CENTCOM: U.S. Striking Iran at Trump’s Direction

25:21But yes, I remember very specifically saying I'm not into this. Now, to be clear, Plattner denies any quote, non-consensual behavior, unquote. The ripple effects of Rascott's story have turned into a tidal wave of consequences for Graham Plattner. Democrats pulled endorsements, called on him to step aside. In moments, you're going to hear more from my sit down yesterday with another one of his ex-girlfriends, Lindsey Fifield, who was inspired by Jenny to speak on camera about the violence and mistreatment she says she endured during her relationship with Plattner. Plattner's campaign tells CNN that her claims are false and politically motivated.

25:58She denies that. Today's sources tell CNN that Plattner met with strategists to find an exit from his race against Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins. The question remaining is what role, if any, Plattner and his progressive supporters should play as Democrats scramble for a new candidate and a process to find that candidate. Maine's Democratic leadership pulled its endorsement of Plattner Monday. They've been pretty clear about how they feel about him. Unfortunately, Graham Plattner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like.

26:33We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Plattner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like. The clock is ticking because Plattner must pull his name from the ballot by July 13th. Under Maine law, the party then has until July 27th to name a replacement. Now, CNN has been on the ground in Maine talking to voters who want Plattner out but have concerns. It's really important that we find a candidate who's going to uphold the platform that all of us had voted for to endorse. We're so close to the actual election itself, it's going to be pretty hard to bounce back in such a short amount of time.

27:14But I'm hopeful. Plattner has endured an almost unprecedented amount of scandals since he began his run, other than President Trump, of course. Controversial social media posts, a Nazi symbol tattoo, extramarital sexting. he has survived all of these tests up until now. Now, this week, Jenny Rassikot's choice to come forward about her experience with him and talk about it on camera with us at CNN has changed the course of his campaign. And now I want you to hear more from my conversation with Lindsey Fifield, who dated Plattner from 2013 to 2014 when they both lived here in Washington, D.C., a warning to viewers, this interview contains some violent and disturbing content.

27:58In the New York Times story, you describe one time he put your arm behind your back and kind of twisted it. Another time he locked you in a room. That was the same, yeah, the same time. The same time. Yeah. And there was another time he grabbed you by your shoulders, I think? Yeah, he liked to kind of like, sorry, this is so hard to talk about. He liked to move me where he wanted me. Like if I was trying to leave, if I was going to across the room, if I was trying to put a barrier between us, like a couch or a table or something in an argument or a discussion, like it would provoke him in a way.

28:33And so like, yes, he would just kind of like grab me by the shoulders and move me. I think something else that's kind of missing from this conversation is that particular period of time and the people that I was socializing with because my cousins were working at Walter Reed. They were military. I was working for a military service group. A lot of these post 9-11 vets, but they also wanted to continue having military careers. They knew that a PTSD diagnosis was like a career killer. And so getting people help, getting him specifically help for his PTSD, which he was very much struggling with at this time.

29:09That was my main focus was just like, how do I get him help? How do I keep him from killing himself? My biggest concern throughout most of our relationship was like, he's going to kill himself. And he kept, it would threaten it. He had a plan. And it was really hard for me to try to navigate my own social, like, relationship, like my own sphere and kind of feel like I had to keep that a secret from everybody. And so it made our relationship and a lot of those elements more secretive than they otherwise would have been. Like maybe I would have been able to tell a friend and say, hey, Graham's been like this or just telling them about specific incidents with more clarity.

29:48But I was in this like this is a suffering man who needs help. It sounds like you think I'm going to make it worse. Yeah, I did. You treated him like the victim, even though you were. Oh, yes. And that was actually kind of a common theme to any time that I like he would say, oh, you're making me feel bad. And I was like, in retrospect, yes, you should have felt bad. And he would accuse me of guilt tripping him if I brought up things, especially if I brought up things. If I was putting a pattern of behavior together, he would accuse me of, are you always going to bring up the past? We're never going to be able to move forward if you keep bringing up the past, that kind of thing.

30:24But then when it became clear, there is no future here. The only reason for this relationship was for me to keep him from killing himself or to try to get him help. I moved. I physically moved from the hill across town to get away from him. Really? Yeah. And I didn't feel, it wasn't just that I didn't feel safe in our neighborhood because it just felt like he could pop up at any moment, but he would literally show up on my doorstep. When he knew that I was dating other people, he would, he would come to where I was. He would come to where we were. He would wait at my house in the snow on one occasion.

30:58And, um, it felt very, I don't know that I ever felt like, it seems naive in retrospect because when I look back on it, I'm like, oh my God, you were in danger and you didn't even realize it. Sounds very threatening. At the time, weirdly enough, this isn't going to sound pathetic, I felt like, oh, he really loves me. I'm sorry. It felt like he really cared. Like, oh, his jealousy when I started new relationships at that time felt like love. and now I know that that was not love and it was not really we thought we were in love but it was it sounds very toxic yes, yeah toxic is a great word I do think one of the reasons that I was so vulnerable to Graham's abuse was that I was raised in a very and I don't you know there's good and bad but I was raised in a very conservative Christian environment where I was raised to be accommodating.

32:03We were raised to be servant-hearted. We were raised to, you know, if someone's in help, you help them. And I took that very seriously and I wanted to help him and I didn't, you don't give up on people was kind of my, my attitude about it. And now I don't know how to raise children who still are servant-hearted or want to give back and want to love others and want to be loving people, but caution them of, like, here are the signs that you look out for or here's, you know, how to know that you should talk to someone, you know, to get help. But there's so much pain, and I know he was hurting too, and there was just...

32:43but I think what's been the most disturbing to me after these stories have come out is realizing it wasn't just me that this was a pattern of behavior that this is something that he's done and that he's continued to do and Jenny's story resonated so much with me and the details of it mirrored mine so closely. I was just in my early career. I had my trajectory was, you know, I was really,

33:24I don't want to say that it, but yeah, this impacted that. I mean, it impacted the whole trajectory of my life. CNN spoke with friends of Lindsay Fifield who corroborated that long before Grant Plattner started talking about running for Senate, that she had discussed being frightened of him and experiencing violence during their relationship. CNN also reviewed several of her diary entries and messages outlining similar concerns, as well as Lindsey Fifield's descriptions of Plattner discussing plans to kill himself while they dated and then repeatedly confronting her after the relationship had ended.

34:00This afternoon, our team reached out to the Plattner campaign regarding these allegations made by Fofield against Graham Plattner in the portion of our conversation that we just brought to you. In a statement to CNN, the Plattner campaign says her claims are, quote, categorically false and come from a person with a well-documented political agenda, unquote. There are resources out there for you or anyone who might be struggling with any of the topics we've touched on throughout this report and our reports this week. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is free, 24-7, completely confidential.

34:32You can call 1-800-799-SAFE. That's 1-800-799-7233. You can also go to thehotline.org. That's thehotline, all one word,.org. The number for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is 988-988. You can call or text that number 24 hours a day, seven days a week for free and confidential support. Again, that number is 988. There is help for you. There is love and support for you. Coming up next, the outcome President Trump did not want after a special request trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider a case that he already lost.

35:12Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website, to marketing, to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into... Sign up for your$1 per month trial at shopify.com slash special offer. In our law and justice lead a major legal blow for President Trump. Today, a federal judge ordered the immediate release of more than$5 million to E.

35:50Jean Carroll, rejecting the president's attempt to delay the payment. The ruling came just hours after Trump asked to stop the payout, wanting the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in again. Let's discuss with CNN senior legal analyst, Ellie Honig, and CNN's Caitlin Paul Anzelli, a major blow for President Trump. But what do you make of the ruling? Well, Jake, it's all over but the shouting at this point, and even the shouting is almost over. This case was essentially over last week when the US Supreme Court said, we are not taking this case. There were no dissents, by the way, from that decision, meaning it was unanimous not to take the case.

36:23Trump is now saying, but hold on, I shouldn't have to have that money released yet because I'm going to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider, to give me a rehearing. You have the right to ask for that. You have no right to an actual rehearing. However, there is as close to zero as you can get chance. The Supreme Court actually rehears this. So the district court judge was right today to release this money. It's only a matter of time that money's going over to E.G. and Carroll, like it or not. And Caitlin, the U.S. Supreme Court last week denied Trump's petition to challenge the jury's verdict, as Ellie just noted.

36:55On Monday, Trump filed a motion with the Supreme Court for reconsideration. What happens if the Supreme Court decides to reconsider the case? Well, they can. It probably wouldn't do anything until much at a much later date. And as Ellie said, it is just doesn't happen very often, if at all, for the Supreme Court to reconsider something where there hasn't been a major change in the underlying law. But the bottom line here is that Trump litigates to the bitter end. And then he keeps litigating after that. And that's where we are now with this. These litigating, telling the Supreme Court he wants them to consider it again.

37:28But he's also going to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals today and saying, I want to challenge the judge just deciding to release the$5 million to E. Jean Carroll. And remember, Jake, there's the other case that's still out there in appeals where Trump is going to want to put that before the Supreme Court. He said that as much. This is the other defamation case where E. Jean Carroll was awarded an even bigger sum of money,$83 million. And so just keep waiting for filings. There's going to be as many as Trump can ever put on this case. Whether it actually changes anything, that's a really big test.

38:04He is a historically bad loser. Historically bad. Or a great litigator? No. I think what I said is accurate. Another legal defeat for President Trump. In April, the Justice Department issued a subpoena seeking information about Georgia poll workers from the 2020 election. This is what I meant when I said bad loser, Caitlin. On Tuesday, a Trump appointed judge blocked it, saying the use of subpoena power to investigate the 2020 election was not legitimate given the statute of limitation on any potential crime. He didn't mention it, but I'll just say President Trump lost that election and he lost it fair and square.

38:37And it's insane we're still talking about this. Ellie, what message does this decision send about the Justice Department's effort here? Well, Jake, it is extraordinarily rare for a judge to block a prosecutor's subpoena. When you're a prosecutor, you can subpoena just about anything you want for just about any reason you want. However, there is a line. You cannot subpoena something where you have 0 % chance of bringing a criminal case or for a bad reason. And here, the ruling, by the way, by a Trump appointed district judge was straightforward. He said, even if you were investigating crimes from the 2020 election, the statute of limitations on almost all federal crimes is five years.

39:15Here we are five and a half going on six years. So there's no possible way you could bring a valid criminal investigation here. And I should note, this is now the third time in the last few months that three different district court judges have blocked subpoenas. And I think it just shows that DOJ is running away with its discretion. And Caitlin, you report that in the wake of this loss, the Justice Department is making new attempts to insert itself in election administration. What do you learn? Yeah, there's actually a couple of letters that the Justice Department has been sending out in recent weeks to election officials.

39:45One of those sets of letters was to all 50 states telling them that if they allowed noncitizens to vote, they could be prosecuted as election officials, reminding them of the federal law. You won't be surprised that there are election officials and state officials who are taking that as a bit of a threat and are very unhappy that this is the way the Justice Department wants to approach how they conduct elections. The states do it. But then there's also efforts by the Justice Department to send in election monitors to states, which they used to do. But there are a lot of Democratic states and counties that want to make sure voters aren't going to be intimidated.

40:20There's just a lot that the Justice Department is trying to do to watch elections more closely than ever. And Ali, I read with interest your latest New York Magazine article, quote, a close read of the reflecting pool prosecution in which you dig into the case against the former Olympian David Hearn, who is facing one count of destruction of property after prosecutors say he violently ripped out part of the reflecting pool sealant. And some legal experts say the odds that prosecutors will secure a conviction are rather low. What's your take? I agree with that. At this initial point, that's my gut instinct.

40:51But you'll hear people come out and declare conclusively he's wrongly charged or he's absolutely guilty. Both of those are just guesses at this point. We know this case was approved by a grand jury. We know there's some evidence, not as much as you would need at trial. And we know that Jeannie Pirro has said she has multiple Park Service eyewitnesses. Now, the key question is going to be how many witnesses and how clear is their testimony. But ultimately, Jake, I think this case will either fail on the merits. I think they may fail to carry their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. But even if they have the proof, this is a D.C.

41:22jury. Trump is wildly unpopular in D.C. And we've seen grand juries and juries in DC alike reject cases by DOJ that they see as political. So I think it's premature to pronounce conclusive judgment in this case, as I've seen some people do. But the early indicators that I've seen cause me some skepticism about this charge. And a reminder, of course, that President Trump pardoned the Capitol Hill rioters on January 6th who were literally beating up police officers, many of whom have lifetime injuries. And he is pursuing this guy for taking on some sealant. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. President Trump just posted new videos, presumably, of new U.S.

42:00strikes on Iran, although he did not post any details. Much more of the new video coming in and what we know about this escalation in the conflict. That's nice.

42:19Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. We are following two breaking stories tonight. One, the United States military launching new strikes on Iran, which Central Command says are meant to, quote, further degrade Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier today, President Trump warned these strikes were likely coming after declaring the ceasefire between the two countries over. We're going to go live to the White House and inside Iran in moments. But two, we're going to start with another breaking story. Sources tell CNN, The Democrat, Graham Plattner is now working with his campaign strategists to exit the race for Maine Senate.

42:54The political outsider's grassroots movement imploded this week after a woman he had dated, Jenny Rassicott, came forward telling me on camera that in 2021 Plattner had come over to her house uninvited, intoxicated, and raped her. Plattner denies the allegation. After the title wave of officials calling on Plattner to end his bid, Maine's Democrats are scrambling for a way to replace their candidate and time is ticking. CNN's Arlette Saenz is on the ground in Portland, Maine. Arlette, what is the latest? Well, Jake, Democratic Senate candidate Graham Plattner is expected to join a staff campaign call a bit later tonight, sources familiar with the matter told us, and that is really capping off a day of conversations that are expected to pave the way for his eventual withdrawal from this U.S.

43:41Senate race. Plattner has spent time huddling with a small team of advisors as they try to chart his exit path out of this race. We expect that an announcement about his decision at some point would be released via video. That could come later tonight, but there's always the possibility that this could shift. But it all comes as the party has already been engaged in a very difficult scramble to try to determine how they would select the next nominee if Plattner were to exit this race. We have seen this very messy fight playing out between the main Democratic Party, which has called for him to exit, and Plattner's campaign over this potential nominating process.

44:22It's really spilled into public view over the last 24 hours. A bit earlier today, Plattner's campaign manager sent a text message to supporters saying that the main Democratic Party had tried to cut out his team and his supporters from being involved in this nominating process, making decisions about how it should proceed. And he urged their supporters to offer feedback to the main Democratic Party for how they think this process should play out. The main Democratic Party, though, pushed back and they've called a lot of the Plattner's team's moves a distraction and said that they're focused on trying to come up with an open, transparent process to nominate a replacement.

45:00And they believe that Plattner supporters do have a role in selecting who would replace them. But earlier today, I did have some time to speak with voters here in Maine. And they did share some anxiety about what this replacement process would look like so late in the game. Take a listen. Do you think Democrats have enough time to find a replacement? I hope so. I don't know. You know, we'll see. I mean, it's kind of coming down to the wire and these things don't happen overnight. I would be very disappointed if the Democratic Party chose someone who was not as aligned and as progressive as Graham Plattner.

45:41And I think that a lot of Mainers would feel the same way. Now, Plattner has until Monday to drop out of this race five days and give Democrats the opportunity to find a nominee to replace him. The Democratic Party here in Maine would then have about until July 27th to pick their next Senate candidate. The party committees had been meeting throughout the day, also determining, trying to figure out what the next path forward would be. But we've already seen a number of Maine Democrats jockeying, saying that they're ready to enter this race once if Plattner steps aside. But all eyes will be on Plattner this evening to see whether he makes any announcement about the path forward for his campaign.

46:20Jake. All right. Our let signs in Portland, Maine. Thank you so much. Let's bring in Maine Democratic Congresswoman Shelley Pingree. Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us. Give us a sense of the position that Graham Plattner has put the Maine Democratic Party in here. Well, obviously, all eyes are on Maine. They have been for a while because this is such a critically important Senate race. And the attention is on this race because people care deeply about getting a Democratic majority back in the Senate. But the state party has never really gone through a process like this before. It's one thing to replace a state legislator who drops out, but an entire statewide campaign.

46:59is complicated, and it's caused a lot of turmoil. I guess no surprise when you have something of this magnitude happening, but the state party trying to figure out what should be the process, the Plattner campaigning wanting to have an influence on it, and to a certain extent, I understand their point of view, too. They feel like they created a movement, and we have a lot of people who are really anxious to see change. I mean, that's a national trend right now, that people want change. They want to make sure that the parties are shaken up. they hate what's going on in Washington. And so it's all sort of converging.

47:32Our state's becoming a little bit of a metaphor for this. And we're just trying to make sure we put the pieces back together as fast as we can, get a new candidate appointed and get moving forward on this campaign. I believe that you have a general policy of not endorsing in primary. So you didn't endorse Plattner. But beyond the horrible rape allegations from Jenny Rassikot on Monday, Um, Plattner has weathered plenty of scandals in this short campaign, allegations of being violent with another ex-girlfriend, Lindsey Fifield in the New York times, uh, in early June before the primary. She spoke to me in more detail yesterday.

48:08He calls Fifield's claims false and politically motivated. Um, what's your take on the allegations that you're hearing from Jenny Rassikot, uh, and Lindsey Fifield? Well, I think like so many Democrats, so many women, I feel you've got to listen to women in these cases. We cannot be the Democratic Party that says we care about releasing the Epstein files, that we're concerned about the president's past behavior, and so many others, if we're not going to listen to the women who talk about Democratic candidates as well. You've seen people across the board say this was a bridge too far. It maybe took until this point, and maybe there are people who think we should have made this decision earlier, but virtually everybody and the advocacy organizations, the unions, you know, the senators themselves who are endorsing Graham Plattner have all said it's time for him to move on.

48:57And I think for most people, we just want to pick up the pieces and move forward. It's a wonderful state. And I think a lot of people were deeply conflicted about this idea that Graham Plattner was somebody who talked about progressive politics, who was talking about the gap between the rich and the poor, the real challenges that are going on in Washington right now. And they felt moved by that. And I think many people were conflicted by saying, yeah, I don't like what's going on in his background, but was it because of PTSD? I mean, there were all kinds of excuses made. My feeling is now is just the time to move on.

49:29And people have been very clear about that. Last night, the executive director of Maine's Democratic Party posted this video. Take a listen. The Maine Democratic Party has been working around the clock to develop a process to replace our U.S. Senate nominee that is open, inclusive, transparent, and fair. Unfortunately, Graham Plattner's team has repeatedly reached out to us in an attempt to put their thumb on the scale of what this process looks like. I mean, it almost sounds like a hostage situation, Graham Plattner refusing to leave unless he gets what he wants. What's your reaction? Well, I think you're just seeing this manifestation of, you know, the party trying to work as fast as it could.

50:12That's the executive director. The chair of our party was actually on the West Coast on a hiking trip, had to drive back in his car, is back here today. And I know there are meetings going on throughout the day. And you have the Plattner campaign who felt like, hey, we got a huge percentage of the vote and we are dedicated to getting a progressive candidate in here. And what is our mechanism to do it? I mean, many people feel like now that he's dropped out or is planning to drop out and because of the allegations against him, he doesn't have a bit of leverage to do this. But the fact is, he needs to drop out by the 13th or we can't move forward with the process.

50:47So while it all looks very messy, welcome to politics. I do believe this will all get straightened out in the next day or two. And I'm, you know, I'm hoping that today as the party is trying to work through some sort of a plan, we can, I mean, I say we, although I'm not even part of that because I'm not a super delegate or necessarily part of it. But I hope that as a state, Democrats can say, okay, we've got a process that includes as many people as possible that you can work with in the short period of time that we've got. We unfortunately can't hold a brand new primary. We can't take time for every candidate to campaign the state of Maine.

51:24And I think there are a lot of people who want to line up and do this. And I want us to get a progressive candidate. I want to match the message. But we also, you know, we can't put our thumb on the scales and say, you know, this is the guy who should be the guy who replaces the guy. It doesn't work that way. And to make the most democratic thing possible, party has to have a inclusive process that, you know, maybe goes from our county committees or all the ways that we could possibly do it and gets as many people who can take a vote on this as possible. But I know there's a lot of people who want to be the challenger to Senator Collins.

51:57That's just the way it's going to be. Congresswoman Shelley Pingree, Democrat from Maine, thanks so much for your time today. Sure. Thanks for having me. The other big breaking story tonight, of course, the U.S. launching new strikes against Iran after President Trump declared the ceasefire over. We're going to go live on the ground inside Iran and to the White House next.

52:21Next. Breaking news and our world-lead explosions heard in Iranian port cities tonight as President Trump orders a new punishing round of strikes. Right now, Trump is on his way back from the NATO conference in neighboring Turkey. He posted the video we're watching just moments ago, did not include details of where or when they occurred. As a U.S. official tells CNN's Pamela Brown, who's aboard the U.S. says Abraham Lincoln that the ceasefire with Iran has, quote, at least temporarily ceased. CNN's Fred Pleikin is in Iran for us. CNN's Caitlin Collins is at the White House. CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government, but maintains full editorial control of our reports.

52:58So, Fred, despite Trump saying that the war is not really back on fully, it does seem like things are escalating quite a bit in Iran. Yeah, I would definitely say so. And I think one of the things that we can see tonight, Jake, is that the strikes that we're seeing here are even more broad than the strikes that we saw last night. If we look at some of the places, and we've been monitoring Iranian state TV that apparently have been hit in the past couple of hours, they range all the way from the northern part of the Persian Gulf near the town of Boucher, which of course has a nuclear power plant, but also some military facilities to the area around the Persian Gulf.

53:32Bandar Abbas, of course, one of those places that frequently gets hit. There's a Revolutionary Guard military naval port in that town, and then an island also in the western fringes of the Strait of Hormuz, but then also all the way, for instance, to the port town of Chabahar, which is near the border with Pakistan. So it certainly seems these are a broad range of strikes. And one of the things that the Iranians have said in the past is that there is going to be massive retaliation if the United States strikes targets inside Iran. It's something that we've heard throughout the day from the Iranians.

54:04Of course, one of the places or some of the places that they've been targeting when the U.S. has hit areas in Iran have been American military installations in, for instance, Bahrain and Kuwait, generally in the Gulf area. And the Iranians have said that that is something that could happen again. One of the places that they've been focusing on, because it was mentioned by President Trump today at the NATO summit, is the Karg Island, which is so important for Iranian oil exports. And they've been warning the United States that should the U.S. invade that island, which is something, of course, the president has been talking about, that that would be a bloody endeavor for the United States.

54:39And the Iranians say they certainly are ready for that, Jake. Kaelin, the Dow just had its worst day in a month. Trump doesn't think this will be a long conflict, whatever that means to him. But still, this can't bode well for the economy and the midterms for his party in just a few short months. Which is probably why you heard the president say earlier that he doesn't think this signals an all-out return to war, Jake, similar to what we saw in the beginning days of this conflict. Back when the president was predicting it was only going to last about four to six weeks. And of course, now here we are with, you know, it's only been about three weeks since the president signed that memorandum of understanding with Iran.

55:15There was a lot of fanfare here at the White House. Officials were touting it as this big success and big step forward with the Iranian government that the president was praising three weeks ago, the last time he was meeting with world leaders. Now, this time, as he was sitting side by side with those leaders in Turkey, he was calling the new Iranian leadership scum and saying that there are six sick people who essentially cannot be trusted here. But, Jake, obviously domestic politics is looming in the background of all of this. We are now four months out from the midterms here. And, of course, Republicans here in Washington and whose names are on the ballot this fall are keenly aware of oil prices and what this is doing to the oil market, even as the president was bragging about it earlier.

55:57And, Jake, you know, the president was asked during this press conference before he left Turkey about how he could call this war a success given what has happened here and how muddled all of this has become and the objectives, obviously, that he laid out there not achieved. And he said, Jake, that because the nuclear material is still underneath so much rubble from those strikes that happened last summer, that he did achieve his goal of not allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. But obviously, Jake, that would undercut what the president said after this war started, when he said there was an imminent threat from Iran.

56:28It was a nuclear threat, and that is why this had to happen in the first place. So still a lot of questions about what's going to happen. He has been sharing videos of these strikes and posting on Truth Social that what's happening right now in Iran is in retribution, he said, in response for what Iran did firing on those ships in the Strait of Hormuz. And the question here, Jake, going forward is if they continue to hit Iran over this and how Iran itself responds as clearly this conflict is far from over. Fred, if we look at Iran's past responses to U.S. strikes, how do you think the regime is likely to respond to this latest round of strikes?

57:10Well, it certainly could be a very forceful response coming from the Iranians. It's definitely something that they have said that they are going to do. But I think also in this case, Jake, we have to look at the context of all of this as well. One of the things that we have to keep in mind and one of the things that we've been observing here on the ground is that this memorandum of understanding the ceasefire between the United States and Iran is not uncontroversial here in Iran either. There are, of course, people who are telling us they want sanctions relief, they want a ceasefire between the United States and Iran, but there's also people who are highly critical of the negotiations in the first place who feel that Iran should have continued the battle against the United States, especially if you speak at some of the hardliners here on the ground in Iran.

57:51And the other context in all of this is that the Iranians are at this point in time, of course, going through the funeral ceremonies for Iran's late supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And in just a couple of hours, one of the main events or the main event of that is going to happen in the eastern city of Mashhad, where the Ayatollah's body is going to be brought to its final resting place in the Imam Reza shrine. And so for the Iranians, it's a big deal that the United States is hitting them now. And that certainly could also factor into whether or not they have a stronger response against the U.S.

58:23in light of the fact that these strikes are taking place at this specific period of time. All right, CNN's Fred Pleitkin in Iran and Caitlin Collins at the White House. Thanks to both of you. Also in our world lead, it has been more than four months since 168 children and 14 teachers were killed in a missile strike that hit a school in Iran on February 28th. Those numbers of the victims, according to Iranian state media. This also marks more than four months that we've been waiting for answers about what went so horribly wrong. Now we are finally getting some clues, not because the Pentagon has suddenly decided to be transparent.

58:55Oh, no. But because of exclusive new CNN reporting showing that senior U.S. military commanders bypassed warnings about intelligence on potential targets in Iran being severely out of date, including that school where all those kids were killed. CNN's Zach Cohen broke the story. He's here now. So, Zach, what does your reporting suggest? How did this happen? Yeah, Jake, every source I talked to for this story mentioned that in the lead-up to the war with Iran, military officials and intelligence analysts went under immense pressure from senior Pentagon leaders to rapidly provide a list of targets inside of Iran.

59:30And that set off a scramble inside the Pentagon to update this database, this Pentagon database of potential targets that in some cases hadn't been updated in over 10 years. And so during this process, I'm told that it started with what were considered the upper tier targets, the things most likely to be hit and the ones that posed the most likely threat to U.S. forces once combat operations began. These were largely mobile sites, missile launch capabilities, things of that nature. But in that process, they were not able to update all the thousands of entries in this database. And those sites were also added, though, to the target list anyway.

1:00:04And the decision to bypass those warnings, one source said, was made for, quote, expediency purposes because the timeline was so condensed in terms of accomplishing what they were being asked to accomplish, not being able to complete the vetting process on all these targets. Commanders were faced with the decision. Do you go and act on these sites where the intelligence is, in some cases, 10 years old, or do you move on to the next one? And so ultimately that happened in the case of this school that ultimately ended up being school the entry inside the database showed it being an IRGC naval base but ultimately along the way there were signs that it had evolved and changed and a school was clearly visible in satellite imagery and other open source intelligence that the pentagon also has access to but those changes were not documented in the database itself an analyst never had a chance to go back and revet that particular entry and ultimately a commander decided to carry out this strike anyway and that is ultimately how he ended up with 150 plus dead children.

1:01:01And your reporting also includes this quote from a source about this rushed decision making process that cost so many innocent lives. Quote, a lot of former hedge fund people and made for TV personalities were in the mix, but leadership at CENTCOM did not push back either. I'm not sure who the hedge fund person is that they're talking about, but made for TV personalities, I presume is a reference to the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. Is this just part of the culture now? Even the uniformed individuals, even the flag officers at CENTCOM just go along with whatever Hegseth and Trump want? It's certainly the culture that Hegseth is trying to instill in the Pentagon.

1:01:39It's something that we've seen him really almost publicly declare in that meeting. Why he keeps firing all these great generals and admirals. Exactly. Because he wants conformity. He wants the generals to essentially do and reflect the things that he wants from them. But at the end of the day, there are still a lot of people inside the Pentagon who are really just career professionals that are trying to serve their country and do their jobs to the best of their ability. And that includes people, a good example of this case, includes people who are still part of that civilian risk mitigation team.

1:02:06Hexeth cut that program by 90 % before the war started. The remaining staffers that were dedicated to CENTCOM were really trying to go through this list of targets along with the intelligence analysts, assess the risk to civilians potentially. but they were understaffed and they weren't able to review this file and hundreds of other ones, I'm told, before the strike was carried out. Horrifying. Zach Cohen, thank you so much. Another major topic as President Trump was at NATO meetings today, a possible boost for Ukraine's military as it attempts to overwhelm Russian forces with rockets and drones.

1:02:38That's next.

1:02:47Would you go to Moscow? It's difficult. There are a lot of Ukrainian drones there.

1:02:55And our world lead President Trump sitting down today with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Turkey. In a win for Kyiv, Trump signaled that the U.S. would give Ukraine the green light to produce Patriot missiles, the only air defense system capable of stopping Russian ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, Zelensky said Putin's terms for a peace deal may be shifting as the Russian president faces growing pressure at home over the war. CNN's Nick Payton Walsh has that report.

1:03:28Ukraine is hitting Russia hard where it all began. Occupied Crimea.

1:03:36Taken first in 2014, it is a peninsula and that makes it very vulnerable to being cut off. There are two ways, in or out. First is the Kerch Bridge, which Ukraine has been hitting for years, and it's now beset by queues of thousands of anxious Russians trying to get out. Second is the land bridge through occupied Ukraine. Many saw this as a big strategic gain from Russia's invasion in 2022. a way to cheaply and permanently connect Russia to this tourist Mecca, the jewel of the Soviet past.

1:04:20Ukraine's 2023 counter-offensive tried to break through here but failed, hitting huge Russian defences. Now they're flying over them. New mid-range Ukrainian drone capability striking the road along the land bridge and Crimea's air defences leaving it vulnerable. And then the actual bridges to Crimea and the Russian trains and the roads. Now they're hitting ordinary infrastructure, refineries, power stations, meaning power cuts in the cities. Cues at gas stations, thick black smoke on the skyline, so yet more Russians are leaving. Zelensky recently claimed that Russia has had to prioritise air defences in Crimea and around Moscow as well.

1:05:03Putin has recently accepted economic challenges and indeed gas shortages as Ukraine's drone strikes increasingly cause chaos in ordinary Russian life. So what's the goal here? Make Crimea hard to live in, a place without tourists, gas, power, affordable food, and the land bridge to it, already itself a tough place to live in, seems less worth the cost. And this is the wider point for Kiev. Seize on the growing questions inside Russia as to what the war is even for. If Crimea is effectively uninhabitable and the only gains they can claim are tiny bits of land, usually rubble, in the Donbass. Turn Crimea from a jewel in Putin's crown to leverage for Ukraine, perhaps in any future peace talks, or even into a damaging thorn in Putin's side as he tries to navigate growing dissent about his war of choice.

1:05:54And our thanks to Nick Payton-Waltz for that report. A deadly encounter with ICE agents, this time not Minnesota, in Texas. And now questions about what happened as new bystander video emerges. We're live in Texas with the details next.

1:06:13International lead, new details about a deadly ICE operation Tuesday. This one in Houston. The agency announced that an ICE officer fatally shot a Mexican national after, they say, the man refused to follow commands during a traffic stop and, they claim, tried to ram a law enforcement vehicle. The deadly shooting comes nearly six months after the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Preddy in Minneapolis. Joining us now to discuss CNN's Elevandera in Texas and Priscilla Alvarez here in studio with me. And Ed, we have ICE's account of what happened. What do we know so far about the shooting? Well, the family of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and as well as Latino civil rights activists say they do not believe ICE's version of events, given that history that you mentioned there in Minneapolis earlier this year.

1:07:01There is no clear video that has emerged so far that shows the entire episode of what unfolded just before 7 a.m. yesterday morning, where ICE officials say that there were ICE agents involved in a targeted operation going after Salgado, as well as three other men that were in this white van. The family of Salgado say they do not believe that their father would have intentionally tried to go after an ICE agent. They said that they were being followed by two unmarked cars, that he had a van full of construction equipment that he used and depended for his livelihood, that perhaps he thought that he was being targeted or was going to be a victim of some sort of robbery.

1:07:41That's what the family says. ICE agents say that the man weaponized the vehicle and went after an ICE agent, and that's why they fired shots. There has been one video, Jake, that has emerged that showed just the aftermath of it, that shows the man on the ground with ICE agents around him next to that white van in Houston. And what is Mr. Aruha's family saying, Brad? Oh, well, they, like I mentioned, they do not believe this version of events. They're calling for a full and independent investigation by local authorities. But the Houston DA says that all of the information, all of the evidence at this point is being controlled by federal agents.

1:08:17The Houston mayor has kind of cast out on their ability to be able to do a full investigation as well. But these activists in the family are calling for anyone who has video of what transpired there just before 7 a.m. yesterday where the shooting took place to come forward with that video to help better explain how all of this unfolded. Priscilla, what more are we learning about the broader immigration enforcement crackdown here? Well, Jake, people are not seeing the videos as often as they did before, like last year, of these aggressive immigration enforcement actions. And they may not be seeing it in their communities as much as they did before.

1:08:53But the reality, Jake, is that there actually is stepped up immigration enforcement happening across the country right now. In fact, there are around 2 ,000 arrests that are happening a day. That's up from earlier this year when they were around 1 ,000. And that is intentional by this administration. They are trying to sustain that number because the reality is that they are trying to up the number of immigration arrests and deportations as they head into the end of this fiscal year. Now, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that this was a targeted operation. The reason that people are not seeing the flashiness of last year is because there is more of that, which is to say they know who they're going after, like in traffic stops, what happened here, and they are arresting those individuals and bringing them into custody.

1:09:40Of course, in this case, unfortunately, it did end in a death. And the reason that there are questions about what happened here is because there's a track record of the administration giving an account that sometimes is not backed up by the evidence or by the agents themselves. In fact, in Minneapolis, our viewers are well aware of Alex Freddie and Renee Good. But in another case, a former federal agent is now charged with multiple accounts of assault and falsely reporting a crime over an incident where a Venezuelan man, they said, had assaulted the officers when that didn't actually happen. So that is the reason why there is so many questions and concerns about these incidents when they happen because of where it's been.

1:10:19So we'll see what other answers we get. Of course, this is the Department of Homeland Security under Secretary Mullen, and he's tried to run things differently. So we'll see what happens in the hours to come. Priscilla Alvarez, Ed Levandera, thanks so much. Maine Democrats are rushing to come up with a plan to replace Graham Plattner should he drop out of the U.S. Senate race there. What sources are telling CNN now about who Plattner is encouraging to run if and when he quits? That's next.

1:10:51In our politics lead, Maine Democrats accusing scandal-ridden Senate nominee Graham Plattner's team of putting their thumb on the scale and deciding who might replace him as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate race. Take a listen to the executive director of the Maine Democratic Party. We have repeatedly reiterated to Graham Plattner's team that they have no role in determining our next Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate, nor in determining what this process looks like. We have also reiterated that Graham Plattner must drop out of this race so that Democrats in Maine can focus on defeating Susan Collins this November.

1:11:29Plattner's spiraling campaign and the mounting calls from his fellow Democrats for him to quit comes in the wake of a rape allegation which he denies. My panel joins me now. Maria Cardona, I assume you've been watching CNN and seen the interviews that we've been running this week from Jenny Rascott who accused him of rape and also Lindsey Fifield who accused him of other violent and troubling actions. Some of the names floating around to replace Plattner if he drops out includes, I mean you can tell me if you've heard any of these people, former Maine State Senator Troy Jackson, Maine Secretary of State Shanna Bellows, founder of Maine Beer Company Dan Klebin, former Maine CDC Director Nurov Shah, Maine Statehouse member Vali Geiger.

1:12:12Sources tell CNN Plattner's encouraging Geiger to run if he steps aside. No disrespect, but I've never heard of most of these people. That's okay. I'm in D.C. But my guess is a lot of Maine people have not have heard of most of them. I'm sure they've heard of the Secretary of State. But beyond that, what do you think? What should they do? That is one of the reasons why Graham needs to step down now. Because the longer he waits, the more difficult it is going to be for whoever ends up being the nominee to make their case to the people of Maine. And if Graham Plattner is true to his word when he said that his true north was to beat Susan Collins to do the best for Maine, then he needs to get out now.

1:12:57The more that he waits, the more difficult it is going to be for the main Democratic Party, who is legally the only entity who can put together a process that is fair and transparent to make sure that everyone's voices are heard for whoever the next nominee is. It's going to make it that much more difficult because time is of the essence. We have a week. I guess he's got until Friday to next Monday to to drop out. But the process should start now. And so, again, if he really is in this for the voters of Maine, then he needs to drop out now. If not, then maybe he was always in this for himself.

1:13:34I'm getting deja vu. I feel like we've been here before with a Democrat refusing to read the writing on the wall and refusing to drop out. Shermichael, Susan Collins, eminently beatable this year. She might need to change her campaign strategy if there's going to be, if she's not running against Plattner. But this is a state that Kamala Harris won in 2024. Collins, despite coming across as a moderate, she's repeatedly voted in favor of things that Trump wanted and is not popular with voters right now. She's more popular than Graham Plattner, but she's not popular with voters right now. They don't support the Iran war in Maine.

1:14:13They're worried about affordability in Maine. How is Collins going to answer voters concerns about this, presuming that she's running against somebody with less baggage than Mr. Plattner? Yeah, sure. Look, we've been here before. And I think the party and I would argue that maybe even the White House is willing to allow the senator to have a degree of separation where necessary on some of these issues that you just mentioned, affordability, the crisis in the Middle East from the president in order to keep that seat. I mean, this is of paramount importance to the NRSC and the Republican majority in the Senate.

1:14:48And it's of paramount importance to the president and his political team who wants to see his agenda continue beyond this midterm in November. That said, I can assure you that we are doing our due diligence on each of the candidates. We assume that it might be Troy Jackson was one of the names and faces you mentioned. A lot of the talk on the ground is that he'll likely potentially be the person to replace Plattner. He's been endorsed by Bernie Sanders in the past. He appears to have the more traditional structural operations necessary to pick up where Platner is left off. But I think the problem here, though, is and Maria did a great job talking about the execution, the structural inabilities that Platner is now creating for his party by staying in so long.

1:15:31But one cannot deny that he was able to galvanize a part of the Democratic base. said, I'm not certain Troy Jackson will be able to galvanize, one, and two, you want Plattner's endorsement. And I can assure you that if he does get Plattner's endorsement, we will hit him heavy and hard on the fact that he has an endorsement from someone who's been accused of sexual assault and rape. So this is a quagmire for Democrats, even if they find someone who seems a bit more tamed. I don't know if they would want Plattner's endorsement, but that aside, I think what you're going to see, and it might be Troy Jackson, it might be some of the others.

1:16:05This is one of the things that the Democratic Party is trying to figure out. And most likely, I've talked to some folks who are close to the process who want to announce something, and that something will most likely be a statewide caucus where the 16 counties of Maine will be able to get voters together to be able to vote on whoever puts their name out there on the ballot. But I think, to your point, Susan Collins is still imminently beatable. And I think if we come up with a candidate who is able to project the same kind of progressive agenda, the same kind of issues that the voters are clamoring for, then I believe that that person will be able to run a campaign and beat Susan Collins.

1:16:47See, Maria is talking about the message and the moment. And I agree with you that Democrats have done a fairly good job executing that depending upon the candidate. Now, Plattner did a great job of being a strong messenger, again, to galvanize and mobilize support in Maine among Democrats, the likes of which they haven't seen in a very long time if you study the state politics there. The question is, even if you replace him, will that alternative person be good enough at being the messenger talking about the moment, what the priority should be? And that's a real vulnerability strategically. You and I both know this, that Democrats will have to wrestle with, which I would argue gives an advantage to Senator Collins and Republicans.

1:17:26He is, to give him his due, charismatic, and he's absolutely tapped into something when it comes to the progressive fervor in Maine. His background is more than problematic. It's more than problematic. He has been credibly accused of rape. Why do Democrats miss so many red flags? That is a great question. And I think that's one of the things that the Democratic Party and candidates and campaigns are going to be looking at for a long time. And they're going to come back to say, we need our vetting processes to be so much better, to be focused on the history, to be focused on what this person has done, to be doing oppo research on yourself, to even do a background check.

1:18:15I mean, all of these things. To me, it's political malpractice that that was not done on Plattner. Thanks to both of you. Breaking news, dramatic pictures from Pikesville, Maryland, just north of Baltimore, where a bus crashed into a building. Baltimore County Fire Department confirmed at least 28 patients because of that crash. One critical injury. Someone still trapped. We're going to monitor this and bring you updates as we get them. We'll be right back.

1:18:45What happens when your fiance actually uses his celebrity hall pass? That's the premise of a new Hollywood comedy that sends a betrayed bride-to-be on a full adventure to track down her own celebrity crush. Here's a little look. But no story is crazier than the story of Gail Daughtry and the celebrity sex pass. Tom? Gail, I was just about to text you. This was my one free pass, remember? Do you really think that we should do this? Tom gave you a free pass, too. That's true. Don't let go. Let's go! I had a celebrity free pass thing with my fiancé, but he took it literally, so now I need to have sex with Jon Hamm.

1:19:30This outrageous journey is packed with celebrity cameos, unexpected twists, lots of laughs, and joining us now to talk about Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass, which is the name of the title, is the star, Zoe Deutsch, and the director and co-writer and also actor in the film, David Wayne. Congratulations. It is incredibly stupid and amazing. So stupid. So stupid, but in the best possible way. So your character's journey starts with heartbreak and then spirals into complete chaos. When you got this script, What made you say yes? Well, I said, hey, this is an entire movie about... The entire premise is just going to L.A.

1:20:14to find Jon Hamm to have sex with him. And I said, I gotta make this. I gotta be a part of this. I'm in. I gotta do it. Whether or not it's a movie. No, obviously, I really am a big fan of David's and his work. And I think he is a singular... He has a singular vision. and I think those are the best directors to work with, people who create their own worlds and universes and are very specific, and David is very specific. So I was super thrilled and excited to get to work with him. So probably before you were born, definitely before you were born, I was watching David on The State on MTV, is that what it was?

1:20:49Yep. An ensemble comedy troupe. It was a sketch comedy show in the mid-'90s on MTV. So I have to say, you know I've seen all your films, all of them. Yeah, you proved it. I proved it last time I saw you. I named them all. And I have to say, I think you really come alive when it is an ensemble, when it is a big group of people. Do you prefer that? I have always gravitated, maybe just because I was from such a large ensemble. And my favorite movies are like Do the Right Thing or Nashville, those movies with huge casts. And you juggle them all. And the challenge of unifying that into some sort of world and premise has always been exciting to me.

1:21:29There was a time in the movie that I'm looking at this group surrounding you. The kid from CIA and John Slattery as himself and Ken Marino as a paparazzo. And it's just like, what a ridiculous group of people. And what a ridiculous premise. I even say the line. He wrote such a great line in the movie where I say that. I'm like, who came up with this insane, ridiculous, just utterly impossible premise? No one ever gets that that's what that is. Yeah, that's just the brilliance of Mr. Wayne. I think what we have a lot of fun doing, Ken Marino and I wrote this, is creating these absurdist, insane, somewhat pointless situations, but then grounding them with incredible actors and then a lot of attention to detail to make it feel like it's real or serious in some way.

1:22:18So much attention to detail. He is - And the cameos. Yeah. Yeah. But that's a testament, again, to how beloved him and Marino are. Like, they've collected this incredible group of artists and comedians and actors who will just drop anything to work with them for, like, one hour. I don't want to list them because... They're mostly surprises. The surprises are so fun. Yeah. How come you didn't do the movie? I wasn't asked. Well... I wasn't... You called, and you didn't answer. That did not happen. Boys, hash it out. I will say... The machine's broken. For those, so for Paul Rudd is the Nina to your Hirschfeld.

1:22:54Like he is in everything you do. Yeah. And people, and I'm not saying what the part is, but. He's in there somewhere. Ruddheads will not be disappointed. And Zoe, you're so great in it. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Thank you. Zoe Deutsch and David Wayne. July 10th. You can follow the show on X and Instagram at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can watch the show on the CNN app. Aaron Burnett out front starts right now. Thanks for watching.

1:23:47Discover the untold stories of American expansion in the CNN original series, This Land, now streaming on the CNN app.