend herself --
CORNISH: The point is to deny it.
BARDELLA: Yes.
FISCHER: The point is, it puts her on the defense.
DOESCHER: Well, this one is (INAUDIBLE). They didn't find anything.
CORNISH: Yes.
FISCHER: It puts her on the defense from a narrative perspective. And that's kind of the point (INAUDIBLE).
BARDELLA: I just hope Republicans are comfortable with that type of precedent when Democrats take back control of Congress, start launching all kinds of investigations next year.
DOESCHER: Yes, oh, because that's never been done before. Carter Page and George Papadopoulos would like a word.
BARDELLA: Oh, OK. It's -- well, hey -- well, hey, that's a -- I was there at the oversight committee for Republicans when we started that playbook with Hillary Clinton and Benghazi. So, hey, turnabout's fair play. Democrats --
CORNISH: I forgot you worked for Republicans for a time.
BARDELLA: That's right. Chairman Darrell Issa.
FISCHER: Yes, Darrell Issa.
BARDELLA: Six years.
CORNISH: Oh my God, the original oversight beast.
BARDELLA: Yes. Fast and Furious, IRS targeting of Republican groups, like, hey, we started that playbook.
CORNISH: So, let me turn to another playbook because now you're a Democrat, in Texas.
BARDELLA: I know, right, what is this world? CORNISH: OK. James Talarico leaving it all on the field. He's hoping that some Texas star power from the cast of "Friday Night Lights" will help him flip the state blue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Texas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know what time it is.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are in the fourth quarter. It's time to leave it all on the field.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remember, clear eyes --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Full hearts --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can't lose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Very triggering for me to hear because I know some "Friday Night Lights" fans and they won't shut up about it. But does this make a difference? Is this, like, I don't know -- yes, does any Hollywood thing make a difference?
BARDELLA: Well, it draws upon the very powerful theme of nostalgia. And I can tell you, as someone who lives in Texas, who spends every Friday night at a football game with my kids, like --
CORNISH: With a full heart that can't lose?
BARDELLA: It is -- it is a way of --
CORNISH: OK.
BARDELLA: Like, the Texas school system starts two weeks earlier than everybody else in the country because they designed it to fit the football schedule. Like, it is a religion all to itself. And that's the chord that they are striking there. And it is, an effect like -- every parent in Texas, I promise you, will see that and go like, yes, I get it.
FISCHER: When you're trying to flip a seat, by the way, leaning into a cultural moment is really powerful because if you're the Democratic Party in Texas, you're trying to say that we understand Texans, we understand family and faith and values and all the things that make Texas, Texas.
BARDELLA: Yes.
FISCHER: Well, by leaning into what is the most quintessential Texas thing, "Friday Night Lights," --
BARDELLA: Yes. FISCHER: You are doing a very good job of that. I love when Connie Britton gets out there and says, we are in the fourth quarter. She's reminding people how close we are to the midterms. I thought --
CORNISH: Oh, you like this messaging?
FISCHER: I thought it was just effective.
CORNISH: OK.
FISCHER: I thought it was -- you know, I'm a big believer in the game, right? This was an effective ad for him to be running this late right up to the midterm.
CORNISH: All right.
DOESCHER: And Talarico's running away successfully, I think, for a very radical record, right? 2020 he was saying how climate change and capitalism are inextricably linked with racism. You know --
CORNISH: Yes. Well, he can't run far because the ads are very explicit. The ads are quoting him on religious. The ad -- like the Paxton ads and the money being spent is very much trying to outline for the voter who Talarico is. Is it enough money from Elon Musk, whoever, to make a difference.
FISCHER: They can't buy Connie Britton.
DOESCHER: It would probably be enough money for any -- if it were John Cornyn, this -- we wouldn't even be talking about this race, right?
BARDELLA: Yes. That's 100 percent right. That's a 100 percent right.
DOESCHER: Talarico is a flawed candidate. I think he's hoping this distracts from the fact that he had an answer when asked, who's your favorite drag queen? Let's focus more on the football. That's probably Talarico's strategy for getting that median voter.
CORNISH: OK. So, tell me, Tiana, what's in your group chat.
DOESCHER: These French riots, they are over something that is plaguing the entire western world, and that is a redistributive state in favor of boomers amid a shrinking population. I know fellow conservatives really like to point out immigration. Immigration is actually not the story in France. And the only --
CORNISH: No. And we're going to have more on that next hour. I don't want you to have to jam that in a minute.
DOESCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: But it is a generational clash. And we have seen it in Albania, I think --
DOESCHER: But I will -- CORNISH: Italy is now having riots. I think there is a question about the young people in the world wondering what's going to be left for them.
DOESCHER: But let me just point out, a lot of the French macros are quite similar to the U.S., right? We have similar ten-year yields. We have similar debt, deficit to GDP ratios, debt to GDP ratios. The difference? America has economic growth that is helping us outpace this temporarily. Social Security insolvency is coming in the next ten years, but that's why they're in a crisis and we are not yet.
CORNISH: Well, I'm hearing -- yes. Hearing about kids as young as 11 being arrested. So, I want to hear more.
Kurt, what about you?
BARDELLA: Last night, our dear friend Tim McGraw was officially named a Country Music Hall of Famer. This guy who's had an amazing career, 29 number ones, 11 number one records.
CORNISH: And people should know, Kurt writes a country music newsletter, no politics, if y'all want to read it.
BARDELLA: Hey, we were just with Tim -- that's a picture right there with me and my --
[07:00:00]
CORNISH: Yes, that's a flex. We see it.
BARDELLA: Our youngest kids a month ago in Dallas. It was his first country music concert. We had a blast.
CORNISH: Last word.
FISCHER: Victoria's Secret fashion show is back, baby.
CORNISH: Oh, is it that time of year again?
FISCHER: Yes. Kylie Jenner wore a $50 million set and it's just amazing.
CORNISH: Set of what?
FISCHER: Well, you know, scantily clad.
DOESCHER: Oh.
FISCHER: OK, CNN puts it on. So I can tell you, it's lingerie.
CORNISH: Yes, I guess. It's in the morning.
DOESCHER: She looks so good.
CORNISH: My kids are asleep.
FISCHER: The show's back.
CORNISH: All right, thanks to the group chat. Thank you for waking up with us. I'm Audie Cornish. And "NEWS CENTRAL" is next.
