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Inside Politics
Tension On The Menu At White House Correspondents' Dinner; As Trump Watches, Targeted Journalists To Be Honored; Trump Considering Expanding Military Operations In Iran; NJ Gov.: 6,600 Non-Citizens Added To Voter Rolls Due To Software Error; New Film Documents Anguish & Resilience Of NC Town After Mill Closure; Mill Closure Forces Town To Reconsider Its Generation-Deep Identity. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired July 24, 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]
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: -- vicious. CNN's Brian Stelter joins us now. I mean, can you be unifying and vicious? I don't get it.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: I've never heard a speech where someone's unifying and vicious but maybe we will tonight. This is definitely not going to be a kumbaya moment though. There's no way it can be because the tension is inescapable. The push and pull between the President and the press, it's always there but it's of course much more heightened during Trump 2.0.
This is a President who wants attention but rejects accountability. And so it always goes downhill one way or another. Back in April, the President was briefly unifying after that shooting attempt. But the next day, he tore into CBS Correspondent Norah O'Donnell and called the press terrible people. So that unifying moment lasted less than 24 hours. I don't expect anything different this time around.
What we're seeing from the Trump administration is a government-wide effort to pressure the press on almost every front. Let's put some of the examples on screen. Right now, the FCC challenging ABC's station licenses, investigating other media companies. The President has likened some journalism to treason in recent weeks.
There have been those subpoenas to The New York Times, also to The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. There have been efforts to push the press out of the Pentagon. Federal funding cut from NPR and PBS. By the way, Jim, it's the one-year anniversary today of that federal funding cut.
And PBS is still around, still alive and well. NPR is still alive and well. But they have been very seriously affected by the funding cuts. And that's an example of how the press has been impacted writ large.
American journalism is stronger than any demagogue. The journalists keep working. The press is out there doing the work every day. But it has been adversely affected by the subpoenas, by the funding cuts, by the challenges of licenses, by that cloud of intimidation.
So that is the environment for the speech tonight. And that's why many outside critics say there should not be this dinner happening at all. That Trump should not be invited at all. But I'll tell you, the organizers are excited about the opportunity to talk about the First Amendment with Trump in the room, because that certainly is an unusual situation. Right, Jim?
SCIUTTO: OK, so beyond Trump, who else from the administration is intending? Does that -- is attending? Does that have impact -- I mean, I remember being at the dinner last time, there were a whole host of administration officials because we saw their security details responding in the wake of that shooting.
STELTER: Yes, and in that time, it was literally an issue about the presidential line of succession because almost everyone in that line was in the room at that moment. Now, this will be different tonight. Vice President JD Vance is at home with his new child.
We know the First Lady, Melania Trump, is not in Washington right now. She will not be attending. But figures like Kash Patel and Pete Hegseth will be in the room. And that's relevant because those are the figures that are actually implementing Trump's anti-media agenda.
Hegseth, for example, very aggressive, pushing the press out of the Pentagon and refusing to hold Pentagon briefings. Kash Patel overseeing those leak investigations. So they will be there. But maybe just as importantly, many journalists will be in the room accepting awards.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins, The New York Times' Tyler Pager, those are what's actually one of the figures who was subpoenaed recently by the government. So we're going to be seeing those journalists today accepting awards. And Trump's going to be sitting there watching all of that. So definitely an interesting and unusual environment for the President and his allies tonight.
SCIUTTO: Well, let's hope it's safe as well.
Brian Stelter, thanks so much.
Coming up next, are more bombs the way to get Iran back to the negotiating table? Fact record so far, not great. I'm going to ask a Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.
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[12:37:56]
SCIUTTO: As the war in Iran nears its sixth month now, and after the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran crumbled, President Trump is now weighing options for expanding U.S. military operations against Iran.
Joining me now, Democratic New Jersey Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who's a member of the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thanks so much for taking the time.
REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D), NEW JERSEY: Thanks for having me, Jim. Appreciate it.
SCIUTTO: So CNN has already -- CNN and others have reported that the CIA, the DIA have concluded that the kind of bombing, the kind of airstrikes that the U.S. is currently carrying out are unlikely to shift Iran's position. Given that, do you see any evidence that escalating military action, as the President seems to be considering, will change that calculus at all?
GOTTHEIMER: I mean, part of the challenge here, as you're pointing out, is one, it's unclear what the ultimate objectives are, right, in the conflict, which is why we voted yesterday on the War Powers Resolution, basically saying to the President, you've got to come to Congress and the American people and explain what the objectives are and ask for an authorization of force.
We do know -- so unclear whether it's the objective nuclear, is it to go after their ballistic missiles, their drone program, their terror proxy program, and of course, the Strait of Hormuz, which has now been blocked and which is where the major focus of recent days has been, right? This opening up the straits.
And that was not an issue when this conflict started, but it's become an issue. And the second thing with all this is like what, you know, what resources are needed to achieve those objectives? And how do we achieve those objectives if we don't know what they are, right?
And that's been part of the great frustration here of, what are we trying to get at? What do you need to get at it? And what is -- what's the ultimate goal? At the same time, if they're bombing ships in the strait or if you've got the Houthis now --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GOTTHEIMER: -- going after ships in the Red Sea, you can't just let that happen and go unanswered, right? So if they kill Americans, they attack our allies, they've been dispatching drones and attacked our allies and our bases, you know, you can't just sit there. You obviously got to deal with that and respond as a commander in chief. But you still don't know -- but if you don't know what the ultimate objective is, it's hard to run any kind of conflict.
[12:40:08]
SCIUTTO: Right. Well, those objectives have changed based on the President's own public statements. You bring up the war powers votes, but at the end of the day these are symbolic both because you can't get sufficient number of Republican votes but also because you have the administration gaming, the language, is it a war, is it a skirmish or even these 60-day time periods. I mean is the War Powers Act basically meaningless at this point?
GOTTHEIMER: Listen, you're right that it will not -- the President's not going to sign it into law, but it sends a very strong message to the administration, including from those of us who believe and still believe that Iran is an enemy of the United States of America, the regime there. They've attacked and killed Americans, attacked our bases, attacked our allies, right?
They fly under the banner of death to America, right? They are the enemy. However, the fact that many of us are saying, but Mr. President, you've got to actually lay out your objectives here to the country and to Congress, you can't just go on forever without asking us for an authorization of force or a declaration of war. That sends a very strong message, I believe.
And that is the goal here, to say to the President, you've got to lay out your objectives here so that we know what we're trying to achieve. And all we're seeing in the public sees are just higher gas prices. And obviously, we lost servicemen and women --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GOTTHEIMER: -- which is, you know, is heartbreaking. And --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GOTTHEIMER: -- so you've got a lot on the table here that needs to be addressed, and you can't just throw out a few tweets and hope that solves the problem.
SCIUTTO: Speaking of messages, the President just a short time ago seemed to absolve Russia and China of any responsibility for any help that they may have been offering Iran. CNN has reported that, in fact, Russia has been supplying targeting information to Iran. China has been offering other support. Why has the President put out a message like this now and saying, hey, my friends, Xi and Putin, they tell me they're not supplying anything, so I'm going to take them at their word.
GOTTHEIMER: Well, I don't know why the -- what's motivated the President to do that. You know, I can't really comment further, given my seat on the Intelligence Committee and information that I know. But I'll just say this brings up a larger question of our, who are our friends here and who aren't, right? And clearly, the Chinese and the Russians are not our friends in all this.
And they've not -- you know, they've, over the years, been big supporters of Iran and who's our enemy, right? So you've got Iran, Russia, China, North Korea who have worked together against the United States, against our servicemen and women, against our freedom and our democracy. That is true, and we know that. So pandering to them at any moment, especially in the middle of this conflict, you know, makes no sense to me.
SCIUTTO: OK, I want to ask you about the election system error, a big one in your home state of New Jersey. According to your governor, more than 6,000 non-citizens were mistakenly added to voter rolls in New Jersey and some 400 cast improper ballots.
Your colleague, Senator Andy Kim, said someone should be fired. The key question is, how did this happen? And are you confident it is now fixed? GOTTHEIMER: Well i's confident the governor's all over it. I know they're conducting an investigation. This happened under the prior governor, under the administration and -- so, you know, I think right now, the -- our current governor is focused on one thing getting to the bottom of it and addressing it.
I'd say the big story to me that's not really gotten attention here is the glitch that happened, because it was a technology glitch, was by a company called IDEMIA --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GOTTHEIMER: -- which is a French company, who, by the way, has massive contracts in the -- with the federal government on border patrol, with the FBI, with the Defense Department. When you get TSA pre-clearing at the airport, they have that contract as well.
The machines that you stick your ID into and screen you are made by this French company, which is selling to a Spanish company. They were mentioned in the China report. So there's a lot of issues with this company. And I'd like to know what other glitches are out there. Are they protecting our data? Why are we handing over -
SCIUTTO: Right.
GOTTHEIMER: -- all this driver's license data and all this data to this French and soon to be Spanish company that has had issues with the CCP, with the Chinese government? Like that to me --
SCIUTTO: Yes.
GOTTHEIMER: -- is the big question I'd like to get an answer to.
SCIUTTO: Yes, a vulnerability at a minimum.
Josh Gottheimer, thanks so much for joining.
GOTTHEIMER: Thanks for having me.
SCIUTTO: Coming up next, a century old paper mill closes, forcing a mill town to ask, who are we without the mill? The new documentary following the resilience of one North Carolina community.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're 50 years old, ain't ideal for getting kicked out in the market, you know? I've got some trades to run with, you know? I can do a little bit of everything. I can fix everything but a broken heart and a crack in your ass that's, you know, I'm tired. I get it from a craftsman my dad's the same way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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SCIUTTO: Not many people can say they live to see the end of an era but in Canton, North Carolina, they can. The 115-year-old paper mill employed generations of North Carolinians. The mill's whistle echoing daily in a town built strategically around that mill through the depression, wars, the pandemic.
Then three years ago, a blindside and a story many American towns know well. Pactiv Evergreen announced it would close the mill.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While Pactiv owns the business, it's almost like the mill is so attached to the town and the people. You know, it's like everybody owns a little piece of the mill that is from here, that lives here. Everybody has ties to the mill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: Dana spoke recently with award-winning documentary filmmaker Jeremy Seifert, who lives in nearby Asheville. He heard the news and two days later was filming that documentary, "Papertown." It addresses the devastating question of what now, well beyond the final whistle.
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[12:50:39]
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: "Papertown" director Jeremy Seifert joins us now. I -- it's hard to watch that without tearing up. It's just so emotional. And you made this film, Jeremy, over the course of years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you had like zero funding. Why was it so important for you to make?
JEREMY SEIFERT, DIRECTOR, "PAPERTOWN": Dana, thanks so much for having me on. I'm really honored to be on the show. Yes, you know, at the beginning, it was important for me to make because it was in my backyard and it seemed like a very essential American story and one that really affects us all.
60,000 manufacturing hubs have been wiped off the American map since the late 1990s. And then as I began working on it, I just couldn't stop. I had this incredible team of local filmmakers. We were all working on it together. And when we met people like Matt Boydston, Gail Mull, the Mayor Zeb Smathers, Roger Frady, they were just such incredible, soulful people, and they really took us in and befriended us.
And then it became a story that, you know, we were obligated to tell and do our best to really get out of the way and let them tell their story. Because, you know, films like this don't get made any other way. You're right. We had zero budget for the first three months of filming. We did it all volunteer. Otherwise, this story wouldn't have been told in the way that we told it.
BASH: And you mentioned this, but you include politicians, a Democratic union leader, Republican community members. What were the politics like to navigate as this town went through this horrible closing? SEIFERT: Well, that was one of the amazing themes that came up in the storytelling, which was a theme of depolarization. Yes, there's -- the Mayor Zeb Smathers is Democratic. Gail Mull is a hardcore Democrat who reads the New York Times every day. She also makes cake and desserts for all the mill workers every Thursday or did for years and years and years. And she makes fun of them and their politics.
And they endure there. You just saw an image of her hugging a woman with a MAGA shirt saying to her, I love you. So Canton became for me what Wendell Berry describes in his book, "The Need to Be Whole." He says in Port Royal, Kentucky, neighborliness or community still has a higher bearing on life than political allegiance.
And that's really Canton for me. Like they came together and do come together as a community, although they disagree, they work together. And neighborliness and caring for each other supersedes political differences and allegiances. And that's a really powerful message for all of us.
BASH: Oh, it's such a powerful message. And it's so nice to hear. And it's very important that you're able to portray this real America, as I like to call it, real Americans. Since filming wrapped, the town has fought a data center from buying the land. Have they decided what they're going to do and what the identity they want to try to have beyond "Papertown" since that is now in the past?
SEIFERT: Yes, exactly. They have a one-year moratorium on a data center that wants to come in and fill that space. I think many people in the community are hoping that they will permanently prevent that from happening, as that doesn't create any jobs for the community, although there's some tax revenue, but really it doesn't lead to the kind of life they had where they had good-paying jobs and something to live for and work together for.
It is unknown what the, you know, future identity of Canton will be. I think through this huge loss, they thought that that was their identity and they learned that their identity really is the community itself and the people itself. So how they move forward is still to be determined because they don't own that mill, the land.
And that was a big issue as it was closing. It was like the people who hold the power and the money don't live in Canton and have never been to Canton. So it was a matter of profit over people. And I think they're really trying to put people before profit and do what's best for the community as a whole.
[12:55:17]
BASH: I think that this is so important and it's a beautiful film and you're doing not just for the people of Canton, a solid and making just a beautiful piece of art, but for everybody in America to understand what's going on there. And I think the message you talked about, about people coming together and still being neighborly, regardless of politics, is one that we can all remember.
Jeremy, thank you so much for being here. SEIFERT: Thanks so much for having me on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCIUTTO: And thanks so much to you for joining Inside Politics. Tune in to CNN's State of the Union with Dana Bash this Sunday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries joins the show, along with Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy.
CNN News Central starts right after a quick break.
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