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Inside Politics

Trump: Both Rescued U.S. Airmen Are "Doing Well"; Artemis II Crew On Track To Break Apollo 13 Record; Artemis II Crew Expected To Fly By Far Side Of The Moon Today; Idaho Is Latest State To Reject Over Info Demands From DOJ; State Election Officials Say They're Worried About Trump Efforts To Build Massive Federal Voter Database; Critics Worry Trump Administration Could Use Data To Block Eligible Americans From Voting, Stoke New Conspiracy Theories. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired April 06, 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]

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: -- told reporters that both U.S. airmen rescued in Iran after their fighter jet was shot down are, quote, "doing well." At the top of the hour, the President is expected to hold a news conference on that rescue mission to save the pilot and weapons system operator.

I want to bring in Retired Lieutenant General Mark Schwartz. General, I mean it is so amazing what happened there and I want to walk through some of the details with you especially given how complex and dangerous this mission was involving Navy SEAL Team 6, the Army's elite Delta Force, CIA operatives and all kinds of American aircraft.

LT. GEN. MARK SCHWARTZ (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, it was really a remarkable execution of a very high-risk operation. And I think what a couple of key things that, you know, I've gleaned from this over the last, you know, day or two is that first off, you know, all the training that both these airmen had their SERE training leading up to, you know, this shoot down, it worked, right?

So they were both able to move to an area. One, a little bit shorter duration than the other to an area that was out of natural lines of drift, properly signal the rescue force and then execute a rescue. Certainly on the second recovery not to downplay the great work of the first airmen but to get the colonel weapons systems officer out, a lot of just phenomenal interagency coordination CIA all of our intelligence agencies.

And then certainly the Joint Special Operations Command working directly with Admiral Cooper and his staff to get this big orchestra in place to enable, you know, a ground force to come in, tactical aviation to come in to be able to facilitate his rescue. So very, very impressive.

BASH: And let's just kind of drill down on just what this airman did. First of all, he was injured apparently when he ejected from his F-15, then he scrambled up a 7,000 foot ridgeline hidden a crevice to avoid detection. You mentioned the training. I would imagine that of course a lot of it is training but a lot of it is instinct as well.

SCHWARTZ: Oh certainly, it's a combination of the both, Dana. And, you know, there's no higher motivation I'm sure for this airman, this colonel then, you know, here he is well behind enemy lines injured and, you know, it was reliant on his intestinal fortitude and, you know, his perseverance to be able to get to a location where he could safely signal back to ,you know, his headquarters or other, you know, overflight aircraft, et cetera, to let him know that hey I'm alive, I'm in a secure location, and now, I'm going to wait for rescue to occur.

BASH: Yes. General, thank you so much for coming on and talking a little bit about this. And as we said, we are definitely going to hear more from members of the current military leadership about how this all went down. Appreciate it.

SCHWARTZ: Thank you.

BASH: And coming up a voice from NASA's storied past greets the Artemis II crew as they prepare to set the record for the furthest humans have ever traveled from Earth. Details ahead.

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[12:37:53]

BASH: A short time ago, the four astronauts aboard the Artemis II mission to the moon woke for what's expected to be a record-breaking day. In less than two hours, they're expected to surpass a milestone set by the Apollo 13 mission almost 56 years ago. Team Commander Jim Lovell from that mission passed away last August, but he recorded a message to greet the astronauts when they woke this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM LOVELL, TEAM APOLLO 13 ASTRONAUT: Hello, Artemis II. This is Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. Welcome to my old neighborhood. It's a historic day, and I know how busy you'll be, but don't forget to enjoy the view.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Wow, I have the chills.

Here's a new photo from NASA of that view Jim Lovell mentioned. On the right, the side of the moon we see from Earth. On the left, the far side of the moon.

The Artemis II crew will venture farther from Earth than any human in history. It's part of a mission to fly by the far side of the moon and see areas never before witnessed by human eyes.

I'm joined now by Retired Astronaut Danny Olivas. Thank you so much for being here. Wow, what a wake-up call. I can't even imagine what that was like. What are you looking for today? What are you thinking about as a former astronaut yourself? DANNY OLIVAS, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: Well, I can tell you that I know that the crew is going to be focused on the mission at hand. They have a unique opportunity to kind of capture once-in-a-lifetime data from the far side of the moon, and so they're going to be focused on that as well as, you know, maintaining their vehicle and making sure that everything is working in order.

So as much as we like to think about the grandiose nature of space and all the things that they're going to be able to see, they're going to be focusing on the mission, and that's what astronauts do. They're focused on the mission as we continue to take care of them from here on the ground.

BASH: You mentioned data. What kind of data are they getting? What is so important to get? I have to say that I have a teenage son, and he said, why are we even going to the moon? What's the reason? What's your answer?

[12:40:03]

OLIVAS: Oh my gosh, there's a bunch of reasons. So as far as the data, the data that's going to be collected, is going to be unique data which will help inform future missions on potential landing sites. As I mentioned before, this is the first time human beings have ever had the opportunity to view the moon from this purview, and it'll capture data actually at a record pace, far more efficient and effective than it would be if we were to send, you know, probes up on their own.

And as far as why we continue to do this, well, I mean, we're an exploratory species. We've constantly looked towards the heavens. We've looked beyond the horizon and wanted to know, you know, what is there and what's beyond there. And so for us to be able to travel deeper into the solar system, such as Mars, we're going to go to the moon, we're going to learn how to operate on the moon in a different celestial environment, and from there, we will learn those lessons and use that as paving stones for us to go on to the next destination, which would be Mars.

And there are a lot of big moments happening today. They're scheduled to break the distance record for humans, and later they fly by the moon and reach their maximum distance from Earth. What is that stress like? I mean, obviously you haven't done this mission, but you've done other missions as an astronaut. Can you describe it?

OLIVAS: Well, I think the astronaut's prayer is relevant here as it always has been, and that is, you know, please dear Lord, don't let me screw this up. And I think the astronauts are probably all thinking the same thing. You know, given the fact that this is a once-in-a- lifetime event for not just the astronauts, but for NASA in general, everything that they have been trained to do over the past several years, part of Artemis II mission, in capturing the data they need to capture on the backside of the moon, they're focused on that right now, and that is all they're thinking about.

And as they move through this phase and data capturing, right now Sir Isaac Newton is in charge of the spacecraft, using gravity to turn the ship back around and head it back towards Earth. So right now they're focusing on things that they have to do, and that is collect data for the scientists and the next set of Artemis missions coming up.

BASH: So you mentioned the astronauts and NASA, they are going to lose comms. That's expected for a short while. Who do you think is going to be the most stressed about that? Those in mission control or those actually in space?

OLIVAS: I mean, I think, you know, I would say that maybe a little bit on both sides. I would say that, you know, we're pretty well -- it's pretty well understood exactly how the communication drop is going to happen. So it is something that's expected. It's not anything that's out of the ordinary.

And during that time frame, the astronauts are prepared what to do in the case of contingencies that things should happen while they're in the communication blackout. The same thing with the ground. The ground will have an opportunity to review all their data and basically be ready for once they establish communication on the next set of steps for the crew to get them back home safely.

BASH: Well, it is extremely cool. And as I was saying to you, as I was talking to you before we began, it's cool for those of us who are regular human civilians, but I can't imagine what it's like for you, who was a trained astronaut. So thank you so much for giving your expertise to us today.

OLIVAS: Dana, thank you very much.

BASH: Thank you.

And a reminder, CNN All Access is here to answer your questions about the historic Artemis II mission to the moon. You can send your questions to AskArtemis@CNN.com. Space experts and former astronauts will be answering those questions during CNN's All Access coverage of Artemis II mission that begins at 3:00 p.m. Eastern at CNN.com/watch.

Up next, the Justice Department has demanded sensitive voter data from dozens of states. But one Republican state has an election official who is saying no. We're going to explain why when we come back.

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[12:48:28]

BASH: We've got brand new CNN reporting on the Trump administration's efforts to snap up sensitive voter data. In the state of Idaho, a very Republican state, that is now the latest to face a lawsuit from the DOJ. The administration is suing 30 states. Judges have thrown out three of those suits.

Idaho's Republican Secretary of State, Phil McGrane, rejected demands for unredacted voter rolls, including sensitive information like Social Security numbers after the Trump administration admitted in a separate court case that some employees had offered sensitive information to outside groups. Gabe Cohen, who has been tracking the Trump administration's efforts to amass voter data, joins the panel here. Gabe, I'm just going to look at the headline that you and our colleagues have in the story. Trump is trying to build a massive voter database. Election officials are afraid of what he'll do with it. That is really sort of the heart of what is going on here.

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and there are a few pieces to this puzzle that show the ramped up effort from this administration in recent days. I think one of the key pieces of it is this executive order that we saw from the President last week. Part of it said he wants to create these citizenship lists, basically looking through federal databases to compile lists of American citizens to hand them off to states and say this is who was allowed to cast a ballot in your state.

Now, as you can imagine, that's already being challenged because the Constitution gives states, not the President, the authority to run elections.

[12:50:03]

But it's happening alongside those lawsuits that you're talking about, where the Department of Justice is suing all of these states trying to get their unredacted voter rolls. And what we saw in recent days was this first acknowledgement from the administration that the goal there is to hand off all that data to the Department of Homeland Security so that they can run it through this save system, the citizenship verification system that they've been souping up in recent months using a lot of those very databases that the President was talking about in that executive order.

Part of the problem, though, beyond the federal authority question, beyond the question about where all that data is going, is that that system thus far has proven to be pretty unreliable. A lot of the checks, because they've gotten a lot of data voluntarily from states, a lot of those checks have shown that more American citizens than non- citizens are actually being flagged by it, which gets to these bigger questions about what is the actual motivation here and what are the concerns that we're hearing from state election officials and these voting rights advocates.

There are a lot of question marks right now, but I'd say one of the biggest ones is, will this be used to sow doubts about the midterm election results after the fact? There are a couple ways that that could play out. Some see it as almost a win-win for the administration, this search for voter data, because they can say either, OK, we got those rolls and we see some question marks in here.

And so after the fact, until we can investigate, we see maybe thousands of non-citizens here, we have to do our due diligence now, or maybe these results can't be trusted, or a state doesn't hand over the data and they say, what were they hiding? We cannot seat that winner until we can look closer.

BASH: And I just quickly want to underscore what you write about today, and that is Idaho, and how telling it is that a state like Idaho, which is very, very Republican, but also a state full of a lot of people who don't trust the federal government, they're the ones -- there are other Republican states too, but they're one of the ones really pushing back saying, no, no, no, this isn't constitutionally your job, it's our job to do this, to do the -- to run the election.

COHEN: Yes. And I think if you ask most Republican voters and Republican leaders four years ago, if they wanted a national voter database, they would say no --

BASH: Right.

COHEN: -- but obviously times have changed on that. But as you say, this is not just a bout Democrats, a lot of Republicans are pushing back saying, first of all, it might violate state law if we hand the federal government all this data, but also, you know, what does the government actually want to do with this?

BASH: Exactly.

COHEN: How are they going to protect our data?

BASH: And Jamie, that's really -- let's sort of keep our eye on the ball here, which is there's a -- there are a lot of legal reasons why this is or isn't appropriate to do, but let's look at some of the figures that President Trump has in place to try to oversee this. A woman named Heather Honey, she's the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security under a division called Elections Integrity. She's somebody who denied the 2020 election, was an activist in doing so.

Eric Neff, Acting Chief, Voting Section at the DOJ Civil Rights Division. He led criminal charges against voting technology companies while in L.A. D.A.'s office and received praise from Trump. And then there is Harmeet Dhillon, who is in charge of civil rights, and she used a lot of Stop the Steal rhetoric after the 2020 election. Those are just some examples.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: So to Gabe's point about, there are two parts of this, one is what we're seeing they're trying to do. I think it's so important what you said about the flip side, and that is trusting the system when it happens and opening the door to chaos, confusion.

When -- I've spoken to a group of Republicans -- never Trump Republicans, who are very worried about Trump stealing the midterms, they say we cannot cover it enough. And their biggest concern is that between November 3rd and January 3rd, which is the lame duck session, that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson will use this kind of confusion and chaos not to seat people.

BASH: He will be encouraged to do so by the President of the United States.

GANGEL: Right.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Yes. And listen, Johnson has already been siding with the President on this. Just a couple weeks ago, when reporters asked him, Trump just voted by mail despite him pushing Congress to limit vote by mail. Johnson said, well, you know, Florida runs their elections really well. It's a Republican state. They're doing things fine.

But look at California. Look at blue states. We need federal election laws to apply across the board because we can't trust others. So Johnson already is just showing what we've seen time and time from administration officials and also Republicans on Capitol Hill. Rules don't apply to us Republicans. We need to put rules on Democrats.

[12:55:01]

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, and we also had last year when Johnson did not seat a congresswoman from Arizona for weeks, Congresswoman Grijalva, and he said it was because of the shutdown then. But what many people on the Hill, certainly Democrats, were talking about then is, was that setting a precedent for saying, well, I know the person, they said that they won the election, but it's actually my job to see who can be --

BASH: It's being contested.

DOVERE: Right.

BASH: We're not sure.

DOVERE: And those sorts of things. Look --

BASH (?): Yes.

DOVERE: -- this goes into the fundamentals of who we are but -- as a country. Go back to 2016, Donald Trump said, even then, I'll trust the election if I win it.

BASH: Yes, sure did. Thank you all for a very busy hour.

Thank you for joining Inside Politics. Don't go anywhere. The President's news conference will start apparently in about five minutes. CNN News Central will bring it to you after break.

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