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Inside Politics

Dems Look for Ways to Push Back Against Trump, ICE; Trump Insists Economy is Strongest Maybe Ever, Voters Disagree; FBI Searches Journalist's Home in Leak Investigation; Rough Waters in Great Lakes Primary. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 14, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: -- bring people to a place that it doesn't seem like a lot of them are, based on the polling numbers you were just showing, where they see the actions that are going on here as productive, desirable, and making the difference that they wanted on immigration. That is not something that clearly people feel right now.

And if you think that Donald Trump won in 2024 based on a couple of things on the economy and on immigration, then he needs to make it clear to people that he has made a positive impact on those things. Otherwise, it is going to be very hard for him to make the argument for Republican candidates --

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': Yeah.

DOVERE: And for Republican candidates for the House and Senate who, if they are incumbents, have been rubber stamping --

BASH: Yeah.

DOVERE: -- everything he's been doing or saying that they would, to say that they are in a different place.

BASH: That's the key. The rubber stamp.

DOVERE: Yeah.

BASH: I mean, I think that's going to be something we are going to hear more and more of, Jamie, from Democrats in this election, you are on the campaign trail, is elect me because he's not running wild because nobody --

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.

BASH: -- does oversight in Congress right now. But if we, Democrats, are in charge, that could change.

GANGEL: Right. So emboldened Trump in lots of different areas, whether it is Greenland or what we're seeing with the ICE raids, affordability, we're going to come back to that time and time again. Grocery prices, you know, you can't tell people their grocery prices, their housing, their health care isn't what it is. I do think it is important going back to what we're seeing with these ICE raids. These are protesters.

These are people trying to get down the street. And we were discussing in the break, coming over the border is basically zero. And so if Democrats come out and say, hey, we've stopped illegal immigration, but look what's going on against everyday people, that's not good for Republicans.

BASH: All right, we're going to sneak in a quick break. You all mentioned the economy. We're going to talk a lot more about that. Some of President Trump's latest economic ideas, they kind of sound ripped from the Bernie Sanders-Elizabeth Warren playbook. And some of the president's fellow Republicans want nothing to do with it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:36:39]

BASH: President Trump traveled to a Ford factory in battleground Michigan yesterday, trying to convince Americans that he doesn't just care about inflation, he's trying to do something about it. As usual, he took a few detours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: So one of our top priorities in this mission is promoting greater affordability. Now, that's a word used by the Democrats. They're the ones that caused the problem. The one thing, they stick together. They don't have some of the people that we have. I don't know, it's a genetic thing. It's something in the blood. We got some real losers, mostly great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: He also, a few times, talked about his proposal to impose a 10 percent cap on credit card interest rates, which GOP leaders are not on board with. And he promised a new plan on health care costs later this week. OK, it's not two weeks, so it's a shorter timeline than we've heard in the past, Zolan.

On the affordability thing, he did say it was a fake word or a phony word --

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah.

BASH: -- which he's used before. What did you -- what did you make of the message? And is this what his advisers are desperately hoping that he does more of in a condensed way?

KANNO-YOUNGS: I know that there are White House officials that do feel there is a need to address, that are hoping that some of this message -- that they can carve a message out to address cost-of-living anxieties in America right now. Saying affordability is a hoax is not exactly doing that, right?

Even releasing these different proposals but with vague timelines and vague details isn't necessarily doing that. He also said that he planned on unveiling more policies, particularly with housing, at Davos, right? I'm interested to also see how a president who ran with a somewhat populous message pledging to help the forgotten American, how unveiling the plans at Davos, how that will translate also to the base as well.

But we're seeing this sort of dual message here of pretending that this issue is not an issue for Americans, even though they are feeling frustration, while also committing to addressing it and that is a contradiction and we have to see really how that's digested by his voters.

BASH: Let's listen to more of what he said yesterday, this time, in an interview with Tony Dokoupil at CBS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Tony, we have the strongest economy maybe in the history of our country. Our growth numbers are through the roof. Our job numbers are tremendous. We have the highest stock market we've ever had. Today, we hit -- every day for the last, I think, 48 times out of 11 months -- 48 days out of 11 months, we've had the number one stock market in the history of our country.

So my big focus is here. I've only been here for 11 months, OK? And, you know, the first few months were really rough, if you look at them, because I inherited a mess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Well, let's just look at a Fox poll out a few weeks ago. How would you rate national economic conditions? Not so good or poor, 72 percent. So I'm not sure that people are patient enough to maybe buy the idea that he's only been in office for 11 months.

[12:40:00]

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, the president almost has a psychological issue here. It's like he only does hyperbolic success. So, admitting that something is not great is something he finds very hard to do. It's interesting that they're talking about now capping credit card rates. This was the administration that DOGE-ed the Consumer Financial Protection Board, which was all about that.

So they're kind of going back on what they started. A lot of this sounds like throwing out ideas that they hope people will listen to, they can pull them all together in the State of the Union Address in a few weeks, and that's going to be Trump's economic message.

But if it contrasts with conditions, what people are feeling, it's always the same. You can tell people things are going great, but if they don't think they are, that's a political problem. KANNO-YOUNGS: And just telling Americans to be patient, it doesn't usually work with the economy. He said that to us last week too. And like, when people are feeling pain from the economy, telling them we'll just wait, it doesn't usually work.

BASH: And there's also, you mentioned all of the ideas that they're kind of throwing out there. I mean, it is not unusual for trial balloons to be put out on topics. But also part of the interview you did, your colleague, Katie Rogers talked about a promise for $2,000 checks to Americans based on tariff revenues. He didn't remember that that was something that he had floated. Because there are so many of these floats.

DOVERE: Yeah, I mean, he did say that in a national address though, and it's strange that he seems to have forgotten about it. I think that the problem that he may run into here is very similar to Joe Biden's problem when -- prices are something that people know are either high or they're not as high. Everybody feels it. They know it when they see their credit card bills, when they see the receipts at the grocery store, they go out to restaurants, and came off of the holiday shopping season, they know that they are paying more.

They know that their energy bills are higher. And you can't just say to them, oh, it's not going to happen, something's going to change. The other problem though is that you have the situation where people all around the country are saying, politicians keep saying that they're going to do something, and I just keep paying more.

And it doesn't matter whether they're Democrats or Republicans --

BASH: Right.

DOVERE: -- and that's what both parties seem to be running here.

BASH: Something else happened when President Trump was in Detroit. There was a heckler who called him a pedophile protector. Here's what happened next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pedophile protector.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Jamie?

GANGEL: He mouthed the words [expletive] apparently twice, and then he gave the finger. The Epstein files clearly get a reaction. I mean, what the worker called out apparently was pedophile protector, and he says that was about the Epstein files. The Ford employee was suspended without pay, and since then, not one but two GoFundMe accounts have been set up. I just did the math again. It's at more than almost $450,000 has been donated to help him. That's, you know, Donald Trump does a lot of things that are not presidential. That is certainly not presidential.

BASH: Yeah. I was reading Richard Nixon also gave -- I mean, we know him for these fingers --

GANGEL: Right, yes.

BASH: -- but apparently, one was down at some point too.

(LAUGH)

BASH: All right, up next, we're following Breaking News after the FBI searches the home of a Washington Post reporter. We'll explain next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:48:12]

BASH: This morning, FBI agents searched the home of a Washington Post reporter. That reporter, Hannah Natanson, wrote a striking first- person perspective just last month. "I am the Post's federal government whisperer. It's been brutal." She goes on to document becoming the contact for more than a thousand sources, all claiming to be federal government employees impacted by the Trump administration's drastic changes. CNN's Brian Stelter joins me now.

Brian, this is a very big deal. And I just want to put out there, Evan Perez, our Justice Reporter, is hearing that. In fact, Pam Bondi said this explicitly. This is Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, who said he wanted this reporter's home searched. That's why this happened. Pete Hegseth, who --

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, Pete Hegseth, the same man who was in that Signal chat room.

BASH: Exactly.

STELTER: -- who was sharing those details about the attack in Yemen. And it was the secretary of defense, it was the Pentagon, that sought this action this morning. And Bondi went ahead with it.

So, we're learning that FBI agents showed up early this morning at this reporter's home, Hannah Natanson. They showed up unannounced with a search warrant for her residence in Virginia. This is exceedingly unusual in the United States.

Ordinarily, if a government agency is investigating a leak, they might go to court and try to subpoena a journalist, although even that is rare. And a subpoena would cause a lengthy legal fight between the newsroom and the government agency.

The idea of conducting a raid and seizing the reporter's phone and computers is very rare and very serious. And it's a dramatic escalation against the American news media. But we are told, both by the Washington Post and by sources inside the government, that Natanson is not the target of this investigation. Rather, it's a contractor in Maryland who's already behind bars.

[12:50:00] And here's what Attorney General, Pam Bondi said on X about it this morning. She said, "This past week, at the request of the Department of War, the DOJ and FBI executed a search warrant at the home of a Post-journalist who was obtaining and reporting classified and illegally-leaked information from a Pentagon contractor. The leaker is currently behind bars."

So the allegation there is very serious. It is that the Post reporter was obtaining and reporting classified information. The Post has not commented on that charge. However, it is not illegal for journalists in the U.S. to obtain and report on classified information. That is why this leaker is behind bars. This reporter is not.

Still, it is pretty unnerving for journalists to hear about a reporter's home being raided by the FBI, her phone, her laptop seized. This is sending a chill across newsrooms all across America. I mentioned that she's not the focus of the probe.

We've also heard from Post Editor, Matt Murray in the past few minutes saying that this is a serious, aggressive action. He called it deeply concerning, and it raises profound questions about the constitutional protections for our work. Dana?

BASH: Very, very scary stuff. Brian, thank you so much. Coming up, it's primary season. The gloves are already coming off. In this particular case, we're going to tell you what's going on in Michigan among Democrats. Stay with me.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:55:56]

BASH: Democrats are laser focused on winning back the Senate. Long odds be damned. But first, there is the primary season. And one of the most competitive races among Democrats is expected in Michigan where Congresswoman Haley Stevens, State Senator Mallory McMorrow, and former Detroit Health Director Abdul El-Sayed are all running to win the primary in August.

Here is some example -- here are some examples of their pitches.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HALEY STEVENS, (D-MI): I am writing a love letter to the state of Michigan while I campaign across our beautiful state.

SEN. MALLORY MCMORROW, (D-MI): The future of 2028 depends on what we do in Michigan in 2026.

ABDUL EL-SAYED, (D) FORMER DETROIT HEALTH DIRECTOR RUNNING FOR U.S. SENATE: Who here believes in people over profit? Let me hear you. There should be no reason why medical debt should exist in the richest, most powerful country in the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: My panel is back. Isaac, I know you've talked to all of these Democratic candidates. I should say that this is a state that Democrats need to hold because a Democrat's retiring.

DOVERE: Yeah, and a state that I often think of as one of the microcosms for America. And you see all the demographic issues that are playing out in America writ large, geographic issues, voting trends, urban parts of the state, rural parts of the state, black, white, brown, all sorts of things. There's the uncommitted vote that was there in the 2024 election.

What you have then, this race playing out on the Democratic side, is it's the only primary you have three strong candidates, which makes it in itself a sort of a jump-off situation. And each of them -- or none of the three of them has ever won statewide. That also is different for any of the Democratic primaries going on.

And each of these candidates is putting forward what are -- when you boil it down, they're not really that different on policy, but are putting different kinds of stamps on the posture that they're taking and the approach to it.

And Haley Stevens, in a sort of 1990s-era politics, a Congresswoman who's won in a district and is popular in a district, would be the more obvious choice. But she is facing an intense race against Mallory McMorrow, who is a state Senator who would just be whatever state Senator, except she blew up virally --

BASH: Yes, she did.

DOVERE: -- through a floor speech she gave on the state Senate floor and things that she's done since then, spoke at the Democratic Convention in '24.

And then Abdul El-Sayed, who lost a primary for governor in 2018, but has been able to really tap into --

BASH: Yeah.

DOVERE: -- this growing Bernie Sanders axis energy that's there.

BASH: Yeah. Which is why you said Michigan is a microcosm of the country in terms of all the demographics and everything else. But this primary could be a microcosm of where the Democrats are going to end up going in the sort of fight amongst themselves.

GANGEL: So actually, I spoke to a Hill source who said, we're going to be like Republicans. We just have three words, who can win. And that's what they're looking at across the board.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And obviously, who can win, it may differentiate in terms of that approach, depending on what state you're talking about, too, right?

GANGEL: Right. KANNO-YOUNGS: In terms of how far progressive or maybe more establishment to go here. All in all, I mean, I think voters are still looking for something fresh and new and also an alternative plan, not just attacking Trump, but also putting forth your own policy solutions. And primaries can help with that, as you sort out those different primary -- policy solutions.

BASH: There's a headline in Axios today about this Michigan Democratic primary about getting nasty. Stevens, who is the sitting Congresswoman in Michigan, attacks fellow Democrats as Michigan Senate primary gets ugly. I mean, that's always, no matter what party it is, that is always part of the drawback of having a very fulsome debate is that you could end up hurting the ultimate winner of the primary.

COLLINSON: Yeah, and it's very interesting. It's not just happening in Michigan. It's happening in Texas. It's happening in Maine. This is like a Petri dish for the message the Democrats are going to come up with in the 2028 race. Everyone's looking at these races to see what works. Everyone that's thinking of running for president is really keeping an eye on this.

BASH: Yeah, no question about it. Thank you all.