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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump Administration Signals It Will Back Off $1.8 Billion Fund; Platner Slams Reports About Sexting As "Gossip"; Tina Peters Freed From Prison, Claims Dems Will "Cheat" In Midterms. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired June 01, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Well, we shall see.
Thanks very much, Elex Michaelson. We'll see you at Midnight Eastern, for "THE STORY IS."
Also, we're going to be covering the key primary races across California, and five other states as well, tomorrow. There's a lot going on tomorrow here on CNN. Also, you can watch on the CNN app.
That's it for us. Thanks so much for watching. I'll see you tomorrow. The news continues right now. "THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: Is the Trump administration waving the white flag on that massive settlement fund that even Republicans think is a bad idea?
I'm Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.
And as we come on the air tonight, sources say that the White House is signaling that it will back off that $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund, after facing serious pushback from their own party on Capitol Hill.
The question is whether those private signals from the White House, while the President has yet to say anything about it publicly, are enough for skeptical Republican senators. The Justice Department tried to signal that that's the plan. But right now, sources don't seem to be taking their word for it.
For a president who has such an iron grip on his party as Donald Trump, what we are watching happening, right now in Washington, is pretty remarkable. The pushback from Senate Republicans has been so intense and, for the White House, so unexpected, that it's a rare moment of the administration considering backing down from its position.
Now, President Trump, as I noted, has yet to confirm that they are definitely scrapping the fund. And until he does, it's possible that the administration is merely pausing plans until the political pushback dies down.
But the plans remain essentially stalled, as we told you on Friday night, for that fund, after a pair of federal judges basically stopped it in its tracks.
One ruling came from a federal judge in Florida, who wants to know if the whole case was a sham, just to reach a settlement, out of court, between the President and the Justice Department that he controls.
The other ruling came from a federal judge in Virginia, who told the Justice Department that it couldn't move any of the money or do anything until a court hearing in a few weeks from now about whether or not the fund itself is even legal.
After that ruling in Virginia, the Justice Department put out this statement, saying that it disagrees with the decision on the Anti- Weaponization Fund, but noting in conclusion that the Department will abide by the Court's ruling.
Now that statement came after we saw the Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson, paying a visit to the White House today, not to warn about the courts, but maybe to warn about Congress. The message that was delivered is that this fund, on Capitol Hill, is jeopardizing what could be the last of the President's big legislative wins before the midterm elections this November. I'm talking about tens of millions of dollars for immigration enforcement through the President's end of his term.
Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, and he was asked about the landscape that is before us between this fund and getting immigration funding passed, offered a pretty blunt statement on what he wants to see happen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I've made my views very clear on the issue and like I said, I can't speak for them. I do think that the best way to handle it is if the administration decides to shut it down themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, dozens of members of the President's own party are so angry about this that they're refusing to move forward on that legislation. Even tonight, they seem to be getting mixed messages from the White House on what's going to happen here.
Look at what we heard from Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida. He told reporters, quote, "I have talked to the White House. What they told me is they're dropping it."
But Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said, If the administration has changed its position on the weaponization fund, it should say so definitively.
Our White House sources say that the administration was so caught off guard by the level of blowback here from Republicans, especially given how the President and the acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, have said they thought this fund would be received.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, it's been very well-received, I have to tell you. I know very little about it. I wasn't involved in -- in the whole creation of it, and -- and the negotiation.
We think that those people, we think that anybody involved in that process should partake. And you're talking about peanuts compared to the value. It destroyed the lives of many, many people.
TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think if you said to the American taxpayer that there was a horrible wrong committed by your government, and now you can apply, and you can have your lawyers' fees back, you can -- you can be compensated for what you lost financially. What American would say, Oh my gosh, that's terrible.
To the contrary, I think they do want their tax dollars spent on things like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:05:00]
COLLINS: And we start tonight with some of my favorite political and legal sources who are here at the table with us.
And Elie, first off, it's not true that the President wasn't involved in the creation of this. I was told that he actually -- he was involved. But what you hear from the Justice Department, and what Republican senators want to hear, what do you make of that?
ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NY: Well, first of all, I want to issue a heartfelt congratulations to the United States Department of Justice for stating that it will comply with a court order that it has to comply with.
Now, this whole plan is going to crash and burn. It's either going to happen politically or it's going to happen legally. I'll leave the politics to you all.
But we got a pretty good hint of where this is going legally, late Friday night, when that judge you mentioned down in Florida, who presided over the original case, which led to this settlement, issued a very angry ruling, where she basically says, I now believe I may have been misled, this may have been collusive -- whatever could have tipped that off -- And I need you, Trump administration, I'm giving you two weeks to explain why I'm wrong.
It's clear to me where she's going. You don't need a crystal ball. I think if it gets to that point, I think she's going to undo this dismissal and undo this settlement. I think it's going down one way or another.
COLLINS: I mean, Judge, how do you see this?
JILL KONVISER, FORMER NY STATE SUPREME COURT JUSTICE: I do agree with that.
I think what is unbelievable, and I'm running out of adjectives for this presidency, but what's unbelievable is that you have a -- President Trump as a civilian, filing a lawsuit against the federal government that he now controls, and controls with an iron fist.
And so, here you have this judge in the Southern District of Florida, saying there's no Article III case and controversy here. You don't have two sides, two opposing sides to an issue. You only have one, the President -- the government's lawyers that are defending the government respond to the President. They work for the President. And he is the plaintiff in the case. The tautology is unbelievably rich, and the case is going to go down.
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Right.
COLLINS: I mean, they might be happy if the Florida judge kills it because, they seem to be struggling with their own party, who is saying, Just get rid of it, stop doing this.
FARAH GRIFFIN: I mean, this is not something that Republicans want to be defending, heading into the midterms. If you're somebody like a Susan Collins with an uphill battle in Maine right now, you don't want to be explaining why nearly $2 billion that was appropriated for other use is going to be used to potentially bail, or you know, bail out January 6 protesters who stormed the Capitol, whatever it may be.
This is something that not a single American voter actually turned out to vote for. And Republicans made clear that this is not something that they want on Capitol Hill. Cornyn, Tillis, and Cassidy, those are going to be the thorns in the side of the President, going forward, and he needs to realize that backing away from it is what is the best thing for the party.
VAN JONES, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER OBAMA ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: You know, this is one of those things where what sounds good inside the cult does not sound good outside the cult. Who thunk this up? Who thought this was a great idea? Let's create a $2 billion. Here's what we'll do. Trump, sue yourself, so then you can settle with yourself to give billions of dollars to people who beat up cops. This is genius.
This is what happens when you have massive sycophantic group think, sitting around in the Oval Office, and nobody raises their hand and says, This may not go as well, sir, as you seem to think.
HONIG: Well, Van, to your point, Mitch McConnell, right, who was the primary person who bailed Trump out of being impeached, convicted on the second impeachment for January 6, he called this morally wrong and incredibly stupid.
And I -- you all -- I mean, Alyssa, maybe you would. I mean, I can't remember the Republicans in Congress ever turning this starkly on the President.
COLLINS: And--
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, you have to wonder, by the way, is this some of the more internet-brained advisers around the President? And I say that, meaning people who really just cater to the 30 percent of the base who are just die-hards and live in a very different bubble than the rest of the country.
Because, when all of us heard this, it seemed bizarre, and most Republicans, I think, think it sounds incredibly bizarre and out of step with the President's actual agenda that he ran on and elected -- was elected on. And I think this goes back to the point of, he cannot just listen to people who are never going to say no to him. He's got to have advisers around whom are willing to say, This is probably ain't it heading into the midterms.
COLLINS: And the President told Jon Karl of ABC News, quote, "We are subject to the courts." "At this moment, that's what it is."
But, Judge, in terms of the timing here. I mean, the Senate could start voting pretty soon on the immigration funding. They're back in Washington now. How much longer do you think it would take for it -- for there be -- to be movement in the courts on this?
KONVISER: Well, I think you never know, you never know who you're dealing with in terms of the judge and how fast things go.
But I think, as you said in your opening comments, what does count here is that immigration bill because, he is worried about it going into the midterms, and he was getting this pushback on this ridiculous deal, you know, the suing himself and getting himself out of it.
And in terms of what you said about someone needs to be the adult in the room telling him no. That has never really worked with Donald Trump.
[21:10:00]
But look at Todd Blanche. He's a smart lawyer, he's an otherwise respected lawyer. And yet he's saying, this is what the American people want? He knows this is lawless, he knows this is ridiculous, he may know that the Supreme Court would back them. But maybe the White House got wind that the Supreme Court wasn't so happy.
COLLINS: Well, and we're hearing Democrats, like Jon Ossoff, using this on the campaign trail, as he did this weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): He sued the U.S. government he commands for $10 billion.
(BOOING)
OSSOFF: Then he settled the suit with himself to create a $1.8 billion slush fund, so he can cut checks to cronies and Jan 6. foot soldiers.
(BOOING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, he's a Democrat, but he's running in Georgia.
And in terms of this, to Elie's point, we've actually never seen this level of pushback, not from Senate Democrats, from Senate Republicans, on something the White House has done since Trump retook office.
JONES: That's how dumb it is.
And by the way, that young man looks like a President to me. I mean, listen, when you're in Georgia, and you're trying to figure out how you're going to win a general election, and beating the President up on something like this is what's playing? That gives you a sense that -- the President is way off, and he's just getting way off.
He's way off on where people are coming from on the Iran war, he's way off on Epstein, he's just getting further and further off. At some point -- you know, he's releasing the UFO files and that type of stuff, maybe that'll help him. Look, he's way off there now, and I think it's going to -- it's not going to work for him.
COLLINS: Well, we also heard from your former boss, Alyssa, the former Vice President, Mike Pence, who obviously might have a thing to say about people who were chanting about hanging him, getting payouts from the federal government.
This is what Mike Pence said over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's deeply offensive to me that you could have a fund that could even possibly compensate people who assaulted police officers or vandalized the Capitol on January 6, and I think that's broadly held by most Republicans and most Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well look at him, tanned and rested and spitting facts.
JONES: Yes.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Listen, he's absolutely right, and nobody was more personally impacted--
COLLINS: Tanned and rested and spitting facts
FARAH GRIFFIN: No -- a few people were more personally impacted by the events of January 6 when they were chanting, Hang Mike Pence, at the Capitol, and I wish there is--
JONES: With gallows.
FARAH GRIFFIN: With gallows. I wish there was that level of moral clarity and more people around him.
But I've always had this -- this thing I wonder about with Donald Trump. Does he actually care about elections when he's not on the ballot? And while I do not think that Donald Trump wants to deal with the oversight that will come if the House flips and if the Senate flips. I do feel like his investment in the midterms is just not where it should be.
Senate Republicans really care about keeping the Senate majority. That's why they're pushing back here. But it really does feel like when his name is not on the ballot, he kind of will just let it go however he wants it to.
COLLINS: Yes, I mean, he said the other day, I don't care about the midterms--
(CROSSTALK)
FARAH GRIFFIN: Yes, he did actually say it directly.
COLLINS: --when he was talking about Iran.
But I do think that's a good point because, obviously Republicans on the Hill, even ones who are not in the camp of, they lost their jobs or they're not running again, you know--
JONES: They're like--
COLLINS: --they do care about having the majority and having Republicans.
HONIG: He's going to -- he's going to care if he loses the House when it comes time for hearings.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Right.
HONIG: He's going to care a lot about if he loses the Senate when it comes time for confirmations, for sure.
JONES: That's right. Yes, and I think that's one of the things that you're watching, is that someone usually, getting this close to the midterms, you're playing safe ball, you're doing stuff that's broadly popular, you're trying to get -- put the wind behind your folks that can get there and win. He's doing the opposite, he's blowing in the face of his own party, it makes no sense.
KONVISER: Although him indicating that all of a sudden now they're going to follow the rule of law is a sea change. They haven't met a law they followed through this administration or the prior. So, that signaled to me that there was some concern.
JONES: Political.
KONVISER: And what Mike Pence said about putting money in the pockets of January 6 rioters and people who attack law enforcement. I don't think the American public goes for that. Essentially, this is taxpayer money, money coming out of your pocket, my pocket, and your pocket, going into the pocket of convicted felons who attack law enforcement. That is not tenable.
JONES: And now--
KONVISER: That is not going to fly.
JONES: And now we're relitigating in public January 6, one of the worst moments in American life.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Yes.
JONES: Who wants to be talking about this in a midterm election, if you're a Republican. We're talking about whether or not the people who beat up police officers deserve billions of dollars or just millions of dollars, and maybe she won't put but -- who is -- who's advising the President?
COLLINS: But you know what's so odd is, is in the last several days, what we've seen from Trump is -- you know, you're laughing about the DOJ statement about abiding by the court order.
But the President is often pretty critical when he gets a court order that he doesn't like. But last week, on the Kennedy Center, when they said, You've got to take your name off of it. Instead of saying, I'm going to fight this, he said, OK, fine, and acknowledged it's in the hands of Congress.
And Alyssa, I think the question really is here, I mean, he -- for the Republicans who say, you know, Rick Scott saying they're backing off of it. Trump himself has not said that. It doesn't seem to be final until the President himself acknowledges that it's scrapped.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Correct. It's correct. And listen, I think that he's got to have polling around this, he's got to have some advisers in his ears, if not coming from Capitol Hill, saying, Just back away from this, this is a no win for you, it's a no win for the American public.
[21:15:00]
I would guess that he does this more quietly, and you just stop hearing about the slush fund, and he just sort of moves on to the next thing. That tends to be what he does when there's a loss, rather if -- either he was going to fight it tooth and nail or he's just going to kind of pretend he never even wanted it in the first place.
COLLINS: We shall see.
Judge. Elie. Great to have your legal voices here.
Alyssa and Van are going to stick around. We have a lot to talk about this hour.
Up next. My source reports on a very tense phone call. I'm not even sure if tense is the word. Angry between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and why Trump called Netanyahu effing crazy.
Plus, there's been another complication in Democrats' push to win the Senate. It's the latest scandal that is now plaguing the Maine Democrat, Graham Platner.
Also, just released from prison, election denier Tina Peters is picking up right where she left off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TINA PETERS, ELECTION DENIER: I know that the Democrats are going to cheat. And no one's really addressing the problem that -- that I spent my time in prison as retribution for, and that was exposing the election machines that allow the votes to be flipped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:20:00]
COLLINS: Breaking news tonight, as the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says Israel will keep striking southern Lebanon, quote, "As planned," after the President declared that Israeli forces would not move on its capital of Beirut. That's after the two leaders spoke on the phone this morning.
And what happens next may actually determine the fate of the U.S.-Iran negotiations. That's because Iran claimed they had suspended talks with the United States, earlier today, in protest of those previous Israeli strikes in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah.
And my next source tonight, Barak Ravid, has new reporting on that phone call between Trump and Netanyahu, with one U.S. official telling him that the President told the Israeli Prime Minister, he was, quote, effing crazy.
Barak Ravid joins me now, along with our friend, Bloomberg White House correspondent, Jeff Mason.
It's great to have you both here.
Barak, first, can you just tell us what happened on this call? Because the President is describing it as very productive. Your sources seem to be describing it a little bit differently.
BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL & GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST, GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: No, first, the call was productive because it ended with Netanyahu not going forward with bombing Beirut. So, I think that for President Trump, it definitely ended up in a productive way, and especially with an announcement of a ceasefire. We'll still have to see if this ceasefire actually happens and doesn't stay on paper again.
But U.S. officials described to me this call as one of the worst calls between Netanyahu and Trump, since Trump came back to office. One U.S. official told me that maybe there was one call that was worse than the call today, and during that call, Trump, in parts of the call, yelled at Netanyahu for wanting to go and strike Beirut.
The President's become very concerned of the civilian casualties, and -- as part of the Israeli strikes in Lebanon. He was going to -- he thought that the fact that Netanyahu was ready to knock down buildings in Beirut, whole buildings, just to take out one Hezbollah commander, were disproportionate.
And during the call, he even mentioned to Netanyahu, when he asked him to stand down and to not go forward with the strikes in Beirut, he told him, If it weren't for me, you would have been in prison by now, referring to Netanyahu's corruption trial and Trump's campaign to give him a pardon. And so, I think that at big parts of this call, the tones were very, very high, got heated. As you said, Trump told Netanyahu during the call, You're effing crazy with what you want to do in Lebanon.
And I think that overall, Trump realized that the war in Lebanon that Netanyahu has been escalating, over the last few days, would undermine what he is trying to do with Iran, would undermine the deal that he's trying to get--
COLLINS: Yes.
RAVID: --and he decided to shut it down.
COLLINS: I mean, but Jeff, on that front. Is it clear right now what the President is trying to do in Iran? Because he's going from, he says the talks are moving rapidly this morning. State media from Iran was saying that they had been paused. He told NBC, earlier today, that he thought the United States and Iran had been talking too much, if you want to know the truth. He said, quote, "I think going silent would be very good." I mean, an hour later, he said they were moving really quickly.
What's your sense of what's happening?
JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG: I think it's very hard to get a sense of what's happening, unfortunately, is the answer to your question, Kaitlan.
And I think there's a lot of -- a lot that is up in the air and a lot that is simply not clear, and that's in large part because he's been giving mixed messages, the President, honestly, since the start of this war, and that is consistent with the messages that he was delivering today.
Certainly, the phone call that he had with Bibi Netanyahu is in line with a couple things that I think we know: number one, that Israel is the junior partner in this, and number two, that President Trump broadly is very frustrated. He's certainly frustrated that there hasn't been a resolution of some kind when he has indicated that that's what he wants, and he's probably frustrated by a bunch of other domestic setbacks that have happened to him in the last week or so as well. COLLINS: Yes.
[21:25:00]
I mean, Barak, in that sense, you know, this comes as Iran is threatening to bomb a strait that is a very critical gateway when it comes to the Suez Canal, you know. As we were already seeing what's happening with the Strait of Hormuz. What's your sense of what's at stake here as these talks are either paused, or playing out, or both in the same day?
RAVID: So, I think what the Iranians did today is that they made clear what they've been saying for quite some time, that they want to use this deal with the U.S. for ending the war as a way to try and help their proxies in the region, and try and prevent their proxies from being totally decimated by Israel, and I think Hezbollah is the number one of those proxies. And for the Iranians, it was very important to make sure that there is a ceasefire in Lebanon.
At the same time, what the Iranians have been doing for the last two or three weeks, they've been pressing Hezbollah to escalate more and more its drone and missile attacks on Israel because, they knew that this would put a lot of domestic pressure on Netanyahu. So, it's this dual approach. On the one hand, they're pushing Hezbollah to conduct more attacks. On the other hand, they're trying to prevent Israel from going all the way and try -- in trying to decimate Hezbollah.
And I think that overall, if you -- if you sum up this day, I think what the Iranians did today was, on the one hand, protect their proxies, on the other hand, I think it is also clear that they also want this deal with the U.S., and they understood that if Lebanon continues to escalate--
COLLINS: Yes.
RAVID: --they will have to take action that will then undermine their negotiations with the U.S.
COLLINS: I mean, but as all this is playing out, Jeff, here at home, the emergency oil reserve in the United States is at its lowest that it has been since January '24. I mean, if you look at all those factors, as they're trying to put pressure, Iran is, on Netanyahu. I mean, at home there is also a lot of pressure on President Trump.
MASON: There's absolutely a lot of pressure on President Trump. He dismisses that, and he's made comments that I'm sure anyone who's making an ad for Democratic candidates going into the midterms, will probably use, about saying he doesn't care about the midterms, or he doesn't care about some of the economic hardships that the American people are facing as a result of this.
His party cares, and the people who are running for re-election, without -- on the Republican side, the benefit of his name being on the ballot this time around, care. And they are exerting that pressure, and he is almost certainly feeling it. And if he specifically isn't feeling it, then the people around him in the White House are.
COLLINS: Yes.
Jeff Mason. Barak Ravid. Excellent reporting from both of you. Thanks for being here tonight.
And speaking of what's happening in Washington. Democrats are obviously trying to retake control of the Senate in November. Right now, they found themselves grappling with another scandal that involves their candidate in Maine, Democrat Graham Platner.
My political sources will join me right after this.
[21:30:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, Democrats are sweating over a new scandal around the Maine Senate candidate, Graham Platner, who is criticizing media outlets for reporting on his alleged extramarital sexts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM PLATNER, (D) MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: It's no surprise to me that the establishment media outlets are just going to run gossip instead of wanting to talk about the things that actually matter in this race, which are the material realities that the Mainers are working with.
The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, ran stories without any evidence, besides the gossip from a former staffer. I'm sorry, that's -- that's frankly journalistic malpractice.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: That is Graham Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, who was standing right by his side as he made those comments.
It comes after The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that she had told Platner's campaign, last summer, that he had exchanged sexual text messages with multiple women, out of concern that that behavior could be a political liability for the campaign.
Now, I should note, CNN has not independently confirmed the existence of those messages. But a former campaign official that Gertner spoke to confirmed to CNN that the conversation did happen.
Amy Gertner, his wife, is also pushing back on this new reporting, though.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMY GERTNER, GRAHAM PLATNER'S WIFE: I find it really shameful that there's a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip, instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on, like health care and education and child care. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, Democrats need Graham Platner, who is a Marine veteran turned oyster farmer, to defeat the incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins, to have any shot at taking back the Senate this fall.
While his progressive politics have become a movement in Maine, his campaign has been dogged by one controversy after another, including a now-covered tattoo that resembled a Nazi symbol and divisive online posts.
My political sources are back with me.
And Van, I wonder what you make of what's playing out in Maine.
[21:35:00]
JONES: Well, look, I don't like this kind of stuff, in that, you know, there used to be a time where character mattered a lot more. But where we are now. I remember Bill Clinton, he had a bunch of scandals, and the party said, You know what? We are more concerned about ending 12 years of Republican rule in D.C., and they rallied behind Bill Clinton. I think you're going to see the same thing in Maine.
I think the problem you have now is just that the standards have dropped so low because of Trump's behavior. You got a crazy guy running for the Senate in Texas, who's been impeached and done all kind of terrible stuff. So that the standards are just falling down through the floorboards. And I don't think the Democrats are going to run away from him. But it doesn't make me very happy.
COLLINS: Alyssa, how do you see this?
FARAH GRIFFIN: I mean, my fear is it becomes a race to the bottom if it's on everything based on who has the lowest character, or if we're only looking at the example of who's in the Oval Office.
But my issue with Graham Platner, honestly, the sexts are the least of it. The Nazi tattoo, defaming Chris Kyle, a fallen Navy SEAL, trashing a Purple Heart recipient who was wounded in battle, saying he didn't deserve to live, saying that it's actually not that hard to report sexual assault in the military. This is an incredibly, incredibly flawed character. And if there's--
JONES: But other than -- other than that--
(CROSSTALK)
FARAH GRIFFIN: Other than that, he's great.
But this is somebody who's also running against a consummate moderate in Susan Collins, somebody who's represented the state for nearly 30 years, somebody who has voted with Democrats, who's voted for a number of Democratic Supreme Court justices in the Obama administration, somebody who, if you're saying, We're willing to work across the aisle, she is someone who will. So, I think if you're going to take the moral high ground against Donald Trump, and you want to maintain that, it's really hard to defend this guy.
COLLINS: Are Democrats wondering, you know, Janet Mills, come back. Who is also running against him--
JONES: Yes.
COLLINS: --and then suspended her campaign. I think she's still technically going to be on the ballot, but.
JONES: Yes, look, I think probably Senator -- I think at the end of the day, we're going to stick with this guy.
I just -- I understand what you're saying, but the reality is, the Republican Party has done literally nothing, zero, zilch, nunca, nada, nothing, as Donald Trump has run all over the place, made billions of dollars, broken every norm, you know, half the time wants to break the law, and just seems completely deranged. And Susan Collins has done nothing about it, and no Republican has done anything about it, and Democrats are going to want to replace her with somebody who will fight.
COLLINS: Well, and Graham Platner is going to be in Washington tomorrow, meeting with Democratic senators. And so, obviously we'll be watching that closely to see does he convince them, does he assuage their concerns.
JONES: Yes.
COLLINS: But you mentioned, he is not the only flawed Senate candidate that is running. Ken Paxton in Texas, obviously, who won that primary against John Cornyn, last week, was asked about his own issues, including his wife accusing him of adultery, basically. And this is what he said over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARIA BARTIROMO, FOX BUSINESS ANCHOR: Well, what are you going to do about your own -- your own record, and your own perception? The Wall Street Journal describes you as scandal-plagued.
KEN PAXTON, (R) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: Well look, that was all pushed by Karl Rove, and I understand how that works, and I get why -- why they said that. But the reality is they could say the same thing about Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I mean, I'm sure Karl Rove is like, I'm not in the Texas legislature--
FARAH GRIFFIN: It's just--
(CROSSTALK) COLLINS: --who's impeaching him. I mean, it was -- it was his own party who impeached him, obviously--
JONES: Yes.
COLLINS: --before he was acquitted, and then.
JONES: The early 2000s are calling.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Well, and he's going to try this tactic, comparing himself to Donald Trump. But I think we've seen, like, Teflon Don is one person, Donald Trump can get away with things that no other politician in history has gotten away with. It does not work nearly as well for other people.
And congratulations to this guy for potentially putting Texas into play for Democrats. I still think it's an uphill battle, but against James Talarico, who is a formidable candidate, somebody who has the best chance in 30-plus years of winning there. If it had been John Cornyn, this would look very different. But he's going to be answering questions until Election Day about his personal failings, his ethical failings, and it's going to be a sideshow and cost Republicans a ton of money that could be used in other states.
JONES: Yes, look, I mean, this guy was impeached by his own party for being a crooked and no-good guy. But I like it because--
COLLINS: And testimony from his own campaign staff, I believe.
JONES: Exactly so you know -- but Paxton is great for Democrats because nothing else -- they're going to probably spend $200 million, $300 million, to stop Talarico. Meanwhile, Talarico is showing that Democrats can be pro-faith, can be a pro-family, and excite a new generation, so.
But listen, isn't it terrible, they have to sit up here tonight and talk about these kind of terrible candidates, and they're not -- so what, look, everybody makes mistakes. I've made mistakes. So -- I make mistakes. But you want to show growth.
FARAH GRIFFIN: Yes.
JONES: You want to show that you've learned something, you can take responsibility, you've apologized.
You're not seeing that a lot, and I think that's bad.
COLLINS: Yes. Well, speaking of Senate candidates. We were hearing Jon Ossoff over the weekend, who's in Georgia, letting Republicans battle it out there to see who he's going up against.
And he mentioned something that we questioned the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about, actually last week.
[21:40:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OSSOFF: He's trying to put his face on the money. Did you see that?
(BOOING)
OSSOFF: He's building a monument to himself.
But see, Atlanta, he's doing these things now because no one will honor him when he's gone.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
OSSOFF: Because he's a failed president and a national disgrace.
(CHEERING)
(APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: I mean, wow.
JONES: I'm--
FARAH GRIFFIN: He loves--
JONES: I'm telling you, that kid looks like a winner to me, and I'm hearing a lot of buzz about him in 2028. He looks like a young Kennedy. He's tough, he's smart, he's strong, and he has that style. Did you hear about that? Did you see that? It's a great way to engage your crowd. He's got kind of Clinton campaign, I mean, sort of podium skills, which we haven't seen that for a long time in our party, certainly not from a candidate from the South. Watch this kid.
COLLINS: We'll be watching closely.
Van Jones. Alyssa Farah Griffin. Great to have both of you here tonight.
Tomorrow night, it will be Election Night in America. And right here on THE SOURCE, we'll be reporting live, as voters are making their picks in two critical California primaries, the races to be the governor of California and the next mayor of Los Angeles. You can watch that coverage right here on CNN tomorrow night, 09:00 p.m. Eastern, 06:00 p.m. Pacific for those of you on the West Coast.
Up next here tonight. The election denier, Tina Peters, was just released from prison today. Here's what she said after the State's Democratic governor commuted her sentence. We'll let you listen to that right after this. With my congressional source who is running to replace that governor, joining me right after this.
[21:45:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, Trump ally Tina Peters is now free. Just weeks ago, Peters had claimed remorse for conspiring with fellow election deniers in a scheme to breach her county's voting systems, as she hoped to prove the President's baseless claims about voter fraud.
But shortly after she left prison today, she said this, in some of her first comments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETERS: I see these -- these elections that are taking place in real time: you know, the Mamdanis, the -- the, you know, the Virginia governor--
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Spanberger.
PETERS: --Spanberger and, you know, and then what's going on in California and Texas and Maine, you know, just all over the country, and I know that -- I know that the Democrats are going to cheat. And no one's really addressing the problem that -- that I spent my time in prison as retribution for, and that was exposing the election machines that allow the votes to be flipped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Tina Peters is the former Mesa County election clerk who served about a year and eight months in prison.
She was originally sentenced to nearly nine years, but that was reduced last month by the state's Democratic governor, Jared Polis. He defended doing so here on THE SOURCE in an interview with us. But the fury that came from officials in his state, from both parties, led to the state's Democratic Party to censure him for that move.
My source tonight is running to replace Governor Polis as the next Governor of Colorado, Democratic Senator Michael Bennet.
And thank you, Senator, for being here.
You heard Tina Peters there. She says Democrats are trying to cheat in the midterms. What do you make of those being her first comments after she got out of prison today?
SEN. MICHAEL BENNET (D-CO): I mean, Kaitlan, she's obviously totally unrepentant, and she didn't use the 19 months that she was in prison to learn anything about our election system.
Colorado's election system, which she manipulated, is the gold standard in the country, and we're very proud of it, I think for good reason. And she's continuing to prosecute the same lies about our elections today, the first day that she got out of prison, that she did when she went to prison, and when she was convicted by a jury of her peers.
COLLINS: You know, when we spoke to the Governor about this, he said that the sentence was too harsh, that was why he took this step. He continues to defend it.
He said, she might continue to make false claims about elections, elections that I believe are false. She may continue promoting ideas that I strongly disagree with. But, he said, I hope she doesn't. But in America, people are not sent to prison for expressing political views, however misguided those views may be, and the punishment should fit the offense, no more and no less.
Is he wrong in your view?
BENNET: Well, I don't think that she was sent to prison for her views. She was sent to prison for breaking into the clerks -- breaking into the voting machines in Mesa County, Colorado, and manipulating them with a -- with a colleague of the -- of the -- of the MyPillow Guy. I mean, that is what she did, and she was convicted of four felonies as a result of that. She destroyed the voting machines there. The county had to pay for incredibly expensive ones to replace the ones that she destroyed.
[21:50:00]
So, I think it's very unfortunate that she only served 19 months of her sentence. I can think of a lot of people in prisons in America that have had unlucky breaks and have ended up serving very -- much longer sentences than Tina Peters has served, and maybe we should be taking a look at the mass incarceration in the United States instead of worrying so much about Tina Peters.
COLLINS: Well, I mean, speaking of this, this is something that the Vice President was talking about when we were asking him about the new fund that the DOJ has created, which a lot of people in your party are calling a slush fund, and he actually suggested that Tina Peters could potentially get paid out from the new Anti-Weaponization Fund.
Listen to what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JD VANCE (R), U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Tina Peters is this woman who is about to get out of prison, thanks, in large part, to the President's good work in Colorado.
This is a woman who, at worst, if you believe everything that the prosecutors said about her, committed misdemeanor trespassing. And somebody threw the book at her, this innocent grandmother was going to spend 10 years in prison, completely disproportionate to any misdemeanor trespassing that I've ever seen.
Was that fair? No. Is it reasonable for her to get some compensation for the fact that she was treated unfairly? I think the answer is yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Do you find that reasonable?
BENNET: No, I find that ridiculous. That is a ridiculous statement by the Vice President of the United States. But it's ridiculous that they think they could set up a slush fund of $1.8 billion to pay off the President's cronies, just like it's ridiculous for the President to be enriching himself in office with crypto, and it's ridiculous for him to have started a war in Iran that the American people are now paying dearly for at the pump.
And I think -- I'm with Van Jones, by the way. I heard a little bit of what he said earlier. I think that this president has set such an unbelievably low standard of conduct that it's critically important for us to remind our kids and our grandkids that this is not the expectation that the American people should have for the conduct by our president, the conduct by a president's supporters.
And I think that's one of the unfortunate things about Tina Peters' release is that it sort of confirms, in some way, the election denial that President Trump has been perpetrating all these years.
COLLINS: You know, one thing I was talking to Van about is what's happening with Democrats and the race to take control of the Senate. Graham Platner is supposed to come to the Hill tomorrow to meet with some Democratic senators. Are you -- do you plan to be one of them?
BENNET: I'm not meeting with him there. As you mentioned, Kaitlan, I'm running for governor of Colorado right now.
But I think that it's really important for us to have a standard of public behavior for our elected officials. I know, there are a lot of elected officials that don't meet that standard, but that shouldn't mean that our aspiration should be a low one. We should have a high one for our elected leaders, no matter what party they're in.
And I really believe that the President had a terrible week, Kaitlan, a terrible week. I mean, he's had the Republicans finally pushing back on his slush fund. He lost a court case that Judge Jackson rendered here in Colorado on NCAR, the atmospheric research operation that Donald Trump shut down. Judge Cooper in D.C., this weekend, told Donald Trump he had to take his name off the -- off the Kennedy Center.
I mean that's a bad few days for Donald Trump, and in his insanely -- and his insane approach to governing in this country, and I think the American people are growing incredibly weary of his leadership, and he will pay a very heavy price in the midterms.
And if the Democrats win, we need to make sure the American people understand that we're actually fighting to make their lives better, not just responding to our own social media feeds, which I think is one of the reasons why we've all found ourselves with the mess that is on our hands right now.
COLLINS: Yes. I mean, you obviously don't think the President meets that high standard that you're talking about. Does Graham Platner meet that high standard, in your view?
BENNET: Well, I definitely don't think the President meets that standard. He's proven since the day that he was elected to office that he doesn't meet that standard. I think Graham--
COLLINS: But what about Graham Platner?
BENNET: I think -- I think that's a fair question. That is what the election in Maine is going to partly be about, and he's going to have to withstand the scrutiny of the people of Maine. That's what our elections are all about.
COLLINS: What's your view?
BENNET: I'm busy running for governor of Colorado because, I think we're living at a moment where my -- the families in this state are getting crushed by the costs that they're having to endure, that's making it impossible for them to live middle-class lives.
[21:55:00]
And I think that's important too, Kaitlan because, our political system, our democracy does not work well, when people have lost a sense that if they work hard they can get ahead. The cost of housing, health care, child care--
COLLINS: Yes.
BENNET: --being what it is, it is -- it is obviously not just an issue in Colorado, and President Trump has made matters much worse with the gas prices going up, and with his tariffs.
COLLINS: Yes.
BENNET: But we've got to address those issues. You know, Democrats and Republicans--
COLLINS: Yes. Senator--
BENNET: --have to address those issues.
COLLINS: Thank you so much, Senator Michael Bennet. Really appreciate your time tonight.
BENNET: Thank you.
COLLINS: And coming up, who President Trump just endorsed in New Jersey, and why that endorsement stands out for what he said.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:00:00]
COLLINS: Just in tonight. President Trump has endorsed New Jersey's Republican Congressman Tom Kean for re-election in tomorrow's primary. He posted on Truth Social, a few moments ago, that Kean is working tirelessly, his words, on a number of MAGA issues.
But here's the thing that stands out about this endorsement. The Congressman actually has not been seen in Washington for months now. Republicans have been navigating their razor-thin majority without him, since early March, after Kean and his team said, in late April, that he has been a dealing with a, quote, Personal medical issue. They did not say what it is. Just that he would be back, quote, Very soon.
Thanks so much for joining us tonight.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts now.
