Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Trump Posts, Then Deletes, Video With Racist Image Of Obamas; Sources: Trump Promised Schumer Funding For NY Project If Dulles Airport, NY's Penn Station Are Re-Named For Him; New Plea From Guthrie Family: "We Have To Know That You Have Our Mom". Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired February 06, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: The only black Republican in the Senate is calling out President Trump for posting what he calls, quote, the most racist thing from this White House.

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

Late last night, President Trump reposted an election conspiracy video that included this racist image. As you can see, the faces of former President Barack Obama, the former First Lady, Michelle Obama, are put on two apes. Moments ago, the president deleted this post with this image.

A senior White House official tells CNN, quote, The White House staffer -- a White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down. Now that was after Republican Senator Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator responded to the video on social media. Writing, quote, praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it.

Now, it does seem like the president, or study (Ph) in the White House listened because, as we said moments ago, it was deleted from the president's handle on his social media platform. Now, just worth noting, Senator Scott is usually a very close and is a close Trump ally. He also leads the Senate Republican campaign arm, which means his job is to get GOP senators elected and reelected this November.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here. Alayna, I want to go to you first because you've been doing reporting on this and just give some context about the time of day this -- time of night, this was. The White House is now, and this is just developing, like in the last few minutes. The White House is now saying, just to underscore that was your reporting, that it was a staffer who did this.

This was part of a series of posts and reposts from this president last night. And I just want to know from you, is this something that a staffer does at 11:30 or midnight on a typical day, or is it usually the president himself?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. It's hard to buy, to be honest, because 11:44 pm is when this was initially reposted by the president in a series of other posts, as you pointed out, Dana, typically, very few people actually have access to the president's Truth Social account.

A lot of times they'll write him statements, and then they'll bring them to, example, to Dan Scavino, the White House deputy chief of staff, and he's the one who will then go on and post it. So, just so you know how it typically works with these truths. So that seems kind of far-fetched.

The other thing I would remind you is that we did see a statement from Karoline Leavitt this morning --

BASH: Let me put that up -- let me put that up. So, this is before somebody at the White House took that down after Tim Scott put out the statement that he did. This is Karoline Leavitt. This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King. Please stop reporting the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.

TREENE: I was very surprised when I saw that statement honestly, because if you actually look at the post, what I would have assumed, just knowing this White House and covering them as long as I have. I would have assumed that they would have claimed, it was at the very end that that clip showed of the Obamas, that they would have tried to say he didn't see it, and try to discount it that way. That post almost seemed like they were owning up to it, and saying, yeah, you know, there's nothing wrong with it. Dismiss, trying to dismiss the outrage.

The other thing I want to say too is, you mentioned, you know, what we heard from Tim Scott this morning. He is one of the president's closest allies. He talks to President Trump all the time, very regularly, multiple times a week. So, what he said, I wouldn't be surprised if he had called him. I did talk to some of my sources on Capitol Hill.

One of them telling me that Republican lawmakers were calling the president about this. I know that people inside the White House were also asking the president, how do you want to handle this? So, this clearly became much bigger this morning, particularly around all of the criticism that came out from his strongest allies.

BASH: And Zolan, you also cover the White House. I want to add, we talked about Tim Scott, which was pretty fast and very, very strong, calling it racist. This is from Roger Wicker, who is also a Republican senator, senior Republican senator, who said on social media, this is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize. We haven't heard apologize.

[12:05:00]

Pete Ricketts, another Republican senator, even if this was a Lion King meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this. The White House should do what anyone does when they make a mistake, remove this and apologize. So, remove it. Yes, apologize, not yet. ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES & CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Remove it eventually, right? I mean, when this was still -- when this was really -- yeah, coming into the spotlight this morning. As you saw, you had Karoline Leavitt statement there, kind of belittling this as fake outrage, and they didn't initially, you know, delete it, when they were faced with immediate questions. Yes, they have now.

And talking to historians and, you know, just other people reacting to this post. Dana, you do hear people saying that those with common sense would see this as a racist trope, right? That it channels the minstrel depictions that you would see from slave traders and segregationists that sought to dehumanize black Americans, particularly prominent black Americans as well to see them as inhuman, right?

And I think that's why you're seeing this outrage, including cracks in a Republican base and Republican members of Congress that seldom criticize this White House. It's also just worth saying like, this is definitely something that has seemed to provoke criticism we don't usually see, but the president does have a history of posting and saying derogatory things about people of color of immigrants, wasn't too long ago, he went on a xenophobic tirade against Somalis as well, and Somali Americans during the campaign. We remember the comments, the false comments about Haitians eating pets as well, that I know prompt a lot of fear in that community.

So, you know, over -- this is a president also whose political rise came about from questioning the citizenship of the former president as well. So, you know, you've seen that the standards have almost been lowered to the point where you can see these kind of posts and a White House that thinks they can also talk their way out of it, and say it was, you know, a staffer that posted it. But there's been a sort of trend of how we got to this point as well.

TREENE: There's also that just when you were running through some of the past six, you know, times we've seen, you know, the president post things like this, remember, I mean, and they still post this, the White House, the sombreros on Hakeem Jeffries, obviously a black man, and Chuck Schumer, and they've continued to lean into that. So, I just wanted to add to that because that's not something they've run away from it like they have in this case.

BASH: And I just want to underscore because there's a lot coming at you at home. What Alayna reported at the top, which is that her sources are have been telling her, you, that Republican lawmakers called Trump directly about this. Go ahead, David.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF & POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yeah. We saw another member, Mike Lawler, who's in a tough reelection battle for his district in New York State, also do the and apologize, as you're saying. So, it's interesting to hear a lot of Republicans using that word, that they're seeking an apology as well, or believe Donald Trump or the White House should offer one.

I just -- there is -- when stuff like this happens, there's all this, you know, was there a strategy behind this? Was he doing? And it just feels all ridiculous to me, like it's a blatant racist trope. I mean, that's just a fact. It's a blatant racist trope on the social media feed of the president of the United States of America. It doesn't belong anywhere. It certainly doesn't belong on a social media feed of the president United States of America.

And so, the White House press secretary can bemoan fake outrage, which clearly, it seemed like she didn't understand where she was not reading the room correctly, like didn't understand where this was going and how quickly the White House was going to take it down. Because, to your point, I don't think she would have offered that statement if she thought this is where it was going to be a couple of hours later, but it is -- it is so clearly unacceptable.

And then you wonder, and think, does Donald Trump, is he reading the room, right? Has he lost? Because what you're saying, of all these cracks and Republicans calling and saying and really quickly, much more quickly than we normally see, I take away this, I think he has lost a bit of the assuredness political footing beneath his feet right now.

He is at the political low point of his term. Right now, we are months away from a midterm election. We know how nervous Republicans are, and I think that speaks to the speed in which something this blatantly wrong gets called out from his own party as wrong.

BASH: Yeah. And I just want to go back to one of the many great points that you made, Zolan, which is President Trump became a political figure with birtherism, which was, you know, a racist approach to getting into politics, claiming that a, the first black president, was not a U.S. citizen. He was from Africa.

And the fact that this racist meme, which they have now taken down, highlighted that person, Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, is noteworthy. I just want to play what the president has said, starting with wayback when he was just a business.

[12:10:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I want him to show his birth certificate. There's something on that birth certificate that he doesn't allow. All people have birth certificates. He doesn't have a birth certificate. Now, he may have one, but there's something on that birth, maybe religion, maybe it says, he's a Muslim. I don't know. And if he wasn't born in this country, which is a real possibility. I'm not saying it have. I'm saying it's a real possibility.

A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate. Many people do not think it was authentic. His mother was not in the hospital. There were many other things that came out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Born in America, not a Muslim. He's a Christian. Not that if he was a Muslim, so what? But that's just not his religion.

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, POLITICS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: We've seen this track record from Donald Trump for many years at this point the way that he talks about Obama. But I think what's unique today is, not his post. Unfortunately, we have had this conversation before about the racist tropes coming out of his mouth, but I think it's the fact that we are nine months out from a midterm election, and we are seeing a republican party that is more willing to push back and to criticize.

I mean, we hear, often times they're talking about, you know, they want to be talking about affordability. They want to be talking about issues that are going to get them voters come November. And nobody wants to have to be talking about the president's Truth Social post. And this just reminds me a lot of that first Trump administration, where, you know, you'd go out and talk to voters and they'd say, well, I want him to lower my taxes, but I hate his presence on social media. And we're seeing a lot of that come up, you know, that from the president.

BASH: Yeah. And just real quick, Zolan. I think things of this ilk happen a lot, and there is a lot of shoulder shrug, and there is a lot of like, oh, this is just the president. And the fact that this is different, I think in part, it's because of the timing, and he's at a political low point, but it feels like there's something else, and perhaps just because it was just so blatantly racist.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yeah. The just how blatant it was. I've talked to people, even just allies of this White House at times, who have said, you know, increasingly, as those in the White House have become more emboldened with power, the quiet part gets said out loud more, think the tirade against Somalis falls in that category. I think this does too.

BASH: All right, coming up. President Trump froze funding to a major New York City infrastructure project. And he doesn't want to give it back until he gets his name on more buildings. And Bad Bunny takes the field. The artist is preparing for his Super Bowl performance and telling all of us, just worry about dancing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: An offer, President Trump thought they couldn't refuse. Well, two sources familiar with a conversation that president had with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, of course, is the senator -- senior senator from New York. Saying that he would unfreeze billions of dollars in funding for a New York rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, but only if Schumer agreed to have New York's Penn Station and Washington Dulles Airport named for him, named for Trump. Now that offer was rejected by leader Schumer, and today, funding ran out, which could put a thousand construction workers out of a job.

My panel is back now, including New Jersey's very own -- actually, two of New Jersey's very own. But I'm going to

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Obviously.

CHALIAN: Yeah. I mean, right, the least surprising development of the year perhaps that Donald Trump is looking to seek a deal to get his name on more things like that. Clearly, it seems something he's very interested in doing, in leaving sort of a permanent named legacy. And by the way, it fits with his whole business before he got into politics, like to have his name licensed on all of these things.

BASH: But this time he's messing with a thousand jobs.

CHALIAN: No, no, I'm not -- I'm getting there. Yes.

BASH: As you were, he's on a role.

CHALIAN: But I'm just saying, so the fact that he wants this, the fact I would love to know what Chuck Schumer was like contemplating when he heard the offer, like how long it took him to reject it, because it would be insane. Now, once again, though, to your point about the jobs, it doesn't seem that factors into Trump's thinking at all, like this may not play well at the end of the day, because this actually may hurt people economically, hurt a region economically. There's a lot of good in that project, no doubt. But my God, it's just like, once again, Donald Trump continually proves it's really all about him above all else.

BASH: The governor of New York. I'll go to the New York Times here. Kathy Hochul put this on her social media. You can see it there, kind of having fun with it, even though, obviously, I would imagine she and other New Yorkers, Republicans and Democrats alike are, you know, concerned about this?

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yeah, yeah. And it's something that, you know, I've heard other local officials, including in Washington, you know, have raised this idea that the president, throughout this past year, at times, has focused on leaving his brand on various aspects of not just various government buildings, local and state, but various aspects of society, right? Like, he's trying to imprint his MAGA stamp on various aspects of society too and clearly has legacy in his mind.

[12:20:00]

I do think it's interesting that just the reporting is Schumer and him were talking about this. Like, obviously I don't have reporting that Schumer, you know, entertained there, is willing. But especially, coming after the shutdown talks, you know, I have -- I wrote about this, you know, last year that sometimes foreign leaders as well, when they visit the White House, think that they can get the president to, like, quell his worst impulses by flattering him. And it would be interesting to see if local officials also, just in talking about something like this, think this is key to also negotiating with the president. BASH: Let's just look at some of the -- I understand what you're saying, that he's trying to leave his imprint on policy, which he is. But let's just look at the buildings, the Kennedy Center, which is a memorial to a president who was assassinated, put his name first, Institute of Peace, National Park passes, Trump accounts, gold card, dollar coin, TrumpRX, Trump class, battleships.

KANNO-YOUNGS: A lot of Trump.

RODRIGUEZ: Mean, and then you think about again to David's earlier point, like his past legacy, this is so on brand I was looking before our conversation. I mean, it was Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Wines, Trump Menswear, Trump Home wear. You know, this is deeply on brand with him.

But I think it raises the question, and I think I'll keep coming back to the midterms here, because of my focus on voters. But it's just the fact that, if he's thinking about this, that is time that he is not thinking about how to deliver on his promises to the American people.

You know, if we saw in the 2025 election, anything come out of, you know, the races in New Jersey, Virginia and other elections that we've had more recently. It's been the fact that people are very frustrated with his administration, and they're frustrated with where the standing is of the economy and how he's handling immigration. Those are the issues people want to hear about, not his name on another building.

BASH: Sabrina, any time you want to talk about the mid-terms on Inside Politics. Up next. A very sharp turn here, because there is a desperate search for Nancy Guthrie inside the family's latest plea and the new details from the investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: The search for Nancy Guthrie, TODAY show host Savannah Guthrie's mother is now in its sixth day. Nancy's son, Cameron released this new plea to his mother's captor last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMERON GUTHRIE, SON OF NANCY GUTHRIE: Whoever is out there holding our mother, we want to hear from you. We haven't heard anything directly. We need you to reach out, and we need a way to communicate with you so we can move forward. But first we have to know that you have our mom. We want to talk to you, and we are waiting for contact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Senate John Miller is here now another plea for proof of life.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST. Yeah. So, the family has been very direct and very clear about what they need in their first appeal, but most notably in the second appeal, which was a one subject message, we need to hear from you for two reasons. We need to know, do you have her, and is she, OK? We need to be in contact.

And the fact that we are not hearing anything today from authorities, from the family, could mean two things, one, they're waiting, or two, someone has made contact with them, and they're vetting to make sure that person is the real deal. At that point, we're probably not going to hear much until there's something to report.

BASH: Yeah. And John on that note, what has -- what strikes you right now about where we are, the fact that it is day six, as somebody who has dealt with intense law enforcement issues like this.

MILLER: So, the investigators are going in a number of directions. They have possible suspects. Remember, the sheriff told us yesterday, you know, we don't have a prime suspect, but everybody is a suspect. Meaning, they're willing to look at any lead that comes in, anybody they're pointed to, any evidence they find that points to a specific person or place, all of that is going on.

But the dilemma that they're caught in in the investigation, and most importantly for the family, is here is this money demand with a note that has some specific information that, in theory, only the abductors should have known. And their message is we need to hear from you, and we need proof before we -- before we move on to anything about ransom, because if you cannot provide proof that you really have her, then you're probably not who you say you are.

BASH: John, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. And you can see in your screen the information at all the phone number for the FBI and for Arizona police. Thanks again. John.

MILLER: Thanks.

BASH: Coming up. The president is launching TrumpRX. Will it make your prescription drugs more affordable? We're going to dig into the numbers after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)