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Inside Politics
Voters In Virginia Consider New Congressional Map Favoring Dems; Labor Secy. Lori Chavez-DeRemer Out After Abuse-Of-Power Claims; Sanders-Aligned Group That's Anti-Billionaire Endorses Billionaire; Billionaire Tom Steyer's Ad Spending Dominates CA Gov. Race; Trump's Bible Reading Hits At Complicated Time For American Christians. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired April 21, 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]
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: -- four seats here in Virginia. President Donald Trump last night rallied his supporters trying to urge them to vote against the measure, calling it a Democratic power grab, but Democrats in the state say that they are simply following up on what President Trump and Republicans did beginning down in Texas last summer.
But take a listen to a few of the voters we spoke to earlier today about how they are feeling about these proposed congressional maps.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DOUGLASS TATE, VIRGINIA VOTER: I just feel that it's a constitutional right that we should not be, you know, gerrymandering our districts in order to adjust temporarily for, you know, fairness in the sense that in the way that they're trying to articulate fairness. So I just don't like the way that they're trying to go about it.
CATHERINE MONROE, VIRGINIA VOTER: What the Republicans have done in some other states is to make them not reflect the makeup of the country accurately.
SAENZ: But what do you think of the arguments that Democrats are essentially doing what Republicans have done in other states?
MONROE: That's true, that's true, but it's temporary and it's because the Republicans did the wrong in the first place. So we're doing two wrongs to make it right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now if this ballot measure passes, it could result in 10 of the 11 congressional districts in Virginia leaning towards Democrats. And just take a look at how this map is structured. What they do is they've taken the heavily Democratic areas in the northern area of Virginia and they've created five separate districts that basically a pinwheel out to go out into conservative, more rural areas, including where we are right now in the proposed seventh congressional district.
It's actually interesting. We're kind of like smack dab in the middle of the district. And if you go in one direction, there's another district about a mile and a half away. In the other direction, there is another district about 2 miles away, really highlighting the shifts that are being seen right now with these proposed maps.
Now earlier today, the Republican chair of the House campaign arm told our colleague Manu Raju that he thinks it will be very tough for Republicans to hold on to the majority in the House if Virginia is able to move forward with these maps, really highlighting the high stakes on both sides with this map vote today.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, so interesting. And if you look at those -- that map, it's very telling and we should say, as we actually said on the show yesterday, North Carolina, also a purple state like Virginia, has a similar switch which was done to favor Republicans.
Up next -- thank you Arlette. Up next, scandal forces out President Trump's Labor Secretary. We're going to break down the multiple allegations behind her exit and what it means.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:37:09]
BASH: Another Trump cabinet member is out. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer says she's leaving for a job in the private sector, but her departure comes amid multiple allegations of misconduct and abuse of power by not just her, but her husband and apparently her father as well.
The department's inspector general had been investigating complaints that she was having a sexual relationship with a member of her security team, attempted to use business trips as excuses for personal travel, and sent staff to pick up alcohol for her. The New York Times reported last week that her husband and father sent text messages to young staffers and that she told some young women to, quote, "pay attention to the men."
The Times also previously reported that her husband had been banned from the building amid sexual assault allegations. No charges were filed for criminal wrongdoing. And she says the allegations were, quote, "peddled by high ranking deep state actors" and her lawyer called them bias and absurd.
Nia?
NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, I mean, the fact that she had these allegations against her and her husband and her father, I mean, at some point, you know, I'd read these stories early on, and you sort of lost track of all of the allegations of harassment. And the men in her life seem to see, you know, this department is sort of where they could pick up women and harass them, allegedly. But of course, I guess there is some evidence, at least from her father texting young women, it's disturbing. And in a town where there are lots of scandals, in some ways, this is breaking new and awful ground, right, with the family members also involved.
BASH: Yes. Yes. So this is, according to the New York Times, this is the -- I'm just -- it's creepy, a text, allegedly from her father, Richard Chavez, to a young female staffer. "Heard you're in town. Wishing you would let me know. I could have made some excuses to get out and show you around. Please keep this private."
JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, I mean, I --
BASH: Don't look at me.
DAWSEY: I don't know --
BASH: Sorry, Josh.
DAWSEY: -- what to say about that.
BASH: That just ended my friendship with Josh Dawsey.
DAWSEY: And I really knew what to say about that other than it was --
BASH: It's not a lot (INAUDIBLE).
DAWSEY: -- clearly a pattern of --
BASH: Yes.
DAWSEY: -- disturbing behavior going on there. The New York Times and others have done lots of stories on this.
BASH: Yes.
DAWSEY: Up until this point, the White House had sort of been really frustrated with all of these stories about her and the Inspector General report.
BASH: Yes.
DAWSEY: But Trump had not wanted to fire her, really. He had not wanted to fire any cabinet secretaries --
BASH: Right.
DAWSEY: -- until the last two months. And then he fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, fired Attorney General Pam Bondi. And they're saying yesterday that she decided to leave, but she was sort of in the crosshairs of the White House at this point.
[12:40:02]
So it's a third high profile departure, really, in two months after the first year and a month or two of really kind of overlooking --
BASH: Yes.
DAWSEY: -- different sins by cabinet officials, overlooking things that they wanted to overlook.
BASH: Yes.
DAWSEY: Now it seems to be a different tenure.
BASH: I'm glad you brought that up because, yes, it is vastly different from the first term, which is we were all looking at then Twitter, trying to see who he was going to fire in any given day. Very, very different. But you just named the three who stayed in place until, you know, year two.
They have something in common in that they're all women. They each very -- had very different problems. I mean, we just talked about the now former Labor Secretary. Pam Bondi got sideways with the President on a couple of things, not the least of which was not aggressively prosecuting people he perceived as his enemies.
Kristi Noem, we know the mess in Minneapolis and the fact that she apparently spent like north of $200 million on an ad campaign. But the fact that -- and I'm going to put up there the cabinet, this is the cabinet this year, the fact that they're all women is interesting. I will also say that there are still a significant number of women still in the cabinet.
I mean, you have at agriculture, you have education, the DNI, his chief of staff is on the cabinet, but she's maybe one of the most powerful people there. The men, there have been men who have done things that in any other time would have really made the President mad who have not gotten fired, though.
PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: And I think it's important, as you note that we'll see because I think the President has entered a different phase in his administration where stability was an intended feature, not bug, of the first year plus coming out of things. Also, he had people around him that he was much more comfortable with than he had in the first term when everything --
BASH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: -- was a little bit more discombobulated. You know, as you know, Brooke Rollins is a key critical player in this administration.
BASH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: Kelly Loeffler over at SBA was at the White House briefing last week and I think at this point. Susie Wiles is the most powerful person inside the White House. So it'll be interesting to see kind of how this plays out going forward.
But I think that what you're talking about was actually something that helped keep Chavez-DeRemer in place for a little bit longer than she should have until they finally realized, like, this is just too much at this point in time. Or she realized that as well. I think I'm fascinated by this idea that the deep state is now extended to the Labor Department, where they're like, you know what, we are so expansive and so powerful, we're going to start knocking off labor secretaries --
BASH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: -- which is where they're often hanging out. What I do think is actually most interesting about this now former cabinet secretary in particular, she was a nod to a pro-labor --
BASH: That's right.
MATTINGLY: -- kind of side of the Republican Party that was part of its metamorphosis under Trump. Sean O'Brien, the head of Teamsters, who also spoke at the Republican National Convention, which is a big coup for the administration, really kind of pushed her --
BASH: That's right.
MATTINGLY: -- used all of his cachet to get her in place. It didn't work out based on her own performance. And I don't know that has any broader meaning other than I thought it was an interesting political play at the time that was reflective of a coalition that --
BASH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: -- thrust him into a pretty significant victory and what that means going forward, I don't know.
BASH: Don't go anywhere. Up next, blasting billionaires, now they're backing one. A Bernie Sanders allied group, they are now supporting a man worth about $2 billion. This is a man who wants to be California's next governor. We'll explain after a break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:47:54]
BASH: Now to a bit of a political head-scratcher. An anti-billionaire group is supporting a billionaire for California governor. The group is Our Revolution, founded by Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign, and it released a statement saying, in part, "We've never endorsed a billionaire -- but Tom Steyer is using his position to upset the system. He has put his money where his mouth is on climate change and is running on taxing the wealthy, single-payer healthcare, and getting big money out of politics."
I just actually want to show you and our viewers, for those who aren't, you know, familiar with the website of Our Revolution, I'm sure most of you out there are, the first line in their About Us mission statement. Look at this. A revolution was founded to elect progressives and fight for a government that works for all of us, not the billionaire class. HENDERSON: Yes, you know, and I guess they're making an exception here. Tom Steyer, I imagine, is a good billionaire in their minds. You know, there is a wing of sort of the Bernie Sanders wing that essentially believes that billionaires should not exist at all. And, you know, they're obviously seeing an opportunity with Tom Steyer, who now is leading a lot of the polls because Swalwell is not in this race anymore.
They're seeing somebody who is using his money for good, also using his money to get elected. I mean, he's -- yes, yes, he's --
BASH: Yes.
HENDERSON: You know, if billionaires should not be in, you know, making such moves and affecting our politics, he's certainly doing that.
BASH: OK, so I'm glad you brought that up because we have a graphic for that as well. I mean, it's just --
HENDERSON: Yes.
BASH: -- mind blowing. Look at this.
HENDERSON: Wow.
BASH: Ad spending, OK? I mean, you can just see on the chart, nobody even comes close. Tom Steyer, 100 and -- almost $126 million so far for the primary there. And then, I mean, it's not like the others have not raised a lot of money. That $20.6 million --
DAWSEY: Yes.
BASH: -- this is for a PAC supporting, the San Jose mayor, for example. That's also a lot of money, but it's just dwarfed by Tom Steyer's money because he's got such deep pockets.
MATTINGLY: I mean, he's got it, right?
BASH: Yes.
[12:50:16]
MATTINGLY: He's got it. And I think that, like, I love that they caveat with, like, look, man, like, we're not into billionaires. But, like, this one, yes, like -- and I do think there is policy alignment in terms of the issues that Steyer cares about and that he's not just, like, a newcomer to, that he's been somebody that's cared about these issues, campaigned on them, run many different elections or for running races for -- to try and win elections. I remember he has so much money. He had juvenile, obviously big juvenile fund, right?
HENDERSON: Oh, gosh, why did you -- yes. I had blocked that. Was it South Carolina? It was South Carolina.
MATTINGLY: You know juvenile, Dana, obviously. BASH: Obviously.
MATTINGLY: And so he's willing to spend it. It hasn't been successful yet from an electoral perspective but, like, this race feels, is obviously wide open right now. Everybody's trying to figure out where this is going to go.
So my biggest question is, all right, do the people who support Bernie's group, the outside group, and what they're kind of pushing towards --
BASH: Yes.
MATTINGLY: -- what does that mean in terms of turnout for voters program?
BASH: Yes, and also -- we have to take a break, but I'm also, of course, thinking of JB Pritzker. And he's probably thinking of JB Pritzker as he looks at this and saying, hmm, maybe there's something there for me.
MATTINGLY: Also juvenile.
BASH: I'm a billionaire too.
Thanks, everybody. Up next, the blurry lines between church and state. Why a week after telling the Pope to stay out of politics, the President will publicly read from the Bible in the Oval Office.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:56:10]
BASH: Tonight, President Trump participates in a marathon Bible reading event, dubbed America Reads the Bible. He's doing it from the Oval Office. And the timing is a bit complicated.
He's in the middle of a really public, ongoing feud with the Pope. And this also comes just after he shared a depiction, an AI depiction of himself as Jesus, which after the backlash, he said he thought was not Jesus, but a doctor. Now, it is the latest in a series of closely watched questions about the President and religion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's my second favorite book of all time. Do you know what my first is? The Bible. Nothing beats the Bible.
When I talk about the Bible, it's very personal. So I don't want to get into verses. I don't want to get into -- no, I --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) verse that means a lot to you that you think about or cite?
TRUMP: The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you an Old Testament guy or a New Testament guy?
TRUMP: Probably equal.
I hear this is a major theme right here, but two Corinthians, right? Two Corinthians 3:17. That's the whole ballgame.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that your Bible?
TRUMP: State Bible.
All Americans need a Bible in their home. And I have many. It's my favorite book.
BASH: That was Trump there selling the God Bless the USA Bible. And, you know, he will notably tonight be reading from Second Chronicles.
Here with me now, who's been doing some terrific reporting on this is Betsy Klein. Betsy, what's this all about?
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, this is clearly a very delicate moment in the relationship between President Trump and American Christians. It was just over a week ago that he posted that image depicting himself as Jesus Christ that he later said he believed was him as a doctor, then deleting it.
Then he's ratcheting up tensions with Pope Leo, the first American pope, saying he has no plans to apologize. But setting all of that aside, President Trump is now going to be one of about 500 Americans reading from the Bible as part of America Reads the Bible. This is a seven day marathon event from Genesis all the way to Revelation.
He's going to participate in this, along with members of his cabinet, House Speaker Mike Johnson, along with the actress Candace Cameron Bure. And it is no secret that the President has a unique relationship with the Bible. He said it's his favorite book, but has been unable, as we saw, to identify a favorite verse.
He sold a special edition Bible for $59.99. He also was criticized for appearing to use a Bible as a prop back in his first term. But tonight, he's going to be reading a very notable passage, and this is one that you and I would probably recognize from the campaign trail. It is something that has become somewhat of a rallying cry for the conservative right here in the U.S. and around the world.
And I spoke with Bunni Pounds, she is one of the organizers for this event. She said she set this verse aside specifically for President Trump and prayed that he would agree to read it.
BASH: And you see it up there on the screen. And, you know, talk about this as it relates to separation of church and state. In your reporting, have you seen anything like this in American history? We're at 250, where the President participates in a Bible reading from the Oval Office. I mean, I imagine it could have happened, but do we know how unusual this is? And just more broadly about the separation of church and state.
KLEIN: I think we've seen President Trump very steadily chip away at that wall between church and state that has traditionally been a cornerstone as a member of politics.
BASH: As a member of his cabinet.
KLEIN: Exactly. And we have seen Americans encouraged to pray for an hour each week. There are government agencies that have faith services and open their meetings with prayer, their Bible verses and Christian imagery on official government social media accounts. But tonight really underscores the way with which President Trump himself, an infrequent churchgoer, is overseeing really a religious revival in the American government.
BASH: Yes, it really is interesting, Betsy, particularly since, you know, the President and you've just laid out the relationship that the President has had, at least publicly. We don't know about privately with religion, but especially as we continue to see Pete Hegseth, for example, talk in very religious terms as he discusses the war in Iran.
Thank you so much. Great reporting.
Thank you for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts right now.
