BEST OF: Kasie Hunt on Her Career & Trump
The Al Franken Podcast
The Al Franken Podcast
4.6 • 8.1K Ratings
🗓️ 17 May 2026
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this Best Of episode, we revisit our June 2025 conversation with CNN Anchor and Chief National Affairs Analyst Kasie Hunt! It's a very fun conversation covering her work and what inspired her to follow her passion for journalism.
She discusses the early days of her career covering Obama, Congress, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act. We also talk about how much Congress and the information ecosystem has changed over the years. And Kasie shares her thoughts about watching Donald Trump pardon the rioters on his first day back in office after being present in the Capitol that day.
Plus, immigration raids, tariffs and the Big, Beautiful, Bill. Trump and the Republicans might actually pass the BBB, but at what cost to working Americans?
WATCH Kasie on CNN, weekdays at 4pm ET: https://www.cnn.com/profiles/kasie-hunt
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, everybody. We've got a great one today, you know, for a change. And that's because this one is a best of. |
| 0:11.9 | Now, I'm taking a little break from the podcast. I've been doing the show for seven years now, and I deserve a break. So I'd like to revisit my conversation with Casey Hunt from June |
| 0:26.5 | of last year. Casey is the host of CNN's The Arena, of course, and I hope she continues to be after |
| 0:35.6 | the Trump administration approves the Paramount Warner Brothers |
| 0:39.7 | murder. Trump, of course, wanted Paramount to win the bidding war for Warner Brothers over |
| 0:46.3 | Netflix because Netflix had no interest in CNN, but Paramount did. And will they do its magic |
| 0:53.5 | on CNN like they did after they took over CBS? |
| 0:57.7 | Well, we will see. |
| 0:59.8 | But for now, Casey tells us about her career in journalism from her early days in NBC, |
| 1:05.2 | covering the bomb administration and the passage of the Affordable Care Act to, well, now, we taped this just |
| 1:14.0 | before the big, beautiful bill passed. |
| 1:18.2 | Not much has happened since then, but if you're wondering what is going on, check out |
| 1:24.7 | Casey Hunt on CNN's The Arena, weekdays at 4 p.m. Eastern and available |
| 1:31.0 | as a podcast later the same day. In the meantime, enjoy this one. It is a great one. You know, |
| 1:39.8 | or a change. |
| 1:47.7 | How did you get started? |
| 1:49.0 | What did that happen? |
| 1:51.3 | Oh, how did I get started? |
| 1:59.6 | Well, so I was in high school when they were trying to decide whether to invade a rock. I was a junior when 9-11 happened, |
| 2:02.4 | and I was a senior in 2003. You know, that was all any of us could talk about. And I knew I wanted to go to |
| 2:09.4 | Washington for college, because I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to be part |
| 2:13.8 | of whatever it was. And because all that was going on, I thought maybe I would try to be |
... |
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