Return to Transcripts main page

State of the Union

Interview With White House Border Czar Tom Homan; Interview With Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY); Interview With Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D- NY); Interview With Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA); Interview With Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY). Aired 9-10a ET

Aired July 26, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:00:33]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST (voice-over): One hundred days to go, Democrats search for a unifying message.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I think a lot of people aren't sure what it means to be a Democrat.

BASH: As new polling shows President Trump handing their party a real opportunity, are they too divided to seize it? House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries joins me next.

Plus: digging in. The president ramps up his immigration crackdown even after two more fatal ICE shootings.

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: You should always comply with law enforcement. If they did, they'd be alive today.

BASH: Is ICE taking any new steps to lower the risks? White House boarder czar Tom Homan joins me ahead.

And flare-up. As America grapples with two disease outbreaks...

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I haven't thought about it.

BASH: ... does a powerful Senate Republican think the Trump administration is open to change?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Stand up to crazy, stupid things being said.

BASH: Republican Senator Bill Cassidy is coming up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Hello. I'm Dana Bash, and the state of our union is counting down from 100.

In just a few short months, voters will head to the polls to cast their judgment on President Trump's second term and on Democrats' efforts to recover after their crushing 2024 loss. Polling this week shows Democrats have an advantage as President Trump leans into a handful of unpopular political positions like renewing tariffs and remaining mired in an unpopular war, though, overnight, a source told CNN U.S. operations against Iran are -- quote -- "on hold" amid concerns about the U.S. munitions stockpile.

Those are the issues Democrats want to make the midterms about, but could their own divisions get in the way of my next guest being promoted to speaker of the House?

Here with me now is the House Democratic leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.

Mr. Leader, thank you so much for being here.

I know that you are launching what Democrats are calling 100 Days Out Weekend of Action with more than 400 grassroots events in competitive states, including Pennsylvania, where you're going to be speaking later today.

At the same time, your party is fighting over whether the path back to the majority runs through the center or the activist left, who want to defund the police, abolish ICE and aid to Israel, open borders. I know that you call the Democratic Party a mosaic, but are you going to push any of those positions if you win the majority back?

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Well, what unites the party, and certainly what will take place over the next 100 days, beginning today, is a focus on us fighting for an affordable America, based on the reality that life in this country is far too expensive, and everybody agrees that that's the dynamic that the country confronts.

Too many people are working hard, they're playing by the rules, but they can't thrive and they can barely survive, not enough food on the table, not enough gas in the tank, unable to actually regularly and consistently afford to pay the rent or pay the mortgage.

We want to drive down the cost of groceries, drive down and lower the cost of gasoline, drive down the cost of housing, and also make sure that health care is affordable for every single American.

BASH: Right.

But to do those things, which is the messaging that I have heard you say especially recently, you need to come up with policy proposals. So will those policy proposals be in line with what some of the more progressive members who keep getting elected are pushing? Or will you sort of move more towards the moderate area, where, if you do win the majority, it will be likely because they pick up swing districts?

JEFFRIES: Well, we want to make sure that we are solving problems on behalf of the American people, and that's in every possible area. It is clear that what unites Democrats, for instance, we forcefully

have been pushing back against the one big ugly bill and the effort to enact the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. That's a disgrace, and clearly that needs to be reversed.

So, we need to make sure that we do things like extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits so that more than 20 million people actually can have health care that they can afford restored to them, as opposed to the situation that they confront right now because of MAGA extremist policies, which is that they have experienced dramatic increases in their health insurance premiums, in some cases more than $1,000 per month.

[09:05:09]

It certainly is the case, as we've already demonstrated unanimously on the House floor, that we need to stop this reckless and costly war of choice that has skyrocketed gas prices on everyday Americans, and we need to stop the Trump tariffs, which have increased costs on everyday Americans by thousands of dollars per year.

BASH: You, according to my colleague Manu Raju, have clashed with Senator Bernie Sanders over the fact that he is campaigning for progressive candidates, some of whom are challenging incumbents you back, including members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Are Senator Sanders and other progressives in the party making it harder for you to win in November? Is that what you said to Senator Sanders?

JEFFRIES: No, I wouldn't describe it as a clash. It was a candid conversation, along with Congressman Greg Meeks, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, with respect to one particular race in North Carolina at the beginning of the primary cycle and trying to get a sense of his approach to that race.

I do think that Senator Sanders and Democrats in both the House and the Senate understand the stakes that are in front of us, particularly as we are 100 days out, and that's making sure that we actually take back control of the Congress, so we can end this MAGA extremism that has been unleashed on the American people that is actively hurting hardworking American taxpayers and actually commit to making life more affordable for the American people.

That's clearly what the American people want to see done, and that's not what Republicans have been able to accomplish during their time in office since Trump was sworn in back in January of last year.

BASH: I think one of the things that some of those who are winning their primaries and will likely be in office want to know is if you are going to agree to hold votes on abolishing ICE, opening borders, things of that nature. Will you?

JEFFRIES: Well, I have spoken to several of the incoming members of Congress across the ideological spectrum. Not a single person has raised those issues, other than obviously what

they have seen from House Democrats in pushing back against an out-of- control ICE, because we believe that immigration enforcement in this country clearly should be fair, just, and humane, and that's not what's taking place.

That's the reason why House Democrats have taken a strong position as it relates to not giving a dime to Donald Trump's violent mass deportation machine until, of course, there is dramatic reform in this country and that ICE agents actually start to conduct themselves like every other cop, police officer and law enforcement agent in the country.

BASH: Your next-door neighbor, New Jersey, just disclosed that 6,600 noncitizens were mistakenly registered to vote there from 2023 to 2024; 400 of them actually voted in elections since then.

It is a small number compared to the seven million voters in New Jersey, and there's no evidence that that swayed any election. But this is one of the most significant disclosures of noncitizen registration. Democrats have repeatedly said that noncitizen voting doesn't happen. It happened. Is this a problem?

JEFFRIES: I think that I continue to have confidence in state and local authorities in making sure that there's going to be a free and fair election in November, and, if modest or minor challenges emerge, such as the one that was disclosed voluntarily by the authorities in New Jersey, that it is immediately corrected. And that's what I expect will continue to happen.

Unfortunately, what we have seen from Donald Trump is that, in this particular case, Republicans have adopted voter suppression as an electoral strategy because they have failed to actually deliver on making life more affordable for the American people.

It was Donald Trump who promised to lower costs on day one. But we know that costs haven't gone down in this country. Costs have gone up. It was Donald Trump, I believe, who said that he was elected not to start wars, endless wars in the Middle East, but to stop them and then turned around and has gotten us involved in this reckless war of choice in Iran that has skyrocketed gas prices on the American people.

By the way, it was Donald Trump who said they were going to love and cherish Medicaid, and then Republicans enacted the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, ripping health care away from more than 14 million Americans. They have nothing to run on.

We're going to run on fighting for an affordable America.

BASH: Mr. Leader, before I let you go, President Trump ordered signs placed outside the Museum of American history warning that it promotes inaccurate history.

[09:10:08]

It comes, of course, as the White House is attacking the Smithsonian, accusing the institution of promoting left-wing ideology. Is there anything you can do to stop those signs from going up?

JEFFRIES: Well, we're going to explore every legislative avenue and every litigation avenue, as we've repeatedly done up until this point.

Here's the thing. Black history is American history, and we are not going to let the extremists whitewash it, not now, not ever.

BASH: Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, thanks so much for being here. I appreciate it.

JEFFRIES: Thank you.

BASH: Are ICE officers getting enough training to safely do their jobs? White House border czar Tom Holman will be here next.

And then: He got into a shouting match with the president. Is that approach getting results? Senator Bill Cassidy will be here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:15:29]

BASH: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.

President Trump's deportation push is full steam ahead, despite two more deadly shootings involving ICE officers.

Here with me now is the White House border czar, Tom Homan.

Thank you so much for being here, sir.

First, do you know specifically what happened to the officers involved in the Texas and Maine shootings? Have they been reassigned, placed on administrative leave? What's their status?

HOMAN: I don't know specifically. I haven't been involved with the investigations.

But it'd be policy that they'd be put on administrative leave during the shooting investigation. That's the policy of the agency.

BASH: OK. But you don't -- as border czar involved in this, you don't know for sure if they have been?

HOMAN: No. ICE has an acting director, Dave Venturella. And they report to Markwayne Mullin, the secretary.

I've said from day one I won't comment on an investigation, but I can tell you I haven't specifically tracked these cases, but I can tell you, per policy, they're usually put on administrative lead pending the investigation, pending sworn statements, internal affairs interviews and the entire investigation.

They usually will not be put back on duty until the investigation is over and either have been cleared or, if they got problems, then they may not go back at all. BASH: Court documents reveal one of the ICE officers connected to the

fatal shooting in Maine was accused of abuse by two ex-wives. One of his ex-wives told my colleague Erin Burnett that she experienced severe domestic violence in her marriage and that he always displayed violent behavior, and even that, if anything ever happened to her, he'd be the one to look at.

I should say he denied the allegations. But, at one point, a judge ordered him to temporarily relinquish any firearms. Should someone with those issues be an ICE agent?

HOMAN: No, if those of those are facts, he -- I don't think he should ever have cleared vetting.

When they hire somebody, they put them through a vetting process and look at all that stuff. So I know, based on that information -- that's part of the ongoing investigation. How -- did the vetting process fail? Was that information not available? Did they not know?

So there's a separate administrative investigation on what happened here. Did you -- did we have that information? Did we not have that information? But the vetting process, I -- if that was factual, he would have an almost impossible time to pass vetting.

BASH: So does that raise questions about ICE's vetting procedures, especially as it has in the past several months ramped up its law enforcement officers, who are around the country looking for undocumented immigrants?

HOMAN: Well, look, ICE has about 30,000 employees. They all go through vetting. This is a kind of a rare instance.

But, again, it's under review. There's several things under review, right? The training is under review. And I know that the acting ICE director now, David Venturella, has added additional training, because I'm one that supports you can't -- you can't ever have too much training.

So let's add additional field training, once you get in the academy, be assigned to journeymen, and get on-the-field training also. So the training is under review. I know this specific case as far as the vetting is under review by the internal affairs section.

So we will see where it lies. But, certainly, if this person had that type of history, it would have been a vetting issue, and it should have been brought to the attention of those who makes those decisions.

BASH: You say that, and we know that you that training is being reevaluated.

If that is the case, that suggests that the training wasn't adequate for all of these months as ICE has been out in the country trying to find as many undocumented immigrants as possible to deport them. Isn't that a concerning...

HOMAN: No, I disagree with that. I disagree with that. BASH: OK.

HOMAN: Every law enforcement agency -- every law enforcement reassesses their training. Every law enforcement agency either adds or changes to training curriculum.

So the director of ICE during the last year, Todd Lyons, testified in Congress several times that the training, even though it changed, didn't diminish the amount of training. They just stopped the duplication. Now it's being reviewed and see, look, can we add additional training?

I think Markwayne Mullin made the decision, well, let's do a temporary pause and make sure we -- the officers have what they need to be safe and do the most safe, secure arrests possible. And that review was done pretty quickly.

[09:20:08]

President Trump also said we're going to continue doing vehicle stops, because that's a necessary tool in the tool shed. But we always evaluate training. When I was the ICE director several years ago, I evaluated training. It's something law enforcement does all the time.

So I wouldn't say, now that we're evaluating some additional training, that mistakes were made. We will see. It's all being reviewed. We will see where it lies.

BASH: Well, we have seen with our own eyes mistakes were made, deadly mistakes were made, at least five of them.

I just want to -- you mentioned the pause. And that is something I want to ask you about, because during what ended up being a very brief pause, like a day, the homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin, said that vehicle stops would be paused, and then the president very quickly overturned that directive.

But while the pause was in place, you did say it was done for the safety of the officers and whether something could have been done to -- and whether it more needed to be looked at. So my question for you is, how is it possible that all of that got accomplished in just the one day that the pause existed?

HOMAN: Because it's still being reviewed.

I mean, the acting director of ICE did make some immediate changes. Right now, on all vehicles stops, there's at least one body camera on site to record the entire event. Journeyman agents are assigned to each stop. So there's already been -- it's still under review, but we're going to continue doing the stops.

But there's been changes to help improve the experience of people who are on those stops.

BASH: So even the pauses...

HOMAN: So, it's all under review. The training is under review.

BASH: OK.

HOMAN: The stops are under review. David Venturella has constant communication with the field office directors on and reassuring that the officers out there are doing the right thing.

So, the review hasn't stopped. We just haven't stopped the vehicle stops because those changes have already been made. So we're going to continue doing those stops. Changes have been made.

BASH: Like what?

HOMAN: Like I just said, we have got to make sure that, on every vehicle stop, David Venturella sent an instruction out that he wants at least one body camera on those vehicle stops, so we have everything on video.

So, whether the officer did something right or did something wrong, whether the alien did something right or wrong, it's on video. And I'm a big supporter of video cameras.

BASH: Yes.

HOMAN: I'm a big supporter, because I want the American people to see what that officer saw when he took whatever action they took.

BASH: Tom Homan, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate it.

HOMAN: Yes, thank you.

BASH: President Trump's third nominee to lead the CDC in two years just got a key backing of a Republican senator, but can she rebuild Americans' trust in the public health system?

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy will join me next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:27:15]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIDY: We need a CDC director that will actually stand up to crazy, stupid things being said.

DR. ERICA SCHWARTZ, CDC DIRECTOR NOMINEE: You have my assurances that I will continue to lead by my integrity. I will never compromise -- compromise on the science. I will always, always have the public's health in mind.

CASSIDY: That's not quite the direct answer I'm hoping for.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: That was Republican Senator Bill Cassidy earlier this month not yet sold on President Trump's pick to lead the CDC, Dr. Erica Schwartz. But, this week, he announced he will support her nomination.

So, as the U.S. confronts growing public health crises, from the measles to cyclospora, does he think the administration is ready to change course?

Well, here with me now is Republican Senator Bill Cassidy.

Thank you so much for being here this morning, sir.

You are now going to support the president's pick to lead the CDC, Dr. Erica Schwartz. What actions do you want to see her take into place to stop what you called crazy, stupid things being said by the administration? And why are you so confident that she will succeed where others have failed?

CASSIDY: There needs to be just a clear signal being sent about issues that are important to the American people.

And, by the way, the average mom and dad out there trying to struggle with their life, they look to the government for guidance as to what would be -- how do I manage this? Fortunately, we can look at polling. Most parents understand, as one example, that take -- that having their child vaccinated is important.

After speaking with her privately after that event, after the committee hearing, I'm, as much as I can be, convinced that Dr. Schwartz will reinforce that, that, as she said, and she said it very straightforwardly when we had a conversation afterwards, she does not need this job.

Her integrity, her sense of integrity will not be sacrificed, and she will continue to promote that which is important. For example, for measles, please vaccinate your child for measles. People -- children have died from not having -- not having been vaccinated. Children have been in the hospital,. They have been in they have been sick by the thousands.

Please have your child vaccinated, and I am convinced that she will deliver that message.

BASH: Well, the CDC's Web site on vaccine safety has been a sticking point for you with the Trump administration.

When you pledged to support Dr. Schwartz, you said publicly, and as you just suggested now, that it's a sign of good faith that the Health Department agreed to modify their Web site. But Senator, at the very top of the CDC's vaccine safety page, it still says the" claim vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence-based claim."

Then, if you scroll to the bottom, which we're doing on the screen now, you will find the note: "Scientists have not identified the root causes of autism."

[09:30:08]

Is that a good faith attempt to stop spreading what you call misinformation about vaccines?

CASSIDY: That is not. That continues to promote by implication the idea that that is wrong.

And that is what gives some parents hesitancy regarding having their children vaccinated. There's been some progress made. That in itself is wrong. It's wrong for the patients. It's not wrong for Bill Cassidy. It's wrong for the mom and dad trying to make the right decision.

It's wrong because it's going to incentivize and it's going to frighten some parents from doing the right thing, which is to have their child vaccinated. It's been firmly established vaccines do not cause autism. That's over decades.

The fact that that is still there is almost an insult to the American people. We don't care enough about you to tell the truth. We want to continue to promote that which has been proven false, but we don't want to admit it, whoever we is.

And so I'm hoping Dr. Schwartz can get in there and make some positive changes.

BASH: You think she will be able to change that so that, when parents go on the CDC Web site to find out about the efficacy of vaccines, that will not be there?

CASSIDY: Well, one bit of good news, I have never met a parent who wasn't a pediatrician who's gone into the Web site and -- to look for information about vaccines. They speak to their physician.

And a physician who is well-trained will be advising the parent, listen, it's safe to have vaccines.

BASH: That's true. I mean, as a parent, I...

CASSIDY: In fact, it's far more safe to be vaccinated.

BASH: As a parent, I agree with you.

But you know better than I the CDC sets public health policy, which is why you're upset about it. I just want to make sure that what you are telling me that is that, in your private conversation with her, she assured you that that would be taken down as one of the steps toward rebuilding confidence in the public health system that you want.

CASSIDY: I'm not sure she has the ability to necessarily take that down, but, believe me, I'm having conversations with HHS on this. Believe me, that is a focal point of what I -- of some of my discussions.

I'm not sure she would have the authority, but I can tell, even though she runs the CDC, obviously, there's powers above her, but that is something I'm incredibly concerned about. It is a disservice to the parents of the United States. We should be serving them. We should not be telling them things which are not true.

BASH: You're a physician. You're the chairman of the very important help committee -- Health Committee. Are they listening to you?

CASSIDY: Believe me, yes, there's -- I -- without going into detail, there are concessions that have been made.

And it's a back-and-forth. In any administration, I think particularly this one, there are some, again, back-and-forths. But, that said, there's absolutely have been concessions, and I expect to continue to see things that better serve the parent. It's not about me. It's about the parent.

How does mom and dad get the best information so that their child is unlikely to end up in the hospital with a complication of measles or some other disease which is preventable by vaccinations? We have to have correct information, not misinformation.

BASH: I want to turn to the subject of Iran.

You had a pretty tense confrontation with the president last month behind closed doors over his handling of the war. The House just approved the administration's request for $70 billion more to fund the war. Will you support that additional funding when it comes before you in the Senate?

CASSIDY: Right now, we're in there. So the fact that we're going to suddenly cut it off is just not a strategic move.

But what we did -- do need to do is to transition to where Congress has some role in actually the -- in the strategy going forward. We're not going to abandon our men and women on the front line, and nor are we going to turn over to Iran the Strait of Hormuz for them to charge a toll on every ship going through and to continue to build up their conventional and nuclear weapon capability.

What we do need to do, though, is have a national dialogue, where the president comes to the American people, comes to Congress, Congress helps make a tough decision. Is there another way forward? Right now, we vacillate between two options.

I'd like to think that there is a third, not just give the Iranians the ability to control the strait and build up their weapons and not just spend tens of billions of dollars on something which so far has not proven results. We need something different.

BASH: So, are you saying you're going to -- forgive me. Are you saying that you're going to support funding, but with strings attached, that there's more consultation with Congress?

CASSIDY: So, at some point date certain, it'll be that Congress has to weigh in. It may be soon, but, in my mind, the president's had the opportunity to achieve the initial goals, which I agreed with, to wrap it up. It's not happened. [09:35:07]

At this point, I do think there needs to be a fuller national discussion as to how we go forward. If the president wraps this up quickly -- seems unlikely, but they seem to reassure that it can happen -- OK, that's fine. If it doesn't happen, then, again, the president needs to come to Congress, the American people, and say these are the facts, and then we have a conversation.

BASH: But he won't do that unless you force him to do it by law.

CASSIDY: Yes, put it this way.

Theoretically, the president knows things that we don't know. And it may be that we're on the cusp of bringing this to completion. They do have intelligence, and it's shown to be pretty good, as to private conversations among the leaders of Iran. And that, I don't know.

But, at some point, it is -- it should -- and I think it should be relatively soon -- we need to trigger that conversation.

BASH: OK.

I do want to ask before I let you go about an issue that you have been working hard on, and that is Social Security. You now have six months left in office. You have been sounding the alarm about the need to act before Social Security becomes insolvent in 2032.

I know you have a plan. Can you get it across the finish line between now and January, when you leave?

CASSIDY: I hope so.

So let's give context. If Congress does nothing, in six years, by law, when the trust fund goes insolvent, there will be almost a 29 percent cut in benefits for everyone on Social Security and who will go on Social Security.

And if all we do is borrow to pay those promised benefits, it'll drive our nation's indebtedness sky-high. Unsustainable. So we have to have another way to approach this. I have been working on something called the big idea, which would allow the growth in the American economy to be able to not only bail out Social Security, but to increase benefits for some.

I am working to get this done by the end of my term. Dick Durbin, the Democratic senator from Illinois, is a good partner on this. If Congress is going to do right by the American people, we need to make tough decisions. This is one of those tough decisions.

Don't keep ducking it because it's easier to duck it. Come on, Congress, step up and do it. That's my goal. Let's just kind of get this done. It doesn't get easier. It only gets harder. And there are solutions out there now. Let's do those solutions.

BASH: Senator, keep us posted if you make headway in a bipartisan way on that. And I appreciate you coming on this morning.

CASSIDY: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: Thank you.

And how are voters feeling about the midterms with 100 days to go? We're going to dive into it with my panel next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:42:14]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What do we do here? Is this supposed to be fun? I hate some people. I shouldn't say this. I'm president. I'm not supposed to hate. I'm supposed to love everybody. Sloppy Chris Christie, one of the sloppiest human beings you will ever meet.

Ilhan Omar, one of my favorites. She ought to get the hell out of our country. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't be in our country. You can't call J.B. Pritzker a fat pig, please.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: OK, well, the White House said President Trump's speech, that was at Friday night's White House Correspondents' Dinner, would be unifying yet vicious. It was one of those things.

My panel is here with me to discuss.

Alyssa, I'm going to start with you because you were a comms director for President Trump in the first term.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Listen, he bombed, but the most offensive thing about it was that it wasn't funny.

There's so many opportunities here. You can go pure comedy and you can go in with some -- he -- and President Trump, by the way, can be funny. Mike and I have both seen it. He's very capable of being funny. That did not show up. Or you could go with some sort of a mission, have some policy announcements that you're going to make.

I was kind of debating before, will he say something, make some news on Iran, make some news on the SAVE Act, something he's trying to get through Congress? But I asked myself at the end of the what felt like 90 minutes we will never get back of our lives, what was the point of that?

It didn't unify him with the press, it didn't ingratiate him more, and he didn't really seem to have any goal. We're talking about Czech crystal, and then we're insulting, kind of going through the greatest hits. So I'm not sure why he was there, to be honest.

BASH: Congressman Suozzi? REP. TOM SUOZZI (D-NY): It was just mean. I thought it was just mean-

spirited. It wasn't funny. It's supposed to be an entertaining, fun night, and it was just, I thought, mean-spirited.

BASH: You were there.

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): I was there.

And I was there for the first night too, back in April. And, look, I think it was important for the president to go. I have always thought he should go to it. And so I think, from that standpoint, it was a positive.

As Alyssa said, I mean, I have seen him be very funny. And so I think he could have been a lot funnier. I'm not somebody who gets offended by humor. I think oftentimes people throw barbs. Frankly, some of the stuff that is said on CNN about the president in real time is a lot harsher than anything he threw on Friday night.

But, look, at the end of the day, it's an event that is supposed to unify the politicians and the press. But I definitely think the president could have brought a little more levity to it than he did.

MAYA WILEY, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY: Unfunny, mean, all of the above, but I will also add that we have lost sight of what the Correspondents' Dinner is for. I mean, one of the points of it is to celebrate the First Amendment and free speech.

[09:45:01]

And we saw not only a refusal to allow any political satire, in the form of having a comedian there. We also saw a president attacking journalists because they won awards on topics that he didn't like, including his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.

BASH: I want to move on, but I will say that, with those awards, the First Amendment was appreciated and was glorified, and our colleague Kaitlan Collins won one of the those awards, and that is who she is as a journalist, not what we heard from the president.

LAWLER: I would just note he did shake everybody's hand...

BASH: I know. All right.

LAWLER: ... including those who have attacked him. So he did celebrate it by being there.

BASH: Let's talk about what is on your mind and on your mind, which is the midterms.

We just got a new CBS poll from CBS and YouGov specifically. And one of the questions was, is the Trump administration focusing on lowering prices? Seventy-eight percent said not enough. Do you agree with that, Congressman?

LAWLER: Look, there's no question the American people are feeling pain at the pump, at the grocery stores, when they go to purchase a home. Prices have been a real challenge now for quite a while.

And it's why I have focused almost exclusively on the issue of affordability during my time in Congress. I delivered the largest tax cut in American history, inclusive of lifting the cap on SALT, from $10,000 to $40,000. I just helped lead the housing package that passed Congress, the first bipartisan housing package.

BASH: That the president didn't even want to sign.

LAWLER: ... in 36 years. But it was a Republican House, a Republican Senate, and a Republican White House that worked together to get it done. It was bipartisan.

There were a number of Democrat initiatives in there as well. But this will actually increase supply, lower prices, create greater access to capital. These are the things the American people want us to focus on, and that's what I have been focused on.

You look at energy, energy is one of the biggest challenges. And let me just finish this time. Gas prices obviously need to come down. But look at utility rates. In New York, utility rates are up 58 percent. Democrats control everything in Albany, everything in New York City. They shut down nuclear power. They block natural gas.

You want to bring new utility rates down, you need to increase domestic production of energy.

SUOZZI: OK, the poll clearly says the American people don't think that this administration is focused on lowering prices.

I was there at the inauguration. You were there. The president said, I'm going to rapidly reduce prices.

And when you look at the causes for high prices in our country, and there are five specific policies directly related to this administration that are raising prices. Everybody knows the tariffs increase people's prices, make your food more expensive every day, make your business more expensive.

Everybody knows that the war is causing an increase of gas prices at the gas pump. Everybody knows this is the biggest deficit in the history of the United States of America, which causes upward pressure on interest rates, make it impossible to buy a house, to lease a car, to pay for your credit card.

Everybody knows that they have cut health care premium tax credits. You and I worked together to try and save the premium tax credits. That's causing less people to be in the insurance risk pool, which causes everybody's insurance rates to go up.

BASH: Alyssa?

FARAH GRIFFIN: Listen, I think that Republicans are looking at this White House and they're saying, can you please get this president on message? Get him out traveling around the country talking about bringing down prices? But the problem is, there's not a great story to tell right now. With the Iran war going -- continuing to go on, gas prices are not coming down the way that we hoped they would. The ongoing tariff regime, which we seem to announce more tariffs day in and day out, Mexico, Canada, what is next?

And this is -- this is where you have got to have sound advisers around him. I imagine Susie Wiles is in his ear saying, you have got to get on message ahead of these midterms, because to -- if you're the president, investigations come, accountability comes if you lose the House and potentially the Senate.

And I'm a little bit surprised that there isn't more of an understanding that it's in his interest. And that housing bill, I would -- if I were advising him, I would say hold an event at the White House, take all the credit, say you were the person to make the biggest investment in bringing down housing costs, something that my generation is begging for the government to do.

And, instead, he completely missed the opportunity there. It's remarkable the inability to see what the American people voted for him to do and then deliver on it.

WILEY: Yes, I actually don't think messaging's enough at this point, because people need to feel that something's better in their lives.

I mean, the truth is, these are self-inflicted wounds. These are not natural occurrences in high prices. These are the creation of decisions this administration has made, the Iran war being a really big and obvious one lost on no one.

But this point about health care and the recognition that this housing bill should be -- literally should be celebrated by everyone, in fact, we need more housing policy, not less, and yet this president has focused more and given more opportunities for candidates in the midterms to differentiate themselves based on whether or not they're trying to solve problems, rather than create them.

[09:50:06]

BASH: All right, we're going to, sadly, have to leave it there.

Thank you all for coming in. Appreciate it.

And up next: How would you live your life if you knew it was all about to come to an end soon? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Last December, former Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse was given just months to live, diagnosed at the age of 53 with stage four pancreatic cancer.

[09:55:07]

He recently sat down with co-anchor, Jake Tapper, for an extraordinary conversation about life, death, and what comes after.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FMR. SEN. BEN SASSE (R-NE): I felt the heaviness of death being terrible and obviously not wanting your wife to go through being widowed or your kids to be orphaned, to lose their dad.

But I just felt at peace that death is real. I have always known we're all on the clock. And to get a finite number felt horrible, but not surprising.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Your faith is -- it always has been remarkable, but never more so, I think, as somebody who's long admired and covered you, during this period, just your supreme confidence in what happens next, and that you will see your loved ones again.

And do you ever have any moments of doubt about any of it? I mean, let me just say, I envy it. I wish I felt that way. I think there are a lot of people probably watching who think, God, what a gift.

SASSE: I think death is wicked. But I don't think it's a surprise to any of us who reckon hard with a conscience that says, we're broken, this world is broken, things are not as they should be.

So, to your direct question, no, I don't -- I don't doubt it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Don't miss the rest of Jake's interview with Ben Sasse on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER" tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.

Thank you for spending your Sunday morning with us.

Fareed Zakaria picks it up next.