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Deadline Hits For Clintons To Accept Terms On Epstein Testimony; House Clears Way For Final Vote On Re-Opening Govt.; GOP Lawmakers Call Texas Special Election Loss A "Wake-Up Call"; MD Gov. Wes Moore Pushes Redistricting Ahead Of Possible 2028 Run. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired February 03, 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]

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: -- filmed in February and also have a transcript. And I'm told from sources that the Clintons have responded and have given two dates in February to appear for depositions, but they've also suggested that these appearances could be a public hearing.

Now, that is not what Comer had made clear about in his ask. So we're waiting to see if Comer actually responds to the terms that the Clintons laid out. But this has been a long back and forth here, Dana. The Clintons have maintained for months that they should not have to testify in person because, unlike others in this investigation who were subpoenaed, they got to provide written statements.

But Comer's continued to suggest that the Clintons have to appear in person. But the Clintons have made multiple offers to appear voluntarily up until this point, but they wanted to control the scope, who got to come to this interview, how long it would last, whether or not it would be transcribed. And Comer rejected all of that.

But he wasn't alone making those rejections. There were some Democrats on the House Oversight Committee who also believe the Clintons should be held in contempt because they want to protect the power of a congressional subpoena. But House Democrats, particularly senior Democrats, had said Comer's playing politics here by singling out the Clintons, that if anyone's going to be held in contempt in this investigation, it should be someone like Attorney General Pam Bondi for not releasing all of the files.

So what we've seen over the last couple of weeks is the Clintons clearly want to avoid a contempt vote because that is what is at stake here. Comer said that if the Clintons did not agree to his terms, he would move forward with contempt as soon as tomorrow. But now within this high-stakes negotiation, we're waiting to see if finally the two sides have reached an agreement.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, and you'll let us know if that happens. It is a remarkable change of course by the Clintons. And I know you're going to be doing some great reporting. You already have done great reporting, but even more reporting on whether or not those nine Democrats who voted with Republicans to subpoena them and to go forward with a contempt of Congress, whether or not that changed their minds. We'll see.

Annie, thank you. Appreciate it.

Up next, are Texas Republicans panicking after Democrats flipped a Senate seat in a district that President Trump won by 17 points? Well, I'll speak to a Texas Republican who, like everybody in the House, is up for reelection this year. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:36:47]

BASH: OK, the breaking news now is that Speaker Mike Johnson just did muscle through a vote that should lead the way to ending a partial government shutdown. It was a procedural vote, and the House voted 217 to 215 to move forward on this deal that funds the Department of Homeland Security, but does so only through next Friday.

Texas GOP Congressman Tony Gonzales joins me now. OK, so the procedural vote has happened, and the question now is what moves forward? What happens in the next, you know, 9, 10 days?

Democrats, as you well know, want to do the following on DHS funding. They want to make concrete changes to ICE enforcement, including no more roving ICE patrols, obtaining judicial warrants for searches and arrests, no more masking ICE agents, and body cameras for all ICE agents. Are those terms that you will agree to in order to continue funding the Department of Homeland Security?

REP. TONY GONZALES (R), TEXAS: Thank you for having me on, Dana. And some of those make sense, I think, to a lot of people. First, you've got to give a lot of credit to Speaker Johnson and his team for yet again passing a major piece of legislation despite a one-seat majority. I think that's very positive.

We need to get out of this government shutdown. Today is the day to do that. As far as the DHS funding, the part that the Democrats are getting wrong is they're -- if they are to not fund DHS for the remaining of the year with a appropriations bill, then DHS will not have an oversight capacity to it.

We, here in Congress, we added a lot of money in the Big Beautiful Bill for DHS. They're funded through 2019, or through 2029. The DHS IG as well needs to come alongside and make sure some of that oversight is happening.

As far as the body cameras, those work, I was very encouraged to see Secretary Noem issue that mandate in Minnesota. Very positive news.

BASH: What about the other parts of it? No more roving enforcement and the idea of getting a federal judge to sign onto a warrant and not just use the administrative warrant, particularly when they go into somebody's home. GONZALES: From a legislative standpoint, I don't think that is exactly the answer. Because what you're -- oftentimes, you're going to do is you're going to shackle the agency that's out there to go out and apprehend these bad convicted criminals. From a policy standpoint, I think that's one of the conversations we need to be having with the administration.

And to be frank, I'm seeing more of that. You're seeing more of talk of going after the convicted criminals, going -- using the task forces, DHS task force, lead task forces, anti-gang and anti-terrorism task force that work cooperating with local and state and federal agencies. To me, that's the answer. A legislative solution that just shackles an agency, to me, long-term creates more problems than it fixes.

BASH: Well, I think one person's shackle is another person's oversight and, you know, sort of call for some kind of new law, especially given the fact that Congress has not been able to reform the immigration laws in the United States because of the partisan distance for, you know, almost a generation now.

[12:40:09]

And I want to read you what one federal district judge, Fred Biery, said about the warrants this week. "Administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster. That is called the fox guarding the hen house. The Constitution requires an independent judicial officer." What do you say to that?

GONZALES: Yes. One, if Democrats want us to have oversight, they should pass the DHS appropriations bill that was passed in a bipartisan manner just a few days ago that has oversight within that DHS bill. As far as the legal standpoint, I think this is, once again, we don't want to have, for every single specific case, put all these guardrails on them.

Should there be some policies and procedures in place that all Americans are comfortable with? Absolutely. And this is where I think the administration, along with Congress, needs to be more transparent. Let's talk about what is, you know, what is some of the specific cases they're going after? What are some of the targets that have been apprehended? I think once we do that, I think it shows the American people that we are indeed looking to keep them safe, not necessarily just going house to house.

BASH: I want to ask about the election over the weekend in your home state of Texas. The Texas Democrat Taylor Rehmet won a state Senate race by 14 points. It's a district that went for President Trump last year by 17 points to 31 point shift. And a swing is -- one of the biggest swings in a special election that we've seen in a while.

I understand the caveats. It's an off-year election. The weather was bad, low turnout, highly motivated opposition party, all of that. But my question for you is, a Democratic win and a GOP stronghold in your home state of Texas, how concerned are you? GONZALES: I'm very concerned. And first off, I'm a retired Navy Master Chief, and the motto is no excuses, results. So regardless of what happened, we lost the election, this special election. And in Texas, state Senate seats, there's 31 state Senate seats, and there's 38 congressional seats, meaning the state Senate houses have a bigger constituency than congressional houses.

So that means over a million people made their decision made in this case. And Republicans should absolutely be mindful of this. Some of the things that I think are important is we have to unite behind the security message. We have to unite behind an economic message. But I'd also say things are going to change in Texas.

Governor Abbott is going to continue to focus on holding Islamic extremists accountable. And you're going to see Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick continue to increase home exemptions for seniors. So on the surface, you know, we should be concerned as Republicans. But from the day-to-day operation, the state Senate in Texas is going to continue to operate in the same manner.

BASH: I do want to ask you about something that President Trump said to Dan Bongino about the DOJ's raid on Fulton County, Georgia, over the 2020 election. He continued by saying the following.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Republicans should say, we want to take over -- we should take over the voting in at least many, 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting. We have states that are so crooked, and they're counting votes. We have states that I won that show I didn't win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Would you be comfortable with the Trump administration taking over elections nationally?

GONZALES: I think the president is bringing up a fact that is on many Americans' minds, is election integrity. Meaning, you can win an election, you can lose an election. You -- we just want to make sure that our votes are being counted. They're being counted fairly, timely, all those different things.

It's when that doesn't happen, or the perception that it doesn't happen that is dangerous to our republic. Once again --

BASH: Congressman, I'm just -- forgive me for interrupting, but the perception by a lot of Republicans out there is been that the election was stolen, and there have been multiple reviews, multiple recounts, multiple courts that have said that he is not telling the truth, that is not happening. So isn't that the issue here, that the perception is being laid out by a president who is trying to sow doubt in this coming election, never mind the past elections?

GONZALES: I think one of the issues is every state does it differently. And when you look at California and you start asking yourself, why does it take you so long to give a result? And that result is constantly changing. That gives a lot of doubt.

And it also gives doubt for our adversaries, those that hate us, those foreign actors like Iran, like China, like Russia, that want to see us divided. You know, we just had a CISA hearing here on the Homeland Security Committee. We need to have CISA making sure that our computers are safe, that these foreign actors are not interfering in our elections.

I think that's the root of what the president is saying, is we have to make sure our elections, the election integrity is there, and all Americans believe in the result at the end of the day.

[12:45:13]

BASH: Well, he's also, through his Department of Justice, trying to get information from every single voter across the country for what reason they still haven't really said. And I would assume that you support the fundamental Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution that says that states should be in charge and not the federal government.

GONZALES: They absolutely should be in charge. All I'm asking is, let's have it a little bit more orderly. It shouldn't be two weeks before the election is over. Why isn't it within a day? Why aren't we doing more hand-counted ballots? Why aren't we making sure that the people have the -- have trust in the system?

BASH: Yes.

GONZALES: And from a national standpoint, I think it's important --

BASH: Yes.

GONZALES: -- that we hold all states accountable.

BASH: Yes. And I'm sure you agree that I think the people would have trust in elections if our leaders, you know, talk about the facts and don't continue to talk about alleged fraud that has not been borne out.

Congressman, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

GONZALES: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: Up next, 2026 moves, 2028 ambitions. Are Democratic governors using redistricting to position themselves for the White House? Well, you're going to hear a take from the governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, who spoke to our own Isaac Dovere, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:52]

BASH: Now to another move on the redistricting chessboard. Democratic Governor Wes Moore pushed a bill through the Maryland House to redraw the state's map and wipe out its only Republican seat. Now, here's the tricky part, clearing the state Senate, where the top Democrat says he's going to block it.

As Isaac Dovere lays out in his new piece, the governor's next move could shape a lot more than his 2026 election bid. And Isaac is still here, as is the rest of the panel. I'm going to play some audio from your conversation with him about redistricting there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Do you feel that pressure to deliver for the Democrats for -- or for the state, given everything you're talking about as it landing on you?

GOV. WES MOORE (D), MARYLAND: I feel the pressure to deliver for my kids. Like --

DOVERE: Come on, I mean, it's more than that?

MOORE: No, no --

DOVERE: I mean, I -- I'm not saying you don't feel the pressure to deliver for your kids.

MOORE: Yes. No. This is very real. Like, when this happens --

DOVERE: Yes.

MOORE: -- I will feel a sense of relief that we defended democracy against a very unique threat. I will not feel a sense of relief saying I cannot wait to see what this does to my approval ratings.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Come on. I did (INAUDIBLE).

DOVERE: It's a, you know, little window into my interviewing style there, I guess. Like, there -- he does feel -- I don't doubt that he feels pressure to deliver for his kids, but there is a lot of pressure on him right now for Democrats in Maryland and across the country who really see a very pitched battle for who is going to control the House of Representatives.

I asked him in the interview also how he would feel if this fails and the House of Representatives stays Republican by one vote. And he, his head went down, he closed his eyes describing the piece, the sort of energy went out of him for a moment. But it's also, there are a lot of eyeballs on the governor for what the future may hold for him and whether he will be able to feel to Democrats who might be looking at a 2028 race as a person who's been able to deliver results in the state just at all, and to be part of the fight against Donald Trump and against the Republicans in this moment.

And here he is with all of the -- his political abilities and all of the chatter about him, George Clooney inviting him to his yacht and all that. And the state Senate president in Maryland just says, no, we're not going to do it. And it's not just him. They need, it looks like 29 votes to get this passed in the state Senate. The count that I heard from a lot of people, including people who want this to pass in the state Senate, is that they're probably at about 12 right now. That could change, but that's a big hurdle and a big problem for the governor to try to get this forward.

BASH: Yes. We, obviously, we're talking about 2028 and the candidates, but it's also worth noting, as I know you did, that Maryland is a very blue state, but there are a lot of Republicans there. And it's -- I did a piece on this. It is already so gerrymandered.

DOVERE: Yes.

BASH: And that's the reason why there's only one Republican.

DOVERE: Right.

BASH: It's because the Democrats in that state gerrymandered that. But back to Wes Moore, it is interesting the way that he and other sitting governors.

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.

BASH: Never mind that are up for reelection themselves this year, but also are clearly eyeing 2028, are trying to position the kind of one- two punch of that.

KIM: Right, right. And it's going to be -- on this redistricting issue, it's going to be a really interesting contrast with him and Gavin Newsom, who was obviously able to successfully marshal redistricting changes through his own state.

And we were just talking about this during the break, but I was really struck by Ferguson and his camp's comments, talking about how, you know, we were around when this happened last time. We don't want to take the legal and political risks of this potentially backfiring on us.

And it was very almost kind of Joe Manchin-esque, if you will, like kind of these like declining number of moderate institutionalists. And it is a reminder that whether it's on the state level or on the federal level, presidents and governors, the chief executives --

BASH: Yes.

KIM: -- can really be constrained by the legislature in some ways. And that is, you know, that is sometimes kind of hard to explain to a broader population that I couldn't get this done in my state or in my country because of this one legislative leader.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. And of course, Governor Newsom, you know, coming from an overwhelmingly Democratic state has got a big advantage here. Obviously, that first --

BASH: He got it done.

[12:55:08]

COLLINSON: Right. That first presidential debate when all the Democrats stand up, if the Democrats win the House, Governor Newsom is going to say, I was the first guy to go there. I stood up to Trump. And the House is Democratic because of what we did in California.

BASH: Yes.

DOVERE: And I talked to some people who are in the Newsom orbit who are already imagining that moment and savoring. I did text Newsom himself, and this is in the article, too, that's up on the site. And I said, this is how people feel about it. How do you feel about it?

And he was much more diplomatic in what he wrote back to me. And he said, you know, that he has been talking with more, he said, about the different calendars and everything. But he said a lot is going to be coming, including, he said, November vandalism of the elections from Trump. And he said, everybody needs to stand up and do more.

BASH: All right. Thank you. Thanks. Great piece. I encourage everybody to read it on CNN.com. Thank you both -- all three of you for being here.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

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