Transcripts For CNNW Inside 20240705

Today on inside politics, What Caused The Civil War . Most would give a oneword answer. Slavery. But not nikki haley. This morning shes trying to clean it up. Plus Donald Trumps lawyers have a very busy few weeks ahead. Well tell you key dates to watch in his civil and Criminal Kriel trials. And Lauren Boebert barely won her red district last time around. Her solution, move to an even redder district. Im dana bash. Lets go hbehind the headlines and inside politics. We start in New Hampshire and one of those campaign moments that you just knew would immediately go viral. It was a Town Hall Last Night where nikki haley has been doing quite well. A voter asked what seemed like a simple question with a simple answer. Listen to part of what happened. Of course, The Civil War was about slavery. We know that. We know The Civil War was about slavery. But it was also more than that. It was about the freedoms of every individual. It was about the role of government. By the grace of god, we did the right thing and slavery is no more. But the lessons of what that bigger issue with The Civil War is that lets not forget what came out of that. Which is governments role, individual liberties, freedom for every single person, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do what you please. Again, that was nikki haley. She was speaking today about what she meant to say last night. I want to go to eva mcend who was there last night at that event. She tried not once but twice so far already today to clean up her comments last night. She is in cleanup mode indeed. Because this conversation really brings into focus the larger way that she has run her campaign. Really in a play it safe mode, shes reluctant to go after her rivals directly, but here is how she responded last night when she was asked this very direct question about what were the origins of The Civil War. Lets listen. What was the cause of the United States civil war . Dont come with an easy question. The cause of The Civil War was baseically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldnt do. Reporter so Chris Christie has often lamented that haley i tries to be everything for everybody. Governor desantis believes she runs a different race here in New Hampshire than she does in iowa. No doubt with this controversy will do t will continue to feed the flame and that narrative that she sometimes is malleable and not consistent in her messaging. But she is working overtime to refute that, to move on. And pretty soon after addressing this civil war fallout, she went right back to her standard stump speech. Eva, thank you for that. I want to bring in my great panel on this and much more. Kasie hunt, the Atlanta Journal constitutions Teeth Ma Mitchell and seung min kim. Nice to see all. So we i played a bit of what she has said this morning and also eva just played a bit of what sparked all this last night. I want to actually play all of it or at least enough of it that we could hear. Some of it was a bit inaudible. This voter asking the question and nikki haleys exchange back and forth with the voter. I think the cause of The Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldnt do. What do you think the cause of The Civil War was . Im sorry . Im not running for president. I think it always comes down to the role of government. What the rights of the peopl and i will always standby the fact that i think government was intended to secure the Rights And Freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people. Government doesnt need to tell you how to live your life. They dont need to tell you what you can and cant do. Dont need to be a part of your life. We need to have capitalism. We need to have economic tropical storm. We need to make sure we do all things so individuals have the liberties so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be bout government getting in the way. Thank you. In the year 2023, its astonishing to me that you answered that question without mentioning the word slavery. What do you want me to say about slavery . You answered my question. Thank you. Next question. So lets talk about this, first of all, just on its substantiative level. Then well talk a little bit about the politics of what it says about her campaign. Substance wise, there was only one answer and it was slavery. She did not give that answer. We heard the voter come at her and say, why didnt you say slavery . Im paraphrase ing here. Yeah, i think its important that you played that whole clip because you can see that she had plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to say that. There was even this one moment where he says, im astonished you dont mention slavery. She says, what do you want me to say . Its not as though she wasnt handed the opportunity on a silver platter there. She didnt take it. And i heard in how she was addressing that, i covered her campaign for governor of South Carolina. This seems like the kind of answer you give when youre being careful to talk to a Certain Group of voters in a Southern State about an issue like this that i think lets be clear, this conversation evolved during times of racial strife. Well after the end of The Civil War when these monuments to the confederacy went up. Theres a lot of pain in the way that this conversation is had for people who were directly impacted by slavery. And again, the Biden Campaign said it right away. Very shortly after it went on social media, its slavery. Desantis campaign was able to say this was inpublicable. Before you jump in, i want to show our viewers some of when youre talking about. This is this morning Desantis Spokesperson said, embarrassing cleanup attempt, even if thats true, if she cant handle a question as basic as the cause of The Civil War what did she think is going to happen in the general election, democrats would eat her for lunch. Last night the president himself said simply, it was about slavery. When you ask about the mechanics of her answer, because she avoided mentioning slavery, even what she said left it up to interpretation whose said side she was on. She talked about things like individual rights and capitalism. Quite frankly, that was some of the arguments made by slave owners in the Confederate States as to why i they felt they were justified in this war. So without making iter clear that this was about slaveowning states wanting to continue keeping people as property, youre missing the key argument almost as youre trying to gloss over what the war was really about. So i mentioned that first we have to talk about the substance of this, but then theres the question of who she is, where she is, what her campaign has done in the last 12 to 14 hours. So much of the way a Campaign Goes is determined by how they react. Things happen. Things happen on the campaign trail. Candidates make gaffes. They just do. Its happened to even the best candidates in the world. So the question is how does she respond . We played at the beginning a what she said right out of the gate. She came out in a town hall this morning about an hour ago said that this was about slavery and tried to clean it up. This morning she went on a radio show and had a very lengthy answer saying, of course, it was about slavery, but then she said i didnt want to engage with this person because the person who asked the question was a democratic plant and started saying how the democrats are trying to tear her down because shes a threat to joe biden. I was watching her comments in the las. The first thing that came to my mind is this politics that if youre explaining, youre losing. This was politically just not good moment for her. It does two things. Its too early to gauge the longterm impact of what this would do, but what it does right now is, first of all, it punctures this images that she cultivated during the primarry campaign of being this disciplined, onmessage very perfect candidate, if you will. And it really kind of knocks her off that. Clearly, this is not what she wants to be talking about. But the second thing that it does, it really does highlight her history on her tough history on race. If you look at going back to her Race Campaign for South Carolina governor, she said a version of this before back in 2010 when asked about the causes of civil war. She said it was these two sides arguing about tradition and change. Then there was the history of being governor with the Confederate Flag and a couple years before that, she had said the Confederate Flag was not a racist symbol. It does spotlight the this part of her record that is difficult for her to talk about. Does a that say as much about the republican electorate and the difference between the republican electorate in New Hampshire and South Carolina as Anything Else . Thats the point you were making. She obviously cut her teeth in southern republican politics when she had to deal with the attacks. New hampshire is the ball game for her in the shortterm. A republican said this morning, you have to understand how much pride nebrw england voters, n Nebraska Residents take in being the people who went to the south and fought to end slavery and how impact ful this Statement O Gaffe or whatever you call it could be, which is why she tried to clean it up already twice this morning. Thats so interesting you say that. I talked to New Hampshire republicans and democrats who have bristled because some people criticized for having an electorate thats too white. We sent obama to the white house. They will point out that the diversity is something that the first woman on the ticket. Think politics is so much about what are your instincts in the moment. Its a combination of what you know about the voters and what they want to hear from you and what you know and believe yourself. And you have to find that balance. It is very, very hard at the president ial level, it is a crucible, it is different from any campaign anywhere else. Ron desantis is learning this the hard way. He thought doing it in tallahassee is enough, its never enough. Such a good point. The person who is running in New Hampshire who has done it before is Chris Christie. And he is somebody who does take pride in knowing how to read that. He is also trying to read the New Hampshire electorate with a pretty hefty ad campaign that he has now running in New Hampshire. Saying that hes not dropping out of the race. Some people say i should drop out of this race. Really . Im the one saying donald trump is a liar. He pits americans against each other. His christmas message to anyone that disagrees with him, rot in hell. He will burn capitol hill to the ground to help himself. I think its interesting. Even when you bring it back to nikki haley, nikki haleys central message to Republican Voters is that i can win in a general election, i do better against biden. This blunder blunts that message. This was a general election blunder. Which make it is tougher for her, but at the same time, her answer probably plays well to certain types of Republican Voters. Is and at the end of the day, what the argument that Chris Christie is making, quite fr frankly that nikki haley is making, neither one of them, you look at the early voting polling is really resinating at all. At the end of the day, they are still trailing way behind donald trump. Desantis said something, Chris Christie hasnt said anything yet. It is New Hampshire for him. He probably wants this ad to speak for itself and that to be the message. But it is interesting. It is very interesting. I think that ad was in response to the questions that hes been kweting about why arent you dropping off if you want to consolidate that. So youre right. He wants to let that ad speak for him. Everybody, standby. Up next, a very good meeting. That is hows president is characterizing his summit yesterday with two top Biden Cabinet members. But is there an actual deal for mexico to do more to stem the surge of migrants crossing illegally into the u. S. . Well talk about that, next. Mexico and the United States are making progress on a Border Security deal, thats according to ms. Speakers president , who said the two countries reached an agreement to reopen u. S. Boarder crossings that had been temporarily closed by the biden administration. This comes after yesterdays meeting between the mexican president and senior u. S. Officials, which Secretary Of State Antony Blinken and secretary of Homeland Security described as very productive. Rosa flores is live in eagle pass, texas. What are you learning a about these talks . Reporter what were learn ing is a little bit more about the substance of what happened. Like you mentioned, a lot of the u. S. And mexican officials have been using these words, it was a very productive meeting. But we were look ing for substance. What actually happened, what agreement was made. Were learning from National Security Council Spokesperson that mexicos president has taken significant Law Enforcement steps on the mexican side of the border. Why is that important . Thats important because whatever mexico does impacts the number of illegal entries into the United States. Now i want you to take a look at this drone video taken by producer and drone pilot ashly killo. You can see theres very little to no activity here in eagle pass, which just last weeks was the epicenter of this crisis. Now what could this mean . This could be Law Enforcement efforts on the mexican side of the border. Whenever mexico ups its Law Enforcement, whenever they add check points at trains, wherever mexico ups its deportations or moves from the northern border to southern mexico, that is what we see. So were kind of seeing on the ground perhaps the result of those talks. Now were also learn ing from mexicos president. He used the word agreement. There was some agreement. We dont know the details of this, but mexicos the president saying theres some agreement so that the ports of entry can reopen. Now the u. S. Government was the one who closed several ports of entry in several states to respond to this crisis because the personnel that worked reassigned to process Migrants Torks Transport migrants. Thats the way that they surge resources to the areas most impacted by the illegal crossings. And it makes for the two countries to agree because they are major trade ing partners. So all that makes sense. Were going to try to figure out what else was part of this deal, who got what and whats happening, but for now, thats what we have. Back to you. Thank you for that reporting and that great drone footage. That was really telling. Thank you. Our panel is back here. Lets put in context the politics of this for President Biden. And how important it is. Just one example from an Approval Rating poll. You look at the issues and how he fairs, infrastructure, jobs, climate change, inflation, immigration, hes down 26 . That is not good. Its not good at a all. Part of the trip yesterday to mexico by senior officials was to have these conversations, but also to make the broader administrations point this is a regional issue that requires regional cooperation. And trying to blunt the criticism saying these were the border policy causing the numbers a at the border, but that doesnt change the fact hes under political pressure over immigration and his administration is preparing to make compromises on immigration next month. Pressure because of the situation at the border, pressure because republicans are trying as much as they can to blame booid skpn his policies, but its also big city mayor. Listen to some of them. We cannot continue to do the federal governments job. We have spoken to fema and other federal officials, who have expressed concern about the borders surge. Without significant immigration from the federal government, this mission will not be sustained. Denver finds itself at ground zero in trying to resolve and respond to the migrant crisis. We need more federal support to mac this flow. Yeah, that right there is the problem that joe biden has in a nutshell. Because its no longer for a long time this conversation was these Red State Mayors and governors are being alarmists and we have to focus on the humanitarian issue here. Obviously, u. S. Has a humanitarian responsibility. But this crisis has gotten worse, not better. And frankly, the strategy these Red State Governmors have had o sending migrants up to blue states has worked from a political perspective. Its very hard for these cities to absorb them. And the biden team knows that or they wouldnt be willing to make these concessions that they are having with capitol hill. The cynical political way of looking at it might be because they prefer this to continue to be a problem in the 2024 election. And yet. That brings me to what i was going to point out, which i think is important to point out, like every single time we talk about immigration, which is how many times have we stood in hallways outside of negotiations on capitol hill that were fruit less for almost two decades to fix the immigration policy. So yes, President Biden is currently the president , but this is a problem that has not been fixed for so long. Right. We cant ignore the fact that we had four years of President Trump, who made fixing immigration a central part of his Campaign Message and then did little about it beyond some segments of border the wall. And i think youre right that this is one of the most complicated, complex issues because its not just the people coming across who need services, but you have to think about health and safety and food and shelter, but then theres the Commerce Issue that comes when you start shutting down crossings or limiting cross thags also has to be factored in. And then you also have to think about the political climate, where i think thats what you brought up that the plolitical climate as it ebbs and flows, there isnt always truly the will to get it done. Thats something we saw with Senate Republicans back during the bush years, where there was an agreement that a lot of people the in behind sight say we wish we had got it done then when we had the best chance. The question remains whether there remains a chance. Now theres Foreign Policy is thats connected with the Border Security issue. Maybe that will get something done because theres more at stake now. But its just been such an illusive solution to the problem. It has. Very potent politically still. Up next, it can be hard to keep track of all of the cases and all of the deadlines donald trump and his legal team are facing. Were going to walk you through exactly what you need to know as the new year approaches. The power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Donald trumps 2024 Campaign Includes some of his most disciplined advisers to date. But how is it navigating headaches from outside allies and maybe the biggest question, the candidate himself. Kristen holmes is digging in on this. You have some new Exclusive Reporting about this question. When you think donald trump, you definitely dont think discipline. But at least it sounds like from your reporting his campaign is trying to build something around him that is as structured as can possibly be with the candidate with his personality. This is what we want to start with. Were talking about the campaign, as in the operation behind the scenes. They know who he is and donald trump is going to be who he is. When it comes to the campaign, whats striking to me over the last year, this is the most disciplined Campaign Team we have seen. Hes right now led by by two veteran republican strategies who have really worked to manage the message and the media around donald trump. By doing that, that sometimes means picking up the phone and calling people, telling them knock it off if they are leaking to various publications. But what is getting harder as donald trump is inching towards the republican nomination, is that people are coming out of the woodwork, trying to show they have an affiliation to donald trump. They have some sort of relationship with him. They could potentially serve in a second administration. And those people are going around the campaign. They are going directly out to the media to try to essentially sell themselves as anonymous source, but sell themselves as potential picks for a second administration. So this is becoming harder and harder for the campaign to lead a disciplined cycle. How does donald trump himself play into this dynamic that youre reporting about inside his campaign . As one strategist told me, Donald Trumps campaign knows they cannot control him. They are trying to control Everything Else around him. One of the anecdotes we use in this case is that at a recent fundraising dinner, donald trump looked across the table and said who do we think should be vice president. A few minutes later, i got a call. Donald trump was considering these names for vice president. Thats hard to do when your own candidate is putting that out there. Something we know about donald trump is he seeks council from a huge swath of people. So if you are trying to control who he talks to, thats going to be very hard. I dont think they think thats possible, but that might be the biggest hurdle. You cant control the messaging from donald trump himself. That is maybe the biggest understatement of the year. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Great reporting. One thing his campaign is trying to control but its going to be up to Donald Trumps lawyers and the people who are involved in these cases is whether he apeers on the ballot in multiple states where major 14th Amendment cases are playing out. The former president is fighting back against those states considering or at least have already removed him from the ballot because of his role in the january 6th insurrection. Donald trumps legal issues extend far beyond that fight. Hes currently defend ing himsef in cases involving classified documents, january 6th, fraud, election interference, hush money payments, defamation. So how will all of these cases play out . When will they play out in this year ahead . Chief Legal Affairs correspondent paula reid is here to walk us through it. This is very confusing. Theres so much. Were going to try to do it in a linear way. January 4th. S this was the deadline for former President Trump to appeal the colorado Supreme Courts ruling that removed him from the ballot. They said if you can appeal to the Supreme Court by then, they will put their ruling on pause, which means he will be on the pry ballot. Trump has not appealed, even though hes expected to. The Republican Party appealed this ruling. They are a party to this case. They have been fighting in court for their right to list trump on the primary ballot. Its the understanding of the parties we talked to that that appeal is enough to put that colorado decision on hold for now. But were still waiting for that trump appeal. January 9th, 5 days later, a hearing about immunity. A big day. This is an oral argument for this appeal. This has prompted a judge to put the entire federal january 6th trial on pause while the Special Counsel and trumps lawyers argue in court about whether he has immunity or hes at risk of double jeopardy. Sources close to the Trump Legal Team are pretty sure hes not going to prevail on the merits. This is all about timing. Its likely appealed to be the Supreme Court. The trial can move, but that trial cannot start until the appeal it resolve d. So its a constitutional question, but really that day is all about timing. Lets go up to new york, two days later, january 11th. This is closing arguments in the civil fraud trial. This has to do with the trump organization. Its not a criminal case, but its deeply personal. Saw him in court multiple times. We expect the judge to make his decision we expect whatever that is will be appealed. Then five days later, still in new york. E. Jean carroll focusing on damages for her second lawsuit against former President Trump. Just look at that calendar. The first few weeks alone is jam packed. We have never seen anything like this. So that is just the first 16 days of 2024. Audience viewers, get ready to be a little overwhelmed with what were about it to show you. Thats kind of the point. That is the calendar in the first ought months. Of the Election Year. And what he and his legal advisers, what his lawyers are going to have to be dealing with along with his campaign ad advisers. Absolutely. So we also have the hush money trial. This is the first criminal indictment that he faced. This will be in late march. This is the Stormy Daniels hush money case brought by the manhattan da. People forgot about it. That case would be kicked. Its unclear now. The biggest question now is also maralago documents case. Perhaps the most serious case in terms of National Security and legal risk for the former president , that is currently pencilled in in late may, but a lot of the timing was dependent on the January 6th Case. It was widely expected that might get pushed. But if the January 6th Case is delayed, the judge may have Less Authority to push that back. There are reasons she might troy to push that back. I have it scheduled, but its not clear what federal trials he will face this year. Usually our legal correspondents get to take a breath when all of the political reporters in an Election Year are working hard. Sorry. It was really helpful. Thank you for doing that for us. Coming up, some members of congress are retiring rather than facing a tough reelection race. Colorado republican Lauren Boebert has a different strategy. Switch to a safer district. Thats next. Today im announcing my candidacy for the 2024 republican nomination to represent colorados 4th Congressional District in the United States house of representatives. Its the right move for me personally, and its the right decision for those who support our conservative movement. S that was Lauren Boebert announcing that she will run in a different Congressional District in 2024 from the one she represents now. She doesnt actually live there, but it is friendlier to had her brand of politics. One that has been very vocal about for thes past three years. My panel is back with us. Lets just set the table with some facts. First of all, she only won in 2022 by 546 votes. And yet, its not like the 3rd district she represents now is a purple district. Its a red district. Donald trump won there by more than 8 . Its not as red as the one that ken buck is going to leave empty because hes retiring. Donald trump did by 18 . Democrats, republicans, they district shop. Its not a new phenomenon. Its been happening for a long time. But it is fascinating that she is doing this right now, especially given how close it was in 2022. It was so close. It was so close because they ran against Lauren Boebert. The numbers tell you Everything Yo need to know. A republican generic is likely to win the third Congressional District. But people there was a lot to run against her. And she clearly saw the writing on the ball. It will be all better for all of us. I dont know there are a ton of her. Some of them will probably say it publicly, but i dont think theres going to be any love lost for her. So what shes doing is almost guaranteeing that republicans wont lose a seat in congress. Because now that theres a generic republican on the ballot in the third district, its more likely ta republicans can hold on to that seat. But shes not necessarily guaranteeing that she will return to congress, because its already a crowded field in the Fourth District with the the incumbent announcing hes not going to seek another term. Does she come in with a lot of name recognition, sure, but not always for the right reason. Its early. Its day one. But its going to be interesting to see if she clears the field in the Fourth District or whether people say, no, we dont want someone like you representing us in congress. We have other tried and true republicans that are just as conservative without the baggage. I will say in Marjorie Taylor greenes district, that didnt work. People wanted the bombastic and controversial lawmaker. Well see if thats the same in a state like colorado. She has the bombast, shes got the controversy. From her perspective, she has the conservative credentials, not to mention the extremely pro trump. She also has some baggage from the time she won reelection in 2022. Well put up some of the headlines. If you Pay Attention to politics, she had had to apologize because she was kicked out of a live show she was watching. She falsely denied she was vaping. She had to address an incident where she was allegedly being groped. Thats just since 2022. So if you saw how close that race was in 2022 and saw kind of all the headlines she was making for all the reasons, you see why democrats are actually feeling pretty good about that district until obviously this morning, when we saw the announcement the from congressman boebert. This is also a district and a congresswoman that they have been having a lot of fun with. President biden traveled there. You dont see him going to a trump district all too often. But he went there and the white house felt it was effective for him to go there to tout the bipartisan infrastructure, one of the biggest achievements of his presidency. Theres a wind energy manufacturer. He happily calling out boebert for voting against that law. Theres lots of serious issues before this controversy and before the world. That isnt entirely what the former president is focused on this week. Were going to show you what Donald Trumps latest grievance is. It is not getting enough credit for the success of home alone 2. Stay with us. Im free to explore. Im free to learn. Im free to forge my own path. Contra Costa College is free for fulltime students, which makes you free to explore all the incredible opportunities unleashed by higher learning. Start your future and apply today at contracosta. Edu free home alone two, a holiday classic. Who could forget kevin mcalister, aka Mccauley Culkin getting separated from his family in getting lost in new york . He ended up at the iconic plaza hotel, where the then owner stopped him for directions. Excuse me, down the hall and to the left. Thanks. Three years ago, director Chris Columbus explained how he ended up in that movie. He say trump bullied his way, in demanding a cameo in exchange for letting them shoot inside of the plaza. That interview with the resurfaced this week. Trump saw it and posted this on social media last night. He said that i was very busy and didnt want to do it. They were nice, but above all, persistent. That cameo helped make the movie a success. If they didnt want me, why did they put me in and keep me there for over 30 hours because i was, and still am, great for the movie . That is why. Okay. These are the things that give us a window into what matters to the former president right now. I dont know if you saw that, or if he was watching. Watching trying to boost the roiled the royalties. It makes too much sense, of course. He was going to allow cameras into the plaza hotel, which he owns, he must be in front of one of them at some point. Donald trump, this is the thing about him. Remember shooting a stand up at his first iowa state fair, it was packed. My camera man was standing on a ladder. The whole thing was teetering and trump walks through the crowd, looks at me, finds my camera, says to me the words and i asked him a question, he points at it. Anyways, i believe chris. I think that it also shows how he has been able to manufacture his celebrity, put himself into positions to be perceived as a big star. That is how we have the trump that we have today. Okay, well said. You can do the home alone face if you would like. Thank you so much for joining us inside politics, Cnn News Centraral starts a after the b. [laughteter]