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Soon: Clinton, Obama, Biden, Harris To Speak At Jackson Funeral; Trump To Dana: Iran Doesn't Need To Be A Democratic State; Trump To Dana: "Cuba Is Gonna Fall Pretty Soon"; Trump: Voter ID Law Is "More Important" Than Anything Besides Iran. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired March 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]

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA-JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: And so, it just I think that, you know, when I reflect on Jesse Jackson, yes, he was this huge civil rights leader, but just his story in and of itself, and I know we've heard a lot of that from Abby. His story in and of itself is one of resilience. It's of someone who, you know, did not shrink despite perhaps his early circumstances. And to me that speaks just as much as all the kind of accomplishments we tick off under his name.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Yeah. And Seung Min, as we watch dignitaries gather for this funeral. We just saw the governor of California and probable 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom show up there. We also expect current party leaders who are more local, some who also are thinking about 2028 like the governor of Illinois J.B. Pritzker, who are expected to be there.

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP: Right. You do see Reverend Jackson, how he has been such a role model for generations of politicians. And while we've been looking through, you know, his life's work, his comments, I was really struck by what he had said at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. His quote there was, my constituency is the desperate, the damn, the disinherited, the disrespected and the despised. That really showed you kind of, like his why, if you will.

I mean, we talked to, you know, Van and Abby talked earlier about how he just seemed to -- his focus was bringing in everybody at the margins of American life, and bring them into the political conversation, the political advocacy and political life. And you do see how, again, with the presence of so many politicians who are, you know, mostly out of public service, obviously the former presidents and the governors who want, you know, perhaps a bigger future and national politics see him as kind of their North Star, and really want to, you know, pay their respects, pay their condolences, and be here to celebrate his life.

BASH: And there's Tyler Perry, who we see there, also arriving for this, this remarkable celebration of life. And Abby, President Trump is not going to be there, but the two of them actually had a pretty good relationship. President Trump was very eager and his -- in his praise of Reverend Jackson on the day that he passed away. ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, their relationship goes pretty far back, and you heard from the several times actually, that President Trump talked about Reverend Jackson. He sort of said something to the effect of, you know, he's quite a character, but he's a good man. And they have been sort of running in the same circle since at least the 1980s, and in the 1990s that one of Reverend Jackson's big initiatives called the Wall Street initiative was housed inside of Donald Trump's building in lower Manhattan, and Trump was there when he opened up that initiative.

So, they do go way back, but it also reflects something else about Reverend Jackson, Dana. He is someone who has had relationships with presidents from, you know, from Nixon, Carter, Reagan, all the way through to present day. That's why so many of them will be present here. They have been dealing with him in all sorts of different ways, sometimes in contentious ways, sometimes in cooperative ways, because he was always the type of person who sought to move the ball forward for the people that he represented, particularly for black Americans. But as his work in politics ramped up, it became a much broader message.

Jeff Zeleny is here with me, here in the lobby. And Jeff, we were just discussing his relationship with President Trump, but his presence in American politics for so many decades is very unusual. We're also going to hear from President Clinton, who was extremely close with him in the 90s. Reverend Jackson was a spiritual advisor to him. So those relationships are going to be on full display.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: They certainly will and very different set of relationships with all three former living Democratic presidents here. And I just came from inside the hall, and it is a celebratory atmosphere. There's no doubt. But also, I've seen people wearing buttons that say Jesse Jackson 1984, from his 1984 campaign. But it was that 1988 campaign, as you well know, that you wrote about so well that paved the way for Barack Obama.

But Bill Clinton, I'm told, is going to talk about -- he'll go first. He's going to talk about the legacy of Reverend Jackson and what he meant to him from a civil rights era. But don't forget Joe Biden, when he was a senator, he ran in 1988 and Jesse Jackson did much better than Joe Biden. He finished the race. Biden did not.

PHILLIP: Biden didn't even get to the primary --

ZELENY: He did not.

PHILLIP: Yeah.

ZELENY: But it is that contentious relationship with Barack Obama that's been talked about some. I'm told none of that is going to be discussed today. Of course, he's going to honor the legacy and pay his tribute as you would expect.

PHILLIP: Yeah. I think a lot is made of the 2008 campaign, and truthfully, a strained relationship over the years. But, you know, I was told just a couple of years ago, they had a meeting right here in Chicago, not far from here, in Hyde Park, where they sat in a room -- in a hotel room, while Reverend Jackson was ailing from Parkinson's, and they spoke for over an hour.

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So, these are -- these are two men who know the nature of their ties to each other. And I think it will be so meaningful to the thousands who are gathered here to hear from President Obama about Reverend Jackson, because there are people in this room who lived through Reverend Jackson being the very first time they thought, wow, a black man could be president of the United States. And to hear that evolution from the man who actually ended up doing it will matter a lot.

You talked about the buttons. This scene in here, I'm not going to be surprised, will remind people a lot of what it would look like in a convention hall in 1984 and 1988. The way that Reverend Jackson moved people was a key part of who he was as a political orator and a political figure.

ZELENY: Without question, I mean, one of the best orators of our modern times, certainly in the television era. And -- but what is so striking is just the consistency with which his progressive message still resonates in the party today, still drives this Democratic Party. That is what is truly extraordinary. He was ahead of his time in terms of expanding the party, making it a rainbow coalition, if you will.

But to the point about the meeting between President Obama and Reverend Jackson, that is a sign of the respect that Reverend Jackson, I recall him telling me during the Obama campaign, he didn't necessarily feel that young Senator Obama respected him enough. Of course, Senator Obama had to go his own way, but they did have that meeting, and no one can forget.

We've seen that image so many times, of the tears streaming down Reverend Jackson's eyes in Grant Park here in Chicago on 2008, truly proud of Barack Obama and knowing that he did indeed set the course for him.

PHILLIP: Absolutely. And Dana, we're seeing -- I see there on the floor Rod Blagojevich, former governor of Illinois here. I've seen Reverend Jackson's sons, Jonathan Jackson, who is currently serving as the United States congressman, and Jesse Jackson Jr. who is running for his old seat in Congress. They are starting to gather. They're starting to fill out the floor as the service is preparing to begin, Dana.

BASH: I love what you said that this is somehow going to look like the convention in 1984, the Democratic convention, by the time this floor is filled out. That's really an important image.

PHILLIP: That's my guest.

BASH: Abby, we'll get back to you momentarily. I want to bring in Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, who served as a top aide to Vice President Kamala Harris during the Biden administration. Jamal, good to see you. You came up in democratic politics in the early 90s, just a few years after Jackson was the runner up in the 1988 presidential race. How did that campaign and his overall influence in politics influence you and other Democrats in your generation?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks, Dana. It's important to be here. Thanks for having me on. I think -- you know, we think about the modern political moment. We think about the Barack Obama moment. All these people who came out of that, those Jesse Jackson campaigns, 1984, 1988. Names we all know, friends of ours, Donna Brazile, who worked for him, Minyon Moore, who worked for President Clinton, Leah Daughtry, who ran the Democratic Party and Democratic conventions. All of them are veterans of -- they call themselves the Colored Girls. All of them are veterans of Jesse Jackson's campaigns.

And then you think about Bill Clinton, who ran in 1992. They had a contentious relationship. I was on that campaign in 1992 just, you know, those young, you know, college drop out for a semester. But I was on that campaign, and I remember there was a lot of strum because just Bill Clinton sort of was distancing himself from Jesse Jackson at 1992 campaign to prove to the rest of the country that he wasn't a captive of the Democratic Left.

And then in 1996, Jesse Jackson flirted with running against Bill Clinton for the Democratic nomination. This was at the same time affirmative action was being questioned by the Republican majority. And Jesse Jackson, Ron Brown, who was one of Jesse Jackson's allies and commerce secretary, they, I think, all work together. And ultimately, Jesse Jackson did not run against Bill Clinton in 1996, and Bill Clinton came out with a statement, we're going to mend affirmative action, mend it, not end it.

That was a very important moment, kind of, in the Democratic Party. So, this Jesse Jackson movement, it kept moving all the way as we go through Barack Obama in 2008, when we know that Jesse Jackson's campaign in 1984, 1988, they change the democratic delegate rules. So, they lower the threshold for what would be qualifying event for Democratic nominee, which help Barack Obama win some of those caucuses and primaries that he won his fight against Hillary Clinton in 2008. You just don't get to Barack Obama 2008 without Jesse Jackson.

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BASH: Yeah, such important history. Thank you so much for reminding us. I want to ask you about something I was just talking about here with Tia, Jamal, and that is something that you actually posted when the Reverend Jackson passed away. You posted a video of him in the early 70s, I believe, on Sesame Street. And he was reciting his famous poem, I am somebody. I may be poor, but I am somebody. I may be young, but I am somebody. And it goes on from there. Why did you think it was so important to post that, and how important was that to you when you were young?

SIMMONS: Yeah. You know, Jackson was a very personal figure. Also not to say personal to me. I mean, I got to know him in his later years, after being in politics for a long time, but he was personal to people in the way he led his politics. You know, he wasn't perfect. He's a complicated man, complicated personal life, but he was consequential. And I think he talked directly to young people about what they could do in their lives.

And he used these phrases, 1984 speech when he had gotten in trouble for some of the things he said. He said we have to be better, not bitter. He talked about forgiving, forgive, redeem and regroup. This was the core part of how Jesse Jackson lived his political life and what he was sort of saying to everyone else about what they should do in their lives.

And if you go back and listen to some of those speeches that he gave, Ron Brown's funeral, which is what I suggest young people to go back and listen to eulogy there. When he goes and he talks about that. He talks often about how you absorb pain, don't distribute it, absorb it and get better, not bitter.

BASH: Yeah. I'm old enough to remember that speech and that funeral. And I agree with you. People should go back and look at that on YouTube. Jamal, thanks for being here. I really appreciate it. And we are going to sneak in a quick break. You see that things are just getting going in Chicago. The celebration of life for civil rights icon, the late Reverend Jesse Jackson. It will begin any moment. We're going to bring it to you live.

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[12:15:00]

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PHILLIP: Welcome back. We are here in Chicago at the House of Hope, where thousands are gathered for the home going services of Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr. You may not be able to hear but you can see it on the screen. It is a -- it is church. It is a home going service for a civil rights and a religious leader who has been in American life for the last 60 years, Dana. The service is just getting under way, but we're expecting a lot more in the hours ahead.

BASH: All right, Abby. We'll get back to you very shortly. In the meantime, we do want to talk about the war in Iran. Aerial assaults and strikes are continuing there and that is happening still in a very aggressive way. As here in Washington, we have heard from President Trump. I spoke to him on the phone this morning and he told me several things, including the fact that he's very confident in how the military is doing so far. He gave himself a 12, maybe 15 on a scale of 10.

And also, Seung Min said that the military was rebuilt in his words in the first term, and now he's using it in this term. One of the most interesting things, I think, that he said to me was about the leadership next. When I asked about it, he -- as he has done before, made a comparison to Venezuela and where Delcy Rodriguez, he thinks, is doing very well.

And I said, but it's Iran is different because there is a religious leadership, there a regime that is very focused on religion. And he said, well, there are Catholics in Venezuela. And I said, yes, but it's very different in Iran. And I said, do you think that the next leader of Iran needs to be democratically elected? And he said, no. He said, I don't mind religious leaders. I deal with a lot of religious leaders and they are fantastic. And then he said, there has to be a leader that's going to be fair and just and do a great job, treat the United States and Israel well. And then he added also the other countries in the Middle East.

KIM: Right. He's been very focused. As he emphasized in your interview with him, Dana, that whoever is the next leader of Iran has to have -- has to have the United States approval. And he also emphasizes point again earlier today on his social media feed when he's -- he seemed to kind of indicate any sort of realistic chance of negotiations. He said there will be nothing unless you get unconditional surrender from Iran.

BASH: He did that after our conversation, just for the reference --

KIM: Oh, there, can I get a little TikTok -- conversations. And then he also talks about how he sees a future where, you know, if there is a new leadership in Iran that he feels the other Gulf states and the United States can work with, he sees very, you know, good, prosperous future for Iran and the rest of the Middle East.

But as you point out, this is -- it is a much more complicated situation than that, and also, he is, you know, there are significant domestic implications for him as well. I know you also talked about the issue with gas prices, obviously a huge concern for voters. This White House has been proud to tout the decline in gas prices under his presidency.

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BASH: And let me just -- sorry to interrupt you. I do want to just say on that note. That was one of the first things I asked him about. It was a very short phone call. It was about five minutes. But I did ask about that because, as we've talked about, like every day since this started. The whole idea of gas prices is always on the front of President Trump's mind. It really helps him determine, from his perspective, how people are feeling. And he would say the gas prices are low. They're not low, right now. They're higher, which is what I said to him. And he said, that's all right. It'll be short term. It'll go way down very quickly.

KIM: Right, right. We know that there's reporting that White House aides and other cabinet officials are really trying to figure out a way to make, you know, to ease that pain for -- pain for consumers. Because what is so potent about gas prices is that it's probably the one consumer good where the price of it is like literally everywhere as you drive.

And this is what former White House Chief of Staff under Biden, Ron Klain, was so obsessed with him. He was tweeting about gas prices all the time when he was chief of staff, because he -- and, you know, politicians recognize that most people know what gas prices are. You can't really avoid them as you're driving down the street or even walking from the, you know, walking around in your neighborhood depending on where you are.

And again, the president expresses confidence to you that, you know, that it will go down somewhat, but you're -- he's really asking voters to trust him right now. And you know when the affordability issues are where they are and the concern from voters are where they are before this happened, that's a really tall order for the president to ask.

BASH: He brought up Cuba, Toluse, unsolicited. I didn't ask him about Cuba. But he said Cuba is going to fall pretty soon. He said they want to make a deal, and so I'm going to put Marco Rubio over there and we'll see how that works out. We're really focused on this one right now. This one, he meant Iran. But we've got plenty of time, Cuba is ready after 50 years. And then he also just continued saying, I've been watching Cuba for 50 years. It's fallen right into my lap because of me, it's fallen into the lap and we're doing very well.

I mean, the idea that Cuba is something that, you know, from his perspective, he insists that it's -- we're not maybe necessarily paying very close attention to it because of what's going on in the Middle East, but that -- because of what happened in Venezuela, the domino effect is that regime could fall. What are you hearing from your sources about the reality of that?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Well, it's very much in line with what the president wants to do in his second term, knock off Venezuela, go after Iran, and then go after Cuba. He sees those three different countries and trying to install more U.S. friendly leadership in those countries as a key part of his legacy. And it's a big reason why he is taking action without Congress that no other president has been willing to take. In part because he wants to build this legacy of going after America's adversaries in Cuba, Venezuela and Iran.

But the way he's describing it, he's describing all of this as if it's very easy. Yes, there was a very successful operation in Venezuela that took away the leadership and brought him to New York. Iran is not as easy. Cuba may not be as easy as well. You don't necessarily have an opposition that's ready to take over there. And so, the president is talking about these things as if they're very simple, very easy to do.

He's talking about things falling into his lap and his conversation with you. It's not as easy as he describes it, and as he's seeing in Iran, as we've already seen some Americans get killed. This is a complex situation. When you talk about war, when you talk about trying to install new leadership in various countries that have had regimes for decades, it becomes very complex and very difficult, and the president is starting to see that now.

BASH: Yeah. And I did ask him one question I got in on domestic politics, and that's Texas and whether -- and when he is going to endorse John Cornyn. That was the question I asked. And he said, I'm making a decision fairly shortly, but I want and then I feel very strongly that we have to have a full and complete SAVE America Act. And then he said, I like John Cornyn. I get along with him well, I get along with them both very well.

On the SAVE America Act, he was very emphatic on this. He said, I don't want it to be watered down. I want to have five things in there. And he said, It's the idea of voter ID, proof of citizenship, no mail in ballots with exceptions for military, illness, disability and travel. And then he added two trans related issues into this. No men and women sports and no transgender operations for youth. This, he told me was his top priority, legislatively, that he's focused on in addition to what he's focused on with Iran.

MITCHELL: Yeah. I find it really interesting the SAVE Act, because there are parts of the SAVE Act, as you just outlined, that I think a lot of American people on the surface will say, well, those all sound reasonable. But when you dig down into it, like so much of President Trump's policies, much easier said than done.

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When you talk about, for example, proof of citizenship, which already, you have to be a citizen to vote in federal elections. But when you start -- when you say, prove your citizenship, that's different. That's -- is it requiring passports? Are you now matching up names? Whereas, if you're a married woman and you change your name, does that create problems for you? There's just a lot of nuance in some of these policies. And at the end of the day, the Senate filibuster stands in this way.

BASH: Yeah. And that's what I also asked him about, because, again, I didn't ask him about the SAVE Act. And by the way, he was very emphatic, it's the SAVE America Act. And he said that because they're expanding the whole voter ID part of it to include these social issues, these trans issues. But again, I didn't ask about this legislation. I asked about John Cornyn, and he connected the two.

KIM: Right. I think it's because, you know, Ken Paxton has been also out there saying he is an ardent supporter of this legislation and trying to put pressure on John Cornyn that way. And again, Tia mentioned this, but the crux of the issue here, technically speaking, is the fact that this cannot pass unless it gets 60 votes in the Senate, which it won't, or whether the Senate Republicans would dump the legislative filibuster.

And you know, the Majority Leader John Thune has made it absolutely clear that that is not something that neither he nor most of his conference will be willing to go -- go or support, because they warn that a future Democratic president, and a future, you know, Democratic Congress can then enact whatever legislation they want if they have a simple majority. But Donald Trump, you know, I'm not sure how much he, you know, thinks about the long game post his presidency when he is out of office in that way.

And Cornyn is an institutionalist. I believe he has said that he'd be OK on, you know, weakening the filibuster for that legislation kind of similar to what some Democrats were doing in the last Congress. But, you know, at the end of the day, you know, Cornyn, you know, he's a Senate guy. He is someone who is, you know, who respects the rules and has abided by the rules of the institution and it's a harder issue for him in that sense.

BASH: Yeah. And Paxton tried to sort of box Cornyn in or out in this case, because he said, after it was clear that there's going to be a runoff post Tuesday's election. That he Paxton, would consider dropping out of the runoff if they agreed in the Senate to pass this legislation beyond and got the filibuster to do it, you know. So, these are all the conversations that are very much connected and what the president is very much thinking about, especially as this mid-term election gets closer.

OK. We are going to show you some more live pictures from Chicago. The celebration of life for the late Reverend Jesse Jackson. It's going to begin very soon. Stay with us.

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