Debate Drug Tests, New Docs Evidence, New York Primary
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It's Tuesday, June 25th. Right now on CNN This Morning, Donald Trump demanding a drug test for President Biden and offering to take one himself with just two days to go before the CNN presidential debate.

New evidence released by the special counsel in Trump's classified documents case, including never-before-seen photos from the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago. Voters in New York heading to the polls for a primary election that pro-Israel groups are watching very closely. Plus... The Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup! Celebrations in South Florida. The Panthers capturing their first NHL title, avoiding a historic collapse.

All right, 6:00 AM here in Washington, alive at the White House on this Tuesday morning. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

Drug tests for everyone. That's the request from Donald Trump two days before the historic CNN presidential debate. Trump has been making claims about President Biden needing to be, quote, jacked up for the big night, suggesting that his rival will be taking some kind of performance enhancing drug again with zero evidence. Making these claims. But here they are. Right now, Crooked Joe's gone to a log cabin.

to study, prepare. No, he didn't do, he's sleeping now, cuz they wanna get him good and strong. So a little before debate time, he gets a shot in the- Trump offering to take a drug test too, boasting on Truth Social drug test for Joe Biden. I would also immediately agree to one. The Biden campaign, not really taking the bait. The president is hunkered down at Camp David preparing for Thursday night. His campaign did release this new ad.

Donald Trump loves to attack Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Joe Biden. Because he's focused on revenge and he has no plan to help the middle class. He'd just give more tax cuts to the wealthy. Here's the difference. Donald Trump is only out for himself. Joe Biden is fighting for your family.

There's also some new reporting out this morning on Biden's debate strategy. Advisors urging the president to focus on Trump and not his own first-term achievements. Interesting. All right, our panel's here. Let's bring in CNN senior reporter Isaac DeVere, Megan Hayes, former special assistant to President Biden, and Matt Gorman, the former senior advisor to Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Welcome, all.

You know, another day on the 2024 campaign trail. Another conversation about drug testing for a presidential debate. Isaac, kind of big picture here. I mean, what are we seeing from the Trump team and the Biden team, too, if you want to go there on the preparations here? Because the Biden, the people that surround Trump, excuse me, do seem to be kind of throwing everything at the wall. Yeah, it would suggest that they think that there are reasons,

to doubt how well Donald Trump will do on Thursday night. And this is something that we've seen before. It's every time that there is a moment where Donald Trump or the team around him thinks that he's not going to do well, they throw things like this into the water. And even famously, when he didn't win the Emmys for The Apprentice, he said, this is a long pattern that predates his time in politics. But look, they will be on stage together on

Thursday night. This is the first time that the two of them have debated anyone for four years, and the last people that they debated were each other.

And remember what happened then. It was intense. But also, I think you can go back and look at the video from either of those debates and see that both of them are changed men from that. Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, look, let's take a let's take a walk down memory lane to one of these debates from 2020. We put together a little compilation that may take you back. You graduated.

either the lowest or almost the lowest in your class. Don't ever use the word smart with me. Don't ever use that word. Oh, give me a break. Because you know what? There's nothing smart about you, Joe. The question is... Radical left... Will you shut up, man? Listen, who is on your list, Joe? This is so... All right, gentlemen, I think we've ended this one. This is so unprecedented. And you don't know her.

Matt Gorman, if that Donald Trump shows up on Thursday, is that a problem for Republicans? Yeah, I think that the line he needs to walk... I appreciate the honesty. The line he needs to walk is, in 2016, there was a little bit of a charm and there was a cuttingness in a lot of it, and it was a little bit targeted, and it was effective, obviously. He was also relatively new to the political stage compared to where he was now. Yeah, but not new to TV. Not new to TV. And I think, you know, I know Hillary has... I just mean...

- I didn't mean it that way. I meant like he was fresh to voters in a way that he's not anymore. - I think there's also probably less baggage in his mind, right? There was a little bit less grievance in his mind. And I think that is the Trump I'm looking for in '16. And I think going back to the point

we were making earlier, I think of the famous scene from Isle of Lucy where the chocolates are coming down the conveyor belt and Nathan and Lucy are trying to get them all up in their mouth. What the Trump team has done since he came on the scene to very good effect is throw those chocolates on the conveyor belt and you can't put them all in your mouth at one time. You have to like pick and choose. And I think what they are very good at is blotting out the sun, controlling the narrative. And I think what you're trying to see, they want people talking about Joe Biden's performance. Will he be jacked up as they go? You know, and they want that

to be the focus going into debate. - They're really good at creating chaos. Like, let's be clear, they're creating chaos here because they're stowing doubt in people's mind to like have doubt where like Joe Biden's not gonna do well because of all these other reasons, so therefore Donald Trump will be better. - I would put a little line between chaos and just like causing media fears. I don't think that's, you know-- - It seems chaotic. - But like, it's a little different. - It can be really difficult to deal with. Like, I wrote a book about the 2020 election and one of the things that I got into is what happened in the debate after Joe Biden walked off stage.

And the first thing he said to the aides who came to him was, that was embarrassing. And he was really worried that he did not come off well. He kept saying, I couldn't get a word in. And they had to show him videos of some of the moments, including some of the coverage that was pretty negative about

how the debate had gone and reassure him that people were actually attacking Donald Trump, that the analysis was tilted against Trump and it wasn't just about him. Because remember, we can sit here from the sidelines. It's different when you're on stage and trying to deal with this. Yeah. I mean, look, it's also one of the things about when you're experiencing a presidential debate in person, it's very different from what happens on television, right? It's like it's actually most important to kind of go back

and watch it and see what Americans saw because you'll feel differently in the moment. Megan, one of the elements of this, I mean, look, we know there are some swing voters left in America, right? They're out there and many of them will likely be watching the debate. It could make a difference on those edges, but the country's also incredibly divided and very

in their camps. And one of the sort of overarching themes about this debate, the New York Times kind of framed it this way. The voters watching the debate with a hand over their eyes, they quote one of them who says, Jay Bodenstein, a lifelong Democrat, says that he plans to sit down this week for a night of television he regards with terror. He will not be watching a horror movie. He'll be watching the debate.

And then one of the other people quoted in the story says, quote, it has all the makings of a train wreck with chemical spillage that is lethally toxic. That was Jeffrey Marshall in Arizona. Democrat, there are also, I think in the story there's an account of them playing, you know, bingo, drinking games, like, oh my gosh. There is this sense, I think, for people who are committed on either side of,

fear of how it's going to go. Yeah, there's a little bit of you're going to hold your breath. Yes, you're going to hold your breath to see what happens. But this is why I think the optics matter, right? To your point, President Trump is out there, or former President Trump's out there just throwing, Biden can't even make it to the stage. He will be like a bumbling idiot. So it's like the optics here matter almost more than the substance in a lot of ways. Both of these men have to get up there and give strong performances and be strong and give their delivery with such conviction that I don't think that it's

been judged before in a debate, so it'll be interesting to see, but I do think a lot of people are going to be watching, holding their breath. The question is, are

are either of these guys up to the job, right? That's what it really comes down to. More than, for a lot of people, I think at this point, policy, other than the people who are dug in on it. But like those swing voters, can we really see either of these guys as president for four more years? And that's why it's concerning what you read in the teaser about the Biden team focusing more on Trump and not the first policy, first kind of term policy accomplishments. I mean, we were talking about this a little bit yesterday. I think that that would concern me if I was a Democrat. Like there's need to be an affirmative case there. Certainly Trump is going to make one. I

I can't just be all Trump. I think that was the hole Hillary fell into to her kind of demise in 2016. I think what they mean there is that they're trying to create the contrast there and remind voters how chaotic his presidency was and some of the things that he created chaos around. I think that's what they mean there. I don't think they mean focus on his policies. All right, we've got a lot more to dig into this morning. Coming up next, new photos from Mar-a-Lago just released by the special counsel in Donald Trump's classified documents case.

Plus, Democratic Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan is here to talk about reproductive rights two years after the fall of Roe versus Wade and China's lunar probe returning to Earth with the first rocks ever recovered from the far side of the moon. It's one of the five things you've got to see this morning.

I'm Dr. Sanjay Gupta, host of the Chasing Life podcast. What are some of the social service agencies that have supported you and your family growing up? That's Dr. Robert Waldinger. He's a psychiatrist, a professor, and a Zen master. What kind of relationships actually help us maintain happiness? And what should we do in those moments where we have setbacks and things that don't work out? Listen to Chasing Life, streaming now, wherever you get your podcasts.

All right, new this morning, Special Counsel Jack Smith's office is defending his investigators' handling of classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. In a late night filing, the special counsel's office rebuffing Trump's attempts to have the entire case tossed.

Based on the fact that some of the documents are no longer in the order that they were found in, Jack Smith noted that his investigators found boxes with their contents spilled onto the floor and insists nothing has been lost, much less destroyed, and there has been no bad faith. The court should see Trump's newly invented explanations and his motion for what they are. His latest unfounded accusation against law enforcement professionals

doing their jobs. Isaac, there are pictures that we now have of these classified documents being stored with, here let's put this up, it appears to be

are those golf shirts I think pillows classified documents are reporting says that according to the filing Trump personally chose to keep documents containing some of the nation's most highly guarded secrets in cardboard boxes along with a collection of other personally chosen keepsakes of various sizes and shapes from his presidency newspapers thank you notes Christmas ornaments magazines clothing and photographs of himself and others now classified documents aside like that could be my basement but like what I mean like this

This filing was pretty sharply worded. I mean, clearly things are escalating. - I mean, I feel like I packed up my college dorm room after freshman year a little bit more cleanly than this. - You're referring him to packing up the oval with all this stuff. - Yeah, look, I think one of the things that we're seeing here is that Jack Smith and his team very carefully documented

every part of this and they did it in a way knowing that they would get these kinds of motions and arguments from the Trump team and now as the Trump team is making them they've got new photos, they've got new bits of it, they have more information than they put out initially to undercut this and I think that part of the lesson here would seem to be for Trump's team as you go forward and make these motions they might have more things that will undercut it because they clearly thought this through.

Yeah. Megan, I mean, this would be sort of some hasty packing as Trump is on his way out of the Oval Office. You guys were on your way in at the time you were working for Biden. Yeah. I mean, when we got there, everything was clean as, you know, the White House team does a really great job of doing that. I mean, I just think that this is not unlike when people are moving quickly. So clearly he was moving pretty hastily out. But it's

let's not forget not because he had them if he didn't want to give them back and he didn't want to admit that he had them so it's you know I can see if this is their packing job how you accidentally took some documents but

Very chaotic. It seems, Matt, go ahead. It looks like my second bedroom. I just moved. I had a lot of crap I got to clean out at the show. It's reminding me of some things I need to do. I mean, look, I will say this. I mean, look, Jack Smith is not above scrutiny. He needs to be accountable for these things and he needs to make sure he's defending these things and Trump is ever right to challenge these things. My first thought reading this is also,

You look at the dichotomy between Jack Smith and Fannie Willis, where like, look, regardless of what you think, you're going to prosecute the President of the United States. There's a high bar, obviously not just legally, but in the eyes of the public. You need to have your stuff in a row, and you need to have everything together. You can't do this haphazardly, and you can't go into it just willy-nilly.

And it almost makes me think of more like, wow, like the Georgia folks, like... There's a guy that I used to work for who used to say, you got to play error-free ball. Exactly, right? And so, you know, you're going up against, just again, not an elite court of law. You're going up against, you know, a ton of different things. And it just, the dichotomy could be more clear, no matter what you think of the cases.

All right, coming up next here, how Donald Trump says he's preparing for Thursday night's CNN presidential debate. Plus, Minnesota officials on high alert, a dam on the brink of collapse. This is definitely one of the five things you have to see this morning.

Alright, 23 minutes past the hour. Five things you have to see this morning. Honest Abe, meeting the same fate as the Wicked Witch of the West? He melted! This is not the famous statue on the National Mall. It is a wax sculpture outside a DC school. And as the temperatures hit triple digits around here, poor Abe was left looking like this. Oh dear.

All right, China's lunar probe returning to the Earth with the first samples ever recovered from the moon's unexplored dark side. Scientists are hoping the samples will answer key questions about how planets are formed. We're going to have to get some Pink Floyd going for this. All right. A fire at a recycling plant outside Wichita, Kansas, sending smoke into the air that could be seen for miles. The fire started Sunday. A state of emergency has been declared for the area. And then there's this. The Florida Peltier!

The Florida Panthers earning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history, beating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games. It's now been 31 years since the Canadian team won the Cup.

And local officials say a dam in Minnesota is in danger of total failure after massive flooding in the area. A press conference set to be held later this morning on the condition of the more than 100-year-old structure. Yikes. And another day of devastating river flooding in the upper Midwest after heavy rainfall last week. Let's get straight to our meteorologist, Elisa Rafa, for more on this. Elisa, good morning.

Good morning. You can see where there has been a partial break or breach of the dam on the west side. I mean, look at the debris that's kind of lining parts of this river in Minnesota where you've got some heavy, rushing water, violent water, and it's taking some of that debris with it. Look at how it overcame part of that dam. The rest of it's still intact.

But again, we'll need that update from officials. You can see that we've got the flood warning still in effect south of Mankato, over to Sioux Falls and South Dakota, northwest Iowa, down the Missouri River from Sioux City towards Omaha. Because over the weekend, we got about 10 to 17 inches of rain in this corner right here, parts of South Dakota, northwest Iowa.

Iowa, another cluster of some heavy totals just south there of Mankato. Widespread totals over 4 to 6 inches. Sioux Falls, South Dakota got about 6.5 inches, which makes it its wettest two days on record ever. Here's a look at some of the rivers that are still at moderate or major flood stage. Still 24 of them.

major flood stage right now in parts of South Dakota, that's northwest Iowa, and then southern Minnesota. In Sioux City last night, the Big Sioux River crested at nearly 45 feet, which is way above the record of 37 feet, and 70 people needed to be rescued. Casey? Wow, all right. Elisa Rafa for us this morning. Elisa, thanks very much for that. Coming up next here, Vice President Kamala Harris marking two years since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. This

is a fight for freedom. Plus, why astronauts on the International Space Station just had a sudden change of plans. All right, welcome back. Since the Supreme Court reversed the constitutional right to an abortion two years ago, it's become a winning issue for Democrats in the elections we've seen since. And the party is hoping to capitalize on reproductive rights again this November. Vice President Kamala Harris marked the two-year anniversary of the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade yesterday with this warning about a possible Trump second term.

His friends in the United States Congress are trying to pass a national ban that would outlaw abortion in every single state. And we all know if Donald Trump gets the chance, he will sign that ban.

All right, joining me now is Democratic Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan of Virginia. She serves on the Biden campaign's National Advisory Board. Congresswoman, excuse me. Good morning. Thank you so much for being here. Good morning. Thanks for having me. So the presidential debate set for just two days from now. This is obviously an issue that has been central for Democratic campaigns that we have seen since the fall of Roe versus Wade. Of course, the president will only have so much time that he will be able to decide for himself.

how to direct the conversation, how much of it should be about this issue? I think a significant portion should be about this issue because this is what's top of mind for a lot of women around the country. Women are angry that they've had a constitutional right stripped away. I'm first generation of my family to have a constitutional right stripped away and they voted accordingly in every election since. They're going to vote accordingly now.

At this point, do you feel like President Biden has been an effective advocate on this? We've also seen, of course, Kamala Harris go out there and be on the front. I think he has been an effective advocate. Frankly, women are the most effective advocates because we understand the implications that the fall of Roe has had for our health care and our reproductive freedom. So no one's going to be a better advocate than women.

but the president is, for a man, a pretty good advocate. For a man. So let me broaden out this conversation a little bit because, of course, there's a lot that's facing the president, also the country, as we head in to this. And there's some new

reporting from my colleague Kayla Tausche here at CNN, who says that there are Democrats outside the White House's circle arguing for the president to focus more on Donald Trump than on his own accomplishments. One top Democrat tells her, quote, "He wants the credit, Biden wants the credit, but it's not working."

he needs to stop, and by that they mean he needs to stop trying to sell Biden's policy achievements and instead focus on Donald Trump. Is that the right approach? I think he needs to do both. I think he can do both. What I have seen, particularly you take a state like Virginia, when Democrats don't talk about what they've done, the voters don't know, and they don't vote based on that. I think he needs to do both. In this debate, he's going to show a very clear contrast

between his vision and his record and Donald Trump's vision and Donald Trump's record. So I think the president can and should multitask. We were talking earlier in the show about a New York Times report that voters who have decided which camp they're in, but especially supporters of President Biden, are going to be watching this debate with some level of trepidation. One said, you know, level of terror, worried, of course, that the current president may make a mistake.

that could underscore the weaknesses that the Trump campaign would prefer to highlight. Are you nervous about the possibility of President Biden's performance not being up to par? You know, I'm not. He is constantly underestimated and he constantly rises to the occasion. I heard the same fears and trepidations for the State of the Union. He knocked it out of the park.

I think the president is going to show a very forceful and clear contrast between a second Biden term and a second Trump term, and I'm not worried at all. - We've also been discussing here, and my colleague Ron Brownstein, who was on earlier in the show, has talked about a key shift

for Democrats heading into this election. And that's, in the past you were able to assume that if you were getting low propensity, particularly minority voters out to vote, young voters out to vote, that they were gonna back the Democratic candidate. And that we are seeing data that suggests that that's not true anymore, and that that may actually benefit a Republican candidate. How does that, has that changed how you think

about campaign politics? You know, I have always thought that we need to focus on the candidate and their vision and their policy because in any given election you have about maybe 20 percent of the electorate that are Democrats and that's how they're voting. 20 percent are Republicans and that's how they're voting and the swing is the independents in the middle.

And so I think you can't take anything or anybody for granted and you need to make sure that you are running a persuasion campaign to everyone to get them out. And again, when we don't do that, we lose. We saw that in Virginia in 2021. We saw that, some would argue, in 2016. And I think Democrats have learned that lesson.

All right, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, thank you so much for being with us this morning. I really appreciate your time. Thank you. All right, let's turn back to the 2024 race. Let's continue talking about it, I should say. And this week's CNN presidential debate, President Biden and Donald Trump, you may remember, have debated each other before. However, there is one woman who has debated them both. In a new op-ed published this morning, the former Secretary of State and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said,

offering some advice for fellow viewers of the debate. She says, quote, we should try not to get hung up on the theatrics of Thursday's debate. This is ahead of this. It's a new book she's publishing this fall with Simon & Schuster that they say will offer a glimpse into her marriage faith career. And perhaps it will bring us behind the scenes into some of these moments.

The rest of us weren't tough enough on them. They have turned the court upside down. My Social Security payroll contribution will go up, as will Donald's, assuming he can't figure out how to get out of it. But what we want to do is to replenish the Social Security trust fund. Okay, remember that, Isaac. So...

First of all, Hillary Clinton popping up a couple days before the presidential debate to announce a new book and telling folks what to look for here. I mean, you covered her campaign. So did I, I should say. I thought it was kind of interesting she popped up there. That glimpse we got of Joe Biden back in that debate also. Wow. Well, I mean, that was 2008, right? Or 2007, probably from that.

We were all a lot younger. Let's just put it that way. I think it was October of 2020, I was interviewing Hillary Clinton. And I said to her, why do you think that every time you pop up, people say, oh, God, here she comes again? And she said to me that she thought it was guilt on the part of people who hadn't done enough to get her elected.

So look, Hillary Clinton is somebody who clearly wanted to be president. She tried a lot. She is not going to be the president of the United States. And she does still want to be part of the conversation. She feels like she has a thing to say here. I don't think that before that op-ed was published, there were a lot of people thinking, oh, Hillary Clinton is the only person who debated both of these guys. But it is true. She was on stage with Joe Biden. I would say that in those 2007 debates, for the most part,

many people did not know that Joe Biden was there. It was really a Clinton-Obama situation. But she is the one who debated Donald Trump in 2016. - How do I put this tactfully, Megan?

Is Hillary Clinton's emergence into this conversation helpful to the Biden team? I mean, I don't think it's unhelpful, right? I think that there were some points in there that she made that I think are helpful. Like when she was saying that Biden has facts and truth on his side, right? That's a good point to make. Also, when she pointed out how they talk about people, I think that's an interesting thing to say, especially with Trump making those comments about the UFC and the migrants and

than the contrast of Joe Biden being such an empathetic leader. So I do think, I mean, it's not unhelpful to them. I don't think that there's anything that we're all like, oh my gosh, we didn't know that beforehand, but it is bringing more things to the point or to the forefront here. But I mean, there are points there that I do think are positive and helpful to the campaign. Yeah, I would say probably the Republicans are a little more excited that Hillary emerged to read the Biden campaign in this regard. One thing that stood out to me, look, it was a standard surrogate op-ed. It wasn't earth shattering stuff, but-

One that stood out to me, and I disagree in not a partisan way, but just a philosophical point of way, when she's talked about how it's not about theatrics. And I said this to a candidate I was in debate prep with. I said, look, we have to stop idealizing these debates. They're television shows. You hit your mark, you say your lines, and you get off. And I compared this person to another person who was doing it very, very well. And I think we talked a little about at the start of the show, these things at their heart, they're television productions.

And the candidates are, whether we like it or not, they're actors in it. And that's how we perceive these things. That's the way I think of it. You know, earlier in the show, we played the clip of Joe Biden saying, will you shut up? Right. That was one of those moments of Biden really breaking it, breaking the format a little bit. And it broke through to people.

It reminds me a little of when Kamala Harris was getting ready to launch her presidential campaign in 2018. She was talking with advisors and they asked her what she would do if she were in a debate like the one that Clinton was in, that town hall debate where Trump was stalking around behind her, which she mentions in the op-ed. And Harris's response then was that she would turn around and say to him, "Why are you being so weird?"

Now, obviously, she never got to debate Trump. But I do think that one of the questions that is facing Biden as he goes into Thursday is how he will handle moments where Trump does something that is not perhaps right out of the Lincoln-Douglas playbook for debate. The old school playbook, yes.

Yes. No, I mean, look, I think it should be fair to President Biden. I mean, he has taken those opportunities and typically seen positive responses to them. We saw a little bit of that in the State of the Union as well. So I guess we'll see. All right. Coming up next here, Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert about to find out if a big political gamble will pay off for her at the polls. Plus, former New York Congressman Lee Zeldin is here to talk about Thursday night's presidential debate.

Trump is also gearing up for the big debate Thursday. He's trying to manage expectations with claims that Joe Biden will be on drugs. Yes, all jacked up on extra strength Metamucil.

With the CNN debate just two days away, it's crunch time for President Biden and former President Trump as they prepare for the first showdown since 2020. President Biden remained at Camp David yesterday. He and a close circle of aides were preparing for the debate over a dinner of lasagna. Trump, meanwhile, bouncing ideas off his supporters, saying in a podcast that aired yesterday, that's all the prep he needs.

I'm preparing by taking questions from you and others, if you think about it. We had a great meeting just now in Philadelphia at the shop. You saw that with all the wonderful people. We just left Faith and Freedom in D.C., and that was incredible. But I'm preparing by dealing with you. You're tougher than all of them.

And joining me now is former Republican Congressman from New York, Lee Zeldin. He is supporting Trump in the upcoming election. Congressman, thanks so much for being here. - Good morning. - So are you confident that the Donald Trump that we're gonna see show up on Thursday night is someone who is gonna help his campaign? - I actually think both President Trump and President Biden show up Thursday alert, prepared, serious.

I think that there's going to be a substantive discussion on a number of issues. Obviously, the moderators have the burden in asking the questions to be able to get to a lot of top concerns for voters. And whether it's economic issues or safety concerns or six, seven, eight other things that you can mention, the time is going to go by very quickly. I would actually expect both of them to show up prepared and alert.

Let's remind everyone a little bit of what it was like the last time. One of the last times these two met on stage, the kind of back and forth that we saw. Let's watch this. You're the worst president America has ever had. In 47 months, I've done more than you've done in 47 years. They were teaching people that our country is a horrible place. It's a racist place. And they were teaching people to hate our country. And I'm not going to allow that to happen. Nobody's doing that. He's just...

He's the racist. Our suburbs would be gone, and you would see problems like you've never seen before. He would know a suburb unless he took a wrong turn. Oh, I know suburbs so much better. Go ahead. Wait a minute. I was raised in the suburbs. This is not 1950. If we see moments like that on Thursday, how is it going to impact the election?

Well, I think there's going to be a lot of people tuning in who actually haven't made their minds up. I was on last night, you know, Phil Mattingly was guest hosting for Jake, and I think that there are people tuning in that want to make a decision based on substance.

And what you have shown with the CBS News polls yesterday, with one hour after the next, that the top issues are economic concerns, safety issues. Over the course of the last couple of weeks, there have been headlines of, for example, related to the border, from members of ISIS who have been arrested to 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds who have been raped. There are stories of single women being murdered. There's concerns about the border.

And there are policies, if you look at the Trump administration of what he implemented to build the border wall, remain in Mexico, Title 42, and then catch and release. President Biden came in on day one and it was a top priority to roll back a lot of these policies. Now there is that question of what happens in January of 2025 if President Biden is saying that

He wants to secure the border. Well comes down to now both presidents have proven that they have the power Both to open the border and the power to close the border So why don't you just do it now if that's something that you're serious about and that's an example of one of the issues That if you ask me what do I want to see I want to see that back and forth flushing out not just their record But also what they want to do going forward and I also think that elections should be won not by how well you articulate what you're against but

My hope for all elections is always that elections are won primarily based off of what you're for. And that uplifting positive vision for the future is what I think those undecided voters tuning in are going to want to see.

- Congressman, how do you think President Trump should answer questions when he is pressed about January 6th, if he is pressed about January 6th? He's been starting off some of his rallies arguing that the, he calls them the January 6th hostages should be pardoned. I imagine there are a lot of these swing voters, you say, still making up their minds, who don't know that that's what he says at his rallies, 'cause they don't see them. Is that something he should bring to the debate stage? - I think the conversation over attacks on democracy has changed a lot now that President Trump is

They're going after him criminally. They're trying to lock him up forever. They want to bankrupt him and his family. There have been states that are trying to remove his name from the ballot altogether, denying Americans the right to choose for themselves who they want to pick in November. Just before the 2020 election, we all saw how the story about the Biden laptop was quote unquote Russian propaganda. It was censored, the 51 intelligence officers.

The conversation about attacks on democracy doesn't have to be however the question is framed by the moderator just wanting to talk about one dynamic in one day. I think that a lot of Americans right now are seeing President Biden and his allies as attacking democracy by trying to remove President Trump from the ballot altogether, for example. I mean, do you think the people that were arrested after January 6th are hostages?

- Well, I don't view everybody differently. I mean, there were some, I was in the Capitol that day, I was on the House floor that day, and for somebody who comes into the Capitol and they vandalize, they hurt other people, that's different than coming in another entrance where a Capitol Police officer is basically holding the door and high-fiving. So there were some people who broke through windows

and harmed and looted, and there were others who basically were invited in and walked through like terrorists staying within the rope line of Statuary Hall. So I don't view every single person who ended up showing up at the Capitol that day the same way, no. You have yourself experienced political violence. You're thankfully one of the few. Do you have any concerns about where our country stands in terms of kind of the

the volatility or the potential volatility in this moment? Yeah, and it's actually a lot worse than what we see in what gets reported. We might hear of some death threat to some member of Congress. We all saw what happened with Steve Scalise getting shot.

There have been a lot of incidents that we hear about and we cringe for and we hope that never happens again, but most never even make it to the press. I can't tell you how many times I've been targeted with some type of a death threat that you don't put out a press release. And it happens to members of Congress all of the time.

So when you are a leader, there are people who follow you and the key is that you need to be leading these people rather than get followed by them. And there are people who, in all parties, at all times, who are willing to follow that lead of that person who puts out a call. And I think rhetoric is important. I think there are a lot of Americans who believe that there's a time for politics and there's a time for government.

The people will decide in November. Then there's an oath of office that gets administered in January. And regardless of whether you have a Republican or Democratic president, a Republican or Democratic Congress, you have a job to try to find common ground however possible to move the country forward. That's the type of rhetoric in progress I think that most Americans, especially the Americans tuning in on Thursday who haven't made their mind up, that's what's going to be their hope for the future. Do you think Donald Trump is living up to what you say, that leaders should use rhetoric that

discourages political violence? - Well, listen, there's a lot that I would say, as far as President Trump, what he has said, stuff that President Biden has said, that is not maybe what my particular style is, but President Trump is a fighter. He is on offense. I'm sure he'll be on offense again on Thursday. President Biden has shown up at these debates and he's been ready to fight and he's been alert and he's been giving it to President Trump.

And ultimately, I think that a lot of Americans also look for people to step up, to be strong, to be forceful. Again, not just talking about, my preference is for that positive, uplifting message.

But I do think that a lot of people also want to see that contrast outlined. And this is high stakes, talking about President of the United States. And I think sleeves are going to be rolled up. And they're also going to be showing up on Thursday to do battle. And I would not discourage both of the candidates to show up and just shy away from these tough debates on these issues as well, even if at times, you know, a rhetoric might ruffle feathers of those who prefer a positive, uplifting message. All right. Congressman, thank you very much for your time this morning. I really appreciate you being here.

Alright, 55 minutes past the hour, here's your morning roundup. Lawyers for Hunter Biden once again seeking a new trial following his conviction on federal gun charges. The move comes a week after a previous motion was withdrawn by Hunter's defense team without explanation. An Arizona election worker arrested for allegedly stealing a security fob and keys from the Maricopa County Election Center. The fobs are used with special secure tablets during the election.

All of them must now be reprogrammed at the cost of $19,000. Two American astronauts scrapping plans for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station. NASA calling it off after a water leak in the cooling unit of one of the spacesuits was detected.

Julian Assange is a free man this morning. The WikiLeaks founder accepting a plea deal related to his role in one of the largest leaks of classified material in American history. Under the deal, Assange will plead guilty but avoid any time in a U.S. prison.

All right, once again, it's primary day with closely watched races in New York and Colorado that will decide the political future of two high-profile House incumbents. In New York, the Democratic Congressman Jamal Bowman is up against establishment candidate George Latimer in a $20 million effort by pro-Israel groups to oust him over his criticism of the war in Gaza. In Colorado, Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert faces her first test since switching districts, and after getting...

thrown out of a theater last fall for vaping and shall we say lewd behavior both bowman and bobert hoping to keep the incumbent hot streak going so far just one sitting house lawmaker has lost their primary this cycle the panel is back guys this this primary new york very closely watched and i want to play a little bit of what um we have been hearing from jamal bowman he was at you know a rally um

with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over the weekend. She came in for him. Let's just give a little taste of, because, I mean, we've got to bleep the language. It gives you a feel for how this race is playing out right now. Jamal Bowman dared to speak up for Palestinians. AIPAC doesn't give a damn about us. AIPAC doesn't give a damn about the Bronx. So we're going to roll up our sleeves.

And we gonna let the guns out. We gonna show them who the f***. AIPAC is scared to death.

Hmm. Are they though? Because I mean, this looks like a candidate who thinks he might be losing. Not at all. He's going to lose by 20 points, number one. And it's not going to be because of AIPAC. It's because Latimer has been known in the district for 25 years. He's actually run on the issues. I'll give him credit of that. And Massapequa, which is like where Hillary Clinton used to live, and might still live, or Chappaqua. It's, yeah, Chappaqua. They don't care about this stuff. He's not even in the district when he's saying this stuff. And Boebert, I think, should be fine.

- Yeah, look, four years ago, I knocked on the door of Elliot Engel, who was the congressman that Bowman beat. That door was in Maryland. He was hiding out there during COVID and lying about being in his district. That's part of why Bowman won. Bowman-- - It was specific to that moment in time, is what you're saying, right? - Yes, yes. But it was also this feeling that the district didn't have

I feel like it was having a good representative in Washington. And Bowman, when you talk to people about it, this is about Israel for sure and the comments that he's made, but it's also about people feeling like Bowman has been too caught up in some of the larger ideological squad issues. Remember that incident where he pulled the fire alarm and there's a lot of criticism about that.

So he has created a weakness for himself over years that then groups like AIPAC, but not just AIPAC, have been capitalizing on. I think most people go into tonight expecting that it's Latimer's race to lose. We'll see. New York primaries can be a little bit weird. And certainly the New York City Board of Elections has a spotted track record. Yeah, we may or may not know him, Armin.

Megan, I mean, will you see this race as, we've obviously been talking about the local dynamics of the race. How do you view it in terms of a party that's trying to decide, has a very uneasy alliance right now between its progressive wing and its establishment one? No, I think that this is very implemented of that, but I also think that this is why we have elections. He no longer is representing the views of his district and they are going to vote and he probably will end up losing his primary, but this is why we have elections. This is important to have primaries.

All right. It seems like Bowman may not go back. Boebert, it seems, on track to come back next year. All right. Thanks to our panel for being with us today. Thanks to all of you for joining us. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.

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