Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) got animated during an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday night over President Donald Trump's latest threat to withhold federal funding from New York City.

Sanders joined Collins to discuss the looming government shutdown. He expressed concern that the Trump administration could use the shutdown to continue advancing its authoritarian agenda, citing previous examples like firing workers that "they don't like" from the Veterans Administration and making significant cuts to Medicaid.

"I'll give you another example, as I'm sure you've heard of it," Sanders told Collins. "I think it was yesterday. Trump says, 'Well, if Mr. [Zohran] Mamdani becomes the mayor of New York City, then I'm going to cut funding from New York City.'"

"Great," he added. "You're going to cut funding from any city or state that you don't like. Great. Not only is that illegal, it's unconstitutional and it's outrageous! Everybody, every state, contributes to the federal budget, so you can't pick and choose who you want to fund."

Collins asked Sanders if he is concerned that he is handing Trump more power by voting against his continuing resolution to keep the government open.

"He's now telling us, with or without a shutdown, he may not fund New York City," Sanders said. "He may not fund Vermont. He doesn't like me, so he may cut funding for Vermont."

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) bristled during an intense interview with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday night in the hours leading up to a federal government shutdown.

As Johnson repeatedly accused Democrats during the tense back-and-forth of deciding not to keep the government open, Collins pressed him on whether his position is that he won't negotiate with the opposing party unless the government remains open.

"Yes, there's nothing to negotiate," he said. "There literally is nothing I can pull out of the [continuing resolution] and make it better. It is a nonpartisan CR that they already voted for."

He noted that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) previously voted for the exact same funding bill in March.

"The only thing that changed between now and then is he's in more political jeopardy," Johnson continued.

When Collins noted that President Donald Trump's marquee spending bill also passed since that vote, which included Medicaid cuts and work requirements that have become a major part of their sticking points, Johnson bristled.

"Nonsense. Look at the facts," he shot back.

Earlier in the interview, Collins pushed back on Johnson's claims that Democrats were trying to provide "free health care" for immigrants in the latest government funding bill, which has been a primary Republican talking point heading into the imminent government shutdown.

As the federal government barrels toward a shutdown, with Democrats demanding an extension of critical health care subsidies as the price of their vote for funding, and the Trump administration preparing for mass layoffs of workers to make the standoff as painful as possible, Republicans have sought to push a narrative that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is the architect of the standoff.

Ocasio-Cortez, however, had a simple proposition for these lawmakers on Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's "All In": if they really feel she's the problem, say it to her face.

"There are some people I have seen who have the following theory of why Senate Democrats have not cut a deal where they give eight votes and, you know, move along," said Hayes. "And that is that [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer is worried about a primary challenge from you and is worried about the politics to his left flank. And so, because of that worry about a primary challenge, he's going to shut down the government. Ergo, it is AOC's fault that the government is shutting down or that you're, that you're somehow the fulcrum of this."

"I want to just ask you straight-up: like, are you planning to primary challenge him? Do you think that's why he's doing this?" he asked.

"This is so not about me in this moment," said Ocasio-Cortez. "This is about people being able to insure their children. And I will say, because I saw some senators speculating about this, and I saw some Republican members of Congress saying, 'Oh, well, if we have this shutdown, it's because of AOC.' Well, if that's the case, my office is open and you are free to walk in and negotiate with me directly, because what I'm not going to do is tolerate 4 million uninsured Americans, because Donald Trump decided one day that he wants to just make sure that kids are dying because they don't have access to insurance. That's what's not going to happen."

"And so if those senators think that we're having a shutdown because of me, they're free to enter my office and negotiate, because what we're not going to do is allow all of millions of people in this country to not be able to afford their insulin and their chemotherapy," she added. "So come strike a deal with me, if that's what they really think is going on."

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