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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump Declares War "Won" As U.S. To Deploy More Troops; Trump "Not Happy" About Any Deal With Dems To End DHS Shutdown; Dem Flips Mar-A-Lago's Deep-Red FL State House District. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired March 24, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: President Trump had talked about targeting power plants in Iran. From a legal standpoint, that raises all sorts of ethical questions--
MARGARET DONOVAN, U.S. ARMY COMBAT VETERAN, SERVED IN IRAQ AND SYRIA, FORMER JAG OFFICER: Yes.
COOPER: --if those facilities are being used for civilian use, right?
DONOVAN: Correct. Yes. Yes, absolutely. So, those are what is known as a dual-use facility. So, there may be some military advantage to taking out a power plant. But you have to very clearly define that.
And so, to threaten taking out a power plant simply for the purpose of wreaking havoc on a civilian population for leverage, that is not a proper use of targeting a dual-use facility. There has to be a true analysis of military advantage before that can happen.
COOPER: All right.
Margaret Donovan, appreciate it.
And General "Spider" Marks, appreciate it as well.
The news continues. That's it for us. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: President Trump says the war has been won and that Iran wants to make a deal very badly, as he's also sending a 1,000 more troops to the Middle East.
I'm Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
As we come on the air tonight, there is a lot of breaking news about the war in Iran and conflicting signals coming from the administration. We have some of our top sources, here tonight on the show, to try to make sense of everything that we're learning in just the last 24 hours alone.
And Senator Bernie Sanders will join me here on set in just a moment. But first tonight, CNN has learned that the administration is preparing to deploy a 1,000 soldiers with the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East. That's in addition to the thousands of marines and sailors who are already on the way.
Even as we're hearing from President Trump sending messages like this one from the Oval Office today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I think we're going to end it. I can't tell you for sure. You know, I don't like to say this, we've won this -- this war has been won.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Of course, one might ask if the President does believe this war has been won, why thousands more U.S. service members are being sent to the region tonight. That question for the President comes, as he also says that the United States and Iran are discussing potential peace talks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're in negotiations right now. They're doing it, along with Marco, JD. We have a number of people doing it. And the other side, I can tell you, they'd like to make a deal.
REPORTER: There's been reports that the Vice President is leading those negotiations. Is that true?
TRUMP: Well, he's involved in them. JD is involved. And Marco is involved. And Jared Kushner is involved, very smart guy. And Steve Witkoff, smart guy, is involved. And I'm involved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: As the President cites everyone who is helping with these talks. We do know tonight that there have been communications between the United States and Iran, through intermediaries, about sitting down and talking, and that news came as in President Trump's telling today, he said it may not have been exactly well-received by his Pentagon chief who was in the room.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I said, Pete, and General Raizin Caine, I think this thing is going to be settled very soon.
Here they go, Oh, that's too bad.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: Pete didn't want it to be settled.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COLLINS: And when Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom the President was referring to there, was asked to give his update on the war from the Oval Office today, this statement from Secretary Hegseth stood out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: And that's why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Apparently, those bombs, which are still dropping tonight, have not stopped the Iranians yet, according to President Trump, from sending him what he has described, mysteriously so, and White House officials have declined to elaborate in the hours since this comment, after he said the Iranians sent him a very big present.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present, and the present arrived today, and it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize, and they gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it. So, that meant one thing to me. We're dealing with the right people.
REPORTER: Was it nuclear-related?
TRUMP: No, it wasn't nuclear-related. It was oil and gas related.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And joining me tonight is the Independent senator of Vermont, Senator Bernie Sanders.
And thank you, sir, for being here.
On the war with Iran. President is talking today about these ongoing talks with Iran. That comes after he was threatening to bomb their power plants and putting deadlines on that. He's now extended it to Friday. When you hear what the White House is saying, do you believe that he's looking for an off-ramp in this war?
SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): There is evidence that, in fact, he is not talking to Iran, that that's a lie, stated in order to calm the stock market and to lower oil prices. So, I have not a lot of confidence in anything the President says regarding the war.
[21:05:00]
This is a war we should never have gotten into. This is a war, right now, which has already resulted in thousands of people are being killed. In Lebanon, you had a million people who are displaced. And I hope it ends as soon as possible.
COLLINS: I mean, I think that's the real question. But I mean, the President said today that when he told Secretary Pete Hegseth, the war might be winding down, the President said, he was disappointed in that.
What do you make of that?
SANDERS: He was disappointed in what?
COLLINS: He said that Hegseth was disappointed when the President told him the war may be--
SANDERS: Look, I don't--
COLLINS: --winding down soon.
SANDERS: Look, I, frankly, don't believe much of what the President says. So, no comment on that.
COLLINS: If they come to Congress and ask for $200 billion? What's your response to that?
SANDERS: Will I support that? Absolutely not. In fact, we're going to bring forth a Joint Resolution of Disapproval in a couple of weeks, which will stop the 20,000 bombs that are going to Israel, and the bulldozers that are going to Israel, to knock down homes and buildings in the West Bank. So no, I will not support funding for that bill.
COLLINS: The President has heavily praised Israel and talked about what an ally they've been in this.
Obviously, one thing that's really affected Americans, and I'm sure you've heard this from your constituents, is gas prices here at home, energy prices, what we've been seeing with this global energy crisis that's playing out.
SANDERS: Well you're talking -- and the answer is yes, of course, gas prices are rising. People are deeply concerned. This is a president that's supposed to be worrying about affordability.
But let's put it into a broader context. The United States of America started this war. It launched an initiative, a unilateral attack, along with Israel, which assassinated the leaders of those countries, and starting a situation now, which is causing massive, massive suffering in the Middle East.
And whether we want to be working with Israel, which has devastated the people of Gaza? 10 percent of the people of Gaza are dead or wounded. I'm not quite sure, those are the alliances, those are the allies, we need to be working with.
COLLINS: As someone who has run for president before and been a candidate. Is this something that you think will become a test for Democrats, a litmus test for Democrats, in terms of the alliance with Israel impacting this group--
SANDERS: Well I think it's not only -- it's not only Democrats. I think all over the country, people are saying, Wait a minute. We can't afford housing. We can't afford health care. We can't afford child care. We can't afford food at the grocery store. And this war now, which will cost hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars, why? Why? To bomb buildings in Tehran? To force a million people in Lebanon from their homes?
So, it's not just progressives and Democrats. I think you have a lot of conservatives saying, Trump ran on a campaign, saying, I'm going to end endless wars. We've got to invest in America, not on these endless wars. And he went back on his word.
So, I think the polling suggests that whether you're Republicans, Democrats, this is not a war the American people want.
COLLINS: Yes, there's a poll that said a lot of Americans think that the White House isn't focused enough on domestic issues.
SANDERS: Yes. No kidding. You know, working-class people are having a hard time getting -- why 60 percent of our people live in paycheck to paycheck, while Trump and his billionaire friends have never had it so good. And now we're spending what will amount to many hundreds of billions of dollars on a war that should not be fought? The American people are not happy about it.
COLLINS: We're here in Washington. You're introducing legislation tomorrow, when it comes to one thing that is an issue here at home and also abroad, on development for these AI data centers that we've seen developing throughout the country.
SANDERS: It's not just the data centers. What we are dealing with, according to some of the most knowledgeable people in the world, is the most dramatic and consequential technological revolution in world history. It will be far more significant and rapid and impactful than the industrial revolution, you know, when people went from the farms to the factories.
We're talking about now a technology which, in many respects, will be able to do anything that a human being can do, and do it better. And what people have got to ask themselves is, Who is pushing this revolution? And the answer is, not surprisingly, the wealthiest people in the world, Mr. Musk, Mr. Bezos, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Zuckerberg. Why are they doing it? You think they're doing it to improve life for working people? I don't think so. They're doing it to become even richer and more powerful.
Just the other day, Mr. Bezos, one of the big pushers of AI, announced that he was going to raise -- try to raise $100 billion, to do what? To automate factories in America and around the world. He already is working to get rid of the 600,000 workers that he has in Amazon warehouses, can replace them with robots, and now he wants to do that all over the country.
[21:10:00]
So, we are looking at the possibility of massive unemployment in blue- collar work and in white-collar work. Already, we're seeing young college graduates trying to get entry-level jobs, finding it very hard to do that.
And then, Kaitlan, on top of all of that, not only the social impact, the fact that many of our kids now have their best friends on AI rather than interacting with other human beings.
If you talk to some of the people who have developed this technology, what they are saying is that in a short period of time, AI will, in fact, become smarter than human beings, and that it is no longer science fiction to suggest that AI may say, Well, we're going our own way, with cataclysmic impacts on humanity.
COLLINS: I want to ask you about that. But just to follow on the bill you're introducing. It was Democrats who rejected your move to block the construction of AI centers, new AI data centers, earlier this year, I believe that was. Do you have any changes? Have you seen any changes in your colleagues, in terms of--
(CROSSTALK)
SANDERS: Look, the American people, not just me, look at the polling, are very concerned about what AI means, economically, to their jobs, spiritually, to who they are as human beings, and they worry about AI becoming smarter than humans, and what that means.
The fact that Congress is not responding to that has everything to do with a corrupt campaign finance system, where the AI industry is spending $150 million, making sure that Congress does nothing to represent -- to reflect the needs of working families.
COLLINS: Well, I mean, and speaking of you trying to showcase your view on this. You sat down for an interview with Claude recently.
SANDERS: I did.
COLLINS: I just want people to see a little bit of what happened when you posed questions to Claude.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SANDERS: Why is all of this information being collected? What's the goal here?
CLAUDE, ANTHROPIC'S AI CHATBOT: Money, Senator. It's fundamentally about profit.
Companies collect all this data because AI allows them to turn it into valuable insights. They can predict what you'll buy, target you with ads that are more likely to work, charge different prices to different people based on what they know about you. Advertisers pay premium prices for access to these detailed profiles because they're incredibly effective at manipulating consumer behavior.
And it's not just about selling you stuff, either. Political campaigns use the same AI and data to figure out how to persuade you, which messages will work on you, specifically.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: But when I heard that at the end, and it's saying that they're just doing what will work on you specifically. AI may be familiar with your position and your concerns that you share. Do you believe that that's what influenced the answers there?
SANDERS: No, what they -- what they will mean is they will call you up, Kaitlan, you get a phone call, and say, I know you're really worried about this, and your mother is that, and your kid is that, and that or not. And by the way, did you know the candidate X?
In other words, they will know who you are, and target their personal -- their ads to your personal life. Not to mention the whole issue of deepfakes. I was on TV, apparently selling something, which obviously I wasn't. Looked pretty good, looked like me, sounded like me. It just wasn't me. So, you're going to have candidates, words in their mouths, saying what is not them.
All that I'm saying about this whole thing is whether you look at the issue of privacy, and what court told us that we're under deep threat of losing our privacy in every aspect of our lives, whether it is the existential threat, whether it's the economic threat, we have got to slow it down.
AI can be a good thing. It can help human beings. But not -- we cannot simply allow Mr. Musk, and Mr. Bezos, and the other multibillionaires, to determine the future of humanity.
COLLINS: And what's--
SANDERS: So, the goal is, slow it down.
COLLINS: What's your concern if you don't succeed here, if it doesn't get slowed down?
SANDERS: I'm very worried. I'm worried about a massive attack on the working class of this country, millions of people losing their jobs. I'm worried about the loss of our privacy rights. I'm worried about threats to democracy. And, by the way, according to people who helped develop this technology, we're worried about the future of humanity, and whether humanity survives. Other than that, Kaitlan? Not a problem.
COLLINS: You're introducing this bill tomorrow.
SANDERS: Yes.
COLLINS: Another thing that your colleagues that you caucus with, Democrats, are working on with Republicans, is ending the DHS shutdown. Do you believe that Democrats have achieved anything as a part of the DHS shutdown? One specifically--
SANDERS: Well I think they've tried to make the point that ICE is out of control. ICE is out of control, and it needs fundamental reforms.
COLLINS: And did they make that point, in your view? SANDERS: Well, you'll have to judge that. I think they're trying very hard.
COLLINS: Senator Bernie Sanders, thank you for joining us tonight.
SANDERS: Thank you.
COLLINS: Up next. We have new CNN reporting on the talks that President Trump says are underway to end the war in Iran, as the United States is deploying more troops to the region. My next source has directly negotiated with Iran and will join us.
[21:15:00]
Plus, Senator Cory Booker is also here. As airport lines are still growing, and word of a potential deal here in Washington to fund the Department of Homeland Security and pay those TSA workers, where that stands tonight.
Also, a Democrat just flipped a Florida state House seat in a deep-red district that includes President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, as President Trump is sounding optimistic that a deal to end the war is potentially in sight.
[21:20:00]
We're hearing from sources at CNN who tell my colleague, Kylie Atwood, that Iran has actually expressed a preference for engaging in talks with the Vice President, JD Vance. Not the President's Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, or his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, of course, the two men who led negotiations last month, right before the United States and Israel attacked Iran and started the war.
One of the sources told us that the perception is that Vance would be intent on wrapping up the conflict more so than the other officials who are currently involved.
Now, this comes as I learned and heard from President Trump directly yesterday, he said that there are major points of agreement in what he described as a 15-point proposal that the United States had shared with Iran. He didn't say what those points of agreement are exactly beyond not obtaining a nuclear weapon.
As sources are telling us that there is a proposal, on the table, for Pakistan to host a meeting, between the United States and Iran, potentially later this week, which the Vice President could attend. Though it's still not clear exactly how that's going to shake out tonight.
I want to bring in Brett McGurk, who is the former Middle East Coordinator at the National Security Council.
First off, what do you make of Kylie's reporting that Iran wants to deal with Vance over Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff. I mean, do they get a say in how that works?
BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, FORMER MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA COORDINATOR, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: They should not have a say. It's kind of a common thing, particularly the Iranians or the Russians, they try to find seams in the administration, say, We want to talk to this person, not that person. I think the answer from the U.S. side should be, We decide who will be in the room.
And look, someone like the vice -- if you're close to a deal, and maybe there's one or two points, then you can bring in the Vice President. But to say, We want Vice President as a negotiator, not your negotiators? That is -- that is problematic. The answer should be, No.
Now, if there's a role for the Vice President, it's up to the President, of course, and that's appropriate. But it's not up to Iran to decide that, so.
COLLINS: Yes, and it sounds like he might be there in the room for these talks.
MCGURK: Yes.
COLLINS: In terms of this 15-point agreement that's going around. We haven't actually seen the exact 15 points. Barak Ravid said it pretty much mirrors what was on the table, I think, a year ago. The President said three of those points are nuclear weapons. So, maybe it's a 13- point deal.
But what do you make of what you've heard on this so far? Does that seem at all promising to you?
MCGURK: Kaitlan, I'm hopeful there's a diplomatic path here.
But when I come on your program I really try to think through, and how would I, if I was briefing a president or something, where are we? And I've negotiated with the Iranians a lot, and particularly the hardline guys. And they believe in, like, suffering to them is something that is part of their overall philosophy. So, the idea that out of this pressure, they're going to come out and do a big deal with the United States? I find unlikely.
I mean, think about the Iran-Iraq War, one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century. Ayatollah Khamenei said, it was a divine gift for Iran. This is kind of how these guys think. A lot of them served in the Iran-Iraq War.
So therefore, if there's a little bit of a power struggle going on in Iran, for someone to rise up and say, Hey, let's do a deal? And particularly the deal in these 15 points, which, as I understand it means, No enrichment, give up your nuclear program, give up support for terrorism? Which we all want. I just find it unlikely that an Iranian leader is going to come and say, Let's do that deal.
Now, everybody has a breaking point. These guys are not 10-feet tall. President Trump actually found their breaking point with Hamas and got that -- got that deal, last year.
But where we are right now, I still think we're kind of in a -- this isn't really a negotiation, Kaitlan. I would say, this is positioning. So, there's intermediaries passing different messages, different proposals. Meanwhile, the military campaign is going on. CENTCOM is carrying out its campaign.
COLLINS: Yes, how does that positioning work? Because it's not that they're still just dropping bombs. I mean, they're sending more forces to the region.
MCGURK: That--
COLLINS: And I was reading in the Financial Times tonight, you know, this 82nd Airborne, this elite unit that is now being sent and goes pretty quickly. The presence of that, and the MEUs, which are specially trained to seize and hold land, brings U.S. forces actually closer to readiness for a potential ground operation.
MCGURK: Right.
COLLINS: How does Iran see that in terms of what you describe as positioning?
MCGURK: So, we go back to like first principles, and war is a test of wills and who can endure. The Iranian system is built for endurance, as I just mentioned. It goes all the way back to their kind of basic founding doctrine.
But they are trying to use economic pressure, Straits of Hormuz to build pressure on the Trump administration, President Trump. So, you want to try to get out of that by buying time. And I think all this talk about an opening, and perhaps there's talks? I mean, that has calmed the economic pressure. The price of oil is kind of -- hasn't really gotten up that much.
So, there might be some strategic rationale in saying, Look, we want a deal. We're ready to talk, ready to sit down. Let's sit down in Pakistan. And kind of give that opening, as you are building up your military forces, to have some additional options.
But even that military issue, Kaitlan, and this goes back to first principles, the defender has an advantage, and because they have terrain, goes back to like Clausewitz and the great philosophers on war, and Iran is using the Straits of Hormuz. And they have prepared for this. It's going to be a very difficult military mission to try to secure it. I think we could probably do it, but that's going to be difficult.
[21:25:00]
And I dealt with this in the Red Sea, another passage where we built a coalition, we had our Navy there, to try to reopen it, when the Houthis were flying Iranian missiles and drones. It's really hard to do, so. COLLINS: Yes, and I mean, there was a huge bombing campaign by this administration against them, for that very reason last year, and it didn't really prove all that successful.
MCGURK: It's hard.
COLLINS: But in terms of what the President said today, that he got a present from Iran?
MCGURK: Yes.
COLLINS: He said it wasn't nuclear-related. It was oil and gas related.
Do you have any idea what that could be?
MCGURK: Iran put out a statement today from their Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as if their system is functioning, and it was very detailed. And it said, The Straits of Hormuz is open, ships can go through, so long as we approve, and ships that are not linked to the hostility, meaning, the Americans.
And so, basically, they're saying, Strait of Hormuz is open on our terms. We're going to control who goes through. I think there's a toll being paid to the Iranians, as I understand it. That is not -- if that's what we're talking about? That is not a gift. That's Iran saying, We control access to the Strait of Hormuz. Complete violation of international commerce and free trade. So, that is something we cannot accept.
So, I don't know, I don't know what the gift is, but I've been -- look, that is something that happened today. I mean, Iran did say--
COLLINS: Yes.
MCGURK: --in this statement, Yes, it's open. But you read -- you read the second line. We're going to decide who gets to go through.
COLLINS: Yes.
MCGURK: That's not acceptable.
COLLINS: Doesn't sound like much of a gift.
MCGURK: No.
COLLINS: Brett McGurk, great to have your expertise as always.
MCGURK: Thanks, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Thank you for joining us.
Up next here for us. There are some pretty fast-moving developments on Capitol Hill tonight. A deal to potentially fund the Department of Homeland Security could be on the horizon. But wait times right now at airports are approaching five hours, in some cases. My congressional Democratic source is here right after this.
[21:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: There's been a lot of movement on Capitol Hill tonight toward finding a way out of the nearly 40-day shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security.
As TSA officials are warning tonight that what is happening at airports, across the country is becoming a, quote, "Dire" situation. You can see that yourself, as a lot of travelers have been stuck in security lines that stretch for hours at times. With TSA agents now on the verge of missing their second paycheck, as some of them are telling CNN, they're being forced to sleep in their cars, or donate blood just to be able to pay for gas.
Top Senate Republicans believe they do have a potential compromise on the table. It would fund all of the Department of Homeland Security, except for a small portion of immigration enforcement. But right now, they've still been struggling to sell that deal to Democrats, even some of their Republican colleagues.
And Republican leaders insist their party is on the same page here. But when the President was asked multiple times today to commit to supporting this plan, he declined to do so.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Well, I'm going to look at it, and we're going to take a good hard look at it. I want to support Republicans.
REPORTER: Would you be comfortable with a deal that involves separating ICE funding from the DHS funding package in order to reopen?
TRUMP: Well, they're working on all of that, you know. That's a detail that they'll explain later.
REPORTER: Would you sign that?
TRUMP: Well, I don't want to comment until I see the deal. But as you know, they're negotiating a deal. I guess they're getting fairly close. But I think any deal they make, I'm pretty much not happy with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My source tonight is Democratic senator, Cory Booker of New Jersey, who's a member of the Foreign Relations and Judiciary Committees, and is also the author of the new book "Stand," which is now out in stores.
And thank you, Senator, for being here. Congrats on the book.
On this deal. Chuck Schumer says he's a no. He says it doesn't go far enough, and he wants more. What are you going to vote on this?
SEN. CORY BOOKER (D-NJ): Well, I think the agency is out of control, it's reckless, and it's doing things that are not even being discussed in terms of reforming.
We have an agency that has arrested so many Americans, many of them, they're doing wrongfully, dragging out of their homes, detaining folks. We see separating families. We see, unfortunately, a lot of people getting injured, and two killed. So, I'm a little frustrated that we haven't been talking about the kind of reforms that America says they want.
And what's even more frustrating is that Donald Trump is holding TSA hostage. We keep saying, Just fund TSA, get ICE out of TSA and fund them. And he's saying, No. He's trying to ratchet up pain on the American people, so that he can create more leverage to continue funding an out-of-control ICE.
COLLINS: But this is the deal that's on the table. So, if this comes up for a vote this week, how would you vote?
BOOKER: I won't vote for another dollar of an agency that's so reckless, so out of control, surveilling our--
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: So you're a no?
BOOKER: I'm a hard no, from everything I've heard so far. Obviously, I'm going to evaluate a deal that comes before me. But the parameters of the negotiation, what they've already thrown out to me, makes it really unacceptable.
COLLINS: Republicans seem to think that there's enough of your colleagues, Democratic colleagues, who are frustrated, hearing a lot of calls from people who don't like standing in those lines, or seeing TSA agents not get paid, that they can get this through if Republicans stay together.
If that happens, what do you believe Democrats have to show for this shutdown?
BOOKER: Well, a few things. One is the Democrats have already tried to, in so many ways, expose the President on what he's doing around ICE. And the fact that they're going to still have to try to get to through reconciliation in order to fund that agency, shows that holding the line has achieved something and forced them to use this sort of extra legislative tool to get something done.
[21:35:00]
But, again, I've been critical a long time of my caucus. I feel like we've been -- should have been holding the lines on health care. Millions of Americans losing their health care, we didn't hold the line there. This is another time that I think we should have stood the line and fought, especially when the majority of Americans, including many Republicans, are with us. They don't want ICE barreling into their schools, their churches, their courthouses, arresting people who have done nothing wrong in our country, who are on a legal pathway, arresting them at the courthouse when they're showing up for their hearings.
This agency, to me, is doing things that are violating our common decency and more. So, I want us to hold the line. If some Democrats break? That's their prerogative. But we are a country right now, from the war in Iran, to what Donald Trump is doing to American citizens at home, we're spiraling, in my opinion, into some dangerous waters.
COLLINS: Do you want them to hold the line, even if that means TSA agents still not getting paid?
BOOKER: So, the problem with TSA not getting paid is it's not our choice. This is a choice Donald Trump is making. TSA is not even in the realm of controversy here. They need to be paid.
Donald Trump is trying to cause maximum chaos and cruelty to TSA agents, and all those people waiting in line in hopes that it will make Democrats so -- buckle and support his ICE agency. That's insanity. We need to expose it. This is not Democrats doing it. It's a president who is, again, cruel and chaotic, and he's bringing that to our airports now.
COLLINS: Well, and ICE agents are still getting paid. I mean, they are already funded because of the bill that passed last summer. So that--
BOOKER: I'm sorry. I meant--
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: No, no, you're -- I know you're right.
BOOKER: Yes. Yes. Yes.
COLLINS: I'm just saying TSA officers -- TSA agents are not getting paid, while ICE officers are.
BOOKER: Right.
COLLINS: So what Democrats are arguing for here, I mean, they're still getting paid.
What the President wants to do, should this pass, is then have Republicans go and pass something on immigration -- funding immigration enforcement. But also, he wants to attach his SAVE Act to this, which includes proving your citizenship to register to vote. It also includes his transgender policy bill on that.
You don't support that. I know that.
If there was just a clean vote on voter ID, specifically, is that something you would support?
BOOKER: Yes. And New Jersey has voter ID laws. I got to show my driver's license. I joke about it when I pull out my driver's license when I -- when I was voting in-person, because everybody in my neighborhood, in my community, knows me. That's not what this bill is.
Lisa Murkowski, a Republican, showed what this bill is. She put up a huge map of Alaska and said, If Donald Trump is successful at this bill, it'll force people onto airplanes, to have to fly across my state, just to present their identification.
If your married name does not match your birth certificate, you have to go through all kind of hoops. It would disenfranchise millions of Americans. Don't take Democrats' word for it. Take the Republicans who are courageous enough to come forward. So, this is not a voter ID bill. It's a voter suppression bill.
COLLINS: But you would vote yes on just voter ID by itself?
BOOKER: Look, couple things. This is what the Republicans want to do. I have no problem with voter ID. But you know that in-person voter fraud is virtually non-existent in the United States of America.
Conservative thinktanks have looked for cases of in-person voter fraud and announced that they do not exist, except for maybe at the frequency of lightning strikes to human beings, that's you're more likely to get struck by a lightning than find in-person voter fraud.
So, this is the President who has been trying to create as much uncertainty around our elections, to prosecute his case that he's a multiple-time loser. He's still doing things about his 2020 race that he lost, trying to prove that he won.
So, again, we all want people, who go to vote, to show a valid ID or what have you. But this idea that there is widespread voter inaccuracies is fundamentally wrong, misleading. And with Donald Trump, who I think wants to undermine democracy in our elections, it's dangerous.
COLLINS: You are speaking out. You're on a book tour because you have a new book that just came out, that talks about virtues that you believe are needed here in this country. You list several of them, including humility, community, truth, several others.
When you talk about what you believe is needed for the fractured country that we -- that we live in, some people might read your book and say, What is a step that you believe you've taken in order to fulfill any of those? What would you--
BOOKER: Well, the book has talked about my wrestling with all 10, and even my failures, and perhaps that's one mark of vulnerability, showing where you've come up short.
This is a time where we need to look. And this is why I'm happy that Doris Kearns Goodwin, and Jon Meacham, and Henry Louis Gates, eminent historians, read the book and added their blurbs to it. Because what this book is, both inspiration and instruction about how we, by wrestling with those virtues, how we find a way to bring them forth, and actually they're vital for helping us to be strong and winning in difficult times.
And so for me, I show some of my biggest screw-ups, when I really messed up. But how often it is at those lowest times of my life, how others, who are exhibiting those virtues, sort of rescued me and helped me be a better leader and a better servant, and learn the hard lessons.
[21:40:00]
And so, from looking at average Americans who did extraordinary things to advance our democracies, to my own foibles and faults, and what the hard lessons I learned, this is a book, really, that is instruction and inspiration at a time that too many people are doubling down on divisiveness, demeaning and degrading dialog and discourse.
We need to get back to healing our democracy, redeeming the dream of America, and bringing our country to, frankly, away from this dark gutters that we're in, and to the higher ground. That is what we all take pride in. The statues on the Mall are to people saying, Malice towards none and charity towards all. Not, Robert Mueller, it was good that you died.
COLLINS: Yes, which is what Trump said after the Special Counsel's death.
In terms of what politicians are saying publicly, what this looks like. Obviously it raises questions about what your political future is, what you intend to do beyond just running for reelection.
One thing you announced today that caught my eye is that you are giving up PAC money, accepting it. You've accepted it before, including from the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC. You're not going to be taking money from them anymore. You're not the only Democrat who has said this, by the way. So have Governor Newsom, Governor Shapiro, Andy Beshear, the Governor, they all say the same. Why?
BOOKER: Well, so first of all, let me make it clear. 10 years ago, I was one of the first people in Congress to say, No corporate PACs, because I think this corporate money is killing our politics. I said also that my bedrock and my support will always be small dollar or individual contributors. That's over 80 percent of my money.
I am trying to say one of the most dangerous things in Washington right now. There's a corruption of money in politics. And when my team kicked it around, running for reelection this year, before we announced, What more can we do? And so, ideological PACs and issue area PACs, we just said, OK, enough. We will not take that as well, to set a standard. You can say all you want, Other people should change. But you should show yourself to me as an example before you start trying to change the system.
What's going to follow this for us, and I want to foreshadow that, is an omnibus bill to end the corruption of money in politics, and the corruption of our politicians who do everything from trade individual stocks, all the way to our President who created his own meme coin that's being overwhelming and being invested in by foreign nations, that are enriching him and affecting our foreign policy.
COLLINS: Senator Cory Booker, thank you for joining us.
BOOKER: Thank you for having me.
COLLINS: Congrats on the book.
BOOKER: Thank you.
COLLINS: And his new book "Stand" is out today.
Up next here for us. I mentioned at the beginning of the show, there's been a big upset in the President's backyard, in South Florida, where a Democrat just flipped a state House district there in Florida. It includes Mar-a-Lago in the district. And my political sources will weigh in right after this.
[21:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: We are covering some breaking news tonight, as there has been a notable election upset in Florida, where CNN can now project that a Democrat has flipped a deep-red Florida state House district that does include President Trump's own Mar-a-Lago home. It's a pretty big victory for the Democrat here, Emily Gregory, and the latest in a string of special election losses that we've seen for the Republican Party.
President Trump won this district by 11 points in the 2024 election. And he had issued his complete and total endorsement of the Republican who was running here, that was Jon Maples, which makes tonight's Republican loss all the more notable.
My political sources are here tonight.
And Shermichael, I do think some people want to say, It's Trump's backyard. How much are you reading into this, as a Republican voter--
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, look, you go all the way back to the Civil War, and the party of the president has typically lost seats in the House. This is not an uncommon phenomenon. And you look at Bill Clinton, you look at President Obama, you look at the first Trump term, you saw consistent losses including in some congressional districts where the president won, sometimes by 15 to 18 points, give or take.
So, this isn't necessarily a surprise to me, that Democrats are effective in their ability to win some of these special elections. You call this a thermostatic effect. That's what political scientists refer to it as.
Those of us who do this type of strategy work, at this point, you start to account for what the losses could be, and how do you mitigate them as much as possible for your side. And so, for me, as a strategist and a Republican, I'm looking at what some of these Democrats are talking about, what the messaging is to those voters, specifically Independents, and how do we counteract them on cost of living, gas prices, affordability, housing. And if we can do that, then I think you diminish some of what could be big gains this November.
COLLINS: Yes.
What do you -- what are Democrats reading into this tonight?
AMESHIA CROSS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think that a lot of what Shermichael said was right. But the one consternation I have is that this is Trump's backyard. We're talking about Mar-a-Lago.
Yes, Democrats are poised to take the House back.
COLLINS: Literally.
CROSS: But Trump's backyard is entirely different place.
And it was a candidate who ran on affordability, the exact same issues that people are running on across this country, Democrats, and you know, the White House has no answer for it.
Everything that this President has done has actually increased costs. We know that the war in Iran is causing gas to go up. We know that it is shifting the markets. We know that, that cost of living has continued to rise, housing, food, you name it.
And that message plays well, even in a place like Mar-a-Lago, when people think opulence and superstar parties. At the end of the day, people want to be able to have an America where they felt like, pre- pandemic, they were able to afford things, they had best wishes for their children who graduated college. Now, those same folks--
SINGLETON: Like the America they didn't get--
CROSS: --are still at home because they can't find jobs.
SINGLETON: Like the America they didn't get during the Biden administration. I get it. Those are -- those are all good--
CROSS: Well currently Trump has everything.
SINGLETON: No, those are all good points.
CROSS: He has the White House. He has the House. He has the Senate.
SINGLETON: Those are all good points. But I will say this.
CROSS: And no change.
[21:50:00] SINGLETON: I will say this. The special elections, in my opinion, are not indicative of where the entire Democratic Party is. And I think you would even acknowledge that the party, as a whole, is still struggling to figure out what its national message is, albeit how successful some of those special election wins get.
COLLINS: Well, can I also ask. In terms of how people are voting. Obviously, we just talked to Senator Booker about, the President is trying to muscle through the SAVE Act, which is a voter--
SINGLETON: Sure.
COLLINS: --when it comes to voting, limiting mail-in voting.
And what he said today about mail-in voting, as he was talking about this, stood out to me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You want citizenship, proof of citizenship. Ideally, you want to end mail-in ballots because there's tremendous corruption.
Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating. And we got to do something about it all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Palm Beach County records show that President Trump voted by mail, in this special election.
SINGLETON: Look, I think every single American wants to preserve the integrity of our elections. That said, the Republican Party is looking at an older constituency in terms of voters.
And so, I would, as a strategist, just be a little mindful of potentially disenfranchising our own voters. You don't want to have a deleterious effect. And so, that's the advice in terms of that, I would give the President.
COLLINS: But how can he argue there's tremendous corruption, and then he voted that way, yesterday--
SINGLETON: Well you look--
COLLINS: --in this election?
SINGLETON: I mean, look, some of this is political jargon. We know that with the President.
That said, back to my original point, you have a lot of Republican voters who are older, specifically those in the South who live in rural areas. And the best way to turn out those older, senior Republican voters is to allow them the ability for mail-in ballots and voting.
And let me just add, if you look at the legislation as it's currently written, states, at the end of the day, will ultimately make the decision how this process is ran. And some states may say, Look, we like the system that is in place. We're going to keep it as is.
CROSS: Trump had an issue in the last election cycle, pushing against mail-in voting in 2020.
And, at the end of the day, this is a president, he didn't just start mail-in voting. He was doing mail-in voting when he was in New York as well. He has a long history of voting by mail. Heck, he's voted by mail more times than he's ever voted in-person. He hates the vote-by- mail process now, because he believes that it during the -- during the 2020 election cycle, caused him to lose.
At the end of the day, this is a president who says one thing and then himself does something else. If mail-in voting isn't good for America, then why is this President continuing to do so?
Also, to your point, Shermichael. It's rural voters, yes, rural voters use mail-in voting more than anybody else, with the exception of those who are in the military. And it's in large part, it's not just older voters. It's because the polling places are so far away from them.
SINGLETON: Are far. Yes. That's a good point.
CROSS: So, most of those rural voters are Republican voters. So, he does run a major risk of disenfranchising his own people.
SINGLETON: But I would quickly -- I would quickly caution my Democratic friends, just purely on the messaging of this. Most Americans agree with the idea of showing voter ID. Now, this is way more complicated than that. But from the average layperson's--
CROSS: He's asking for their birth certificates and passports.
COLLINS: It's not how voters--
(CROSSTALK)
SINGLETON: But from the average layperson's perspective, that's how they're looking at this.
COLLINS: Which is why we just asked Democratic Senator Cory Booker about it. He said he's in favor of voter ID on its own.
Shermichael Singleton. Ameshia Cross. Great to have you both here.
SINGLETON: Thank you.
COLLINS: Up next for us here on THE SOURCE. An update on the new details about what happened at LaGuardia Airport that resulted in that deadly crash.
[21:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) COLLINS: There are alarming new details tonight about that fatal collision that happened, between the Air Canada flight and a fire truck, at New York's LaGuardia Airport, Sunday night.
According to the Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, there were two air traffic controllers on the midnight shift at the time, and both of them had the responsibility of multiple duties, something that the NTSB says they have been worried about for years now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIR: There were two people in the cab, two people in the tower cab, at the time of collision, the local controller and the controller in charge.
In this situation for the midnight shift, it is standard operating procedure that they only have two on duty, and those two perform the duties of other controllers. That is our understanding right now. However, we're going to further dig into that as part of our investigation. Certainly, I can tell you that our air traffic control team has stated this is a problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, controllers were already dealing with another emergency, in the moments leading up to this crash, after a United plane had reported a strange odor on board. That prompted the response from the airport firefighters. That's why the truck was out there.
And according to the latest timeline that we've heard from officials, just over a minute before the crash happened, investigators say the interference garbled a radio call -- that interference had garbled a radio call from the fire truck to the control tower. The truck then radioed again, just 20 seconds before the crash. The firefighters were given clearance to cross the runway when the plane was just a 100 feet above ground. And nine seconds before that crash, the tower told the fire truck to stop, but at that point, the plane was already touching down.
Now, investigators say they still don't know which controller was overseeing ground control.
And the fire truck, also we learned today, did not have something crucial, a transponder, which would have allowed air traffic controllers to be able to track the vehicle's real-time movements along the tarmac.
[22:00:00]
This collision, we know, killed the plane's pilot and co-pilot, and also injured dozens of people who were on board, including that flight attendant who was thrown from the plane as she was still strapped into her seat. As of tonight, we know at least six people remain hospitalized, and we're thinking of all of them.
Thank you so much for joining us here on THE SOURCE tonight.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT" starts now.
