Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Blanche Confirmation In Doubt As Cornyn, Tillis Withhold Support; Thune: Trump Doesn't Get A Vote For Senate Majority Leader; Voters Favor Democrats By 8 Points On Congressional Ballot; Nearly Half Of Voters Say Neither Party Is Fighting Corruption; One In Three Democrats Identify As Democratic Socialist. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 30, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Instead of compromise to confirm his attorney general, is President Trump looking to sidestep the process altogether?

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

The breaking news is on Capitol Hill, where Todd Blanche's nomination to be attorney general is on life support. Two key Republican senators say they are not ready to support him unless they get ironclad written assurances from the White House that President Trump's so-called anti- weaponization fund is dead, along with the deal he made with the IRS to avoid tax audits.

But moments ago, President Trump posted that he's not making any deals. Quote, John Cornyn of Texas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, both of whom I refused to endorse and whose political careers have been ended by my action are refusing to vote for this great nominee, who will remain in any event as acting. I have no objection to temporarily withdrawing Todd's name if they do not do the right thing and putting him back after Cornyn and Tillis are out of office.

Now, Cornyn and Tillis, their demands are two things, Blanche himself agreed to in his confirmation hearing, but something or someone appears to be blocking Blanche from putting it in writing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I thought we were pretty close to landing the plane last night, but this morning there's been some more complications. I think if this were just between me and Todd Blanche, we would have worked this out. But apparently, he's getting some pushback from higher ups at the White House.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I'm going to get straight to Manu Raju on Capitol Hill. Manu, let's translate that. If it's not Todd Blanche, he's talking about higher ups at the White House. There's one guy we're talking about and that's the president, right?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, it very well could be. Now, both Cornyn and Thom Tillis, both were hesitant in directly blaming the president. They say they don't really know if the president's involved. Cornyn believes his people in the White House themselves. He said he doesn't know if the president's involved. Tillis is blaming the president's advisors.

And I actually just caught up with Senator Tillis about the president's suggestion that he may withdraw Todd Blanche and simply re-nominate him once both Tillis and Cornyn are gone come next January. And he basically said, go right ahead, Mr. President. And he also sharply criticized those around the president who he says are giving him bad advice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Our reaction is the president's getting bad advice. He should listen to Blanche and others who think if it's dead, it should be rendered completely dead.

RAJU: What do you mean he's getting bad advice? I mean, is the president --

(CROSSTALK)

TILLIS: -- to not do what Blanche said they were going to do. Whoever that person is, is giving the president bad advice. The only reason why we wouldn't move forward with this language is because that same advisor wants to bring it back to life at some point.

RAJU: It's in the advisors, but it's the president.

TILLIS: That you can draw that conclusion, Manu, and I can draw one that's got my eyes on the target.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And that's been very a common phrase of Thom Tillis is he's criticized the White House, oftentimes blames others in the White House. He didn't name any presidential advisor there, but in the past he's blamed people like Stephen Miller repeatedly for various things that the president has done. But on this issue, John Cornyn also has suggested that perhaps it's the White House lawyers themselves who have intervened.

Cornyn believed, Dana, that there could have been a deal reached between him and Todd Blanche over those main issues because Blanche himself testified that the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund money that could have gone to January 6 rioters, that that was all -- that was dead that was not going to move forward. He simply wanted it in writing. He also simply wanted it in writing that Trump and his family and associates would not be shielded from future IRS tax audits.

What was in line with Todd Blanche's testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, but they were never able to get it in writing. And perhaps because of resistance from the White House, perhaps because of resistance from Donald Trump, but a doubt now is very, very clear. Todd Blanche's nomination all but collapses. The president now doing an end run around Congress, will keep him in in his acting capacity and then try to re-nominate him next year. But who knows at that point who will control the Senate, Dana?

[12:05:00]

BASH: Yeah. That's a very -- that's a very good point, Manu, not Manu, Manu. But the whole idea that Senator Tillis said, I'm going to keep my eye on the target. I mean, who knows what that means? I guess the most important thing to remember is that the president very much is in control, whether it's people who are advisors or members of his legal team or not. The president can be the decider here, as he is on everything.

Manu, thank you. Appreciate it. Jeff Zeleny, what are you hearing from your sources?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, there is no doubt that the president could stop this at any moment and he could have resolved this. But as you were just saying there, quite astutely, I mean, he clearly does not want to. He's not going to give John Cornyn an inch on this. Now, all of this could have been completely avoided how the president stayed out of the Texas Republican Senate primary that did not happen.

But I think the more interesting thing is talking to people around the White House this morning. Lawyers definitely are involved in this, but again, it's the president's decision here, and I think he does not want to look like he is giving something to John Cornyn. But the tax audit is much more important than anything else here, because look at everything that is happening. But to Manu's point at the end, I mean, it is very much an open question.

Even if they would try and do this in the lame duck session after in November, how many Republicans would be on board with this? There are many Republicans or a handful of Republicans who are leaving after the term is up. And this again, if Lindsey Graham was here, this would not be the case because he would have been the vote to get it out of a committee. I mean, it may have been still this underlying issue, but this is one of the real-world effects here of a narrow majority.

BASH: Yeah, that's a good point. And on the point, you were making earlier about the tax issue, we've been talking so much about this anti-weaponization fund, but the other thing that seems to be maybe the biggest sticking point. I know you just came from Capitol Hill. Is the deal that the president and his lawyers made with Todd Blanche and the IRS that he wouldn't be responsible for any audits in the past. This is what John Cornyn just put on social media himself. POTUS is mistaken if he believes concerns about the provisions in his tax lawsuit settlement are limited to me and Senator Tillis.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Yeah. We remember even earlier this year a number of senators, including Murkowski and Collins, they essentially started Senate recess early, did not vote on what Trump wanted, which was more funding for the Department of Homeland Security because they wanted assurances that the anti-weaponization fund was debunked. They ultimately got that. We saw that funding pass through. But, you know, especially yesterday, there were a lot of people wondering why are they so insistent.

Manu got that question into Cornyn. Cornyn said, you know, this is not revenge, which makes you wonder. OK, fine. If it's not revenge, then are they the ones taking the arrows for a number of senators trying to prevent this vote in committee so that it doesn't go to the floor and potentially hurt Susan Collins, who's obviously in a very tough race, and potentially other senators, like I'm hearing that potentially the Kansas Senate race, Republicans are starting to worry about that. There's worries in Montana, obviously Alaska states that should be ones that Republicans can easily win in this election cycle. So, they might be helping their colleagues here too.

BASH: Because they're lame ducks. So, they're just -- they're the ones quacking.

NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON, BLOOMBERG POLITICS & POLICY COLUMNIST AND CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Exactly. You know, they are basically sort of the YOLO caucus at this point. They don't owe Donald Trump anything. If you're John Cornyn, you're mad that he essentially tanked his chances to remain in the Senate. But yeah, we don't know how broad the objection is to Todd Blanche because there's a lot to object to when it comes to Todd Blanche and a lot of worries in terms of who he would be in this position.

Would he essentially be Donald Trump's hatchet man? Set aside, you know, this weaponization fund. He's a person who, during the confirmation here, had essentially said he's Donald Trump's lawyer, right? And it was sort of a slip of a tongue, but it was also, I think, sort of an acknowledgement that he does see himself as somebody who wants to carry out Donald Trump's wishes, particularly around weaponization of the Justice Department.

BASH: And just staying on this incredible tension between the president and Senate Republicans. Generally speaking, it's now bearing out even more publicly on the Senate majority leader yesterday in the Oval Office. Here's what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think Senate Majority Leader John Thune, after the comments you heard on SAVE America and some other stuff, do you think he's still the man for the job?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, we're going to find out and I'll let you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: This just in, Senator John Thune, the Senate majority leader responded.

[12:10:00] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When's one time you talked to the president?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Hard to hear. It was quick. He doesn't get a vote, meaning he's not somebody who votes for the Senate leader.

ZELENY: Exactly, and Senator Thune made very clear there. Look, there are some Republicans senators who would not vote for John Thune, but the vast, vast majority would vote for John Thune and they have his back. So, this interference from the White House is not helpful, obviously, in Senator Thune's mind. But again -- and we'll have to limit our time saying this, but this is one of the other fallouts from Senator Lindsey Graham not being there because he was a protector of the institution and could listen to the president, but was a very close friend of Senator Thune, and that was very helpful.

So, I think in this point going forward, John Thune would probably prefer to be retired some days and back being a grandfather in South of Dakota, but he's not. He's the Senate majority leader and he would love the White House to do anything but stay on message, sell their achievements, and the president is picking all these fights not helpful to say the least.

BASH: Now, there's obviously so much drama among Republicans, but then there's the very important question of who's going to be the attorney general. And the point that the president was making in his post just a short while ago was that it can still be Todd Blanche in the acting position. And there is maybe not for attorney general, but there is precedent in a Democratic administration for keeping a cabinet member in their role acting for a very long time.

Julie Su couldn't get the votes to be confirmed, and she was acting labor secretary for one year and 10 months, so almost two years. And then there was Adrianne Todman acting HUD secretary, housing secretary for almost 10 months. So, it is with precedent and it is a bipartisan thing.

All right, coming up. Brand new CNN polling shows Democrats have an eight-point edge on generic congressional ballots. Will the summer snapshot hold through the fall? Plus, Washington's favorite four- letter word. Why are so many politicians letting the F-bombs -- F- bombs fly?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: With 96 days to go until the midterms, Democrats just got a big dose of good news in our brand-new CNN poll. They hold an eight-point lead among registered voters on the generic ballot. You couple that with President Trump's record low approval rating that we brought you yesterday, and a Democratic House majority looks attainable.

Let's walk through some of the other headline numbers in this poll. First of all, the question of how motivated voters, people who are going to very likely go to the polls, feel about this coming elections. 57 percent say that they're motivated to vote for a Democrat, 37 for a Republican. Then the question is among independents, very important for any election, but particularly a midterm election among independents. 40 percent say that they're going to vote for the Democrat, 29 percent for Republicans.

And this is really interesting to me. Who is or which is the party of change? Democrats now have a 10-point advantage on that, and just last year, it was Republicans that had a seven-point advantage on being the party of change. Nia?

HENDERSON: Yeah, listen. You know, I think if you're Republican at this moment, what are you running on? If you look at gas prices, it's obviously boosted by the war in Iran. What is your message to average voters? And if you're a Democrat, you're essentially saying change, throw the bums out, affordability, and so it isn't a surprise that that you see those numbers there.

Obviously, Donald Trump swept into office. That poll was May 2025, shortly after he was inaugurated, and he was, you know, pushed back into office on this message of change and affordability, and so, now it's sort of turnabout is fair play. We'll see what happens, right?

I mean, if you look at the individual races, particularly in the Senate, there's going to be a big question of what do independents actually want to do? Do they want to vote for more progressive candidates in some of these Senate races that are -- that are emerging in these Senate primaries? So, we'll see. But listen, if you're a Democrat, you feel good. But Democrats have, I think, for a while felt good, particularly around the House and the prospect of Hakeem Jeffries getting the gavel.

BASH: I just want to go back to the question of motivated voters and just underscore that we're talking about extremely motivated voters in this poll, and there is this 20-point gap here between voters motivated for the Democrats versus voters motivated for Republicans.

SOTOMAYOR: Yeah. I mean it is a significant -- a significant lead for Democrats. I mean, I was just thinking about how Democrats were so depressed, basically crying a year ago, that they just didn't have enthusiasm on their side. Now they do. So, the ones who are really, really freaking out about this are Republicans.

[12:20:00]

And there's been a lot of questions as to why Republicans, especially now that the House is on the campaign. They're really hammering in on, Democrats being communist, obviously the SAVE Act. Things that when you're looking at the -- especially, vulnerable Republicans, like they should be talking about affordability to your point, Nia. They should be talking about those things.

The reason why they are hammering so hard on these "culture war issues" is because they need to turn out their base. They know that they have a base problem. These polls are proving that. And so, they really are leaning in incredibly hard on these messages in the hope that not all the Republicans who turn out for Trump, but a good amount of them do. They do wish that Trump was on the campaign trail to help some of these Republicans, but they're not banking on that because we haven't really seen Trump on the campaign trail.

ZELENY: I mean, look, any midterm election, we have some history here. I mean, the first midterm election from the president's first term in office was disastrous for his party, and history would suggest that a president's party almost always, with just like literally two exceptions in the last century suffers.

But all of this is despite the fact that the Democratic brand isn't so hot either. In fact, it's -- the favorable view is a 30 percent, unfavorable is 51 percent, but it is a moment of change and that is so clear throughout every number in this poll. And it is a throw the bums out kind of election. It just happens to be that Republicans are in charge. That doesn't mean that they love Democrats. That's why we're seeing so much energy for these insurgent communities.

BASH: Well, let's look at another bit of data just to sort of back up what you're saying. The question is, if Congress were -- most members were replaced, 51 percent, 51 percent say that they would be better off. 51, I mean, wow, that, you know --

ZELENY: That has to give someone like Susan Collins in Maine and other incumbents on the ballot a little bit of anxiety as well here because any incumbent is running a bit scared.

HENDERSON: Even somebody like Haley Stevens, right? You're in Michigan, you're in the House, you're trying to get a ticket to the Senate, and you see what those poll numbers are there for her. She isn't doing so well.

BASH: Well, yeah. OK. So, let's talk about the question about how people view their own parties. Question is, your party needs major changes. Democrats say that 47 -- 47 percent of Democrats rather say that their party needs major changes. Republicans, only 26 percent of Republican respondents said that their party needs major changes.

ZELENY: I mean, the fight for the future of the Democratic Party is really an undercurrent in all of these primary races. That's why that number is so high because it combines people from both sides who think that the change is either too much or not enough. So yes, for the moment, good news for Democrats, but not for long, perhaps.

BASH: And Marianna, let's look at the question of corruption, which is a big part of what the Democrats are hammering because they see in their own polling that this is something that will help them. People are frustrated with what they see as corruption in Washington. But question here, the party that fights corruption, 46 percent say neither, neither party, and Republicans only 27 percent, Democrats only 26 percent. So, it just goes to show that people are just disgusting with both parties and discuss it with this town.

SOTOMAYOR: And that's not a new trend, but it really shows that corruption, either party, depending on how they frame it, and they're very much going out there and campaigning on corruption on their own fronts. They could gain an advantage here, and gaining any kind of advantage on being able to fight corruption could help them potentially in 2028. And I know that is a huge priority, almost like a personal obsession for Hakeem Jeffries. So, if they have the gavels next year, wouldn't be surprised if they start going after not just the administration but corporations too.

BASH: All right. Just how big is the democratic socialist wing of the Democratic Party? We have more from our CNN poll on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Democratic socialist candidates are winning more primaries across the country. So, in our new CNN poll, we asked Democrats what they think. One-third of Democrats now identify as a democratic socialist. Now, if you break it down by age, 40 percent of Democrats under 45 say they identify as a democratic socialist. Just 28 percent of voters who identify themselves as democratic socialists are over the age of 45. Those numbers are quite striking.

SOTOMAYOR: Yeah, they are. And it's surprising simply because, you know, when you talk to Democratic strategists here, they are still thinking about the 2024 election where you saw more far left ideologies really get significant push back. We even saw AOC after the '24 election asking her own constituents, hey, what happened here? Like, what are we getting wrong? This obviously points to the anti- Trump sentiment, and we saw that also in 2018.

But there are legitimate conversations happening of, OK, as much as the base and Democrats are identifying as democratic socialists, what does that mean when we are also trying to appeal to independents in 2028? What kind of Democratic candidate is going to come forward in the next election? So, it is causing trouble, obviously, and there are a lot of concerns, especially, like, when we talk about Michigan, whether it's a Senate race or even some House races. If these more leftist candidates do pull ahead, they're going to have trouble in the general election.