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State of the Union

Interview With State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-MI); Interview With Sen. James Lankford (R-OK); Interview With Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD). Aired 9-10a ET

Aired March 30, 2025 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:47]

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN HOST (voice-over): Chat-astrophe. President Trump tries to put a lid on a national security nightmare...

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's all a witch-hunt.

BASH: ... as top officials dodge blame amid concerns about their competence.

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Nobody's texting war plans.

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are standing behind our entire national security team.

BASH: Does this really mean case closed? Intelligence Committee Senator James Lankford joins me exclusively.

And looking for a leader. Democrats start to position themselves for 2028.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): The Democratic brand is toxic right now.

GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD): You have got to deliver results. Look at what's happening in the states.

BASH: What do their voters want to see to win? Democratic Governor Wes Moore is here exclusively.

Plus: Too close for comfort? Republicans fret over two deep-red House seats in the first major test since Trump's election.

KEN MARTIN, CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We have these guys on the run.

BASH: Could Democrats really close the gap? Our panel of experts is here to break it down.

(END VIDEOTAPE) BASH: Hello. I'm Dana Bash in Washington, where the state of our union is counting the ways that President Donald Trump's second term is night and day from his first.

The president is rounding out a highly consequential week of cracking down on dissent here at home, from deportations to vaccine policy to history itself. And what is really remarkable given Trump's history is the way he and his team appear largely united in that goal, in public, at least.

The president is defending his top national security aides after a stunning leak of what many experts tell CNN was damaging classified information about a strike in Yemen, as some of his top allies in Congress voice mild concerns about the national security fallout.

Here with me now is Senator James Lankford. He is a member of the Intelligence and Homeland Security committees and the author of a new book, "Turnaround: America's Revival."

Thank you for being here, sir.

I want to get straight to this question of this potential national security breach. The Senate Armed Services Committee chair, Roger Wicker, he said the incident -- quote -- "raises questions as to the use of unclassified networks to discuss sensitive and classified information."

He wants the Pentagon inspector general to investigate. Do you also want an independent investigation into how all of this happened?

SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): It's entirely appropriate for the inspector general to be able to look at it and to be able to ask two questions.

One is, obviously, how did a reporter get into this thread in the conversation? And the second part of the conversation is, when individuals from the administration are not sitting at their desk in a classified setting on a classified computer, how do they communicate to each other?

Currently, it's through encrypted apps is how that communication happens. The next question is, is that the right way to be able to do it? Obviously, that's the way it has been done for quite a while now while they're out on the road.

But I do want to remind everybody this is about the Houthis attacking the Americans. That's -- the story behind the story here is that Houthis have attacked American ships 170-some-odd times. So, for the Trump administration to push back on them is an entirely appropriate thing to be able to do.

And they are pushing back on them strong to be able to stop their attack on American warships.

BASH: Yes. Yes, and certainly nobody is questioning that. The question is about the plans and whether or not it was appropriate to be discussing them on the app that we were just discussing.

You said it's appropriate for the inspector general to look at it. Are you calling on the inspector general to do so? Because we don't believe that's happened yet?

LANKFORD: I do believe that Roger Wicker has actually called on that, that Jack Reed and Roger Wicker together have gone back and said, hey, we need to have the inspector general be able to take a look at this...

BASH: And you agree with that?

LANKFORD: ... to be able to examine that.

I do. I think it's entirely appropriate. Again, there's two questions. One is, how did a reporter get in this conversation? And the second one is, how do members of the administration talk to each other when they're on the road on things that are clearly timely? The launch of an American strike on the Houthis is a timely issue. They can't all go to their desk, sit in a SCIF to be able to have that dialogue.

Where and how do they have that dialogue? What's the most secure way to do it?

BASH: The national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said it was a mistake to use Signal. He has taken responsibility.

[09:05:06]

The defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has not, even though he's the one who shared this specific information about the timing and aircraft being used in this strike. Should he take responsibility as well, Senator?

LANKFORD: I think he just joined into an encrypted app. I don't see it as much of an issue because, again, they all believe that this was a closed circle of conversation. He was trying to give each other a heads-up of what's about to happen, as we had given a heads-up to our foreign partners overseas as well to let them know what was about to happen as well.

BASH: But...

LANKFORD: So this is normal communication on it. What's not normal is having a reporter in the middle of it.

BASH: You have no doubts about Secretary Hegseth's leadership?

LANKFORD: No, that -- I don't see this as an issue of leadership, nor I have -- I have heard some people calling for his resignation. I think that's way overkill in this. He is stepping in and has actually led a very successful first attack here on somebody that had attacked the United States over and over again.

During the Biden administration had very limited response. Pete Hegseth has actually organized and coordinated an initial response to pushback and make them stop.

BASH: I want to turn to the economy. President Trump announced a 25 percent tariff on all foreign-made cars and auto parts. He told NBC News he couldn't care less if carmakers raise their prices. And he said -- quote -- "I hope they raise their prices, because, if they do, people are going to buy American-made cars."

You know that's not how it works. Parts of foreign cars are made here. Parts of American cars are made abroad. It's all connected. Do you support these auto tariffs, even if it means Americans will pay more?

LANKFORD: Yes, I don't think Americans want to pay more for their automobiles. And, right now, North America actually cooperates together to be able to build many of America's cars.

BASH: Right.

LANKFORD: You will have a Ford Bronco, for instance, cross back and forth between Mexico and the United States several times as far as parts and manufacturing there.

So, Canada, the United States, and Mexico have cooperated together. The USMCA that President Trump negotiated has been a key part of a longstanding supply chain that's actually been developed among North America. A lot of manufacturers, BMW and others, that are foreign manufacturers, Toyota, Nissan, we can go on and on, have come to the United States to actually build vehicles here.

BASH: Yes.

LANKFORD: That's the key goal of this that I hear from President Trump is, we want more manufacturing in the United States and we want to encourage those folks that are around the world that plan to sell Americans cars come here to be able to build them.

That helps American jobs.

BASH: So you're OK with these tariffs?

LANKFORD: And it also will bring prices down as well.

I'm OK with the start of the negotiations on this. I think the push is a long-term push on this. This has...

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Well, it sounds like they're not negotiations. He's going to put them into effect starting this week.

LANKFORD: He is going to put them into effect starting this week, as he's done in several other tariffs that he's put it out there and said that's going to start this day, and then, when Mexico came to the table or when Canada came to the table or when Japan came to the table, they immediately came back down and said, all right, let's start talking about how we're going to negotiate this. Vietnam is already talking about changing their tariff barriers.

Multiple other countries are doing that. So this is a negotiation. With President Trump, it's all a negotiation to see what are we going to do long term. I feel like in some ways in the economy this is kind of like a kitchen remodel or a bath remodel.

There's a bit of a mess at the beginning, but everybody has a long- term look of where we're headed. It's going to be noisy for a little while, but we all know where we're headed trying to reduce the prices for Americans and increase jobs.

BASH: Well, on that note, in your book that I mentioned, you write that Americans voted for Donald Trump because they -- quote -- "decided the nation needed a turnaround election."

In this past week, inflation ticked back up. Stocks went down again. Americans are increasingly pessimistic about the economy, worried about a recession. It's harder to find a job. Is Trump failing to deliver on the kind of turnaround Americans were hoping for that you write about?

LANKFORD: We are less than three months into the administration at this point, so I think we have got a ways to go to be able to determine anything related to that.

This is the first days of trying to be able to stop some of the failed policies, quite frankly. The border is much more secure. I think that was a key area that a lot of Americans said they don't like the chaos of the border. If we go back a year-and-a-half ago, we had 12,000 people a day that were illegally crossing the border. Now we have less than 200 even attempting to cross the border.

BASH: But on the economy...

(CROSSTALK)

LANKFORD: That's a dramatic turnaround.

Right. Well, that -- on the economy, it's the same thing. We're in the early days, as I mentioned before. A lot of people are looking long- term on this, not short-term, as we do typically in the stock market. It's not what happens in a week. It's what happens in a year or two years, three years, five years, 10 years, where people see the real growth.

The initial push right now is, let's get rid of the reciprocal tariffs that are out there, where a lot of -- I'm sorry, do reciprocal tariffs, try to push down tariffs that are high overseas and to be able to bring those down. That's a key feature that will help our economy long term.

[09:10:05]

Getting more manufacturers coming to the United States, as we have seen multiple entities from around the world moving to do more manufacturing in the United States just in the last three months... BASH: Yes.

LANKFORD: ... literally trillions of dollars of investment coming back our way, that will have a long-term impact.

So I don't think we're going to judge what's going to happen a year from now by what happened in a week.

BASH: I want to turn to the arrest of Rumeysa Ozturk. She is a Turkish Ph.D. student at Tufts University. The video that we have appears to show men in plainclothes grabbing and handcuffing her, taking her away in a van.

Now, the Trump administration claims that she engaged in activities in support of Hamas. They're apparently referring to an op-ed she wrote criticizing Tufts' response to Gaza protests. You're on the Intelligence Committee. Have you seen any evidence that she took action to support Hamas?

And, just more broadly, are you comfortable with the government arresting and trying to deport someone who is here legally and who as of right now has not been charged with a crime?

LANKFORD: So, a couple things on that.

No, we have not gone through the intelligence. At least I have not gone through the intelligence report specifically in that case. But I would tell you, there is a requirement that, if you're a student or under a legal visa here in the United States and you're supporting a terror organization, you can be removed from the United States. That is current federal law.

That has been used in the past and should be used again. We should not have individuals that are here under a tourist visa, student visa, work visa that actually come in and abuse that system to be able to undermine the United States.

BASH: And...

LANKFORD: So this is not a suppression of free speech, just saying Americans have the rights of free speech. But if you're a foreigner coming into our country and you're coming to undermine our country, whether it's in support of terrorism or not, that should be something we do not allow.

BASH: Right. And I totally understand the difference. My question is, do you need to see the evidence of what you just discussed, that she actually supported a terrorist organization?

LANKFORD: I would assume that a...

BASH: And are you OK with her not being charged with a crime as she's being held in prison?

LANKFORD: Well, she's being held initially to be able to say, this is the charge that's out there. So that's pretty normal for anyone that is then arrested or then is picked up and detained. When you're not legally present in the United States or when you're under a visa in the United States and there's an accusation, you are picked up and to be able to be held at that point to say we have some real questions here on behavior and what's happening.

As we saw during the Biden administration, there were multiple individuals that were then picked up, charged and then released and then they later committed crimes. What the Trump administration is trying to do is make sure that doesn't happen or they don't have something that actually inspires additional terrorism acts in the United States.

So she should have due process. She's under a legal visa. That's entirely appropriate.

BASH: OK, I think they took her visa away.

But I do want to move on to measles, because the outbreak is escalating. It was in Texas. Now it has spread to your state, as you know, Oklahoma.

LANKFORD: It is.

BASH: The HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., repeatedly downplayed the outbreak. He also just pushed out the FDA's top vaccine safety official.

And, unlike you, he has resisted telling people to get vaccinated against the measles. Are you comfortable with all of this?

LANKFORD: Well, I'm comfortable with his testimony when he actually went through the nomination process. He supported the measles vaccine and he talked about the entire childhood schedule of vaccines and encouraged that and said that is not something that HHS is going to discourage families from doing.

This particular outbreak in Texas is concerning. We have got 400 people now in Texas that have -- now have measles. This broke out in a religious community that they're opposed to the any vaccines based on religious grounds. That's a little more tricky in our system.

We're obviously not going to push people to be able to violate their faith.

BASH: And...

LANKFORD: But, as you mentioned, I have been vaccinated for measles. My family has been. I hope one day my grandchildren are. I'm going to continue to be able to tell people this is a great, lifesaving vaccine and it really protects children.

BASH: And just real quick, just beyond the measles, what Peter Marks, the FDA official I was talking about who resigned, said is: "It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but he wants to be subservient to the confirmation of misinformation and lies." That's some pretty strong stuff. You're not concerned about it?

LANKFORD: It is strong.

Yes, that -- I am concerned. I'm concerned twofold. One is if he's making that strong of a statement coming out on it, it's pretty clear why RFK Jr. actually released him and said, hey, there's a real difference of opinion of where things will go on this.

But there's a lot of other scientists that are still there. There are other scientists that are joining in. He has been -- RFK Jr. has been clear he supports vaccines, and especially the childhood schedule on this. The president has been very clear on his support of vaccines.

[09:15:00]

So I don't see the administration pushing to be able to remove this in any means at all. And I have been clear, multiple other folks have been clear as well, and health professionals in Texas have also been clear that the measles vaccine does protect children's lives, and it's really important that people take that, because an infant cannot have that vaccine.

So an infant is very exposed to measles if an outbreak actually occurs.

BASH: Senator James Lankford, thank you so much for being here this morning. I appreciate it.

LANKFORD: You bet. Glad to be able to do it.

BASH: And up next: All of a sudden, Republicans are starting to sweat. This week, could they actually lose seats in districts where Donald Trump won big just a few months ago?

And Democrats look to the future. My next guest has a plan to turn things around, he says. He is a potential 2028 candidate. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:14]

BASH: Welcome back to STATE OF THE UNION.

This week, Democrats began to see a glimmer of hope for the future, as Republicans, going all the way up to President Trump, are starting to sweat just a bit about some key House elections this coming Tuesday.

But if some voters are turning on Trump, the question is whether Democrats are poised to seize the moment.

Here with me now is a Democrat trying to help his party find its way, Maryland Governor Wes Moore.

Thank you so much for joining me, sir. I appreciate it. MOORE: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: You said earlier this month that Democratic voters are justified in being -- quote -- "angry."

I want you to listen to what your fellow Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom said this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWSOM: These guys are crushing us. The Democratic brand is toxic right now. The problem with the Democratic brand, we talk down to people, we talk past people. We're in a panic, I get it, for good reason. This guy's not screwing around, right? But we need to own our mistakes and we need to own what's wrong with our party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Governor Moore, do you agree with that assessment of your party? Is the Democratic Party brand toxic right now?

MOORE: Well, I think that this is not a new thing, because people have policies that haven't worked for them.

I mean, I'm a product of broken policies, right? One of my earliest memories was watching my father die in front of me because he didn't get the health care he needed, that my mother didn't get her first job that gave her benefits until I was 14 years old. And this is a woman who went on to earn a master's degree.

So these conversations about inequitable pay and wage gaps and why it's so difficult for working families to get ahead, it's not an academic exercise to me. I grew up in it. And I don't need a white paper to explain it.

And I think that that's why the answer for going forward -- and, again, I don't think it's my job to help the Democrats come out of the wilderness. It's my job to make sure that this is Maryland's decade.

BASH: Yes.

MOORE: But the thing that I know is that we have got to make sure that it's not about a talking point. It's not about what's the right slogan. It's about delivering results.

And that's why I think the answer, what we're seeing here in the state of Maryland, where we have added over -- added close to 100,000 jobs since I have been the governor, more jobs in my first two years than the previous administration added in eight years, that we have been able to have historic drops in violent crime in the state of Maryland.

The last time that the homicide rate in Baltimore city was this low, I wasn't born yet. These are results. And I think that's what people are hoping for, and not just what's the right slogan that's going to move us to a higher platform.

BASH: Is that the same answer to the question that you have posed about why so many young men have left your party?

I mean, young men, this is a group that Joe Biden won by double digits in 2020. Donald Trump won young men in 2024. That's a huge swing. So was it your policies? Was it your message? Or is it both?

MOORE: Well, I think about the foundation for our race in the first place.

It was young people, and a lot of it was young men, because I think we were speaking to them and not speaking at them. I think we were bringing them into (AUDIO GAP) because, if you look at the data that we have about young men in our society, there is a falloff.

The level of suicide rate for young men has exploded, when you're looking at the fact that the un -- that the employment rate and the job participation numbers have not grown for young men in this country since 1964.

BASH: And, Governor, you did that on a state level.

MOORE: So, we haven't put together a real focus on it.

BASH: Forgive me. You did that on a state level.

MOORE: Yes.

BASH: Are you saying that that is something that is missing in your party on a national level?

MOORE: I think everybody needs to address the fact that, if you look at the data and what happened, and the reason that we have really gotten here is if you just look at the data, that 30, 40 years ago, that there was a real falloff with young women and there was a big push, a policy push, towards making sure that we're directing more support towards our young women.

Now what's happened is, the pendulum has swung. You have got to follow the data.

And that's why, in Maryland, we have made it an all-of-government and all-of-society effort to be able to do things like get more men inside of the classroom, to get more men inside of health care, to make sure that we're doing things like reforming of a juvenile justice system and providing more supports for young boys that are falling into the juvenile justice system and giving them a legitimate shot at having a second chance, that this is not just going to be good for young men.

It's going to be good for our large society. So I'm proud of the fact that Maryland is leading the charge on this, but I do want this to be a larger national conversation about what are we doing to bring young men back into the fold, because it's not just about elections. It's about the future of our society that we can solve this challenge.

BASH: Governor, I want to ask about an executive order that President Trump signed this week. He put Vice President Vance in charge of removing -- quote -- "improper ideology" from the Smithsonian Institution museums.

[09:25:08]

And the order specifically calls out the African American History and Culture Museum. Now, you are the only black governor currently serving, only the third ever elected. What do you make of that order?

MOORE: I just find it deeply disrespectful that their definition of making America great again is actually challenging some of the things that makes America great in the first place, that we are an ecosystem where we have invited people from all around the world to be part of this larger American journey.

And loving your country does not mean lying about its history. Loving your country does not mean diminishing those who have helped to make this country so powerful and make America so unique in world history in the first place. And so we have got to put a core focus not on eliminating nor erasing history, but on lifting it up, on celebrating it, on understanding that the American mosaic is big and it's broad and it's beautiful.

And that's one of the things that makes us so powerful, that I am standing here. I remember, on my inauguration day, I actually started down at the docks in Annapolis, not just because it's beautiful. I started there because that was one of this country's first and largest slave ports. And we had a wreath-laying, and then we actually marched from the docks to the Statehouse, where I was inaugurated as the first black governor of this -- of our state.

And I explain to people, that's not indoctrination. That's history. It's a joint collective history and it's one that we should be celebrating, talking about the history of this country, all parts of it, flaws and all, because that's what gives America strength. And that's what makes us move forward.

BASH: Governor, we're almost out of time. I do want to ask about the one-year anniversary this week. It's been a year since you and I spoke on this show after the tragic and deadly collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

"The Washington Post" reported this week that lenient safety requirements and lax state oversight made the bridge and the workers there less safe. Does the state of Maryland bear any responsibility for the collapse and the lives lost?

MOORE: You know, this past year, we -- this past week, we did celebrate the year anniversary of one of the most tragic moments in our state's history.

And we spent time with the six family members who lost people. We spent time with the first responders. And that was a crisis that happened solely because of the reckless, reckless behavior and the reckless operators of the Dali, who allowed a ship to leave knowing that ship had faulty errors.

And so I know that the NTSB -- and we have been working very closely with the NTSB, where they first released a report in 1991 and then a report in 2009 explaining that there were close to 70 bridges around the country, to include the Golden Gate, to include the Brooklyn Bridge, that they said had capacity challenges.

BASH: OK.

MOORE: But the reason that we had to mourn those families is because of these reckless operators of the Dali, and nothing else.

BASH: All right, thank you.

I do want to ask you one question before we go. I'm going to make a hard turn here. Are you ruling out a 2028 run for president?

(LAUGHTER)

MOORE: I am not focused on anything except for making sure that this is Maryland's decade, no.

And, right now, we have actually just provided middle-class families a tax cut, that 94 percent of Maryland families are either going to get a tax cut or see no change in their taxes at all. Our economy is actually growing for the first time in a decade. And so I'm really proud of what Maryland is doing. And I'm focused on making sure we keep that progress going.

BASH: And that certainly sounds like something that would fit on a national platform campaign bumper sticker.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: Thank you so much. Governor. Appreciate it.

MOORE: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: Up next: You heard Senator James Lankford endorse the idea of an independent probe into Signalgate. What do Americans think? We have new information on that. My panel is here next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:33:24]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: Nobody's texting war plans.

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I didn't see this loser in the group. It looked like someone else. Now, whether he did it deliberately or it happened in some other technical mean is something we're trying to figure out.

VANCE: If you think you're going to force the president of the United States to fire anybody, you have got another think coming. We are standing behind our entire national security team.

TRUMP: I think it's all a witch-hunt. That's all. I think it's a witch-hunt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: As you just heard, Trump administration officials, even Donald Trump himself, they're all trying to downplay the significance of that Signal chat leak.

And my panel is here to talk about that.

And a big welcome to a new member of the State of the Union panel.

Chris Meagher, you were the spokesperson at the Pentagon, the chief spokesperson at the Pentagon during the last administration. So I will start with you.

I know Democrats are trying, but so far there doesn't seem to be a dog that's hunting on the pushback in a real aggressive way, except for the notion of the inspector general at the Pentagon, where you used to work, looking into it, which James Lankford endorsed on the show earlier.

CHRIS MEAGHER, FORMER CHIEF PENTAGON SPOKESPERSON: Yes.

So here's the fundamental issue with what you just heard from the Trump administration. They're losing the trust of the troops, who should be the main focus in all of this. The business of the Department of Defense is very dangerous. Every single day, they're dealing with life-and-death issues. It's risky and it's dangerous. And

so you need our leadership, our most senior leadership at the Pentagon, our most senior leadership in the United States government, to take steps to mitigate that risk, to take steps to keep our troops safe.

[09:35:07]

Pete Hegseth, he did the opposite. He put classified, sensitive material about an operation hours before that operation took place into an unclassified setting, which is one of the biggest no-no's at the Department of Defense. If somebody like me did that, I'd be out on my -- out on the sidewalk.

And so I think you need to really take a look at...

BASH: Yes.

MEAGHER: ... the actions that they took and the result of it.

BASH: Scott?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think it's possible for two things to be true. One, it's possible to say this was a mistake, and it's a teachable moment, and I have no doubt they won't do it again.

And it's also possible to look at, if you're trying to assess, what should we do about it, I hear Democrats arguing, well, should we fire Pete Hegseth, we should fire the national security adviser.

The bar for firing people like this is really high from the last administration, when, after the Afghanistan withdrawal, which was a disaster, people died, no accountability was meted out. After the drone strike that vaporized those poor kids and that family, no accountability. After the secretary of defense went AWOL, no accountability.

So if you're arguing today that we should get rid of Pete Hegseth over a small mistake regarding communications, even while he was expertly executing this military operation against the Houthi rebels, which also the Biden administration didn't take up, I just -- I don't have -- I don't have a lot of time for that argument today. And neither does most Republicans.

MEAGHER: The problem here is that Pete Hegseth has taken no accountability. He's bashed the reporter. He's called it a hoax. He's done everything but say, hey, I made a mistake by putting this information in the Signal chat.

You mentioned Secretary Austin. He stood at the podium for an hour and took accountability. He asked for a 30-day review of the hospitalization. He asked for an inspector general...

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: Did a single Democrat ask for his resignation? Did a single Democrat? Not one.

STATE SEN. MALLORY MCMORROW (D-MI): Scott, if I may -- Scott, I am so glad to hear you say that this was a mistake.

We have not heard a single member of the Trump administration say that this was a mistake.

JENNINGS: Trump did. Trump did.

MCMORROW: We need leadership. We need leaders who step up who own their mistakes...

JENNINGS: Trump did.

MCMORROW: ... and put out clear plans, because what I'm hearing on the ground from actual constituents is that this is a sign of the carelessness of this administration, who can't even protect national security details. What about our personal details of our tax numbers?

BASH: I want to bring in Shermichael and show our viewers some of the new polling that I teased earlier.

This is from CBS out this morning. Using Signal to discuss military plans was not appropriate. Overall, 76 percent agree with that, mostly Democrats, 91 percent of Democrats, 80 percent of independents, and even a majority of Republicans.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Look, I'm not surprised.

But I want to just go back down memory lane. I mean, Scott mentioned Afghanistan and how much of a debacle it was, but let's remind the viewers of the specifics of Afghanistan; 13 service members died. It was the deadliest attack, the single deadliest attack since 2011.

A significant number of our troops were gravely wounded. And let's not forget those Gold Star families. They begged for accountability. Even many of them testified before Congress, fire someone, demote someone. The administration did absolutely nothing.

And even when Jake Sullivan told President Biden, I'm willing to resign, the president wouldn't accept the resignation. And so when Scott, when I and other Republicans say, we don't want to hear anything from Democrats, they have no moral standing to talk to Republicans about what we should do, when they did absolutely nothing, when those Gold Star families, even to this day, Dana, still are begging for some type of answers for why the administration didn't protect their sons and daughters.

And they want to lecture us on what we did wrong? Give me a break.

BASH: Chris, what do you say to that?

MEAGHER: Look, there's no doubt that what happened at Abbey Gate was a tragedy, just like every loss of life over the last 20 years of the Afghanistan war.

We can argue the merits of why we got into the war in Afghanistan. We can argue the merits of how we got out of the war in Afghanistan. But it's up to the secretary of defense in those moments to do everything he can to mitigate the risk that our troops face.

We did that at Abbey Gate. It was a tremendously chaotic, difficult circumstance that was extremely dangerous for those men and women.

BASH: I want to get Mallory in.

MCMORROW: It is wild to me that we would rather live in the past and point blame at Democrats, who are no longer in the White House. They are not the leaders in power right now.

People want to know right now, what is this administration going to do? What is J.D. Vance going to do? Who in that Signal chat is going to step forward, say, this was a mistake, you should not use apps that any of us can download on our phone to share sensitive information?

SINGLETON: But you know why this is important from an argumentative perspective?

[09:40:03]

Because you -- Democrats have positioned themselves as being the authority on what went wrong.

MCMORROW: Let's not talk about Democrats versus Republicans. SINGLETON: You have no ground to stand on to lecture us about what's

going wrong here, when you guys had a catastrophic issue just three, four years ago.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: One at a time.

MCMORROW: Why are you so insistent on dividing this country? It is not about Democrats versus Republicans.

(CROSSTALK)

SINGLETON: Oh, so now I'm insistent on dividing the country?

MCMORROW: It is about people that I am hearing from every single day, people who are asking me, is it safe for me to file my taxes?

Because if this is what they are going to do with sensitive military information, are they going to keep my Social Security...

(CROSSTALK)

MEAGHER: And think of the F-18 pilot who is going to be going on next not operation.

BASH: OK, we got to sneak in a quick break.

MEAGHER: Is he going to have confidence in the administration?

BASH: We got to sneak in a quick break.

You mentioned Democrat versus Republican. That's exactly what's happening this week, because there is an election coming up on Tuesday. We're going to talk about that after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:45:39]

BASH: Welcome back.

Believe it or not, it is an Election Day on Tuesday once again. We have two special elections coming up in Florida for important House seats, and then a Supreme Court race in Wisconsin that has garnered a lot of attention and millions and millions of dollars.

My panel is back.

And I just want to give a shout-out to our panelist Mallory McMorrow, who is not only the majority whip of the Michigan State Senate. She is the author of this new book, "Hate Won't Win," where you talk about a lot of things, but also, most importantly, you try to give a road map to Democratic voters and leaders about how to get back from the political wilderness on a national level.

How would you incorporate some of what you have in here into what you're looking at on Tuesday?

MCMORROW: So part of what I detail in the book is how Republicans built power not just in one election, but over many decades, frankly, starting in state legislatures and building up to a point where, during Barack Obama's presidency, Democrats lost more than 1,000 state legislature seats around the country.

Republicans took control of two-thirds of state legislatures. Democrats love to look for the new shiny thing at the top, hoping that that is going to fix everything. Let's be very clear, this Florida election should not be as close as it is, and that should worry my Republican friends, but for every Democrat, sign up, sign up for a canvassing shift, but do not stop on Tuesday.

This is going to take not just one election, but years for us to rebuild a Democratic Party that looks very different, sounds very different, and fights for people in a way that we can all be proud of.

JENNINGS: Congrats on your book. You designed the cover too, didn't you?

MCMORROW: Thank you. I sure did. Thank you. Thanks for pointing that out.

(LAUGHTER)

JENNINGS: Of course.

(CROSSTALK)

JENNINGS: Here's what I think about these elections, and the Republican Party has to sort of come to grips with the new reality, which is, we have traded a lot of the highest-propensity voters to the Democrats, but a lot of new, lower-propensity voters have come in the Republican Party.

What is the real-world effect of this? Number one, it's great for presidential elections. Ask Donald Trump. That's how he won last November. But for off-year, off-cycle, special, midterm, anything not happening under a presidential election, these kinds of lower- propensity voters just simply don't have a history of turning out as much.

And so one of the things Republicans have to do, and I think we will win in Florida, but one thing we have to do is condition these new people in the Republican Party, hey, voting in every election is vital. Don't just turn out every four years. Turn out whenever there's something on the ballot. That's something that I know the top strategists in the party are stressing.

But it may take some time to condition these new folks to become regular voters.

BASH: And just to underscore why we're talking about these special elections, it's not just because it's a reflection and a question about Donald Trump and how he's doing, but it's the numbers. SINGLETON: Yes.

BASH: Because it is so incredibly tight in the House of Representatives, so much so that the president pulled the nomination of a Republican lawmaker because he's worried about the narrow majority.

SINGLETON: Yes, Elise Stefanik.

Congrats on the book. Your analysis is absolutely spot on.

MCMORROW: Thank you.

SINGLETON: And I hope your party does not listen to you in terms of what Republicans did a couple years ago.

(LAUGHTER)

MCMORROW: I hope they do.

SINGLETON: With that said, I think we will win Florida. I think the candidate may underperform Trump. That bothers me a little bit. This is a 30-plus R district. This should be easily winnable.

Wisconsin, I think a lot of Democrats are going to make a big deal about it. It's a Democrat replacing a Democrat, $80 million. I think Elon Musk certainly has some interest there because they would not allow Tesla to sell cars in the state.

They focus less actually on Republicans and a lot on Elon Musk, if you look at a lot of the ads. I'm wondering how effective that strategy will be for Democrats in the next series of special election races coming up. I think that's going to tell us a lot in terms of how Republicans should prepare ourselves for the Democratic strategy going forward.

MEAGHER: And here's the thing, you're seeing voters around the country very angry right now. They're showing up to town halls angry, and you're starting to see it electorally; 13 out of the 14 special elections that we have had since November, Democrats have overperformed Donald Trump in November.

Why is that? Republicans have got to be asking that question. Why are we talking about a plus-30 Trump district in Florida? It's because they're trying to cut Medicaid to provide a tax cut to billionaires like Elon Musk. It's because they're slowing down the benefits that veterans have received at the VA.

They're slowing down the benefits that seniors are entitled to through Social Security. People are upset about that, and they're starting to make their voice heard at the ballot box.

[09:50:09]

BASH: Before we go, you are a state senator. There is an opening, a vacancy coming up in the United States Senate. Gary Peters is going to step down. Are you going to run for his seat?

MCMORROW: This is a big seat.

The most important thing for me is that we do everything we can to hold the seat when Republicans are not stepping up to do their job in the Senate. And I will have some news to make on this very soon.

JENNINGS: Whoa.

MEAGHER: Hello.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: It sounds like you kind of made the news now.

JENNINGS: Just do it now.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: I think we just did.

JENNINGS: We have got a whole audience. I love this.

BASH: All right, those lines are not hard to read between.

(LAUGHTER)

BASH: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Don't go anywhere because we just want to remind you that, this Tuesday, there is an election night right here on CNN. We are going to be following the surprisingly tight races we just talked about in Florida and Wisconsin. All the best reporting and analysis will be here. I will see you then.

And the Sunday funnies will be when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:55:38]

BASH: We've got two political cartoons that caught our eye this week.

Here's a sheep among the wolves in Donald Trump's war room, courtesy of Rob Rogers, plus Senator Bernie Sanders suggesting that Democrats needed to turn further left after the party already drove off the bridge. That's Michael Ramirez of "The Los Angeles" -- excuse me -- "The Las Vegas Review-Journal."

And it's a two-year investigation. A drug dealer goes on camera with our own Kate Bolduan about the crisis rocking America. Do not miss "Fentanyl in America: A Way Out." It's "THE WHOLE STORY" tonight at 8:00 p.m.

Thank you so much for spending your Sunday with us.

Fareed Zakaria picks it up next.