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Inside Politics

Trump Gathers Press to Show Off White House Helipad Project; Trump Says Miracle-Gro Paid for New Grass on South Lawn; DOJ to Send 1,000 Monitors to Observe Voting in November; Courts Dismiss 20+ DOJ Cases to Access State Voter Rolls; Trump Revives Unproven 2020 Non- citizen Voting Claims. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired August 19, 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]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': -- he loves it. He -- this is his -- this is his happy place. This is what he loves to do. He talks about it non-stop, publicly and privately.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR & WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah. No, I mean, we see in poll after poll that majorities of Americans believe he is not focused on the right priorities, and this is just only going to reinforce that opinion. There is no doubt it is a happy place.

I mean our colleague and friend, Maggie Haberman talked about when she and Jonathan Swan sat down with him to do an hour-long interview for their book "Regime Change," that the whole first 15 minutes in the interview is just him fixated and this is what he is at his core, and his knowledge about it, his desire to talk about it, his comfort in it is a constant.

BASH: There's one more quick clip that I want to play and this is because he was getting questions about whether there was too much granite or whether the grass was going to be gone, and he had an answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: But this grass was the highest quality. It was given free of charge by ScottsMiracle-Gro -- Scotts -- and Scotts is a great a great company. They actually contributed to my campaign. I must be honest, you'll figure that one out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You don't say. All right. Don't go anywhere, when we come back new details on the president's election security crusade, how the Justice Department is readying for the midterms.

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[12:35:51] BASH: On Election Day in November, approximately 1,000 election monitors will be dispatched by the Justice Department to polling sites around the country. Now that's according to Assistant Attorney General, Harmeet Dhillon. Here's what she says will happen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARMEET DHILLON, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS: The places where there may be language issues, the places where there may have been access of disability rights issues, places where there may be voter fraud issues that we've seen. We've had some prosecutions. I think you've seen some of those. There'll be some prosecutions in the pipeline of people who voted illegally who should not have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now to be clear, past administrations in both parties have routinely sent polling monitors to observe elections in case of any legal issues. But when it comes to election security, this obviously is not a normal administration.

My panel is still here and also with us is CNN's Gabe Cohen, who has been covering all of this very closely. Gabe, what does this tell you about what she said, not only about the numbers, but about the where and the why?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you talked about the precedent that is there for the Justice Department to be sending election monitors. I think what is different here is that we have seen this administration essentially go on a hunt to try to prove the president's claims over the past 18 months that there is this issue of widespread voter fraud and the Justice Department is just one example that has fallen in line with that.

We have seen these lawsuits against dozens of states where they have been essentially demanding that states hand over their voter list because they are insisting that they are going to find massive numbers of non-citizens on those lists. Just look, a month ago, we saw claims from the Department of Homeland Security that they had reviewed public voter data and found more than 250,000 non-citizens on the voter list of just four states.

So they're making these big claims that, by the way, these states that they're talking about have pushed back on and said, what methodology are you using? Where are these numbers coming from?

BASH: Yeah.

COHEN: So when we see the administration essentially try to prove out what were unsubstantiated claims from the president, I think that's what's giving a lot of people pause about these election monitors going out across the country looking for anything suspicious.

BASH: So a couple things. First of all, you mentioned these lawsuits and this is something that is ongoing. The DOJ sued states for their voter rolls and 23 of those cases were dismissed, and so -- and most of that is push back from blue states, some red states like West Virginia and others.

There are still six ongoing lawsuits that have not been resolved. And then what you were referring to, I believe, was this Trump truth that the Census Bureau started checking voter rolls from 2020 against their citizenship records.

And he says on the first 128,000 voters, the Census Bureau proves that over 24,000 non-citizens voted illegally. The Census Bureau is going to analyze the next 32 million voters, and this number will explode.

I won the election. This is yesterday, folks, and this is about 2020. I won the election. We must pass the SAVE America Act.

Just a little bit of a fact check here. Never mind the methodology which you just talked about, which is being questioned about how they cross-referenced this. Put that aside. Let's just take what the president said at face value, and it is true that they found this. If you look at these voting claims and these four states, nationwide, it alleges 24,000 non-citizens. The total electorate is 154.6 million.

Biden's margin was 7.1 million. So it would not have anything to do with the results of the elections. And breaking it down even more, Arizona, the Trump new allegation is that 1,100 non-citizens voted. Biden's margin was over 10,000. Georgia, they allege 400 non-citizens voted. Biden's margin was almost 12,000. Wisconsin, 500 non-citizen voters.

[12:40:00]

Biden's margin was more than 20,000 votes. Again, not to say that we don't know about the methodology, but again, let's just say that that's true. It would not mean that Donald Trump won the election.

COHEN: Yeah, and I think one of the issues, especially when you compare like that census report that was put out yesterday against the Department of Homeland Security's numbers that were put out a month ago, you're seeing that they're, again, I talk about throwing spaghetti at the wall, that there are all these numbers and all these claims and trying to like line them up and reconcile them with each other.

And I think this census report is actually a really important example that's come out because I've spent my morning and a big chunk of last night talking to former senior officials from the Census Bureau who served, by the way, under Democratic and Republican administrations.

I want to read you a quote from the Census Bureau's former Chief Scientist, John Abowd, who told me none of the professional researchers that I knew or worked with at the Census Bureau would have ever made such a claim from that study that we're talking about.

You talk about the methodology. OK, that's one thing we don't know. First of all, non-citizens are allowed to vote in some states in local elections. We don't know if that was factored into this.

BASH: We don't know who they voted for. COHEN: Yep, we don't know who they voted for. There is no author on this. And right now, there is a freak-out happening among folks within this Census Bureau space, who are looking at that and saying this was a sacred agency that was trusted to do non-partisan statistics, and even they are vulnerable to politicals potentially coming in and producing a report or a document like this, a beginning analysis, as it's described in the report, that may be completely erroneous.

And I just think it's an important example. When we talk about the bigger context, there are those departments that we expect to maybe do some partisan work, but even folks there at the Census Bureau are saying our work maybe can't be trusted.

BASH: And this matters, again, not just because he's trying to rewrite 2020 constantly. It's what is going to happen in November.

CHALIAN: Exactly. I mean, buckle up. I mean, that is -- what I hear is that we are heading for an election season where if we think we are done with this whole notion of sowing doubt in our process, raising questions that may not be justified at all, I think we're just sorely mistaken. I think this is going to be part of what happens this fall.

BASH: Yeah, I mean, we've already seen it in the primary system. He tried to do it in California with absolutely no evidence. Thank you, Gabe, for bringing us that.

Up next, James Talarico has a new line of attack against Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate, and he lifted it from Paxton's former primary opponent. We're going to show you next.

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[12:47:11]

BASH: Senator John Cornyn is coming back to haunt Ken Paxton in the race for Texas Senate. Cornyn's really negative and unsuccessful primary campaign against Paxton is finding new life in recycled attack ads now by his Democratic opponent.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What do a burner phone, a $1,000 Montblanc pen and this cash machine have in common? They are symbols of Ken Paxton's depravity. A Montblanc pen stolen from another lawyer because once a crook, always a crook.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thou shalt not steal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Again, that was the Cornyn ad. Now look at the new ad from James Talarico, who's bringing back that $1,000 pen, though having maybe a little bit more fun with it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is Ken Paxton and this is Ken Paxton stealing someone's $1,000 pen. Here's what happened. The incident happened at the Collin County Courthouse, the same courthouse where Paxton would later be indicted for investment fraud.

After the police got involved, Joe got his pen back. He could have pressed charges, but he decided against it because Joe is a nice guy. He'd never take someone else's pen, but he also hasn't forgotten who took his.

JOE JOPLIN, COLLIN COUNTY ATTORNEY: Hi, I'm Joe Joplin and I endorse James Talarico.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Kate?

KATE SANTALIZ, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, AXIOS: I think it's interesting because that's not the only thing that Talarico has taken from Cornyn. We saw earlier this week that an aide for Senator Cornyn is now going to work for Talarico's campaign, and there's been a lot of Republicans noting how unusual that is.

Cornyn has pushed back a little bit on that, saying this is not an authoritarian state. You can go work for whoever you want to, but it's really interesting to watch Talarico and Cornyn running on the same ad track here.

BASH: Yeah. And Ken Paxton is really trying to raise money. He's basically making very clear publicly that he's desperate for it because he's pretty behind on the fundraising. He does I think -- earlier this month, I should say, he put out one ad in Spanish called the Texas Promise ad. But other than that, we haven't really seen a lot of paid advertising from Paxton.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: And the fundraising thing is a prime example. I mean, John Cornyn was the best fundraiser in Republican politics for years and years, for himself, obviously, but also for other Senate Republicans. He's not involved in that now. He said, you know, raise your own money.

So I think the most telling thing there will be to see the president, if he decides to spend some of his MAGA millions, it's likely to go there first because they need help with that. But we will see. I mean, that is a central question for this. But I mean, there's so much more words from John Cornyn in the final days of the race, even after the race, that the Talarico campaign has a lot to work with.

[12:50:00]

BASH: Yeah. Let's turn to Michigan. Let's watch a pretty new Mike Rogers ad. He's the Republican candidate for Senate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am a pissed off Democrat. I'm not a socialist. I'm not a communist. I'm a lifelong Democrat. I voted for Obama. I voted for Hillary. I voted for Slotkin. I voted for Haley Stevens. And now I'm voting for Mike Rogers. This is no longer vote blue no matter who. We need to wake up and realize that it's not party over everything. We need to vote for the candidates that actually share our values.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What do you think of that?

CHALIAN: I mean, this is -- this is the message Rogers has been on basically as soon as the Democratic primary ended. He made a direct- to-camera appeal to Democrats and Independents to come on board. He is trying to do what we discussed at the top of the show which was, you know, take the fact that Abdul El-Sayed is the nominee on the Democratic side and portray that as so far out of the mainstream that Michigan, a battleground state, a purple state, where Independents and even some Democrats may be willing to listen to this argument that El- Sayed is too far left for them and too far outside the norm.

And so this is the appeal. It's interesting. You know, part of the strategy in the Trump-era when Trump isn't on the ballot is like, how do you get -- how do you rally the Republican base to be such a turnout machine that maybe you don't have to do as much persuasion, you just got to get those voters out?

Mike Rogers in purple Michigan is clearly making a different calculation.

BASH: And just one other thing I want to note, and I don't know if you guys caught it, but the woman in the ad, Chelsea, is from West Bloomfield, Michigan, very large Jewish community in Michigan, and that was a not-so-subtle appeal to those voters to cross -- if they tend to vote Democrat, cross over and vote for Mike Rogers.

And meanwhile, Abdul El-Sayed is trying very much to push back against the notion that he is other or anything other than somebody who -- this is according to this Rogers ad -- somebody who doesn't share our values. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is a man from Michigan who knows how great we once were and how great we can be again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Abdul El-Sayed grew up as Michigan as you get.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Parents worked the auto industry, football, U of M, became a doctor to help people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Michigan difference is us, the audacity to believe that we can change this world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANTALIZ: I think it's going to be really difficult for him to run this statewide race as a DSA candidate. I mean, this is not the outcome that establishment Democrats were hoping for here, so he is going to have to find a way to appeal to some of the more moderate and Independent voters in his state. And it's going to be a very different race than we saw last cycle between Rogers and Slotkin. Slotkin and El-Sayed could not be more different candidates.

BASH: And it's so interesting, just as a side note, this too was recycled from the primary, and just like the ad that we played the other day with Abdul El-Sayed's grandparents.

ZELENY: Right.

BASH: In the primary, Bernie Sanders was in it. In the general, they took Bernie Sanders out. Same with this ad.

Let's talk about Alaska for a second, because there is a new ad out this morning from Mary Peltola. And here's what she is saying now that she is -- seems as though going to be in the final race against sitting-Senator, Dan Sullivan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY PELTOLA, (D-AL) SENATE CANDIDATE: There's only one thing that matters to me, getting the job done for Alaska. And I'll take on anyone, including Democrats, anyone in the Lower 48 who doesn't understand what Alaska needs.

When both parties are attacking you, you're doing something right. Alaska First Always.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Look, I mean, her only strategy here is to win over some of the people who likely voted for Dan Sullivan the first time, who were Trump voters, who were fed up and frustrated, I mean, looking for a change.

But to David's point earlier about the incumbents losing this year, I mean, she's not an incumbent at this moment. She lost. But, you know, she was a member of Congress. So that will be very interesting to me to see if a former member of Congress is still sort of viewed as change. But her ads are consistent. Her messages are consistent. She talks about freedom and a fishing (ph) far more than anything to do with the Democratic Party.

BASH: And her A rating from the NRA is also in that. And her votes with Republicans on immigration.

CHALIAN: You could go back over time and see how much difference can you see between Lisa Murkowski ads and Mary Peltola ads. I mean, it may not be that much, despite the fact that they are of different parties.

We'll see. I mean, Dan Sullivan is on the air this morning, too, with a new ad. A former colleague of hers from Minnesota, just straight to camera, hammering her congressional record, and I think trying to bring sort of the stench of Washington and incumbency to her character.

SANTALIZ: I mean, I think it's wild in general that this seat is in play for Democrats overall. I mean, Republicans don't want to be spending money here.

[12:55:00]

We just saw today a Republican aligned group, One Nation, they've put in $4 million investment today. So it is pretty crazy that this is a seat we're talking about that could make their majority. . BASH: Yeah.

CHALIAN: And she's, I mean, we're only 80 percent of the votes counted from the primary yesterday.

BASH: Yeah.

CHALIAN: But, you know, it's an open primary. And she is five percentage points ahead of Dan Sullivan. I know there were more Republicans on that ballot to split that vote, but that's a pretty significant gap there for her to head into this November general election.

BASH: Yeah.

ZELENY: Which is one of the reasons Republicans are going in to try and bloody her up a little bit.

BASH: Right. Exactly. Not the place that Republicans wanted to spend money, Alaska.

All right. Thank you so much, everybody. Thank you for joining "Inside Politics." "CNN News Central" starts after a quick break.

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