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Inside Politics

Former Sen. Menendez Reports To Prison To Start 11-Year Sentence; Bernie Sanders Endorses Zohran Mamdani For NYC Mayor; New Poll: Most People Disapprove Of "One Big Beautiful Bill"; MN Sen. Tina Smith Confronts Sen. Mike Lee Over Offensive Social Media Posts About Assassination; Trump Says He Will Not Call Gov. Walz After Lawmaker Assassination, Says Walz Is "Whacked Out"; Padilla Speaks Out After Forceful Removal From DHS News Conference. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 17, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:32:11]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Tapping our political radar from gold bars to prison bars. Former New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez reported to federal prison to begin serving his 11-year sentence. He was found guilty of corruption and bribery for taking gifts like gold bars, a luxury car, hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash in exchange for his actions benefiting the governments of Egypt and Qatar.

Menendez's latest appeal was rejected by a court last week.

Plus, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is in a New York state of mind. He's endorsing Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani for mayor, writing in part, "At this dangerous moment in history, status quo politics isn't good enough. We need new leadership that is prepared to stand up to powerful corporate interests and fight for the working class."

Now, Mamdani has emerged as the leading progressive candidate in the next -- in the Democratic primary that's going to happen in New York next week. His biggest competition, of course, is former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

And President Trump calls it One Big Beautiful Bill, but that's not how most Americans see it. A new KFF health tracking poll shows nearly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the massive domestic policy bill. It also appears Medicaid is getting a popularity boost amid news of the bill's potential cuts to the programs.

The poll shows 83 percent have a favorable view of Medicaid, which is up six points since the beginning of the year.

Coming up, Senator Alex Padilla is about to speak on the Senate floor about being forcefully detained at a Kristi Noem news conference in Los Angeles last week. We'll go live to Capitol Hill.

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[12:38:26]

BASH: Minnesota's two senators are furious with their colleague Mike Lee, the Republican from Utah. Senator Tina Smith confronted Lee yesterday for posting misinformation and jokes about the assassination of Minnesota lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband. The moment was captured by reporter Jamie Dupree.

Smith described their conversation last night to Kaitlan Collins.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

SEN. TINA SMITH (D), MINNESOTA: I wanted him to know about the consequence of his words, and I went to him and I said, you know, your message on social media showed the image of the man who killed my friend, potentially minutes before that happened, and your message was this is what happens? You need to take responsibility and accountability for what you were saying and doing out there in the social media world. And I wanted him to hear that from me directly.

He has a powerful platform. He should not be using it to spread misinformation and to basically make a joke of the murder of people of public servants.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BASH: Now, these are the posts that so many, including and especially Tina Smith, as you heard there, found so offensive. Here's what the senator wrote, "This is what happens when Marxists don't get their way."

There's no reason to believe the suspect is a Marxist. In fact, his roommate told CNN that the suspect supported Donald Trump.

Now, then Lee posted a joke, if you can call it that, "Nightmare on Waltz Street," presumably a reference to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, even though he spelled it Waltz and Tim Walz is with a Z, no T.

[12:40:06]

Lee also said the "Fact check true" to a post from Elon Musk claiming the far left is murderously violent.

My smart reporters are back here. I mean, there's so many things that are repugnant about this. But what is interesting is how immediately the sort of ecosphere of conspiracy theorists that go into overdrive to try to push out there that this suspect was from the left without knowing any facts. And now we do have more facts, which is all indicators are it's the opposite.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And isn't the responsibility of public officials to tamp that down?

BASH: Right.

FOX: Because that is what we know happens after a situation like this and the responsibility of a lawmaker. And I think this was the point that Tina Smith was trying to make when she confronted Mike Lee was we should be doing better than this. And by the way, Tina Smith is not a senator who tends to be out there publicly overreacting over and over again.

She is someone who really waits until there is something she is upset about or wants to talk about and then makes it clear what her position is. And so I thought, you know, that it is the responsibility of lawmakers to stand up in those situations and speak truth to power. It also is the responsibility of lawmakers to point out to their colleagues when they're not doing it.

BASH: It should be. I mean, that's the way it was not that long ago.

FOX: You know, I think back to covering John McCain in the 2008 campaign where he -- every time he saw just one little ember of this pointing or growing towards his opponent, his political opponent, Barack Obama, he would tamp down on it and look where we are, you know, 15 years later.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: It's about a billionth example of how things were in many ways better without social media. It seems to be when it's mixed up with politics, it's an arena where people forget their own humanity and the humanity of others. And it doesn't feel like a real political discourse.

You know, Senator Lee, he's one of those Republicans have undergone something of a transition from what he used to be, you know, someone that acted with great decorum into a real pro-MAGA Trump style, in some cases, stunt politician. And that's the development we've seen in the politics. I mean, this is the U.S. Senate.

I mean, you would never, to your point, 15 years ago, it'd be unheard of that something like this would happen. But I just think we're going down the dark road. What is there to stop any of this happening again?

BASH: They are public servants. They're not online trolls. And that's how they should act and react. And there was a lengthy letter that was really kind of amazing from the staff of Tina Smith to the staff of Mike Lee, who said -- and part of the lengthy letter reads as follows.

"You exploited the murder of a lifetime public servant and her husband to post some sick burns about Democrats. Do you see this as an excellent opportunity to get likes and retweet? Have you no conscience? No decency?

MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And it's going to be extra personal for somebody like this person where, you know, their boss's name was found on a list of potential targets on the suspect. I also think, you know, as we're talking about the responsibility of public officials and our public leaders in this country, we should probably take a beat to talk about the way that President Trump responded to this question of, well, have you had a chance to speak to Minnesota's governor?

He told Kaitlan Collins, I don't know if you have --

BASH: Yes.

LEE: -- sound of that.

BASH: Yes. Just going to -- let's run it and we'll talk about it --

LEE: OK.

BASH: -- on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: On Minnesota, there were a lot of horrific details that came out today about the suspect who's been charged there. Have you called the governor yet or been able to speak to any of them?

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't really call him. He appointed this guy to a position. I think the governor of Minnesota is so whacked out. I'm not calling. Why would I call him? I could call him and say hi, how you doing? The guy doesn't have a clue. He's a mess.

So I could be nice and call him, but why waste time?

(END VIDEOCLIP)

LEE: Reaching out to a state's leader when that state has gone through trauma is something that, as you said, you know, past presidents have done just as a matter of course. Here, I think the tone from President Trump was interesting. He wasn't just saying, you know, I've been a little busy. We haven't had a chance to talk. He said this person is a mess. And why waste my time?

I am not equating the president's response to this to the tweets that we just saw from Senator Lee, where he seemed to be sort of actively mocking the events. But there should be a conversation about the tone that is being used by the president of the country about political violence in general.

[12:45:12]

BASH: Well, and I mean, this is a president who survived two assassination attempts. So he has personal reference for this kind of thing.

TYLER PAGER, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: And I just got a statement just now from a spokesperson for Governor Walz, who says in part that the governor wishes that Trump would be a president for all Americans. But this tragedy isn't about Trump or Walz, putting the focus back on the family.

But MJ, to your point, it's a remarkable response from the president. Usually you see presidents flying out to moments of -- to places of tragedy to console the community. The sort of first thing they always do is call the leader of the state in. And this is a political tragedy here with state officials being targeted. But to your point, Dana, this is something that both Democrats and Republicans are concerned about. We've seen acts of violence targeted at members of both parties.

BASH: That's right.

PAGER: And Trump himself has been one of those in particular. So I think it is such a remarkable moment where what we saw the president say on Air Force One, when what we have seen in the past of how presidents -- to moments of national tragedy.

BASH: All right, everybody, coming up, the Trump administration is reversing course on reversing course. Yet again, there's a change on deportations. We'll explain and discuss after a break.

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[12:50:54]

BASH: Welcome back. We're going to go now to the Senate floor. You see there Senator Alex Padilla is speaking for the first time in the well of the Senate since he was forcibly removed from the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's news conference in Los Angeles last week. Let's listen.

SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D), CALIFORNIA: Now we're seeing President Trump federalize National Guard troops and deploy them without the governor's consent. Active duty Marines now being deployed escalating tensions in our city. And it's important to note all this without coordination with state and local law enforcement.

And despite repeated requests for the justification for these extreme actions, and after months and months of little to no response from the administration on their aggressive and theatrical immigration raids, the Trump administration has done everything in their power but to provide transparency to the American people about their mission in Los Angeles.

And so last week, I chose to go home to try to get answers from the administration as they are literally militarizing our city. And I want to share what I learned, I want to share what I heard, because it should shock the conscience of our country.

Now one of the first items on my schedule last Thursday was a meeting and a briefing with General Guillot, the four-star general in charge of U.S. Northern Command. Many of you know him. The briefing was scheduled at the federal building in West Los Angeles where they're overseeing these military operations.

Now colleagues, when the United States military is deployed domestically, when our troops are deployed against the wishes of the governor for the first time since 1965, against the wishes of the local mayor, and even against the wishes of local law enforcement, both the police chief and the sheriff, we are in unchartered territory. So in my effort to do my duty to conduct congressional oversight and to try to get answers from the Department of Defense that state and local officials were not receiving, I went to the federal building in West Los Angeles. I was met at the entrance, at the entrance, by a National Guardsman and an FBI agent who escorted me through security screening and up to a conference room for my scheduled briefing.

While waiting for my scheduled briefing with General Guillot, I learned that Homeland Security Secretary Noem was holding a press conference literally just down the hall. And that press conference was causing my briefing to be delayed. The thought occurred to me that, well, maybe I could attend this press conference and listen in.

Just listen, in the hopes of hearing Secretary Noem provide some new information that could help us make sense of what was happening. I didn't just get up and go. I asked and was escorted by the National Guardsman and the FBI agent into the press conference.

They opened the door for me. They accompanied me into the press briefing room. And they stood next to me as I stood there for a while, listening.

And at one point, the United States Secretary of Homeland Security said that the purpose of federal law enforcement and the purpose of the United States military was to, quote, "liberate Los Angeles" from our governor and our mayor. To somehow liberate us from the very people that we democratically elected to lead our city and our state.

[12:55:32]

Colleagues, let that fundamentally un-American mission statement sink in. That is not a mission focused on public safety. And that simply is not and cannot be the mission of federal law enforcement and the United States military.

BASH: OK. We're going to continue to monitor this floor speech from Senator Alex Padilla of California.

Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics. Stay tuned for CNN News Central, which starts after a quick break.

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