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Inside Politics

Trump Orders Pentagon To Cut Joint Exercises With Ally South Korea; Trump Says USS Lincoln Deployments "Not Nearly Long Enough"; Gov. Moore: Trump's USS Lincoln Comment "Pisses Me Off"; Trump Refers To Ballroom As "The Military Complex"; Soon: Opening Statements Begin In Tupac Shakur Murder Trial. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired August 17, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:10]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: A tale of two standards. President Trump gives a dictator a break but tells American troops to tough it out.

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

President Trump is sending a new stark message to the world about where his loyalties lie. He ordered the Pentagon to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea. He said it was because of his quote, very good relationship with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, while adding it sends a quote, signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile to a country that, as long as Donald J. Trump has been president, has been unthreatening and respectful.

Now, this move undercuts South Korea, which is, of course, a key American ally, with tens of thousands of U.S. troops stationed there, at least in the DMZ. And it hands North Korea, a nuclear-armed adversary, a long-sought win. Never mind the very real, documented nuclear threat North Korea poses. Kim Jong Un, whom President Trump is praising, presides over a regime accused of political prison camps, torture, forced labor, brutally repressing political opponents, and starving his own people.

President Trump isn't exactly hiding what may be driving his thinking. He's mad at South Korea for not helping in Iran. He wrote on Truth Social, while somewhat unrelated, I recently asked the president of South Korea if they would like to join us in the denuclearization of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and they said, no thanks. This is very related and on brand for the president, who demands loyalty and keeps score when he doesn't get it.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here. Alayna Treene, you covered the White House for us. What are you hearing from your sources about this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, I think your point of this idea that it's totally unrelated, as the president, you know, question mark, obviously, this is related. The president has been fixated on any of what he calls so-called allies who have not come to the United States aid, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz, in the way that he wants throughout this war. So, I think that's a big part of it. The whole thing about what he's doing, though, and arguing that North Korea, you know, hasn't been threatening while he's president, that to me is so interesting.

I'd remind you, actually, when he went to Asia, I believe it was last year, he was trying to get a meeting with Kim Jong Un on the books. And we had reported at the time as well that the president, or at least his team, had been sending letters to North Korea to see if they could get some sort of another summit on the books, you know, following up on what we saw back during his first term, and those went -- they didn't respond essentially. So, that to me is interesting as well. I don't know. I haven't had any recent reporting --

BASH: So, Kim Jong gossiped (Ph) him?

TREENE: Basically. I don't have any new reporting of what the communications have looked like in the months since then. But he is a president and we've seen this before. Who has a tendency to embrace foreign adversaries almost sometimes seemingly more than he does allies, and this is another example.

BASH: Yeah. And part of the backdrop is that South Korea was planning, starting today to do some new military exercises using some new technology. And just remember what the president has landed on with Iran was we want to make sure that they don't get a nuclear missile. According to the Congressional Research Service, which I know you're very familiar with, Phil Mattingly. There is an estimate that North Korea has produced enough fissile material for up to 90 warheads and assembled approximately 50 already.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. First up, shout out CRS. It's better than any AI LLM you could be using lawmakers, utilize them. They're an absolute gift to Washington. Listen, I like how you're framing this because I think this is a really interesting perspective that sometimes in the conversation which the president has so dramatically reshaped when it comes to the U.S. and North Korea. Obviously ,through his first term and now kind of re-upping it again in a second term, is the fact that it is a nuclear state and it is the exact -- almost the kind of picture of what they don't want Iran to become.

[12:05:00]

And how the nuclearization of North Korea reshaped the Indo-Pacific region, and how the U.S. operates, how U.S. allies operate in that region, and the relationship between the U.S. and one of its seven decades-old ally in South Korea. We are now apparently somewhat supportive of what North Korea has always wanted, in terms of trying to ratchet back U.S. support for South Korea, U.S. joint military operations, South Korea.

At the same time, the last U.S. carrier in the Indo-Pacific is now moving towards Iran, which is taking another critical linchpin component of U.S. military assets out of the region, where this administration was supposed to be moving its entire focus towards and taking its focus away from the Middle East because too many administrations, administration after administration, had been locked into the morass that was the Middle East. And so, it's basically putting on its head everything the administration said they were trying to do geopolitically and in its foreign policy, point to China as its top adversary.

At the same moment that the president is undercutting not just a critical ally, but doing so at a moment where allies, not just in that region, but really around the entire world are questioning more and more each day. Not just about the reliance on the United States, the support the United States may bring, but what this means going forward as they try and think through their posture in their specific regions with their own specific adversaries.

BASH: So those are all of the very real, very important geopolitical policy, military realities, but the other very important note here, and maybe is really the bottom line is that President Trump loves him a dictator. I mean, he really, really does. This is back in 2018, the president talking about Kim Jong Un.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I was really being tough, and so was he. And we would go back and forth, and then we fell in love. OK? No, really. He wrote me beautiful letters, and they're great letters. We fell in love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And just to add to that, this is just Saturday. So, two days ago, the president posted a photo of himself with Kim Jong Un at the DMZ. Actually, despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we are smiling. Kim Jong Un and I get along great.

ADAM HARRIS, STAFF WRITE, THE ATLANTIC: I mean, the president likes to project a sort of power and so -- and a sort of control that I think that he identifies a lot with in some of the dictators who he often praises. And he thinks that he has this sort of personal diplomacy that he can sort of emphasize at any time that he would like, right? It's saying that well, Vladimir Putin is strong on this thing, right?

There is -- it has become a sort of tendency. But I think the thing to really consider here, right, is like Phil was saying, these are key allies. You think of South Korea, you think of the troops that are stationed at Camp Humphreys or Yongsan or Osan down in Pyeongtaek or down in Taegu, right? They're like across the entire peninsula. So, this is a relationship that the president has very routinely said, we are getting the short end of the stick on. He says that South Korea is not paying enough for the defense that the U.S. has provided him.

But as several presidents before have said, this is a deterrent, right? It is in order to protect the entire sort of region that sort of PAC after the Pacific Air Force is the Pacific region. It is necessary to have those troops stationed there. But now, when allies, such as Oman are saying, wait, you said you're going to bomb us now, in so many words. It makes it more difficult for allies to rely on the United States going forward.

BASH: And then there's the question of U.S. troops who are now deployed as part of the Iran war. This is what the president said in response to questions about CNN reporting and others of very real exhaustion and mental health issues aboard the USS Lincoln, which has been in -- at sea without coming to shore at all for over 200 days.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Family members of U.S. service members are concerned about the conditions onboard the USS Lincoln?

TRUMP: Well, no, that ship is moving. No, they're not.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Has the deployment gone on too long? Are you worries about the mental health concerns?

TRUMP: No, no, no, not nearly long enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Alayna, what were people around the president saying after they heard him say that? I mean, obviously they are used to him not exactly staying on message with critical topics across the board, but this one must have been kind of more of an alarm than others.

TREENE: And they were downplaying it. I mean, to be totally frank, which isn't surprising from this White House, this idea that oh, you know, he didn't totally mean. No, it's not been out there long enough. Of course, I should note this is I think the longest deployment for an aircraft carrier on record. So clearly, it's been long enough, but they were trying to downplay it. Oh, he didn't totally. He wasn't answering that part of the question.

[12:10:00]

Look, it is problematic. But I will say it's not something that they're necessarily trying to roll back either. They're the same comments you've heard made by the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, arguing that this idea of mental illness and strain on the sailors who have been aboard are being entirely overplayed. That is the message coming from the White House.

Simultaneously, of course, there is a lot of concern about this. I mean, you cannot have these people who have been out there rebooted to have this broad presence in the Middle East because of this war that the president himself had said would be over far, you know, sooner than has been reality. They recognize this as an issue that they need to deal with.

BASH: You know who else recognizes this as an issue, Democrats. Listen to Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, and a vet on State of the Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD): The response of the president -- the president of the United States pisses me off, and it should piss all of us off. But you know what? You know, I would have hoped that since he's never been forward deployed, since he's never put on the uniform and sacrifice for this country. That he would have more compassion for the people who are willing to. His response is their deployments haven't lasted long enough. While he continues to rake in billions of dollars on a war that nobody understands, and that all of us are paying for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Phil?

MATTINGLY: The opening that this has given on a political issue, and just to be very clear here, I think these issues are much deeper and much more important than just the politics at this moment. But giving an opening for Democrats to be able to side with the troops, to put themselves on the sides of the troops, not just criticizing or attacking a military operation. But the malfeasance that they see or inability to actually run that operation properly is a massive advantage on an issue that the public has already soured against.

Actually, was never really for to begin with right now. And the ability for Democrats to kind of punctuate this over the course of the next couple of weeks. If they don't, it would be political malpractice. But this is a massive opportunity on an issue where I think any normal human being R or D would look around and say, if these troops, if we're not supporting them properly, like that's a really, really terrible thing to do.

BASH: OK. Everybody, stand by, up next. Todd Blanche previews how the Justice Department will look with him officially at the helm. Here's a hint, President Trump may have some influence. And she plays an American president in her new series, The Diplomat. But does actress Allison Janney believe a woman will reach the Oval Office in real life, at least in her lifetime? We'll give you the answer to that in a really fascinating interview she did with Elizabeth Wagmeister. Stay with us.

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BASH: Attorney General Todd Blanche is outlining how he plans to lead the Justice Department. It's no surprise his version of the job includes listening very closely to what the president wants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, U.S. ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: There's a big difference between saying we will be -- we will always do our job and investigate any case and act independently of the White House. No, I'm not going to pledge that, and no attorney general should ever pledge that. Will I take the president of the United States's view on something into consideration? Yes, of course, and I hope every attorney general in history would not answer that question differently.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Adam, I want to start with you on this because, you know, there's been a lot of pearl clutching about, oh my goodness, there has to be -- there's only one answer to that question which is the way that Joe Biden framed the president's relationship with the with the A.G., which is total independence and there was a reason he did that based on Trump won. But I just wonder what you make of this, given the very real situation of any attorney general, which is that you have to be the nation's effectively top cop or top prosecutor, but you also do serve at the pleasure of the president.

HARRIS: Yeah. I think what's happening here is that, you know, Attorney General Blanche is really walking the fine line to say that right, this is a working relationship that I have with the president and may not be wholly independent. But I think what you will hear Democrats argue, what you will hear some voters argue at this point already is that this was actually the fear, right?

The fear was that you would not have an attorney general that would sort of pledge an independence for his agency, and it's a sort of slow creep, right? The argument would be that from the time that Jeff Sessions was appointed attorney general in the first Trump administration, to now, we have seen an increasingly slow creep of the loss of independence for the Justice Department and that is a really very real concern for those who see it as this sort of vehicle for justice and impartial justice in the nation.

BASH: Yeah. And obviously, this is not in a vacuum. This is up against what has happened so far inside the Justice Department. What didn't happen fast enough from the perspective of President Trump when Pam Bondi was attorney general, which is, she didn't prosecute his enemies enough, which speaks to the very real fear and reality of what is going on there.

[12:20:00]

And the fact that Todd Blanche knows the president quite well. He was his personal attorney. And there are lots of other data points that put into the category of -- we are concerned about this, legitimately so. Then the attorney general was asked by Kristen Welker about, will you do anything? He says, no matter what.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: That if President Trump says, I want the Department of Justice to go after every violent criminal in this country, which is what he has said. What you're saying to me is, I just say, no, sir, not going to do it.

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS MODERATOR, MEET THE PRESS: If the president asks you to do something that you feel crosses an ethical or legal line, would you do it?

BLANCHE: The president will never ask me to do something unethical or legal or illegal. He never has -- he never will.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Phil?

MATTINGLY: Yeah. Look, I think the ability to create an abstract definition of unethical or illegal can sometimes make it a little bit easier for administration officials to say, those things with straight face. You mentioned, I thought the funniest part of that interview was him saying like the president has never asked me to, just wait. He doesn't wake up in the morning, and say, go prosecute this. It's like no, he woke up in the morning and accidentally posted on Truth Social a text message that was intended for Pam Bondi saying, go prosecute these people. Yes, he does. He does do that.

BASH: Right.

MATTINGLY: And so, I think Adam makes a really good point. The fear that he describes from Democrats was also the promise of this administration in so many ways, and the top advisors to this administration about how the executive branch was supposed to work and how the Justice Department, in particular, specifically was supposed to work. And that is that the president does have a role, and not just a role, he has the role in dictating, in defining, in assigning, if you will.

And so, while I think Blanche was trying to walk the fine line, very much so, and trying to be maybe a little bit too cute by half by what he was talking about. This administration, when you talk to advisors at the most senior level, believe the president has every right, every role, and is required almost by the constitution to be assigning and telling people what and how they should do it. The idea that he is not doing that is blown apart by his own Truth Social messages, whether they were accidental or not.

BASH: And then there is what the president and attorney general, one of the many things that they're dealing with now, which is that ballroom. And the question of the whether or not it can go forward. The lawsuit against the president, who put on Truth Social on Friday, these are the treasonists that brought the suit against the military complex.

They were asked by the United States military not to bring this suit because of the top-secret nature of the important facility being built. Meaning, the argument now is that the ballroom is really a military complex because of what they're building underneath for safety and security of the president and others. Here's what Todd Blanche said about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: We don't believe we have to go to Congress. We believe Congress has already given us the authority to do what we're doing. Many presidents have done a tremendous amount of work to the White House, as they should. President Trump has said for many months now, almost a year, that he has the authority to do this, and he said that because he absolutely does have the authority to do this. And we're hopeful that the Supreme Court recognizes that, and so that we can get the ballroom finished as soon as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Alayna?

TREENE: One thing I just want to say off the top is I'd remind people that -- and same thing with the Kristen Welker interview on the Independence. He knows that the president is watching this, and you know that as well because the president was posting about Shannon Bream later in the day, saying why is she sharing all of these old photos of the ballroom.

Look, the national security part of this, that also came into play when the president realized he was going to have to start asking for some taxpayer dollars for this. I'd remind people this was supposed to be privately funded. It was supposed to be from donors. Now that there is a national security aspect to it, makes it a little bit more palatable, at least in their minds to try and find government money for this.

All to say, this started out, and the reporting is clear. I've had many conversations with officials about this that he wanted a new ballroom. He didn't like the idea that foreign leaders would come and he couldn't host them in a lavish way that they would for him. It's become a national security thing. They're adding a helipad.

You know, I was out there on the South Lawn when he gave reporters a little preview of it. But this is an issue that they are going to be digging in to try and fight. They're happy for it to go to the Supreme Court and try to get that to be a broader fight. And I will argue, one of the arguments they have that some people agree with is, it is a little bit late to stop construction on this. There's a massive hole in the ground, so that is an argument they do have more --

BASH: It is literally the definition of asking for forgiveness and not permission.

TREENE: Yes.

BASH: Up next. It's an iconic question for a generation of Americans, who killed Tupac Shakur? 30 years later, that question gets its first day in court. Finally, inside the Tupac murder trial, next.

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BASH: Any moment now, opening statements will begin in the very first murder trial in the death of hip hop legend and cultural icon Tupac Shakur. The case is one of the most enduring American murder mysteries since the day it happened in 1996, a short drive from Las Vegas -- the Las Vegas courtroom where the trial is happening. Duane Keith Davis, also known as Keffe D, faces a first-degree murder charge in the gang-related homicide. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors will not argue that Davis pulled the trigger, but they will make the case that Davis planned the gang-related attack and supplied the weapon, all to retaliate for a fight involving his nephew.

CNN senior correspondent and former FBI special agent Josh Campbell is in Las Vegas.

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