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State of the Union

Interview With Fmr. Rep. George Santos (R-NY); Interview With Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin; Interview With Sen. Katie Britt (R-AL). Aired 9-10a ET

Aired October 19, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

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(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST (voice-over): Blind justice? Trump says he's the law and order president, as he targets blue states, cracks down on political opponents...

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In theory, the chief law enforcement officer.

BASH: ... and frees a controversial ally from prison. Is the president tipping the scales? George Santos joins me live next.

Plus: No Kings. Huge crowds take to the streets to protest the Trump administration.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): We don't want you or any other king to rule us.

BASH: And yet Democrats are on edge about elections in two weeks. What gives? The man running the Democratic Party, Ken Martin, plus our political panel ahead.

And unchartered waters. The Trump administration will send back two suspected drug traffickers after they survived a U.S. attack on the open seas. But would the president's string of attacks stand up in court? Trump ally Republican Senator Katie Britt is next.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Hello. I'm Dana Bash in Washington, where the state of our union is wondering how what we see on the streets will play out at the ballot box.

In cities and towns across the U.S. this weekend, huge crowds turned out for -- quote -- "No Kings" rallies against President Trump's administration, with organizers calling it one of the largest single- day nationwide demonstrations in U.S. history, as Americans protested what they see as Trump's increasingly authoritarian actions. Despite the growing backlash, Trump seems more emboldened to bend the federal government to his will and move against his enemies and in favor of his allies. Over the weekend, the president freed former Republican Congressman George Santos from jail after he served just three months of a seven-year sentence for fraud.

Congressman Santos will be joining us in moments.

But, first, here with me now is Republican Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, an ally of President Trump.

Senator Britt, thank you so much for joining me this morning.

I do want to start with the news about Congressman Santos. He did plead guilty to defrauding his donors and constituents of hundreds of thousands of dollars, money he will no longer be required to pay back because of this commutation. Is this acceptable to you?

SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): Look, I will let Congressman Santos speak for himself when he comes on your program next.

What I appreciate is President Trump's commitment to the American people. Look, we saw obviously disarray under President Biden, and President Trump is actually making good on his promises to secure our border, to actually make sure that our economy starts working for American people.

And we're also seeing him bring peace abroad. So I'm focused on the things that President Trump is focused on, and that is making sure that the government gets back up and running, and I certainly look forward to making that happen soon.

BASH: I do want to talk to you about all of those things, but real quick, no opinion on the commutation?

BRITT: Well, I -- you -- look, President Trump has the opportunity and the ability to do this.

I find it interesting, though, that we see more people focused on him, on Congressman Santos, than we did on the -- on Abrego Garcia, who actually, as we well know, trafficked humans across our country, and then has been accused of everything from beating his wife to being a member of a gang.

And yet we see Democrats focused on this man. And so I think people need to go into focus about what really matters, and I think obviously getting criminal legal aliens out of America is something we should all be able to get behind.

BASH: And Abrego Garcia is going through the legal process now. Santos did go through that and pleaded guilty, and that's why he was in jail.

(CROSSTALK)

BRITT: Well, I certainly hope that him and others are held accountable.

BASH: OK, let's talk about the government shutdown.

In many states, people are beginning to see how much their health costs will rise if the expanded Obamacare subsidies expire. That's, of course, what Democrats have been warning about; 130,000 of your constituents in Alabama could lose their coverage.

And your leader, the Senate majority leader, John Thune, says he is willing to hold a vote to extend those subsidies if the government reopens. Would you vote to extend the subsidies?

[09:05:04]

BRITT: Look, first off, let's let's be honest about this.

Democrats are playing politics. They are pandering to the far left because they're actually terrified of them. They're not working for the American people. Leader Thune has put a clean C.R. that has passed the House on the floor.

This is something that Democrats voted for 13 times under President Biden to give us an opportunity to continue to do our work, the actual appropriations process, which you hear no Democrats talking about. When it comes to the ACA subsidies and these COVID -- these COVID era subsidies, look, you didn't hear them talking about that until days before they put it -- until the government was needed to be funded.

And the bottom line on this is, when you look at the costs that are coming up in 2026, the vast majority of the cost that the American people are going to see, 80 percent of the raise in prices that they will see in Obamacare has to do with a fundamentally flawed program, Dana.

Look, from the very beginning, Obamacare was never affordable. You even saw "The Washington Post" say the Affordable Care Act was never affordable. So, coming in, in 2010, they put in subsidies in 2014, then put them in again in COVID in 2021.

BASH: Yes. So...

BRITT: And these subsidies that they are fighting for allow millionaires to be able to take advantage of them.

BASH: So, that's about reform.

BRITT: So you have people that have reached out. Wait. Wait. Hold on one second, Dana.

You have people who have reached out to our office who have maybe two homes in different places, and they are getting these subsidies. The fact that Democrats are going to the mat so millionaires can get additional money from the government is absolutely mind-boggling.

This program is wrought with fraud. It is absolutely -- it has no income cap. So I want you to ask Democrats if they believe in that. If you were to extend these just as they are now, you're continuing to waste money, basically put it up in flames. And we need to make sure, just like we did with the working families tax cuts, that the people who actually need these things, Dana, can get them.

BASH: OK.

BRITT: And Democrats once again could care less about how much we spend. And they just want to try to find a political edge, and they don't have it on this one.

BASH: Senator, I hear you saying that there needs to be reform, which I understand.

In the short term, though, the question is whether or not you would approve -- you would -- because you might have an up-or-down vote on this -- a one-year extension for the premiums as they are. Would you vote yes or no?

BRITT: Well, what I want to vote is to open the government, which I have done a number of times. I have said that I'm absolutely open to having conversation, but we're not going to extend a program that is wrought with fraud, waste and abuse.

There would have to be adjustments to this program to make it make sense for the American people. Look, we are spending out of oblivion, and the Democrats don't seem to focus on how do we make these things actually work.

Our health care system is broken, the system that they put in place, and I remind you this is their program, Affordable Care Act. These are their subsidies, and they set the date for their expiration. And now the Democrats want us to dig them out of a hole.

BASH: Yes.

BRITT: What we want to do is make sure that the American people work and -- look, and people get paychecks.

Dana, this weekend, I had people come up to me and say two things.

BASH: Senator...

BRITT: One, I'm not getting a paycheck and I can't afford my mortgage. And, two, they said their small businesses were about to close.

BASH: Senator, I just want to jump in because...

BRITT: We need to be focused on opening the government.

BASH: Right.

And so your fellow Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville said "Allowing the credits to expire would hurt my state." Do you agree with him?

BRITT: Look, I think there can be reforms to these credits, but ultimately we're going to need a total overhaul.

So I am absolutely willing to have a conversation, but we have got to open the government first, Dana. And I hope you call them out on this. They are holding the American people hostage for their own political gain. These things happen January 1. We have plenty of time to have these conversations, and I think that we will.

BASH: Right. Well, yes, and just I want to move on, but what the Democrats have said, because I have interviewed lots of them about this very topic, is that they tried to have conversations before this crisis and that Republicans wouldn't engage.

BRITT: Yes.

BASH: The other thing I do want to point out is that health insurance companies are setting their rates now.

I do want to talk about IVF...

BRITT: OK.

BASH: ... because you were a major driver behind President Trump's announcement this week of plans to lower the cost of intravenous -- in vitro, rather, fertilization and make the process more accessible to Americans.

Now, he didn't go as far as he promised during the campaign, which would be free universal IVF coverage and require insurance companies to cover it. Is that still the goal?

BRITT: Look, President Trump is the most pro-IVF president that we have had.

From the very first conversation that I had with him, Dana, which he mentioned obviously in the Oval Office, where we talked about this issue, he has been a strong, unwavering supporter. He understands that families all across our country are hopeful that they can either start or expand their family.

[09:10:04]

And this for so many Americans gives them the opportunity for that. Look, one in eight families actually experience infertility. We know 9 percent of men and 11 percent of women are some -- this is a challenge in front of them.

And we know that the affordability of it puts it out of reach for so many people. So, as he processes this, he is beginning to make strides in this that no other president has made. And I am so grateful for his leadership on this.

Look, on Friday night, I ran into a friend of mine who literally told me her story, Dana, about that she was unable to -- the affordability here in the United States was too great. So she had to seek treatment elsewhere so that she could begin the dream of actually starting her family. And then I got to see a child this week and celebrate their birthday.

And knowing that these families wouldn't be here but for IVF or these people wouldn't have hope like they do because of what President Trump has done, he's made significant strides in this. And I think he will obviously continue to lead, be the most pro-family, pro-parent president that we have ever had. And it's an honor to be a part of it.

BASH: Senator Katie Britt of Alabama, thank you so much for being here this morning. Appreciate it.

BRITT: Hey, thank you. I appreciate it.

BASH: And President Trump commuted the sentence of George Santos. George Santos is here and will join me live next.

Plus: Why are Democrats looking over their shoulder in deep blue states? Well, tough questions for the Democratic Party chair about that ahead.

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[09:15:43]

BASH: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.

President Trump surprised a lot of people on Friday when he commuted the sentence of former Congressman George Santos. Santos was three months into a seven-year sentence for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Here with me now is former Congressman George Santos.

Thank you so much for being here.

First, tell us about the conversation that you had with President Trump after he commuted your sentence.

FMR. REP. GEORGE SANTOS (R-NY): Thank you for having me, Dana.

So, look, as far as having the conversation and its nature, I will just leave it at the president was very kind. And it was a humbling experience to have the privilege of speaking to a sitting president of the United States.

Where I come from, that's just not something that happens. It's not normal for my family and I, so I will leave the contents of the conversation private.

BASH: It's also not normal for a president to commute the sentence of somebody like you who pled guilty to the crimes that you did. So, were you surprised that this happened? Did you expect the commutation?

SANTOS: I had no expectations. I wasn't even aware until I learned it off of the Chyron of mainstream media inside of the prison myself.

I had just been released from segregated isolation after 41 days for absolute no valid reason other than a retaliatory warden. I learned it from the TV.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Yes, I just -- I mean, that's incredible.

You were standing in prison. You looked up at television, and that's where you saw that your sentence was commuted?

SANTOS: More like -- I didn't see it. Other inmates saw it and called me over to see it. I was not in the room at the time, and then I made my way to see it. I called my family and they told me it had happened, but I was not aware. It was a surprise.

BASH: I want to just read to you something that your fellow New York Republican the Congressman Nick LaLota tweeted after he saw that your sentence was commuted.

He said: "George Santos didn't merely lie. He stole millions, defrauded an election, and his crimes, for which he pled guilty, warrant more than a three-month sentence. He should devote the rest of his life to demonstrating remorse and making restitution to those he wronged."

Another New York Republican, Congressman Andrew Garbarino, who is part of the Ethics Committee -- at least he was when they were investigating you -- said, your victims haven't been made whole and that -- quote -- "He has shown no remorse. The less than three months that he spent in prison is not justice."

What's your response?

SANTOS: Look, they're entitled to their opinion. I'm not -- look, Dana, this isn't about tit for tat. It's not about revenge. It's not about retribution. It's obvious they are my critics and they have the right to do that. And they have the right to say whatever they're saying.

I'm not going to sit here and go on my former Colleagues LaLota and Garbarino. It's just -- that's not what it's about. For me, I'm looking at this very simply, Dana. I'm going to look to the future. I have learned a great deal and a very large slice of humble pie, if not the entire pie, for the experience I had at FCI Fairton under the care of Warden Kelly.

But I will say that this isn't about that. I don't want to rehash and go into these things. Life is too short. I have been granted a second chance. I have made a very concise decision to apply that for good and use that to make amends with my community, with my friends, with my family and those who I have left a sour taste in their mouth and hopefully one day get my critics to at least appreciate that I have turned around and done better with my life.

This isn't about glitter stars and glam or going back to Congress. So it's really not. This is a very personal journey and road for me ahead. It is not going to be easy. It is -- I am still a felon. I still wear the scorn of my poor choices and my poor decisions. And I have to fight that myself. Now, if you want to talk about my sentence, look, I argue there were three plaintiffs -- I'm sorry -- there were three defendants in my case, myself, my treasurer and a former staffer. My treasurer gets a three-year probation sentence, which is appropriate for a first-time nonviolent white-collar crime.

[09:20:19]

I get a seven-year disproportionate sentence that is anything but political if you talk to anybody who really looks at these kind of cases. And then you look at my staffer who's still sitting in FCI Fairton, which -- Sam Miele, unfairly.

So you really need to take this and see what's equitable here. So I still think for it to be equitable, Sam Miele should have a commutation afforded to him. And I think that probation would have been the appropriate sentence from the get, restitution, probation.

And, now, I don't make those decisions. I'm very grateful to President Trump, Dana, and I sit here quite literally. I don't know how much more humbled I can get before people believe I'm humble or remorseful, but I can just do the best in my actions moving forward.

BASH: You were ordered to -- by the court to pay $370,000 in restitution to the people you defrauded. Will you still pay that back?

SANTOS: Well, if you really say the people, I just want to be clear with your audience so that we're not misleading them; 85 percent of that really goes into the investment made into my campaign for polling and TV ads and literature by the National Republican Congressional Committee.

The investment was made to win a race. I won that race. There was no fraud there. This is a case. We argued with the prosecution, but they needed to inflate the numbers in order to make it a more appealing case for them in federal court, instead of just going after the mishandling of finances, which, by the way, most members of Congress currently who are still serving in both parties who ever have had issues with FEC filings, they pay fines.

Nobody actually goes to prison. So it's inequitable in its nature.

BASH: Well, this is about fine. This is about paying money back. And whether you have described them as victims or just donors to the NRCC, what the court said is that they should get their money back. Will you work to try to do that?

SANTOS: Well, look, I can do my best to do whatever the law requires of me. So I don't know what that is. I have been out of prison for two days. I agreed to come here to speak with you candidly and openly and not to obfuscate.

If it's required of me by the law, yes. If it's not, then no. I will do whatever the law requires me to do.

BASH: You have said now a couple of times that you feel remorse and you are humbled. What will that look like in actual terms and the way that you live your life?

SANTOS: You know, I learned a lot. I met a lot of interesting people. Prison is a place where everything -- it's the great equalizer, quite literally.

It doesn't matter. I was incarcerated with a billionaire. And I was incarcerated with people who were homeless. And it's a great equalizer and it's very sobering. And you hear the stories and we're just human beings. We go through different walks of life and we have trouble.

And the reality really comes down to, how can I help rehabilitate people? How can I be a voice of helping change a system that needs desperate changing to help rehabilitation? Prison is not rehabilitating anybody. It's actually creating recidivism because it's not doing what it's supposed to do.

I'd love it -- I told this to the president, that I'd love to be involved with prison reform, and not in a partisan way, in a real human ways, in a way that we effect it, that it helps society, it helps these individuals rebuild their lives and we have a better system with less incarcerated people. America today has 250,000 federal inmates approximately.

And I think it would be much nicer to look at reducing that number. And if I can be a part of helping that, I think that would be a great road to follow in the future.

BASH: When he announced your commutation, President Trump praised you for having -- quote -- "the courage, conviction and intelligence to always vote Republican."

There are a lot of people who are really unhappy about your commutation because they see it as President Trump giving favorable treatment to you because you're a loyal ally of his.

SANTOS: You know what? I say this and I hate that we have to go down this road. And then there's a lot of people who were upset with President Biden, who pardoned his entire family before he left office in an unprecedented move.

So pardon me if I'm not paying too much attention to the pearl- clutching of the outrage of my critics and of the people predominantly on the left who are going to go out there and try to make a big deal out of something like this.

It is known that presidents have the power of the pardon and the clemency, which are plenary and they're extended at their will. President Biden pardoned his son after he said he wouldn't. I didn't see outrage. I mean, some of your colleagues, to their credit...

[09:25:10]

BASH: There was some outrage.

SANTOS: There was some outrage because there was a lot of people literally licking their wounds because they had said, you see, he's magnanimous and he's not going to do it. He's all about the right thing. So he lied.

So I'm not going to debate this, but I'm going to say, look, there's always going to be critics. People are going to like me. People are going to hate me. It doesn't matter whoever gets clemency in the future, whoever that person might be. I'm pretty confident if President Trump had pardoned Jesus Christ off the cross, he would have had critics.

So that's just the reality of our country.

BASH: All right, I'm going to skip over that analogy and just ask you, lastly, before I let you go, some of the critics I was talking about, as you know, and I gave you some quotes, are your fellow Republicans.

Before there was a conviction, you were kicked out of Congress in a pretty big bipartisan vote. What is your message to your former colleagues now that you are out of prison and you are talking about being humble and having remorse?

SANTOS: Let's work for the people. I understand. I was in a chaotic ball of flame two years ago. I was my own worst enemy. And I'm sorry. I'm sorry to the American people. I'm sorry to the people of the Third Congressional District of New York. I'm sorry to the leadership of the Republican Party who invested their time in me, my chairman in Nassau County, my former chairman in Suffolk County, my chairman in Queens County, my chairman in New York state, along with the voters.

I'm sorry. I genuinely am sorry. And to my colleagues who I forced their hands, quite literally, with my own doing, I'm sorry I put you through that. And I do hope that you all continue to work and continue to deliver for the American people, because, at the end of the day, this country is worth fighting. It doesn't matter if you go from the left or from the right.

Let's just try to meet in the middle, find out common ground, and let's just deliver a great America full of prosperity for everyone in this country.

BASH: Any future runs right now?

SANTOS: Not -- I'm 37 years old. I can tell you this, not that I can see of in the next decade. I am -- I'm all politicked out.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: George Santos, thank you for agreeing to come on. I know that you have quite literally been out of jail only, like, less than 48 hours. So, appreciate it. Appreciate your time and your candor.

SANTOS: I appreciate you. Thank you very much for having me.

BASH: Up next: Frustration with President Trump spills over as millions take to the streets across the U.S. The question is, why can't Democrats seem to harness that energy, or will they?

We're going to talk about that with the chair of the Democratic Party next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:31:53]

BASH: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.

New Jersey isn't typically a battleground state, but a 10-point swing to the right last year has Democrats worried that could change. Now, with just two weeks until the critical governors election there, polls show a too-close-for-comfort race for Democrats and a question of whether Republicans could pull off an upset.

Well, here with me now from the Garden State is Democratic Party chair Ken Martin.

Thank you so much for being here.

You're trying to sound the alarm bells. You did so in an interview this past week about New Jersey and that Democrats are vulnerable in that state. So the question is, what are you seeing there on the ground and why are you concerned?

KEN MARTIN, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: Well, look, Mikie Sherrill has run a terrific campaign and she is going to win. There's great energy. I have been all throughout the state over these last two days and I can tell you she's running the type of campaign that's actually resonating with voters.

At a time when people are worried about affordability, at a time when people are worried about rising costs and how they're going to actually live their lives, Mikie Sherrill is talking directly to those concerns, as Jack Ciattarelli, her opponent, is actually giving Donald Trump an A grading and fully embracing a guy who's just cost the state 100,000 jobs by taking money away from the Gateway Tunnel.

This guy Jack Ciattarelli has shown no interest in actually standing up for New Jerseyans. All he's doing is bending a knee and kissing Donald Trump's ring.

BASH: The Democratic Party, I don't need to tell you, has been struggling with fund-raising and CNN reported that you privately promised over the summer that the DNC would spend more money in New Jersey than four years ago. Are you doing that?

MARTIN: We are doing that. We have made historic investments here much earlier than ever before. This is the biggest investment we have ever made in New Jersey and in Virginia, much earlier than ever before, as I said. We're on the ground. We're helping these campaigns here up and down the ballot, not just Mikie's campaign.

I was out door-knocking with two legislative candidates yesterday in Burlington County, and I will tell you again there's great energy. And fund-raising is not going as poorly as you would suggest. We have raised a record amount of money in the first eight months of the year, a historic amount of money. And most of what's driving that, Dana, is grassroots donations, the donations from the $5-, $10-, $15-a-month donor who are energized, who are excited to support what we're doing. And I have been really buoyed by that. So, look, we're taking that money and we're spending it. We have seen a record overperformance now, Dana, in the 45 elections that have been on the ballot since Donald Trump was inaugurated.

We have overperformed to the tune of about 16 percentage points on average, which is historic, which means there's wind at our back. And, as a result, we're winning elections up and down the ballot. I mean, we just won a state Senate seat in Pennsylvania, a plus-23 percent Trump district that had not elected a Democrat since the 1880s.

We defeated the longest serving Republican mayor in the country in Omaha, Nebraska. We won that Iowa state Senate seat to break the Republican supermajority. So I say all this, right? Democrats, if you're listening, don't hang your head. Wind is at our back.

[09:35:06]

We have got the wind at our back. We have got great candidates like Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, who are running terrific campaigns and we've got two weeks left to get the job done.

BASH: Let's talk about the battle for control of the Senate and start with Maine.

An oyster farmer, Graham Platner, has captured a lot of early enthusiasm. He got an endorsement from people like Senator Bernie Sanders. CNN found deleted social media postings from about five years ago where Platner called himself a communist, said rural white Americans -- quote -- "actually are racist and stupid."

Platner is also apologizing for posts in 2013 minimizing sexual assault. Now, he does say at that time he was suffering from untreated PTSD from his combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As the party chair, do you think that those comments are disqualifying?

MARTIN: I don't think they're disqualifying, but certainly they're not right. And I'm glad that he apologized for them. They're indefensible, they're hurtful, and they're offensive.

The question, though, is I believe in second chances. I believe a lot of people say things at their most vulnerable times. They say things when they're young that again are offensive. And the question for me is whether or not they actually learn from them, whether or not they actually reflect on those, that they're sincere in their apology, and more importantly that they have changed their behavior.

And as I have listened to Graham Platner, I absolutely believe in his contrition here. I believe that he acknowledges that the words he used were harmful and offensive to so many people throughout this country. You know, again, people deserve second chances. People deserve to evolve. People deserve to -- a chance to change their character. And what I have seen from Graham Platner certainly suggests that

that's what has happened here.

BASH: In 2024, the Democratic base was trying to tell the party that Joe Biden, who was an aging candidate, was a bad idea. Now, in Maine, there is a Democrat running against Platner, the governor, Janet Mills. She announced her Senate bid. She would be 79 when sworn in.

In Massachusetts, Senator Ed Markey is already 79, running for reelection. He now has a challenger in that primary. Is your party missing the big takeaway or one of the big takeaways from the 2024 election?

MARTIN: Look, Dana, as I have always said, it's up to the primary voters in all these states to decide who they think will be the best candidate to represent us as we take on Republicans in each of those states.

My job as a DNC chair is to build the infrastructure we need to win and then, once those voters actually decide who our nominee is, to actually fight like hell to make sure that they win against Republicans. That's where my focus is. We're not going to put the thumb on the scale for anyone.

If other folks want to do that, that's their prerogative. But the DNC is going to stay out of primaries, let those primaries happen, and then once the primary voters send us our nominee, we're going to fight like hell for them. That's how I have always led, both in Minnesota and certainly over the last 8.5 months that I have been DNC chair.

I will support our Democratic nominee, whoever that is. And, in the meantime, we stay out of those and let the voters decide.

BASH: Ken Martin, chairman of the national Democratic Party, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.

MARTIN: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: And George Santos just told me, even if President Trump pardoned Jesus Christ, people would be unhappy. My panel will be here to weigh in on that and more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:43:08]

BASH: Welcome back.

George Santos is out of prison thanks to President Trump, and he told me that he is a changed man.

My panel is back here, including Congresswoman Malliotakis, who is a New York Republican, as he is.

You were not happy about the commutation. What did you make of what he told me? REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY): Well, look, I will give him the

benefit of the doubt, and I hope he is a changed person who's going to focus on -- his second chance on doing good.

I do not believe -- I do not agree with the commutation. I think it was a wrong decision, primarily because this is somebody who stole millions of dollars from his donors. He defrauded the public and his voters.

With that said, I did think that a seven-year sentence was harsh. I think that there are people in this country that go to jail for less time for manslaughter, but I do believe that 90 days was not sufficient. So while I disagree with him, I wish him well. I hope he does good, and I hope he sticks to his word that he's a renewed person.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, this is a story about a con man, a liar, a grifter, somebody, a felon, disgraced his high office, and also about George Santos.

Donald Trump's a felon. He rewards his cronies and his buddies. This is a two-tiered system that Mr. Trump is giving us. If you're a pal -- he said it. Trump said it. He said, well, he votes Republican. Therefore, I'm going to pardon him.

By the way, he's -- that offends his victims. He hasn't paid restitution. Even beyond that, this is his two-tiered way of governing. If you're his buddy and some hedge fund, he sends $20 billion of my money to Argentina to bail out Argentine farmers who are putting American farmers out of business.

It's a two-tiered system that Trump is giving us. This is really not what the Republicans need, I have to say right now. I'm glad Mr. Santos was on television because it's very good for the Democrats if that's the image of the Republican Party. It's favoritism for cronies.

[09:45:00]

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: You know, I believe in forgiveness. I believe everybody's entitled to forgiveness. I hope he uses his second chance well, as he said.

And I also hope he disappears. I hope this was his last television interview this morning, because he doesn't advance the Republican cause by making this about himself. I also hope he pays restitution to his donors, and he minimized that today I think in the interview.

I was disappointed to hear him say he didn't think the political donors were defrauded. In fact, the Republican Party did help him get that seat. And he -- those donors, in fact, invested in him to expect he would follow the law.

BASH: I want to change topics to something that happened this week, which is the U.S. military striking another boat from Venezuela.

Two people survived, and they were repatriated. This is the sixth known attack.

FAIZ SHAKIR, FOUNDER, MORE PERFECT UNION: All extrajudicial. There's been no due process. You have got these attacks going on. Now, obviously, he's inflaming a situation, President Trump is, in Venezuela.

There could be an easy solution to this. Why wouldn't you have U.S. Naval vessels just apprehend these boats and say, hey, look, look at the drugs that we found? Why would you attack them, blow them up, have no argument to the American public about why you're doing it, and create what is happening with Maduro, more power in his hands?

He's now asserting national security powers to say, hey, we're at war with Donald Trump. We're in a metastasizing conflict, completely unnecessarily because Donald Trump likes to express that, hey, I'm in charge. I can blow this up. It would not be too hard to say to an American -- could you imagine if somebody, another country, said, hey, we're just going to blow up some vessels right off the coast of America without any due process? How would we feel about that?

MALLIOTAKIS: We're at war with these drug cartels. These are terrorists who have killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. I think the president is doing something right here.

I think that these terrorists, these drug cartels have been funding the Maduro regime. The oppression that you're seeing in that country, the human rights violations, it is egregious. And we need to start paying more attention to our neighbors, to our neighboring countries to the south, instead of looking east all the time and west all the time.

I think that's the other reason why he is working to advance the relationship with Argentina, just like he is with El Salvador, with Paraguay, with like-minded countries, that we need to be more strategic and involved in Central and South America, because communist China is there, Russia is there, our adversaries are there, and they're spreading Marxism all across the region.

BASH: As a member of Congress, do you want to see evidence that these actually are boats with drug runners on them?

MALLIOTAKIS: Well, I take the president at his word. If I wanted a classified briefing, we could get that information for sure.

But I -- we know what's going on. We know that these are drug cartels that are transporting into our country the most lethal drugs, again, responsible for killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, and it has to be stopped.

BEGALA: Why repatriate them then? If these -- you're shooting a bee with a shotgun, OK? And we want to find a hive. If you really want to go to war with cartels, and I think it's a great idea, you trace those drug dealers back to the source. You don't send them home.

You send -- by the way, we have a Coast Guard. OK, they have a $14.5 billion budget. They have got 44,000 folks in uniforms. They have got 250 ships. They have got 200 aircraft. We interdict, and then we investigate and we prosecute. Those cartels are sitting pretty wherever they are, and probably Caracas.

OK,so we blow a couple of schmucks out of water and think we have done something? No. We have a Constitution and we have a Coast Guard, and the president is actually in charge of the Coast Guard. He ought to be faithfully following the Constitution.

MALLIOTAKIS: Hey, look, the president actually has done an amazing job deporting the drug traffickers that have been in our country wreaking havoc on our streets.

These are the very individuals that many of the Democrats are actually upset that the president is taking executive action, going into cities to deport these criminals that have, again, destroyed New York City, 16,000 crimes traced back to the migrant shelters in New York City, 4,000 criminals.

And guess what? We don't hear those stories anymore since President Trump got involved. And the same thing here. Those drug traffickers that he is reaching here in the United States, that's how he's getting this information about these ships, I'm sure.

BASH: I want to turn to the No Kings protests that we saw all over the country yesterday. A lot of people came out.

SHAKIR: Millions.

BASH: Millions. I mean, that's -- they say seven million. The question is, how will or will that energy translate to the ballot box?

SHAKIR: Well, we all see the majority of America is upset with the direction of Donald Trump. That's been clear. And I think the opportunity now is for Democrats to own that, while you are upset with the direction that Trump is offering, here's an alternative agenda to support.

And I think the fight over health care is providing that opportunity to Democrats because the cost of living, as Ken Martin was talking about, affordability issues are front of mind. And so here you have an opportunity for Democrats to reclaim, hey, we're not just opposing Donald Trump. We're also going to help reduce your health care costs if you put us in power.

[09:50:04]

He's claiming -- he being Trump, doing nothing about it. He doesn't want to solve this problem. And this provides a clear contrast. I'm glad that this is one issue. Obviously, we could go into grocery prices, electricity rates, all these things going up because of Trump policies.

TODD: You know, I don't think that this is going to have any impact on the elections in the general election next fall.

I mean, a bunch of hippies carrying NPR tote bags down the street is not going to persuade swing voters. But it will change Democratic primaries. We saw that in 2010 in the Republican Party with the Tea Party. The biggest influence it had was it caused a lot of upheaval in the Republican primaries.

I would say the Democrats may be are in for a chai party. And you see that may be playing out in Maine in the race you talked about earlier.

SHAKIR: Chai's good. Yes, there you go, delicious.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: I do...

BEGALA: After that Tea Party, the Democrats pooh-poohed them. They said, oh, they're all a bunch of redneck toothless racists. Guess what? They won 63 seats in the next midterm.

Republicans came out and they said, people who go to these rallies are Hamas. Good God. I'm not a rally guy. I'm not a protest guy. I went. You know who I saw? Barbara Comstock, a Republican member of Congress, out there protesting Donald Trump.

I saw -- I didn't see Antifa. I saw a lot of Aunt Ediths. I saw a lot of really nice veterans, cops, firefighters, small business people. And when your party attacks those folks, all you're doing is setting yourself up for a landslide, believe me,. I watched my party do it in 2009.

MALLIOTAKIS: Look, what I have been saying is that I'm sure there are many good people who participated yesterday because they aren't happy with the direction of this country.

We see the pendulum swing. People were not happy with open borders and high inflation, inflationary spending under President Biden. We swung it back. They don't want to see the pendulum go so far. They want centrist government. That's what I truly believe.

But this group is associated with the radical left. On their flier, look at the sponsors. You had the Communist Party of the United States of America. You had the Socialist Party of America. These are radical left groups. They are the sponsors of this march.

So the good people that were there because they wanted to send a message, guess what? They have associated themselves with communists. And that to me, I think, is just unacceptable.

BEGALA: Each of those attacks is another two, five seats in the House. So, keep going, Congresswoman.

(CROSSTALK)

MALLIOTAKIS: But it's not an attack. It's not like I'm making it up. It's on the flier.

Like, you're marching at an event in which the Communist Party was the sponsor. (LAUGHTER)

MALLIOTAKIS: I know. It's hysterical, right? But it's sad, actually.

(CROSSTALK)

TODD: You're my favorite communist, though, Paul.

BEGALA: It's self-destructive.

(CROSSTALK)

BEGALA: Go ahead. Attack American citizens.

MALLIOTAKIS: I'm just saying the facts.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: We're going to have to leave it there. We're going to have to leave it there, Congresswoman. Thank you.

Thank you, all of you, for being here.

Up next, we're going to remember a trailblazer for women journalists everywhere. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:50]

BASH: Legendary NPR anchor Susan Stamberg died this week at the age of 87.

In 1972, she became the first woman to host a national evening news broadcast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN STAMBERG, JOURNALIST: There were no role models then for women. I had nobody to listen to and imitate. There was Walter Cronkite and there were a lot of men doing it, but no women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: By blazing a trail, she became a role model for aspiring female journalists everywhere, including me.

Thank you so much for joining us this Sunday morning.

Fareed Zakaria picks it up next.