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The Situation Room

Colin Gray Testifies; President Trump Seeking to Take Over Elections Process?; NASA Alters Moon Mission Plans. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 27, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:02]

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: This story would have the resonance that it does today, I wouldn't have believed it, but the documents kind of demand that, every day, a trickle of new information, somebody else who's famous and had connection to Jeffrey Epstein who is now being canceled as a result.

Take a look at the last week, Bill Gates caught up in this, Larry Summers caught up in this, Bob Kerrey caught up in this. I do have a concern, though, Wolf. And my concern is that we're now judging people based on association and not based on conduct.

And there's a big difference between the two. At some point, perhaps it goes too far.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: In today's poll on your Web site, which a lot of us follow, you're asking people this question: Does the value of transparency from release of the Epstein files outweigh the risks of spreading unverified accusations?

So what's the take so far?

SMERCONISH: OK, so roughly 80 percent are saying, bring on the transparency. I don't buy into the 80/20 for the reasons that I just articulated.

I think that we're in a realm of a very careful balancing now, where people's reputations are being tarnished because of association and not necessarily based on conduct. Candidly, I think it was ridiculous that Secretary Clinton was hauled before the Oversight Committee yesterday, less so relative to President Bill Clinton.

But I thought that that was an excess. And Republicans better be careful what they wish for here, because if there's a change in the guard in the midterms, as the polls suggest there will be, that subpoena power is now going to be in the hands of Democrats. And I think there's going to be a response that will be in kind.

BLITZER: Do you anticipate that we will see more high-profile officials with past ties to Epstein, like the commerce secretary, for example, Howard Lutnick, have to testify before the Oversight Committee? Where does this all go from here? SMERCONISH: That is the precedent that has just been set.

I mean, how can you justify bringing the Clintons before this committee yesterday and today and not respond in kind for Republicans who are similarly represented in the Epstein files? I think fairness demands that.

And, by the way, I don't think it was a good precedent to set, for the reasons that I have already stated. But now that that door has been opened, I think it would be hypocritical to say, well, it will only be the Clintons that we call before the committee.

BLITZER: On another interesting story, and I know you have been watching this as well, Michael, we learned that President Trump and the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, met at the White House yesterday to talk about a housing initiative in New York.

Speak about the unique relationship that seems to be developing between these two men and what you expect to come out of all of this.

SMERCONISH: So it's a bromance that I'm enjoying, watch, develop. And relative to the president, I'm not surprised.

I know some people are surprised by the extent of the olive branch that he's handed to Mamdani, to Mayor Mamdani, but the president loves a good show. This is a good show. Those headlines, Wolf, you and I remember "Ford to New York City: Drop Dead."

So I got a kick out of it yesterday, but you're never dead, it seems, to Donald Trump, unless you're really dead. You can be in the tent, outside the tent. You can be on the outside looking in and then welcomed back later. And I just applaud both men's ability to get along when they have such sharp differences.

I wish we could see more of that and not less of it. Let's see where it goes.

BLITZER: And, as you mentioned, Mamdani actually brought some props to help make his case for the biggest federal investment in housing in some 50 years to President Trump, apparently, an effective strategy. I should say that.

What do you make of that move, to bring in those fake front pages of the New York daily newspapers?

SMERCONISH: Well, what was the State of the Union the other night, except a giant show? I mean, that's who Donald Trump is. He recognizes that you have got to get people's attention and hold it.

The State of the Union the other night, like what you're showing on the screen now with what went on in the Oval Office, was a little bit of substance, and then let's recognize somebody else in the audience, back to a little substance, and then let's see if we can force the Democrats to stand up or keep their seats and use it for political fodder.

So I'm not surprised by it at all. And his worst critics would have to say he's darn good at it.

BLITZER: Michael Smerconish, thanks so much for joining us.

SMERCONISH: OK, Wolf.

BLITZER: And be sure to catch his really excellent show every Saturday morning here on CNN 9:00 a.m. Eastern. You will want to watch it. It's really terrific.

Up next, breaking news: how NASA's plans for getting astronauts back to the moon are hitting an extra bump in the road.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:39:10]

BLITZER: All right, there's breaking news: NASA now changing course on its plans to return to the moon.

Only moments ago, at a major news conference, administrators announced the agency is moving up the launch of what's called the Artemis III rocket, but this mission will not land on the moon as originally planned. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARED ISAACMAN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: We're essentially going to pull in Artemis III to launch in 2027 with a revised mission profile. So, instead of going directly to a lunar landing, we will endeavor to rendezvous in low-Earth orbit with one or both of our lunar landers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: As for the Artemis II launch that was recently pushed to April, NASA scientist Dr. Lori Glaze says they are still working to determine the cause of the rocket's helium issues.

Let's bring in CNN's Tom Foreman once again.

[11:40:00]

What else are you learning, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this issue of pushing back -- well, I guess it depends on how you look at it.

In some ways, they're saying we're going to move up Artemis III. For him and once again, what else are you learning from? This issue of pushing back, I guess it depends on how you look at it. In some ways, they're saying we're going to move up Artemis III. But Artemis III was always going to be about going to the moon, landing on the moon.

So now they're saying, now we're not going to land on the moon with Artemis III. So, another way of looking at that is to say they have delayed the moon landing. But, in any event, the reality is, Artemis III will now make no attempt to land on the moon.

The plan has always been for Artemis III, or the moon lander, whether it's going to be Artemis IV or beyond, who knows, was going to go to the moon, the Orion craft would go to the moon, it would go into orbit around the moon, where it would link up to a landing craft.

That landing craft would then fly down to the moon's surface, and then bring them back out to connect with Orion to come back home. That has been changed now, in that they're going to practice that link-up of the craft, or at least a prototype of the landing craft, around Earth in what's called low-Earth orbit, or LEO, you might hear some astronauts refer to it as.

They're going to practice it here closer to home to make sure that's going to work. And that fits in with what Isaacman is saying about the idea of saying, what if we break these down into smaller parts, so we can practice each part better, instead of laying so much on the line with one big mission?

BLITZER: Because administrators, as you know, Tom, have -- they mentioned having more frequent launches, and that could actually help with safer launches. What can you tell us about that?

FOREMAN: Isaacman made a pretty good case for this idea of basically saying, why test everything all at once, when you can test individual components a piece at a time? You can have more frequent launches so everybody stays really keyed up for the launch in front of them.

And he suggested, literally, it keeps more of the best engineers in the house potentially, because some people may be saying, I can't just work on a launch every three years. I'm going to go to private industry or somebody else who maybe is launching a lot more frequently. And I'd like to be part of that.

So this is the idea behind this change. NASA is presenting this as merely a reset to make it safer to move forward in a more methodical and regular pattern, which may be the case. Others will look at it as a setback, saying you're delaying the moon landing and maybe it's going to push out of this decade.

BLITZER: And maybe China will land on the moon before the U.S.

FOREMAN: Yes, and maybe China gets there first. No matter how you look at it...

BLITZER: That's a sensitive issue for them.

FOREMAN: Yes, that is.

It absolutely is, because China has been pushing hard to become a big leader in all of this. And now, of course, we have talked about Artemis II, which is one they have been trying to get off the ground most recently. That's the one that was going to take four astronauts to circle the moon, going further into space than anyone has ever gone before. That has had some delays. I will say those delays so far have been

typical delays. They had a hydrogen leak. That's not that uncommon, hydrogen, very small molecules. Easy to have leaks involved there.

Then they had a helium issue, which they have had before. Helium is used to clean lines out, to push pressure into fuel tanks, so that the fuel actually goes to the nozzle and burns as it should. That may just be a valve issue. They have had that before. But they don't know and they have to get that sorted out.

The bottom line is, this remains rocket science, Wolf. So, even when it looks like things maybe aren't going right, it's really important to remember this is incredibly difficult to do. As one description I once heard was, you have to have a million things all happen in sequence in a tiny sliver of time, and they all have to happen just right for this to work.

So, it's hard.

BLITZER: And the NASA administrator, Jared Isaacman, explaining a lot of this at that news conference.

(CROSSTALK)

FOREMAN: Yes, on the best of days, this is difficult.

BLITZER: Yes.

FOREMAN: And, today, for them, it's perhaps not the best.

BLITZER: Yes, not the best of days.

Tom Foreman, thank you very, very much.

FOREMAN: You're welcome.

BLITZER: Coming up: President Trump has joked about wanting to cancel the November midterm elections, but even if he can't make that happen, there are still plenty of ways for him to try to influence who votes and how.

We will discuss. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:48:18]

BLITZER: Happening now: The White House is pushing back against "The Washington Post" story that shed light on a-year-old proposal from a pro-Trump activist that would give the president new powers over elections.

A White House official told the newspaper that -- quote -- "The staff is regularly in communication with a variety of outside advocates who want to share their policy ideas with the president, but any speculation about his actions or announcements is just speculation" -- end quote.

Joining us now is Wendy Weiser, the vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice.

Wendy, thanks so much for joining us.

Put this into some context for us. What stands out to you about this compared to what we have already seen from the Trump administration when it comes to elections?

WENDY WEISER, BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE: Well, this article comes after a couple of weeks of escalating rhetoric and action by the Trump administration to try to lay the foundation for interfering in the upcoming elections.

Trump has repeatedly called for nationalizing elections, for the Republicans to take over the voting. He's taken some aggressive steps with a very unprecedented raid of a local election office in Fulton County, Georgia.

His Department of Justice has been escalating efforts to try to gather up sensitive voter data from across the country. So there's been a very -- and the rhetoric that the president should take charge of elections has been escalating significantly over the last two weeks.

[11:50:00]

It is not just the last two weeks, though. The administration has been focused, there's been a campaign over the past year to lay the foundation for meddling in our elections. And that's really the real risk that we are facing right now.

BLITZER: During President Trump's State of the Union address earlier this week, as you know, he talked about -- and I'm quoting him now -- "rampant cheating" in our elections.

There's no evidence of this, but what does this kind of talk, how does that impact the rhetoric that we have seen as far as our election systems are concerned?

WEISER: Well, this is -- the escalation of the rhetoric of claims of rampant cheating are part of the conspiracy theories that the president and some of his allies have been pushing since the 2020 election to sow distrust in our elections and now are being increasingly used to try to get the American people to tolerate inappropriate federal incursions into election administration.

And I just want to be crystal clear here. The president has no authority to nationalize elections, to take over elections, to regulate them in any way. The Constitution is clear that it is the states and Congress who set the rules governing elections. It is states and local authorities who run our elections, not the president, not the federal government.

The president has no authority to do that, but he's taking aggressive steps to try to push the envelope and cross the line. BLITZER: Wendy Weiser, thanks for all the important work you do.

Appreciate it very much.

WEISER: Thank you.

And happening now: The father of a teen who shot and killed four people at his high school is taking the stand in his own trial right now -- what Colin Gray is saying as his lawyers fight dozens of charges.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:56:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COLIN GRAY, DEFENDANT: You know, he's a -- he's a good kid.

He wasn't perfect, and nor was I. But to do something that heinous, like, I don't -- I don't know if anybody could ever see that kind of evil.

And I -- like, the Colt I knew and relationship I had, there's this whole other side of Colt I didn't know existed. So, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was -- everything you did for Colt, did you try to placate him and try to make him OK?

GRAY: I did. I just wanted him OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you.

Nothing further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, that was Colin Gray testifying just moments ago.

He's charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter after his son shot and killed four people at his Georgia high school. Prosecutors say Colin Gray bought his son the gun and failed to keep it secure, despite many warning signs the teenager might actually go ahead to harm others.

CNN's Jean Casarez is following the trial for us.

So, what else have we heard so far from Colin Gray?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Three hours of direct testimony with Colin Gray on the stand.

He talked about how his son would stay in his bedroom, and he wouldn't come out, he didn't have a lot of friends, but he would suddenly just be on the computer day in and day out, and he would do video games all the time. And so he decided, when I was young, my father took me hunting, and that's how I got into nature and I loved the sport. And he said, I had a friend that had a child, that they hunted together. And I thought, this would be a good chance for Colt to get a friend. So they went to the gun store, and he got a rifle, has to be in his name, but it was going to be for him to teach Colt how to shoot.

And he said that Colt liked that one: "Because it's just like the rifle when I play my video game called 'Arms' That's the one I want."

And it seems like video games were very integral, at least in the mind of Colt. And so he taught him hunting. He said they had good times together. They lived together for a long time, because Marcee, the mother, had tied her own mother up to a chair with duct tape for three days because she wanted the car.

She also had big issues with drugs. She went into in-house incarceration, drug treatment facility. So he suddenly gets the custody of the three kids. He said it was very tough, as a single dad, making all the decisions, having the children.

He said that there were lots of days there were not issues with Colt, that they were overemphasized, in a sense, with the prosecution. And he said: "I created this bubble with my children so they could always tell me the truth." His son would lie to him, say he went to school, but he didn't go to lie -- to school.

And much of that, he didn't realize at the time. And you heard him say: "I didn't know. I didn't" -- and this whole case is focused on the knowledge of the defendant. Did he realize there was a known risk of shooting up the school?

And as far as the guns, he didn't have them in a safe. And that is going to be one of the major issues when this jury goes into deliberation. He said he had them up on the shelf, but he said he raised his child to respect guns. They were never loaded in the house. A lot of the ammo around the house were guns that he'd already sold, because he -- that's what he did in his gun culture.

He sold and traded and things like that. But he said that he never, ever was told by Colt that he was going to shoot up a school or harm anyone with that gun.

[12:00:09]

After lunch, there's going to be cross-examination. And we will see if his demeanor is the same. And he's going to have to answer some very tough questions, Wolf.

BLITZER: Indeed, he will.

All right, Jean Casarez, thank you very, very much, as always.

And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @WolfBlitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN. We will see you back here tomorrow morning, every weekday morning 10:00 a.m. Eastern. "INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts right now.