U.S. Rep. Edwards to be replaced, while Senate confirms Blanche before recess, punting other priorities

From 90.7, WFA.E, this is Charlotte Talks. I'm Mike Collins. The House and Senate in Washington have begun their August recess. The House recess began a week ago and will return at the end of the month. The Senate just started their vacation and they're set to return in mid-September. Rather than wait for the House to return and act on a recommendation by the House Ethics Committee to censure him, North Carolina Representative Chuck Edwards has decided to end his re-election campaign. In the Senate, Thom Tillis gets a victory, of sorts, from Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche. and announces a book, taking aim at his own party, the GOP. We look at all of this and more with reporters who cover it every day in Washington this hour on Charlotte Talks. First, the news. Support comes from WFAE members and Mazda of South Charlotte, focused on applying Mazda's customer-centric approach for vehicle design to car buying and servicing in order to create an experience centered around the customer. More at Mazda of Southsharlet.com.

This is Charlotte Talks. I'm Mike Collins. We're hurtling toward the midterm elections with a very unpopular president and with candidates dropping like flies in a race that will likely determine the makeup of the House and Senate. In North Carolina, Representative Chuck Edwards has joined other members of the House and a few candidates in dropping out of the race due to scandals. In South Carolina, the death of Lindsey Graham, has changed the odds in the Senate race that now includes Graham's sister, who was named to his seat on an interim basis. Meanwhile, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis played a big role in the confirmation of Todd Blanche as Attorney General, and there is a move to make changes to a hemp bill that the industry says would be a death knell. for it. North Carolina's other senator, Ted Bud, is leading the charge to make sure those changes don't happen. And there's more, much of which we'll get to this hour. We're joined by three reporters who cover it all every day. Rubin Jay Jones is a Spectrum News, Washington reporter covering Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, and politics in general. Danielle Batagli is with us. She's a congressional correspondent for the Charlotte Observer and the

directly outside the White House this morning, in the weather and everything. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for being here. Welcome. Good morning. Good morning. Hey, there, Mike. Rubin, let's start with Senator Thom Tillis and the role he played in delaying, but ultimately confirming Todd Blanche, the president's personal lawyer, to be the permanent attorney general, unless permanent as anything is. Thom Tillis and Senator... John Corden, John Cornyn of Texas, both stood in the way of Todd Blanche's confirmation until Todd Blanche acquiesced to their demand to put in writing a promise that the $17 or the $1.776 billion anti-weaponization fund is dead. That money was earmarked, of course, for... Those people that Trump feels were unfairly punished for their participation in January 6th and their attempt to overturn the counting of the electoral college vote. These were people who were convicted by juries, some of whom pled guilty, all of whom were pardoned by Trump. So the mere idea of this angered Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, senators can hold up presidential appointments, but why were they pretty much the lone wolves on this? Yeah, I mean, well, one reason is because they both are on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is the committee that has to decide whether to advance Todd Blanche to the full Senate. Then the attention started to turn to people like Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, who voted against Todd Blanche. And then Bill Cassidy, who made this speech a few days ago on the Senate floor where he basically got emotional a little bit at the end and said, I'm going to vote for Todd Blanche, even though. didn't really seem like he wanted to uh so Thom Tillis um and cordon really focused their concerns around number one being uh how Todd Blanche handled the Epstein survivors. That was one of the concerns. But I'd say the bigger concern was over this, as you say, Mike, this DOJ anti-weaponization fund that was announced back in May under the acting leadership of Todd Blanche before he eventually got rid of it. And they were really concerned about what it would mean for these people who hurt police officers on January 6. And they wanted to make sure they wanted to be codified, basically, that it wasn't going to come back. And that it wasn't, it was an IRS. settlement agreement with the Trump family that it wasn't going to give immunity to them. And what they got was this two-page document. The thing is, Mike, this document is not legal law. It's not law. It's not a bill. It's simply a signed document by Todd Blanche that says basically this fund is dead. But as many analysts will point out, in a few months, Todd Blanche could decide as permanent AG to bring the fund back. He could do it when Thom Tillis and court in our out of office in a few months. So there's nothing really binding with it. But for John Cornyn and Thom Tillis, it was enough.

And that's my next question, because given the concern over the lack of release of the Epstein files and their concern over this fund, which every single legal analyst I've heard talk about this has said it's not worth the paper it's written on, Danielle. Why did that satisfy Thom Tillis and John Cornyn? Why? I can't get into their heads quite like that, and I wish I could. But, you know, looking at these two documents, one of them wasn't even signed, if I remember correctly. But it was enough to have it in writing that both men said basically that they believe Todd Blanche. And they also said Todd Blanche had negotiated with them in good faith. They felt like he was giving them what they wanted. And so both of them went ahead and confirmed him. There was another aspect that didn't get as much coverage, I guess, or attention, and that's the fact that Donald Trump, his companies, and his family have been given immunity for IRS audits by Todd Blanche's Justice Department as part of a settlement involving Donald Trump, the president of the United States suing the United States, which has never happened before. It's a $10 billion lawsuit, and I guess that's been dropped now. It was over... His tax is being leaked. And in exchange for dropping the suit, they've given him this get out of jail free card. It's $100 million in potential back taxes that the government could lose. Why isn't the Congress? Why aren't citizens more outraged over that, Taylor? You know, it's interesting. I think it's a good example of all the storylines around the Trump administration flooding the zone and sort of disorienting people. If you did watch, if folks listened to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week that Rubin mentioned where Todd Blanche's nomination was advanced, you heard Democratic senators on the committee talk a lot about this IRS audit provision. Senator Cory Booker from New Jersey was particularly upset about it because he said to his Republican colleagues, you all scrutinized and criticized President. Joe Biden and his family for the potential money that Biden's family members were making while Biden was in office. And he said, in his opinion, this pales in comparison. We know President Trump made $2 billion just in 2025 alone in his first year back in the White House. His adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric continue to make both domestic and international business deals, especially with governments that President Trump is doing formal government business with. So it is interesting because this has kind of fallen under the radar. in so many ways. And the limiting of the audit provision that both John Cornyn and Thom Tillis and other Republican senators agreed to doesn't take it all away. It just says that for President Trump, his two adult sons and the Trump organization for a certain period of time, their previous tax documents can't be re-audited. But it doesn't really set provisions moving forward. And that's what Democrats are upset about because the Trump family is making a ton of money more than they've really made. over the last two decades in whole and they're saying this is now an example where the justice department won't be scrutinizing them as other american families fairly are

So given the what is now obvious corruption on a daily basis in the White House, I don't think it can be denied where he is enriching himself and his family and this latest situation where he will not be audited for tax returns dating back before May 19, 2026. But he could be audited going forward and the fact that the Supreme Court has given the office of the president immunity for anything he does while in office. Are we witnessing, I'm not sure what the term is. Are we witnessing something, Taylor, in the executive branch that has completely changed the nature of our government forevermore? I would say yes. And I've talked to a lot of legal analysts and ethics experts. You know, the Trump administration, you saw this in Trump's first term, but especially throughout his second term, they are really trying to stretch boundaries wherever possible. Actually, Todd Blanche's confirmation process overall is a good example because President Trump said, while senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn were still considered holdouts, President Trump said, I'll just keep Todd Blanche in an acting role. through the end of this year. And then once Thom Tillis and cornered are gone, I'll hope that there are Republican senators who replace them, who will confirm Todd Blanche. That's an example of kind of boundaries being crossed in that way. But I think ethically, I, you know, I'm talking to you like you mentioned from the White House. And I think what people might not realize if they're not tracking the deluge on a daily basis, President Trump and his team are focused on two things on a daily basis. There is the foreign policy side of things. They're very preoccupied with the war against Iran. They're very preoccupied with countries like Cuba and Venezuela and military operations and foreign relations. The other side of it is not domestic policy. It is domestic priorities for the president himself. The many renovation projects he's pursuing. here at the White House and throughout Washington. And then the reshaping of the federal government and kind of stretching the bounds for how and what the Trump administration can accomplish without needing Congress, without having to factor in judicial rulings. That's so much of what he and his team focus on on a daily basis. I think a lot of it goes undercovered, but it is leading to that transformation that you allude to. Daniel, you cover the White House, you cover Congress, and you're based in Raleigh. And I'm wondering how people in Raleigh, because there are people just like people in Charlotte, how they look at all of this, because they're seeing his attention, Donald Trump's attention going to the reflecting pool and to his grand arch and to gold-plating statues on Memorial Bridge and things like that while the price of eggs. has soared while the price of gas continues to go up and his ratings approval ratings continue to go down how do you explain this disconnect

On his point, yeah, I think there, you know, Taylor had said earlier, he's flooded the zone. So I think there's so much for people in Raleigh and North Carolina to keep up with when it comes to President Trump, that that maybe not be top of mind is like what he's doing at the White House or what he's doing to protect himself and his family. What I think does catch their attention is those pocketbook issues that are affecting their day-to-day lives. And that is where you're seeing his. His popularity in North Carolina decreased. We've seen tons of polls showing that. This is a president who's won North Carolina three times. But any poll that I've seen recently about his popularity here in North Carolina has seen a sharp decrease because of those pocket book issues. That's hard to say. I want to get back to Todd Blanche and Thom Tillis. Here's what Thom Tillis told MS Now's Morning, Joe, about his reasons for ultimately voting yes. I got to yes because Todd Blanche operated in good faith, exactly the same way he did to de-escalate and resolve the problem that I had with the president and Jerome Powell. He's proven to me he's a man of his word that he is doing the hard work. This is a difficult administration to work in, but Todd has also made it very clear. I said in the hearing that I wanted to stick a fork in the 1776 fund. It's been rescinded. We did that. We've also got language now. that we believe will only allow this to appropriately apply retrospectively and to a limited number of people with respect to audits. So I think he deserves confirmation. I'm encouraging my colleagues to vote for him. So Rubin, given all the things that were just said about that and how it's not worth the paper it's written on and the fact that only Maine Senator Susan Collins and Alaska's Lisa Murkowski voted no, both Republicans, why were they? not converted why was he converted well Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are two of the few republicans who will occasionally break with the president ported out they come from very purple states Susan Collins in a tough re-election but then again Thom Tillis is not running for reelection so he presumably would have had the option to do whatever he wanted politically And I think it's interesting. I mean, I asked him back in May in an interview right after the anti-weaponization fund was announced. I said, would you support Todd Blanche as the U.S. Attorney General? And he said, I don't get into hypotheticals. But he said, I don't think people have to go too far to see that anybody who equivocates and supported the thugs that harmed police officers will never get my voting committee or on the floor. And that has to be assumed that he's talking about Todd Blanche there because Todd Blanche is the one who was behind the weaponization fund before it was got rid of. I think it's fair to say there was a change in tune. How he exactly got to that point is up for debate. And I got 30 seconds here. John Cornyn, as you mentioned, the tortured speech that he gave on the floor when he announced that he would vote for confirmation. If he was so tortured about it and he has nothing to lose, he's not running again. Trump got him out of the race, essentially. Why vote for it? Yeah, Bill Cassidy in that case, but yeah, they're both in the same boat, him and John Cornyn. I think, look, there is this obligation, I think a lot of Republicans feel to the president, despite him being underwater and approval ratings. And there's also the question of what happens after they leave office. Do they have jobs lined up?

Okay. When we come back, Chuck Edwards, our North Carolina Congressman, the 11th Congressional District dropping out of the race. We'll go through that and some of the other people who have dropped out as well. And what that does to the race is involved in a moment. Support comes from WFAE listeners and United Way of Greater Charlotte. Celebrating 95 years. United Way of Greater Charlotte supports education, financial stability, health, and essential services. Details at United Way Greater CLT. It's Charlotte Talks on listener funded 90.7. WFAE and WFHAE. I'm Mike Collins. We're talking politics, Washington, D.C. politics. A little political update as we head toward the midterms with Rubin Jay Jones. Congressional and White House correspondent for Spectrum News 1. Taylor Poplar is also with us, the White House reporter. He's outside the White House right now for Spectrum News. And Daniel Bataglia, congressional correspondent for the Raleigh News and Observer and the Charlotte Observer. In recent months, we have witnessed this. series of Congress, members of Congress, those running for Congress, those resigning their seats, dropping out of races due to allegations of misconduct. California Democrat Eric Swalwell, Maine Senate Democratic candidate Graham. Graham Platner and now North Carolina 11th District Republican candidate and Congressman Chuck Edwards. They all fit into that category. And in all three cases, the men involved were accused of sexual and other forms of inappropriate conduct. Eric Swalwell and Graham Platner were accused of rape, to be precise, but they were only allegations. There were no judgments from a trial court, no convictions, something that Chuck Edwards spoke some Paul Shoemaker pointed out last week on PBS's NC's state lines. So you have a process that was driven totally by politics. It was not driven by due process. It was not driven by anything that allowed the congressman to have his rights, you know, heard and his side of the story told. So it's the meat grinder of American politics. We saw it play out. So, Daniel, is that what it is, the meat grinder of American politics? I mean, Edwards resisted dropping out, but then he did. What tipped him over the edge? You know, that is such a mystery to us. It was a 3.30 a.m. decision to drop out of the race. That's not something you typically see with politicians. But it seems that there was enough evidence mounting against him. He was already down in polling and fundraising. There were so many things working against him besides the fact that the House Committee on Ethics. found enough evidence to say he had sexually harassed and had also created a hostile work environment with two young women in his office. I think all of that mounted together has caused him to decide to leave. I'm guessing there was more behind the scenes as well. We know that House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senator Ted Budd also asked him to drop out the race. And so I think there was a lot mounting against him.

His Democratic Challenger, whose last name I don't know how to pronounce, Jamie Ager. Ager. Spoke with W. LOS TV in Asheville about his opponent's decision to drop out. I just think it's sad for our community. We need better leaders in this country who are going to behave in ways that people admire. And right now we've got leaders in this country that people feel skeptical about. It makes them cynical about leadership in this country. I'm a patriot. I love this country. We need leaders in this country and we need leaders here in Western North Carolina who are focused on the community, who are focused on what's good for Western North Carolina. And that's kind of leader I want to be. And that's what I've been saying, this whole campaign. This is happening on both sides of the aisle, Democrat and Republican. So, Rubin, what, if anything, are you hearing from people on Capitol Hill in D.C. about these scandals? Is it just coincidence that they're all happening at the same time? Or are we experiencing some sort of political reckoning? That's a two-hour discussion right there, Mike. There's a lot in there. One thing I just want to point out, though, because mentioned the bipartisan House Ethics Committee. No, it is not a court. It's not a courtroom. But there are attorneys who work for this committee, a number of attorneys that do investigations. I mean, there were, I think, 16 witnesses interviewed for the Edwards investigation. They went through, I think, hundreds of documents. And it's a bipartisan committee that included Democrat Congresswoman Deborah Ross of North Carolina and Republican Congressman Brad Knot of North Carolina. So. Okay, it's political, but it's important to note it's made up of attorneys and it's made up of members from Republican and Democratic side. The criticism of the House Ethics Committee has also been that it moves slow and that it often comes out either after a member has already resigned and we don't end up seeing the full investigation and that it comes out after a member's already been elected to office. in this case i would say daniel can correct me i think they move pretty fast on this and it came quicker than paul shoemaker uh spokesman for chuck edwards said they were expecting they thought it was going to come out early september late august which would have made it a lot harder for uh chuck edwards for them to get him off the ballot so they move quick on this so i i just think there's important context uh that needs to be talked about when we're talking about the ethics committee there are so many factors that go into what's why all this is coming out now with so many different members Just briefly, I think part of it has to do with it's all happening at the same time. People feel more inspired, I guess, is the bad word, but to report these investigations and these concerns. And there are a lot of problems on Capitol Hill, and you hear about them all the time for different people on and off the record, and some of it's starting to come to light. Why did it happen so quickly?

That's a better, that's a good question that we don't exactly know yet. But I think part of it is that these two young female women's female staffers were quick to cooperate. And they explained what happened. And apparently witnesses are pretty quick to cooperate too because they explained all this stuff. We also have all these text messages that came out. And so the story kind of told itself and that it could come up pretty quickly. So somebody will have to replace Edwards on the Republican ticket. Daniel, you've been keeping track of those who have decided not to run. They include North Carolina Representative Jake Johnson, North Carolina Senator Tim Moffitt, North Carolina Senator Kevin Jeremy Corbyn. According to Western Carolina University political scientist Chris Cooper, Moffitt's decision not to run was an unexpected development. Why have these folks decided not to get into this race? And who has? Yeah, it's an uphill battle. I mean, you've got less than 90 days. I think we're probably less than 80 days now from the election. They have to start fundraising from scratch. Jamie Agers got two million in his war chest. That's a lot to try to overcome really quickly. Now, this is a very Republican district. I think it's R plus five. And so it swings for Republicans to win. But trying to overcome that amount that quickly. you know the people were seeing pull out they have elected positions they they are either senators their representatives in the state house and senate and so you know they're risking a lot by putting their names on the line for a very quick turnaround um so we saw a lot of people pull out tim moffat was a surprise we weren't expecting that over the weekend i had heard overwhelmingly he was going to be the pick for the seat Right now we're hearing people like Representative Jennifer Balcom seems to be very popular in trying to get that nomination tonight. And then I've also heard Christian Reagan, who's run against Chuck Edwards in the past is running. I think there's about six people altogether. I'm still trying to get my head around who all those six are, but there are several throwing their names in. More people throwing their names out than in, though. Rubin, as you mentioned, the House Ethics Committee looked at this very carefully. They issued a 25-page report on Edwards outlining alleged misbehavior and recommended that he be censured by the full House. I'm not sure what a censure really means. It's a good tongue lashing as far as I can determine. But as far as I know, he still faces a potential vote after the August recess, which would require him if they decide to censure him to stand in the well of the house and listen to the allegations against him being read out loud. Well, now that he's decided not to run, is that still likely to happen? Yeah, that's a good question, Mike. I think, as you say, there's no meat on the bone there. There's no actual consequence of a censure. But it's an awkward experience. And it does say something. Congress has only done it, I think, 26 times or something like that, or maybe it's 16. I'm forgetting. But that's a good question. And I don't have the answer to whether there will be a vote for censure. I asked a member of Congress whether that member would support it. And they weren't ready to confirm on that yet. So I think there's going to be a little bit of.

some discussions, they've got a month to kind of think about it and debate it. I wouldn't predict it. I wouldn't be surprised if a vote doesn't happen, but we'll see. Taylor in the Trump years, shame has become a thing of the past. And scandals, particularly those surrounding sex, or at least when it comes to Trump, didn't seem to matter anymore. Is the tide now turning? You know, there has been a lot of normalization of behavior that, you know, used to be considered crossing a line. And I think because the president remains the most powerful, not only elected official in this country and in the world, but the most powerful Republican, his party takes a lot of cues about what is considered normal or what is considered. crossing a line from him. I do think the Chuck Edwards case is really interesting because at the same time that it's been playing out, we've been tracking my colleague, me and Rubin's colleague, Harry Lee, who covers Ohio's delegation, which is my old beat. We've been tracking Ohio Congressman Max Miller, another House Republican who in Edwards case, it was sexual harassment. There weren't any allegations of physical abuse. Miller has been accused by his ex-wife of abusing her and abusing their two-year-old daughter. And his ex-wife is the daughter of Ohio U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno. And there's been much more of a public backlash and kind of outcry on Capitol Hill about that case. than Edwards case. Where I think it's interesting and where this links to your question, Mike, is that people who aren't familiar with Max Miller, before he got elected to Congress, he worked as a close aid to President Trump during the president's first term in office. He worked on the Trump campaign in 2016, then in Trump's first White House. Max Miller and President Trump are personally very close and we've seen president trump go out of his way not to push Max Miller out of his race despite these concerning allegations with edwards i don't think edwards and the president and daniel and ribbon can correct me had that much of a personal rapport they you know he edwards voted along with the president but there wasn't much of a personal relationship so i think you could say The Trump administration and the Trump political team was probably less inclined to get involved with the Edwards case. And they're like, oh, if he steps out, that's that. So that's an example of where the politics defines what is deemed acceptable in norm wise, because as of right now, Max Miller is staying in his race. Yeah, you've got Edwards folding like a card table. Max Miller is adamant that he's not leaving the race. Graham Platner took a great deal of convincing in Maine to drop out of that race. But you have that and you have frustration in the public over. a less than transparent release of Epstein files. Let's just say they didn't release the files because they haven't released the files. Is all of this coming to a head? Are people in Washington at the White House, in Congress? Are they feeling the pressure or are they just ignoring this because it's just that the news cycle will switch and we'll forget all about it? Taylor.

I would argue it's the latter. I think what's interesting, I was covering Capitol Hill during the emergence of the Me Too movement. What was that five or six years ago at this point? And there was a period of time in the halls of Congress where people did feel that there was a sea change and that momentum was on the side of victims and accusers and that there was bipartisan acknowledgement that they were going to have to change how the halls of Congress operated and what was allowed, especially as accusations emerged. So much of that, I would argue, has been rolled back. not only with the reemergence of Donald Trump as a candidate and then as president, because that, again, has shifted the gold post in so many ways. But there are also just kind of bigger fish to fry in a lot of ways. Our country is at war. As Danielle talked about, most Americans are more focused on the pocketbook issues. Most Americans think all of their members of Congress and all people in the White House are corrupt. So I think it's less of a higher priority now. And at least here at the White House, officials. don't talk about this stuff on a daily basis. They're focused, like I said, on the war, on the president's domestic projects, and they'll like shake off, no, they'll shake off allegations and say, oh. You journalists are spending too much time on that. The American people don't care. Well, it's almost like a three-ringed circus. If you direct people's attention over here, over there, over here now, you forget about what's happening. The news cycle is so fast that people in the news who follow it as part of their jobs can't keep up with it. Is that part of the strategy? It is. And I'll let Rubin and Danielle weigh in if they want. But I mean, Steve Bannon, one of President Trump's longtime personal advisors, has talked about how the goal is to disorient and the goal is to flood the zone so that you chase the shiny object and then you don't see what's happening next to that shiny object. That being here at the White House every day. On a daily basis, there are a list of 10 to 15 major stories that would have defined a month's worth of news cycles for any other president. And they last maybe an hour here. And then you're forced to move on to the next thing because it is bigger. It is more pressing. It is more time sensitive. So it is part of the strategy. And Trump's team behind closed doors. If you talk to his advisors, they brag about it. They say, yeah, we know we could throw you all a breadcrumb and you'll have to chase it because it's so outlandish or so unusual. So that is a factor. And it's led a lot of us in the news industry to. kind of have to question our approach on a daily basis and to figure out how to juggle instead of three balls at one time, 12 balls at one time. In addition to Edwards and Max Miller, Florida Republican Cory Mills remains under active Ethics Committee investigation over allegations of domestic abuse, among other things, and Andy Ogles, a Republican from Tennessee, lost his primary. So now control of the House and the Senate. teeters on a razor's edge, and each of these resignations or withdrawals changes the calculation. Last week, as we said, Democrat Jamie Agar, the 11th District Democratic candidate in North Carolina was asked by WLS TV at Asheville, how Edwards dropping out of the race affects his campaign.

We've run the same campaign this whole time. We're focused on Helene Recovery. We're focused on the fact that the cost of living is too high for so many people all over Western North Carolina. And we're focused on the fact that people are sick and tired of corruption and this stuff going on in Washington, D.C. that causes them to lose trust in our country. And that's just sad. And so I know, strategy is the exact same. We're just locked in and ready to go win this thing. So, Rubin, the 11th Congressional District in North Carolina has been held in recent years by Republicans Chuck Edwards, Madison Cothorn, and Mark Meadows, all touched by scandal, all three faced actions by the House Ethics Committee. Are people in that district ready for change? No, I think there's definitely a feeling of that. And I think I haven't been down. I've been to that district numerous times, but I do think there is a feeling of enough is enough. The question is whether enough means we're going to flip over to electing a Democrat. And I think Democrats have the best chance at winning this seat. probably 10, 15 years for a variety of factors. At least they did under Edwards. We'll see who they choose, the Republicans. But, you know, I think Helene recovery cannot be overstated with the significance of that because folks there, some of them blamed the Biden administration, but a lot of them also blamed the Trump administration. And what we saw were delays and delays with payments from the federal government to helping people out there last year. Now, since then, The payments have increased and they've gotten faster, but there's still a lot of dissatisfaction with how the administration has handled Helene recovery. So that's a big factor. The other factor here, Mike, is Jamie Ager, who Democrats feel really confident about. He's running as a quote-unquote mountain Democrat. And so he's running as a more of a moderate focusing on these issues that he just talked about there, Helene recovery, the economy, affordability, but not backing away from a few other more democratic issues. But I think it's going to be really interesting to see if he's able to pull. off an upset there because i think he's got a decent shot and it there's a lot of parallels to what's going on in eastern north carolina in the first district to Don Davis that's the other seat that democrats have a shot at winning that many people would have thought maybe he wouldn't be able to win and he's also running as much of a very much of a moderate democrat and so it'll be interesting to see whether both of them could potentially win Corruption is something that Democrats want to run on in their attempt to take both the House, both houses of Congress. Success in that effort, they say, will help them rein in what they call the most corrupt administration in American history, Daniel. Is that how North Carolinians view this? And I have about 30 seconds. That's a lot to ask in 30 seconds. I think with Chuck Edwards specifically, yes, I think they're very frustrated with the corruption they saw with Mark Meadows, with Madison Cawthorn, with Chuck Edwards. I feel like a repeated name there. But, you know, they want something new. They want a politician who's not going to lead to bad headlines in their district.

Daniel Bataglia reports on all of this for the Observer, the Charlotte Observer, and the Raleigh News and Observer. We have two reporters here from Spectrum News 1, Rubin Jay Jones, and Taylor Popolars as well. And when we come back, we'll talk about the primary that take place in South Carolina tomorrow. It's Charlotte Talks on WFAE and WFAE.org. I'm Mike Collins. We're talking about politics in Washington and around the country. And tomorrow there's a primary, a special primary in South Carolina in the Republican Party. As we all know by now, South Carolina's longtime Senator Lindsey Graham died last month and his sister, Darlene, is serving out the remainder of his term and is now in the race to take his seat for the next six years. The primary, as I said, is tomorrow. Darling Graham has Trump's endorsement and that of South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster. But voters... May not know much about her. She's been pretty quiet, and she's up against the likes of Rock Hills Ralph Norman that they do know about because he was a congressman and ran for governor recently, and former Governor Mark Sanford is also in this race, among other people, let people know in South Carolina. Taylor, will that matter, or will her maiden last name and Trump's endorsement be enough for South Carolina voters to say, yep, I want her? It's a great question because we've seen a long track record of President Trump's endorsement carrying candidates, especially in snap primaries or special elections like this. And Lindsey Graham was such a known entity in South Carolina. His passing was so sudden and unexpected that the Graham name is, there's a lot of kind of heartfelt feelings associated with it amongst Republican voters. And they're trying to figure out, does Darlene Graham taking over make sense in honoring his legacy, especially as he was not preparing to wind down, he was running for. re-election himself. I think, though, to your point, what's really striking is Darling Graham has no legislative background. She has no political background. She worked in local government, and she, of course, was the sister of a prominent senator. But in terms of... voters trying to understand what she stands for would she be a carbon copy of her brother in terms of how he dominated foreign policy space versus focusing less on domestic policy she's tried to carve out in the last couple of weeks that no she would be focused more on at home pocketbook issues but there's an uncomfortability in the south carolina republican party over the fact that she was kind of elevated from no political prominence and was said, oh, well, because she was Lindsay's sibling, she should now have this seat. So I think the results are going to be really interesting. There's a very good chance this race heads to a runoff if nobody clears 50% in the primary tomorrow. So that'll provide an additional two weeks of campaigning. But like you said, there are prominent names, Ralph Norman, Russell Fry is another Republican congressman who have.

tried to hitch their wagon to the Trump MAGA movement. But now you have the president recording a video that was released over the weekend from the Oval Office saying, Darlene is my choice. So it'll be an indication of the president's political sway, but it's also such a unique race because we've never really seen a sibling in this position. who has no political experience being elevated to this level. Some of Trump's recent endorsement candidates have not done well. He endorsed the lieutenant governor, Pam Evitt, in South Carolina for governor. She lost. Could Graham meet a similar fate? And if so, what does that say about Donald Trump's power now in his second term and his influence? I think it's such an important question to track. For those of us who follow the president and his political movement every day, Part of the reason he was able to get reelected after all his scandals and controversies was because he remains such a decider in Republican primary politics. The fact that you're seeing this growing list, Andy Ogles, the congressman from Tennessee that you just mentioned, who lost his primary last week, was endorsed by President Trump. You've seen candidates in Georgia. You've seen candidates in other states, Iowa. And so there are some cracks in the foundation that the president has built. The president's political team dismisses all of them. Even President Trump tried to say about Congressman Ogle. I knew he was going to lose, but I stood by him because I felt I had to. There's an acknowledgement there in kind of a dismissing and trying to downplay it. But the more this keeps happening, I think it works out. Lindsey Graham made such a movement over the last few years to attach himself to President Trump. So now that the president has linked himself to Graham's sister, Darlene, if she falls short in both this primary and a runoff, that's an indication in a state that President Trump is very popular in that maybe voters are second guessing his political instincts. I want to completely switch gears. Now, the hemp industry is taking it on the chin. There's a bill in the General Assembly here in the state that industry members say would kill their $3.2 billion industry. And if that bill doesn't kill it, if that doesn't go through the legislature successfully, There's a bill in Washington that goes into effect in November that will. The Trump administration, through Dr. Mehmet Oz, who's the administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, is urging the Senate to not support an amendment that would allow that federal ban on most hemp-derived products to take effect. This is an amendment from North Carolina Senator Ted Bud, who had this to say about it to Spectrum News. Tim Boyle. I've got a great relationship with the president, but I think he's been misinformed by his staff. The president says, can you not just help those that are age 65 and older and maybe some veterans that need help with some of these THC related treatments? Look, if centers for Medicare and Medicaid studies want to actually focus on this and they want to do a controlled study, that's okay. We can actually do a carve-out for that.

What he's asking for is not what the bill is. This industry employs 16,000 people in this state alone, Danielle, and it's being targeted both in D.C. and Raleigh, particularly by Republicans. Why? Well, so for Senator Ted Budd particularly, he is very concerned about how hemp products are being marketed towards children. And I mean, this is something that he, I've been told he's going to go to the mat on this when he wanted to protect kids from having these products. marketed towards them. He held up so many different posters of products that look like Oreos or gummy bears or all kinds of candy that have slightly obscured names to make them known to be hemp products, but maybe not to the children that could buy them. He wants this regulated and he was not going to let up on it. The industry is largely unregulated, and we've talked to some industry representatives who say they want regulation. They would welcome regulation because the exact THC content in some of these edible consumables, THC is the intoxicating chemical in it, which is why you buy it, nobody knows exactly what the number really is, and there are other substances in these consumables. That also may be toxic or certainly not good for you. And some of these do look like products for children. And they came to market as a result of the loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill, which is what Senator Bud wants to close. You know, every parent in America, they want the same thing. They want to know that their kids are safe. As United States Senators, each of us has a responsibility to the millions of parents that we represent to put the safety and the welfare of American kids first. And that's exactly why, just nine months ago on this very floor, 76 members of this body voted to close the hemp loophole that allow these dangerous substances to be sold in unregulated retail stores. But since last November, the intoxicating hemp industry has attempted to delay our effort to close this dangerous loophole. Senator Bud speaking recently on the Senate floor, and he added this. Let me be clear to my colleagues. I'm not going to back down on this. I'm not going to waver. I'm not going to stop until this life-threatening loophole is closed permanently. And we're going to have this fight before the end of this Congress, and I can assure you that I'm not going to stop fighting to protect American children. So, Daniel, is there a compromise to be found in all of this? Because I think the original bill, at least it could have been, I can't remember whether it's the North Carolina bill or whether it's the one in the United States Congress, was really to raise the age.

that you could buy these consumables to 18 or from 18 to 21 or something like that. Is there a compromise to be had? Well, not with Senator Ted Bud's bill. They voted this weekend 61 to 32 to table his motion. And so he did not get what he wanted there. I think it's also important to note that multiple media outlets are saying that Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, has connections to the hemp industry. I believe it's her son-in-law. that has a business within the industry. And I think that's what's driving some of this narrative right now. But I don't know what Bud's going to do when he circles back in September to fix this issue now that it's been table. Flip the coin because I believe this Washington bill was introduced by Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, who has connections to the bourbon industry. And there have been a lot of trips in North Carolina by legislator. to Kentucky to sample the wares of the bourbon industry. Is this the alcohol lobby fighting the hemp lobby? I don't have a good answer on that. I don't know if Taylor or Rubin does, but I haven't heard that particular detail. I do know that those bourbon tours have gotten lawmakers in a lot of hot water that they're trying to navigate right now. Okay. Thom Tillis has decided not to run for re-election. We all know that. He's been pretty tough on some Trump policies and some Trump nominees. Until he wasn't. But he has been more unbridled in terms of what he's willing to say since he made his decision not to run. And some of his thoughts are about to be printed in a new book called How to Lose Friends and Antagonize Presidents, which will explore how a group of, quote, grifting sycophants and useful idiots have impacted the second Trump administration. Those are his words. He's dubbed Stephen Miller and Pete Hegseth as maggots who are not giving Trump honest advice, and he voted nonetheless to confirm Pete Hegseth to be Secretary of Defense. What are you hearing in Washington, Rubin? What are you hearing on the Hill about the advance release of this book? Well, I wasn't aware of it until he announced it a few days ago. And so I haven't heard a lot yet. And I'm not, we'll see how it sells. I mean, I think when you look at the cover of that book, it's a catchy cover for sure. There's picture frames of Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth. But as you point out, Mike, Pete Hegseth, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kristi Noem, Thom Tillis voted for all of those cabinet nominees. all of Trump's cabinet nominees. Now, he says he's since regretted Pete Hegseth, and he was very critical of Christine Ome, but I think that's going to...

play into some of his criticisms. He's often a war of words person, but not necessarily a war of votes lawmaker. And so he did vote against the one big, beautiful bill from President Trump, and that's perhaps his most noteworthy vote. But he's taken more of the strategy of, I will be very critical of people around Trump, the inner circle of Trump, but not always President Trump himself. And so Thom Tillis is very careful in how he awards his criticism. We'll see if that plays out in his writing as well. Daniel, you wrote an article about this which just appeared this morning in the Charlotte Observer. Wax Poetic about this book. I mean, I think, you know, Rubin said it all, he is not critical of the president. I think there is some strategy in that for him that he doesn't want to lose that open line of communication he has with the president because they do have a working relationship where he can call him. He cannot stand Stephen Miller. He has made that so abundantly clear to me in interviews, but also in the things he says. I'd be really curious. to read the book to see how deep he goes. I think it's also notable that he talks about antagonizing the president. So there's some self-awareness there that the relationship isn't as great as they like to make it sound. But, you know, I think the book will be interesting to see what's been going through his mind over the last. Nine months, year, something like that? I think you pointed this out in your article this morning. We've just talked about how he disses some of the people he voted for. Kristi Noem, Pete Hegseth, et cetera. He voted for them, and yet he thinks they're sycophants and useful idiots. And Donald Trump put them forward, whether he made the recommendation because he was recommended to him by somebody else. He, the buck has to stop someplace. And you're saying that even though. He doesn't like the people he voted yes on. He still wants the GOP to win in November. Should we question his judgment? I mean, I will leave that for the viewer to decide. Well, look, I mean, he recently also voted to advance Todd Blanche. So he's kind of being consistent in that he's supporting the cabinet nominees. But, I mean, it'll be interesting to see if he gets involved in any of these upcoming elections very much. He's not afraid to weigh in on Republican primaries sometimes. He was a big staunch supporter of getting rid of Madison Cawthor. through support behind Chuck Edwards. So it'll be interesting to see. One side note here, I'll mention Mike, is Danielle and I texted about this. We talk about Ted Budd and his concerns about hemp. You notice what he said in that interview is that he directed his criticism at advice the president had been getting about him. He didn't direct his criticism at the president directly. Boy, that sounds familiar with what Thom Tillis has been doing the past nine months. It'll be interesting to see if Bud continues that trend.

Taylor, Donald Trump's approval ratings are at all-time lows, largely due to our involvement with the war in Iran and his handling of the economy. He says that the economy is the greatest it has ever been. Nobody can believe it. quote, unquote. But nobody does believe it because they go to the grocery store and they see what prices are. They go to the gas station, they see what prices are. Their raises have not kept up with a rate of inflation, et cetera. And then the July jobs report was just released last week. It wasn't good. And you spoke with MarketWatch Economics editor Gregory Rob about it. What was his take on it? It's really interesting. These jobs reports and what Gregory emphasized, they are snapshots. They are month-to-month snapshots of the economy. They are the results of businesses and households filling out literal paper surveys. So there is a question over the accuracy of these jobs reports and how effective they are in the system and capturing the moment. Nonetheless, though, what we saw in July, 23,000 jobs were lost. We also saw revisions, downward revisions for the months of May and June, 103,000 feet. fewer jobs than initially reported. And so what Gregory pointed out is that those are not good numbers, and that's not a signal of a thriving economy. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that they had predicted there would be 95,000 new jobs. Instead, we lost 23,000 jobs. That's even worse. Yeah, between 95,000 and 100,000. And every time a jobs report comes out that meets or gets close to meeting those predictions, the Trump administration jumps out and says exactly what you said. This is the president's economic policy vision playing out. Everything is going great. They downplayed the numbers last week and said it's because the World Cup just came to an end. And the hospitality industry is contracting as summer starts to wind down. The World Cup did play a factor in that to a degree. That's what Gregory Rob from MarketWatch told me. But it's also not an overall indicator. These losses month over month for May, June, and July show that there are troubling trends while people are dealing with day-to-day affordability. And that's why Democrats have hope in the midterms. We'll see if that hope is justified as we go through the fall season here. Taylor Popillars, White House reporter for Spectrum News 1, Ruben Gallego Jay Jones, congressional reporter for Spectrum News, and Daniel Bataglia, also a congressional reporter for the Charlotte Observer. News and the Robbie News and Observer. Thank you all for the other. Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins is a production of 90.7 WFAE. Support for Charlotte Talks comes from Mazda of South Charlotte. Our executive producer is Gabe Altieri. The senior producer is Sarah Delia. Our producer is Chris Jay Jones. Our intern is Emmy Burger. For more information about Charlotte Talks, to visit past episodes, or to sign up for the podcast, visit WFAE.org slash Charlotte Talks. Support comes from WFAE members and Mazda of South Charlotte. Using Mazda's customer-centric approach to cars to create a car buying and servicing experience where the customer is the center of their business. More at Mazda of South Charlotte.com.