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Inside Politics

Trump Knocks Out GOP Foe As Cassidy Loses Primary; Democrats Eye Red State Pickup On Path To Retake Senate. Trump Returns Home to Financial and Foreign Quagmires; AOC Hits Trail as "Ambition" Comments Stoke 2028 Chatter; Questions Mount Over House Members' Absence. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired May 17, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:23]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC)

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Payback. President Trump knocks out a Republican foe.

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to, but you don't pout. You don't whine. You don't claim that election was stolen.

RAJU: This week, can he make it a full sweep?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Massie is a complete and total disaster.

RAJU: Plus, Buckeye brawl.

So you're truly undecided?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am.

RAJU: I hit the road in conservative Ohio where Democrat Sherrod Brown is trying to win back a Senate seat.

SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE: People want somebody that will fight back.

RAJU: Could he turn a red seat blue and hand his party the majority?

Senator --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's been quite a failure.

RAJU: And missing in action.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): There's been a lack of clarity.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Obviously, I told him that we're praying for him.

RAJU: Where is a congressman who has been gone for two months?

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.

President Trump's campaign of payback against GOP dissent just had its biggest moment of this midterm season, where Trump taking down a powerful senate GOP chairman, Senator Bill Cassidy, who lost his Saturday primary in Louisiana, more than five years after voting to convict the president for inciting the January 6th attack at the Capitol -- all despite Cassidy trying to make amends with Trump, including with his pivotal vote to confirm RFK, Jr. to be the health and human services secretary. Advancing to the June 27th GOP runoff, Congresswoman Julia Letlow, whom Trump recruited into the race, and former congressman John Fleming. It all underscored Trump's enduring strength with the base, despite collapsing support among the general electorate.

Now, Cassidy, addressing supporters last night, did not mention Trump by name, but it was quite apparent who he was talking about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIDY: And when you participate in democracy, sometimes it doesn't turn out the way you want it to, but you don't pout. You don't whine. You don't claim the election was stolen.

And let me just set the record straight. Our country is not about one individual. It is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution. Leadership should be steady, not erratic. Thoughtful, not impulsive. And leaders should think through the consequences of their actions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)\

RAJU: Now, the next big target for Trump, northern Kentucky, to take down GOP Congressman Thomas Massie in Tuesday's primary. All in a very busy day of intra-party fights, including in Georgia for a Senate seat that the GOP is eager to pick up.

Now, let's break this down with this excellent group of reporters. Zolan Kanno-Youngs from "The New York Times", "Bloomberg" columnist Nia-Malika Henderson, and CNN's Isaac Dovere.

Good morning to you all. Nice to see you all. Late night, Saturday. Sunday.

It's nice to have a Sunday politics show after Saturday news like that because Trump was gloating, not surprisingly, on Truth Social, in the aftermath of Cassidy's loss, saying a lot of things. But one of the things he said is his disloyalty to the man who got him elected is now part of legend. And it's nice to see that his political career is over.

He got trounced last night, Bill Cassidy, and it was all because of Trump and this vote to convict him, even though Bill Cassidy did all he could to get in Trump's good graces. Loyalty is a one way street with Donald Trump.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: This is another data point showing that retribution is on the ballot in many ways. We saw also that when Indiana lawmakers defied President Trump on different issue, that one was about redistricting, President Trump promised to primary, you know, those state lawmakers. And he got, for the most part, wins, you know, out of that race.

Now, here, you have another data point with Senator Bill Cassidy. When you look at his vote, when it when it comes to voting to convict President Trump after January 6th. Now, only two of the seven lawmakers that voted to convict President Trump still hold a seat. That just shows that in today's Republican Party, where President Trump still holds a tight grip, there's not much room for dissent among Republicans.

RAJU: Yeah, just -- just -- you see there on your screen, as you say here, these are the senators who voted to convict Donald Trump in 2021.

[08:05:01]

There are two that are on the screen. Susan Collins, who is up for reelection here in November in Maine.

Lisa Murkowski not up until 2028. She has survived the Trump wrath so far. Trump tried to defeat her in her last election cycle. She survived that.

Susan Collins -- J.D. Vance actually up in Maine this past week, praising her, Trump realizes that she's probably the only Republican to win that state.

But then you look at the house members, the only house member who's left who voted to impeach Trump was David Valadao. He's the congressman who represents a swing district. He could face a difficult reelection race here in November as well.

But, Nia, you're seeing each of these members who voted after January 6th against Trump slowly leave the party.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah. Listen, in some of these folks obviously decided not to run. Bill Cassidy did decide to run. He sort of tried to get back in good graces. He had that statement there where he said, you know, leadership -- people in power have to think about the consequences of their actions, where one of the consequences of his actions is that RFK is, is a very powerful person.

And, you know, one of things that's going to be interesting, I think, to watch Cassidy is what he does now, right? He sort of came out swinging in that statement against Donald Trump. He obviously has a number of months left in the Senate. Is he going to be a thorn in the Republican Party's side, as they try to do Trump's bidding on any number of issues?

But yeah, I mean, Trump is still powerful primary voters, Republican Party primary voters still love Trump. They still love Trumpism.

RAJU: It's interesting because, you know, he did make those remarks about Trump last night in that speech, but he didn't mention him by name.

HENDERSON: Right.

RAJU: And he waited to lose to make that remark, right? And before you jump in, I just want to show the viewers to see just how much he lost by when you look at the results from last night. This is as of this morning. Julia Letlow won 44.8 percent, Cassidy just 24.8 percent of the vote. That is staggering, Isaac.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. And look, look beyond the part of the speech that you played. This is he said theyre talking about people using other levers of power. They're about serving themselves. They're not about serving us. And that person is not qualified to be a leader. That's what, as you say, Bill Cassidy said once he lost.

But what we have seen in every chance that he really was faced with it since that conviction vote, he's done what he could to try to get back into Trump's good graces. And so he has this now very familiar pattern, which is the person who Trump targets, does everything again to appeal and show loyalty and show loyalty. Trump is not, as Zolan was saying, ever responsive to that because he doesn't feel -- loyalty is a one-way street. It's about really obedience more than loyalty.

And then this revelation that happens once they say, I've had it or I've lost, or then they start talking about apparently how they really feel.

RAJU: Yeah, right. But would it have worked? Maybe not. But maybe that, you know, you got to pick a side because now you've angered the people who don't like Trump and you've angered the Trump allies, right?

KANNO-YOUNGS: And you brought up the RFK vote, right?

HENDERSON: Yeah.

KANNO-YOUNGS: We talk often about his January 6th vote, but also his vote after expressing concerns as a doctor, right, to then confirm RFK as health secretary, that then also alienated some of the more moderate voters as well, who might have been energized by the stance he was taking against President Trump. I do think a key factor, though, too, is it was a closed primary, right? And that doesn't favor any lawmaker that might be willing to hold President Trump accountable or reach across the aisle.

You know, you basically had a primary where only Republicans or Democrats, rather.

DOVERE: The issue then goes into November because these same voters are only part of the electorate, right? And so, you can show all your allegiance to Trump. The -- all of these Republicans and the Louisiana senate race, that won't be as much of a factor as well.

HENDERSON: Yeah, yeah, red states.

DOVERE: But where Donald Trump is at 31 percent or so in polls, if you are completely obedient and full of allegiance to him, is that what general election voters will want?

RAJU: Yeah.

DOVERE: We'll see.

RAJU: And Cassidy spent an enormous amount of money on the air. Look at this. $22.9 million trouncing the amount of Julia Letlow and his and her allies spent compared to Cassidy and his allies. And John Fleming, who is in that runoff, which is in June, spent a fraction of all that. But Cassidy will not be in that runoff.

Okay. I want to turn to Kentucky because that's a big one on Tuesday, Thomas Massie. He's been a thorn in Trump's side, namely over push to release the Epstein files. Trump has targeted him in ways that he has not done to other Republican congressmen. There have been enormous amount of money spent in that district as well Trump is supporting has spent $18.2 million on the air in that race. Massie has spent $13.4 million so far. A significant chunk of money.

And Trump, yesterday, after the Cassidy loss and before the Cassidy loss, was going after Massie and going after Lauren Boebert, who's a MAGA congresswoman from Colorado, supported Trump through and through, but was campaigning with Massie. And now he's calling for her to get primaried and going after her.

The filing deadline has passed for her, so she's in Colorado. She's good, but it just shows you how much, making sure that there's not an ounce of dissent is in this part.

HENDERSON: Yeah. And Trump likes to display his power, right? And his sway over the party that he has remade. So this is about revenge for him.

Before he sort of tolerated Massie, you know, Massie was sort of a quirky libertarian who didn't like a lot of, you know, spending. So, Trump basically supported him, endorsed him. This time the gloves are off.

It is hard to see how Massie pulls out of this race ahead. Some of the polls I've seen have him down. We'll see. You know, polling is difficult in such a -- in such a race. But the headwinds against him and the momentum, right. Because in some ways, you've got this narrative about Trump's strength going back to Indiana.

Now you see what's happened to Cassidy, and then he goes into Tuesday. Good luck, Massie.

RAJU: And I asked Massie on Thursday about the impacts that this would have, whether if he wins, what would the message be? And if he lost, what would the message be?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: What message would it send the country if you won on Tuesday?

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): If I win that, you can come up here and you can vote for your constituents instead of for your party all the time.

RAJU: And if you lose, what message does that send?

MASSIE: If I lose, I think its going to disenfranchise a large part of the coalition that was formed to give us the majority here and to give us the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Disenfranchise?

DOVERE: Look, there are a lot of voters that are where Thomas Massie is, beyond the Epstein files, libertarian, more conservative. And it just doesn't matter in Trump's Republican Party.

RAJU: Yeah.

DOVERE: Trump wants it to be the Trump Republican Party.

RJAU: And so far, he's succeeded in that regard. All right. We'll see. Big week ahead.

All right. Next, Ohio has gone from a bellwether to a red state. So why are Democrats increasingly hopeful that Sherrod Brown, the former senator who lost two years ago, can win in November and deliver them the Senate majority?

Well, I hit the campaign trail to find out.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:16:41]

RAJU: It wasn't too long ago when Ohio was one of the nation's premier battlegrounds, but Republicans have dominated the state in the last decade, where Trump winning there by 11 points in 2024. But in that same cycle, Democrats Sherrod Brown lost his reelection bid by less than four. Now, Brown is trying to make a comeback to buck that rightward trend and bring his party back to power in the senate. So I recently hit the trail in Ohio to learn more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Thank you.

RAJU (voice-over): After enduring a painful defeat less than two years ago --

BROWN: Tonight, I'm sad.

RAJU (voice-over): -- Sherrod Brown seemed to be closing the book on a career that began with a run for the state house in 1974 and ended after three terms in the United States Senate.

BROWN: The last thing I did in the Senate, the last night in the Senate, my last night in December of -- well, I thought it was my last night. There are going to be more nights now, but --

RAJU (voice-over): Now the veteran Democrat is trying to pull off a rare feat, winning back a Senate seat after losing in the previous cycle. And he's trying to do it in Ohio, a state now dominated by the GOP in a bid to unseat a Republican senator, Jon Husted, who was appointed to fill Vice President J.D. Vance's seat.

BROWN: It's a more conservative state. I've won federal elections in the state almost every time.

RAJU: It's shifted more right.

BROWN: Well, it's -- that's your analysis.

RAJU: You don't think so?

BROWN: Say what you want. I don't know if I think so. What I know is what I hear around this state. And people want someone that will fight for them. And they know I will.

RAJU (voice-over): To retake the Senate, Democrats have to win, not just in purple states, but flip seats in red states like Ohio, which no Democratic presidential candidate has carried since Barack Obama in 2012, and where there are no statewide Democratic office holders.

RAJU: Are you concerned that that could be a steep hill for Sherrod Brown to climb?

MARK MORLEY, OHIO VOTER: I believe that it's certainly a concern. I believe that he's got the momentum building. But yes, I'm concerned about that.

RAJU (voice-over): Speaking to CNN in Delaware County, a suburban battleground that has leaned Republican, Brown defended his decision to run again at the age of 73 and after serving in public office for half a century.

RAJU: You've been -- first ran in 1974. You won a Ohio -- seat in the Ohio legislature. That's more than 50 years ago. You're 73 years old. Does your party want fresh blood post Joe Biden?

BROWN: Well, I traveled the state. People want somebody that will fight back. They want somebody that's willing to call out Jon Husted. They want somebody to call -- to stand up to Wall Street and the big banks and the utility companies and the drug companies, and they know I'll do that.

RAJU (voice-over): As big money is poised to flood the airwaves, including nearly $80 million from a leading GOP outside group, Democrats believe backlash over the economy and soaring gas prices will help overcome Ohio's conservative tilt.

BROWN: One thing after another, he's so out of touch.

RAJU (voice-over): But many voters are not sold on either candidate.

LOU BOYLE, OHIO VOTER: I think affordability is a big concern for the vast majority of Americans.

RAJU: So you're truly undecided.

BOYLE: I am, yeah. I think a lot of us are at this point.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not enamored with, with both of the candidates.

RAJU (voice-over): Another unusual aspect of Brown's bid, while Husted is the sitting senator, the 58 year old former lieutenant governor lacks the name recognition of his Democratic challenger.

[08:20:08]

That has Husted introducing himself to voters with ads like this.

SEN. JON HUSTED (R-OH): I started my life in a foster home. I tell young people where you start in life doesn't limit your future.

RAJU (voice-over): While attacking Brown's tenure in office --

AD NARRATOR: Liberal Senator Sherrod Brown spent 32-long years in Washington.

RAJU (voice-over): Brown is trying to define the appointed senator in another way, to tie him to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.

AD NARRATOR: Jon Husted, who is he really working for.?

RAJU (voice-over): In his first ads, brown is spotlighting big campaign contributions given to Husted over the years from Les Wexner, a billionaire who was Epstein's primary financial benefactor, though not implicated in any of Epstein's sex crimes.

Husted's campaign says it has donated, quote, all available funds from Wexner to charity.

But Brown is attacking Husted for voting against a Democratic plan last fall to release the Epstein files. Though Husted and the full Senate backed the release of the files about two months later.

RAJU: But he later voted -- supported releasing the files with the rest of the Senate.

BROWN: Well, when there was no real vote, you know, you know better than that. You know that it was not a real --

RAJU: -- if he wanted.

BROWN: No, no, I -- you know better than that. The fact is, when it was a real vote in the Senate, when it was debated and there was arguments on both sides were arguments on both sides. He voted to keep the close. The files closed only weeks after he had gotten a maximum contribution from that -- from that coconspirator.

RAJU (voice-over): But Brown's campaign has received some money from Wexner's wife, Abigail, along with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who himself has faced scrutiny over his ties to Epstein.

Will you donate that money to charity?

BROWN: They're not -- they're not tied in any way the way the coconspirator is tied in. And then he voted to close the files.

RAJU: Right. So it sounds like you don't see a need to return that money from --

BROWN: I don't see them. I think that it's not -- it's not real reporting to make those comparisons.

RAJU (voice-over): Husted's campaign said he was not available for an interview, but CNN caught up with him on Capitol Hill.

RAJU: Talked to Sherrod Brown last week. He really went after your votes on -- not to check Trump's power on Iran, to not check on tariffs and also against that Democratic bill to release the Epstein files last fall.

Do you stand by your votes on those issues?

HUSTED: Well, he well knows that I voted to release Epstein files. That's why we have all the information. The problem is, is he was such a failure for 32 years. And so the only thing that he has to offer is to try to point fingers at others. And he's -- he's been quite a failure.

RAJU: You said on Iran, you said the war was going better than expected, but gas prices continue to be very high. Is it worth it for your constituents to pay that kind of money on?

RAJU (voice-over): On the trail, Brown is attacking Husted for saying this to "The Dayton Daily News" back in March about the Iran war.

HUSTED: It is obviously going much better than anyone thought it would.

RAJU (voice-over): CNN later caught up with Husted again.

RAJU: Senator, on the war, you had previously said its going better than expected, but a lot of your constituents are paying more for gas.

HUSTED: Well, that's -- that's not what I -- that's not the context in which I --

RAJU: What did you mean?

HUSTED: -- discussing that. I was talking about the military conflict, of course, when we had hit 13,000 sites and destroyed Iran's capability to create war, with long range missiles, degrading their ability to have nuclear weapons. We certainly all benefit in a world without a nuclear Iran.

RAJU: Was it worth paying higher gas prices for your constituents for all of this?

HUSTED: I don't want my constituents to pay higher prices for anything. That's why we passed the working family tax cut plan. But there's no doubt that gas prices are too high right now, and we need to take action to make sure that we are trying to make life more affordable.

RAJU (voice-over): CNN tried to ask Husted about Brown's new attack ads.

RAJU: A new ad out today going after Les Wexner.

HUSTED: Thank you.

RAJU: Can you explain your relationship with Wexner? Because he did contribute a lot to your campaign and then going after you on it. Can you talk about that at all?

RAJU (voice-over): This campaign, the GOP plans to use a playbook similar to the one executed by Republican Bernie Moreno, who took down the Democrat in 2024.

SEN. BERNIE MORENO (R-OH): Sherrod Brown is the absolute perfect political cicada. This is a guy who comes out of the ground and pretends he's this moderate, working class American, and then comes here to Washington, D.C., and he's a hard core liberal.

RAJU (voice-over): But Brown is showing caution.

RAJU: Since you left Washington, there's some issues in which your party has grown increasingly to the left on -- abolishing ICE and stopping arms sales to Israel. Do you support either of those?

BROWN: I don't -- I'm not paying enough attention to know what votes are coming up.

[08:25:00]

RAJU: Abolishing ICE. Do you support abolishing ICE? BROWN: I don't -- I'm not close enough to make those decisions. I

think for sure we need rules around ICE.

RAJU (voice-over): But if Brown does win, it could be without the seniority he spent years building, including chairing the powerful Senate Banking Committee.

RAJU: But if you go back, won't you be a freshman or will we?

BROWN: We'll see.

RAJU: Will you -- will you get your chairmanship back?

BROWN: We'll see, won't we?

RAJU: Has Chuck Schumer made any commitments to you?

BROWN: No promises.

RAJU: No promises to be chairman again, huh?

BROWN: Yeah.

RAJU: Will you support him to become leader?

BROWN: I don't know. I'm not -- I'm not doing punditry.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RAJU: All right, my panel is back.

I mean, look, the Democrats in Washington say that they need Ohio to flip. Is Brown's calculation here, that railing against the economy, railing against Trump, railing against Houston being in line with Donald Trump, and also throwing Epstein scandal into the middle of all this? Is that going to be a successful strategy?

DOVERE: Well, we'll see. Like literally the day before the election in 2020, Sherrod Brown told me that Joe Biden had a chance of winning in Ohio. He -- Joe Biden lost Ohio by quite a bit, by nine points.

And so, Brown has a tough road here, obviously. Ohio is not a place that's been even purple for a couple of years now. The question is, though, Brown for 50 years was winning races in Ohio. And he won every single one of them until he lost that seat two years ago.

And so can he be the Democrat who can bring it back with this environment where it is? Maybe.

RAJU: He himself acknowledged after he lost in 2024, he wrote in the new republic, in large swaths of Ohio in the country, the Democratic Party's reputation has become toxic. I did ask him about that. I said, well, what about do you still stand by that? Do you still believe that he didn't want to get engaged? And he said he said, you're the pundit. I'm not. And I said, look, this is your words. He said, you quoted it a year

later. No, I mean, people recognize I'm an Ohio Democrat and the national brand, maybe it is toxic, but I'm an Ohio Democrat. They know I fight for workers.

Is that a distinction that works in a red state?

HENDERSON: You know, I mean, I think he's going to try it, right? And I think what helps his argument is that Husted isn't a very good candidate, right? He sort of speaks in it. He doesn't seem very sure- footed. He's certainly not as experienced in Ohio. And in campaigning as Sherrod Brown is.

So I think Sherrod Brown, if he's able to sort of suppress enthusiasm around Husted's candidate among Republicans and he's trying to do that around the economy and affordability, he's, I think, the best chance in Ohio that Democrats have.

RAJU: Maybe the only chance Democrats have. But is Trump a net positive in a state like Ohio still. I asked Bernie Moreno about that. He said, yeah. He said, we you know, he says Husted is aligned with Trump. We should run with Trump. That Trump is still popular in Ohio.

That's according to Bernie Moreno. But I don't know. I mean, the economy is -- we see the polls nationally. Does that translate in a state like Ohio?

KANNO-YOUNGS: I mean, his approval ratings are so bad right now. You also have the frustration around the economy. That's only been exacerbated as the war in Iraq has gone on. That being said, look at the last segment we just did, right? We've had some data points that show that Trump still does have influence, especially when across the nation.

Whether that resonates in Ohio, we'll have to see just on browns messaging. You know, yes, it makes sense to target him on the economy as well as Epstein files. But I would often hear from voters. They wanted a plan. He's going to need to get an answer on that ICE question.

RAJU: Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no question about that. I'm sure it'll come up again.

All right. Coming up, you won't hear many complain out loud, but a new comment by President Trump is causing unease in his own party. And theyre worried about what that all means for the midterms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:33:07]

RAJU: President Trump spent the past week on a tightly-controlled trip hosted by Chinese authoritarian leader. But now, back in the U.S., the president was quickly plunged back into the messy democracy here. From his party's midterm worries to the path forward in Iran and his much- desired White House ballroom. My panel is back.

Now, just to button up this China trip, because what came out of this, you know, there was a lot of discussion, expectation going in. It would be a lot about Iran, but Taiwan seemed to be the big discussion because of Xi's interest and desire to make sure the United States is not -- or the United States really abandons Taiwan.

There's this pending $14 billion arms sale that Trump has not signed off yet with Taiwan. And this is what Trump said when he was asked on Fox News about that arms deal on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm holding that in abeyance and it depends on China. It depends -- it's a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly. It's a lot of weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I mean, this would be a huge change in policy. And what is Trump up to here.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, NEW YORK TIMES WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not only did he make those comments, but the president also on his way back from China, did acknowledge to reporters that he did discuss this arms sale as well with President Xi as well, and their meetings.

U.S. presidents usually don't do that because the norm is that it would undermine U.S. assurances to Taiwan for military support as well.

Just the idea that you would acknowledge that the sales could be a negotiating chip with China really does undermine the longstanding sort of military support that we've had for China (SIC).

And now there's an open question over whether this major sale will happen.

[08:34:44]

RAJU: Meantime, while he was on his way to China, he was asked about whether -- while he's trying to negotiate an end to the war with Iran, whether Americans' financial situation, whether that's on his mind.

He made some comments that got a lot of blowback and made a lot of Republicans uneasy. And then he doubled down after those meetings in China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President, to what extent are Americans' financial situations motivating you to make a deal?

TRUMP: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters is we're not talking about Iran. They can't have a nuclear weapon.

I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody.

That's right. That's a perfect statement. I'll make it again.

When people hear me say it, everybody agrees.

Short term pain. It's going to be short term pain. But the pain is much less than people thought.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: I mean, why couldn't he just clean that up or just say, make it say it in a different way because Republicans are begging him to do that.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICAL AND POLICY COLUMNIST: Yes, yes. And listen, it's too late, right? You know, every Democratic ad should feature this quote. You know, I don't think about Americans' financial situations.

You know, they'll cut it. It'll be slightly out of context. But even in context, it's not great.

The idea that Americans are paying much higher prices for gas going into the summer as ideally they want to take trips on planes. Those are going to be quite expensive, much more so than last year.

So, you know, this is a president who never apologizes. And this is one of the things that the GOP is realizing. But this is a boon to Democrats' argument that he is focused on everything else but their bottom line.

RAJU: I mean, he came back and he was talking about the ballroom --

HENDERSON: Yes.

RAJU: -- posting all about how the White House renovations are just a sampling of these posts that are out there just in the last day or so, all the different things that is on his mind.

But when there's a new poll out this morning, Isaac about among Republicans, Trump's handling of inflation 63 percent. That may sound good, but just look how much it has dropped since March. 11 points approving of his handling of inflation and his disapproval number up 11 points since March. That's not good for Trump.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: And that's among Republicans, right?

RAJU: That's among Republicans.

DOVERE: And look, what this comes back to is very basic stuff. You cannot tell people they are not paying more for groceries. You cannot tell them that their electricity bills aren't going up. You cannot tell them that their gas prices haven't gone up a lot. And people tend to care about that.

And if you go back to when Trump was running for this term in 2024, remember he had that event at Bedminster where he stood in front of the groceries and said -- how much he talked about -- one part of the rationale for his campaign that he made was that he would bring prices down. He would fight inflation that had gone up on Donald Trump -- on Joe Biden's watch.

And so he has this in addition to the reason people care about it, there are the reasons that he made them care about it. And now he has to face the fact that it's May 17th and he still never got to the thing that people -- that he told people he was going to do, which is talk about prices in 2025 -- in 2026.

RAJU: Exactly. And the midterms are getting closer. And he said he would resolve that in the first day. Has not happened yet. The polls are showing that as well.

All right. Still ahead, AOC made some comments that got the political world talking. So I caught up with her one-on-one and asked her about her next moves.

[08:38:02]

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): If you want to change the Democratic Party, we got to change the kind of Democrats that get elected to serve in Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to be everywhere these days. Just this weekend, talking on the steps of the Capitol, wading into a contested House primary in Pennsylvania, and rallying over Voting Rights Act in Alabama as she tries to put her stamp on the party and help elect members to embolden the left flank of the Democratic Party.

Her moves of late have also many questioning what's next for her.

My panel is back.

And that's my question to you, Isaac. What are you hearing from your sources about what she's up to?

DOVERE: She is trying to figure out the answer to that question, right? The big decision in front of her is whether she runs for reelection to the House or the Senate seat in New York, or for president. She would have a lot of strength in any of those races.

But from what I understand, she is really still figuring it out. Of course, the presidential stuff would mean that the clock is ticking.

RAJU: Yes. DOVERE: A year from now, there are going to be a lot of people who are already running for president.

RAJU: I think they're already running right now.

DOVERE: But officially.

RAJU: Yes, officially.

So this is why a lot of chatter happened, because she's speaking to our friend and colleague, David Axelrod, at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, and she's asked about her ambition.

She said, "They assume my ambition is positional." She said her ambition is not, her ambition is to change this country.

And I asked her last week on Capitol Hill what she meant by that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I was just trying to share how I think about politics. I think a lot of times people are very, you know, this is a very goal- oriented place. People say, I want to run for this and I want to run for that and work backwards and make decisions from there.

And I approach this work a little differently. It can mean staying put where I am. It can mean leaving politics entirely.

But my motivation and my ambition is to make sure every American has health care in this country.

RAJU: I mean, the takeaway that I had is that you haven't made any decision yet on what to do next. Is that fair?

[08:44:46]

OCASIO-CORTEZ: Yes, I think that's fair. I think, yes, I think that I look at what's happening in the country and I make -- I make my decisions from there. But no, I don't have anything set in stone for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Nia.

HENDERSON: You know, listen, I think the results of November are going to be a big clue as to whether or not the Democratic Party can successfully push for generational and ideological change.

This is what you see. These fights, these primary fights about, right? You saw it in Maine. You're seeing it in Michigan. You're seeing it in Pennsylvania.

There's a push among progressives like AOC, people like Elizabeth Warren, obviously Bernie Sanders, to say, enough with the sort of centrist approach that Democrats have had. They think it hasn't worked out too well.

And their argument is that the party and the country is hungering for something much more bold, something much more progressive and often younger, right.

And we'll see what happens in November if these candidates, a, make it through the primary, who are more progressive and often younger. And if they win statewide.

And then I think somebody like AOC will have a much better argument around, a, changing the party and then possibly changing the country from there.

RAJU: How do Americans view her? This is the Reuters poll just saw on your screen there. But just to show it again. 30 percent view her favorably; 38 percent unfavorably. A lot of Americans still have never heard of her. So.

So it goes to show you, you know, despite everything, she generates a ton of press in this town, but there's still a significant size of the population she has to introduce herself to.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And it seems like that's what she's trying to do here, right? I mean, you've had -- you did have her do this event in Chicago. She went on that tour with Bernie Sanders as well, across the nation, trying to introduce herself.

You know, another way to get clarity on what Democratic voters want and whether AOC fits that bill is also if they were to release the details of this autopsy report from the last election as well.

Nice segue, right.

HENDERSON: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Which also is picking up momentum here, too. We talk about changing the status quo. We obviously know that that resonate among voters and was a source of frustration in the last election.

RAJU: And we've heard Kamala Harris called for the release of the autopsy. Nia wrote a great piece about the autopsy. There's a lot of questions about whether that will come out. We will see what will happen. A lot of questions ahead.

And coming up for us, missing in action. Two members of Congress have not been seen on the Hill for weeks. I spoke with leaders of both parties about the major implications.

[08:47:23]

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RAJU: It's a question that's been brewing on Capitol Hill for weeks. What's going on with Republican Congressman Tom Kean, Jr.? The swing district, New Jersey Republican often keeps a low profile in the Capitol, rarely even responding when reporters like me ask him questions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Mr. Kean, are you going to support Trump after this felony conviction? Do you have a comment, sir?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And he rarely ruffles feathers of his party's leadership, but now he hasn't been seen in the Capitol for more than two months. He last voted on March 5th and has missed dozens of votes since then.

And that's a big deal for a party that's dealing with a historical, tiny majority when a single vote can derail the entire agenda.

Now, Kean addressed his extended absence in a social media post at the end of last month, saying he's dealing with a, quote, "personal medical issue", adding, quote, "I will be back to the job I love very soon".

Now, that was 20 days ago. His team told us this past week he was still attending to a personal health matter.

And now Kean's father, former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean Sr., tells CNN's Andrew Kaczynski his son is, quote, "under the care of a doctor and recovering from a serious but temporary illness".

He said his son is expected to be 100 percent ok.

Now, I caught up with top GOP leaders about Kean's absence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Do Tom Kean's constituents deserve to know what's going on with him?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Tom Kean has a medical issue, and that's all I know about it.

About two weeks ago, I had reached out to him to check on him, and he called me and we had a short, very positive conversation. He sounded great.

RAJU: And can he run for reelection?

JOHNSON: Of course, he can.

RAJU: Can he continue to serve and can he continue -- can he run for reelection?

REP. STEVE SCALISE (R-LA): Well, the word that we're getting is he's going to be back soon. I don't know exactly when that is. I hope it's soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP) RAJU: That question about reelection is important because Democrats are targeting the two-term congressman's seat in November, a seat he won by about five points in 2024.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): I certainly hope that from a health standpoint, he's on the road to recovery. But there's been a lack of clarity and information as it relates to what exactly is his situation. why he's missed so much time, and when is he coming back?

RAJU: What does it mean for taking -- picking up his seat?

JEFFRIES: Well, the people of New Jersey will ultimately make that decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Kean isn't the only lawmaker who's been noticeably absent. It's now been a full month since Florida Democratic Congresswoman Frederica Wilson cast a vote. She's missed dozens since.

Now, Wilson said in a statement Thursday she is recovering from eye surgery, but she did miss a vote this past week on a bill to rein in President Trump's war with the. That vote ended in a tie, so it failed.

[08:54:53]

RAJU: But had she been present and voted for the measure, it would have passed the House for the first time and amounted to the biggest rebuke in Congress yet of Trump's handling of the war. Her absence was noticed by Democratic leaders.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER AGUILAR (D-CA): Members need to be here to do the work, do their job. That's our expectation.

RAJU: Are you frustrated that she missed this?

AGUILAR: I'm frustrated we lose any vote, especially if its tied or we lose by one or we lose by two, you know, members got to be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Jeffries told me he expects Wilson to return to the Hill this week.

That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". Dana's guests include former Transportation Secretary, Pete Buttigieg and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you next time.

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