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Children Born Between 2025 And 2028 Eligible For $1,000 Federal Contribution To Their "Their Account"; Trump Frames Midterms As Fight Against Communism; Potential 2028 Dem Candidates Hit Trump On Profiting Off Presidency; Photo Of Black Woman Surrounded By White Nationalists Goes Viral; White Nationalist Group Patriot Front March In D.C. On July 4th; White House Claims Smithsonian Leaders Are Radical Activists; Trump Ally Hires Michael Cohen For Radio Show. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired July 06, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: You can get this Trump account as long as you're a U.S. citizen and you have a valid Social Security number for your kid. And actually, if you apply for a Social Security number, you can now apply for a Trump account at the same time with the same form.

So, what are the rules? How do you get this? Well, you can contribute $5,000 a year tax-free, tax-deductible investments in a low-cost index fund. That's like the S&P 500. Remember, the S&P 500 made 300 percent over the past 10 years. That could be a really good investment.

But, you know, even if you don't invest in it, it's a pretty good deal. And you can use it for things like college, obviously, because when you're 18, that's one of the places that you're going. But you may not. You might want to use it for your first home. You can even just keep it in your account and use it for retirement.

If you use it for something that's not one of these, though, then you do get a 10 percent penalty, and you have to pay those taxes that I mentioned before. Now, if you do not contribute to this and you just keep $1,000, still with a 10 percent return, which is pretty conservative over the past 10 years.

Look at this, you can still walk away with $5,500 for college or something else like that. Now, that's not going to pay for college. If you do max out your contributions, you're talking about some really serious money, about a $250,000 by the time your child is 18, assuming that 10 percent returns.

So the question is, how do I get this? Well, of course, it is IRS Form 4547. Why do you think that might be, Dana? And it is the trumpaccounts.gov where you can sign up for all of this.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: It's so subtle, really.

GOLDMAN: Yes. I don't get it. I'm not totally sure why, yes.

BASH: But, listen, I mean, this is pretty phenomenal for people. As you said, free money, even if you don't sort of contribute on your own, $5,000 will probably get you a textbook by then, but at least it's something.

I do want to play something that the President said about the accounts this morning.

GOLDMAN: You got it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we've done a lot of great things, but I think this would be one of the top. It's going to teach children to be entrepreneurial, as opposed to the threat of communism that you're seeing a lot.

This is not social Democrats, by the way. That's a beautiful -- we're social Democrats, they say. They're not social, they're communists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I think this is one of those Scooby moments when you go, huh? Because, yes, it's a public-private partnership if people maximize, as you said, if people can invest, and the government starts with a little bit of help. But the whole notion of the government helping, it's not communism, but it is government involvement.

GOLDMAN: Well, if it is communism, then so is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, your 401(k), your Roth IRA, all of these things that allow you to get money from the government to help you, this is what that is. Just because you can invest it and make a little bit of extra money doesn't necessarily mean that it's fighting communism.

I think that, you know, we've got a lot of social benefit in this country mixed with capitalism. That is definitely a good thing, Dana.

BASH: Yes, it definitely is. Thank you so much for going through that, especially to people out there who have children, babies, born since President Trump has been President again and are eligible.

Up next, President Trump is trying -- speaking of -- trying to give the Red Scare a comeback. You're going to hear his July 4th/midterm message that takes a page from the politics of the Cold War.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:38:19]

BASH: President Trump has a new midterm message for his party and the country -- beware of communism. Now, if you think that's a message more fit for a campaign in the 1950s, you're not alone. But what he really means is to warn about the surge of Democratic Socialist candidates winning Democratic primaries so far in mostly deep blue districts and cities. For Republicans, it's a tailor-made election foil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Communism is a mortal threat to American liberty. It is the greatest threat to our country, including World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, or even 9/11.

America will never be a communist country. Won't happen. Communism is a loser, and it always will be. The communist system is the opposite of the American system, and the communist system has never worked.

Our warriors did not fight communism on battlefields across the world only to have that menace rear its ugly head right back here in America. We're not going to let it happen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The panel is back. This is one of the most fascinating developments in politics over the last really just few days. It started with the President's speech in Mount Rushmore. And what's most interesting to me is that he -- they have chosen not to say Democratic Socialist, which is what a lot of these candidates actually are. They call themselves that, but to say communism.

And we were talking in the break about the fact that as an 80-year-old who probably did drills under the desk, as most of our parents and maybe grandparents did, the threat of the sort of Red Scare hits home. But I don't think for people, Gen X or younger, I don't know how much that's going to really connect.

[12:40:14]

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: Yes, and a lot of this Democratic Socialist wave is being driven by younger voters as well. That is the real kind of motor of this. And I think, you know, you're going to have to be pushing 60 to have any adult memory of living in the Cold War, the threat of nuclear weapons that, you know, everybody felt back then as an existential threat to civilization.

Maybe this works among more moderate older voters in some swing races, but it's hard to see it really connecting, I think, with younger voters. I mean, you know, even in Russia and China, they don't really practice the economic aspects of communism anymore, even though they've retained the authoritarian angle of it.

So we'll see if it works. It worked for Richard Nixon in the 1950 Senate campaign. Will it work for Donald Trump --

BASH: Yes.

COLLINSON: -- all these years later?

BASH: When the Soviet Union actually --

COLLINSON: Yes. BASH: -- existed. And, you know, I don't -- I'm not saying that he doesn't think that China is an adversary, but he does like the Chinese leader, which actually is, I mean, that sort communist with a dash of capitalism as well.

Let's talk about what he's really talking about, some of these Democratic Socialists who have won. I'm not going to go through the list, but we can put it up on the screen, from the mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, to members of Congress, gubernatorial candidates, mayoral candidates who are still running, and of course, the series of House candidates who have won primaries from New York to Colorado.

MICHELLE PRICE, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AP: Yes. And let me be clear that Democratic Socialism is not communism.

BASH: Correct.

PRICE: But Donald Trump has also tried this before. There was actually a stretch in the 2024 campaign when he was labeling Kamala Harris and Joe Biden as fascists at one point, and he's kind of been slapping different labels on people to see what sticks.

You know, their policies were not at this part of the spectrum for the Democratic Party, it didn't seem to really land well. But this is kind of hitting on this point in the Democratic Party's identity crisis, and there is some real hand-wringing there about what they stand for and how their tent kind of embodies these people.

The one problem for Donald Trump is there are policies he's taking now that people in his own party have said kind of smack of communism.

BASH: Like?

PRICE: He's tried to fix the price of gas lately, which is the thing we've seen in communist countries. He's had the government take a stake in AI companies, in Intel, in one of the rare earth mining companies. The AI one is in process, but he's working on it. So there are all these different ways that he actually is sort of taking actions that seem to be about this very boogeyman he's trying to scare voters about.

BASH: Again, I refer you back to the A Block (ph) when I said irony is dead. Let's talk about what Democrats are sort of really coalescing around in terms of their message. And we saw it over the weekend, July 4th weekend, from three prominent Democrats -- governors, actually. And that is Trump and corruption.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. WES MOORE (D), MARYLAND: Americans are fed up with watching politicians profit off of public office. Our political system once felt like a gift, but the politics of today feel like a grift.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D), CALIFORNIA: He didn't drain the swamp. He gave it a presidential suite with gold leaf. This is a corruption story. This is a heist. This is corruption with a flag pen.

GOV. JOSH SHAPIRO (D), PENNSYLVANIA: Something that our founders in this room debated, deliberated over, they were worried about creating a government where a king could form again, where one individual would amass so much power that you'd have tyranny all over again. I fear that we are finding our way back to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yes, I think it's really interesting. We're seeing Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff use this same message to his advantage as he runs for re- election, where he says, you know, Trump is corrupt. Trump is making all this money. Meanwhile, the people at home are suffering. The people at home are not getting the help that they need because Trump is so focused on his enriching himself and his family.

So it does possibly have political implications. That's something we know privately that a lot of Republicans are concerned about. Trump has done a lot of things, particularly when it comes to the crypto and some of his family's business involvements and some of his foreign policies that troubles Republicans.

They do find it unsettling, and it's the same type of corruption that they've complained about with other people. And now, of course, they won't publicly say that about Trump, but they do believe that he's setting them up for huge losses in the midterms.

BASH: It's because that's what they're hearing from their constituents.

We're going to sneak in a quick break. Coming up, it's one of the most talked about images from America's 250th, and it's not the fireworks. You'll see what it is after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:49:25]

BASH: Some images really strike a nerve and are instantly iconic. This feels like one of them. A black woman sitting on the D.C. metro surrounded by countless masked white nationalists on America's 250th birthday. This photo was captured by Cheney Orr of Reuters.

And our panel is back now. Tia, I just want to start by explaining what the Patriot Front is. This is a group that came here to Washington, marched the morning of July 4th in and around the Capitol near us. It's a white nationalist organization founded in 2017 after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

[12:50:04]

It rejects multiculturalism and racial diversity known for face masks and flash mob style demonstrations. And they try to recruit new members with traditional Americana imagery. MITCHELL: So, you know, we were talking during the break, and for people who maybe don't understand the impact or the concern, if you're a black or brown person and you see masked people marching through the streets, first of all, it's very evocative of the Ku Klux Klan movement, which was deadly for black people in America.

But these people who are masked, who support this white nationalist organization that you said rejects multiculturalism and diversity, they left unmasked, right? They kissed their babies. They may -- got a latte at Starbucks. They go around the world. They've returned to their jobs.

They could be your boss today for someone watching. And they have these ideals. You don't know, did you get that -- did you not get that promotion because you weren't competent or because you were black? You know, did that person shove you when you were walking down the street because you were truly in their way or because you're brown? And that's what's so problematic about these masked men and what's scary, quite frankly.

BASH: And just looking -- just to follow up, looking at that photo, I mean, you're talking about the marching and masks. I mean, yes, they're wearing masks. Very well could be, as you were saying, a white hood. Not that different. Let's be honest about it.

And just looking at that photo, it really does, it really does hit home. I asked the Interior Secretary who was on with me on State of the Union yesterday about his reaction, not just to this photo, but more importantly, to the fact that this white nationalist group was marching on July 4th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOUG BURGUM, INTERIOR SECRETARY: There are plenty of things that I see that I might personally find offensive, irreprehensible. But in America, free speech is allowed. And this is by the whole spectrum of things. I mean, we're a country where someone can run and be elected, saying that they're a communist.

BASH: Will you recommend to the President that he condemn this group and what they were trying to message, what they did try to message here in Washington?

BURGUM: Well, there've been -- Dana, part of my response to that is that there are protests on the mall that people say things that I think are irreprehensible about President Trump. And yet they're allowed to go on because of free speech in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: And it really just seems like it shouldn't be so hard to condemn white nationalists. It shouldn't be so hard to not both sides everything. And it shouldn't be so hard for people to accept that this is part of the support on the right. It's their stuff going on on the left too. But even the men themselves who are marching, that's why they're wearing the mask. They know that they shouldn't be saying some of this stuff.

PRICE: Yes, I mean, they're carrying Confederate flags. They're -- like it's -- you can condemn that. I know we saw some of the kind of conspiracy tweets from some lawmakers suggesting, or at least one lawmaker, Senator Mike Lee, suggesting that they were plants or something else. But the actions itself --

BASH: Yes.

PRICE: -- you can condemn this.

BASH: They were going down the streets of Washington, D.C., chanting that they want to reclaim America. There's, again, nothing subtle about that. Thank you all.

Coming up, the White House claims the government's main museum system is being run by political extremists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:58:19]

BASH: Topping our political radar, a new report from the White House accuses Smithsonian and the leaders there of being radical liberal activists. The report takes particular aim at National Museum of American History, saying they can't be trusted to tell America's story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying and worthy of our great republic. It accuses leadership there of extreme political activism that seeks to transform our country.

A Smithsonian spokesman says the institution is nonpartisan and independent. It's unclear what the Trump administration plans to do with the report. Historian Lonnie Bunch is the first African-American to lead the Smithsonian. Historian Anthea Hartig is the first woman to run the American History Museum.

And he was President Trump's fixer, famously so, and then he was one of his most outspoken foes. Now Michael Cohen may be back in the President's good graces. He's getting a new radio show on WABC radio, which happens to be owned by Trump donor and friend, John Catsimatidis.

And he told the New York Post that Cohen and Trump have smoothed things over. In an interview, he said that the President is just fine.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER TRUMP LAWYER: You don't have to necessarily agree with every single thing that the President says or does. But understand one thing. His goal is to actually do right by the country. You may not agree with his methodology, but it's his methodology. And the American people voted for him to be President of the United States. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You remember Cohen actually spent more than a year in prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations for arranging hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. In the 2016 campaign, he testified against Trump at Trump's trial for similar crimes.

Thanks for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts right now.