'That would be defying history!' Jake Tapper bashes GOP lawmaker's claims about midterms

CNN anchor Jake Tapper bashed a GOP lawmaker's claims about the 2026 midterm election during a live interview on Wednesday.

Tapper invited Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) on his show "The Lead" to discuss the ongoing government shutdown. The interview happened just hours after Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA) disrupted a Republican press conference about the shutdown, arguing that Republicans need to "bring people together" to end the shutdown.

McClain defended the government shutdown, which is now the longest in American history.

"We do need to open up the government, but we don't have anything to negotiate because we didn't put any gimmicks in there to begin with," she said.

Republicans have sought to blame Democrats for the shutdown, arguing that they want to provide free health care to illegal immigrants, which is already prohibited under federal law.

Tapper also asked McClain about Tuesday's election results, where Democrats resoundingly defeated Republicans in states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. McClain argued that Democrats won in Democratic states and predicted that Republicans would win big in the 2026 midterm election.

"I'm very confident that we will not only hold the majority, but I am optimistic that we will actually gain the majority," she said.

"Well, that would be defying history," Tapper said.