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Paramount Launches A Hostile Takeover Bid For WBD; Indiana Senate To Vote On New Congressional Map; Allred Ends TX Senate Bid To Run For Redrawn Congressional District. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired December 08, 2025 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Your take.

WILLIAM COHAN, FOUNDING PARTNER, PUCK: Well, Dana, first of all, I mean, we use this word unprecedented way too much, but it really is unprecedented for the President of the United States to put his thumb on the scales of a Wall Street M&A deal. And that's what he's clearly doing. That's what he says he's going to do.

He's already, as you know, he's courted the Ellisons, and the Ellisons have courted him, and now Ted Sarandos, the co-CEO of Netflix, has courted Trump and tried to get on his good side. This just never happens with Donald Trump. I mean, Trump likes to get himself involved in these things. It's completely inappropriate, but that's the real politic of the situation.

Who has the better deal with Trump, a better relationship with Trump? You know, we're just going to have to wait and see. The first thing, though, that has to happen is that the shareholders of Warner Brothers Discovery have to decide which deal they favor.

At the moment, the board has chosen Netflix. They've rejected Paramount, and that's why Paramount has brought this deal directly to the Warner Brothers Discovery shareholders. If they prevail, in other words, if the shareholders who get a vote, and this is very important, if they choose the Paramount deal, then it goes into the regulatory environment --

BASH: Right.

COHAN: -- and we'll see which one prevails with the government.

BASH: Right. But real quick, the point I was trying to make, and I think you would agree, is that it's not linear. These people are making decisions in part based on what they think the President will or will not do, right?

COHAN: Absolutely, and that's what's so incredibly unusual here --

BASH: Yes.

COHAN: -- and I think inappropriate.

BASH: Bill Cohan, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. Good to see you.

COHAN: Thank you.

BASH: And he's well-versed in changing the play from his days as an NFL linebacker. Up next, Colin Allred joins us to discuss the major decision he announced this morning to end his Senate run in Texas. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:36:39]

BASH: Indiana Republicans are facing a major loyalty test from President Trump. The state's Senate will vote this week on a new Trump-endorsed congressional map that would likely give the GOP two more House seats. Now, this despite Republicans' supermajority already in the Indiana Senate.

Despite that, the plan might not pass if those senators step out of line, and that is why the President said this, quote, "Vote them out of office. They are not worthy. And I will be there to help."

My panel is back now. That was pretty clear, Seung Min, about what he wants them to do. And, you know, it's been kind of start and stop on Indiana --

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BASH: -- whether or not they were going to go forward and change the map. Stalled, and then when the Supreme Court told Texas, you're good to go, you can change those five seats or change the map --

KIM: Right.

BASH: -- so that you'll get five seats in time for the midterms, Indiana started again.

KIM: Right. And you also have the handful of Republican legislators in Indiana who are defying President Trump in terms of rejecting these redistricting maps. So we've seen how the redistricting drama, if you will, that the White House, frankly, instigated when they wanted Texas to change the maps has really had an up-and-down sort of life span because you just referenced the legal issues in Texas, seems to be clear now.

And there are several other states where Republicans, Republican leaders, do want to make a redistricting push, but obviously there's no guarantee that they will be able to pick up the proper -- or the number of seats that they're aiming for. And again, there's a huge Democratic backlash. We saw the success in California. We see efforts underway in Virginia when Abigail Spanberger takes over next year. So this is not a story that's done by any means.

BASH: And I want to talk about it, I think, now less in terms of redistricting and more in terms of Trump's expectations --

KIM: Right.

BASH: -- and expectations of loyalty. And that showed itself in a Truth Social post over the weekend about a Texas Democrat, Henry Cuellar, whom he pardoned, along with his wife, who says he is -- he, Cuellar, is going to run and he is not going to run as a Republican, as clearly Trump had hoped with this pardon. He's going to run as a Democrat. "Such a lack of loyalty, something that Texas voters, and Henry's daughters will like. Oh, well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy."

TAMARA KEITH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NPR: President Trump and loyalty, it's a one-way street. He demands loyalty from everyone. He doesn't really give it to anyone, at least not permanently. And in this case, that Cuellar pardon, I think a lot of us were scratching our heads when it happened, thinking, does he have some sort of a deal that Cuellar is going to flip and become a Republican? Because if not, what is he doing?

I actually spoke to a senior White House official the day that that came out and asked, do you guys have expectations? And the answer was, no, no, the President just feels like when someone is being prosecuted on public corruption, and --

BASH: Yes.

KEITH: -- you know, you saw this with Santos, you saw this with some others, he just feels sympathy for them because of the way he was treated when he was out of office.

BASH: Ye, yes.

KEITH: Now, sure, sure.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You got it.

BASH: Yes. And you caught up with Cuellar right after this happened, and he insisted that there was no conversation.

[12:40:04]

Speaking of loyalty being a one-way street, Marjorie Taylor Greene was on 60 Minutes last night. Let's watch what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R), GEORGIA: I think they're terrified to step out of line and get a nasty Truth Social post on them. I watched many of my colleagues go from making fun of him, making fun of how he talks, making fun of me constantly for supporting him, to when he won the primary in 2024, they all started, excuse my language, Leslie, kissing his ass.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Also part of that interview, Manu, was the almost former congresswoman talking about the way that she reached out to the President, saying, like, I'm getting death threats. Please stop. And she said that he wasn't very nice in response. Not just that, after this aired, the President continued to go after her. This is just today.

"The only reason Marjorie Traitor Brown" -- because he's still, I think, working this one out, "Greene turns Brown under stress, went bad is because she was jilted by the President." So he's got his foot very, very strongly on the gas.

RAJU: Yes. I mean, it's -- she had said -- it's that traitor word in particular --

BASH: Yes.

RAJU: -- that she has been raising concern about since Trump started calling her that from the beginning, saying that this is putting my life in danger. What about all the talk among even Republican leaders saying, tell us all, tamp down the rhetoric, particularly in the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting?

Trump, he doesn't care. It is, at the end of the day, as we -- this all goes back to loyalty. It goes back to what's happening in Indiana and his threats to go after his opponents or anyone who steps out of line when it comes to Indiana. And more often than not, it very much works within his own party here.

It will be interesting to see getting back to the beginning of our conversation, if he does not succeed in getting this redistricting done in Indiana, the implications for Trump and his party, because he has won almost every single fight, if not every single fight with his party, other than getting rolled by the Jeffrey Epstein issue.

BASH: Epstein files, yes.

RAJU: And now if he loses on this, what does it mean for the next few years and when more Republicans take that --

BASH: Yes.

RAJU: -- as something to step out of.

BASH: We have to take a break. Yes, he lost on the vote, but we haven't seen the Epstein files yet.

RAJU: Yes.

BASH: Just a reminder.

All right, coming up, Democrat Colin Allred bows out of one of the hottest races in the country. You see him there. He's going to talk about what he's now going to do. He wants to come back here to Washington to return to the House. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:47:00]

BASH: Major plot twist in Texas. Democrat Colin Allred is ending his campaign for Senate. The race to unseat Republican Senator John Cornyn has quickly become one of the country's most hotly contested in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Now, instead of running for the Senate, Allred says he's going to run for the House, where he used to work, this time in a newly redrawn 33rd congressional district.

Democrat Colin Allred joins me now. Thank you so much for being here. What made you decide that you were going to change course?

COLIN ALLRED (D), TEXAS CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 33 CANDIDATE: Yes. Well, thanks for having me on, Dana. Listen, I thought about this, you know, for some time. And, you know, what I felt was that so many Texans across the state had placed their trust in me and told me their stories. And I felt very moved by that. But I also feel a responsibility to do what I think is best for the state and for the party.

And to me, going through a bruising primary, and in Texas we have a runoff, and we would certainly have a runoff in this case, was not in the best interest of the state or the party. But I also thought that in a time like this, when Donald Trump is daily violating the Constitution, and when so many folks are concerned about, you know, corruption and rising costs, that I still have a lot to give, and that I can serve you in Congress and go in with a focus and a direction and with a strength of voice that's going to allow me to make real difference.

BASH: I want to ask you about your House race in one second, but just staying on the Senate race, because it really could determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate. Jasmine Crockett is very openly considering running. Is that part of why you decided to not run anymore?

ALLRED: Yes, of course it is. And I think, you know, listen, Jasmine's a friend of mine, and we've served together. I've known her since before we were both, you know, in elected office. But it was about the fact that with, you know, three strong candidates running, that we would certainly have a runoff.

And I felt that that was not, you know, in the interest of the folks who had, you know, come up to me, you know, told me their stories, who would open themselves up. And in many ways, to me, I've always thought about this and tried to take my ego, you know, out of how I approach public service.

That I'm trying to -- I ran for Congress, as you know, Dana, in the district where I was born and raised, against a Republican who'd been there for 22 years. Nobody thought I could win that one. And I ran for Senate to represent the state that's given me a chance to do all the things that I've done, from playing in the NFL, you know, just being a civil rights lawyer to serving in Congress. And so this is a continuation of my attempt to try and put people first, and now continue to serve my community, just in a different way.

BASH: Can you tell me about the conversation that you had with your friend, Jasmine Crockett, how that went down and how you made the decision to let her take the wheel? I assume that's the way that you view this.

[12:50:00]

ALLRED: Yes. Well, I wouldn't say that I view it that way. What I -- it was a, you know, professional, friendly conversation. And, you know, what I took from that was that, you know, I needed to try and decide what I thought would be best, you know, for the state, for the party, in a time and in a year where there is so much at stake.

And, you know, this is not a normal time, Dana. And your last segment, you know, covering, you know, three or four things that in any previous presidency would have been, you know, the biggest scandals of that entire presidency, this is not a normal time. And there are so many people who I've met who are so afraid.

And in Texas, we are bearing the brunt of so many of this President's policies, from the tariffs to the immigration, you know, impacts in so many different communities. And there are so many people who place their faith and their trust in me. And part of that comes with the responsibility to try and put them first and see how I can best serve.

And I know that I can be a strong voice in Congress. I can go in on day one to stand up to this President, but also to say some hard truths to the Democratic Party about some of the things that we have to clean up in our house to try and make sure that we're not seen as too elitist.

Well, I think it's being seen as too elitist and too disconnected. I've been spending time working in restaurants and on construction sites. And anywhere I go, in grocery stores, everywhere I go, I will try and work a shift with working people there to try and talk to them about what's going on in their lives and to make sure that we ground everything that I was trying to do in what working folks are going through, the folks who are living right now how I grew up, who are living paycheck to paycheck.

You know, I was raised by a single mom. I know what it's like to struggle. So we have to make sure that we reconnect with those folks and that we're speaking directly to them, but also that we clean up some of this corruption that I think is also holding back people's view.

BASH: And the backdrop of this, of course, is the fact that the Supreme Court said that the newly drawn districts that we've covered really intensely here in Texas --

ALLRED: Yes.

BASH: -- that are intended to give Republicans five more seats can happen before the midterms. So what you're doing is you're running in what will be the new 33rd district in Texas. It's really heavily impacted how Republicans have drawn this. Why do you think you can win in that district as a Democrat?

ALLRED: Yes. Well, let's be very clear. This is an incredibly gerrymandered map that we have here in Texas. Donald Trump racially gerrymandered our state. He demanded five new districts. The state legislature, like some whip dogs, went ahead and just, you know, went along with that as quickly as they possibly could.

And thanks to the Supreme Court, we're now in this situation where we have less representation in North Texas where I live and have served than we used to. But part of that is that this has now created this new district that, you know, covers much of the places where I was born and raised, where I grew up, and gave me a chance to do all the things that I've done.

And I know Dallas, and Dallas knows me. And I've served this community in the past, and I look forward to serving it again. But what we have to do now is to be very strong in pushing back against an assault on our Constitution, but also on making sure that we refocus on working people and dealing with the corruption that I think is eating out and eating away the faith in our systems as a whole to believe that we can do anything at all.

BASH: And real quick, before I let you go, back to the Senate race. Assuming Jasmine Crockett runs, there's another prominent candidate, James Talarico. Are you going to endorse Congresswoman Crockett in the Senate run?

ALLRED: Yes, I mean, right now I'm focused on, you know, the 33rd district that I'm hoping to serve. And I'll be, you know, making some statements about that --

BASH: OK.

ALLRED: -- down the road. But I can just say that I'm friends with Jasmine. I've known her for some time. And I think it's important that we go into November with a unified party ready to take on Cornyn, Paxton -- whichever --

BASH: Sounds like you want Talarico to get out.

ALLRED: That's your words, not mine.

BASH: OK. Fair.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it on this very big day for you --

ALLRED: Thank you, Dana.

ALLRED: -- and this marquee race down there.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:58:48] BASH: Welcome back. My smart reporters are still here. I want to talk about Colin Allred and Texas more broadly. Manu, I mean, it really does seem as though, because of these new districts, there was a -- there were a series of conversations among the Democrats about what are we going to do here and how do we best --

RAJU: Yes.

BASH: -- get positioned to win these seats still in the House and also the Senate.

RAJU: This has been going on for the last several weeks --

BASH: Yes.

RAJU: -- to try to figure out who could best position where. And there have been real fears about Jasmine Crockett jumping into the Senate race. What I was really interested in, what you talked about with Colin Allred, was that he was concerned about the Senate race going into a runoff.

Because in Texas --

KIM: Right.

RAJU: -- it has that two-month runoff if no one gets a majority of the vote. And with three candidates, it would almost certainly lead to a two-month runoff. Many millions of dollars being spent. He said that that decision, that discussion that happened behind the scenes, was why he decided to step aside from there.

But on the Republican side in Texas, there is almost certainly going to be a runoff because there are three candidates there. John Cornyn, the incumbent, is having a difficult time. There's concern that that runoff will be -- cost a lot of money. The Democrats are trying to avoid that on their side.

KIM: Right. And related to that, he is sort of wink-wink nudging James Talarico to get out. I mean, I know he didn't explicitly endorse Jasmine Crockett, but he said, you know, she's my friend. I'll have more to say at a later time.

KEITH: Yes, it's -- when you do a mid-decade redistricting process, everything gets scrambled. And I think that one of the real questions I have looking at Texas going forward is, did Republicans really draw themselves five more Republican seats --

BASH: Right.

KEITH: -- or did they draw some seats that may be hard if it's a wave year?

BASH: Which is why the Democrats are trying to recalibrate and find the places --

KEITH: Yes. BASH: -- where they can still win.

Thank you all. Appreciate it.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts right now.