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Trump Prepares to Host Energy Companies at White House; Sources: Army Secretary Submits Resignation Amid Hegseth Tensions; Iranian President: Tehran Ready to Resume U.S. Deal; DHS Plans to Launch Voter Fraud Investigation Surge. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired September 01, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, President Trump is set to host a group of energy companies at the White House this afternoon, and sources tell CNN they'll mostly discuss efforts to lower gas and diesel costs. It comes six months into the Iran War, and its disruption of oil supplies that sent gas prices into the $4 per gallon range nationwide.

Joining us now in the Situation Room is Mike Dubke. He was White House Communications Director in President Trump's first term. So, Mike, we know that cost of living and the broader economy are top issues for voters as you head into the midterms here. Are these latest efforts to tackle affordability too late to help Republicans before November?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WH COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: So, I don't think they're too late, but it's obvious that the White House has to do something here. So, for a period of time, we had inflation creeping up, and then in the spring and the summer when we had oil prices going, you know, higher and higher and higher, the White House needed to do something.

Now, we've seen -- we've heard this rhetoric, you know, prices go up like a rocket and down like a feather. I went back and looked, and there were several times during the spring where prices actually dropped by 10 cents over just a period of days. So, I don't think it's too late to get to your question on this, but today he's talking to refiners and others, and that's the last piece of the puzzle in trying to bring this down, and that's part of why we've had high gas prices for as long as that we've had.

BROWN: I want us to watch some of the ways President Trump has discussed this issue throughout his second term. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Now, inflation is essentially gone.

Look at that, our prices are coming down. Their prices, it's a hoax.

You notice, what word have you not heard over the last two weeks? Affordability. Because I've won, I've won affordability.

[11:35:00]

BROWN: So, we should note today's meeting with energy companies is the second affordability-focused event just this week. So, how do you square that with the rhetoric downplaying the problem?

DUBKE: Well, again, I think it's the White House recognizing that cost of living is an issue and is going to continue to be an issue for Republicans in these races around the country. And for a lot of Republicans, it's thank goodness that the White House is engaged on this. I think that's why you've had the Venezuela announcement. You've got this meeting today. And I'm sure you will see the president going out, either tapping into some of the money on advertising, talking about cost of living and lowering the cost of living for Americans in the near future, or him leaving Washington and going to some of these states.

They've got good stories to tell on tax cuts, on Trump Rx, the Trump accounts for newborns, all of those things, but they haven't been talking about it. And hopefully, this is part of a new message dynamic for them.

BROWN: Would you like to see the administration, including the president, convey to the American people that he understands and he feels their pain, that kind of thing?

BROWN: You know, you're never going to change Donald Trump. And I think the way that he can address this and at least recognize that cost of living is something that the American people are talking about and are going to vote on, I think that's the best path forward for him.

BROWN: You're right. He's always going to say he's winning, no matter what.

DUBKE: No matter what.

BROWN: Just like he said, he's winning on affordability.

DUBKE: We're all winning. We're all winners now.

BROWN: We're all winning all the time --

DUBKE: Yes, all the time.

BROWN: -- no matter what. All right. So, I want to turn to some other news out of the administration that CNN is learning that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll submitted his resignation to President Trump. It's not a big surprise, but Driscoll raised concerns surrounding army transformation and readiness and hexes blocking those efforts, specifically by firing top generals who were responsible. What do you think? Should Americans be concerned about this?

DUBKE: Well, first of all, this has been coming for a long time, as you said. And I actually was slightly surprised that it happened on Monday. There has been this conflict within the Pentagon between the secretary of the army and the secretary of war now for a period of time. And they're also rivals to a certain extent.

That being said, I think that the way that the Pentagon has handled some of the getting rid of some of the other generals is more disturbing than maybe a political appointee as the secretary of the army. It's -- you know, it's going to take us a while to replace because they're Senate confirmed. But the way that they've gone through some of the generals that have been there and the knowledge base that has been lost there to me is more of a concern than Driscoll leaving.

BROWN: Because I'm being wrapped in my ear, but I'm sneaking in one real quick.

DUBKE: All right. Yes.

BROWN: Do you think that Hegseth should come out and explain why he fired the generals that he did and be more transparent with the American people?

DUBKE: You know what, I just don't think -- as we talked about the president's DNA, I'm not sure that's in the secretary's DNA. I think we should keep asking that question.

BROWN: Yes.

DUBKE: But it's -- you know --

BROWN: Would you like to see it?

DUBKE: I would like to hear an explanation. I think if Dan Driscoll comes on your program, he'd probably give you his feedback.

BROWN: Dan, you're welcome anytime.

DUBKE: As well.

BROWN: You will have a seat here on the Situation Room for an interview. All right. thanks, Mike Dubke.

DUBKE: All right.

BROWN: Appreciate it.

DUBKE: Thank you.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Not happening now.

BROWN: Not happening now, that's for sure.

BLITZER: But happening now, Iran's president claims Tehran is ready to resume the agreement it signed with the United States if, if Washington returns to its commitments. That memorandum of understanding was meant to unlock a 60-day ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and allow nuclear talks. Instead, both countries breached the deal and traded fresh strikes for the first time in more than a month. Here's what President Trump said yesterday about the attacks. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You ruled out using a nuclear weapon against Iran.

TRUMP: Well, I would never say that, but the answer is yes, I ruled out using. There's no reason for it. So, now I defeat them, and now I should use a nuclear weapon on top of them? What a stupid question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now here in the Situation Room is Rahm Emanuel. He was the United States Ambassador to Japan during the Biden administration, and he was the chief of staff over at the White House during the Obama administration. Rahm, first of all, what's your reaction to the response that we just heard from the President?

RAHM EMANUEL, FORMER OBAMA WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF, FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE (D-IL), FORMER CHICAGO MAYOR AND FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO JAPAN: About the nuclear?

BLITZER: Yes.

EMANUEL: Look, I mean, first of all, who knew it was on the table? Second is, if you go back to the beginning, this whole effort was about Iran's desire and capability of getting a nuclear weapon, and now the entire war effort has gone into trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

[11:40:00]

I think that the President of Iran is, I can't tell if he's negotiating with Donald Trump or he's negotiating with the IRGC within the Iran government and operation.

BLITZER: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

EMANUEL: Yes. That's -- yes. And there's clearly a conflict internally in Iran with nobody fully in control. Look, this war should never have happened. It was a malpractice by the president of the United States, let alone other types of things, in conducting the war, because as you know beforehand, Iran was isolated. They had lost their entire kind of operations from Syria to Lebanon to what was going on in Gaza and the Houthis.

Second is, there was the fifth uprising by the Iranian people in a dozen years. They killed 40,000 people. There's no legitimacy between the Iranian people and the Iranian government. When a person is in a knife fight with themselves, don't get in the middle. But wasn't Iran still developing a nuclear bomb? No, well, first of all, according to the president of the United States, we obliterated it.

BLITZER: Yes, but before the U.S. obliterated it.

EMANUEL: No, no, no. Well, let's do a before and after. Before, you had Russia and China cooperating with the United States. Afterwards, they're now cooperating with Iran. Before, they couldn't have any material above 3 percent purity. Now, it's close to 60 to 70 percent. Fourth -- or third rather, it was out of Iran, it was in Russia. Today it's in Iran.

And fact is, the squeezing of Iran and isolation of Iran, it takes patience, not impatience and impulsiveness. It was working in the sense of not only isolating Iran, cutting off their surrogates and their terrorist organizations they sponsored. Remember, they spent $40 to $50 billion in Syria and lost it. That's the route from Tehran to Beirut. And they lost it. They lost that. And the Iranian people were angry at the government for funding everybody outside of their own livelihoods.

BLITZER: I want to turn to the Democrats, your party. Your party --

EMANUEL: That was a big switch from Iran.

BLITZER: Very big, big switch. Your party has a Markey primary in Massachusetts. Today, between 80-year-old progressive Senator Ed Markey and the moderate Congressman Seth Moulton. Moulton, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, argues it's time for generational change here in Washington. How are you viewing this contest?

EMANUEL: Look, I think if you step back and look at all, not just this contest, but put them all in a context, you have a kind of a flywheel. You have kind of inside, outside Washington. That's not a case here in Massachusetts. You have progressive versus pragmatic. You have a generational piece. So, I think there's a fly wall of different emotions.

The main thing is, look, Democrats agree one thing, that the system is rigged against people that live paycheck to paycheck. And you have a government in place by Donald Trump and the Republicans who's helping the system get even further entrenched on behalf of special interests. And I think that's where the Democrats are right to make the case.

And more importantly on that, Wolf, is this election is going to be a referendum on Donald Trump and the fact that the Republicans have sat silently by. Like in this story earlier, Hegseth has fired 45 generals who have an incredible career serving the country with no explanation, and the Senate has never asked a single question. So, the Republic -- the Democrat -- the country, rather, is going to issue a verdict on this president and his stewardship. The Democrats shouldn't confuse that as an affirmation of us. It's a rejection of what Donald Trump has done. I think this is going to be a very big year for the Democrats. Second, is we need to show the American people as a party. We can fight for America, not just fight Donald Trump.

BLITZER: I know it's no secret you're considering, considering a 2028 presidential run. You've been very vocal in opposing the far-left influencer Hasan Piker's role in the Democratic Party, especially in the Michigan Senate race. I want you to watch what Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said about that and we'll get your reaction. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ, (D-NY): I do not think that a Twitch streamer is what the people of Michigan are concerning themselves on. So, I think that what they want to hear all of us talk about is how we're going to make their lives more affordable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Does she have a point?

EMANUEL: Well, I can tell you from being all over the country, people are worried about the fact that their kids go to college and they incur $30,000 of debt and they're ending up in their parents' basement, not on their own in their independence. Healthcare went from being a peace of mind to now it's a nightmare. You're taking money out of your savings account to make your paycheck get to the 31st of the month.

On the other hand, look, let's step back from the election. On this case of Piker, she's not wrong that they don't want to hear, but you have a person, Wolf, Jewish population in America is 2 percent. It's north of 70 percent of all religious violence. If this happened to any other group in any part of the country, people would be up in arms appropriately. It's not appropriate to have somebody encouraging violence as he did the other day.

[11:45:00]

So, yes, the American people care about major -- personal things as it relates to their family, the education of their children. We have bigger problems. 50 percent of our kids can't read at grade level. That's what we should be focused on.

The problem here and the challenge here is that other parts of the party have decided to welcome Piker in as a legitimate voice. His hatred, his discussion of 9/11 as welcoming of the Jewish community and America earned it, is not welcomed in the party and is not welcome in the public debate in the United States of America because it's filled with hatred.

BLITZER: Rahm Emanuel, as usual, thanks for coming in.

EMANUEL: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:50:00]

BLITZER: We have exclusive new details this morning. CNN has learned that the Department of Homeland Security led by Secretary Markwayne Mullin is planning a surge in its investigation of alleged voter fraud in select states. Internal federal guidance reviewed by CNN shows that the effort begins today. And it's important to note that experts say there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in recent elections.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here with me in the Situation Room. Priscilla, tell us more about this planned surge.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, the Department of Homeland Security has accelerated its efforts into looking into alleged voter fraud. They already, for example, asked -- or pushed states to share their voter rolls to audit them, and now they are using ICE, Homeland Security Investigations, to conduct this latest investigation. What does that mean? It is a surge starting today in select nine states to follow investigative leads. This starts from September, goes through mid-October.

I'm going to read just part of the guidance I reviewed to you. It describes this as a coordinated criminal voter fraud surge initiative to pursue investigative leads, conduct field interviews, and support timely prosecutorial review. Again, some of those nine states include, for example, Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, Nevada, New York, and others.

When I asked the Department of Homeland Security about this, they said, and I quote, "While ICE Homeland Security Investigations is not able to comment on any active investigations, HSI is actively rooting out and investigating election fraud wherever it can be found."

Of course, well, part of this, too, is the timing. We're only a few months shy of the midterm elections. Generally, the Justice Department has set in its policy to try to avoid any overt investigations while there are elections or elections that are on the horizon, except for exceptional circumstances.

The Department of Homeland Security does not have to abide by that policy, but certainly it raises questions among experts and advocates, and in this case, the department is maintaining that it is part of its ongoing effort and that it will be doing these investigations, at least in this case, the surge happening from the beginning of September to mid-October.

BLITZER: Priscilla, we've also learned this morning that all ICE agents in the field are expected to have body cameras by the end of September, that according to Markwayne Mullin. What more are you learning, and why have body cameras gotten so much recent attention?

ALVAREZ: Well, certainly because of the aggressive confrontations with members of the public, including fatal shootings. Of course, the timeline here appears to have shifted slightly. We had previously been told it would be end of August. Now, the Department of Homeland Security secretary is saying that that would be end of September for agents in the field. That's an important part of this. It's not just all agents overall.

There have been proponents for this in the White House. White House boarder czar, Tom Homan, for example, says that he wants them to wear body cameras, but it's not just the distribution, it's also the training that these agents have to receive. But I will say, Wolf, there is bipartisan agreement on this front that ICE agents and officers should be wearing body cameras so that these confrontations, when they happen, are recorded and can be scrutinized beyond the eyewitness videos that we are often relying on.

BLITZER: Important points indeed. Priscilla, thank you very, very much. Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Wolf, new this morning, a post office whistleblower claims that a new system for verifying mail ballots has invited a host of IT concerns among agency officials. They go on to claim that some of the procedures the Postal Service is planning, which have been mandated by President Trump, have been hidden from the public and make an already complicated and risky plan even more vulnerable to potential issues.

CNN's Gabe Cohen is here in the Situation Room. So, what more is this whistleblower claiming?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Pamela, what the whistleblower is saying is that the Postal Service has secretively and sloppily rushed to build this system to implement these mail ballot restrictions that President Trump has wanted to put in place, that this system may not be ready for primetime for the midterm election, and that it could potentially disenfranchise voters.

Remember, the connection back to these rules is that the regulations the Postal Service has called for, that it has published, mandate that state and local election officials upload the names and addresses of every mail ballot recipient in the country. If there are any issues, that, by the way, is before those ballots go out the door. If there are any issues when the Postal Service actually receives those envelopes, they'll be rejected, sent back to state election officials.

And so, what this whistleblower is saying is essentially that as they were building the system, IT professionals at the Postal Service were given a matter of days to actually test that system before a deadline that was put in place at the Postal Service for today. It was described by -- behind the scenes by some of those staffers as a, quote, "shit show," that plans were constantly changing, that requirements were not being clearly laid out, and that they really were not hearing much from Postal Service leadership, if anything, that the leadership were dismissive of the concerns.

[11:55:00]

This whistleblower report that was authored by a Democratic senator, Richard Blumenthal, says, as designed, the process put together by the Postal Service is entirely unforgiving, and it could delay ballots by the thousands in repeated verification cycles, and thus prevent states from mailing enormous numbers of ballots.

And what they're talking about there is this zero error rule that is laid out by the whistleblower, essentially saying that local election officials, county election officials, are going to hand over large stacks of ballots, potentially thousands at a time, and if there is any error, according to this whistleblower, any barcode, any name doesn't match up, that entire batch could get sent back to a county office, and it could delay voters actually receiving those ballots, and that is where people are getting concerned that voters could end up getting those late, or not at all, and as a result, be disenfranchised.

BROWN: All right. Gabe Cohen, thank you. Wolf?

BLITZER: And before we go, a correction. Yesterday, a graphic on our air reported that the Trump administration plans to privatize Yosemite National Park. That was incorrect. The plan involves potentially selling or transferring a small portion of the land to a private developer seeking to build a new access road. It does not call for privatizing Yosemite National Park, and we regret the error.

BROWN: Well, thank you so much for joining us.

BLITZER: And thank you. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts after a quick break.

BROWN: Have a great day, everyone.

[12:00:00]