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D.C. Mayor, Police Chief Finish Meeting With Attorney General Bondi; Federal Law Enforcement Agents Fan Out Across Washington; Trump's D.C. Power Play Puts Dems In Delicate Political Spot; Abbott Could Call For New Special Session As Soon As Friday; Texas State House Republicans Fail To Make Quorum For 5th Time; Paxton And Cornyn, Facing Off For Senate, Use Their Official Powers In Texas Redistricting Fight. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 12, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, Capitol crime busters. President Trump says his unprecedented takeover of the Washington, D.C. police could extend to other blue cities across the country. But is the new White House push about public protection or political posturing or maybe both?

Plus, the Texas House just failed to meet a quorum for the fifth time in a row. As the Republican governor warns redistricting is inevitable. And the president picks a MAGA loyalist to run the nation's most important economic statistics agency, leaving Wall Street questioning whether crucial data can still be taken at face value.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start here in Washington, where moments ago, Washington, D.C. mayor and police chief, both of them left a meeting with the Attorney General Pam Bondi about the federal takeover of the city's law enforcement. Now it comes as some 800 National Guard troops arrive at the D.C. armory. It's a massive show of presidential force. But listen to city officials the way that they are reacting. They're welcoming this additional manpower.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF PAMELA SMITH, WASHINGTON, D.C. POLICE: We have been working collaboratively. I think this is going to be a good effort. It's going to be an effort that's supported by both teams, the Metropolitan Police Department, as well as our federal partners.

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER, (D) WASHINGTON, D.C.: What I'm focused on is the federal surge and how to make the most of the additional officer support that we have. All in an effort to drive down crime. So, how we got here, or what the -- what we think about the circumstances right now, we have more police and we want to make sure we're using them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Kristen Holmes is at the White House for us. Kristen, I found their response and their messaging after that meeting last hour, really, really noteworthy.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, of course. And we heard Mayor Bowser, really this is one of the multiple times she has done this, be somewhat deferential to President Trump and to the administration. Now that might be because, as I know from a lot of prominent Democrats who have tried to contact the mayor's office or the mayor -- have talked to the mayor directly, there is very little that they believe that they can do in terms of pushing back on this because of D.C.'s unique status, because of home rule.

But what you hearing there is them essentially really going with President Trump's argument. Remember, President Trump believes that this is a winning issue for him. The administration believes that talking about being tough on crime is a winning issue for him, and that it's hard to fight back on the idea that you want more resources.

So, you're seeing Mayor Bowser really go along with President Trump's argument here, not fight it, which we've seen from her a lot this term, trying to be more in line or deferential to Trump instead of being combative. Again, likely because there's not much they can do at this time. They came out of that meeting.

This is the first time that they had all sat down together. It wasn't just Pam Bondi as well as the police chief and Mayor Bowser, the attorney -- Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche was there, the FBI Director Kash Patel was there, and this was the first time they could talk about what this looks like, because there are still a lot of questions, really on both sides as to how the flow of all of this is going to go. Because right now, this is a truly unprecedented situation.

But again, there you hear Bowser. You heard the police chief actually saying at one point, well, we know we need to get more illegal guns off the street. So, they're talking about how they can work with these "federal partners." That was the term that they used.

And in fact, there was even a question that kind of aimed at how it was going to work. And you heard the police chief there, shutting it down to say that these are our federal partners and we're all going to work together. Of course, now, the big question is, what happens next and how long does this last? We still have no indication of how far President Trump is willing to go.

BASH: Yeah. It's still -- it's really, really fascinating, the way -- as you said, I mean, the law is the law. And that's -- this is -- this is what happens when you are part of, or you're leading a city that is Washington, D.C., that doesn't really have the kind of rights that states are supposed to have. Thank you so much. Kristen, appreciate it.

[12:05:00] That the president may deploy troops beyond Washington and into other major cities that do have very different rights. That's alarming some Democrats. Listen to Congressman Adam Smith. He's the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): It's pretty clear the president wants his own domestic police force, and step by step, he's trying to create it. And we should be deeply alarmed by that, regardless of how you feel about crime in Washington, D.C. or any other city.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Let's unpack all of this with today's terrific group of reporters, CNN's Jeff Zeleny, Tia Mitchell of The Atlanta Journal- Constitution and CNN's Aaron Blake. Jeff Zeleny, I'm going to start with you. And just kind of talk about the big picture about -- I mean, again, the way that the D.C. political and law enforcement leaders are handling it is one thing. Then I'm going to talk even more about the sort of broadly the political leaders in the Democratic Party.

But the idea that Donald Trump is doing this, as Kristen said, he's been talking about law and order for a long time. And he also has a lot of things on his plate politically that he's not that interested in people talking about.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: For sure. I mean, one of the things that August was intended to be about was to sell the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. I mean, that was intended to be, you know, in a normal Washington, the president would pass his big agenda item would go out in the country to sell it. He's barely talked about it, actually.

So, this is something that changes the subject from that, also changes the subject from Jeffrey Epstein. It reduces the amount of a discussion about the Russia meeting on Friday, which is high stakes by any means, with no guaranteed ending. The inflation number today actually was a fairly decent for the White House.

But look, all that is true, but a couple things can be true at once. The president loves to talk about this. This is a deeply held issue. He loves talking about crime in cities. And I talked to one advisor of his yesterday, and he said the president was absolutely driven to do this by what he sees out the window of the beast when he drives through Washington, either out golfing to a sterling Virginia, or when he goes to a Joint Base Andrews. Those are really -- the only two places he goes and he sees homeless encampments and other things.

And obviously, the assault of the DOGE staffer, sort of added to it. But what the president wants to do is talk about crime. It is a winning issue. He believes for Republicans and the Democrats have often floundered on this. But I do think your point is a good one about how national Democrats have sort of differed with the local city officials who acknowledge that crime is a problem, and they want the help in some respects.

But the question is, is this actually supposed to help, or is it not? To one other thing I was thinking about, the president actually has the unique power to appoint judges, nominate judges who sit in the D.C. Superior Court. He's only done one in the first seven months he's been in office. There are major vacancies there. So, we're not seeing a lot of action from the White House but more rhetoric.

BASH: And we just got a statement from the Attorney General Pam Bondi, who effectively said that the meeting that she and other top Trump officials had with D.C. officials was productive.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Yeah. I mean, I think it was interesting to hear Mayor Bowser, and the police chief Smith talk about, you know, this is a partnership putting kind of a nice spin on it, not trying to, you know, be too combative of the Trump administration as they figure out a path forward. But as Jeff noted, there is the rhetoric but there is also the reality.

And I think the political risk for the Trump administration is kind of the same risk they took with immigration, where it is a winning message on its face. People wanted him to address immigration at the southern border, illegal immigration. But how he did it in practice has led to his numbers tanking on immigration, and people aren't necessarily pleased with the way Trump's immigration policy has played out since he took office.

I think there's a risk here as well with crime, especially because Republicans for decades have talked about home rule, letting states and cities --

BASH: Not in D.C.

MITCHELL: Not in D.C., but generally speaking, that's been their message.

BASH: Yeah.

MITCHELL: So, how do you sell this in a state like Florida or Georgia or Texas, when they say, well, wait a minute now. We don't necessarily want the federal government taking over our local entities, because that's the risk here. How do you sell it also, how -- what does it actually look at? We're all here in D.C. I drove in this morning and didn't necessarily see National Guard's men on anywhere, quite frankly.

[12:10:00]

So, I think a lot of this is going to be what it actually looks out -- looks -- how it looks, especially this weekend, you know, in the evening, when people are out and about, on a summer night, what does it actually look like?

BASH: And then let's talk about the reaction beyond the D.C. officials and our colleague, David Axelrod, really summed up the challenge that Democrats have, which is to, you know, maybe push back against what Democrats see as overreach, and somebody like Adam Smith says that the president wants his own domestic police force versus not being seen as out of touch with the way that people feel in big cities.

AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. And I think Tia made a great point, the parallels to immigration. Immigration is an issue that should be great for President Trump. Crime is an issue that should be great for President Trump. The idea that you're sending more people out there to help enforce the law is something that sounds good.

But when you get past that, you have the whole context of this, which is that Donald Trump has been talking about sending the military out onto U.S. soil for a very long time. This was a major concern for top officials in his first administration, especially late on, after the scenes in Lafayette Square.

And so, to the extent this is just about, we're going to help police D.C. a little bit. I think that's something that maybe the American people could be on board with, to the extent it's about the things that he's been talking about, which is taking this approach to other cities. He made a point to say that yesterday, you know, that's something that I think could rub people a long way.

If you look at the polling of how people feel about the idea of having the military on American streets to put down protests to do law enforcement. This is something that is uneasy for the American people to accept. And so, to the extent this is a precursor to something larger, as Trump suggests, it might be that could be a problem.

BASH: And I just want to give some examples of what some potential, potential 2028 Democratic candidates are saying in the last 24 hours. Wes Moore, who happens to be governor of neighboring Maryland, said, President Trump's decision to mobilize the National Guard to conduct municipal policing in D.C. lacks seriousness and is deeply dangerous. He's simply using honorable men and women as pawns to distract us from his policies.

I should note that he repeated, as he did on this show last month, that in Baltimore, the crime rate is actually down. And then listen to what Pete Buttigieg said on his Instagram feed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE BUTTIGIEG, FORMER TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: I hesitate to use a word like distraction, even though distraction is part of his goal, because it is a legitimately important thing that he is taking power in this way, and he has threatened to do it in other cities, maybe the community where you live.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Look, I mean, the president has laid a trap, in a sense, politically, and some Democrats are walking into it. So, I don't think we know yet how this will play out. But one thing that is clear that Trump is using the powers of the office to ways he wished he would have in his first term. It's probably the biggest example yet of how he sort of knows the power that he has, and it's the biggest flex we have seen from his office so far.

BASH: All right, everybody standby. No show means no quorum in Texas. Republicans run into the same roadblock, obstructing their redistricting proposal the governor's new threat. Next.

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BASH: Again, no quorum, and again, no action in Texas. Absent Democrats again held off any progress for Republicans, proposed redistricting, setting the stage for Republican Governor Greg Abbott's next move. Here was the official announcement on the Texas House floor.

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DUSTIN BURROWS (R) TEXAS HOUSE SPEAKER: We'll make one more attempt to convene with a quorum on Friday, so we can address the issues that need to be addressed. If we still do not have quorum on Friday, the House and the Senate will sine die this session, and the governor will immediately issue a proclamation for a second called special session.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: CNN's Ed Lavandera is still there in the Texas Capitol in Austin. What are you hearing now, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're not leaving. We're not leaving. So, things quickly -- quickly changing here. But as you heard the speaker there say, it sounds like assuming that the Democrats stay away for the rest of this week, that this special session, which was supposed to last until next Tuesday, will come to an end on Friday.

And we're now hearing from the governor's office and the speaker's office that the next special session will start immediately right after. So, you'll see this where they gavel out and then they basically call everybody right back, and then that would start another 30-day clock. These special sessions can last up to 30 days, and the governor says it will have the same agenda, the ability to add more if needed.

But what is starting? It's interesting to kind of listen to both sides play out here is that when Governor Greg Abbott was on CNN yesterday, he mentioned and was asked about the offsetting of the redistricting plans in California. And the governor says that they might respond in kind as well. And then we're also hearing from Democrats saying, you know, the governor could do one very simple thing to bring all of these democrats back. So, listen to this back and forth.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STATE REP. RICHARD PENA RAYMOND (D) TEXAS: So, what's going to bring Democrats back here? I don't know. I know what could bring them back here if the governor says, let's just put this bill in the trash can and let's do the right thing.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): If California tries to gerrymander five more districts. Listen, Texas has the ability to eliminate 10 Democrats in our state. We can play that game more than they can because they have fewer Republican districts in their states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: We asked the chairman of the redistricting committee, a Republican, obviously, and another Republican about that proposal, and whether or not, in this new session, if a new map with redrawn lines might be considered. It wasn't ruled out, but they didn't really give us much on that, so that's something that we'll monitor.

So the question is, will they continue using the current map that is being talked about, which would theoretically potentially give Republicans five more seats, or would they potentially go back and redraw the proposal for the next legislative session and add more seats. We don't have clarity on that. We'll continue to try to track down details as that develops, Dana?

BASH: Yeah. That was certainly a very interesting threat. On that note that we heard from the governor with Jake yesterday. Thanks so much, Ed. Appreciate it. And back here at the table, let's just quickly look at what the current proposal is that the Democrats are avoiding voting on right now.

And that is it's plus five seats, meaning the way that they would redraw it. Republicans would effectively get five more seats from -- mostly from Democratic strongholds, but also from two competitive Republican seats, which is a whole, not their conversation with some very -- a couple of very worried Republicans. But talk about where things stand politically, Tia?

MITCHELL: Well, I think it's interesting, because, yes, there's a fight going on among, you know, Texas's elected leaders. But we still have to remember, there are voters in Texas who are watching their elected officials squabble over a map that really only one person wanted, and that's President Donald Trump. And so, all of this is about pleasing Trump.

And I just don't know how well that's going over, and I don't -- and I mean, I think both parties, this doesn't look great for democracy. It doesn't look great that this debate over how to draw maps to please one party or another.

But I think the blame is probably going to be on Republicans, and this is -- we got to remember, this is also costing taxpayers money in a state that is recovering from floods, as you just mentioned, a state that is has the same problems and issues as every other state with jobs and affordable housing and everything else and we're bickering over partisan maps to try to meet a political end, and I think that's just kind of sad for democracy.

BASH: I mean, yeah, you're not wrong. But you know, as I say, politics ain't beanbag, and that's where we are right now. And what Governor Abbott said about Republicans having the advantage nationwide, with legislatures where they can -- if they want to continue this power play, gobble up more secure Republican seats.

They can do that. And just one example, the one place, California, which we've been talking about, which has the potential, potential to add more democratic seats, they don't have a lot to work with. Already there are 43 Democratic seats, or only nine possibilities on the GOP side.

BLAKE: Yeah. Look, I mean, this was a standoff that was perhaps inevitable in some ways, and there's a very good reason for that. It's because Republicans have superior control over this process, and so to the extent they were willing to get a little bit more Trump and a little bit more brutal in their political tactics, forcing this kind of a redistricting arms race was likely to accrue to their benefit.

They control so many more districts across the country that's in part because they control more of the state governments cross country, but it's also because a lot of these blue states have instituted these redistricting commissions like we have in California, that if California wants to respond in kind, they need to get voters to sign off on basically allowing the Democrats to gerrymander.

I mean, that's a very difficult proposition, no matter how Democrats are spinning this right now, and so Republicans are basically saying, look, if you want to go hard at this, we'll do that because we can win this battle and we can draw more seats than you.

BASH: One thing that I don't want to get lost back in Texas, because it's like a made for Inside Politics story is how the Texas fight over redistricting is playing out in the very real Republican primary fight for the Senate seat -- the GOP Senate seat. It's, of course, an incumbent Republican Senator, John Cornyn. He is being challenged by the sitting Attorney General, Ken Paxton, and it is rough.

[12:25:00]

And so, what you are seeing is the two of them trying to kind of one up one another in statements and whatever actions that they can take. I mean, Paxton has more tools in his toolkit, because he's the attorney general. But just in the last few minutes, Paxton said on one of the news organization -- conservative news or at last (Ph) Breitbart, I'm told that he actually says he'll put Beto O'Rourke in jail. Now, Beto O'Rourke is a many time Democratic candidate, but he's also helping to fund the departure of the Democratic legislature.

ZELENY: Look, it's shining a light on the Paxton-Cornyn race, much to the chagrin of John Cornyn, who, you know is in the fight of his life in a Republican primary. And so that is a sort of a side implication of all of this, but it certainly is a real one as well. I just don't know if we know yet how voters are going to react to all of this. I mean, yes, if the -- if the redistricting plan goes through in Texas, there's no doubt that they can win some Republican seats. But there are going to be a -- to your point earlier, some voters who may be totally turned off by this. So, there could be some surprises.

The midterm elections are still going to be run on, and still likely be a referendum on the party in power, which is the Republican. So, there's always the chance of overreach. But look, the bottom line is Democrats that don't have clean hands on this. Just to look, in Illinois, where a lot of Texas legislators are. It is heavily, heavily gerrymandered.

I recall as a young Chicago Tribune reporter, when I was 25 years ago there, the gerrymandering the Princeton gerrymandering institute has always given a Chicago and Illinois an F, so they are just as bad as any other state. So, both parties hands aren't clean. It's why people sort of don't like politics.

BASH: It's one of that 175 million --

ZELENY: And you've done so much on gerrymandering and it's going to get even worse (Ph).

BASH: They don't like it. Yeah. No, it is just an important point, and I want to keep making it. Democrats do this too in the states that they run, Illinois, Maryland is another example. The difference right now is that they're not doing it after a census. They're doing it --

ZELENY: That's an important difference.

BASH: Yeah, yeah. But yeah, it's still not good for democracy, as you would say. Up next, cooking the books. President Trump picks a MAGA loyalist to run the agency in charge of calculating the state of the U.S. economy that has Wall Street worried about whether they'll be able to trust federal numbers. Stay with us.

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