This back and forth between
Trump and DeSantis
keeps going on during today
both of their stops.
They're going back and forth
attacking each other. Tell us about that.
Yeah, and I should note, based
on what Andrew just reported there,
just a few moments ago,
the Trump
campaign sent out a link to his article,
basically flagging
those comments
that he found
that DeSantis made
about Foushee in the past.
But it is in Iowa,
which is the latest stage
where they have been treating
these threats or these insults.
I should note to one another,
you're really saying
DeSantis, who for months
kind of absorbed a lot of the insults
coming his way from the former
president,
is now counterpunching,
using one of Trump's favorite words.
Trump himself is in Des Moines today.
Jake, he also was going after DeSantis
several times,
talking about the disparity
in their polling,
how far ahead he is of Governor DeSantis.
When you look at the average
of those polls right now nationwide,
but also talking about Iowa,
specifically with the former president
saying that he believes there's no way
that they could lose Iowa.
Obviously,
it would be incredibly devastating
if he did it,
given he's
the former
former sitting over for president
and the Republican frontrunner
at this time.
He also, Jake, went after DeSantis
for those comments
he made recently,
basically arguing
that if Trump was reelected,
he'd only have one more term in office
while DeSantis would be able
to potentially
have eight years in office.
And the difference that he could make
with Republican priorities on that.
Trump pushed back on that today
but when I heard
DeSantis go out and say
and talk about eight years,
we need eight years.
You don't need eight years,
you need six months,
we can turn this thing around so quickly
if you need eight years.
Who the hell wants to wait eight years?
You don't need eight years.
President Trump
doesn't do it in six months.
Here you go now, right?
You don't want to hear me now.
Why didn't he do it his first four years?
No, it's clear.
This is what this is going to look like.
Obviously, DeSantis
has to walk a fine line
when it comes to this
because he is trying to get Trump voters
to vote for him
and to come into his circle,
but also you're really seeing him go
after Trump
in a way that we had not seen before
his official campaign launch last week.
Hmm.
And Caitlin, you were
part of the terrific
reporting team, along with Paul
Ryan and Caitlin Plants
that broke
that story about special counsel
Jack Smith obtaining a recording of Trump
discussing how
he had a classified document
about an attack on Iran by the U.S.
that he took with him
from the White House.
Tell us about Trump's response today.
He's not really responding much at all
or Jeff Zeleny tried to ask him about it.
He did not answer the shouted questions
from CNN in response to this reporting.
Did it engage?
We of course,
we saw his attorney, Jim Trusty,
last night talking about it publicly,
but not really offering
a lot of clarity about this document,
about whether or not it's been returned
to the National Archives
or why it was taken to Bedminster
in the first place.
Trump did comment to the Cedar
Rapids Gazette.
He called the reporting fake news.
Obviously, it's
not just been confirmed
and written by CNN,
but also confirmed by other outlets.
But you didn't see Trump
responding to it on camera.
He did make a comment today
when he was speaking
at that similar event that you referenced
to the investigations into him.
He said he is, quote, the victim
of many things.
Obviously, that's how he views it.
The question,
though, is whether or not
he has greater legal exposure
following that reporting
and what we now know,
the special counsel has
in their possession
All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much.
Let's discuss
with my Augusta panel, Abby Phillip.
Trump is known for using derogatory
nicknames for his political adversaries.
He's created
a litany of them of Ron DeSantis today.
The Florida governor responded
That's part of why voters
did not return him to the White House.
Take a listen.
I think that's one of the reasons he's
not in the White House now,
because I think he alienated
too many voters
for things that really don't matter.
So I don't care what they say about me
in terms of name calling.
Although, you know,
I would say
he needs to call me a winner
because we've won in Florida
over and over again.
Have voters actually soured on Trump over
the name calling?
Is there evidence of that?
I think that
what DeSantis is referring to
is a different set of voters.
I think the general election
voters, the independents,
the persuadables,
the people that
a Republican nominee would need to win
in order to win the presidency.
There is evidence
not just in the presidential election
in 2020,
but also in the midterms in
20, 18 and 20, 20,
the congressional races in 20, 20,
and then also even in 20, 22 that voters
are kind
of souring on the divisiveness.
They think both sides are pretty toxic.
But in particular,
I think Trump's toxic ness
was damaging to him.
But when it comes to
the Republican primary,
that's a different set of voters
that that DeSantis has to contend with.
And this is where it gets tough for him
because Republican primary voters
they kind of
do like Trump's,
you know,
kind of fighter instincts the way that he
is sort of entertaining
and how he makes nicknames
out of his opponents.
And DeSantis
is going to have to figure out,
how do I deal with that?
He's trying a logic argument
We'll see if that works.
But I think folks need to come to terms
with the fact
that Trump's entertainment
factor is a huge part of his
appeal to Republican voters.
And former Congresswoman Mia Love.
Donald Trump campaigning
stood by
the COVID vaccine,
said a lot of people out there
appreciate it.
He stood by
even though one voter took them
on, saying that they didn't like the jab.
DeSantis
is aligning himself
with the people who are anti-vaccine.
What do you make of that?
I think DeSantis is God.
He's making some choices.
Some good. Fight back was good.
Some to fight against, to fight against
or attack
Donald Trump on criminal justice reform.
Those aren't good.
Obviously, there are people who
we are looking.
We see with the COVID vaccine has done
and how many lives it saved.
That's not
that's not a good thing
for him to fight him on.
I mean, he's making some choices
and some of those choices
aren't going to work
with mainstream Republicans.
And he's got to get
the mainstream Republicans
care.
And more and more
Republicans are teasing
possible presidential runs,
including Mike Pence next week.
And I want to get your reaction
to what New Hampshire
Governor Chris Sununu
who is also considering running.
He says about that
come November, December
of this year, if you're not polling well,
get your butt out of this race.
Let's narrow it down
to a couple of candidates.
That's more fair to the process.
And I think
that's going to be the discipline
not just for the candidates,
but for the donor base.
They have to tell their candidates
to get out, right.
They and I think they will.
And this is not
going to be a repeat of 2016
so
that he said something similar
to me, Karen, on Sunday.
What do you make of that?
The idea of like by December,
you need to start clearing the field?
Well, no.
One, I think very few
will actually do that
because the whole point is
you want to get to Iowa,
see how you do
and see if you can get some momentum.
And given that,
you know, in a number of instances,
the person who wins
Iowa is not necessarily
the person who ends up being the nominee.
So I doubt that many will
you know, take that advice.
But clearly, the concern he's
trying to put forward here
is that
the more people who get into the race,
the more fractured the vote becomes.
Which could create more of an opportunity
for Donald Trump,
which is,
you know, as
you know, one of the reasons
that people like
former Governor Chris
Christie is thinking about
getting in with the idea
of someone needs to take Donald Trump
on more directly.
And as our own reporting indicated,
not just off
camera or off the stage,
but on this stage
more directly challenge him.
So I don't think many of the candidates
or potential candidates will heed
that message from Sununu.
But it was a nice try.