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U.S. & Iran Fail To Reach Deal After Marathan Talks; High Inflation Weighs On Republicans Eager To Move On From War; Why Did First Lady Bring Epstein Back Into Spotlight? Swalwell Faces Calls to Drop Bid Amid Sexual Allegations; Democrats Call for "Solid" Agenda in Early Pitch to Voters; Golfers Fight Trump Takeover of Washington's Public Courses. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired April 12, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:20]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): No deal.

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement.

RAJU: Twenty-one hours later, the vice president departs with one final offer on the table.

With President Trump ready to move on to the next fight --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We win regardless. Whether we make a deal or not makes no difference to me.

RAJU: What will it take to end the war?

Plus, shockwaves. Amid troubling new allegations from multiple women, Eric Swalwell goes from front runner to under-fire.

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): These allegations of sexual assault are flat false.

RAJU: Could he be forced out of Congress?

And in the rough.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is.

RAJU: I felt good.

As Trump tries to put his stamp on D.C.'s golf courses, I tee it up as one course becomes the White House's dumping ground.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is where I learned to play as a kid.

RAJU: This is where I learned to play.

INSIDE POLITICS, the best reporting from inside the corridors of power, starts now.

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU (on camera): Good morning. And welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

The world is on edge this morning after 21 hours of talks between the U.S. and Iran failed to produce a deal. Overnight, Vice President J.D. Vance departing Pakistan without -- with major questions about how President Trump will respond if the fragile two-week ceasefire will last. The talks were the highest level between U.S. and Iran and Iran since 1979. But when will they continue and what will they produce?

The vice president asserting that the ball is now in Iran's court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that's bad news for Iran, much more than its bad news for the United States of America. So, we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement. We leave here with a very simple proposal, a method of understanding that is our final and best offer. We'll see if the Iranians accept it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So, what comes next?

For that, I'm joined by CNN's Nic Robertson, live in Islamabad, who questioned Vance at that press conference last night. So, Nic, what are the sticking points that have so far prevented a deal? And do we know if there will be any more direct talks?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The core issue from Vice President J.D. Vance's view, was the fact that Iran has not agreed to rule out uranium enrichment to the point of making a weapon, he said there was absolutely no strong and long-term commitment from them. From the Iranian perspective, it's all about the leverage they believe they have with the Strait of Hormuz, and they don't feel that they're getting, enough in return for it. That's where things stand.

We also understand Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff have also left. There are no U.S. negotiators, a technical senior level at all left behind here in Pakistan. Also, we understand Iranian negotiators have returned to Tehran. So, there's no one here to do the talking.

Pakistani officials remain optimistic. They describe the talks here over a 21-hour period as hectic, involving the most powerful man in Pakistan, the field marshal here, that he was involved. They do say -- the Pakistanis do say -- they were the interlocutors here. They were in the room in these trilateral talks that went all the way through the night. Marathon, the talks were ongoing when the sun went down. They were ongoing when the sun came up.

And the Pakistani officials that we're talking to, sources here, are saying that both sides do not want to return to February the 28th when the war began. But it is not clear precisely what the next moves are going to be. It does appear as if we're in a position now where both sides have to see, look, let the dust settle, see what their next moves are going to be, how they're going to frame those moves. Because I think absent last night, the vice president saying, this is our full and final offer. We didn't get a sense of, okay, if you -- here's the deadline for that offer. Here's what happens if you don't make and reach agreement on that offer.

But I think there's a real worry in the region right now that while you don't have momentum towards a positive outcome, you have spoilers, as people describe here in the region who are going to try to spin a negative message and potentially tip this back to a slow and steady escalation back towards conflict again.

RAJU: All right. Nic Robertson from Islamabad this morning, thank you for the latest on those talks.

And so, let's break this all down with my excellent panel of reporters this morning. "Politico's" Dasha Burns, CNN's David Chalian, and Jasmine Wright from "NOTUS".

Good morning to you all.

It was a late night of news, as it tends to happen in the Trump era.

DASHA BURNS, POLITICO WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF: Especially on the weekends.

RAJU: Yes, especially on the weekends. We tend to learn that Sunday mornings here.

[08:05:00]

Dasha, you cover the White House. Trump's going to wake up to this news. I'm sure he knows where he's -- what he's going to say this morning. What are you hearing from your sources about how he plans to process this? The fact that they left without a deal, the fact that there are major sticking points still on the table, and whether he's going to allow these talks to continue or will he continue, will he go back and attack Iran?

BURNS: Well, look, this is not the way that the president thought this would go. This entire time, they've been making these parallels to Venezuela. They wanted the speaker of the parliament in Iran to sort of be their new Delcy Rodriguez. That is not how it is working out.

And the president has put himself in a tough spot here because he has made the threats. I mean, he has escalated as high as you can escalate, talking about ending an entire civilization this week. And where do you go from there?

RAJU: Yeah.

BURNS: He went all the way and then scaled back. Can he go all the way again and have that credibility that he could actually go through with it when he didn't this time around?

So, he's in a tough spot. And this is this is a problem for him that he's been wanting to be the president. That finally solves the problem of Iran for everyone. I was looking back this week. He was talking about Iran as early as 2007 to 2011. You know, this is something -- this is one of the few issues that he has been consistent on, and he has now put himself in a tough spot here.

RAJU: But how is patience, as Trump have for negotiations like this, David. I mean, look, these are major sticking points. Just to underline what Nic was reporting about what is still on the table here. The Strait of Hormuz, the Iran refused to relinquish leverage over that critical choke point.

The U.S. has demanded that Iran do that. They said they'll do this after there's a peace deal. We'll see if that happens. Iran wants the release of about $27 billion in frozen revenue. That's not what the Americans have agreed to.

And of course, it is the uranium, about 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium that the United States is very concerned about.

These things take a lot of time. Is Donald Trump willing to give it that time?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: A lot of time. And we've been through quite a circuitous route here. I mean, Midnight Hammer back in June, according to the president, totally obliterated the nuclear sites and the nuclear program. And now we're at a place where there's no deal because the vice president says the Iranians refuse to say that they won't have a nuclear program. I mean, these things -- that's quite a journey from June to now.

RAJU: Yeah.

CHALIAN: And this year, including the five weeks of intense kinetic military combat in in Iran.

Manu -- it seemed pretty clear to your point, Dasha, about if you go to, I'm going to annihilate an entire civilization and then get to the ceasefire -- I don't know how you can read that anyway, other than Donald Trump is not all that desirous about going back into conflict. I think he wants an off ramp here, and I think he wants that.

And you listed three. I think he'll take anything that he can sort of point to, to allow this time frame to extend of not being back in a full conflict.

BURNS: This is why I was so surprised that it was a full "there is no deal coming out of here" because he needs just something to be able to say. We've got some victory, we've got some traction here and there are a lot of different ways to spin that, but they are coming out fully empty-handed.

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: If you heard the president on Saturday when he was asked on the tarmac, he didn't say that negotiations were going well. So it's actually not really all that surprising that there wasn't some concrete deal that came out of it, because when the president was talking about it, he didn't say they were going well. And he said that if a deal wasn't made, the U.S. would be fine.

I was talking to White House officials on Friday who were effectively kind of planning for what happens after the ceasefire takes hold. They were really optimistic that a deal could come out of it, saying, we're going to get to this in a couple of weeks. We're going to get to that in a couple of weeks. And so, this obviously presents a major problem for the president.

I was talking to one source close to the White House who, when that ceasefire announced, frankly, said, you know, quite pessimistically, the war is likely to resume because the gaps are too far apart from those places, and not just the 15-point plan versus the 10-point plan that the White House says isn't actually a 10-point plan, but those major sticking points.

And so, while J.D. Vance says that it is the nuclear ambitions that is the problem, the Iranians say that they're about two or three problems.

RAJU: Yeah.

WRIGHT: So how do you bridge that and do it within that two-week threshold that they have?

RAJU: I mean, in again, yes, Trump could say, okay, you may want to take any deal to say he's got a deal. But if Iran is able to continue what it's what the United States has been concerned about, whether it's the nuclear program or have a stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz, then what do they get out of the war to begin with?

BURNS: Yeah. And I go back to this idea of regime change. The president says that's not -- that wasn't the goal, but regime change happened. The son of the ayatollah, I had a source close to the White House who's a huge supporter of the president, say, listen, this. You killed this guy's father, you killed his wife, and you expect him to be more willing to negotiate, less radical than his father was?

[08:10:06]

Iran is coming from a position of ideology and from a position of we are willing to sacrifice anything to look powerful and to stand up for this country. They don't have much to lose here in the same way that the United States does.

RAJU: What do we think about J.D. Vance's role in all this? I mean, he interestingly, last night, Marco Rubio, who had been heavily involved in Iran for so many years, had been heavily involved in this strategy. He was actually at the UFC fight in Miami with Trump last night, not negotiating this this deal with Iran. Vance, on the other hand, who has not been on the forefront of Iran, was taking the lead here.

CHALIAN: Yeah. Although I guess Trump and Rubio were taking phone calls from Vance and the negotiating team throughout.

RAJU: Sure.

CHALIAN: But I it is really interesting because Trump kind of acknowledged that he like -- put J.D. Vance forward for what was going to be a really big moment of potential opportunity for him in terms of a leadership role here. What is so fascinating is obviously, all of the reporting has said that Vance was one of the most skeptical inside the administration about this from the outset, playing the role of the loyal lieutenant, no doubt.

But the fact that he now is the face of we have no deal. And hanging in the balance is what happens next because of that, if J.D. Vance is the face of we have no deal. And that causes back to war. I mean, that is so against the grain of what Vance had sort of put forward publicly about his interests in this area.

RAJU: Speaking of which, this is a flashback of what J.D. Vance has said about the U.S. engaging in foreign wars

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: We're going to stop sending our young people to faraway lands. We are not the policeman of the world.

If you're worried about the world spinning out of control, if you're worried about a military draft, if you're worried about, God forbid, a world war, the best way to prevent it is to vote for Donald Trump.

I hate to say this, but America is not good at micromanaging wars in the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Not good at micromanaging wars in the Middle East.

WRIGHT: And then there he finds himself.

I mean, it's fascinating. The president obviously asked him, according to sources, to go to Islamabad to lead these negotiations. The president, when asked what J.D. Vance has to prove, he said nothing.

But, you know, that's not really looking at the prospects of 2028. I followed Vice President Kamala Harris a lot. Obviously, she did not get these opportunities from President Biden, but still put her in a difficult position to not just defend what the Biden administration had to do once she inevitably ran, but to mark that against her own record.

And J.D. Vance, if he does run in 2028, which people close to him believe that that is obviously very closely on his mind, he will have to do that same thing. And so you're seeing, yes, it's playing out in real time now, and obviously the war is important, but then what happens in 2028?

RAJU: Yeah, all very, very good questions, which will, I'm sure continue to explore here on INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.

All right. Coming up, shocking new allegations of sexual assault against a front runner in the race for California governor. Well, Eric Swalwell be able to remain in Congress.

And next, as Republicans try to move on, Melania Trump's curveball continues to reverberate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: The lies linking me with the disgraceful Jeffrey Epstein need to end.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:17:49]

RAJU: The anxiety within the Republican Party over the Iran War is intensifying as prices rise here in the U.S. during a midterm election season where affordability remains issue number one for most voters. New this week, the war drove up monthly inflation. Nearly 1 percent tripled the pace from before the war started, and the annual rate of 3.3 percent was the highest in almost two years.

So, how long can Trump expect to keep his party in line? Well, for that, my panel is back.

Well, one of the things is obviously, we've seen these poll numbers really erode for Trump on so many different levels, just starting off about the view on the Iran. Well, the confidence in Trump's ability to make good policy decisions about Iran just dropping across the board among the total amount of voters from 84 percent back in July of 2024, now down to 66 percent.

Look at, though, on the Republican number dropping 12 points in just -- in a couple of years' time, David Chalian. This is consistent across the board when you're seeing the Republican nervousness about how Trump is handling things here.

CHALIAN: Yeah, I mean, the data point there that in the timeline before the March numbers of the precipitous decline, you see, is the fact that he went to war in Iran. And that is not a popular decision among Americans broadly and clearly among Republicans as well.

This is -- this is why, as we were saying, Trump is in search of any way to put this behind him. He and his team understand, even though they may believe in the principles of what they're pursuing and the military success to date, as they often point to, they understand politically, it has been a loser for them. And there isn't a clear path to turn it around and make it a winner.

I mean, given not only are negotiations not going well, but it would take so long to get to a place that they can actually tout this as a huge victory in the Iran problem solved.

So, that's why I think you have Trump so many times last week hammering away at get the strait open because if he can get to point to something, I'm doing something that's going to have an effect on bringing prices down. He can call that a victory, even though that wasn't one of the problems going into the war.

[08:20:01]

RAJU: Right. And just because my math is -- I'm a journalist, not a mathematician, I -- 18-point difference between the Republican drop off. There. So, a significant one as well.

But, Dasha, the reason why is to David's point is that look at the gas prices from -- just from the -- from Friday, February 27th, $2.98 was the day before the war up to $4.13 today.

Trump and the GOP keep saying, oh, it's going to come down. It's going to come down. Everything will be fine. No need to panic right now. The war will be over. It'll be okay by the midterms. It's not that easy.

BURNS: Yeah, I sat across from Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair late last year, who was also the architect of Trump's successful 2024 campaign, one of the architects. And he told me 2026 will be a relentless focus on affordability.

"Politico" just did an analysis, data charts, all of that -- on how much time he spent talking about cost of living versus the war, this past month, more than twice as much he's focused on the war with Iran over cost-of-living issues here at home. James Blair is now "Politico" scooped yesterday that he is going to leave temporarily the White House to focus on the midterms. Go, go the political route.

This is going to be his chief problem for getting Republicans where they need to be, because the president is not relentlessly focused on affordability. And --

RAJU: Yeah.

BURNS: -- literally the numbers pricewise, are not where they need to be.

RAJU: And the question is, can he keep his party in line? Theres probably going to be a vote in the house this week on another war powers resolution to try to check the president on Iran.

We're seeing Republican nervousness. Nancy Mace running for governor in South Carolina, said this last week, war with Iran needs to end. President Trump has won the war. Time to exit.

The White House is going to -- Trump is going to put pressure on Republicans when they come back to Congress this week to stay in line. That's going to be hard.

WRIGHT: Yeah, he will have to put pressure on them. I will just say that there is probably no person more effective in getting the house to vote the way that they want to than Donald Trump and the Republican conference right now, because he is the leader. But fundamentally, you know, I was talking to one person, you know, about four weeks ago, and they told me that there is no person in the White House that was willing to bear the political consequences of the war more than President Trump.

Four weeks later, that does not seem to be the tune. You're seeing him do everything he can to try to get out of this war as gas prices are going up, as prices are going up, as that core inflation is something that he's focused on time and time again is going up. And so, I think you're going to see the president both lean on Republicans to say you need to put forward my message, but also lean on his team to figure out a way to say that this is a win and get out.

RAJU: All right. So, meantime, while all this was going on last week, Melania Trump comes out and gave a much-discussed comment about Jeffrey Epstein and saying that -- denying any real association with him, saying that the Epstein victims should testify before congress.

And a lot of people were wondering, where did that come from? And who else was wondering about that? "Saturday Night Live" who had some fun with that last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen, I decided I should do a big random speech completely out of nowhere and say I am not Epstein victim. Is that good?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Darling, I got to admit, that sounds a little insane. Who are you? Me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Okay. So, Dasha, you cover the White House? Tell us why Melania Trump made this remarks?

BURNS: I asked all of these questions, Manu, I was also -- I mean, I think we can all attest to the incoming we got on our own phones when she came out and this is what she said, everyone asking me what is happening. So I posed, that --

WRIGHT: Surprises all around.

BURNS: Surprises all around.

WRIGHT: Just be very frank. Surprises all around.

BURNS: So, I asked the White House team. I asked Melania's team. There were no answers given. That was just left eft out there for all of us.

RAJU: What are you hearing about this?

WRIGHT: I mean, I was literally in the White House earlier in that day, and I was asking people, as you do before the weekend, outside of the Iran negotiations, what do I need to know? What are you guys thinking about? What's coming up?

Not a single person mentioned this, and she had already been on the schedule that those statements had already been on the schedule for reporters, for folks who aren't getting these messages from the White House, they announced that she would be giving a speech or a statement on Thursday. And so, when I'm in the White House on Friday, nobody talked that this was what she was going to say. And so there's a lot of questions.

Now, the vice president, I mean, the first lady's team has been really aggressive in trying to attack folks and get them to recant what they've said about her relationship or her non-relationship with Jeffrey Epstein --

RAJU: Why now, David? Why now?

WRIGHT: -- and Ghislaine Maxwell.

CHALIAN: I mean, I think the first lady is, like many people online a lot. And I think there was some bubbling up of some of this that she just wanted to put an end to it. And I don't think political strategy played in at all, obviously.

And I think that she has license from her husband to like, pursue her own interests as needed.

RAJU: And it was -- maybe not what the Republicans or her husband may want, because now the questions will be to Republicans. Well, okay, the first lady wants them to testify. The victims, should they testify in public? We'll see what they say.

All right. Up next, more questions. Congressman Eric Swalwell, embroiled in a sexual misconduct scandal with the walls closing in, news ahead on the new pressure and investigation he's facing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: Eric Swalwell has quickly gone from Democratic frontrunner to pariah within his own party. As a firebrand congressman from northern California, Swalwell rose to prominence with his battles against Trump and was seen as a leader in the race to be the next governor of California.

But now his career is on the verge of collapse amid shocking accusations of sexual misconduct by four women, including an alleged rape. Among the allegations, his former staffer told CNN the congressman raped her when she was heavily intoxicated and left her bruised and bleeding, an allegation Swalwell strongly denies.

Quote, "I was pushing him off of me saying no," the woman told CNN of the alleged 2024 incident. "He didn't stop," she said. More and more prominent Democrats are now calling on him to drop out

of the race, with some saying he should resign his seat in the House. But Swalwell is defiant and says he'll fight to clear his name.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA): These allegations of sexual assault are flat false. They are absolutely false. They did not happen. They have never happened. and I will fight them with everything that I have.

I have certainly made mistakes IN judgment in my past, but those mistakes are between me and my wife. And to her I apologize deeply for putting her in this position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right. My panel is back.

I mean, these are terrible, shocking, awful accusations. How could he possibly think that he can stay in this race, let alone continue to serve as a member of the House?

DASHA BURNS, POLITICO WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF: I can't imagine how Democrats do anything but call on him to step away from the race and to resign his seat. I mean, Democrats have really tried to own this accountability issue.

You do something wrong, you get held accountable, especially now with the Epstein files and that conversation we've been having. I can't imagine that they wouldn't just push for that.

RAJU: Can he survive this, David?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, he said he's going to take the weekend and we'll hear from him again No doubt.

It's hard -- it's hard to see how a campaign can continue in any way, though, you know. In modern American politics, we see people just try to stick these things out. So we'll see what he says.

But, you know, it was a pretty unsettling -- unsettled race to begin with. He -- yes, was coalescing -- coalescing support based on being the most sort of anti-Trump activist in the field, basically. And that has helped rally the Democratic base.

His departure from the race, I think just extends how unsettled. And it's just a couple months before the primary, how this race to be the governor or at least make it to the general to be the governor of the largest state where one out of every 8 to 9 Americans live. This is a big deal race.

RAJU: Yes.

CHALIAN: And I think it leaves it much more unsettled.

RAJU: And just very quickly, because these are the Democratic candidates for California governor, some of the more prominent ones -- there are a huge number of candidates here, David. Do any of these stand to benefit if Swalwell drops out of the race.

CHALIAN: I mean, I think the ones that have been near him, among the Dems in the top, right, when you look at Tom Steyer, who's spending millions upon tens of millions of dollars blanketing the airwaves. Katie Porter may be able to make something of this.

But there's opportunity here for all of them because it is a very splintered field.

RAJU: Yes.

And Jasmine, now, there are calls from a number of prominent Democrats for Swalwell to drop out of the race. You're seeing just a list of many of them on the -- on your screen. There's many more that have called for him.

But what's notable is that the Democratic leadership did not call on him to resign. They're saying drop out of the race. But of course, he's got a seat in the House. And if he were to resign, that makes that narrow majority a little wider for Speaker Johnson until there's a special election --

JASMINE WRIGHT, NOTUS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And we've actually seen the same thing happening before with Congressman Tony Gonzalez of Texas. Obviously, he's involved in a scandal, and he left that race that he was running, but he hasn't resigned from Congress. That's kind of the next threshold.

I know Anna Paulina Luna is saying that she's going to admit some articles to try to get Swalwell to be expelled or to leave congress. Democrats are now saying they're going to do the same thing with Tony Gonzalez.

But we've seen them leave the races, but we haven't seen them leave Congress. And that seems to be kind of the next threshold that people want to see when we're talking about accountability.

RAJU: Yes.

WRIGHT: Want to see these lawmakers do.

RAJU: Speaking of the expulsion vote, because you're right, because there's probably going to be a vote to try to expel Eric Swalwell that's going to put Democrats in a very difficult position.

Oftentimes, members will say, well, there hasn't been an ethics investigation yet, and we'll see if that becomes the argument from the people who don't support expelling him. But given the nature of these allegations, that's going to be a hard vote.

But if that happens, expect several other members of the House to also face expulsion votes. People who have had sexual misconduct allegations, Jasmine mentioned Tony Gonzalez. Also, Congressman Cory Mills, a Republican. [08:34:50]

RAJU: And Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a different issue altogether. She was indicted and charged with federal crimes for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA disaster funds. And she's facing her own ethics probe that is not going in her direction.

So we could see several members here facing expulsion votes.

CHALIAN: Yes. And I think you'll hear from members on both sides that, as you said, about ethics, like having some kind of due process underway for these investigations is something members themselves feel strongly about usually because, you know, it's a very inside club and they govern themselves.

RAJU: Yes, no question about it. Do you think that any of these members can actually survive and hang on to their seats?

BURNS: Look, I think all of the folks that you mentioned are liabilities for their parties. But the majority conversation and the small margins are, you know, it matters to congress. But I think --

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: Yes. It's a hard vote to defend --

BURNS: But for voters, I mean, seeing any of their leadership vote in favor of keeping someone with this hanging over their head, I think is going to be a tough pill to swallow.

RAJU: Yes. It's very rare for a member to be expelled from Congress. It takes two-thirds majority in the House to do that. But I bet we probably could see some of these votes be successful.

All right. Coming up, I visit a public golf course Trump wants to remake as the golfers fight back.

And what Kamala Harris said about a possible 2028 run and how her potential opponents are responding. One word -- one word of quote, "baggage".

[08:36:18]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: This week, Democrats flocked to New York for one of the more closely-watched cattle calls at this early stage of the 2028 presidential cycle. In a four-day event hosted by Reverend Al Sharpton, Democratic hopefuls pitched themselves in front of an influential audience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): We need to have our agenda and we need to make sure we pass it in a first year of a Democratic administration, and it needs to be bold. GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D-PA): We have an opportunity to have a real debate

within our party about what we stand for, about what our affirmative vision is, which can't just be about banging Donald Trump every day. It has to be about what we are going to do to make people's lives better.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): You know, Democrats are real good on policy. I mean, we can do policy.3.2.4iiii underneath. What we need to talk about are why.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: All right. My panel is back.

So David Chalian, what do you think about that argument here that these guys are saying we can't be just the anti-Trump party?

CHALIAN: True I think for '27-'28, which is what these guys are considering. Probably not true for '26. Being the anti-Trump party may be sufficient for the Democrats in a midterm context, given how low the president's approval ratings are and where his popularity stands.

But there's no doubt that a potential good year for Democrats in '26 is just papering over the real work that the Democrats are going to have to do in '27 and '28.

RAJU: And you're hearing some of the candidates here starting to stake out their ground, including Elissa Slotkin, the Michigan freshman, first-term senator here making some -- making some comments to various places, including to Dasha's publication "Politico" saying, I think there's a lot of baggage there. She's referring -- asked about people who served in the Biden administration, like Buttigieg and Harris.

"I think there's a lot of baggage there," Slotkin says. She went on to say, "I think people want something new."

WRIGHT: Yes, I mean, I think that that is --

RAJU: Typically people are being very nice at this point.

WRIGHT: Yes. And Elissa Slotkin is also saying that she's not ruling out perhaps running for president if the opportunity would present itself, which makes that comment seem a lot more understanding.

I would say this that, you know, you're hearing Kamala Harris say, I might run something similar to what she said back in October and February. You're hearing other folks kind of tee the line. But it's going to be the voters and the donor class that decide if they think that the Biden folks have too much baggage, and if they want something new.

But those decisions, again, are not going to be made for quite some time. And so you're seeing folks kind of stake out the position now, not really tipping their hand as to what they're going to do.

BURNS: Well, and Slotkin, by the way, she was talking to my colleague Adam Wren, who was following her around Iowa. And not just anywhere around Iowa, but in red districts in Iowa, campaigning for Democrats there.

So she is trying to stake out the ground now of I am a Democrat who can appeal to Trump voters, who can take hold of the Midwest in a way that perhaps others like the more coastal folks that she was referring to.

She said, we have too much representation from maybe New York and California where she gets to hit, you know, both Harris and Newsom in one shot.

RAJU: Yes. What do you think of that, David?

CHALIAN: Yes. I mean, no doubt that is going to be part of her argument. I mean, she represented a Trump district at one point. She represents a Trump-won state from 2024.

There's no doubt that she likes that Midwestern centered kind of messaging that she talks about.

But I thought the quote, too, just struck me like, oh, wow, she's already wanting to stake out a place of like Harris, Buttigieg, I know you guys get mentioned a lot, but I think your time has passed; like and make the generational argument as well.

Obviously, Buttigieg is a young guy too, but she's clearly saying it's time for the party to move on from that. And I think it's just intriguing to hear her try to stake that out.

WRIGHT: Yes. But the fact is, is that like a lot of others in her position, she lacks the same voter ID as a Harris, as Buttigieg, as a Newsom --

CHALIAN: Of course.

[08:44:46]

WRIGHT: -- right. And so --

CHALIAN: That's not even a sufficient argument.

(CROSSTALKING)

WRIGHT: Sure.

CHALIAN: It's just interesting to see that --

(CROSSTALKING)

WRIGHT: Sure. It's the opening argument, right --

CHALIAN: Yes, yes, yes.

WRIGHT: -- it's her primary introduction into voters. The question is, is introducing a way -- introducing yourself that way to voters in slightly a negative tone, right, is that what people want to see right now when people want you to be focused on Trump?

RAJU: So Kamala Harris did get a lot of attention for these remarks that she made at the conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: So are you going to run again in '28?

KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Listen, I might. I might. I'm thinking about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Jasmine, you covered Harris very closely. How seriously is she thinking about it?

WRIGHT: Thank you, David.

My former boss. I think that this is, like I said, very similar to what she said in February. Very similar to what she said in October. And it's probably -- she's probably going to offer that answer five more times and it will go viral again. Obviously the setting is interesting.

CHALIAN: That's more than five.

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: Yes.

WRIGHT: Five, ten times, more time. And it's obviously the setting is interesting because she was really allied to Al Sharpton while she was vice president.

From the folks I've talked to, it is true that she has not made up her mind, but she is thinking about it. I think the reality is that she is the front runner until she says she's not running, or until somebody overtakes her. That's just the status.

RAJU: Yes. Well, we shall see. There's a lot more of that to come.

All right. Coming up, want to play a round at a public golf course in D.C.? Well, you may be surprised to learn the impact of Trump's attempted golf takeover. And he's using one course as a literal dumping ground. My report on this Masters Sunday.

[08:46:17]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: A big focus for President Trump in his second term has been to physically remake the nation's capital to his liking. Whether its plastering his name across the Kennedy Center to the massive new arch he wants installed near Arlington National Cemetery that could be more than double the height of the Lincoln Memorial. But his true love, of course, is golf courses and his push to take

them over in D.C. is now landing in the rough.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, nice work.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's really good.

RAJU: Washington, D.C. has long been the home of three low-cost public golf courses, but now they are battling a Trump takeover.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get in the hole.

RAJU: And fighting a president who has 16 golf courses to his name, with five more on the way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Best of the day there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're really good.

RAJU: The impact is felt nearly everywhere, including on East Potomac's fourth hole near the Potomac River, now a dumping ground for debris from the White House's demolished East Wing.

Tell us about the dirt mound.

MIKE MCCARTIN, CO-FOUNDER, NATIONAL LINKS TRUST: So that is -- that's the excavated dirt from under the East Wing.

RAJU: Oh, wow.

MCCARTIN: And --

RAJU: From the demolition of the East Wing, all dumped in here?

MCCARTIN: Yes. And it started in sort of late October, early November of last year. And it's been going continuously since then.

RAJU: Mike McCartin is a co-founder of National Links Trust, a nonprofit focused on improving golf courses.

MCCARTIN: I mean, you can see -- (INAUDIBLE) to the flag from here.

RAJU: The group had a 50-year lease to restore the courses of East Potomac, Rock Creek and Langston.

I took a golf clinic here.

But five years into the lease, Trump's Interior Department abruptly moved to cancel it, alleging the group was in default over unpaid rent and failing to implement capital improvements.

That you can show. MCCARTIN: There you go.

RAJU: All being fought in federal court.

Is there any legitimacy to that allegation?

MCCARTIN: We dispute absolutely everything associated with it.

RAJU: Trump told "The Wall Street Journal". He would renovate the courses quote, "beautifully". The paper reported the president hopes to have a professional golf tournament in the D.C. area in the years ahead.

Why is that not a worthy goal? Is there anything wrong with that?

MCCARTIN: I don't think on the face of it, there's anything wrong with it. But at this particular site, it really poses some problems.

So, first problem is there's only about 200 acres of golf course here. And in order to host like a major championship, you need at least 350 acres.

RAJU: It would cost a lot of money.

MCCARTIN: It would cost an enormous amount of money. You would be building a ton of infrastructure that would be just for a tournament that doesn't really benefit the everyday golfer here.

RAJU: Where's your ball? Is it over here?

MCCARTIN: I think I'm over here.

RAJU: Yes.

Renovations at the course have also come to a halt.

MCCARTIN: We've spent $11 million on our improvement projects across the three golf courses. It's all wasted. We stopped projects in progress that if we are able to restart, it's going to cost us more money than it would have if we had just kept going.

RAJU: But Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said East Potomac is in a state of, quote, "total disrepair".

What do you say to that?

MCCARTIN: I think that is totally ridiculous. We've spent five years investing in this place. He doesn't know what it looked like before we took it over. How much work we put into it to get it to this point. And how far we can take in the future.

And calling something that's in progress in "total disrepair" is kind of an insult to all the work we've done and the direction its going.

RAJU: Amid the Trump feud, retaining employees has been the biggest challenge. But McCartin's biggest fear losing affordable golf in the nation's capital.

MCCARTIN: These are the gateways to golf for people. This is where I learned to play as a kid.

[08:54:46]

RAJU: This is where I learned to play.

MCCARTIN: Right. Exactly.

RAJU: I started playing golf, when I was, you know, now 16 years ago as an adult. I wish I started playing earlier. But I started playing here in East Potomac.

MCCARTIN: Right, exactly. And so our stories of learning here and then growing into the game, I mean, I have a career in golf that I attribute to my exposure to the game here.

There it is.

RAJU: That felt good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: And Trump told "The Wall Street Journal" that he would allow D.C. residents to pay lower rates if he takes control of the courses. But McCartin told me he's concerned the currently low greens fees would spike under Trumps plan, given that fees at East Potomac range from $9 for juniors to $48 at peak times on their blue course.

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Dana's guests include former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Virginia Senator Mark Warner.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. Enjoy Masters Sunday.

We'll see you next time.

[08:55:41]

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